I like exploration. I’ve jumped to a number of places where there’s really nothing to find or see, just because I could. I’ve been trying out a “reach me and get 10 silver” thing in some cities but had few takers.
Expanding on that, I came up with the idea of player-given exploration missions!
= Equipment =
Cost: Laurels/karma/?? to buy one
Player buys a Exploration Mission Kit, and receives 2 items:
- Exploration Mission Objective
- Exploration Mission Signup Board
= Setup =
Using the Mission Objective item will spawn an interactive world object –
[Player’s Name] Mission Objective – at the player’s current location. This object does not do anything until the Mission is Started.
Using the Signup Board places an interactive world object –
[Player’s Name] Mission Board – at the player’s current location.
Once both items have been placed (must be in the same map), the mission host player can Use the Mission Board, with the following options:
- Starting Prize Gold: selected by the mission host player. This is deducted from his own funds
- Entry Fee: automatically set to 1/10 of the starting prize gold (amount may need re-balancing)
Once these values are set, the player can Initiate the Mission Board. The mission board then becomes a visible icon for everyone in the map (just as Commander icons are visible), and begins an automatic fixed 3 minute countdown before the Exploration Mission is Started automatically
Other players who want to participate, must go to the location of the mission board, and pay the Entry Fee. They must then remain in a small area (size of an average AoE effect) around the mission board until the countdown finishes and the Exploration Mission starts. If they leave this area prematurely, they are disqualified (entry fee may or may not be returned)
= Playing the Exploration Mission =
Once the countdown has finished, the players who have paid the entry fee are free to move around the map by any means they can.
A fixed time limit on the duration of the Mission starts counting down. These time limits should be map-size and difficulty dependant (i.e. cities have shorter times, lvl 80 areas have longer)
If a player finds the Exploration Objective, they can ‘use’ it to ‘complete’ the mission – becoming a Mission Winner.
A player hosting the mission cannot participate in the mission himself (nor can any other character from his account)
The Exploration Mission ends if the timer runs out, or if 5 people find the Exploration Objective.
Once a mission has been Initialized (allowing other players to pay entry fee) it cannot be canceled/removed. All money is stored in ‘escrow’ (for the lack of better word), and winnings are sent by Mail.
= Rewards =
The reward is Gold.
The total Prize Money is calculated like this:
Prize Money = Starting Prize Money + All Entry Fees Paid
The reward system works by giving each Winner and the host a different percentage of the Prize Money, depending on how many people, if any, found the mission objective.
The percentage of the prize money each player receives is given by the table below, where #Won is the number of people who found the objective, 1st/2nd etc. indicates the player who found the objective 1st, 2nd, etc, Host refers to the player who started the challenge, and Fee refers to the amount automatically taken (akin goldsink)
(WORK IN PROGRESS!, and apologies for the bad table formatting, but BBCode for tables doesn’t work on here :P I had to put 0% when there is no winner to format it better)
#Won | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Host | Fee
0 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 95% | 5%
1 | 50% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 45% | 5%
2 | 40% | 35% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 20% | 5%
3 | 35% | 30% | 20% | 0% | 0% | 10% | 5%
4 | 30% | 25% | 15% | 15% | 0% | 8% | 7%
5 | 25% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 5% | 20%
Edit: On rethinking this, there’s room for exploiting this by cheating other players from their money. A better system (well, perhaps in terms of exploiting) would be to have a fixed Fee – say 10%, and divide the rest (the 90%) amongst all the players who find the objective, and the host of the Mission.
= Feedback =
What do you guys think? I’ve tried to eliminate any chance of exploiting this as much as possible – and in fact, no new money is created – this acts as a gold sink, and only transfers money between players.
(edited by ZenonSeth.5739)