Curse

actionjack · Jul 25, 2006, 05:59 AM // 05:59

Crystal Mine of Shinmera

This idea was partly developed as a way to add certain level of “Grind” into the game, with out disrupting the normal flow of the game. The bases of it is to give player an area with its own separate “levels” counting system, in which player could progress on with increasing better of rewards, yet still with degree of challenge and balance. It is like a very elaborate Game inside the game.

Crystal Mine of Shinmera will be a new type of area. First, player will enter this zone from an outpost, where they can find other players to group with. The Mines are divided into several levels, with different restrictions to enter depending on your Miner Rank. The goal is to get as much of crystal piece from the mine and bring them up above ground to trade them for Miner Experience, items, or gold.

Crystal:

You get the crystals in two ways.
1) You get them as a drop from defeating the mob in the mine.
2) You Mine them from the rocks from a Mining Spot (act sort like a chest)

For first way is oblivious, and usually all mob will drop them, but in smaller amount. There are special Mining Spot that spawn randomly in each mines, where you need a Picks item (like a chest key) to “Open” them. Once the Mining Spot is Mined (or open), it will be empty. The amount of crystal and/or item you get this way will also depended on your Minter Rank.

One Important thing, Crystals is NOT an ACTUAL ITEM (You will not see it in your Inventory), but a counter item. When pick it up, it adds to a Counter that count how many crystals your team have. The same counter is shared by the whole team, thus everyone is Unison. (so if I pick up one crystal piece, my, and all my teammate’s crystal counter goes up by one)

There are several types of crystal that you can find too.

Crystal Sparkle: The most common find. Will count as 1 piece.
Crystal Bit: A better find. Will count as 5 pieces.
Crystal Slice: Even better, but also more rare, count as 10 pieces.
Crystal Chunk: This will act a bit differently. When found and pick up, it will be a Hold Item (like gear), and you must return it to the entrance where you have your Mining Cart to earn its worth. It will earn you 75 pieces.
Crystal Gem: Most rare find. Will appear only at the lower Mines. When find, not only will it count as 50 pieces, but also is an item where the finder (or who it was assigned) can keep, which could later sold as rare material from a nice price. (estimate about 6-3k gold)

Another very important concept. ALL Crystal pieces earn on the counter can only be redeemable when properly exit the mine. This means should you use Map Travel or your whole team dies with no rez shrine near, or if you ever got disconnected, than all the Crystal you earn during the period of the time you are in there will be LOST. Only by returning to the Mine entrance/exit Elevator Shaft back to the above ground to the Miner Vault (which is not the outpost, but still part of the exploration area), and talk to the appropriate NPC, will your crystal be redeemable at the amount of the Count that you’ve earn. (its the believe that making it an actual item will have some problem with running and "dipping", which make it less challenging to play)

Miner Rank:
The Crystal pieces that you earned also can be used as an “experience point”, in which you turn them in to a NPC in the Miners Vault and use to Level Up your Miner’s Rank. They are cumulative, and you do not need to turn all of them in at once. (will slowly add up, somewhat like that of faction). You can also wear your current Rank like a Title. There are 8 Ranks in total. (I won’t give the exact number of how much crystal is needed to attend each rank, but only a rough estimation of the “ideal” time needed in “crystal grinning”)

Lv1: Beginner Miner: 30Min:
Lv2: Novice Miner: 1hr
Lv3: Apprentice Miner: 2hr
Lv4: Trained Miner: 4hr
Lv5: Experience Miner: 6hr
Lv6: Skillful Miner: 8hr
Lv7: Expert Miner: 12hr
Lv8: Master Miner: 16hr

Each rank will also give you extra ability in mining, such as more chance to find the Mining Spot, or better percentage in getting the better crystal type when Mined from a Mining Spot, Better Bargaining when trading in your crystal, etc. Also it effect what level of mine you can get in.

