OK, Strangeness, I am signed in but can't comment until I sign in!? Anyway, It took me weeks/months to do all of those things that you did quickly. I never finished the Achievements and it took me a long time to learn all of the Skills because I started during Alpha and skills were added in time. I probably finished the last Skill sometime in the Fall of 2012. New content is always a great idea though and I am looking for it. Everyone has ideas and several players have the skill to even implement things and can help the Devs. I am looking forward to whatever develops.
@Ariaste--- "What do we think of having different titles for each Hall? ie: The Gazebo of Spriggan, the Font of Grendaline, the Oratory of Cosma, the Tent of Tii, etc?"
I love this! Other ideas-- maybe the Counting-House of Tii, the Arbor of Spriggan (and the Gazebo of Mab), the Vault or the Grotto of Zille, the Symposium of Friendly, the Caravanserai of Lem, the Hearth of Pot, the Shieling of Humbaba, the Laboratory of Alph?
@"Ellen Fremedon" -- I like all of those! "The Fold of Humbaba" would also be appropriate, since fold is an archaic word for a pasture or enclosure where livestock are kept.
I have some more thoughts on the other ones, now that I have had a moment to reflect! Here's the list so far, with alternatives and other suggestions:
The Fold of Humbaba The Symposium of Friendly (Forum of Friendly?) The Laboratory of Alph (let's keep brainstorming on this one, "Laboratory" isn't clicking in my brain) The Counting-House of Tii The Vault or Grotto of Zille (I like both of these) The Caravanserai of Lem (Possibly too long? Port of Lem? Landing of Lem? Haven of Lem?) The Font of Grendaline The Arbor of Spriggan (this is perfect, but alternatively: Orchard of Spriggan?) The Oratory of Cosma The Hearth of Pot (this is also perfect) The Gazebo of Mab (this is better, yes)
ALSO, I think it only appropriate that you'd only be able to dedicate yourself to one Giant at a time; you'd certainly be able to switch Giants anytime you wanted, but it'd take a quest or a tithe every time. Perhaps dedication to that particular Giant would offer you some small rewards for their relevant skills? (ie: For Alph dedicants, less energy used when making furniture and so forth? Or tools break less quickly?) This might be tricky to balance, though. We wouldn't want one Giant's dedicants to be more overpowered than the rest.
I like the idea of individual titles for each Giants temple, it fits with the game really nice. I do think there should be some sort of bonus for being a disciple of whichever Giant, and agreed about only 1 at a time, but the bonus should be something fun so there would be no need to worry about balance issues. Also its end game content by that time any small bonus to crafting wouldnt really matter anyway. Plus it could lead to balance issues. A bonus should be either something silly or fun, or something only you can bestow on others and not yourself. Or could do one of each, a fun thing for personal use and related to the skills of the Giant is what you bestow on others, some kind of small buff.
@"Lyrical Dejavu": Ooh, yeah, a fun thing would be great! Maybe a doll of your Giant which, similar to an emo bear, which would let you do little actions to other players? Or something that'd have a fun and totally useless street-wide effect? Like filling it with bubbles for Grendaline!
I like the idea of dedicants getting a skills boost, buff, or item-- or maybe all three, at different levels. And I love the idea of special giant-related quests to change allegiance-- maybe crafting a huge number of giant-associated items and giving them away in that giant's hall? (I mean, I would *love* more special quests like the Grendaline one, but until those can be developed, giving away 111 Awesome Stews would be pretty simple to implement.)
@"Ellen Fremedon", agreed. I think the quests should all be focused on community enrichment, too, and I'd like to see them be pretty HARD, maybe taking a few days or even a couple weeks to complete. They should also utilize the Giants' patron skills and (possibly) their aspects (ie: Pot is generous, gluttonous, impatient).
If it were separated into four or five smaller quests, that would do three things: 1. It would make the dedication process more manageable, by breaking it into small pieces. 2. It would make people happier to do it, because they'd get a more frequent feeling of accomplishment. 3. It could give sort of a "ranking" of people who are on the dedication path -- when you complete the first quest, you're a postulant (with some cute achievement, perhaps called It's Just Casual) and you get a small boost, when you complete the third quest you're a novice (Achievement: Getting Serious), and after you complete the fifth, you'd be a dedicant (Achievement: Not Afraid of Commitment).
