CLOK BBS

I've released a quick survey, feel free to contribute if you want. Your feedback is appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link

Hi there! Thanks for the survey, and I hope the feedback's appreciated.

Just a few quick notes:

A: I think that i've found things that i'd consider "unique" in a box more often than I'd find something i'd consider "rare". But I have found those "rare" objects as well. The unique things are usually clothing that can't be found elsewhere, though. Which is fine-- but those rare items by some people's perception probably could be easily missed. Like figurines. I felt like was worth elaborating on.

B: There was a question regarding challenge, too. I think the grind is fine, to put it simply-- the challenge ratings and the way you can pick them is usually balanced out in terms of progression. I don't think there's so much of a problem with it-- much as it'd be nice to have to pick boxes in different ways, or check for traps or something like that, I don't think the system's "broken" or anything like that.

C: The biggest note I'd make here that's not mentioned in the survey is the rewards that more difficult boxes give compared to the rewards easier boxes give. 9.9 times out of 10, I feel a little disappointed when I crack that mega-ultra-super hard box, and find a super tiny pile of riln and a pair of socks inside. If I was to make any request-- or give any feedback-- it would be that, particularly with super, super difficult boxes, I'd love to see more pleasing rewards for the difficulty. Sometimes, you have to invest a limited-time, limited-quantity item to even be *capable* of opening them, even at higher levels of skill. I obviously don't expect to hit the jackpot every time with them, but I think they could use a little bit of a boost, personally, based off of how many boxes i've picked.

Thanks for hearing us out, and asking for the feedback! Hope this is helpful!



EDIT: One more piece of feedback:

I personally go off of the set 50 per box rate. But honestly? I'd probably have more fun doing it for tips. Anyone have any opinions on this, themselves?

I am not especially well versed in the picking of boxes, and I do not have neither as much experience as others have, but I do tend to agree. opening the lid of that hard to pick lockbox and observing a thiny pile of riln inside is quite upsetting. Sure, I htink you cna be inventive and imagine that there was a custom lock made for such a box which could have small piles of riln hidden for emergencies and other needs , in a rp aspect, but mechanically speaking, opening such a box and finding fifty pieces of riln inside is quite disappointing.
besides that, I always liked grinding locksmithing. the experience is relaxing, and I do not find myself easily distracted by it like with other skills, even if I do not play my character who does that very much. I always appreciate the creativity of such an activity, also, and the feeling of mistery and suspense when picking a box and hoping ot discover what is inside is always worth it.

Zeldryn wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:46 am I personally go off of the set 50 per box rate. But honestly? I'd probably have more fun doing it for tips. Anyone have any opinions on this, themselves?

Stick to the Old Ways. Let the customer set their tip based on how much they made from the boxes and how they felt about the service rendered.

Bryce wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 12:05 pm

Zeldryn wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:46 am I personally go off of the set 50 per box rate. But honestly? I'd probably have more fun doing it for tips. Anyone have any opinions on this, themselves?

Stick to the Old Ways. Let the customer set their tip based on how much they made from the boxes and how they felt about the service rendered.

Imma do it.

Hi guys,

I remember back when I started playing a decade ago (assuming I am remembering correctly), when you found some sort of metal -bar in a box, there was a tiny chance of that -bar being of cobalt. Having had many boxes opened over the past years and finding many thousands of -bars of copper, brass, etc. I can confidently say that the tiny chance I speak of back then has been eliminated altogether. (In passing, I'll mention that back then, there was also a small chance of finding a nickle-bar, and nickle was in the early days eliminated from the game. Perhaps it was at that point the cobalt was eliminated as a strongbox possibility.)

It seems that a cobalt-bar or riversteel-bar would be something that someone would would actually lock up in a box, albeit something of a 1 in 500 or so rarity. Maybe one in a thousand chests have a bloodglass-bar. Maybe even 1 percent of the strongboxes themselves being made of cobalt instead of steel or copper would be good.

On the other end of the spectrum, it is sort of interesting that the occasional eccentric would lock up an oddity like a brokent pair of eyeglasses, or even the odd insane person locking up a filthy used bandage and spoiled meat, however, I must remark that finds of the latter two are proportionally far too frequent to make sense. Dialing back the frequency percentage of utterly broken and worthless items would make the game better. Same with the "tattered" pieces of clothing and "holey" pairs of socks...could fewer of them be tattered and more of them weathered, please?

Cotton Tricorns? ugh. The wool ones and the leather ones make sense. A cotton tricorn might only be found in a cheap costume shop in modern times. If the ones that currently come up as a "cotton tricorn" instead came up as a "suede tricorn" ... would be something one would want to wear. There is a fixed number of color options for various articles of clothing in the boxes, dating back I think 12+ years, would be nice if maybe six new color possibilties were added, such as "burnt sienna" and "russet" and "ivory" as possibilities. Also, a chance the item will not have a colored adjective at all, so you might sometimes find "a tailored wool coat" or "a weathered pair of cotton pants" with no color mentioned. Also, denim and suede added as random fabrics. Also, one never finds any gloves in boxes, would be nice to find gloves.

Also. do canvas coats have to be unsaleable at the pawn shop? Couldn't they be at least worth 3 riln? For example, canvas coats are being sold for cash at the festival.

One item never seen is a dagger or stiletto secured as a keepsake. The occasional dagger or stilleto, perhaps occacionally one with a jewel in the hilt...well at least to me that would sense in some lockboxes. Maybe even a 1 in 750 chance of a basic (single-shot) flintlock. Also, the occasional lapel pin, I see an heirloom lapel pin or brooch as being something someone would lock up.

Lastly, the factor that makes the lease sense to me, is that 100% of the lockboxes are securely locked, and zero percent of the foes that drop the lockboxes have a key to them. To make this conceptially a step towards some sense of realism, may I suggest that around 5 percent of locked boxes (perhaps having a "battered" or "damaged" adjective) just open up when you type in open (eg the lock is broken), and another five percent of the time, the defeated foe has a key that you find if you loot their riln (when you go through their pockets to take their riln, you get a message such as "You find 27 riln on the corpse of an infested river dweller. You also find a small steel key." (You would also be left with the interesting find of a chest you could lock and unlock when you want.) The remaining 90% would still be business for the various locksmith characters for the lands.

Thanks for the survey!

I wish the chests and lock boxes had more riln inside.

The glasses probably weren't broken until they got banged around inside a lockbox being carried by a careless infested or nethrim or robber. Or got banged around during the mortal combat and/or the resulting fall of the lifeless body that ensued before the lockbox was looted from its previous owner's corpse, shoved into a backpack full of similar lockboxes, and jostled and banged around even more on the trip back into town. Meat was locked up in there when it was still fresh for a travel snack or something, possibly. For the bandage though, I got nothing.

There's also the fact that a large majority of these boxes are coming from ruins, and looted from infested or nethrim, neither of which are particularly known for their clarity of mind or sanity. And how many of these lockboxes are being cycled around between the various hoarding mobs out there before a PC gets their hands on it? How many boxes are old stuff that's been left sitting in ruins for years, decades, a century? I always assumed the vast majority of these boxes we're taking off of walking dead or fungus-infested creatures roaming in long-fallen ruins were not freshly-stocked boxes that the owners locked up earlier that morning, but rather, old stuff scavenged up from the ruins of Aetgard, or scavenged from other scavengers. Which would explain the lack of keys.