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Introduce New Trophy Drops with New T3 Base Apps

Introduce New Trophy Drops with New T3 Base Apps
Posted 2023-08-25 17:55:33 (edited)
So. New base is out!

However, there was a significant problem with the release of Badger that I've noticed has carried over into the release of Caribou: it's way too easy to get.

That doesn't mean it's not expensive. Sure, Caribou is expensive to craft right now... but right from its release, people have been able to craft it immediately, and studs are already out. This will contribute to the novelty and the excitement of the base wearing off incredibly quickly- even gen 1 badgers rarely sell for above 20gc!

In short: it makes the New Thing the Old Thing very, very quickly, making it easy for players to lose interest.

This is in contrast to Fox, which remained fairly high value for several months after its release. This is partially because Fox was released alongside new opponents- and new trophy drops.

While there's no way to remedy this with Caribou at this point, it's likely that there will be an applicable Cool Medium base at some point in the future, wherein lies my suggestion:

Make a new trophy drop.

It doesn't have to be a new opponent! I assume that would be significantly more difficult to code for. However, it could be a new trophy drop, such as a pelt, or rib bones, or, I don't know, eyeballs? Teeth?

This would allow for there to be a longer period where the item is flashy and new, as it would take longer for players to amass the amount of materials required to mass-craft the base, and put newer players on a more even playing field than older players that have been accumulating "useless" trophies for years that they can then dust off and cash in on.

Just a thought.

Zea
#27549

Posted 2023-08-26 04:57:30
We polled these because we wanted use for existing rarer trophies as well though! They still can be bred immediately after release, Fox was just first out and we had less T3 bases in general. Noted though!

This member is an Admin. Xylax
#4

Posted 2023-08-26 08:21:28
I made a coincident suggestion not to introduce predictable craftable bases and from what I see in Development Update #22 and Development Update #24 about eye and base applicators, they were released in better state than the badger - the material requirements are hidden to the public, which incentivizes players to learn themselves, even though new appearing remnants give some hints, and I hadn't heard about anywolf hoarding specifically caribou trophies or other materials for the applicators before the applicators were released, contrary to the badger base applicator until I read the issue raised in this thread.

After I read this thread, I've asked myself a question whether it's good for this game to have uncommon items that are of no specific use like trophies or Coigreach herbs, which players hoard with an expectation to have them become useful in the future like in a few months, years...

From an economic standpoint, it would better for these items not to exist at all until they become useful - this would give an even ground for new players along with old players who both start with zero materials. On the second thought, this would make the new materials generally expensive and mostly new players will have it more difficult to assemble anything while those who already have played long enough to store cones may just buy everything needed. However, this is the right approach because it creates an opportunity for new players to sell new materials for a higher price. And anyway, new materials generally drop in price with time so the new players might afford them after some time while playing to earn cones.

From an entertainment standpoint, I see it definitely better to have new materials introduced along with their usefulness. A player gets excited with every new item obtained, taking a step towards completing the objective, the excitement being greater the longer it takes to meet the objective, like weeks or even months. Currently, we can hoard currently useless items with indifferent emotions or even with disappointment for those who don't know yet these items are worthless. And the anxiety caused by players seeing these items that are these for nothing except for existing. And once this hitherto useless item becomes suddenly useful, we can let out a sigh of relief that we don't have to take weeks or months of accumulating this item to achieve the objective, we can do it immediately and enjoy it but the excitement is much less than if we took much longer time to achieve it. So in the current system, we can't get excited either with gathering materials or achieving objectives as much as we would do if the materials became useful upon release.

I have experienced the most excitement aiming to craft the first fox base which took over a week, compared to other objectives that were much shorter like a few days - seeing that badger base could be crafted within a couple of hours after release made me not even try for that base and not feeling like crafting caribou base either.

I see very little benefit releasing items that currently are of no use but I'm looking forward to different opinion.

Dżanek
#24018

Posted 2023-08-26 13:57:39
Eh, I don't support or oppose this. I think for future releases a mix of both ways would be nice. It's nice when there is a more level playing field from the beginning when the items required to craft the new applicators are released when the recipe is released and everyone is looking for them and there isn't a flood of studs with that applicator on day one. However, I also think it's fun  and exciting when a recipe is released and you get lucky enough to find it and you happen to have all the items already to be able to craft and use it right away.

So I do agree that it would be lovely to have some releases that only use newly introduced items and want to see some of those, but I wouldn't want releases using already existing items to go away either.

Msasi
#204

Posted 2023-08-26 15:11:56
Yes, the intent wasn't to suggest only new items, I like that old items are getting a use, and it gives a reason for collectors to hold on to their trophies.

