MedievaLands Forums

With MedievaLands being in the position it currently is, having the majority of equipment and like already set up to be restricted for trade and he like, I would like to eventually see more tradeable equipment or items between players. Of course, I am not looking for anything as obvious as quest items, I speak more about finding potentially useful gear. If you wanted to balance the game's overall use out of equipment, you could even add some equipment to have level restrictions, which would help prevent misuse of the feature if it was implemented.

While it's great to have players traveling together and working together to explore the volcano, I think it'd also be helpful for players to be able to share in the spoils they do find in their journeys.

I've been browsing the MUD-DEV archives of late, and I've come across the term 'mudflation'. Have you heard of it? It's what happens when a MUD continues to add new content. To appeal to players, the added content must be ever so slightly better than the previous content in terms of statistics. The old content becomes gradually devalued until it's useless.

I don't want to create items that are more potent than existing items, but I also recognize that it's all but a requirement to make the new stuff worth collecting. Level requirements are a good thought. Are there any other ideas to help keep current content relevant?

Here is an idea from me: the new dropped content isn't immediately useful, but rather, must be used by the player over time to unlock its power. Perhaps the player has to wield a pitiful sword, which, as it defeats enemies, slowly becomes more powerful until it just very slightly eclipses the most powerful current gear. An alternative to this might be that the new drops are reagents...

... reagents which must be transmuted by a player to something useful.

I've never heard of the term, honestly. That said, you could technically still keep previous items relevant, it would just require some balancing in equipment stats and if the item is tradeable or not.

The idea of reagents/components to make greater items is an interesting one; it would definitely make for new goals for players to strive for, eventually unveiling new material and rewarding those patient enough to aim for them. Some things to consider in that regard:

- Inventory: Inventory space is limited, so gathering a large list of reagents would be difficult; if you plan on doing something like this, I'd say keep the reagents/components needed per item to like 2-3 items.

- Balance: Not only could you add new pieces of equipment, you could even have it so original items are "craftable" so to speak; it would benefit those who have to hunt for them by giving them another avenue to get the items they want.