[EG] Almuric February 18 2005 4:09 PM EST
Lets say you're trying to level up your tattoo but are getting left behind by other people. The ideal solution could be rentals. But the problem with rentals is that the minimum rental length is 1 day. What do you do if somebody else has your tattoo rented when you want to fight?
I've come up with a sort-of solution to this problem that may only exist in my mind. I'd like to bounce it off a few people and see what you think.
A group of six like-minded individuals with nearly equal level tattoos get together and decide to do this: Each of them puts their tattoos in rentals for 1-hour periods for, say, a month. They agree that when they fight they will rent one of the tattoos, always choosing the lowest one of the 6 that's available. In such a way they will all still level up their tattoos but also have the tattoos available for possible leveling up by other people who want to rent tattoos.
Problem: You don't have a tattoo on defense. Solution: So what. People are gonna beat you no matter what. You may pick up a few extra negative clan points, but it should be worth it.
Problem: All 6 are rented out. Solution: This should rarely happen since rental periods are only one hour. You could just look to see when one of the six becomes free and come back then. Or you could fight without a tattoo. Or you could rent somebody else's. Again, with short rental periods, even if they were all rented all the time (something you would love to happen), the most you would have to wait on average for one is 10 minutes.
Problem: How do I tell which six are ours? Solution: This is the really tough part and the only good solution I see is if Jon implements tattoo naming.
Problem: This costs money. Solution: Yes, it does. Lots of things do. Ideally, you would make some of them back by other people renting your tattoos, which is really the only reason to implement this scheme. If you make your rental fee low, more people may rent but you may lose money overall. Isn't the Blacksmith just taking your money for the same thing, basically?
Problem: Almost everyone has a tattoo, so why wouldn't they just level up their own instead of leveling up yours? Solution: Pretty soon, something other than the ToJ will become the supporter item. Ideally, in a few months, ToJs will be a lot more rare compared to the user base and there may be a good number of people who want them to fight with.
Yeah, I know it's harebrained. The easier solution would be to just start hanging out in chat, making friends, and having them level up your tat. Some of us are either fire-walled or are just not much into chat for various reasons.