Twilight Forums

I've been wondering about something and can't find any mention of it elsewhere in the forums, and chat strangles my browser, so I must ask: the Wok of Stars sells the Item of the Month, but still has last month's Hero's Cape. Will the Cape ever leave the store, or will players like me (unable to donate for 3+ years) be able to get it by buying silver stars one by one in the Auction House?

Tviri

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Since last month was the first month of the game, I decided to leave the cape in for a second month. However, it will be leaving the Wok of Stars at the end of December, never to be offered again. If you're really determined to get one, you'll have to farm for the stars. (Gold or silver--if you get a gold, it's convertible into silver with no problem.)

The cape was supposed to be an exception, but I've had a couple of requests to keep the shield for a second month, too. The argument being that there still aren't that many players in the game, and leaving it around for a while might be nice for the continual trickle of new players. Some people have even suggested that every item should have a two-month appearance at the Wok.

I see the point, some, but I'm leaning towards sticking with my initial plan of discontinuing it at the end of December. Primarily, I think I should stick to what I told people I'd do. Secondarily, I think the "Item of the Month" is a nice, simple, easy to understand concept. Whereas, "Item that shows up for two months and overlaps with two other items," gets kinda confusing. I think there would be no end of questions from new players about how it works, when things expire, which of the two in the store is the old one, and stuff like that. Finally, I just don't think there's going to be that huge of a difference in listing the shield for a second month--most people who really want one and will be able to get one already have one, and most folks who need to save up to get it later can get it from the auction house nearly as easily as from me.

If anyone feels really strongly about this issue one way or the other, you've got a day or two to discuss it here.

I don't think anyone's going to call you a liar and a cheat if you don't take the shield out of the store until the end of January, especialy the people who can't donate, such as myself and Mr. Tviri here. Just put at the top of the Wok text or something, nobody would mind and plenty of people would appreciate it.

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TheK3vin- #325

http://soundcloud.com/thek3vin

Stick with the original plan Ryme, this is the IotM for people who where here when it came out, apart from getting confusing leaving stuff in, it sort of undermines the prinsiple of an Item of the Month...

I don't think it would really benift people who dontate, I have on both occations got the IotM with in a few days of it being released.

You could just not copy the IoTM system from KoL, and have a little tag that says something like (Availible from Dec. - Jan.) next to the items in question.

I've never really liked KoL's IoTM system for this. Too much market instability. I think this way would be better.

i feel like having an item in the wok of stars for two months is just a bit too long. like MrAnderson said, maybe have a predetermined set of dates listed for an item's availability so players know exactly how long it will be in there. i think something along the lines of six weeks would be a good amount of time for an item to be available.

The thing is, I guess people want to be able to compare IotM to see which ones they really want.

Kinda, but not really. I've just always wanted an extra month to be comfortable in purchasing things.

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That was my plan, but unless there's some super secret farming strategy I'm not aware of, it's currently impossible to farm the chips for 10 silver stars in a single month. I don't plan to watch the auction house like a hawk, so donating seems to be my only option. Which is fine, but I'm still not certain I want to put my money into this game. (Not because it's bad. I'm just kind of shaky on giving $10 to a game that's only been public for two months)

I like the idea of keeping items in for more than a month. So long as there's a label (this item's available until February 1st), it should run smoothly.

You can incentivize donations and still have items available for a little while. Maybe, the first month it is 10 stars and then the price goes to 25 stars the second month, and then off the landscape for good. Those that really want it will dig deep in month one.

In theory, star prices should stabilize to a point where you can farm up a Gold in a month. Sadly, that doesn't much help people wanting a cape or a shield.

On the other hand, they probably won't shoot up too much, as nobody will be able to afford them.

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The churches are empty / The priest has gone home / And we are left standing / Together alone
--October Project: "Dark Time"

while being able to compare things may be nice, i think it kind of screws around with the whole iotm system too much. to me, it just makes things all the more fun and interesting if something is only available for a limited amount of time, and only one item at a time.

and i missed this post the first time around, oops. i second this idea. if the item does stay around for more than a month, it should become more expensive. maybe not 25 stars, but definitely more than 10.

