By Candor, January 2004
As you create your horrible nightmarish plots and evil characters to enliven your new world, the urge to reward those souls brave enough to adventure through your area becomes increasingly tempting. Rewards, however, can come in many different ways. How you balance what you give vs. the time spent and challenge of the area are the purpose of this paper.
The first thought that usually comes to mind when creating mobs is the amount of gold they should reward upon their death. As more and more areas have come into the world of Mystic, we see a lot of gold in the game. Hardly seems reasonable that you can buy a level 15 sword from the marketer for a only couple hundred gold pieces when you’ve got five million in the bank. To combat inflation, consider how much gold a player could raise after spending an hour in your area. If a level 100 player can run through and gain just one million coins, he’d have enough money to buy anything in the game on auction after only a few hours of play. Thus, I urge you to consider your gold rewards carefully. Something that everyone has plenty of is of no value. Contrarily, think of the fun if gold was harder to get, and more necessary in the game. It would provide yet another avenue for adventure, not quite as high as experience, but still a new challenge.
Perhaps the biggest reward that builders spend time thinking about is new equipment. It’s hard to argue that this is a primary attraction to many areas. But, this is also the most delicate part of judging an area’s value to Mystic. If an imm is too forgiving to the builder of just one area, the entire game could be ruined.
Sound ridiculous? Think about it for a moment. If a player currently needs to visit 10 areas to gain X amount of hps/dr/etc. and suddenly your new ‘super-area’ has two pieces of eq that when worn take the place of all those visits, you’ve just cut down the learning/adventuring/risk/challenge/FUN by 90%. Or, lets say you create an object that becomes the best in the game. For example, a new level 30 weapon that takes the place of everything until level 40. This destroys a lot of work that the area builders put into the areas that catered to those of the levels in between 30-40. Why keep upgrading those two or three weapons in the middle if your new super-weapon takes the place of all of them?
From a game play standpoint, the repercussions of a powerful weapon can be even more severe. Every time a newer, stronger eq is introduced to the game, the mobs that were created to be in tune with the previous levels of eq are less and less of a challenge. Eventually, a player at level 20 will equal a level 40 player according to the mob’s design. Imagine running through the entire game killing everything without ever taking a hit. No risk, no challenge, no fun at all. Pressing the keys 10,000 times in a row hardly a fun adventure makes.
Therefore, consider very carefully the eq rewards you make. You cannot be the ‘one-stop-shop’ for every item at level X. A single item, like the jewel in the rough, will still attract players. In fact, from a judgment point of view, the fewer items in your area, the quicker it will open. The fewer items, the less it impinges on other areas. Perhaps one item per area that is the best in the game would work IF the area calls for it, which most do NOT. But, if so, not something that is far superior to what is out there. Maybe a few hps extra, maybe a single dr over current, etc. Make it a nice eq, but not something that will change the balance of the game by too much.
This would lead to the obvious question: If I can’t reward with ‘super-item’, what can I do to entice players into the area? This is the chance to truly prove your creativity. Areas can include puzzles that are fun to solve, challenges of deadly opponents, quests that can involve many hours of fun, and much more. If you have a truly unique reward, talk to an imm, perhaps this can be implemented instead of eq. Additionally, the new item materials give you an excellent option for those overpowered items you desperately wish to see in your area. Perhaps a few more ‘super-items’ could be non-game-threatening if they were made of some very weak, non-repairable material such as glass. This way, the game may be out of balance temporarily, but if the item is hard enough to get, and disappears quickly, it may balance out after all.
Some helpful ideas when coming up with objects for your area: As noted in the “What to Expect” paper, items with spells unique to classes are not gonna fly. However, anything is possible, even ‘super-items’. The best advice would be to keep clear and concise notes on any object that you think might be close to best in game, or unique. Write down how the stats compare to the best in game at that level, why you think it should be included, and what you feel will become of the existing item. This will be a tremendous help to both you and the imm judging the area, as it will save time sorting through the reasons for inclusion at judgment time. Then, when your area is finished, present these notes to the imm judging the area. Many times the game may actually be lacking in eq for the level range you wish to provide a ‘best-in-game’ item – your notes will help the imm to see your logic.
It’s also possible that you may know the perfect fit of an object in your area but do not know what it would equate to in the game itself. For example, you may wish to have a near best-in-game object in your area, but not know the stats that would make it such. In this case, leave the unknown stats blank on the object and write a note to the imm working with you on your area explaining approximately what you want. (ex. “I’d like an item that has about the best mana in the game here, and provides an alternative to current hold objects at X level”) The imm will take your notes and set the object’s stats for you.
I hope this gives you a better idea of what makes for good rewards as well as a tool to help you plan your area a little better. For any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!