Mines:
There are 5 levels of Mine, each in increasing difficulties. Also in order to gain entrance to each mines, there are a Miner Rank requirement, which you need at least one player on your team that reach or is above the required Miner’s Rank. The rest who did not meet the requirement will need to Buy/Paid a Miner’s Risk Voucher (price around 250 gold, one time use) in order to get into those of higher level Mines. You choose what level of Mines you and your group want to go, and pay the fees there. Once done, will instantly teleport you into the level of you choice. You do not need to fight from one level to the next. (however, there are warp exit deep in each of Mine’s level that will allow you to move on to the next one, with out pay fees. Of course, they are time consuming to get to, and often well guarded)

Mine Level 1: The easiest of all. Area dotted with low level (lv 15-18) mobs. Mostly Sparkles, and few Bits if lucky. All Miner Rank can get in with no extra fee.

Mine Level 2: Harder than Level 1. More mob that is around lv 18-22. Sparkles and Bits, and even occasionally even a Slice. Must have someone with Miner Rank 3 to get in, and anyone below require the Miner Risk Voucher to get in.

Mine Level 3: Harder still, with lv 20 to 24s, but with better drops. Must have someone with Miner Rank 5 to get in, and anyone below require the Miner Risk Voucher to get in.

Mine Level 4: Tougher Monster, with lots ambush and traps, that require player to always keep their eye out if they want to stay alive. Will see lot more Crystal Chunks and even Crystal Gem or two here. Must have someone with Miner Rank 7 to get in, and anyone below require the Miner Risk Voucher to get in.

Mine Level 5: The Last Area of the Mines. Full of taught mobs design to give player hard time on every turn. Traps and False lure will often lead a un-experience and un-coordinate team to their early death. Also will have environmental effect on several places. Of course, will find great rewards, as well as even some special boss with its own green item or two down here. Can only be access by a full team of Master Miner, or thought Mine Level 4.

Team Building:
The Mines and the mob in it will be design for a 6 player group. (I think 6 player is the best number to play). You can go with less, with more chance of finding the better drops, but will also have more risk of dying (and loosing all your crystals)

Item:
There are a few special item that you need to use while in the Mine.

Pick: An Inventory Item that is one time use. It is used like a Key to “open” the Mining Spot. It can be stack. (cost about 50 gold each)

Advance Pick: Can only be used by those of Miner Rank lv 5 or above. When used, will give better chance of getting better crystal pieces. Also is needed to “open” Tough Mining Spots. (cost about 150 gold each)

Miner Risk Voucher: Item needed to get into a higher Mine level than your current Miner Rank allow. Act like an entrance fee. Will automatically be deducted from your inventory when you enter. (price to be about 200 gold)

And yes, they are designed as a progressive gold sink.

Beside Trading in your Crystal Pieces for Miner Rank points, you can also trade them in for Gold and items, such as Picks, Advance Picks, Miner Risk Voucher, Collector Weapons, and even Crystal Gems (a rare material), so that even one who is not desire to work their Miner Level can earn something rewarding should they want to explore the mines (or to help friends)

Mob:
I won’t go into much details about Mobs. Most can be old mob with new skill. But would be nice to see some (two or three) new kind of mob. Also would be good to give them some special abilities (such as cause Cave In and such)

Also note that those mob won’t drop too much good drops. The area is more for farming Crystals, and not farming gold or drops. But special boss mob at the lower level will give out some nice green drops, so to add additional attraction for increasing your Miner Ranks.

Quests:
Such area could also incorporate several repeatable quests with reward of Crystal Pieces or other. Things like Finding the Missing Miner or Defend a Tunnel could work its way in, as random event quest or given by the NPC at scripted locations. It just to help break up the mono-tone of crystal farming a bit.

Flow:
To bring it all back together. The basic flow of the game would be: Players meet up and group in group of 6 or less players in the Outpost, and agree to what levels of Mine they want to explore. The leader talk to the Mine Keeper NPC, and teleport to that level, where they can begin to explore, kill mobs, collect the Crystal Piece (a counting item, and not an actual item) and search for Mine Spots. After so, assuming their party did not fall, when everyone is tire or content with their finds, will return to the Mine Entrance of that level to go to the Mine Vault to trade in their hard earn Crystal Pieces for points into their Miner’s Rank, or for gold, or for some item, and after, they can return back to outpost to plot another adventure.

