Poll: Limited One-Of-A-Kind MMO Weapons

[Lord of Lore]

First off I would like to say that I am a MAJOR creeper here on the forums. Visit the escapist everyday, but have never actually posted on a single topic I don't think.

But down to business. Thanks for all the feedback so far guys!

What do you think about items within a MMO (whether weapons, armour, special trinkets, etc) that have a very limited stock count actually in-game? These items are earned first come, first serve through quests, rare boss/mob drops, and random elements in minigame-esque content.

These "relics" would not be game-breaking because gear and levels, though necessary, would merely be supplementary to player skill. Weekly updates would release a new relic with varying type, effects, and stock count. These would NOT be soul bound/account bound, and would be aimed at players at multiple levels of play and varying amounts of playtime.

Let me set up a hypothetical situation:

-Clucken Launcher. Stock: 666
A magical device that looks similar to a rocket launcher. It summons cluckens from nowhere and flings them at your unsuspecting foes. Muhahaha! > Random drop from the Clucken God.

-Armor of the Marsupial. Stock: 1 for each piece of armor (helm, body, legs, etc.)
A suit given to the Wombat Knighthood by the Sacred Marsupial after she saved them from their dying planet. Each piece of the armor is now spread out amongest the most honored and powerful wom-knights. Reward for reaching top tier in the Wombat Knighthood.

I have considered every facet I can possibly see on the in-game community, economy, and potential elitism. And these relics would be released at a pace that would aim to put at least one decent relic in the hands of a player by about six months of playtime. So if you would like to ask questions, leave feedback, or discuss it more in-depth, post below. If you think it's a bad idea, WHAT requirements would the game need first and HOW would you implement it?

Cheers! ~Lord of Lore the Anon Cat :3

 

[Gnomercy]

This has been done and it's only really cool if you eliminate the whole idea of it being bound to your character. Not for money makings sake but for the excitement of being able to get one if you missed out on the drop or the giveaway or whatever disbursement mode, and also for tracking legendary items (legendary not as in purple/orange or whatever but actually an item that people talk about if its one of a kind).

They had these in a MUD that was popular back in the 90s called "Gemstone III." They weren't given out for beating the hardest mobs or anything like that, only extremely rare random drops from many different level ranges and from GM events and auctions.

The ratio in that game was probably more along the lines of 100 legendary items for 2000 people (non noobs). They traded hands through the years and you can find legendary items for sale that were first discovered many years ago meanwhile some were just lost to people deactivating their accounts or the item breaking for many different reasons which usually involved the hand holding it getting chopped off or the weapon breaking off in a monster that turned to stone upon death.

 

[Lord of Lore]

Thanks for the tip! I'll check out Gemstone

This has been done and it's only really cool if you eliminate the whole idea of it being bound to your character. Not for money makings sake but for the excitement of being able to get one if you missed out on the drop or the giveaway or whatever disbursement mode, and also for tracking legendary items (legendary not as in purple/orange or whatever but actually an item that people talk about if its one of a kind).

They had these in a MUD that was popular back in the 90s called "Gemstone III." They weren't given out for beating the hardest mobs or anything like that, only extremely rare random drops from many different level ranges and from GM events and auctions.

The ratio in that game was probably more along the lines of 100 legendary items for 2000 people (non noobs). They traded hands through the years and you can find legendary items for sale that were first discovered many years ago meanwhile some were just lost to people deactivating their accounts or the item breaking for many different reasons which usually involved the hand holding it getting chopped off or the weapon breaking off in a monster that turned to stone upon death.

Thanks for the tip! I'll check out Gemstone. Originally having these relics in the hands of every player was put forward because people tend to cry out "unfair!" rather easily. But if we could pull off genuinely scarce relics, that would be great.

 

[Erana]

I had a super special rare permanent outfit item (though temproary versions could be bought in the store) in an MMO that's prolly less than 100 of its kind in four servers, but then I couldn't play the game for a year or two, and it disappeared from my account and customer service was like, "If it didn't just happen, we can't help you. You're SOL."