Here is just a general outline of a possible dedication process -- the numbers are off the top of my head, feel free to adjust:
Dedicating for Cosma Quest 1: -- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street. -- Log 1+ hours of Levitation. -- Donate 200 (item that Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma.
Quest 2: -- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street. -- Log 1+ hours of Levitation. -- Prime the shrine with Piety in 2 rook attacks. -- Donate 400 (item that Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma.
Quest 3: -- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street. -- Log 1+ hours of Levitation -- Use Martial Imagination in 3 rook attacks. -- Donate 600 (item Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma. -- Massage 200 butterflies (although massaging is a Humbaba skill, butterflies belong to Cosma, check the encyclopedia).
Quest 4 -- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street. -- Use Martial Imagination in 4 rook attacks. -- Give away 3 emblems of Cosma. -- Teleport 25 times (Cosma is a secondary patron of Teleportation). -- Donate 800 (item Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma -- Massage 400 butterflies.
Quest 5 -- Log 5+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street. -- Give away 5 emblems of Cosma. -- Donate 5 emblems of Cosma to the Oratory. -- Donate 1 icon of Cosma to the Oratory. -- Aimlessness is an aspect of Cosma. Wander aimlessly (in other words, don't even look at the the Map for 44 game days (11 IRL days)) -- Donate 1000 (item Cosma likes) to the Oratory. -- Make and give away 100 Cosma-politans. -- Give away 2000 Spinach. -- Catch 100 fireflies. -- Give away 50 Focusing Orbs
I know it looks like a lot, but these are high-level, badass players who would be tackling the dedication process. THOUGHTS? What if it were even harder and more expensive?
While writing these, it occurs to me that there's a LOTTTTTTTT of grinding involved in these. Maybe working in a bunch of story and trivia about the Giants would be good too...
@Ariaste late to the game but I love your suggestion of different names for the various Halls! Love the Gazebo of Spriggan and the Font of Grendaline ; ) Though perhaps the Fount of Grendaline for pun's sake ;'D
Fount as in Fountain ; ) Grendaline is my lovely giant of water! Pirate theme and all, not sure how many people remember my kooky ways back in the day.
Also, other idea. In line with what @Ariaste and @"Ellen Fremedon" are saying I think it would be nice if each of these questlines were more like levels of devotion. IE you can devote yourself to as many Halls of the Giants as you like working your way through these quests and gaining some kind of rankings of favor with the giants.
IE If you complete the first quest of Cosma you could become an Initiate at the Oratory, then if you finish the second quest line you could become a Whisperer, then the third a Communicator, then a Pontificator and finally a Grand Orator when you are as close to cosma as can be.
The first rank (Initiate) could be the same at each of the Halls with each giant having fun quirky ranks for the next four. Grendaline: Initiate, Sprinkler, Sprayer, Hoser, Grand Deluge. Tii: Initiate, Counter, Adder, Multiplier, Grand Integrand.
Obviously these are all very felxible but I think it would be a fun VERY long term goal to earn all the grand titles with all the giants so that you have a presence in every Hall. Perhaps each rank confers special privileges with the giant in question such as learning their skills slightly faster, getting more favor for items that giant likes when donating, receiving more currants when selling items that that giant likes (90% at Cebarkul rather than 80% or some such.), the possibilities are endless : )
@"Liza Throttlebottom", font already means fountain too. XD "A great font of water" and so forth. Definition here. So it's already Grendaline-appropriate! (You don't think I'd let you down like that, do you? Pfffft, PLEASE.)
@Ariaste, @"Liza Throttlebottom," YES YES YES-- I love these ideas.
More ideas-- I feel like the quests to attain levels of devotion should begin and end with a task at the Hall of the relevant giant; but I also love the idea of at least one level-quest basically being a pilgrimage, from the Hall to another associated region or regions and back. (Or, from one Hall to another? ISTR in another thread, someone suggested having 11 temples and one cathedral for each giant, or that each region should have one temple. I do kind of like the idea of having multiple minor halls, where non-initiate Glitchen can go to obtain specialty items/favor, and one major Hall with areas only open to initiates.)
