rewards for staying through the rough times..

[Marrek]

well I just want everyone that said training points or levels are unbalancing and then suggested better cargo disk to think about that. that is unbalancing for new crafters. So how is that different? Also those that complained and then suggested bigger vaults, also crafting unbalancing . I dont mind critisism but listen to what you say after you knock my suggestion.

As far as levels that isnt unbalancing, if they give us all 1 level in 1 school or one level in advent and craft. I agree jsut training points can be unbalancing If it was a tramatic amount. but i do not think a small amount would be bad. And titles are the easiest rout.

Shoulder buddies and other wearables are not a good option as you eliminate that from a good portion of the player base that doesnt have viable wearables.

[Goriax]

Here's a couple ideas for dragons anyway.

Before beta they mentioned that dragons were going to have an in-game real world time requirement to advance. It would record when your dragon was created and no matter what your stats, level, or hoard, wouldn't allow you to advance to adult until some amount of real world time (say, three months) had advanced since that dragon was created whether or not online. They obviously scrapped it for adults.

Put that in for ancient dragons. Make it a year. Make it so only time with an active subscription counts. If you want to be ancient you have to stick with it through good times and bad. This isn't game imbalancing per se since anyone can get the reward if they stick with it long enough. But you'll never see ancient if you're one of those people who plans to play the game for three months, powerlevel your way up, and then quit. This also makes sense. If a dragon is ancient he's ANCIENT. He's OLD. He's been AROUND AWHILE. Seems like a real world time requirement would fit.

Alternatively, give dragons some decorative gnomes for their lairs when we get lairs. In fact any sort of lair or plot decoration would work.

[Magfuddle]

... give dragons some decorative gnomes for their lairs when we get lairs.

pfft !

[Lost Soul]

A choice of one of three shoulder buddies each unique to the shard the account came from. Or a customizable banner, likethe "for sale" flag, that can be placed anywhere on a plot. The shape of the banner would be unique to the shard the account came from.

[Gold]

I don't want anything that provides a beneficial effect. No tp's, no free experience, no free character slot, no free resources, none of that.

I share this sentiment. Some non play related bonus would be great. Some things that come to mind are Titles (previously mentioned), a few boxes of fireworks (already in game), special color for characters names, an in game monument with characters names and shard origins, special (nonfunctional) structure/statue one could build, etc. in addition to other great ideas previously mentioned.

[Y]

[Lauryav]

you can build a statue of your self on your plot, shouldn`t be so hard for the server to take the saved player-models make them grey and bit bigger. And if you change Tools or Cloths, the Tools and Cloths of the Statue also should change[8-|]

[Tanglor]

Ultima Online has a really nice reward system and it works well there, you get to choose a reward based on your account age, so if your account is 1 year old you get 1 reward choice, 2 years old, you get 2 more, etc. I agree that it shouldn't be anything unbalancing, eye candy type items work for me, titles, tunics that say I survived the server merge (in fact UO had a clothing item choice with a title just like that, it was something like "I survived the age of shadows" (Age of Shadows was an expansion that was really buggy at release))
What I would like is a different shoulder pet or a rare dye color only available to vets. Or what I would really love (and yes I know this is totally unfeasable at this time) a horse or visable cloaks [;)]

A Choice system would work best with several reward options available. This way you could also have Dragon specific items as well as the Biped items. The titles would work for Dragons, maybe also have a special spell that only Dragons can cast, like a glowing effect that surrounds them, or a summoning spell that summons in a few hapless gnomes for their munching delight [:P]

[Khoal]

Here's my input on this matter:

Divide up the amount of time between Launch and Merger into thirds (or fourths, or whatever). Those that fit into the "first group" are those who have had their subscriptions since Launch. Latter groups up until Merger are divided according to the length of time they have had their subscriptions.

Rewards are sorted by this division, with the most rewards going to those who have been playing since Launch.

So, following the "divide into thirds" train of thought, those players who were present since Launch get three; those players who were in the "middle" get two, and those who were present for merger get one.

The rewards are eye candy only. Particle effect spells that do nothing but look cool, shoulder pets and the like. Most of all, though, would be unique emotes.

What are the emotes? I don't know, but they should be cool, and they should apply to all races.

Somequick emotes that I thought up just now:

1) /juggle The PC juggles items: a dagger, an axe, a ball of magical fire. If the PC is a dragon, they juggle gnomes (or just their skulls), and other dragon-appropriate items (prime bolts, etc).

2) /smokering The PC lights a pipe and blows a particle effect smoke ring. If the PC is a dragon, they belch a quick puff of fire, then blows a series of improbable geometric shapes out of smoke.

3) /corona The PC tenses all their muscles, as if psyching themselves up for combat, and a corona of energy crackles around them. (Or they magically produce a bottle of Corona beer and chug it. Either works).

4) /nerfedagain The PC has been nerfed. AGAIN! The PC then sinks to his/her/its knees, beats the ground with their fists. Or maybe just beats the ground with their head.