And then I was sad and am not going to touch the game again because now I'm bitter.

Still, I think it'd work really well for small, more community driven MMOs, but for things like World of Warcraft? I can't really see that happening.
More customers are pleased when you give everyone the chance for the orange labeled hammer. I mean, it still happens with WoW, but not to the degree that it feels all that special. There are just too many people to care about one person's shiny sord.

 

[Aris Khandr]

EverQuest had items like this, and I thought that they were great. They were handed out to people who played a major part in GM events, and were often accompanied by a title. There was only one of the item per server, so getting it was a huge deal. I'm sure that some people were jealous about it, but most seemed to really enjoy the events.

 

[Berenzen]

Unless they're cosmetic-only or otherwise useless, no. If they end up giving even the slightest advantage in a game, then it's not right to do. However if it is cosmetic only- like the black An'quiraj spider in WoW, or the mini-Vizu in Guild Wars, then I don't have a problem with it/

 

[Lord of Lore]

Unless they're cosmetic-only or otherwise useless, no. If they end up giving even the slightest advantage in a game, then it's not right to do. However if it is cosmetic only- like the black An'quiraj spider in WoW, or the mini-Vizu in Guild Wars, then I don't have a problem with it/

I thought to remedy this by releasing a new relic every week. If you play a decent amount per week and really work at getting one, you can eventually acquire one.

EverQuest had items like this, and I thought that they were great. They were handed out to people who played a major part in GM events, and were often accompanied by a title. There was only one of the item per server, so getting it was a huge deal. I'm sure that some people were jealous about it, but most seemed to really enjoy the events.

Ah, yes. I've heard of this before. It seems people who have actually played games with such a mechanic don't mind it.

 

[skywolfblue]

These "relics" would not be game-breaking...

Ok...

...and can range in numbers from one powerful, unique mace; to a few hundred sacred emblems that greatly boost speed. Weekly updates would release a new relic with varying type, effects, and stock count.

Uh, WTF happened to NOT game-breaking? A super-speed potion (situationally), legendary maces and such are the very definition of overpowered.

Unless they're cosmetic-only or otherwise useless, no. If they end up giving even the slightest advantage in a game, then it's not right to do. However if it is cosmetic only- like the black An'quiraj spider in WoW, or the mini-Vizu in Guild Wars, then I don't have a problem with it/

This.

Otherwise: You weren't online the third Tuesday last November when that super tiara of super fire resist was handed out? Now you're guild is going to have a much much much harder time against that fire boss.

(Wasn't there a time when one of the guilds in WoW got a world first by purposely stacking some silly candy buff?) Even apparently "small" buffs can account for a lot.

Or at least in the case of some seasonal WoW events, offer some low-tier gear that's just good enough to be interesting to people who don't do a whole lot of raiding, but worse then entry level-raid gear so as to not be unbalanced.

 

[Tanakh]

Been done, check out the Sleeper's Tomb from Everquest.

Also, no, for a big MMO just sounds stupid mate, sorry. For super small MMOs it might work, or for big ones if it's cosmetic only.

 

[Lord of Lore]

These "relics" would not be game-breaking...

Ok...

...and can range in numbers from one powerful, unique mace; to a few hundred sacred emblems that greatly boost speed. Weekly updates would release a new relic with varying type, effects, and stock count.

Uh, WTF happened to NOT game-breaking? A super-speed potion (situationally), legendary maces and such are the very definition of overpowered.

Unless they're cosmetic-only or otherwise useless, no. If they end up giving even the slightest advantage in a game, then it's not right to do. However if it is cosmetic only- like the black An'quiraj spider in WoW, or the mini-Vizu in Guild Wars, then I don't have a problem with it/

This.

Otherwise: You weren't online the third Tuesday last November when that super tiara of super fire resist was handed out? Now you're guild is going to have a much much much harder time against that fire boss.

