Though I'm still not quite 100% back to the game post-con yet (other travel, etc), I wanted to toss this out here since I remember it only coming up a few times in smaller groups. As of a few weeks ago now, you fantastic mutably-formed folks got yourselves a new Race Champ.
I have two main projects on the Rakash front for the foreseeable future, one shorter term and one that will most likely be much longer, due to where it will realistically fall amongst my non-Rakash projects along with me having to dig through the guts of systems I don't usually engage in organ re-arrangement with before I can make it happen.
Project one involves language, items, and locations. Keep in mind that this is the shorter term one (at least on paper). I'll talk more about this once it's closer to release.
What I really want to talk about here is project two!
Project two involves favors. I don't usually (ever, seriously) talk much about projects that are this early in development, so let me emphasize that this is in the extreme pre-planning phase right now, wherein I have a general okay to review the current mechanics and start working out possible improvements. I have no approvals for anything specific, and in fact no approvals for anything at all beyond 'yeah, that could probably use an update, go ahead and look into it'.
It could conceivably fizzle and die on the table for innumerable reasons before it's anywhere near release, so please no holding of breath, but I want to hear from you all about what you would like to see in your ideal Rakash favor system. Right now the only two things I have set in my mind are making it so that the use of ooc commands doesn't ruin the whole process, and making you able to get more than 5 favors. Both of these will necessitate other changes, of course, but I'm not far enough in to have my own firm opinions on exactly what sorts of shapes those will take.
Have at it!
-Persida
DR-PERSIDA
JACOBS77
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/13/2014 08:59 AM CDT
Welcome aboard!
My Rakash already had too many favors to use the Rakash favor system by the time she made her way out of the lowest hunting areas to begin exploring beyond Zoluren and visited Siksraja for the first time. It'd be great if the Rakash favor system was always an available option. Also, I don't think Clerics' Truffenyi's Commune works with Rakash gods, but it would be great if it did.
My Rakash already had too many favors to use the Rakash favor system by the time she made her way out of the lowest hunting areas to begin exploring beyond Zoluren and visited Siksraja for the first time. It'd be great if the Rakash favor system was always an available option. Also, I don't think Clerics' Truffenyi's Commune works with Rakash gods, but it would be great if it did.
HEXEDBYTHENET
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/13/2014 11:00 AM CDT
Hey Persida, glad to have you working with us. I hope you have as much fun being the Rakash champ as I have had playing Rakash in this game. I'd like to say I'm really looking forward to see what you can bring to the race and am excited by talk of potential updates/changes to the Rakash presence within Elanthia.
Project one has my nerdy side all giddy. I'm a huge fan of the lore surrounding the Rakash. It's been a rough road over the years, with a lot of questions asked and few answers given. Some things have been left totally unexplained and (to me) they are some of the most troubling aspects of the race. If you ever get to a point where you'd like to hear from the players about holes in the history or things that haven't been fully explained, I'd be happy to talk about that more in-depth.
As far as project two goes, let me just say that I really like the approach taken as far as obtaining favors under the Rakash system. It fits with what has been established with the lore in the game though the small except about it in "Rakash Traditions and Dawvs" by Ravwe Tashkiok. Though, by the time this was released, I was a lot like the previous poster and already had too many favors to even make use of the system. In trade, I had one of my newer Rakash characters use it exclusively until such time that my circle was too high and my favors too low for Clerics to have an easy time with my dead corpse. Fun times! :D
Ideally, I would opt to keep the Rakash favor system as it is for those first few favors and require any further favors to have a "quest" process that must be completed. I'm thinking something along the lines of the same type of quests that Clerics and/or Warrior Mages must complete for their abilities. IE: Go to x place, do y thing, return with proof. Or, go to x place and kill y amount of things.
I really like the fact that gaining Rakash favors isn't all about getting an orb and rubbing it until full before dropping it off, but I also understand that to get a large amount of favors; players will need to make a significant investment of time/energy to balance it out. There is just something that I find infinitely more attractive about actively doing a task that would please your god when compared to sacrificing your current unabsorbed exp for your god. I think, if given the chance, we could come up with a slew of different types or little quests to make players complete and I'm sure you could come up with some yourself as well.
Anyways, that's my .02
You skillfully remove the vanilla cheesecake from your abdomen leaving the wound no worse than it was before.
Project one has my nerdy side all giddy. I'm a huge fan of the lore surrounding the Rakash. It's been a rough road over the years, with a lot of questions asked and few answers given. Some things have been left totally unexplained and (to me) they are some of the most troubling aspects of the race. If you ever get to a point where you'd like to hear from the players about holes in the history or things that haven't been fully explained, I'd be happy to talk about that more in-depth.
As far as project two goes, let me just say that I really like the approach taken as far as obtaining favors under the Rakash system. It fits with what has been established with the lore in the game though the small except about it in "Rakash Traditions and Dawvs" by Ravwe Tashkiok. Though, by the time this was released, I was a lot like the previous poster and already had too many favors to even make use of the system. In trade, I had one of my newer Rakash characters use it exclusively until such time that my circle was too high and my favors too low for Clerics to have an easy time with my dead corpse. Fun times! :D
Ideally, I would opt to keep the Rakash favor system as it is for those first few favors and require any further favors to have a "quest" process that must be completed. I'm thinking something along the lines of the same type of quests that Clerics and/or Warrior Mages must complete for their abilities. IE: Go to x place, do y thing, return with proof. Or, go to x place and kill y amount of things.