Other pilgrimage-related ideas:
HUMBABA: Brush at least 1 fox in every preserve. Feed 1 sloth on every street in Folivoria
FRIENDLY: Take a nighttime stroll! Visit Nottis, harvest x number of ice cubes, make x number of drinks with them, and give them away to passers-by. Be gregarious! Visit the halls of all the other giants and make a [large] donation.
LEM: Wander the world! Visit 3 shrines of Lem in each region of the world that has them, on foot, and donate. Wander the world again! Teleport to 51 different shrines of Lem in 51 different streets, and donate.
@"Ellen Fremedon", I agree with the spirit of your suggestion, but I would suggest a tweak. We don't want halls to replace or overwhelm shrines, so my suggestion is that there's only one Hall per region, period. For example, Grendaline would have a Font in Jal, Friendly would have a Symposium in Nottis, Spriggan would have an Arbor in Roobrik, etc. This means that shrines would still be useful as your primary, day-to-day place for currying favor with the giants. It also means that people would be encouraged to travel and spread out more -- I found that Groddle Island always had tons of people walking around, but I saw *many* fewer people even in adjacent regions like Alakol. Spreading the Halls out, one per region, would encourage people to hang out in other regions (admit it, Ormonos is kinda the middle of nowhere. No one ever has business in Ormonos. But they COULD, if Ormonos was home of one of the Oratories of Cosma!).
One Hall per region! Decentralize players' activity!
I love your pilgrimage ideas, though, and I think they are very suitable. I'll add them onto the Google doc!
@Ariaste-- Agree entirely about using the Halls to spread out player activity. Cosma could have Halls in Ormonos and Aranna, Humbaba in Fenneq and Folivoria, Friendly in Nottis, Zille in Callopee, Lem anywhere at the edges of the map, Alph somewhere in the Ancestral lands. Grendaline in Jal at the bottom of the sea.
I also like the idea of putting some of the Halls, maybe even the main halls, if there's a two-tier system, in the regions that don't have shrines and vendors. (I also like the idea of a quest that requires you to approach the Hall on foot from some distance away, to make players walk through the world.)
I think I'm basing this off of one of Keita's quick ideas (though I can't find it now, they aren't exactly easy to search) but what if being a priest gave you a special ability. Nothing that huge or beneficial, like being a priest of Humbabella might give other people the option to nibble you as if you were a piggy or you could activate a startling fecundity effect on a cooldown or something like that.
Anyway, when you get to level 111 (or whatever) you unlock a final priesthood quest for whatever giant you are a priest of. Completing that quest resets you to level 1 and gets rid of your upgrades, but you keep your priest ability permanently, and a little mark is added to your profile page to show you ascended for that giant. Then you can try to ascend a different one next time.
That'll give us something to do for a few years.
It would also be neat if there was a way to become a priest of some non-giant entities, such as the Scion of Purple or Trisor.
And then, when you have ascended once for every giant, it turns out the next time if you become a priest, you get a different priest ability. Until there are eleven abilities for each giant. And you are megatron.
Love the idea of ascensions. Stoot claimed that some form of ascension was on their radar for a long time but they just couldn't figure out a good way to implement it. I also really like the idea of somehow declaring allegiance to non-giant entities. I would go so far as being able to worship the sno cone vendor, Helga and Uncle Friendly, and the Hell's Bartender ; )
Rook should have a hall, one has to presume thats what the rumors of a 12 Giant was about, im not sure Trisor and Scion qualify though. Not to say they cant both have a meeting place in UR of some sort (although Trisor should be in Hell and Scion in Vortex or a Seam Street) but as a disciple of i dont think it fits. Right now theres X amount of areas spread the Halls out , until the wourld gets much bigger more than one isnt needed that and having more than one for each might be confusing when you need to go there for whatever reason, or meet somone there.
@"Lyrical Dejavu", I feel like if there's a Rook hall, it should be hidden. Maybe in some quest for upper-level giant initiates, there would be a choice point that would let you find it.
