Monday 9 December 2002

Pic of the day: Snapshot of main character. (That's a stone in the background, not a silly hat.)

Bankers of the realm

Meanwhile, back in DAoC, on the cooperative server. The bootstrapping of the economy on Gaheris proceeds, but in a haphazard way. My characters have managed to give away some of the newbie items they have outgrown, but not all. The spirit of giving is still kind of poorly developed, as the high level characters seem to be driven by the need to reach ever higher rather than pulling the rest of the populace along with them. This elitism is understandable. Some people don't bother to exert themselves much, even for a game. But these are the extremes both ways. As the middle class muddles through, I believe in a change for the better. History shows that the middle class is the key to successful revolutions.

My tentative main character, the paladin, is currently level 11 and is harvesting for loot in the Tomb of Mithra. He has managed to upgrade his armor from green-con ("better than nothing") studded leather to green-con chain, and surprisingly it makes a notable difference. He is hit less and takes less damage. Still, he would probably be in trouble had he not specialized heavily in shield (he is a Saracen, with very high dexterity). The upper levels of Mithra are heavily camped by people both under and over his level, and for much of the night any monster is killed on sight. It is much the same feeling as when I fought in the zombie hills outside Prydwen, on the second night, when we also kept the undead down. That's a few days and a few levels ago. I wonder if this baby boom will also be in the other popular fields, or whether the differences in playing frequency will eventually spread it more evenly across the levels. Probably the latter, but it will still take some time.

Tomb of Mithra is mostly famous for its Forlorn chain armor, which is around level 13-14 and of good quality, plus it has magical enchantments on it. These permanent spells improve the character's attributes such as strength or dexterity. For this reason, it is highly sought after by paladins in particular ... we use chain during all of this period, from levels 10 to 19, which is just when the Forlorn armor starts to lose its appeal. So far I have found two pieces of armor, and a few blue-con ("slightly weak") weapons. I intend to continue harvesting there until I have a full set or until I can move on to another dungeon, either Keltoi or Darkness Falls, around level 20. There is a brisk trade in armor parts, so I believe it should be possible to equip at least myself, possibly also help some others.

***

I have come up with an idea that I believe can help, but I cannot pull it off until I am higher level and better known on the server. I want to start a guild based purely on economics. After all, there is no player killing and the realms are allied on this server, so a militaristic approach is less natural. I have even thought of a name ... Bankers of the Realms, or just The Bankers. It will be based on the concept of hand-me-down.

DAoC now has 8 character slots per realm, and on Gaheris you can create characters on all 3 realms. This means 24 character slots. I don't feel it is unreasonable to ask all guild members to create one Vault character each, and higher officers 1 in each realm. These will store weapons and armor donated by the guild members, and distribute them to younger members. Indeed, I want guild rank to be based on the net economic contribution to the guild, rather than directly on level or fighting prowess. (Of course, you still need a high level in fighting or crafting to get hold of valuable items.)

My favorite guild, The Faithful on Galahad, has an organized hand-me-down in the form of the weapon library and the armor library. But there is only one of each (possibly two of armor, not that I have seen more than one). And the librarians are played by people who are also top of the line crafters, as well as high level players, so they are often occupied in the time they are online. By having vastly more storage space and more bankers, we should get more active use of the hand-me-down. In fact, it would be the core of the guild.

Once the vaults are starting to brim over, we should be able to lend (at a moderate interest rate) to other players. There is always a certain risk involved, but as I say, this is surplus equipment. The actual members will have the first pick.

The potential benefit is great. Each item can last through ca 3 characters, meaning that ideally each character will only have a third of the equipment cost. This easily allows one to use the optimal equipment for one's level, and still save up money for investment in weapon crafting, armor crafting, and spell crafting. The potential benefits are enormous, first for the guild members and then for the entire server.

Of course, this will never happen, or at least not by my hand, since my fads usually last ca 2 weeks. Watch these pages 2 weeks from now, and chances are there will be little or no mention of Gaheris and the game economy...