12-05-2022, 12:33 PM
Hello, welcome to my annual thesis paper of something or another. Today, we’re going to look at Korvara’s economy! Or well, the lack of-
Korvara as a whole has stagnated rather quickly in terms of economy, in large part due to a lack of things to use resources on.
Money isn't really needed once you finish getting your equipment set up aside from the occasional few consumables. Repair and inn costs are basically nonexistent. In G6, furniture for player housing cost a fortune which actually dumped a lot of resources away along with things like Hikari's buffs. Things you could only get specifically in certain places (Amalgama reset fruit, fishing contests, prayer items, combat like mine raids and doggos) incentivized travel.
Resources follow the same vein. You can get all varieties of fish from any water source, so why bother traveling to Meiaquar (and you can't even find black pearls reliably there- only in Duyuei and Telegrad. Seafood industry dead in the water)? Crops and medicinal herbs grow in abundance and you only need a couple hundred before being set for ages, so why bother traveling to Telegrad to purchase them? Geladyne is ironically one of the worst places for mining, with few types of ore variety and long maps to traverse to mine them. Duyuei hasn't really been an RP hub for monster part trades or cuisine, with snakemen only having mediocre drops.
I was admittedly disappointed when I discovered on launch that each nation did not have monopolies on the trade goods they’re ICly touted for (and gold bars dropping from bosses because I knew they would give money too easily). Unfortunately, it's probably too late to do any changes regarding where current resources spawn.
One example I like to use when referencing IC trading and how it's affected by RP is when Duyuei closed access to the Wastes from outsiders before most people had stocks of items. Snake venom could only be reliably obtained from snakemen, thus driving up the prices for it as supply could not meet demand. This sort of dynamic RP that affected trade prices around the island should be the norm, not the exception.
A remedy would be to start introducing systems along the same lines of medheads in G6 but in the form of resource and murai contribution, with the points gained for certain materials varying for each country. Have a weekly quota with points and "levels" that a territory needs to hit and maintain that allows deployment of certain NPCs (which people pay to get buffs from like Hikari…) for buffs once it reaches a certain level. Utilize further resources to summon a boss fight exclusive to the region.
Examples of possible contributions and systems could be:
Geladyne:
Mostly needs ingot donations, with non-iron ones giving more points. The farther away/harder an ore is to get, the more points contributed (ie: iron ingots give 1 point each but planetarium gives 5.) Other donations could be weapons, armor (rarer weapons give more points) and training dummies since it is a military country. This would also make blacksmiths much more useful than they are currently and provide woodworkers with more work.
Rewards: Blacksmiths that give a status that increases weapon and/or armor parameters by 2 for x amount of rounds, up to a cap (so people can't just pay for a buff in one go and then not have to maintain country levels or worry about traveling.) Raremetal shop. Increased chance of obtaining gems from ore. Bosses no longer drop gold bars, just straight money and gold bars are added as a percent chance from mining, increased by buffs.
Rewards: Increased murai drop rate and small loot chance increase. Fishing contests! Access to an NPC with unique items (that wandering merchant could stop by if they see business is booming- this could apply to all territories if they reach a certain level) like a bauble to craft a super rod. Make rods have durability and have better craftable ones that need blacksmithing + tailoring + woodworking. Chance of treasure chests with a black pearl/items when fishing in Meiaquar. Murai for sold items is increased in Meiaquar.
Rewards: Increased stamina recovery from food. Increased speed when chopping trees/digging holes/trenches. Increased chance for foraging to be successful. Ingredients for crafting special consumable food items that recover a flat amount of hp/fp out of combat (these won't be subject to fullness obviously or they could have reduced values when full.) Let us make tea and frosted cake and other food items to do restaurant RP again!!
Rewards: Increased monster exp. Increased chance of harvesting remains. Exclusive food ingredients to make food items that give buffs when fighting monsters (these could also be NPC buffs but I think encouraging crafting is better.) Remains trade shop.
>>(I'd also like something for Wanderer’s Vale/Smuggler's Den too with these changes so it’s not left in the dust but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t overlap with the others. Maybe the traveling merchant could spawn there instead once the other countries hit a certain total level? Or if the ruins come out there could be more possibilties…)
TLDR:
Korvara as a whole has stagnated rather quickly in terms of economy, in large part due to a lack of things to use resources on.
Money isn't really needed once you finish getting your equipment set up aside from the occasional few consumables. Repair and inn costs are basically nonexistent. In G6, furniture for player housing cost a fortune which actually dumped a lot of resources away along with things like Hikari's buffs. Things you could only get specifically in certain places (Amalgama reset fruit, fishing contests, prayer items, combat like mine raids and doggos) incentivized travel.
