Suggestions

[quote name="LordJeanliness" date="2020-05-26 13:59:01" ] [quote name="Jemadar" date="2020-05-26 12:40:07" ] As someone who doesn't exalt now, I would say that potentially (depending on the rewards and how it was done) something like an exalting shop, where I could get points to spend on pretty things, would make me exalt. ... So, to me, ultimately treasure isn't something that is going to make me sit up and think 'hey I need to exalt dragons!' ... However, if there were more incentives, especially a shop where I wouldn't have to rely on other people (and it would always be in stock, no 'restocking mechanic') and could just toss dragons right and left out of my lair and work my way towards that item? I would be much more likely to do that. As for applying it to the heavy exalters? Yeah, they would have distinct advantages, but that could be mitigated by having some items that players would have to exalt hundreds of dragons a day for a couple of months to afford, as well as players realizing that not everything *has* to be expensive. (or, you know, making the items that we get through the exalt shop consumable and desirable, so that even heavy exalting won't make a huge dent in their prices [/quote] My concern with a dom shop is keeping it fresh. How long would it take for the AH to be pretty full of the new items, thus removing the need for a particular player to actually exalt to obtain them? Unless the items somehow stay prohibitively expensive in the AH, it'll stop being that big a deal in about a month. How long do you think it'll take until buying the items with treasure on the MP is WAY less effort than obtaining/training/exalting dragons to access them for players who don't like the grind? That would be the effect of mass-exalters on a dom shop: access to the items outside of using the exalt mechanic. (If the items can't be sold in the AH, it'll turn exalting into a mechanic that NEEDS to be used in order to get the shiny thing and that'll be .....not good for the exalt drama. IMO, the drama would not be worth it.) [/quote] That is why I suggest consumables. There can be some apparel and some familiars, but I feel that the most common item in there be a consumable, and not just breed/gene change scrolls. 1. Eggs - not the ones we have now, but perhaps an ancient breed in the future. Perhaps the most expensive thing in the shop, perhaps not, but this would give players the ability to toss dragons at the Deities, and then have fun opening an egg. 2. Scatter type scrolls - there have been many calls for things like this, and while I don't think it should be single color scatter scrolls, things like gene scatter scrolls that will cycle through treasure genes (or perhaps have the scrolls on a tier: Common Gene scatter Scroll would randomly apply a common gene to a dragon, while a Rare Gene Scatter Scroll would apply a gem gene. The proviso to these is that you have to have one of that rarity on that dragon in that slot to begin with. IE, you can't take a triple basic dragon and 'randomly' gene it. You would have to take a triple gened dragon and apply scatter scrolls that are on the same tier as their original gene). 3. 'Joke' Scrolls - These would randomly apply something to the dragon. Perhaps it could even cycle through the 'joke' marva things, such as 'HD', or switch that dragon with a familiar for a day. 4. Sort of the same as above - Joke scrolls that randomly apply some sort of affect to your dragon, only this time it doesn't pull from marva's tricks. IE, perhaps it will invert your dragons' image. Perhaps reverse it. Turn it upside down. Simple things that can be done to the whole image or are other wise simple to execute. 5. Eye vials - One of the things that players have been asking for are ways to obtain natural eyes on existing dragons without having to buy an ever decreasing commodity. Putting some desireable eye types in here would probably be a huge big seller, especially if they put the tints in here. There are many people who simply want a different tint for their dragons, and even once they do existing dragons, it doesn't rule out future dragons that they want a different tint on. there are probably many more things, especially if the developers decide to branch out into things like the coliseum (potions that apply various affects such as 'familiar charmer' that has an extra 5% chance to obtain a familiar from enemies in the coliseum), or affecting the familiars (such as a joke that can invert their colors or flip their image) or even consumable 'buffs' that wear off, such as gender increasing items to make a nest more likely to give you one sex over another or buffs that can make baldwin take less time etc.. I definitely do not support making the items account bound, because I dislike account bound items. For any non-consumable item, yeah, those would probably have to cycle, to keep things fresh but I don't think the items from there should retire. I do think there are ways to allow items to retain their value while still having them available year round, but the trick is to make those items desireable and consumable.

I'm not saying that the items couldn't be desirable, and even desirable long-term. I just don't know that they'll be desirable ENOUGH that they'll make a huge impact in how many people choose to exalt and thus make a huge impact in how dom plays out on the site. THe AH prices don't have to be Smirch-level to make the dom shop irrelevant to dom. They just have to be reasonable.

I'd predict that other than during the first week of a new release (that gotta have it NOW hype), the same people who already exalt will be more than enough to supply the entire site via the AH and there won't be enough of a long-term impact on exalting and dom to justify having added another thing to keep rotating and occasionally adding new items for.

The way I understand Dom, it's that it only works if people participate. It's a site-wide group competition. To me the problem with Dom is rooted in the issue that most flight forums are largely inactive from what I hear.

