CosrinHQ.com

[Miragul]

For those who don't know yet, I started up a website called CosrinHQ meant to act as a quick reference for game mechanics and information. In particular, I felt that resources for newbies were extremely lacking (even with the wiki, which can feel a bit sparse and sterile on some pages), so I designed CosrinHQ with newbies first and foremost in my mind.

As of now, there's a post detailing 10 reasons why you should play MUDs, which you should share with your non-MUDding friends. There's also the newbie's guide to Cosrin that I wrote earlier, as well as a compilation of class/race/guild/skills/spell information and some miscellaneous other guides.

There's also a blog element that I'll be using as a discussion point for MUD design and my ideas for addressing some of Cosrin's shortcomings. Right now, I'm writing a series analyzing the state of Cosrin's economy and how we can fix it.

• MUD Economy 101: The Value of Gold
• MUD Economy 102: Gold In, Gold Out
• MUD Economy 103: Gold Sinks and Drippy Faucets
• MUD Economy 104: Player Interdependency
• MUD Economy 105: Cosrin Economy Proposal

I'll update this post as new articles are posted. Feedback and suggestions for the site would be appreciated. Thanks!

[vez]

Hey buddy, Had a look at the site and I appreciate that you took the time to do it, but the whole point of the wiki was that you can bring everybody's knowledge together and compile it into an easy to search form.

A lot of the data will be duplicated and only you can control it where as on the wiki, everyone can contribute and discussions can form around the accuracy and relevancy of the data.

Why don't we try and make the wiki more inviting and perhaps you can put forward suggestions on how to make that better?

[Miragul]

Part 3 in the economy series has been posted.

We had a discussion in chats before and I hope I made it clear that CosrinHQ isn't meant to be a full replacement for the wiki. It's just a quick reference site for various game mechanics and information. Deeper mechanics and secrets (like quest answers and speedwalks) can be focused on the wiki because I don't think I'm going to pursue those things. On a more personal note, 1) I don't really know much about wiki editing and 2) I don't feel comfortable contributing to a wiki that's owned by a player who apparently has no more interest in Cosrin, mostly because it might go down without notice.

And then there's the whole blog thing, which was the primary reason why I wanted to start the site.

[ava]

Personally, I feel like they could maybe serve two different purposes.

I see Mira's HQ site as a guide to the game, how to play, general information, maybe news, mostly oriented towards newer players and people like me who don't know a lot of things. And the blog posts which could potentially spur conversation about what changes should be made to the game.

The wiki from what I've seen could be more of a repository of information that the player base has learned, including some "spoilers" and so on, so that the knowledge doesn't disappear if the players who have that knowledge do.

Of course there would be some overlap -- things like the race/class stats are on both, I believe. But that's ok, isn't it?

[Development]

2) I don't feel comfortable contributing to a wiki that's owned by a player who apparently has no more interest in Cosrin, mostly because it might go down without notice.

The wiki is an official fan-site, linked to from the web site as well as provided for within the first-party OGC Desktop Client.

While the site is in no manner affiliated with Online Games Company, inc. or with Cosrin: A New Dawn, it would not have been granted this status were there concerns that it would up and disappear without notice or potential transition of control.

Additionally, as far as I can tell, the two sites appear to appeal to separate interests. That is, the wiki provides an opportunity for the community to share everything it feels is valuable with each other; Miragul's site provides an opportunity for him to tell the community what he feels is important information while simultaneously delving into blog-style or philosophical topics not well-suited for a wiki, but of interest to the community and game at large.

In the end, so long as the "hard facts" between the official website, the wiki fan-site, and Mirgaul's site all match up, players will receive the same information (of the set of information which overlaps) on each of the sites, and which they go to is then up to their personal preference or interest in the specific information (of the set of information which does not overlap).

[Miragul]

While the site is in no manner affiliated with Online Games Company, inc. or with Cosrin: A New Dawn, it would not have been granted this status were there concerns that it would up and disappear without notice or potential transition of control.

This is good to know, thanks.

EDIT: Part four of the economy series has been posted. Tomorrow the final piece, my suggestions for restoring Cosrin's economy, will be posted. Hopefully that will generate a good bit of discussion!

[Miragul]

Economy proposal has been posted.

Miragul dons fifty layers of flame-resistant robes.

[Miragul]

More content updates on CosrinHQ.