Resources follow the same vein. You can get all varieties of fish from any water source, so why bother traveling to Meiaquar (and you can't even find black pearls reliably there- only in Duyuei and Telegrad. Seafood industry dead in the water)? Crops and medicinal herbs grow in abundance and you only need a couple hundred before being set for ages, so why bother traveling to Telegrad to purchase them? Geladyne is ironically one of the worst places for mining, with few types of ore variety and long maps to traverse to mine them. Duyuei hasn't really been an RP hub for monster part trades or cuisine, with snakemen only having mediocre drops.
I was admittedly disappointed when I discovered on launch that each nation did not have monopolies on the trade goods they’re ICly touted for (and gold bars dropping from bosses because I knew they would give money too easily). Unfortunately, it's probably too late to do any changes regarding where current resources spawn.
One example I like to use when referencing IC trading and how it's affected by RP is when Duyuei closed access to the Wastes from outsiders before most people had stocks of items. Snake venom could only be reliably obtained from snakemen, thus driving up the prices for it as supply could not meet demand. This sort of dynamic RP that affected trade prices around the island should be the norm, not the exception.
A remedy would be to start introducing systems along the same lines of medheads in G6 but in the form of resource and murai contribution, with the points gained for certain materials varying for each country. Have a weekly quota with points and "levels" that a territory needs to hit and maintain that allows deployment of certain NPCs (which people pay to get buffs from like Hikari…) for buffs once it reaches a certain level. Utilize further resources to summon a boss fight exclusive to the region.
Examples of possible contributions and systems could be:
All countries: Iron ingots and ash wood for each country (varying for each one) and a certain amount of food items. Alchemy items for healing like bandages.
Geladyne:
Rewards: Blacksmiths that give a status that increases weapon and/or armor parameters by 2 for x amount of rounds, up to a cap (so people can't just pay for a buff in one go and then not have to maintain country levels or worry about traveling.) Raremetal shop. Increased chance of obtaining gems from ore. Bosses no longer drop gold bars, just straight money and gold bars are added as a percent chance from mining, increased by buffs.
Meiaquar:
Mostly seafood, with larger fish giving more points. Murai donations and gems along with crafted items give points (at varying point values based on rarity/difficulty to craft, as it is supposed to be the trade city.) This incentivizes trading with other countries and players to raise money and exchange goods as a mercantile society.Rewards: Increased murai drop rate and small loot chance increase. Fishing contests! Access to an NPC with unique items (that wandering merchant could stop by if they see business is booming- this could apply to all territories if they reach a certain level) like a bauble to craft a super rod. Make rods have durability and have better craftable ones that need blacksmithing + tailoring + woodworking. Chance of treasure chests with a black pearl/items when fishing in Meiaquar. Murai for sold items is increased in Meiaquar.
Telegrad:
Mostly crops and lumber. Crop of the week gives extra points to encourage crop rotation so people are encouraged not to just stack one plant to fulfill the quota. Foraged items (hidden violets, hartshorns, mushrooms, etc), seeds and crafted food items give increased points. Rewards: Increased stamina recovery from food. Increased speed when chopping trees/digging holes/trenches. Increased chance for foraging to be successful. Ingredients for crafting special consumable food items that recover a flat amount of hp/fp out of combat (these won't be subject to fullness obviously or they could have reduced values when full.) Let us make tea and frosted cake and other food items to do restaurant RP again!!
Duyuei:
Mostly monster remains ingots with crafting drops like demon eyes or snake venom giving more points. Other donations include training dummies, weapons and armor similar to Geladyne. Maybe handing in mercenaries? Rewards: Increased monster exp. Increased chance of harvesting remains. Exclusive food ingredients to make food items that give buffs when fighting monsters (these could also be NPC buffs but I think encouraging crafting is better.) Remains trade shop.
>Each territory could then have a special boss they could summon after a certain level that requires items purchased from the unlocked NPCs and will be used in combat against said enemy, like bringing back Jammer Queen from SL1. You'd need pure water, flowers, etc with a level 5 alchemist to make consumable soap that clears/grants you temporary immunity to her slime, etc.
>>(I'd also like something for Wanderer’s Vale/Smuggler's Den too with these changes so it’s not left in the dust but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t overlap with the others. Maybe the traveling merchant could spawn there instead once the other countries hit a certain total level? Or if the ruins come out there could be more possibilties…)
TLDR:
- Introduce more murai and resource sinks that are incentivized but not required (so people don’t have to just constantly grind all the time)
- Have unique stuff for each nation for people to actually want to travel there mechanically and/or will affect things ICly if they choose to close borders, cut off trade with a country, etc.
- Give craftsmen and people who want to do trade better reasons to do so.