I myself have never participated. I don't even know when it's going on. I exalt dragons constantly but it's to earn treasure and nothing more.

The following idea is not an attack on, and is not meant to offend anyone.

The thing that would get me heavily interested in Dom is the Exalt Shop idea people have been tossing around.

As it stands, in order to participate in Dom, I'd have to probably join a discord, coordinate and hoard a bunch of fodder in my Hibernal Den (which, would in turn make me need to expand it), all for some small bonuses to gathering and XP.

If my exalting efforts got me access to Dom-exclusive skins and familiars, I'd be WAY more motivated, as skins/fams are things I like collecting personally.

But, again, this isn't an inflammatory statement I have not participated in Dom since I started my account and I don't care if I never do, lol.

I can testify for myself that if eye vials were in an exalt shop, I would go back to exalting in a heart beat.

Dom definitely needs a make over.

The benefits to pushing need to be more desirable and I like the idea of a dom shop.

Maybe have that shop cycle items in and out regularly (more regularly than the gem mp) and give people a time limit (or a set quantity) for how long a certain item will be in the shop (or how many are given out in each cycle). This will provide items with a somewhat lasting value (they'd devalue eventually if they don't retire completely but cycling them would help them stay valuable for longer) that players could buy and sell among themselves and it would act as a sink for whatever dom currency was available.

Maybe this shop could even give out different types of currency for different flights. Maybe there could be a general currency for a general dom shop (with general rewards that all players could obtain) but then a flight specific currency for a flight specific dom shop that contains items themed around that specific flight. That would mean that items from other flight specific dom shops would only be available for those players who are currently in that flight.

To offset this, maybe flight specific dom shop items don't cycle (or do so very slowly- more slowly than the general dom shop items). These flight specific dom shop items could still be sold to players in other flights on the AH (which would create a new avenue in the economy and a new way to make money through exalting.)

Perhaps dom flight awards could be that the dominating flight gets twice as much general and flight specific dom shop currency when exalting during their week (or maybe the prices of those items are discounted from their regular price instead, either way works.)

These are just some ideas I thought I'd throw out into the world. Feel free to expand on them!

(Edit: I had another idea. Hopefully its not a cursed one:

What if that flight specific dom shop was only available during the week that that specific flight had dom? Only players from that specific flight would gain access to the flight specific dom shop items and they would still need to keep exalting to get the flight specific dom currency to obtain said items. Depending on how items are priced, you could get some very valuable items in circulation (especially considering how often some flights get dom nowadays- many only get it once a year).

This would create a need for players to continue to exalt during the week they've gained dominance and would probably create a new competitive dynamic between flights that have dominance and flights who are fighting for dominance for the next week. It might also create a new way of play (i.e. players giving other players who are in the dominating flight dragons to exalt to get currency in order for those players to buy the flight specific items for them. This would bring competition to pushing flights asking for dragons outside of their flight.)

[quote name="CrazyRedFire" date="2020-05-26 15:40:39" ] Dom definitely needs a make over. The benefits to pushing need to be more desirable and I like the idea of a dom shop. Maybe have that shop cycle items in and out regularly (more regularly than the gem mp) and give people a time limit (or a set quantity) for how long a certain item will be in the shop (or how many are given out in each cycle). This will provide items with a somewhat lasting value (they'd devalue eventually if they don't retire completely but cycling them would help them stay valuable for longer) that players could buy and sell among themselves and it would act as a sink for whatever dom currency was available. Maybe this shop could even give out different types of currency for different flights. Maybe there could be a general currency for a general dom shop (with general rewards that all players could obtain) but then a flight specific currency for a flight specific dom shop that contains items themed around that specific flight. That would mean that items from other flight specific dom shops would only be available for those players who are currently in that flight. To offset this, maybe flight specific dom shop items don't cycle (or do so very slowly- more slowly than the general dom shop items). These flight specific dom shop items could still be sold to players in other flights on the AH (which would create a new avenue in the economy and a new way to make money through exalting.) Perhaps dom flight awards could be that the dominating flight gets twice as much general and flight specific dom shop currency when exalting during their week (or maybe the prices of those items are discounted from their regular price instead, either way works.) These are just some ideas I thought I'd throw out into the world. Feel free to expand on them! [/quote] The idea of specific currencies for flights is interesting. However, one thing I am not sure I would like is to have the exalt shop tied directly to dom. IE, you can only gain points if your flight wins, or only access it if your flight is dominanating. I think it would actually backfire and cause even more controversy and ill feelings. Even if they did do a dom overhaul, I feel it would still cause hard feelings, because lets face it, pretty much no matter what the developers come up with as the 'new dominance mechanic' players are going to figure out how to game it, and there will become a flight known for dom. I have seen it happen on other games and am sure it will happen here as well. thus, dom shops would be only available to many flights on their festivals and maybe one or two weeks other than that out of the year. (or the ability to earn currency) Which ever flight(s) became the 'dom powerhouses' would be getting the same flak they do now, and there would be more calls for dominance to be overhauled, again. that is why I feel a better way to go is get people interested in exalting, thorugh an exalt shop, and let them get interested in dominance later (with the overhaul to dominance to make the rewards more, well, rewarding.)

