New Torch Contest Concept

[Jester]

Torch Contest New Concept

    These are just the basics to a very complex idea. I need to know if its possible to code this with the time frame and energy the programmers have and are willing to spend, before I go crazy and plan out and type up everything I can think of.
    PLEASE LIMIT YOUR REPLIES TO CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK AND AVOID NEEDLESS ARGUING. THIS IS A DISCUSSION. IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO ATTACK SOMEONE ELSE'S IDEA KINDLY SEND THEM A MESSAGE INSTEAD. To clarify, it need not be a kindly message, it would just be kind of you to send it to them instead of posting it here.

The Basics
    The most important aspect of this Torch Contest Concept focuses on allowing everyone, no matter their combat ability, to play a crucial role in the competition. This will be accomplished through the use of many different types of items that are only available during Torches. Specific details will not be included yet as I am not sure if the idea is viable or not. Even if it is possible to implement it seems like it would take a huge amount of work, so I am trying to keep it as simple as possible (sorry Chew!).

Joining the Competition
    Firstly, people would join Torches for the entire duration of the contest, being given a special status and the homeland that they've joined. Only the four main lands would take part in Torches. Once you have joined a land you cannot switch to another or leave the contest. I believe this could be accomplished through illusions but I am not sure. I apologize to everyone not in a mainland, but this is the only way things could work the way they are. In the future the other lands could be added.
    Players who wish to participate in Torches but are not part of the four main lands would need to send a request to the King of that land, or another person that the King appoints to lead his army. The leader of the army will henceforth be referred to as the General for the purposes of this document, whether or not it is the King. The General can choose to accept or deny an application. This will eliminate cheating by joining a land to provide free points (even if the rest of this idea is too complex I believe this would be a good feature).
    Players will have two statuses: Soldier and Medic. All players are Medics until they pick up a Torch, Medic is simply what I am calling the normal state of a participant.. At any time a Medic can pick up a torch and became a Soldier, upon losing the torch or scoring a point they revert to being Medics.

Resources
    This Torch Concept requires a great deal of new, Torches-only resources and items. Both of these would only exist during the torch contest and disappear once it is finished. Only players participating in the contest can harvest them. These resources will update very frequently during the Torch competition, unlike their normal counterparts.
    The role of Medics in the battle will be to harvest these resources and combine them to create all manner of game changing items. Examples of these include poison/healing items that raise/lower a target's stats, mimic spells, and even adjust regen times! The possibilities are endless, and new items could be added periodically to keep things fresh. With the proper use of these items any player could be beaten, though it would remain very difficult to defeat the strongest players even with clever utilization of items.
    The most common resources available in this competition would be considered base ingredients and used for many different types of items. The limited nature of these would require a land to plan ahead and use their resources for the items they need most. Each land would have a variety of resources, with some being unique to each land and some being available generally throughout the realm. The most powerful ingredients could be found far away from the main battlegrounds, such as within Tribunal and other hard to reach areas. Due to only torch competitors being able to harvest and their being part of one of the mainlands, travel to those areas would take a long time.
    The most powerful and game changing ingredients would require rare resources from out of the way areas or a combination of ingredients that can each only be found in separate main lands. This would encourage teamwork and alliances between the gatherers to take down a powerful enemy.

Death and Revival
    When a Medic is defeated by someone carrying a torch they are movelocked and unable to gather resources for their land for a set period of time. A Medic defeating a Soldier has no effect. When a Soldier is defeated by another Soldier, the losing Soldier is killed and transported to the capitol of the land they are fighting for.
    Revival will no longer be automatic. Instead, a revival potion will need to be created from harvested resources and used on the corpse. These potions would be cheap to make, but require base resources that could be used to create more powerful recipes. If possible death from Torches should be separate from death from a killing item or contract so that this feature cannot be abused to revive those killed through other means. If not possible I will rework this section.

MD Shop Potential
    Some rare resources could only be harvested by buying a tool from deep within the MD Shop, or perhaps from a brand new branch of the shop entirely. Each player would only be allowed to carry one of each tool at a time, though they could absolutely buy more than one if they sell or trade the original. There are certainly other torch related items that could be placed in the shop to encourage people who aren't grinders to support this most awesome of games. If this idea is feasible I would be happy to come up with some more and suggestions are, as always, very welcome. An entire, deep branch of MD shop would be fairly easy to build on over time.

Mechanics Not Included Yet

    These would all require time and testing but I think the end result would be well worth it.
    -attacking cost would be high but not crippling
    -movement cost would be fairly low in homeland and high (though not as high as last Torches) in opposing lands
    -durations of items and movelock status
    -item/resource types and regen rate

    -a way to make each homeland have identical regen rates, or some other way to balance out AP costs

    -how to score (a very complicated issue with these proposed changes!)

    -a way to add other lands besides the main lands
    -etc.

 

Even More Crazy Ideas

    These could be added years down the road for even more fun!

     -ability to strengthen your land's gate using constructive items to increase AP cost

     -items for bashing down an opposing land's gate to decrease AP cost

     -building permanent totems to have a beneficial effect on every member of your homeland

     -weather slowing down movement or speeding it up

     -assassinations during night mode

     -variable resources that could be added to a recipe that already exists to boosts its effects

Final Thoughts
    If someone who understands programming could please let me know which parts of this idea are doable and which are the fevered dreams of a madman, I would be most grateful. Indeed, full of great would I be. Thank you all for your time.

Edited September 6, 2013 by Jester

[Maebius]

oops, misclicked negrep.  :(  teensy phone screen)

 

 

interesting ideas, though is quite a huge change.  I am not sure about the resource/tool part, but otherwise the other concepts I think are nice.    especially the registration and soldier/medic concept that adds a role for nonfighters who want to participste for their land still

[Jester]

Ah, thanks for pointing out the resource/tool section, I had forgotten about that. Off the top of my head:

 

Each participant can grab one tool (maybe more, testing would be required). These tools cannot be transferred, not even using IRC. This tool could harvest any of a variety of common resources, so you'd need to choose which one you need most at the time. These common resources would be the basic ingredients.

.

Second type of resources would spawn and be more like clickies, the first person to see it and grab it, gets it. There would be a variety of locations they could pop up and they would do so randomly, not on a set time period.  These resources would have a wide variety of effects and be required for more advanced recipes.

 

Final type of resource would be similar to bushies, you would need to build them up within your land, and then eventually you would get to harvest them. The most potent recipes would require this type of ingredient.

 

Stealing would add a completely new element of course.

 

If this Torch Concept gets implemented I would expect just enough of the first type of resource to make revival potions. One great thing about this idea is how easy it is to add new things as new ideas or features come out!

Edited September 6, 2013 by Jester