So I had an idea, but it may not be entirely flushed out, so I definitely encourage thoughts and feedback. What if there was a shop added that bought items at higher gold rates than the current rate. However, the twist would be that the shop owner would be looking for specific items to buy from you each week (day?). So essentially you'd go to the shop and the shop would have a random list of maybe 50(?) wares they are looking to buy of various levels and rarities. If you have them (and want to sell) you'd get more than if you sold that item at a general shop for the base price of 20 for an epic, 5 for a rare, etc. Benefits: It adds a selling economy twist to the game. There's another reason to log in and check what's going on in cardhunter that week/day. It provides some means to increase gold production for those who don't grind all the time. There's another added fun luck twist. When you are overstocked in items it creates a sell immediately/wait for a better price dilemma which would be fun. (Let's be honest, as much as we complain about dilemmas, some decision angst is what makes most games good.) Of course if it was to be done the four big questions would have to be. 1) How often do the buy lists "restock?" 2) Would the buy lists include treasures? (I say no.) 3) Would the shop owner buy only one copy of each thing on the list, or multiple? 4) What would be the buy rate at this shop. - It would have to be high enough to make it worthwhile to check/hold onto items, but not so high to spin things out of balance. My original thought was to match the standard sell cost of items... but maybe that's too high? #3 also plays a factor here, selling one item at a higher price is probably ok, but if you could sell multiples than maybe they should only go for the normal rate of treasures or something in that range.
How about this variation: A Master Collector, who buys everything at the shop sell price, but he only buys one of each, ever.
I think a random variation of a few uncommon or better items could work well. Like Randimar's, only one of any item could be sold per week. I'd use the following sell prices. U = 10 R = 40 E = 200 L = 1000 If it looks familiar, it's because it's the same as prices for treasure of the same rarity. It's cheaper for the 'collector' (Randimar or his agent, maybe?), and better for the seller. It's an odd thing - some of us are looking for gold sinks while others who don't play as much are struggling to scrounge enough to buy an occasional rare or better item. That can be tough for the devs to balance.
Good observation. I was aware that it's a feature that some players on one end of the spectrum wouldn't even care about but I figured for the players on the other end, and probably most in the middle, they'd make good use of it. There's already suggestions for more gold sinks, and while I have no problems with players who play more getting an advantage over those who play less, it's important that the distance between the groups doesn't ever make new and casual players feel so far behind that it's not worth continuing. I play a lot of board games and one of the features that makes the better ones good is that they have built in ways to slow the progress of those in the lead or help those who are behind, making the game always stay close.
Absolutely. Playing The Nudie Run reminds me how hard it was to get started. What was available was so expensive, and the gear I found sold for so little.