Or at least in the case of some seasonal WoW events, offer some low-tier gear that's just good enough to be interesting to people who don't do a whole lot of raiding, but worse then entry level-raid gear so as to not be unbalanced.

Difficulty would scale to players with the base sets of gear. These relics would act as an extra reward to player who were some of the first to complete content or just got lucky.

I think everyone is missing the point that every regular player has a shot at getting these and that a HUGE variety would exist in-game. Effectively making any game-breaking effects balanced by other entities of power. Also, player skill would act as the primary make or break mechanic. Gear and levels, though necessary are merely supplements.

 

[Gnomercy]

EverQuest had items like this, and I thought that they were great. They were handed out to people who played a major part in GM events, and were often accompanied by a title. There was only one of the item per server, so getting it was a huge deal. I'm sure that some people were jealous about it, but most seemed to really enjoy the events.

Ah, yes. I've heard of this before. It seems people who have actually played games with such a mechanic don't mind it.

I'd actually have to speak up about that one. Back in Everquest I was a fairly major role in a GM event that eventually led to a few people from the top guild being given manastones (which at the time was the best item ever for any caster, but was removed from the game for being so). This kinda sucked but i figured maybe I just didn't do enough in the event or something. I later come to find out that our server GM was in the pocket of the best guild on our server and was RL friends with a lot of their members. I can only imagine the favors he did for them aside from the manastones.

Server GM's have too much power. My guild on the progression server in Everquest apparently had a member that was also a GM on the same server (which wasn't supposed to happen anyway) and he literally went in and changed the loot tables of monsters we were fighting. We got 3 awesome breastplates from the first raid mob in a new expansion due to this. I was not aware that this was going on at the time, but only found out later when I quit. This kind of nerd power abuse is dumb and I don't doubt that it's happened many times before and will happen many times in the future.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Well, LotRO has some things I guess you could consider limited, most of the time it's for players who played during a certain time.

Being a Founder has netted me all kinds of goodies, especially with since they're doing their 5 years anniversary. I got a horsey, and a cloak, and some robes that, and some other little trinkets of questionable worth (most of the above is cosmetic only). I also get a free Bree Horse (half as fast as the normal mounts, but free and doesn't require riding skill) a ring that gives 3 whole agility, and cloak that's actually really good up until about level 13 or so. Preordering their expansions gives all kinds of nice little trinkets that, while usually not worth messing with once you gain a few levels, are really rather nice at the lower levels.

Of course, that's more limited time than limited amount.

 

[Ickorus]

It is a very very bad idea, I used to play a game that did this and my brother got one such extremely limited item (Only like 2 or 3 in the game), not long after this he was hacked and we both quit the game at that time.

Apparently my brothers account went on ebay a couple of times for hundreds of dollars before someone decided to just delete the bloody item and end the madness.

 

[Melon Hunter]

They inadvertently had something like this in Runescape, when the holiday items from the early game were left tradeable. As these were given out for only a couple of weeks when the game was still small, they were in very short supply, and fetched ridiculous prices. A Santa Hat could cost 25 million gold. A blue party hat (and I believe there's only one left in existence, as far as anyone's aware) could go for 1 billion gold. And the thing was, they did nothing useful whatsoever. So, while unique weapons are probably a bad idea, unique aesthetic things can be a nice thing to aspire to.

 

[Lord of Lore]

They inadvertently had something like this in Runescape, when the holiday items from the early game were left tradeable. As these were given out for only a couple of weeks when the game was still small, they were in very short supply, and fetched ridiculous prices. A Santa Hat could cost 25 million gold. A blue party hat (and I believe there's only one left in existence, as far as anyone's aware) could go for 1 billion gold. And the thing was, they did nothing useful whatsoever. So, while unique weapons are probably a bad idea, unique aesthetic things can be a nice thing to aspire to.

