there are two options
1) have the stones in game sooner than ages later, like now, risking monopol and riduculous prices, missuse, etc
2) have the stones when everything else fits in, waiting ages for it, and oh guess what, the other things can't be in because the stones are not in and so on.
[b]You are severely underestimating my choices when it comes to selecting people[/b], and i am also getting increasingly pissed off on such atitude. I am sure everything would have been fine if one of the ancient players was to get this ability. MD is not a single-player game, there shouldn't be a way for each person to get what they need without player2player interaction. The only thing i need to be careful about is that these NEEDED things won't depend on money, and stones, or resources in general, don't...they depend on the gatherers, on the way they are, their activity, their personality.
The market price is simple to decide, auction.
You think they will get rich and popular? maybe..exactly why I don't want to pic a "veteran" for this job. A vet would ask those insane prices you talk about..or worse, they would use the stones for their own use.
when its none you complain its none and when is something you complain why it is. MD has been like that since when it started, experimental, with unstable and potentially abusable things always. Some people will work with what it is some will wait to see it finished without understanding "finishing md" will never happen.
After the memory stones there will be the learning stones and after that the research features , after that new resources, with other monopoly, and so on. The "edge" of the development will always be expensive and hard to get, compare it with the modern days technology.
You look at the incident and miss the big picture. It happens that each day i am surrounded by people that think they know better because the saw a flaw in what i do, yet nobody thinks that it might be intentional. It is offensive and patronizing to act like "I know better" and I am sorry i am forced to act like that, but I DO know better.
Guess what..the changes i am doing these days will cause a pissing contest in md. EVERYBODY will get their own reason to be upset on something. Newbies (as i;ve been told NOOBS is offensive) will think these features are for old players and that i keep expanding md when basic functionality is broken. Vets will think i am ignoring their progress and put power into the hands of unexperienced players.
I should stop this before i get realy angry. Time for an other 12h marathon.