Some people might speak to say that If you want to play a Grinding game and mine, go play things like WoW and such. However, the point of this idea is to deliver to the player something more than a few enjoy, which is Grinding (there are lots reason why people like to Grind, but I won’t go into too much detail here, just to say that it would attract many grind-liking player to play it). Why make other leave the game, when you can build a game more diverse to give to people what they enjoy. (with the rule of that it would not disrupted the usual flow and the bases theme of the game, which is one thing I hope to achieve with this optional, separate dimension area of grinding).

I think that is the major detail of it; hopefully I am not missing anything important (yes, its too long winded, and would be surprise how many would actaully read it all...

). Feed back is welcome, or Q&A if unclear at any point.

Stockholm · Jul 25, 2006, 06:15 AM // 06:15

Sound Idea, but where would it be located? If in factions it should be jade that's mined, could be located some where along the border of the jade sea

actionjack · Jul 25, 2006, 06:36 AM // 06:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stockholm

Sound Idea, but where would it be located? If in factions it should be jade that's mined, could be located some where along the border of the jade sea

Well, I don't care too much where it would be located... maybe even in future chapters. Also yes, the resource and the name of things can easily be change to something else (like Jade, or diamon, etc)

Omega X · Jul 25, 2006, 06:40 AM // 06:40

You shouldn't have used the word "grind".

But anyway, it reminds me of a Dungeon or "instance" like they say in WoW.

Guild Wars could use something like this to add content to previous chapters, and it would give people a reason to go back instead of forward all the time.

actionjack · Jul 25, 2006, 06:51 AM // 06:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega X

You shouldn't have used the word "grind".

But anyway, it reminds me of a Dungeon or "instance" like they say in WoW.

Guild Wars could use something like this to add content to previous chapters, and it would give people a reason to go back instead of forward all the time.

True, that such area would still offers many skillful challenges, and not something that can get by with mindless grind.

But this thread was somewhat extension of my ideas from topic of "A way to raise level cap without ruining game" and "Gw need more score like elements".

It is to sort of mimic that of MMO grind and leveling and its progressive reward and open to new areas (by creating a seperate sub-level system, the Miner Rank), while not to disrupte the normal flow of the game. Also it is like that of my earlier Dungeon War idea (if anyone remember that one)

Phoenix Arrows · Jul 25, 2006, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Uhh...if it's really to grind, I think the approximate times should be raised to like 3 hours for level one and 50 hours for level eight, with intervals in between. Also, this seems a lot like traditional RPGs with different skills and stuff (Runescape perhaps).

Ken Dei · Jul 25, 2006, 06:45 PM // 18:45

"Signet of Approval"

If they're grinding in the mines, they're not grinding in the missions.

MysticoN · Jul 25, 2006, 10:58 PM // 22:58

/singed .. neat idea

MysticoN · Jul 25, 2006, 10:58 PM // 22:58

/singed .. neat idea

Cracko · Jul 25, 2006, 11:12 PM // 23:12

/signed, nice thinking

Stockholm · Jul 26, 2006, 03:02 AM // 03:02

Actionjack, you should apply for a job at A-Net some off your ideas sure beat theirs hands down.

Blue man · Jul 30, 2006, 02:42 AM // 02:42

I like this idea, i just dont know how many ppl would do it to make money, since the only cash rewards u posted were the rare material crystal gem.
Other than that /signed

-blue man

actionjack · Jul 30, 2006, 03:57 AM // 03:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue man

I like this idea, i just dont know how many ppl would do it to make money, since the only cash rewards u posted were the rare material crystal gem.
Other than that /signed

-blue man

Well, I am thinking that the lower area will offer more and better crystals as well some rare drops. And remember, you can exchange the crystal you earn into gold, which make it worth while, and more attracting for people to grind up their mining ranks to accesses those deeper mines.

But I won't make it where you are earning alot thought. It would and should be a good farming area, but won't make it where it would be much better than that of other "farm fields".