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Eaxian Alteration Primer

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Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby GDAUTUMN » May 21, 2010 (9:30 pm)

Greetings Eaxians!

I figured it was about time I got around to writing up one of these –- the how-to and some examples of what we will and won't do with alterations.

General alteration guidelines:
  • short (TAP) descriptions can be up to 100 characters long
  • full (LOOK) descriptions can be up to 220 characters long
  • read (READ) descriptions can be up to 300 characters long
(These description limits include spacing and punctuation characters.)


How to write a short (TAP) description:

A short description should always start with an article, which is almost always an 'a' or 'an'. It should also contain what the item is itself and some description about it.

While a short description such as "a wedding ring" is perfectly fine and acceptable, it is rather bland. Item alterations should be unique and flavorful, so you should take advantage and consider something more descriptive.

For example:
"a wedding ring fashioned from interwoven strands of metal"

Something like that is much more descriptive and much more alteration-worthy. Not that simple descriptions can't be satisfying, just that there isn't much point in altering an item if you aren't going to give it a touch that is personal to your character.

Another example:
"a braided wedding ring composed of interwoven strands of metal"

This is another example portraying the same image, just worded differently.


How to write a full (LOOK) description:

Full descriptions can be where it starts to get tricky. One of the most common things I see done is people writing the name of the item (ie: ring) over and over and over again as they reference it. This gets repetitive, and can be confusing and hard to read for others. I also see a lot of people repeating a good portion of their short description in the full descriptions.

Good example:
"Lengths of copper, silver, and gold have been worked together to form an intricate pattern. The various metals offer a difference of color and contrast as they wind their way around the finger to form this simplistic, yet elegant band."

This is an example of what can be considered a 'good' full description. While I did re-use some works from the short description, it was not done excessively. I've also used a similar word (band) to portray the same meaning as the word I used in my short description (ring).

Another thing to keep in mind when writing full descriptions is that when you show an item to someone else, they also see your short description with it.

Autumn shows you a braided wedding ring composed of interwoven strands of metal. Lengths of copper, silver, and gold have been worked together to form an intricate pattern. The various metals offer a difference of color and contrast as they wind their way around the finger to form this simplistic, yet elegant band.


I think this is one thing that is easy to forget or overlook when designing item alterations and one that can have the most impact. If you write something along the lines of:

Autumn shows you a braided wedding ring composed of interwoven strands of metal. The braided wedding ring is made of lengths of copper, silver, and gold that have been worked together to form an intricate pattern. The various metals of the braided wedding ring offer a difference of color and contrast as they wind their way around the finger to form this simplistic, yet elegant band.


Do you see the problem with this design? Both the short and full descriptions re-use the same description, which causes doubling up because of its redundancy. A design like this will need to be re-written.



How to write a read description:

Read descriptions are only visible when you actually attempt to READ an item, so they should understandably contain a description for someone who attempts to read the item and nothing else. The read description needs to begin with a complete sentence describing the action that takes place when you attempt to READ it. Typically, this looks like some of the following examples:

An inscription along the inside of the ring reads, "..."


You notice letters and symbols on the ring, but cannot make out what they say.


For single-sentence READs, you may keep the entire description on one line, such as:

An inscription along the inside of the ring reads, "With all the love I have to give."


However, if the description needs multiple sentences, it's probably best that they're separated by line beraks:

You open the small recipe book and read:

"Three pinches pixie dust
One unicorn horn tip
Four eyes of newt
Two snail antennae

Mix in a large pot and serve with mint."


Sounds delicious.


Some final thoughts:

Watch your materials as some metals, gems, threads, and the like can be rare and are in short supply. If it is something rare (like adamantium or mithril), then it will need to be supplied to use in your alteration. If you have an item of the material you'd like to use in your alteration, it can be forfeited in order to give your alteration this material.


Some things we will do:

Change a ring to a band, a visor to a helm, a knife to dagger, etc. These items are relatively similar and thus can be altered from one to another.


Some things we won't do:

  • Change container capacities.
  • Change where items are worn.
  • Add pockets to something that doesn't have them.
  • Change an item type to something it is not already. Example: heavy armor to light armor, or a broadsword to a knife.
  • Change leather to metal or vice versa.

Specific design limitations and rules:
The rules are posted here.
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby MFH37 » May 22, 2010 (12:25 am)

GMAUTUMN wrote:Watch your materials as some metals, gems, threads, and the like can be rare and are in short supply. If it is something rare (like adamantium or mithril), then it will need to be supplied to use in your alteration. If you have an item of the material you'd like to use in your alteration, it can be forfeited in order to give your alteration this material.
kw=standardqc&backkw=object_shortdesc_rules]posted here[/url].