Something along those lines, yes, as for the # of Halls, one for each Giant makes the most sense, but i just think having more than one would be confusing when you go to meet ppl there
Maybe, if the world gets big enough, we have multiple 'locations', but they all lead to the same main Hall per Giant? I'm thinking kind of like seam streets, I guess. You can get at them from location A or location B, but you still wind up in that in-betweeny area.
That might take care of the accessibility issues, as well as still maintaining the ability to meet people there.
Mmm, possibly. Or just, say, the single entity that is the Hall of Cosma (or whatever we're going to call it) can be accessed from two streets in two (possibly very distant) regions.
I really wasn't thinking about linking up allll the Halls, to be honest. If they're scattered everywhere, it would be yet another way to hop throughout the world (thus potentially making the subway even more unlikely to be used). Or would you only be able to enter the Hall of the Giant you have chosen to be affiliated with?
Comments
@Ariaste--- "What do we think of having different titles for each Hall? ie: The Gazebo of Spriggan, the Font of Grendaline, the Oratory of Cosma, the Tent of Tii, etc?"
I love this! Other ideas-- maybe the Counting-House of Tii, the Arbor of Spriggan (and the Gazebo of Mab), the Vault or the Grotto of Zille, the Symposium of Friendly, the Caravanserai of Lem, the Hearth of Pot, the Shieling of Humbaba, the Laboratory of Alph?
Here's the list so far, with alternatives and other suggestions:
The Fold of Humbaba
The Symposium of Friendly (Forum of Friendly?)
The Laboratory of Alph (let's keep brainstorming on this one, "Laboratory" isn't clicking in my brain)
The Counting-House of Tii
The Vault or Grotto of Zille (I like both of these)
The Caravanserai of Lem (Possibly too long? Port of Lem? Landing of Lem? Haven of Lem?)
The Font of Grendaline
The Arbor of Spriggan (this is perfect, but alternatively: Orchard of Spriggan?)
The Oratory of Cosma
The Hearth of Pot (this is also perfect)
The Gazebo of Mab (this is better, yes)
ALSO, I think it only appropriate that you'd only be able to dedicate yourself to one Giant at a time; you'd certainly be able to switch Giants anytime you wanted, but it'd take a quest or a tithe every time. Perhaps dedication to that particular Giant would offer you some small rewards for their relevant skills? (ie: For Alph dedicants, less energy used when making furniture and so forth? Or tools break less quickly?) This might be tricky to balance, though. We wouldn't want one Giant's dedicants to be more overpowered than the rest.
Oh and Tii i was thinking the Ledger of Tii
If it were separated into four or five smaller quests, that would do three things:
1. It would make the dedication process more manageable, by breaking it into small pieces.
2. It would make people happier to do it, because they'd get a more frequent feeling of accomplishment.
3. It could give sort of a "ranking" of people who are on the dedication path -- when you complete the first quest, you're a postulant (with some cute achievement, perhaps called It's Just Casual) and you get a small boost, when you complete the third quest you're a novice (Achievement: Getting Serious), and after you complete the fifth, you'd be a dedicant (Achievement: Not Afraid of Commitment).
Here is just a general outline of a possible dedication process -- the numbers are off the top of my head, feel free to adjust:
Dedicating for Cosma
Quest 1:
-- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street.
-- Log 1+ hours of Levitation.
-- Donate 200 (item that Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma.
Quest 2:
-- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street.
-- Log 1+ hours of Levitation.
-- Prime the shrine with Piety in 2 rook attacks.
-- Donate 400 (item that Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma.
Quest 3:
-- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street.
-- Log 1+ hours of Levitation
-- Use Martial Imagination in 3 rook attacks.
-- Donate 600 (item Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma.
-- Massage 200 butterflies (although massaging is a Humbaba skill, butterflies belong to Cosma, check the encyclopedia).
Quest 4
-- Log 3+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street.
-- Use Martial Imagination in 4 rook attacks.
-- Give away 3 emblems of Cosma.
-- Teleport 25 times (Cosma is a secondary patron of Teleportation).
-- Donate 800 (item Cosma likes) to the Oratory of Cosma
-- Massage 400 butterflies.