But I think it would have been better if the current recipe:
10 broken antler
30 butterfly wing
5 caribou antlers
2 caribou calf carcass
15 gnawing hoof
15 thick fur tuft

Be instead something like
10 broken antler
30 butterfly wing
1 caribou antler [amount reduced]
*New* 3 caribou pelts [rare drop]
2 caribou calf carcass
15 gnawing hoof
5 thick fur tuft [amount reduced]
*New* 10 caribou teeth [common drop]

or something like that, with individual items adjusted to maintain balance.

I really like that there is decor being made to use old items, like the recent big cat claw necklace, but I like the idea that a base applicator, which can have a large effect on the game, always have at least one new trophy needed to make it so the base can't be crafted almost immediately by veteran players.

Zea
#27549

Posted 2023-08-26 16:50:06
I insist on having items crafted from only new materials, otherwise it defeats the purpose of creating an even ground between new players and older ones since the older players would be at advantage having collected already existing items.

Dżanek
#24018

Posted 2023-08-26 17:06:49
@Dza Are older players having some advantage over new players inherently bad? Older players would have an edge regardless because they have the wealth to trade for the new items. New players would be out-studded either way.

I'm personally happy to finally have a use for old trophies. I don't want them just sitting around. Unless we insist that old trophies only be used to craft decor, not applicators.

We can have some T3 bases occasionally released that require entirely new materials, because I remember the era of Fox and it WAS a very fun challenge and added novelty to the WD economy. For the other cases, I like Zea's original suggestion to mix in new trophies with old to extend base value while also using up old trophies.

Overall, support. From someone who only really cares about pretty wolves, lol.

Jun | 璇 🌑
#29963

Posted 2023-08-28 14:47:41
You might be right, old players are at some advantage either way. If it goes mixed, I would rather lean towards new material requirement being much greater over the old materials which main purpose would be to make some items no longer useless. Not like Zea's example where players might focus on getting 3 caribou pelts and be done with it. Maybe some more flexibility of how the materials could be obtained, like some of them from battles, other from encounters, other from scouting, etc.

And I'd recommend not to add any new items with no specific use in the further updates.

Dżanek
#24018

Posted 2023-08-31 19:55:31
I think that the pre-existing problem of all the old-timers having a bunch of useless trophies hanging around could be solved.... eventually. They DO all need to get used for SOMETHING. But after that... tbh yeah I like the idea of introducing new trophies for new recipes, and not introducing them before that. I have no desire to try for the caribou base because SO many people already have it. Hell, the first gen 2 caribous were born like HOURS after the caribou base came out. Why would I bother to try with that kind of competition? And I'm not even free to play!
The only thing that kiiiiinda bothers me is that, as of now, useless trophies are some of the few things that make battling worth it as a level 20 wolf. You get, what, some useless xp, a bit of meat, a meager pawful of SC? Yawn. But a trophy? Even if it has no use right this second, it's still kinda neat to get. (Though the lack of reward from battling at level 20 is its own problem, I acknowledge.) Also, there is the angle that... it's kinda immersion-breaking if we battle hundreds of caribou and only once the recipe gets dropped do we suddenly start getting things like caribou teeth and pelts.
In addition, the game could get really messy if EVERY new recipe called only for brand new items. I just don't know. I'm torn lol. But I lean toward support.

Katie
#28191

Posted 2023-08-31 22:50:07
When Caribou came out, I wanted to get it because it's a neat base. Turns out I had everything necessary for it and almost everything for Rangifer. My previous grinding paved the way to get the first Rangifer, and that's a nice feeling, but at the same time, it doesn't feel like a massive accomplishment because, well... I barely did anything to get it. I mean, I didn't even need to get the recipes! I just used the (wonderful) free crafting threads, and voilà.

Is it really that big of an accomplishment if there are already 3 pages of Caribous and it hasn't even been a week? There are a bunch of apps sitting in the TC, there can be tons of other Rangifers sitting around too if they decided to use the apps. So I'd say having the first of Caribou or Rangifer isn't really that special, because any veteran could do it. If there were new trophies, that wouldn't happen so rapidly. It would have taken everyone with Caribou/Rangifer a whole lot longer to craft the apps and we'd all still be in a mad scramble to get them.

As for an even playing field, I don't think it'll matter too much in terms of older players being ahead. Because let's be real, rich players will just snap up any available new trophy that comes out and be on top anyway. Older players will be much more prepared to spam guarana with their high-stat leads if anything new comes out, or they'll use already-established cliques to funnel resources. A brand-new base with new trophies will still be largely owned and traded by the richest/popular players, that won't change.

The current trophies need to still be used, or else there would be tons of useless trophies. They exist, so there needs to be a use for them eventually. So I don't agree with there being only new requirements from here on out, and it makes it more accessible to have some older trophies in the mix.

I think it's good to have a compromise. Some new trophies sprinkled in, while making use of what's already been around. Doesn't need to be the case for every requirement for bases/eyes, but it would help retain some value while spicing up explore with something new to find.

All-in-all, I support as long as it's not all new all the time. I hope my point came across, idk lol.

Whirligig
#11137

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