I really like the fact that gaining Rakash favors isn't all about getting an orb and rubbing it until full before dropping it off, but I also understand that to get a large amount of favors; players will need to make a significant investment of time/energy to balance it out. There is just something that I find infinitely more attractive about actively doing a task that would please your god when compared to sacrificing your current unabsorbed exp for your god. I think, if given the chance, we could come up with a slew of different types or little quests to make players complete and I'm sure you could come up with some yourself as well.
Anyways, that's my .02
You skillfully remove the vanilla cheesecake from your abdomen leaving the wound no worse than it was before.
SHADOW7988
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/14/2014 12:07 AM CDT
I haven't used much of the Rakash things, I've definitely been exploring more of what to be a Rakash is.
Never really attempted their favor system, already had a bit of favors, never really was in an area to take advantage to the Rakash place.
Good luck, and get done what you can when you can.
---
"I think anything that forces you to do something no sane adventurer would do just in order to train is ridiculous."
DR-SOCHARIS
---
Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.
Never really attempted their favor system, already had a bit of favors, never really was in an area to take advantage to the Rakash place.
Good luck, and get done what you can when you can.
---
"I think anything that forces you to do something no sane adventurer would do just in order to train is ridiculous."
DR-SOCHARIS
---
Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.
BLUEFROG99
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/14/2014 01:53 AM CDT
I posted not too long ago about wanting to get more Rakash favors--I am definitely on board with the notion, of course. I've spent too much time playing as a cleric to be comfortable with only five favors (it makes it harder for the cleric to resurrect, with enough circles on the dead player), so I gave up on even the RP of it very early because the mechanics didn't support it for me. I mean, I am also lazy. But if I'm just gonna overwrite the most recent favor anyway, might as well do it all that way.
On the subject of ideas for extra questing for favors:
> Or, go to x place and kill y amount of things.
Not this one, please, for Rakash empaths (some train for battle, but certainly not all).
On the subject of ideas for extra questing for favors:
> Or, go to x place and kill y amount of things.
Not this one, please, for Rakash empaths (some train for battle, but certainly not all).
DR-PERSIDA
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/14/2014 11:31 AM CDT
Not to rain on any parades, but a robust and diverse questing system is way outside of the scope of what I'm looking to do on this. On an ROI scale, it would be me dedicating probably hundreds of hours into systems that would be used by a really small number of players, and end up being largely scripted within a few days, tops, even if I do a super complex version of things that makes scripting it harder than average.
What I am looking to do is support those who want to RP as followers of the Rakash gods, and expand upon the lore already in place. The current system is fantastic in many ways lore-wise, but the mechanics, while unique, well balanced, and certainly thought out, are such that in practice it is barely ever used, and that is a shame, really.
To me, this is a quality of life project, albeit likely a bit more on the time intensive side than most.
That said, please keep throwing out ideas even if they seem out of scope. You never know from where inspiration may come!
-Persida
What I am looking to do is support those who want to RP as followers of the Rakash gods, and expand upon the lore already in place. The current system is fantastic in many ways lore-wise, but the mechanics, while unique, well balanced, and certainly thought out, are such that in practice it is barely ever used, and that is a shame, really.
To me, this is a quality of life project, albeit likely a bit more on the time intensive side than most.
That said, please keep throwing out ideas even if they seem out of scope. You never know from where inspiration may come!
-Persida
HEXEDBYTHENET
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/14/2014 12:14 PM CDT
>hundreds of hours into systems that would be used by a really small number of players
Yeah, I can understand that.
>support those who want to RP as followers of the Rakash gods, and expand upon the lore already in place.
It's hard, personally, to think of much to expand upon what's already in place.
A simple solution would be to require different types of offerings to gain favor past five. Those offerings could be stuff that can be bought in shops further away from siksraja, or things that can be acquired through hunting/crafting/NPC tasks.
Another easy idea would be to just require the person sit still longer for favors past the first five. But, I'm not terribly enthused by that idea because it means the player is not out there playing the game.
In the end, I'd love to do something more "hands on" with gaining favor. Something that would require me to be active, rather than something that required me to sit still.
Thank you for responding and letting us know some of the limits on what you're willing to do. I'll think on it some more and see what I can come up with.
You skillfully remove the vanilla cheesecake from your abdomen leaving the wound no worse than it was before.
Yeah, I can understand that.
>support those who want to RP as followers of the Rakash gods, and expand upon the lore already in place.
It's hard, personally, to think of much to expand upon what's already in place.
A simple solution would be to require different types of offerings to gain favor past five. Those offerings could be stuff that can be bought in shops further away from siksraja, or things that can be acquired through hunting/crafting/NPC tasks.