I've played RS for about seven years now. Definitely a fan of party hats, even own one. There are thousands of every color remaining by the way. Thanks for the continued feedback everyone.

EverQuest had items like this, and I thought that they were great. They were handed out to people who played a major part in GM events, and were often accompanied by a title. There was only one of the item per server, so getting it was a huge deal. I'm sure that some people were jealous about it, but most seemed to really enjoy the events.

Ah, yes. I've heard of this before. It seems people who have actually played games with such a mechanic don't mind it.

I'd actually have to speak up about that one. Back in Everquest I was a fairly major role in a GM event that eventually led to a few people from the top guild being given manastones (which at the time was the best item ever for any caster, but was removed from the game for being so). This kinda sucked but i figured maybe I just didn't do enough in the event or something. I later come to find out that our server GM was in the pocket of the best guild on our server and was RL friends with a lot of their members. I can only imagine the favors he did for them aside from the manastones.

Server GM's have too much power. My guild on the progression server in Everquest apparently had a member that was also a GM on the same server (which wasn't supposed to happen anyway) and he literally went in and changed the loot tables of monsters we were fighting. We got 3 awesome breastplates from the first raid mob in a new expansion due to this. I was not aware that this was going on at the time, but only found out later when I quit. This kind of nerd power abuse is dumb and I don't doubt that it's happened many times before and will happen many times in the future.

Not really applicable to this specific poll, but interesting story none the less Gnomercy. I'm surprised they got away with such blatant favoritism.

 

[SajuukKhar]

I like Arena Net's approach to the Hall of Monument rewards in GW2.

they are unique, one of a kind, but are no better then other weapons you could get in the game itself, they just have unique skins.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I don't like it when it costs 10 million credits and is only in a vendor for a limited time. That seems unrealistic for most people to achieve. However a well timed event where if you work hard at it you can get it is perfectly reasonable to me.

 

[Gnomercy]

They inadvertently had something like this in Runescape, when the holiday items from the early game were left tradeable. As these were given out for only a couple of weeks when the game was still small, they were in very short supply, and fetched ridiculous prices. A Santa Hat could cost 25 million gold. A blue party hat (and I believe there's only one left in existence, as far as anyone's aware) could go for 1 billion gold. And the thing was, they did nothing useful whatsoever. So, while unique weapons are probably a bad idea, unique aesthetic things can be a nice thing to aspire to.

I've played RS for about seven years now. Definitely a fan of party hats, even own one. There are thousands of every color remaining by the way. Thanks for the continued feedback everyone.

EverQuest had items like this, and I thought that they were great. They were handed out to people who played a major part in GM events, and were often accompanied by a title. There was only one of the item per server, so getting it was a huge deal. I'm sure that some people were jealous about it, but most seemed to really enjoy the events.

Ah, yes. I've heard of this before. It seems people who have actually played games with such a mechanic don't mind it.

I'd actually have to speak up about that one. Back in Everquest I was a fairly major role in a GM event that eventually led to a few people from the top guild being given manastones (which at the time was the best item ever for any caster, but was removed from the game for being so). This kinda sucked but i figured maybe I just didn't do enough in the event or something. I later come to find out that our server GM was in the pocket of the best guild on our server and was RL friends with a lot of their members. I can only imagine the favors he did for them aside from the manastones.

Server GM's have too much power. My guild on the progression server in Everquest apparently had a member that was also a GM on the same server (which wasn't supposed to happen anyway) and he literally went in and changed the loot tables of monsters we were fighting. We got 3 awesome breastplates from the first raid mob in a new expansion due to this. I was not aware that this was going on at the time, but only found out later when I quit. This kind of nerd power abuse is dumb and I don't doubt that it's happened many times before and will happen many times in the future.

Not really applicable to this specific poll, but interesting story none the less Gnomercy. I'm surprised they got away with such blatant favoritism.

Ya sorry I got off topic, it was more along the lines of what can happen when it comes to the distribution of the one-of-a-kind MMO stuff.