As part of changing the world, resources of all kinds will now expire over the course of time. For example, herbs will rot or turn to dust while other materials perish or rust or crumble away. Alongside this change we are introducing mechanisms to ensure that more resources are available more easily, that the cost of using them is, largely, reduced with more ways to use them.
Our principles for how resources will work in game are laid out below and frame our goals:
- Resources will be more easily accessible than currently – new options/skills are going to be added that provide more ways to acquire resources than current. Too often in the past it has been difficult or impossible to find ingredients and resources when needed – both limiting options but also limiting trading and collaboration.
- Cost Reduction – Most things will now cost considerably less to produce, through a combination of reduced material costs and Work Unit Cost (covered in a future blog). Too often in the past the constraints upon resources have meant that costs for their use have been too high compared to others options within the game.
- Increased Purpose – Base lists (i.e. recipes you get for free) for crafting and alchemy are going to be expanded considerably. There are many materials, and under the new rules there will be more – the aim is to ensure that all of them are useful in some way and to promote experimentation as a way of finding out.
Expiration
As alluded to in the title, after we go live with the new rules all resources will have an expiration on them, creating a more dynamic environment for crafting and alchemy.
However, different resources will expire at different speeds, this is predominantly based on how refined they are.
The below table shows the default life of a resource.
Component | Default Expiry in Years |
| Alchemical Passives | 2 Years |
| Raw Materials | 2 Years |
| Alchemical Actives | 2 Years |
| Refined Materials | 3 Years |
| Essences | 3 Years |
| Ether Spheres | 3 Years |
New Resources
On implementation of the new ruleset we will be introducing 4 new resources into the world:
Ether Spheres – this is something completely new and we will touch upon it in a further article in the future.
Essences – currently active ingredients are the most refined alchemical inputs available, essences take this one step further and allows for the distillation of active ingredients into a more potent form. Creating essences from active ingredients will extend their life and can be used in more complex/advanced alchemical recipes.
Raw Materials – represent the most basic materials like ores, scraps of wood, ash etc. Raw Materials are not directly used to craft things on their own but can be refined into usable materials by a crafter.
By-products – the process of refinement or manufacture will have a chance to generate by-products. These by-products while individually not representing anything of real value with have uses in basically activities like rites.
Refinement and Distillation
Raw Materials can be processed by a crafter into Refined Material, for example silver ore can be refined into a unit of silver ready to be worked into an item.
The process of refinement will add an additional year to an output material’s current lifespan. Multiple refinements will add multiple extensions.
Example: A new unit of Silver Ore has two years expiration, on its first day it is refined into a unit of Silver which now has 3 year’s expiration, increasing its life by one year at the point it is refined.
Distillation is similar to refinement however with 1 subtle difference, the process of distillation takes multiple alchemical active ingredients of the same type and creates an essence that will be usable in more complex poisons or potions. Essences can also be used to substitute their lesser refined variant but not the other way round. E.g. Essence of Lycopodium can be used in a recipe that requires Lycopodium, but Lycopodium cannot be used in a recipe that requires Essences of Lycopodium. Distilling adds an extra year to the expiry date of the input active ingredient(s).
The below diagram is an example of the refinement of material.
Do I have to Refine?
No – Refined materials will still be available, Raw materials exist to provide additional options to crafters rather than a material everyone has to work with.
Transition
We appreciate that this is a significant change to how we currently manage items and resources in the game. As such all materials when we move to the new system will be considered new and their current expiration set to the maximum date for its type. You will not lose any resources upon transition although they will start to expire alongside all others. There is no need to be concerned about existing stockpiles just expiring on day one. For example an existing unit of Stone will have an expiry of 3 years starting from the point the new rules take effect.
No items will expire on day 1 of the new rules – ALL items will start the clock ticking towards their expiry date. In other words, don’t throw away resources, labs or items now because they will still be useful under the new rules.
NB: All components, regardless of attendance will start their duration on the same event the new rule set goes live.