Another easy idea would be to just require the person sit still longer for favors past the first five. But, I'm not terribly enthused by that idea because it means the player is not out there playing the game.
In the end, I'd love to do something more "hands on" with gaining favor. Something that would require me to be active, rather than something that required me to sit still.
Thank you for responding and letting us know some of the limits on what you're willing to do. I'll think on it some more and see what I can come up with.
You skillfully remove the vanilla cheesecake from your abdomen leaving the wound no worse than it was before.
OLSONM6
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/14/2014 01:14 PM CDT
I would think that in order to allow more than 5 favors you would need some sort of experience sacrifice. I thought the lack of rubbing out exp was the reason they were capped at 5?
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HEXEDBYTHENET
Re: Cha-cha-changes
08/14/2014 01:57 PM CDT
>I would think that in order to allow more than 5 favors you would need some sort of experience sacrifice. I thought the lack of rubbing out exp was the reason they were capped at 5?
I don't think it has to be an experience sacrifice, just a time/energy investment. Essentially that's all exp really is, an investment in time and energy. Except in this case, you're trading bits in a skill for a favor.
I'm of the mind that other things (besides exp) can be a significant enough time/energy investment to obtain the reward of favor. The trick is making it something that can be done by multiple guilds at multiple circles but still remain a difficult enough of endeavor to make it worthwhile to pursue.
God totems allow for favors without much investment at all, aside for the initial investment of glowing shards to unlock them, however they are capped at 15 favors and have a downtime between uses.
I don't horribly dislike the orb system, however the Rakash lore doesn't really support it. It doesn't exclude it either, though. All it says about it is:
>"One such benefit that I myself heard of was that if warriors journeyed to that site and performed certain rituals, they were often rewarded with the sense that they were protected by Coshivi and would not fall in battle."
and
>"As to what preparations were required, all I was told when I inquired was that patience was a virtue and the process required an offering.
You skillfully remove the vanilla cheesecake from your abdomen leaving the wound no worse than it was before.
I don't think it has to be an experience sacrifice, just a time/energy investment. Essentially that's all exp really is, an investment in time and energy. Except in this case, you're trading bits in a skill for a favor.
I'm of the mind that other things (besides exp) can be a significant enough time/energy investment to obtain the reward of favor. The trick is making it something that can be done by multiple guilds at multiple circles but still remain a difficult enough of endeavor to make it worthwhile to pursue.
God totems allow for favors without much investment at all, aside for the initial investment of glowing shards to unlock them, however they are capped at 15 favors and have a downtime between uses.
I don't horribly dislike the orb system, however the Rakash lore doesn't really support it. It doesn't exclude it either, though. All it says about it is:
>"One such benefit that I myself heard of was that if warriors journeyed to that site and performed certain rituals, they were often rewarded with the sense that they were protected by Coshivi and would not fall in battle."
and
>"As to what preparations were required, all I was told when I inquired was that patience was a virtue and the process required an offering.
You skillfully remove the vanilla cheesecake from your abdomen leaving the wound no worse than it was before.
MAGE-WARRIOR
Re: Cha-cha-changes
10/30/2014 09:44 AM CDT
I just found this thread and I must say I am intrigued! Many of my characters are Rakash as I just enjoy their culture and uniqueness. Unfortunately having the Rakash favor system capped at 5 really hinders relying on those favors to advance. My cleric still prays to Coshivi, but has taken favors from Meraud because more favors is just a good thing.
It has been two months since this thread started and while I know HE takes up most of our GMs time, I was wondering if any advancement has been made on the Rakash favor front? Proposals been approved, initial outline is completed, being pushed thru QA (dreaming on that last one). Any update would be greatly appreciated!
It has been two months since this thread started and while I know HE takes up most of our GMs time, I was wondering if any advancement has been made on the Rakash favor front? Proposals been approved, initial outline is completed, being pushed thru QA (dreaming on that last one). Any update would be greatly appreciated!
MAGE-WARRIOR
MAGE-WARRIOR
DR-PERSIDA
Re: Cha-cha-changes
09/29/2016 05:44 AM CDT
>Did this idea die?
If you're talking about the second part of my original post, regarding a favor system overhaul, not at all. My duties have expanded and changed a lot since then, though, and things get shuffled in priorities over time. Right now, this is on my 'I really want to do this, but need to find the bandwidth to finish addressing it' list.
All of the point one changes are complete and live, though, along with several other QoL and assorted updates that were smaller projects I could fit in between other big projects.
-Persida
If you're talking about the second part of my original post, regarding a favor system overhaul, not at all. My duties have expanded and changed a lot since then, though, and things get shuffled in priorities over time. Right now, this is on my 'I really want to do this, but need to find the bandwidth to finish addressing it' list.
All of the point one changes are complete and live, though, along with several other QoL and assorted updates that were smaller projects I could fit in between other big projects.
-Persida
MAGE-WARRIOR
Re: Cha-cha-changes
09/29/2016 12:27 PM CDT
Thank you for responding. I was referring to the second part about the favor system changes. I'd really like to be able to get more than 5 favors with the Rakash gods, if only to stop getting lectured to by Clerics about being lazy and not getting more favors.
