Idea - Snowmelter?

[Maebius]

Just tossing this out to the community to see if it's even a good idea, or a horribly unbalanced one.    Don't hold back!  

 

What would you think of a spell, item, Cauldron recipe, or other "effect" to exist, which could focus a large amount of Heat, or resources, or time, or ____ to melt a Snowperson before it's natural devolution?   A alkahest solvent or such.  ;)

 

I have a vague idea of Principles, that I could flesh out, with Light adding energy to unbalance Cyclicity or some-such, in order to "explain" how it might be possible, but before I dig too far into those shadows, I figured I'd throw the idea out.  

 

The way I imagine it, even if a recipe or other "renewable/public" effect is created, it should be rather difficult. 

Not just a matter of 10 Water, a sprinkle of Herbs, and a Heat Jar would do for such Powerful Magics.       

 

Would you want to see something like this,or would that heavily detract from the Morph's uniqueness?

Discuss. :cool:

Edited June 11, 2013 by Maebius

[dst]

It would have been a good idea before the introduction of totems. Right now I don't see why you'd want to melt your snowPERSON (since Mur was not using the politically correct form, I will :P).

[Maebius]

Why would we want to?   In order to trade them (to you?!) or pass them out as rewards, or perhaps try to get... *sniffs* ... old Jeff back. :(

Many reasons I could see, but plety of reasons against too.   Thus, my post.  :)

Initial post updated for gender unbiasing.  (Sorry Helga, et al)  :))

Edited June 11, 2013 by Maebius

[dst]

As I said: prior to totem, this would have been a "plausible" idea ( I still like the fact that they melt only once a year :D). But now, you don't need to melt them anymore. Unless you want Helga back :D.

 

And trust me: i've cursed the once a year melting more than you can even imagine! but I would still like it as it is.

[Zyrxae]

As I said: prior to totem, this would have been a "plausible" idea ( I still like the fact that they melt only once a year :D). But now, you don't need to melt them anymore.

Here's hoping that snowpeople receive a "melted? y/n" key upon totemization, and that frozen ones are untranferrable even by ITC. This way, a totemized frozen snowperson could be an ingredient in a recipe as Maebius suggests.
 

I have a vague idea of Principles, that I could flesh out, with Light adding energy to unbalance Cyclicity or some-such, in order to "explain" how it might be possible.

I'd say this is more an example of excess Light hastening a natural cyclic process for entropic purposes. (This is a great example of light being much more entropic than syntropic!)

 

Naturally the actual process would involve a very large amount of heat..good thing we have jars for that. Some sort of containment would have to be devised for the snowperson so that it wouldn't leak during the melting. To ensure that the snowperson heats evenly (if some parts heat faster than others, there could be a significant buildup of steam within the container even as parts were still frozen; the pressure exerted by the steam on the container could cause it to explode and leak water vapor into the air, resulting in a much smaller snowperson once re-slushed and re-formed), a stick/Sculpting Paddle could be inserted into the container whereby those assisting in the melting could stir around poor Fritz or Betty.

I'm picturing something like a butter churn, but maybe expandable (made of specially treated skin? Skin comes from grasans, which expand regularly..) and with a hole for the stirring stick.

[dst]

Here's hoping that snowpeople receive a "melted? y/n" key upon totemization, and that frozen ones are untranferrable even by ITC. This way, a totemized frozen snowperson could be an ingredient in a recipe as Maebius suggests.
 

With all due respect, I don't really understand what you're saying. I haven't totemize a morph so I lack certain knowledge.You mean to say that  they un-transferable even as an item?

Do you want a key that might give you the option to melt them?

[Fang Archbane]

If you have the Snowperson you want (I MISS YOU REINY COME BACK) and Totemizing them before the melt, bringing them back after, and keeping them unmelted that way can work, I say this might not be too needed.

On the other hand though, to get a good set of the specific morphs you want, you would need something like this. So I'm all for the idea, why not, it could be fun ^_^

[Zyrxae]

With all due respect, I don't really understand what you're saying. I haven't totemize a morph so I lack certain knowledge.You mean to say that  they un-transferable even as an item?
Do you want a key that might give you the option to melt them?

Sorry for the previous wording—
Creature totems are currently transferable only via ITC, the same as shared tools. Although I haven't tested it, I assume that snowperson totems are also transferable by ITC, thus bypassing the long-standing need to wait for melting season to sell snowmen. (Since totems can't be opened yet, it's hard to test this completely.)

 

To keep snowmen 'special', totems of morphed (frozen) ones could be rendered so that only their creators could re-open the totem. The totem would be an ingredient in the melting process described above. The recipe's product? One snowball creature totem.

 

This way, totems can't be used as a workaround to trade something normally not tradeable, and people could either melt their own snowpeople using the cauldron recipe or give/sell the frozen totems to someone else so that they could do the same.

[dst]

Ah, now I get it.

Your idea is interesting and it solves the issue with selling unmelted morphs + might add a new recipe to the few that we already have thus increasing the...fun.

But the issues you've raised (transferring things that should bot be transferred) stand for the rest of the creatures as well. Right now when you totemize a crit, you basically freeze it with all it has (age, wins, xp). If the reverse process (bringing the crit to life) is implemented the way Mur wanted in the first place, well....hell will break loose.

 

So, until we don't see how the "extraction" process works it's a bit premature to talk about this. Yes, we can propose ideas (it's healty and fun) but who knows what Mur might come up with and NONE of our ideas will fit.

 

For example, I would like to see a recipe for each type of creature (to extract a drachorn, you need a certain amount of resources - also this can be scaled -the more you have/use the better the extraction aka the more wins, xp, age the drach will get and so on). I will also like to see creatures being extracted only on particular days of the week/month and only in particular places.

 

Morphs are just the tip of the iceberg.

[Maebius]

I'm glad to see this discussion.  

Your comments are pretty much exactly why I asked, dst.   It's a rather big issue, beyond "oh, just trade a crit".  

 

Might have unintended consequences, but I still think it might be an interesting idea.  

Not convinced it will be best to melt morphs "out of season", though, thus, the topic, in case others love the idea.  :)

[dst]

I am still for NOT melting them :D. They are hard to get and one of the BIG issues I encountered while trying to catch them all was the fact that although people were willing to trade them, they could not. And this is why I was able to beat Junior :D who had the money to buy them all in case he could :P

[Junior]

Hey hey I've got 12 a week or so after you haha. This ITC snow person transfer was something I spoke to Mur about when the totems first came out. Now ontopic I dislike the idea of such a key or tool to melt a snow person at will. This would really take away from the appeal of the creature and the idea they were implemented under.

[The Warrior]

I like the idea but feel that it should be one of the potential uses of the creature totem upcoming feature.

[Maebius]

Well,  I admit I wasnt' aware of the full functionality of the Totemizing feature.   I read it as a sort of mini Beastiary for yourself, with only one crit.   Seeing it in action now I agree, it could be used as I was pondering, to potentially trade.  We'll just have to see how that works out in the final finished form (specifically for Morphs).

[Chewett]

Totems will be more impactful than this, probably. moved to dismissed for now.