I appreciate Dwilgar taking the time to share his ideas. I do agree with
his suggestions about belt rank in finger, and having commission rates
affected by a skill. I don't quite agree with his other ideas.
I think the main problems we face are not based on skills or their usage,
rather on attitudes of people who join the guild. Rather than modifying skills
in ways that "punish" everyone, why not modify things to affect the
reinc-to-merchant-for-few-weeks-of-supposed-fast-money-then-glut-market-with-cr
appy-chests-then-reinc-out players? These people should be hindered, not the
longer-term merchant population. Ideas shouldn't be based on high-level/exp
vs. low-level/exp (that is already in effect), but on non-idle time spent in
guild using the skills.
I have cut down trees. It really doesn't take more energy to cut down tall
trees that yield more, or shorter trees. Most "wood" trees would be easy to
cut. (There are, of course, extreme examples.) If one wants realism (I said
if), certain types of logs would weigh more or less. The problem is not with
yield of logs, it's with players carrying skeletons and making chests from raw
logs. Perhaps make chest creation epcost/duration significantly higher if it's
not done in an "area" and/or if materials are not refined? Perhaps disable
using raw logs on chests, or give such chests very low maxcond (perhaps noted
in shortdesc as "aged" or "worn").
I think that raising skills with practice and time is a great idea that
could factor in more. Perhaps make lumberjacking/mining raise with use, as
well as refine, amalg, alloy, etc.? Merchants are supposed to be skilled
craftsmen, so I would rather see the guild offer benefits for time spent
"practicing" in the guild (again, not idling, but using those skills) rather
than punishing everyone for the easy-in-easy-out merchants.
Good ideas have been presented, such as making more of the skills raise
upon successful usage, so you would need to spend reasonable amounts of RL
non-idle time in the guild to be able to accomplish more. And it would be
reasonable to allow these "practiced" skills to save for a certain amount of
hours if person is reincing from merchant to merchant, rather than starting
that over. (Saving this on belt was also suggested, but should practiced skill
increase really be saved if person leaves guild for months? I really don't
know.)
I do appreciate the many creative things we've seen our cadre of Wizards
implement in this guild. We are lucky to be in a guild that is watched over so
well.
I have not been in this guild the longest, nor am I the most experienced or
most skilled, but I have been in this guild for half a year now (as well as
through several different variations of the guild over the years) and have
seen that all the changes (recently and cumulatively) have equalled positive
results for this guild and the game.
Szilard