• Redesigning Cosrin's Group Experience Formula
• Newbie Progression Guide
• Haste Guide and Spell Disables Guide
• Guild Overview completed

New blog posts will go up every Wednesday and Saturday starting today.

[Egg]

More content updates on CosrinHQ.

• Redesigning Cosrin's Group Experience Formula
• Newbie Progression Guide
• Haste Guide and Spell Disables Guide
• Guild Overview completed

New blog posts will go up every Wednesday and Saturday starting today.

I look forward to keeping up with this. Great work so far. Truly.

[Miragul]

More updates:

• Cosrin Client Setup Guide
• The Key Is Personal Investment
• An Alternative to Level-Restricted Areas
• Levels Chart

Still working on finishing up the Emotes List page and a roleplay guide series. Otherwise, most of the forthcoming content will be blog posts related to design and stuff. Content suggestions appreciated!

I look forward to keeping up with this. Great work so far. Truly.

Thank you!

[vez]

Just wanted to point on, RE Level restricted areas. "They" have the ability to stop XP gains within certain level ranges. so this would stop the "powerlevel" abuse you describe and should allow us access to all areas. They could possibly even have a "flag" for new players that is already set on, preventing players entering level portals if they fall below the level with a warning about it being too hardcore for them and they need to remove this flag before the game will let them in?

[Miragul]

"They" have the ability to stop XP gains within certain level ranges. so this would stop the "powerlevel" abuse you describe and should allow us access to all areas.

This is a subtle but drastic difference from what I suggested (I suggested 100% exp vs. 50% exp while you seem to be saying they can set 100% exp vs. 0% exp?). If it is the latter, then it solves some problems [powerleveling, open world] but it's still a restrictive feature because it limits player choice on where to hunt. If I'm 120 and I want to hunt Ants, it should be discouraged but not made completely futile.

On the other hand, if they can set level ranges AND percentages for those level ranges, then great. That's basically what I'm saying as long as that percentage isn't 0%.

They could possibly even have a "flag" for new players that is already set on, preventing players entering level portals if they fall below the level with a warning about it being too hardcore for them and they need to remove this flag before the game will let them in?

This is similar to Cats2, right? There's a level 25 portal but you can enter earlier by completing the key quest? I still don't like this.

If there's going to be a key or a flag, it should be completely independent from levels. In other words, areas that are keyed off or blocked by a flag shouldn't provide instant access to someone who reaches an arbitrary level. The Moorgate badge is what I'm thinking: no matter who you are, no matter what your level, you need a badge to leave Moorgate. The same should apply to other areas: you can't get in unless you have the key, period. Gaining free access at level X doesn't seem right to me.

P.S. I realize that the portal to Cats2 was added due to someone being a pacifist and being unable to complete the key quest, but... meh. If you choose to be a pacifist, then you should accept the difficulties that come with it, even if it means not being able to access certain areas.

[vez]

Just wanted to say that this "some pacifist" was Cassandra and she played a massive role in Cosrin back in the day. I think people should be respected for their playstyles and not judged.

I don't think we should restrict playstyle just as you are suggesting we shouldn't restrict levels access. I think perhaps a quest to enter where you simply read the quest givers warning and accept by "offering" to allow access? This does away with the whole level caps as everyone would have to accept the warning that they are entering a dangerous area?

[Khaji]

Just wanted to say that this "some pacifist" was Cassandra and she played a massive role in Cosrin back in the day. I think people should be respected for their playstyles and not judged.

I don't think we should restrict playstyle just as you are suggesting we shouldn't restrict levels access. I think perhaps a quest to enter where you simply read the quest givers warning and accept by "offering" to allow access? This does away with the whole level caps as everyone would have to accept the warning that they are entering a dangerous area?

There is not restricting and there is actively supporting playstyles.
Pacifists are not restricted in any way, it is just not a good idea. Actively supporting them means putting extra work to support sub-optimal choices, instead of working to make things better for the normal players.

Also i really don't think the level portals in most areas are there to prevent you from dying, they're there so you don't skip areas, because a level 70 area would give better exp to a level 50 than his designated level 50 area, so if he could get in he could just hunt the level 70 area with some effort and ignore the level 50 area completely. This makes it pointless to even try to balance the level 50 area, so we might as well go back to just having Charons which used to be the best mage area roughly 32 to 300.

[Miragul]

Also i really don't think the level portals in most areas are there to prevent you from dying, they're there so you don't skip areas, because a level 70 area would give better exp to a level 50 than his designated level 50 area.

