Disclaimer: I don't know how it works today.

Context:
As a new player it is hard to get some cash flow moving early on in an enjoyable way. I have found that the NPC merchants who buy creature parts (e.g. hide) are often "full up" and don't want to buy from me. Leaving me with illiquid value.

Before you say it, yes attempts to sell to other players are made every in-game day. Some have purchased a small amount, that's good, but not enough to even cover water from the temple.

And _yes_ there are other means to earn room and board, but that assumes the player wants to participate in that part of the game.

Suggestion:
If there needs to be a coded cap on how much merchants will purchase, consider making it account/character based. Even being able to sell a couple items daily would help newbies earn enough to sustain a meager life and save up for a mount on their own if they choose to play unclanned. I don't expect that would lead to obsidian inflation, especially if it is only certain allowed items e.g. common low quality crafting materials like chalton hide, bones, horns, etc. and not I don't even know what's valuable in the game... diamond?

This is a difficult problem and I don't really have any suggestions but wanted to say that I agree with you that this survivability grind is really difficult for new players. I do wish new players would more often consider joining established clans, though, because that solves the problem most easily and it can be (not always) a good training ground and introduction to the game. It's a derail but if you want to share why you as a new player do not want to join a clan, I know I'd be very interested.

Quote from: Gimfalisette on August 06, 2024, 12:03:50 PMwhy you as a new player do not want to join a clan, I know I'd be very interested.

When I first started I just wanted to explore the mechanics and world and control when to engage in RP and when to just focus on what I was trying to learn.

I mean, I'm still perennially a indie player and for related reasons. I have family now and don't want to commit to any sort of play time expectations or even bother shifting IRL around to join an RPT.

Quote from: Gimfalisette on August 06, 2024, 12:03:50 PMThis is a difficult problem and I don't really have any suggestions but wanted to say that I agree with you that this survivability grind is really difficult for new players

Less difficult than you think.

Quote from: strangeloop on August 06, 2024, 11:25:05 AMEven being able to sell a couple items daily would help newbies earn enough to sustain a meager life and save up for a mount on their own if they choose to play unclanned. I don't expect that would lead to obsidian inflation, especially if it is only certain allowed items e.g. common low quality crafting materials like chalton hide, bones, horns, etc.

This is actually a solved problem in Tuluk. Or was, in Season 0. They had an NPC using the trade script that would give tokens for materials and you could spend the tokens on food and water and some basic gear.

Another possible and existing approach would be adding another NPC like the office of the mines for obsidian, but for common low quality materials.

I think there is a bit of a learning curve to new players and economy.

I do believe some of the money making scripts in the game could be improved by making less tedious but paying the player in food and water, or perhaps cheap gith level gear instead of coins with daily limits. Would be cool if these NPCs actually took in gith gear for something interesting too, only to clean and given the gear to others as payment for work. That way the gear isn't left piled up on the roads.

Other than food and water, everything else is really bonus. Ultimately people eventually learn to make coins to buy everything they need or want, so its really the late game economy that is still lacking some meaningful money sinks. It doesn't take long to log in and find you've bought all the gear you need, have several large in the bank and other than perhaps an apartment, water and food, you don't really anything to spend it on. I hope you still have skills you can still train in or have something interesting to say in the taverns when you don't need or want anything.

This is a random idea, but I wonder what the game would be like if you could by +1 in any skill for 20k+ coins, and for once it not be a single coin less or have it be offered as just part of a large benefits package somewhere. You could probably buy a lot of forgiveness/services from anyone for coins then. This is especially true since the game removed a few of the reasons for older combat characters to train with younger characters. There are probably many better ideas than this for money sinks. Other than perhaps junk coins which has really been one of the suggestions in the past, but unfortunately doesn't solve the problem of not actually needing them for anything.

I am not sure the game has ever really understood the impact it tends to have when there are few reasons value coins or do any work within the game. RP, conflict and even random encounters tends to happens because you need to do things, and often you do things just to survive better.