Spiral Knights - Mist energy harvesting service

Mist energy harvesting service

6 replies [Last post]

Sun, 07/10/2011 - 04:06

unthought

Legacy Username

Talking to the Energetic Knight, he explains that Mist Energy is in the air around us and is absorbed by your suit. If that happens, maybe other items absorb traces of mist energy too, and that energy could be recovered by taking the item apart.

I suggest a Knight or Stranger offer a service for crowns where you give up an item and get a mist tank of size corresponding to the item's star and heat value. Given that higher star items tending to be larger and/or thicker, and heat indicates how long and how far you've been traveling the clockworks with it, it seems narratively sound. I think a good formula would be:

2 x (item's star rating) x (item's heat value)

This way you need to get a 5 star item fully heated to get a full mist tank, but still get a small tank for freshly crafted items. This would serve multiple purposes:

- A way of extending play time without affecting incentive to buy CE
- Another crown sink to combat escalating CE prices
- A means of reducing inventory clutter
- A means of reducing Auction House clutter caused by people seeking UVs
- A partial solution to the bind/sell dilemma

One problem I see is that players could get mist tank clutter, as all the tanks of 2 ME fill up space. Possibly this service could instead directly fill your ME bar instead, but that doesn't seem as narratively consistent. I'm also uncertain what an appropriate crown cost would be and whether it should scale with the items value/heat rating.

Comments? Suggestions?

Sun, 07/10/2011 - 10:32

Yukarie

One big flaw with your plan.

One big flaw with your plan. It costs at the minimum 800 energy to craft a 5* item. Why would you ever want to trade away something you spent more energy to craft for less ME in the form of a tank? Same argument holds for 2, 3, 4* items. The cost of crafting them is more than the benefit of the tank. This also doesn't even take into account the cost of having to heat up the weapon.

Sun, 07/10/2011 - 12:09

Captain-Teemo

Not a bad idea - could use

Not a bad idea - could use some refining...

Although I'm wary of changes to the energy system... Having it tied to dungeoning limits inflation as ppl cannot dive forever. As bad as it sounds, it's actually GOOD for the economy that this energy is limited. However I do understand the desire to play more...

Sun, 07/10/2011 - 18:23

unthought

Legacy Username

Some responses and related ideas

@lunarika4096

You might want to trade away a 5 star item if you had no use for it, for example if you had a superior unique variant. Otherwise a bound item just sits in your inventory waiting for an unbinding service. The diminishing returns keeps it from affecting the economy too greatly.

@Shosuko

The diminishing returns still mean that the energy would be limited, just that players would have a means of 'banking' energy in the form of gear that they get to try out in the mean time. The problem that arises from people dungeoning with 200+ mist energy is a relevant however. I do think the present limit of 100 mist energy is a good way to keep tiers challenging. If you could just carry endless mist tanks the challenge would evaporate. Consequently I think it would be more balanced if this service just directly refilled the mist energy bar.

---

It occurred to me that taking an item and breaking it apart for raw materials is the sort of thing gremlins would do, so maybe the service should be offered by a gremlin. I think it unlikely a gremlin would be allowed into Haven, so in that case the service might only be available once you reach Emberlight.

Sun, 07/10/2011 - 20:53

Boolet

Legacy Username

"2 x (item's star rating) x

"2 x (item's star rating) x (item's heat value)

This way you need to get a 5 star item fully heated to get a full mist tank, but still get a small tank for freshly crafted items."

So... I can trade my Gran Faust for 1 full mist tank. 100 energy.

100 energy, worth at current, 6k. From an item that cost 800 energy to make. Nay, not even that. 800 + 400 + 200 at minimum.

So, at minimum, you're trading a 1400 energy item that you've leveled to 10, for 1/14th of that energy.

What's worse, is that you could VENDOR that weapon, for 30k. 30k, which at current prices, would yield 500CE.

Sun, 07/10/2011 - 21:17

Sillty

To simplify things, vendors

To simplify things, vendors should just give mist energy tanks equal to half the cost of crafting that item, so 4 100 tanks for a 5-star item.

Sun, 07/10/2011 - 23:46

unthought

Legacy Username

The problem as it stands is

The problem as it stands is the return should lie somewhere between "so little return it's not worth doing" and "I can play indefinitely through trading in old weapons". If the formula were, for example, 4 x (item's star rating) x (item's heat value) you could make a net profit from crafting 1 star items with just 3 heat. To offset this you would need a prohibitively high crown cost for the service. And that would STILL only give 200 mist energy for a 5 star heat 10 item.

Is the idea sound, but the formula needs work? Or is it a bad idea? What would be a fair cost for the service, and should it scale with stars, heat, both or neither?

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Mist energy harvesting service