Yup, this is a factor that I covered in the blog post (content balance). My suggestion was to reduce experience to 50% if you're either below OR above the area's suggested level range, and my example was Ants Lair. But of course it would apply to every area, including Charons.

[Miragul]

Here's a roundup of the latest posts:

• The MMO Game Loop: Fun vs. Satisfaction
• MMOs Can't Be Fun 100% of the Time...
• Designing World Secrets: Obscurity Is Bad
• Cosrin Idea: Karo the Card Game

[Miragul]

CosrinHQ has received a facelift with a new website theme. It should be a lot easier to navigate through site content (left sidebar) and keep up with new updates (right sidebar). If any features/links are broken or if elements of the theme make it hard to read, please let me know.

In addition to the regular MUD design posts, I started recapping RP events that occur in game for anyone who wants to keep up with ongoing roleplay. If you want to submit a recap for a private event or if you want to generate awareness for one of your upcoming roleplays, you can use the "Submit Event" link on the left sidebar.

• The Avenger and the Enchanter
• Ambushing the Skeletal Liches

Recent MUD design posts:

• Improving the Cosrin Guildluck System
• The Psychology of Character Advancement

[Egg]

Your guildluck idea is, in my limited opinion, bang up/tip top/tits. I can't find a flaw in the design at all.

This is my proposed change to the system. My reasoning for it will follow afterwards.

Consider a central pool of luck with a size of 3 million.
Guildmasters can spend guild tithe to temporarily own a portion of that pool.
But they can only purchase portions of the pool that are Unclaimed.
Every 15 minutes, each guild’s ownership deteriorates by 1%.
In terms of bonuses, owning 100% of the pool is equivalent to “having guildluck” in the old system.
Bonuses scale proportionately. Owning 25% of the pool will grant the bonuses of guildluck at 25% potency. For example, if current guildluck system increases XP gain by 10%, then owning 40% of this luck pool would increase XP gain by 4%.
Here’s an illustration of what this would look like in the game using the GUILDLUCK command.

When no guild owns any luck:

The current influence of luck over the lands…
Fighters Guild 0 (0%)
Mages Guild 0 (0%)
Rogues Guild 0 (0%)
Monks Guild 0 (0%)
Unclaimed Luck 3000000

A random snapshot of luck:

The current influence of luck over the lands…
Fighters Guild 450000 (15.0%)
Mages Guild 950000 (31.6%)
Rogues Guild 135000 (4.5%)
Monks Guild 263000 (8.7%)
Unclaimed Luck 1091000

One hour later (4% deterioration):

The current influence of luck over the lands…
Fighters Guild 432000 (14.4%)
Mages Guild 912000 (30.4%)
Rogues Guild 129600 (4.3%)
Monks Guild 252480 (8.4%)
Unclaimed Luck 1273920

Benefits of the New System

One great thing about this system is that all guilds can simultaneously benefit from luck. It’s not a guarantee, of course, since a guild with no luck purchases would have no luck at all. However, does anyone remember the bet between Ava and Grimtusk where Grimtusk would pay Ava a lot of gold if the Mages Guild disappeared from GUILDLOG? Well, that’s no longer a problem.

The new system is far more dynamic than the old system. Logging on once every 6 hours, bidding, then hoping to see if you have luck for the next 5 hours? Static. Keeping tabs on luck where the influence constantly changes every 15 minutes? Dynamic. The state of luck is always changing, and that’s inherently more interesting than guaranteed 5-hour stretches.

The new system is far more active than the old system. Not only do guilds have more control over their destiny, so to speak, they can also exert influence over other guilds. If you buy luck, you have luck. You’ve earned it. Active involvement makes players feel more invested in the game. At the same time, you can deny luck to other guilds by buying out luck whenever it deteriorates. Welcome back, indirect PvP!

Guildmasters are faced with important decisions. Since deterioration is percentage based, you can invest a lot of tithe for stronger luck, but you’ll lose that tithe much faster. A 100% share of the luck pool deteriorates at 120,000 tithe per hour while a 25% share of the luck pool deteriorates at 30,000 tithe per hour. How much luck do you want to buy/maintain?

Tithe has more value. The current guildluck system caps tithe drain at 400k per day. In this proposed system, guilds could potentially blow through a lot of tithe very quickly. This reintroduces the importance of gathering tithe and maintaining a proper balance of tithe revenue vs. tithe expenditure.

[Alucard]

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