Quest 5
-- Log 5+ hours of Transcendental Radiation on a public street.
-- Give away 5 emblems of Cosma.
-- Donate 5 emblems of Cosma to the Oratory.
-- Donate 1 icon of Cosma to the Oratory.
-- Aimlessness is an aspect of Cosma. Wander aimlessly (in other words, don't even look at the the Map for 44 game days (11 IRL days))
-- Donate 1000 (item Cosma likes) to the Oratory.
-- Make and give away 100 Cosma-politans.
-- Give away 2000 Spinach.
-- Catch 100 fireflies.
-- Give away 50 Focusing Orbs
I know it looks like a lot, but these are high-level, badass players who would be tackling the dedication process. THOUGHTS? What if it were even harder and more expensive?
Feel free to edit, add, or comment on it.
IE If you complete the first quest of Cosma you could become an Initiate at the Oratory, then if you finish the second quest line you could become a Whisperer, then the third a Communicator, then a Pontificator and finally a Grand Orator when you are as close to cosma as can be.
The first rank (Initiate) could be the same at each of the Halls with each giant having fun quirky ranks for the next four.
Grendaline: Initiate, Sprinkler, Sprayer, Hoser, Grand Deluge.
Tii: Initiate, Counter, Adder, Multiplier, Grand Integrand.
Obviously these are all very felxible but I think it would be a fun VERY long term goal to earn all the grand titles with all the giants so that you have a presence in every Hall. Perhaps each rank confers special privileges with the giant in question such as learning their skills slightly faster, getting more favor for items that giant likes when donating, receiving more currants when selling items that that giant likes (90% at Cebarkul rather than 80% or some such.), the possibilities are endless : )
I LOVE those ranking names, by the way.
More ideas-- I feel like the quests to attain levels of devotion should begin and end with a task at the Hall of the relevant giant; but I also love the idea of at least one level-quest basically being a pilgrimage, from the Hall to another associated region or regions and back. (Or, from one Hall to another? ISTR in another thread, someone suggested having 11 temples and one cathedral for each giant, or that each region should have one temple. I do kind of like the idea of having multiple minor halls, where non-initiate Glitchen can go to obtain specialty items/favor, and one major Hall with areas only open to initiates.)
Other pilgrimage-related ideas:
HUMBABA:
Brush at least 1 fox in every preserve.
Feed 1 sloth on every street in Folivoria
FRIENDLY:
Take a nighttime stroll! Visit Nottis, harvest x number of ice cubes, make x number of drinks with them, and give them away to passers-by.
Be gregarious! Visit the halls of all the other giants and make a [large] donation.
LEM:
Wander the world! Visit 3 shrines of Lem in each region of the world that has them, on foot, and donate.
Wander the world again! Teleport to 51 different shrines of Lem in 51 different streets, and donate.
One Hall per region! Decentralize players' activity!
I love your pilgrimage ideas, though, and I think they are very suitable.
I also like the idea of putting some of the Halls, maybe even the main halls, if there's a two-tier system, in the regions that don't have shrines and vendors. (I also like the idea of a quest that requires you to approach the Hall on foot from some distance away, to make players walk through the world.)
Anyway, when you get to level 111 (or whatever) you unlock a final priesthood quest for whatever giant you are a priest of. Completing that quest resets you to level 1 and gets rid of your upgrades, but you keep your priest ability permanently, and a little mark is added to your profile page to show you ascended for that giant. Then you can try to ascend a different one next time.
That'll give us something to do for a few years.
It would also be neat if there was a way to become a priest of some non-giant entities, such as the Scion of Purple or Trisor.
And then, when you have ascended once for every giant, it turns out the next time if you become a priest, you get a different priest ability. Until there are eleven abilities for each giant. And you are megatron.
That might take care of the accessibility issues, as well as still maintaining the ability to meet people there.
I really wasn't thinking about linking up allll the Halls, to be honest. If they're scattered everywhere, it would be yet another way to hop throughout the world (thus potentially making the subway even more unlikely to be used). Or would you only be able to enter the Hall of the Giant you have chosen to be affiliated with?