Thanks for setting up some detailed rules. This will help a ton for designs. About providing metals though, some like mithril and kexralite cannot be acquired.
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby CLINCHER » May 22, 2010 (9:29 am)

I must agree with Ungar strange as that may be. I have had about 50 or so alterations done over the years and only time I was required to provide an item was when I wanted a specific item altered. Also, I was told several times that it is much easier for whoever is making the alteration, just to make it from scratch. As far as providing specific materials, I don't see why it would be needed. If I submit a design for a titanium dagger and supply 40 nuggets of titanium, it doesn't matter. The dagger will be made with the titanium description but will not be made of titanium. I know this personally having several weapons made over the years. Any weapon or armor created will have the same stats as any normal weapon that can be bought at a shop. I.E. A steel dagger bought in a store will appraise as the same as the titanium dagger I had made with my alteration credit. It will just have a prettier look. It is nice to see that someone is taking a more role playingish view of things though.

I also found some response I have recieved from staff over the years concerning alterations and materials.

"I hae recieved your alteration request for a bloodstained saw-toothed titanium punching dagger by our current champion alteration rules we do not make weapons from metals that have properties above the norm. I can make this weapon as it is but leave off the titanium if you wish. Please get back with me soon if this is alright.

GD-Carlyle"


This was sent to me via email back in Jan, 2006.

"As far as your weapon is concerned, I think Carlyle was somewhat confused about our
policies. We will be happy to make you an item from titanium material, but
it will not have properties of similar titanium weapons. It is for this
reason that the alterations received by the Champion account subscription do
not make the game unfair/biased towards whoever's willing to spend more
money.

Let me know if you have any other questions and what you'd like to have done
with your weapon (make it anyway, with standard weapon stats .. or .. turn
it back into a voucher and design something else) and sorry again that it's
taken so long to get back to you.


GameDirector Exxy
Eaxia Online, Service & Support
"

This was sent from Exxy in march 2006 via email.
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby MFH37 » May 22, 2010 (2:22 pm)

Good point Darkheart, but not exactly what I was getting at. I don't mind providing metals such as the electrum I got from Robkin for the claw ring I had made recently (It's for roleplaying sake - although I would like an orinite dagger or longsword with crazy awesome stats as it is the hardest to get metal currently). I was just pointing out that certain metals like mithril and kexralite (both of which I have used in alterations) are totally unavailable.

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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby GDAUTUMN » May 22, 2010 (3:51 pm)

Exxy co-wrote this post with me, so I can assure you that it is accurate.

Changing material isn't something that is typically done to start with -- metal stays metal and so on so forth, and using a metal that typically has special features/stats to it on an item that doesn't have those stats isn't going to give them that. It's never worked that way.

If you have a regular Joe sword, and you want to add superawesomemetalofdoom to it, that's fine and dandy. But, I think the thing to keep in mind is that it is an alteration. This is why when people typically want their weapons altered its done on an existing item (which we still do, by the way, it just isn't linked up in the store yet -- just drop an email or assist in game to let us know that you want to do an existing item).

Changing stats of items is something that simply isn't done. Alterations are description modifications only, as I'm sure most people are aware of. This is basically what Exxy and Carlyle (Even if he was a bit confused about how it worked) said in the quoted emails.

And while some of the previous GMs may not have asked for supply from you, they really should have. This isn't something that is a new concept for staff, and I can assure you that this type of negligence from staff members is something that players wont be seeing anymore. :) So, I do sincerely apologize for the confusion on that front.

I also apologize if I missed something -- my train of thought was rather rudely interrupted. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate. :)
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby MFH37 » May 22, 2010 (4:35 pm)

Yeeaah... I think your last post was in response to Darkheart. So I will just ask straight up: what about metals that arent minable like mithril and kexralite? I hope we can still use em in alterations. Thanks

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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby GDAUTUMN » May 22, 2010 (4:43 pm)

Oops! Sorry! I thought I had missed something.

Both of those metals will need to be supplied.
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby MFH37 » May 22, 2010 (10:50 pm)

If I wanted an item to be mithril in its description, how could I supply mithril? There is no way to aqcuire it.
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby GDEXXY » May 23, 2010 (12:12 am)

MFH37 wrote:If I wanted an item to be mithril in its description, how could I supply mithril? There is no way to aqcuire it.
If you don't have a rare or unique material (and yes, there is some in existence -- but again: rare), then you can't use that in an alteration.
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby DUBLEX » Mar 8, 2012 (6:39 am)

can we get a approximate guide to how much metal is needed for some common items like daggers rings and such?
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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby TULSIDAS » Mar 8, 2012 (9:16 am)

Where is there a list of metals available in the land, approximate rarity, usefulness, abilities, hardness, etc.?

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Re: Eaxian Alteration Primer

Postby GDAUTUMN » Apr 3, 2012 (1:24 am)

Unfortunately there are no such guides available. :(. Something small like a ring wouldn't take much for supply where as something like armor would take a lot. Just think about the size of the items. Small items take a small amount of metal to make, and large items take a large amount.

There is also no list. Sorry!

Also. Keep in mind that armor/weapon alterations are cosmetic only, and adding sonething like mithril (for example) wont change the current stats of the item.

Sorry for the late reply! We had company off and on for the past month, so it has been crazy around here!
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