There's problems with the shop only being open to the current dom flights. 1) Some flights will go for months before they even get access to the shop. 2) The dom leading flight gets so much access that their items decrease in value while the items of the flights that seldom dom cost a whole lot more. 3) Players get torn between flight loyalty and going to the flight that has the items they like.

#2 is the biggest problem for me. If all flights have unique items, it only stands to reason some items are going to be more desired than others--which might go as far as Flight A's items are heavily desired while no one wants Flight B's items. That alone is a huge economic difference.

It winds up effecting dom too as people not only change flights to get access to the shop they like, but as people support the flights with items they like. Flights with less desirable items will have a much harder time gaining OOF.

Furthermore, as the dom leader gains dom more and more often, more and more of their items get in circulation, reducing their value, while the flight who doesn't dom much gets to make bank on how much rarer their items are--and that's before we even factor in flight size. The smaller flights will have less people buying from their shop, the larger flights more. That means larger flights' items will innately be worth less than smaller flights.

That problem gets compounded when the issues are combined. As in, a small flight with highly desirable items or a large flight with undesirable items. We'd see a mass inner flight migration. Which, when the dust settles, would result in some flights seldom getting dom and some flights getting it often--where were at now, with the added bonus of creating the mechanic and then all the frustration of having 10/11ths of shop items inaccessible to any one given user.


The bottom line, limiting the exalt shop by flight doesn't really help anything. If anything, it would cause frustration and discourage Dom. An all-flight exalt shop? Perfect! Flight-only shops? No thanks.

[quote name="gemajgall" date="2020-05-26 16:16:56" ] There's problems with the shop only being open to the current dom flights. 1) Some flights will go for months before they even get access to the shop. 2) The dom leading flight gets so much access that their items decrease in value while the items of the flights that seldom dom cost a whole lot more. 3) Players get torn between flight loyalty and going to the flight that has the items they like. The bottom line, limiting the exalt shop by flight doesn't really help anything. If anything, it would cause frustration and discourage Dom. An all-flight exalt shop? Perfect! Flight-only shops? No thanks. [/quote] Pretty much this—flight specific items will just make things worse. If they introduce an exalt shop it should not be open only when your flight is dominant—it should be open at all times to encourage exalting dragons yourself, rather than sending them to a dom raffle/public buy. By encouraging exalting yourself it would help with the issues with dom (namely the player driven issues where in a true dom battle between flights you need a raffle with expensive items to win and this becAuse of the cost involved dom battles have largely become a thing of the past)

[quote name="DragonSage" date="2020-05-26 16:32:37" ] If they introduce an exalt shop it should not be open only when your flight is dominant—it should be open at all times to encourage exalting dragons yourself, rather than sending them to a dom raffle/public buy. By encouraging exalting yourself it would help with the issues with dom (namely the player driven issues where in a true dom battle between flights you need a raffle with expensive items to win and this becAuse of the cost involved dom battles have largely become a thing of the past) [/quote] Wouldn't this just inflate public buy prices and exacerbate the problem? Players would need MORE incentive to send to flights, which might lead to higher public buy prices. Unless the items are clanbound, there will be a financial decision to be made about whether it's more cost effective to get exalt points and buy the thing yourself or get extra t from a pushing flight and buy it on the AH from whoever has exalt points from last week.

[quote name="LordJeanliness" date="2020-05-26 16:53:51" ] [quote name="DragonSage" date="2020-05-26 16:32:37" ] If they introduce an exalt shop it should not be open only when your flight is dominant—it should be open at all times to encourage exalting dragons yourself, rather than sending them to a dom raffle/public buy. By encouraging exalting yourself it would help with the issues with dom (namely the player driven issues where in a true dom battle between flights you need a raffle with expensive items to win and this becAuse of the cost involved dom battles have largely become a thing of the past) [/quote] Wouldn't this just inflate public buy prices and exacerbate the problem? Players would need MORE incentive to send to flights, which might lead to higher public buy prices. Unless the items are clanbound, there will be a financial decision to be made about whether it's more cost effective to get exalt points and buy the thing yourself or get extra t from a pushing flight and buy it on the AH from whoever has exalt points from last week. [/quote] I tend to envision an exalt shop with many of the rewards as non transferable — clanbound scrolls/vials or temporary account bonuses (similar to dom bonuses such as a small discount off lair expansion) that reward individual exalting even if your flight doesn’t win. There should be some unbound items (apparel, familiars). There could also be one purchased per account (things like vistas or an exclusive familiar. Yes the flights might offer more in an attempt to get support but if it is even more costly to attempt to court out of flight support then out of flight support may become a thing of the past