Let's make starstone more useful!

I had an idea of a vendor which would be located in either the High Tower or, preferrably, Gualorium who can take starstone and create wands/staves from a pre-selected list of defensive spells.

I envision this to be a faerie in Gualorium, so I will use that example.

Danestyrian zips down from the perch of his mighty starstone throne, acknowledging you as you enter.

"Ahh, come to pay your respects to the wise Danestyrian, have you?  Want to see what WANDS and STAVES I can craft with that Starstone!?"  he shouts, greedy with anticipation.

If you type wands -or- staves, you get the list of what he can create.

Wands ( LVL 50, 10 uses each):

Wand of cure serious - 5 starstones

Wand of protection from good - 8 starstones

Wand of protection from evil - 8 starstones

Wand of stone skin - 10 starstones

Wand of invigoration - 10 starstones

Wand of vitalization - 10 starstones

Wand of calm - 12 starstones

Wand of cure critical - 15 starstones

Staves ( LVL 50, 5 uses each )

Staff of cure serious - 8 starstones

Staff of protection good/evil - 10 startones

Staff of stone skin - 12 starstones

Staff of invigoration - 12 starstones

Staff of vitalization - 12 starstones

Staff of cure critical - 18 starstones

...these are just suggestions, of course.  Nothing outrageously abusive or anything.  What do you guys think?

man... you beat me to it! I had come up with a few ideas for materials in FL that aren't used all that much... starstone as currency? right on the money! lol of course, I like the idea and I like the vendor you created for it. not entirely sure about the merchandise... not that it is overpowering or anything, I would just like to see more unique and interesting items. pk and non-pk oriented. 

considering that all the major cities (and surrounding cities) have shops that sell wands/staves/etc. and given locales that provide similar consumables... I think we could/should start with them and work outward from there. whether they're taking starstone themselves or providing these lvl 50 items for huge amounts of gold (making gold more viable) it's up to the powers that be. 

even if shop keepers started taking starstone as currency (the everybody must have hot ticket item of this generation) the vendor you created could provide mysterious and wondrous things that nobody else does. JMO

Just gives me more of a reason to loot your backpack.

I agree there are certain consumables that do these things, but wands let you zap other people and staves let you use on group-mates.  That's the reason behind this.  A successful zap of a calming wand is definitely a PK advantage, as example.  It's a change that a lot of classes can use too, not just C/C's but ninjas, rangers, Dk's, paladins...pretty much a change that for once is geared towards non-melees.

Wand of protection? Yes, yes please!

Now all we need is a a wand of frenzy :

+1

Wand of protection? Yes, yes please!

Now all we need is a a wand of frenzy :

Finally a move to empower bards!!!

Vitalization? Well, there's a herb already.

Staves of protections? For like when I want my zombies to be extra resistant?

Invigoration as a consumable?

Wand of Calm?

[sarcasm] Let me add some ideas.

What about a wand of Enlarge. And a wand of L60 Hellstream. Or better Sear.

I got it, a wand of dispel. Now that would be nice.

Even better a wand of Haste.

Would suggest a wand of assassinate, but we already have that one.

Object 'wand death' is type wand, material silver.

Extra flags: glow evil magic bless.

Weight is 5, value is 40000, level is 50.

Has 8 charges of level 60 'dispel magic' 'sear' 'hellstream' 'hellstream'.

[/sarcasm]

Now really some stuff is a bit a tad to powerful.

Edit: Just to make it clear. I think this is a good idea, if we don't use Invigorate and staves of protection.

Healers invigorate is a huge bonus, and staves of protection grant protection to all mobs of a ranger/necro.

Wand of protection are a nice idea, since it spares consumables scrolls for Invoker/Battlemages/Bards/DK's.

The only thing I saw on that list that you can get (that I know of) from a potion or herb is invigorate. Therefore, why make duplicate consumables that are only usable by people with a specific skill?

The only real stand out thing is that the spells are cast at level 50. Still it would be easier to buy 10 herbs from a merchant that give up that much starstone.

I agree that something should be done to make it slightly more useful but there is a lot of use for it already if you look.

Yes it would be fun to have more useful starstone. It would promote more adventuring. How about another feature of being able to sell starstone in exchange for gold at certain shops?

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. If you don't like a specific element of an idea - e.g., the spells that these items would cast - then feel free to point it out. But don't poo poo what is otherwise a fantastic idea, based on one minor element that you disagree with.

Great idea overall - some of the spells/levels would need tweaking, but I think it would be a pretty fun, new element of the game.

Well put. Evangelion.

Is starstone so plentiful that we're having issues with Crusaders having too much? Is that quest which requires 30 of them too easy?

Completely ignoring the idea. Does starstone need to be more rare? Is this an issue?

I like the concept. I have reservations giving rangers and dark knights level 50 stone skin and cure critical. Cure critical potions are out there, staff of stone skin already exists at a much lower level (duration 4 or 5hrs). I don't know about this one myself, which means its probably an excellent Idea right?

On one thread we have people complaining about consumables....

On this thread we have another someone proposing another way for people to farm high level consumables....

insert Kermit drinking tea picture

But that's none of my business....

L-A

As for a real criticism - giving out lvl 40+ spells on multiple casting consumables I'd have large reservations about.  We already have a pbase that can grind almost everything out of what are (at times) fairly low level consumables.  I don't think we need more of that.  Allowing everyone access to lots of spells actually weakens c/c's - which is another thing we see lots and lots of thread on (melee's vs c/c's).

L-A

Yeah, it's like why put the spells on the spell list in the first place?

Its just a matter of time before someone wants a non rare staff heal, wand of gate, or pills of restore.

Just an opinion here, but maybe what is needed is drawbacks. Your level 50 melee uses five consumables that improve his AC, he gets affected by "drawback" meaning 2-3 of his skills stop working for a duration. I bet your level 50 ranger will not trade shield, armor, stone skin, sanctuary, and fly, if he loses say third attack, fired weapons, and herb. I bet the same goes for the warrior if he loses third attack, fourth attack, and blind fighting. And there are so many good ones that could certainly stop working, enhanced damage for instance.

But I spent hours gathering those consumables why am I getting punished. Your right, its not fair. Se how about RP purchasable skills to balance the magical melee vs the not so combative caster. Perhaps enhanced damage, blind fighting, and third attack edges? Yeah that's what we need. Everyone having all the same abilities. There is a vendor who turns vials into pills, no one even does this anymore. High level spells are available to every class in our current system. Which means that spells that were developed to protect the attrition classes are being used by the fighters and fireballers. I think the best fix is to lower the spell levels on the most commonly used consumables. Magenta potions, cure serious, have the best "fix" on them. They are cursed. It costs the player 6000 gold to put it in a back pack. It does not take up a rare slot. But to gather enough of them to be of use for a single fight gets fairly expensive. Lets curse all consumables in game, enough people are cursing them on the forum already.