TOPIC: Transmute Ideas Please!

Endgame wrote:

Fiddy wrote:

archmage78 wrote: It is interesting that you use casinos as your proof when they are just about the only business that uses this and you actually miss understand it because it actually isn't like you describe. Business actually cares about new customers far more. It is why all the discounts for buying cell phones go to new customers. It is why credit card companies give massive bonuses to new customers. It is why direct TV gives discounts to new customers....I'm sorry but you are wrong in your understanding of how businesses operate. The vast majority spend most of their time getting new customers. The new client is the single most important thing they consider.

You're both correct and incorrect. Different companies in different situations behave differently. Many companies (like your DirecTV example) treat new customers so well because they know it is a pain to change once they have you. That inertia means they can focus more on winning new customers knowing they won't lose many existing customers unless they truly piss people off.

Also in your DirectTV example, one customer is pretty equivalent to another customer. You and your neighbor are worth roughly the same amount to DirectTV. But they do have customers that matter a lot more to them (like corporate accounts) and you can bet those existing customers get attention. Retention activities become much more important when a customer is representing entire percentage points of your revenue.

These actually apply to all your examples.

Now translate that to TD... People that just buy tickets to runs are like your average DirecTV consumer. People that are buying the $8k orders are the corporate accounts.

Also, quitting TD doesn't require nearly as much effort as dropping DirecTV.

How many of those 8k orders are auctions or resellers? I don't think aggregate purchases hold as much weight, as those sales would just show up in another fashion.

To take the analogy a different direction for in game play per one of the other subjects of discussion, it doesn't matter how much you spend on your car, a Ferrari and a Honda still have to follow the same speed limit and the speed limit is not on the honor system.

I think the token buyers/resellers that buy multiple $8K purchases carry a huge value for True Dungeon. If one of them quits (and several have quit in the past), there's no guarantee those sales will show up elsewhere. There's a reason TD has really nice perks for $8K purchases, those add up fast.

How many URs would people buy if they could only get them by spending 250? Or, if they were paying what they really cost?

There seems to be an assumption that resellers are operating at a profit. That hasn’t been true since around 2015, by my estimation. The breakeven for a PYP used to be 125, but trade goods have plummeted since then. There is so much competition now,. I’m a reseller now because I enjoy it. But I’ve shrunk my “business” in half from its peak because I could only afford to lose so much every year. If I were rational, I’d stop altogether. Every year I think about it, but I keep getting a big bonus every year, so that helps keep me going.

Someday I’ll quit, and maybe someone else who doesn’t mind losing money will replace me.

I’m sure Jeff would much rather sell one 8k vs thirty-two 250s. Otherwise he wouldn’t offer so many incentives to do so.


But this is depressing.

How about another Adaptive Ammo? Not +3 again. Maybe just +2 this time.

Brad Mortensen wrote: How many URs would people buy if they could only get them by spending 250? Or, if they were paying what they really cost?

There seems to be an assumption that resellers are operating at a profit. That hasn’t been true since around 2015, by my estimation. The breakeven for a PYP used to be 125, but trade goods have plummeted since then. There is so much competition now,. I’m a reseller now because I enjoy it. But I’ve shrunk my “business” in half from its peak because I could only afford to lose so much every year. If I were rational, I’d stop altogether. Every year I think about it, but I keep getting a big bonus every year, so that helps keep me going.

Someday I’ll quit, and maybe someone else who doesn’t mind losing money will replace me.

I’m sure Jeff would much rather sell one 8k vs thirty-two 250s. Otherwise he wouldn’t offer so many incentives to do so.


But this is depressing.

How about another Adaptive Ammo? Not +3 again. Maybe just +2 this time.

Paerhapse +X and a choice of elemental type could be fun.

And just to brainstorm a little more on the idea of lower end craftables

A crafted "false tooth" of caviar to drum up interest in psychic powers.

A crafted "loyalty card" you could create in 2020 as a three star, upgrade in 2021 as a 4 star that took the previous 3 star as a mat, could upgrade in 2022 as a 5 star that took the 4 star as a mat, and could then be upgraded and turned in for some cool effect in 2023. Could also be a fun thing to add to the volunteer program to drum up interest there/incentives returning vols. Or a fun way to work in a multi year competition token transmute.

A crafted reusable runestone that gave retribution damage.

a craftable "iounstone alert" that granted can not be surprised

And finally to bridge the gap a bit between the uber and under equipped a charm that let you benefit from party synergy without contributing to it. (that came across a little more snarky than intended but the item is a serious suggestion at say 4 star especially if we could get some sub UR synergy tokens in this years set)

Brad Mortensen wrote: How many URs would people buy if they could only get them by spending 250? Or, if they were paying what they really cost?

There seems to be an assumption that resellers are operating at a profit. That hasn’t been true since around 2015, by my estimation. The breakeven for a PYP used to be 125, but trade goods have plummeted since then. There is so much competition now,. I’m a reseller now because I enjoy it. But I’ve shrunk my “business” in half from its peak because I could only afford to lose so much every year. If I were rational, I’d stop altogether. Every year I think about it, but I keep getting a big bonus every year, so that helps keep me going.