Hrm. Thanks for all the input, but I feel just about as divided as I did before.

I think I'm gonna split the difference, and leave the shield for an extra two weeks. I'm adding an expiration date to the Wok so that it'll be obvious exactly when it will disappear.

Going forward, I do plan on sticking to just month by month (not counting a few other things I might add that stick around longer or permanently). I'll always have an expiration date for things that will be expiring.

I'd like the items to stick around for a week or a few days. Just because it's an IotM, doesn't have to mean you can only get it that month (not true for people in other time zones anyway). It's still going to be available for a limited time, so it doesn't really affect players all that much.

The expiration date is a nice touch, btw.

This seems like a good compromise. A question though: can we ever expect more items in the Wok? Particularly items that stick around forever? Or will the gold star be it for the foreseeable future?

I believe there's a couple in the works, but it's a balance and creation issue.

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The churches are empty / The priest has gone home / And we are left standing / Together alone
--October Project: "Dark Time"

I can't wait to sell my extra Hero's Cape and Aegis Flux in the A.H. a few months from now.

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I've won the 100k DD bet so many times, I should have the title "Mr. Luck"

/cry, I barely missed it... Couldn't donate.

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TheK3vin- #325

http://soundcloud.com/thek3vin

Personally I like the method that Secret Society Wars uses. The first month the item is available at the lowest cost (in this case the lowest cost in stars) and each month it would go up by one star until it finally leaves the Wok. SSW keeps things around a year which seems like a long time to me.

I think something like 6 months would be nice though. Gives new users that will be flooding in over the next few months a chance to pick up old IOTM even if they are more expensive. Admitedly this is all based around making the IOTM more available to people rather than less.. and I'm sure that it would keep price inflation down and all that, but I've never been one to play the markets much so I tend to side with availability vs profit.

When the first month it actually doubles, then starts going up in the later months (5, 10, 11, 12...), which is supposed to help encourage investment.

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Well, I've got a hat!

True, the exact mechanic wasn't too important, mainly just the idea that

a) There are a number of IOTMs from past months that new players have a chance to get.
b) The ingame cost goes up the longer an item is in the Wok to help encourage people to get the items at a reduced price. Luckily TH already has a nice system in place to make partial increases possible (the silver stars vs the monolithic Mr. A.).

Maybe for the benefit of getting some of the older IOTM you pay a larger premium.

Something like this :

This Months Uber ITem 10 Silver Stars
Last Months 15 Silver Stars
2 Months Ago 20 Silver Stars
3 Months Ago 25 Silver Stars
4 Months Ago 30 Silver Stars
5 Months Ago 40 Silver Stars
6 Months Ago 50 Silver Stars.

Seems kinda nuts at first. After all if people are selling in the Auction house for the equivalent of 23 silver stars for the 6 Months ago item who would shell out enough for 50 Silver Stars.. well mainly for convinence. What if no one is selling them in the auction. What if you don't want to wait for your own auctions to convert the SS into chips so you can maybe get the item you actually want. Heck.. with somehting like this I'd almost be willing to say that all past items over 6 months be available for 100 silver stars. It does set a bit of a top cap on the item prices (lets say 6,000,000 chips from what I've seen in the auctions) which would allow the very determined to get old IOTM if they really want them and spend the time/cash to get them.

And while I know that in a perfect and altruistic world the IOTM are meant as thank you's to donators, they are also the 'really neat' things that drive donations and hence the survival of the game. I'm fairly certain that keeping them always available, at a very high premium, would help generate more donations from people with the means that join up later and crave a Hero's Cape (for example).

i like clown hammer's idea

This is a good idea. And, BTW I have at least 2 of each donation item including the hero's cape.

I really like Clown Hammer's idea. I'm a little worried that I might not be able to scrounge up enough chips by the end of the month, and I don't have Paypal or anything to actually donate through.