I was thinking there might be a happy medium as far as protective measures go. Some (including myself) think wands are a crappy addition to the game. Others (such as Cerunnir) live for wands and finding new, secret wand locales etc. However, I see the problem as the current system by far rewards those who have the most time to spend hunting/gathering wands/preps. Current abs-o-philes even play high-dex races so they can horde more.

My solution is to make it so only one barrier can be in inventory at a given time (or maybe one of each?). If they try to get more, maybe a 'The mystical powers imbued in item X repulse each other too greatly for you to carry them both!' ala trying to force two positive magnets together. This way, wand-junkies can still enjoy exploring and finding hidden wand locations, but wouldn't be able to mine these areas until they are tapped out and said player has a monopoly on the protections.

What do you think?

I submitted this idea on the Announcement boards, but guess the Imms didn't feel it was posted in the correct place. Anyways, I was an Imm on another mud that had Artifacts. These Artifacts, once used, would load in a random room, so nobody would know where to find them. They were no_locate so locate object wouldn't work. I think this would be a great idea for the A/B/S wands to give the newbies a chance at competing with the elite. But, by limiting the wands like that, it would give the ragers a bit more of an advantage over mages, so I suggest another protective spell, something that reduces damage approximately the same amount as stoneskin. It could stack with stoneskin, but couldn't be used in conjunction to Aura, don't need to make the A/B/S and stoneskinned invokers any tougher. This item would be fairly common, perhaps sold in Galadon. This way everyone would have access to some degree of dam redux, though I would make it wand, stave, or scroll only, no pills. Also, the Artifacts on the other Mud would disappear on logoff, this would prevent the hoarding of A/B/S.

What do you all think?

I wouldn't have it being totally random.

Nor would I have it confined to current and burnt-out abs locations.

If you could come up with a happy medium, I'd like it.

Anyways, I was an Imm on another mud that had Artifacts. These Artifacts, once used, would load in a random room, so nobody would know where to find them.

I've seen stuff like this, and I think it only makes sense in an OOC environment. Why would the kobolds have one? How do they get into locked rooms of abandoned buildings? Do all artifacts possess one kind of curse which causes them to randomly teleport around?

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

In an OOC sense maybe they teleport around, in an IC sense maybe they're so highly regarded and treasured that EVERYBODY is looking for them and taking them when they can. So, the kobolds have one because a kobold scout found one in the Tower of Sorcery and smuggled it back. It's in that locked room because a thief from that area found it and crawled in through a window to add it to his stash. Etc. Etc. I think you should give aura, barrier, and shield to all mages and just make them cost 500 mana a piece and last for 2 ticks. *sagenod*

I prefer the current system where a mage has to think of logical places for such devices, rather than having to constantly run everywhere in Thera.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

There was a log not long ago, that showed a transmuter with 8 barrier rods. Is there any reason he really needs to carry 8? I was around this character quite often, and he ALWAYS had a ton of wands on him. I think the current wand location system works well too, but I think the people that take a wand repeatedly til it's gone abuse the system. I think one of each, or even two of each wand in your inventory, would be a more than fair system.

Having that many barrier wands means you can use barrier & other damage reduction against mobs (presumably to get even more barrier wands) instead of reserving your four pitifil barrier charges for PK only.

1) That behavior doesn't impact the system as much as you think.

2) At worst, it's no different from the same transmuter keeping 8 highly limited or unique objects in their inventory. As long as they're playing enough to hold onto that stuff, I don't really care what they use the slots for.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

>2) At worst, it's no different from the same transmuter keeping 8 highly limited or unique objects in their inventory. As long as they're playing enough to hold onto that stuff, I don't really care what they use the slots for.

If this is the case, then I would think that these wands should be locatable/viewable on pc's. The odds of someone having 8 unlocatable (lvl 52+), un-seeable objects in their inventory that aren't wands is well...zero.

Not knowing the current system, I think you could make all the ABS wands teleport randomly within an appropriate sub-set of areas and mobs.

What I'm not sure about is if there's any benefit to doing so.

I've seen some abs wands end up in some pretty wack, illogical and/or extremely well-travelled places of late.

I can't, and really don't have a real interest in being more specific than that because I generally don't play mages but maybe take a second look at what is 'logical' to you guys because it comes off as pretty off-the-wall sometimes when I find them or force the info out of other players, at least for me.

It would be like the deck of many things, magic infused into the item that causes it to randomly teleport once used.

I don't see why a high dex race shouldn't have a prepping advantage over a low dex race. Low dex races have a lot of other advantages.

That said, sometimes I don't see having two as excessive. If you are stuck in defense against lots of enemies, you need barrier because you are heavily outnumbered, and you don't have time to run off and replace anything.

I still like the -1hr duration on any of aura, barrier, shield, haste and stoneskin for each of the above preps in the inventory. Obviously this would require some preps having longer durations to start with (e.g. the 2 hour haste preps). This means that there are some benefits to hoarding, but also some major drawbacks. If your barrier only lasts an hour, the need to keep renewing it will cause you some problems.

You'd also need the thing that keeps track of the number of wands you have to be working off a delay, of say, 24 ticks, so that people can't just drop their wands, use one, then pick them all up again.