Regarding reincarnations

[solar]

TL;DR: Make casting reincs award random shard once in a while.

Reincarnation is a key core feature of the MUD: it allows players to explore the depths of the game world in new ways, providing means of re-igniting those positive feelings they experience when playing Icesus.

Yet, all is not well.

Back in the day, when the level cap was limited only by your guild choice, before main guilds were standardized into 60 level long packages and secondary guilds were not in the game, it made chronomancer levels very useful, if not a necessity, for all players past a certain point.

But now, we have _sec guilds that make 'sense' to join after the main guild, people with full or near-full chronomancer levels are scarcer.

Yet, the need for reincarnations has only risen with the new content of the game.

Pretty much the only players with full chronos are those who have hit the 80+ level mark, but do they hear the pleas of general population when it comes [wanted]: reinc? No, they do not. Not for a stranger at least. They have better things to do with their time, regrettably.

In ages past, we had Gurek to provide (poorly cast) reincarnation services for those who could not find a player to cast the spell at them. These days, we have Rassdael whose services have a level cap. Those who have leveled past Rassdael's cap are not an appealing target group for highbie reincarnation casters. They have blessings with upkeeps, they're somewhere far away, they're idling.

What, then, would make a highbie consider casting reincarnation at other players? They're not really a charity organization. I suspect that an incentive ought to be introduced to serve as a motivator for them.

Make it so, but with proper anti-abuse system, that players providing reincarnations have a chance of acquiring a random shard with the spell, when a player uses their services.

Possible anti-abuse system could be:

Imposing a cooldown timer on the caster when a shard is acquired. The timer would have to expire before a new one could be generated this way. The chance of acquiring a shard could therefore be high, or start out small but increasing cumulatively with each succesful reinc until one is acquired this way.

A player using the services could also have a timer placed on him/her, so that during that cooldown, they would not yield shards from being reincarnated.

A timer system would be good for balancing reasons: The game would not see too high an inflation of shards, since the timer could be readjusted. Yet, a timer-using system would also be a reliable means of gaining a shard, depending on the acquirement chance. More reincarnations cast at different players -> higher likelyhood of gaining a shard -> more reincarnation services offered.

A shard would be a good incentive, since everyone can make use of them, and good shards are also useful for even players with top-end gear.

Discuss.

[douhnin]

You summed it up with the second sentence, really..

I personally don't think it makes sense to add difficulty where reincarnation is concerned. As you said, it does provide a means of re-igniting. And what if you mess up the reinc after level 30?

I've always thought reincarnation should be something that is considerably easy to acquire. But not without a cost.

I don't think giving players more incentive, via random shard reward, will turn things around in any significant way. It's only a chance and it still costs the caster time, sp, and df.

My proposed solution?
Let Rassdael cast reincarnation at anyone, regardless their level. Free for those level 30 and under, and then with a monetary cost (in mithril coins) for anyone over that threshold.

Levels 31-40: 50k
Levels 41-50: 75k
Levels 51-60: 100k
Levels 61-70: 150k
Levels 71-80: 200k
Levels 81-90: 250k
Levels 91-100: 300k

Money sink!
You could still give the random chance for shard reward to player casters as some extra incentive. You could also raise the amount of experience and DF gained by a successful player reincarnation.

Given the fact that those wanting a reinc can easily get an instant one cast for them (via Rassdael and some cash) it would behoove chronomancers seeking those possible rewards to offer their services more readily.
If the reward does not reflect the effort, people simply won't be assed to do anything.

[odovacar]

Allow reincarnation to be cast at self -> BAM everyone takes 8 chrono levels and nobody has to look for charity reincs.

Disclaimer: I haven't thought this through. Just tossing an idea.

[bryant]

Maybe something more rewarding... 50% of the divine favor on the character being re inced goes to the caster. much like a ress and karma. or maybe it also gives 10 karma.

[solar]

Reincarnation gives karma now, which is essentially a reward motivating enough to get a reinc in like two seconds when desired now.

I am content with that solution.

[ity]

Yes, you barely have to ask and atleast two people are ready to reinc you in two seconds, and none of them complain that you just reinced an hour ago anymore!

[kraven]

drop chronolevels to 5 i say