Someday I’ll quit, and maybe someone else who doesn’t mind losing money will replace me.

I’m sure Jeff would much rather sell one 8k vs thirty-two 250s. Otherwise he wouldn’t offer so many incentives to do so.


But this is depressing.

How about another Adaptive Ammo? Not +3 again. Maybe just +2 this time.

I know what you mean, I have a token store because I enjoy buying, selling, and trading. I've been doing it for about 40 years, first primarily with comics, then magic cards, now True Dungeon tokens.

“Picc” said a thing that I’m not sure if it is a UR or a Relic.

A synergy item that counts as something. If it added to synergies the player didn’t have, I could see UR, but it’s kind of lacking. The token owner is literally giving without getting. It feels more rare and less UR at that power honestly. If it gains all synergy benefits without counting as part of the synergy I could see it as relic just for charm of good fortune gains, and for charm of synergy. But if you include ear cuff of phalanx or others it gets out of control quickly. Shirt of Linked Health, count or not?

Scoping this to “gain one synergy benefit present in the group, this counts as part of that for benefits but not for numbers” would be a cool ur level benefit, but in a pug without any synergy it might be rough. Having an uncommon synergy or a common synergy token might make it less of a raw deal if someone in a pug drew one of these. The coach would really need to be helpful and aware in that situation.

I’m actually liking it as a charm or iounstone as “counts as one” so I can linked healing my whole party with iounstones releasing the shirt slot. Only the healers actually need the shirt then I think. Or as another CoGF for additional treasure pulls. We might have to say the power it duplicates must be present and ur or lower. A CoA is a CoGF for this token for example so they can duplicate the CoGF effect but would prevent 4 tokens from being drawn.

I like the idea. I don’t think it is a transmute though.

Gloves of ogre mage power - +3 str

Reprint gloves of ogre power
Transmute using 10 to 20 mystic silk

Would a second year of a mystic silk transmute help those of you with a large supply?

Gloves of mending : +2 to heal spells, +6 to one lay on hands

Reprint gloves of healing and Transmute using mystic silk and philosophers stones.

Endgame wrote: Gloves of ogre mage power - +3 str

Reprint gloves of ogre power
Transmute using 10 to 20 mystic silk

Would a second year of a mystic silk transmute help those of you with a large supply?

Gloves of mending : +2 to heal spells, +6 to one lay on hands

Reprint gloves of healing and Transmute using mystic silk and philosophers stones.

The thing about Gloves of Ogre Mage Power is that they also have as limiting factors GP and monster tokens. I'd like to see a transmute which, other than maybe rares/uncommons, just requires Silk, Planks, and Stones as ingredients. Basically something to act as a huge Silk/Plank/Stone sink.

Other transmutes can focus on drawing down monster tokens and GP.

Mike Steele wrote:

Endgame wrote: Gloves of ogre mage power - +3 str

Reprint gloves of ogre power
Transmute using 10 to 20 mystic silk

Would a second year of a mystic silk transmute help those of you with a large supply?

Gloves of mending : +2 to heal spells, +6 to one lay on hands

Reprint gloves of healing and Transmute using mystic silk and philosophers stones.

The thing about Gloves of Ogre Mage Power is that they also have as limiting factors GP and monster tokens. I'd like to see a transmute which, other than maybe rares/uncommons, just requires Silk, Planks, and Stones as ingredients. Basically something to act as a huge Silk/Plank/Stone sink.

Other transmutes can focus on drawing down monster tokens and GP.

There’s very little reason to make more than a handful of equipable tokens. We need consumable transmutes so that people will make dozens.

Planks into Anmo, Stones into Runestones, Silks into Banners (a new consumable, like a Runestone but affects the whole party, one per party)

Banner of Defense - all players get +2 AC
Banner of Charging - party get +2 initiative
Banner of Caduceus - all players get +2 HP

Something like that

Brad Mortensen wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:

Endgame wrote: Gloves of ogre mage power - +3 str

Reprint gloves of ogre power
Transmute using 10 to 20 mystic silk

Would a second year of a mystic silk transmute help those of you with a large supply?

Gloves of mending : +2 to heal spells, +6 to one lay on hands

Reprint gloves of healing and Transmute using mystic silk and philosophers stones.

The thing about Gloves of Ogre Mage Power is that they also have as limiting factors GP and monster tokens. I'd like to see a transmute which, other than maybe rares/uncommons, just requires Silk, Planks, and Stones as ingredients. Basically something to act as a huge Silk/Plank/Stone sink.

Other transmutes can focus on drawing down monster tokens and GP.

There’s very little reason to make more than a handful of equipable tokens. We need consumable transmutes so that people will make dozens.