5) /randomdance This one would be the most difficult to code, for, as its name suggests, the PC would perform a random dance from among many easily recognized dances: YMCA, moonwalk (complete with the "whooo!" at the end), Saturday Night Fever, La Macarena (or however its spelled), Riverdance, and so on. Just the right sort of thing to lighten the mood in a fully RP-server, waiting for those mobs to spawn. And no, I have no idea how a Dragon would dance Saturday Night Fever.

[Kulamata]

I like the dyes, still like the shoulder pet, like the gardern statue, like the veteran's stat boost, like the clothing.

No one has yet suggested a boost to vault space, something usable by both dragon and biped. It would not be flaunted, but would be useful. Size large enough to be rewarding, but not large enough to unbalance unduly.

[Kaei Silverleaf]

"I like some sort of shoulder pet or other Simple Item. It is consistent with the players that pre-ordered Horizons (they showed faith in the game, waiting for it to hit gold). Can't be clothing or such unless visable on dragons."

This statement is a little wrong since not every one who preordered got the same treatment ... Yes, people who preordered the game got these little welcome to Istaria type gifts, including the shoulder pets ... But only IF they preordered from the US. Those of us who preordered the game who lived in the UK and thus could only access the Europe servers never got our free gifts, even though some of the preorder sites actually told us that we would ... What was worse is the fact that the Token master NPC were in game on our servers, even though we never recieved tokens [:(]

All in all ... Yes, it would be nice if they gifted those of us who have stayed through all these hard times some gifts to say thank you, but at the same time it is only worth it and fair if they treat all their members the same and give out the same things on both sides of the big ol' pond.

I still say that the players on Europe deserve their free gifts for preordering the game as well ... But I guess that will never happen now that all these problems are cropping up [:(]

"Overall, I don't think a reward would be proper or possibly fair. How do you reward the true veterans (the beta testers with characters on Blight) to those that came later (like me in April) to those just now? Do you count in game playing time and server? Have a tier of reward packages."

Many other games have managed to give out veteran rewards without a problem. The best example of veteran rewards being handed out in my experence has to have been Ultima Online. They not only had a good delivery system but also a nice little list of gifts you could choose from.
Now, since there is already stored data on when a character was created (after all, you have a guild's 'joined date' and how long someone has been a member for listed in days) then surely implimenting a reward system based on how long a character has been active for would not be too hard to impliment.

Yes, all this would be nice, and would make players feel more wanted, but at the same time I am sure they have enough things to do than to start implimenting something like this.

edit: Whilst reading more of the thread, I noticed that someone wrote about the UO gifts any how [:)] Ah well, too late to remove it now.

[Marrek]

I would like to say anything that has to be used with a plot/building can only work if they are going to give a choice of rewards. I know i dont a statue of some biped with my name on it for a plot when i am going to have a cave :)

[Kyrton]

Hows about some new epic quest or event...Man i miss those.

Lets have another festival. And add the quest for boar hides mask again.. O and make regal bits and peices drop once again. Wounldnt mind seeing my shimmering stone have the effects it once did.

[ACOLYTE]

my 2c.....

Dragons: A scale piece that makes them translucent like the ghostly dragons.

Bipeds:A choice of ceremonial robe or perhaps spikey armor with low stats(just for looks like drake scale)

Both add no bonuses to stats attributes or make gameplay unfair for new gamers.

[Shadow the Rabbit]

my 2c.....

Dragons: A scale piece that makes them translucent like the ghostly dragons.

Bipeds:A choice of ceremonial robe or perhaps spikey armor with low stats(just for looks like drake scale)

Both add no bonuses to stats attributes or make gameplay unfair for new gamers.

Best idea so far imo.I wana be a ghosty draggy!!AND Mystara started halloween ball..would be PERFECT for us dragons!

[VegasJOEY]

How about as a reward for sticking it out they pay for my EQ2 Preorder [:'(][Y][Y][Y][Y][Y][6]

[Zeph]

I like the Shoulder pet idea - Maybe a baby dragon for bipeds and/or dragons, or a gnome for dragons.

Vault increase would be great.

A shrink potion may be cool as well

Also, building off of the Titles idea, maybe allow us to make a customized Title for our character(optional). I wouldn't like having everyone one running around with the same title hehe.

The Ghostly Dragon scale idea is pretty awsome too imo. As well as the Ceremonial robe.

They could probably also apply the Ghost thing to Bipeds as well.

[Lerolas]

I'll keep this short.[;)]

I really like the ideas for the training points or the Name Titles. IMO tho I think doing name titles by level (ala UO) is pretty cool over all. I mean this for all players tho.
The idea I like best is a special cargo disk speed bonus!!! Or alternatively an increase in vault space.

[Syllis SunFlower]

I like the shoulder pet idea. I also like the idea of a title. Elder or veteran, etc. sounds good to me. Heck, my guild gave me the title of Guild Mom (yes it's official)[:D], but having a title floating over my head sounds nice.

[magius]

I want my mule that carries 150000 bulk [6]

[LaiAhna]

Ok so no bonus points or lvls. Then how about,

1, Shoulder or dancing pets.

2. Titles.

3. Mules

hehe Sounds great to me!