Planks into Anmo, Stones into Runestones, Silks into Banners (a new consumable, like a Runestone but affects the whole party, one per party)

I like the ammo idea, but I hate using DM time for 1 or 2 extra damage. If you're going to make ammo really a thing, how about something that has been suggested a few times before:

Quiver. Ranged Offhand. Turn in 5 identical ammo to gain ammo effect all dungeon.

Uses up more ammo than I think you would likely use during a dungeon (if not, tweak quantity), and doesn't require any extra DM interaction.

You know what I'd really like to see in 2020? A lot of Enhanced and Exalted transmutes, cheap, aimed at newbie and lowbie characters. To the point where the coaches carry some around and do transmutes/exchanges on the fly.

Like:
Light Long Sword
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
+1 to hit if offhand is empty
Usable by: Barbarian, Bard, Fighter,Paladin, Ranger, Rogue

Masterpiece Long Sword
2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
+1 to hit (non-magical)
Usable by: Barbarian, Bard, Fighter,Paladin, Ranger, Rogue

Recipe:
Light Long Sword
Any common weapon
75 GP or any monster trophy

Scroll of Crushing Force
2 pts force damage to one target, 2 pts of bludgeoning damage to one target (may be same target)
Usable by: Bard, Wizards

Scroll of Constriction
4 pts of force damage to one target per round for the remainder of combat
Usable by: Bard, Wizards

Recipe
Scroll of Crushing Force
any common scroll
25 GP

Actor's Cap
+1 to Reflex saves
Usable by: All

Actor's Tricorn
+1 to AC, +1 to Reflex saves
Usable by: All

Recipe:
Actor's Cap
any common or uncommon ring
75 GP

Actor's Shirt
+1 to Fortitude saves
Usable by: All

Actor's Tabard
+1 to AC, +1 to Fortitude saves
Usable by: All

Recipe:
Actor's Tabard
any common or uncommon amulet
75 GP

Actor's Shoes
+1 to Will saves
Usable by: All

Actor's Slippers
+1 to AC, +1 to Will saves
Usable by: All

Recipe:
Actor's Shoes
any common or uncommon charm
75 GP

Actor's Set bonus:
3 Items: +1 to part Initiative

Endgame wrote:

Brad Mortensen wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:

Endgame wrote: Gloves of ogre mage power - +3 str

Reprint gloves of ogre power
Transmute using 10 to 20 mystic silk

Would a second year of a mystic silk transmute help those of you with a large supply?

Gloves of mending : +2 to heal spells, +6 to one lay on hands

Reprint gloves of healing and Transmute using mystic silk and philosophers stones.

The thing about Gloves of Ogre Mage Power is that they also have as limiting factors GP and monster tokens. I'd like to see a transmute which, other than maybe rares/uncommons, just requires Silk, Planks, and Stones as ingredients. Basically something to act as a huge Silk/Plank/Stone sink.

Other transmutes can focus on drawing down monster tokens and GP.

There’s very little reason to make more than a handful of equipable tokens. We need consumable transmutes so that people will make dozens.

Planks into Anmo, Stones into Runestones, Silks into Banners (a new consumable, like a Runestone but affects the whole party, one per party)

I like the ammo idea, but I hate using DM time for 1 or 2 extra damage. If you're going to make ammo really a thing, how about something that has been suggested a few times before:

Quiver. Ranged Offhand. Turn in 5 identical ammo to gain ammo effect all dungeon.

Uses up more ammo than I think you would likely use during a dungeon (if not, tweak quantity), and doesn't require any extra DM interaction.

1) Quivers are slotless (at least the one we have).
2) It should be fewer than you are likely to use, not more. If I turn in five, and there are only four rounds of combat, I am going to be annoyed and feel taken advantage of. Make it something like "Turn in 2, but cannot use other ammo"
3) We getting are a bit off topic here guys...

Brad Mortensen wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:

Endgame wrote: Gloves of ogre mage power - +3 str

Reprint gloves of ogre power
Transmute using 10 to 20 mystic silk

Would a second year of a mystic silk transmute help those of you with a large supply?

Gloves of mending : +2 to heal spells, +6 to one lay on hands

Reprint gloves of healing and Transmute using mystic silk and philosophers stones.

The thing about Gloves of Ogre Mage Power is that they also have as limiting factors GP and monster tokens. I'd like to see a transmute which, other than maybe rares/uncommons, just requires Silk, Planks, and Stones as ingredients. Basically something to act as a huge Silk/Plank/Stone sink.

Other transmutes can focus on drawing down monster tokens and GP.

There’s very little reason to make more than a handful of equipable tokens. We need consumable transmutes so that people will make dozens.

Planks into Anmo, Stones into Runestones, Silks into Banners (a new consumable, like a Runestone but affects the whole party, one per party)

Banner of Defense - all players get +2 AC
Banner of Charging - party get +2 initiative
Banner of Caduceus - all players get +2 HP

Something like that

Maybe another version of Elixir of Life, that takes like 15 or 20 each of Plank/Silk/Stone.