There will be a lot of ideas in this thread, and I would like to know which ones seem noteworthy/if any, so if you like all/some/none, I'd like to know why, and if you have any ideas to improve that would be appreciated as well.

Damascus has no work other than upgrading your lantern. What if he could do more than that?

Shields

It would be nice if shields actually had a purpose on graal.

Your shield cracks every time you block x amount of hits from a baddy, and breaks after it's durability is depleted. It all depends on the baddy and your shield level. If your shield breaks, and you die from a baddy, you are warped to a safe area nearby. You can repair your shield before it breaks. You can't block a hit while using sword.

You would need certain items to repair your shield, and after repairing it x amount of times, the next time you go to repair Damascus will come up with and idea to fortify/upgrade your shield. Damascus will give you a quest asking for the necessary materials for the upgrade. This might just be the following route for all other items that I will discuss about next.

Why shield? Damascus needs more items, and it would give baddy killing a much better experience than just boringly spamming sword. You will have to evade as much as you can, that would also help people get better at pking/sparring, and no the shields can't be used in spar.


Flippers

I'm not too sure about adding a durability for this one, but it sounds nice. After using your flippers to dive x amount of times, they become unsuitable for diving. You then have to talk to damascus, repair enough times, materials, etc.

Every time you upgrade your flippers their durability is increased.

Why flippers? Just Damascus purpose


Swords

Sword breaks after slashing x amount of times, I know it should be by contact, but idk how good graal devs are, so just by slashing.

Every time you upgrade you can do more damage, maybe adding more hearts would be a good thing? Maybe not just more damage towards baddies.

Upgraded swords and shield won't work in spar.


Goggles

Same as flippers


Lanterns

He already upgraded it, but if day/night system were ever added, then Damascus can upgrade it by letting the lantern emit more light/last longer.

or maybe Damascus can let you buy different types of lanterns. If you want to see more, maybe to find more bugs, protect more from baddies at night, then you buy the lantern that emits more light.

but if you are going out at night for a longer period, then you want the one that it's light lasts longer.


Other items

Fishing pole, if ever added. Increased durability, bigger fish to then trade in to other shops. (One can only dream... maybe my hopes are too high)

Bug net. Increased durability? Yeah man, them cockroaches are savages, tearing through the net. Bigger/Rarer bugs can be caught.

Shovel, I don't even know if this should even be included... all you can find are worms... Maybe giving you a higher chance to find worms? If you have any ideas for the shovel, post it.

Flute? Do blacksmiths only work with metal? Anyways, maybe Damascus can upgrade it by letting you have other tones, or not upgrading and just letting you create other flutes with other tones.. Electronic? Not too sure about this one.

Bow? Increased arrow travel distance? I know it could be reduced, and then forcing an upgrade.

I might add other ones later on, or add your quote to this post.



Oops, almost forgot. I'm sorry that this is a very long post.

How to get materials

Looting, cutting down trees (if classic adds that), talking to certain npcs, buying them from a shop (could cost a lot, thus raising graal's income), map/chests.


Adding all of this would make these activities more enjoyable, after doing it over and over. The upgrades could take hours to days to weeks, depending on what it is, and the next level you are going to. I'm not sure if each item should have a level cap. What do you think?


//insert pointless comment here

The gnome at Onnet... fudge, now I have to get on to check his name/shop

The blacksmith Damascus, at Northern Furnace can repair/upgrade your items... items? yeah I just thought about maybe including other items like swords, shields, flippers, goggles, turning this from a post on add armor to graal? to a new thread...  

Nice ideas!  

everything but swords and shields.  

Having a durability meter for a few other items sounds alright. Mainly items in the tool folder. Not sure about any kind of upgrade that either makes your defense stronger or gives you increased health (shield and sword). Anything like that would unbalance pk and fort defense. Not sure why you just excluded spar but left out pk and forts.  

Posted by OG

everything but swords and shields.

Explain why? These won't work in spar...

Shield is to help baddy killing evolve to make it more fun. You would have to evade more to dodge hits, thus keeping your shield intact.

Sword would be upgraded in order to take down potentially stronger types of mobs, Giant Lizardon, Pumpkin blob, Giant Slime, whatever classic comes up with.

Posted by Pharaoh

Having a durability meter for a few other items sounds alright. Mainly items in the tool folder. Not sure about any kind of upgrade that either makes your defense stronger or gives you increased health. Anything like that would unbalance pk and fort defense. Not sure why you just excluded spar but left out pk and forts.

I left pk and forts, because they could provide use to strategy. Since, this isn't about killing, but more as to holding.

Shields could be used to stay in the fight longer, depending on shield level you can withstand more damage. They can most likely be used strategically, and guilds can pick their fights by teaming against single individuals. The defenders can make barriers, but there is a knockback effect, so you can't block forever.

Swords can be used to deal more damage, guilds would recruit less nubs, and recruit more people who have higher upgraded items.

Also, shields won't last forever. Once they break, you have to go to Damascus to repair them. Meaning you would have to use your shield wisely.

Either that or just keep it for the mobs/baddies.  

Posted by Aguzo

Explain why? These won't work in spar...

Shield is to help baddy killing evolve to make it more fun. You would have to evade more to dodge hits, thus keeping your shield intact.

Sword would be upgraded in order to take down potentially stronger types of mobs, Giant Lizardon, Pumpkin blob, Giant Slime, whatever classic comes up with.

Upgraded shields and swords would still be usable against other players. Sure you can disable them in spar but sparring isn't evrything. Spar levels are small so a disable there wouldn't be a problem, however the overworld is comparatively huge.

Posted by Aguzo

I left pk and forts, because they could provide use to strategy. Since, this isn't about killing, but more as to holding.

Shields could be used to stay in the fight longer, depending on shield level you can withstand more damage. They can most likely be used strategically, and guilds can pick their fights by teaming against single individuals. The defenders can make barriers, but there is a knockback effect, so you can't block forever.

Swords can be used to deal more damage, guilds would recruit less nubs, and recruit more people who have higher upgraded items.

Also, shields won't last forever. Once they break, you have to go to Damascus to repair them. Meaning you would have to use your shield wisely.

Either that or just keep it for the mobs/baddies.

That is assuming that "tower guilds" would be happy adopting such drastic changes. It would completely change how recruiting and offense/ defense of forts work. A revamp could be good but I would say that a lot would complain that now they have to actually work for forts.  

i like everything!  

Really like all of these ideas.

Posted by Pharaoh

That is assuming that "tower guilds" would be happy adopting such drastic changes. It would completely change how recruiting and offense/ defense of forts work. A revamp could be good but I would say that a lot would complain that now they have to actually work for forts.

How about one of those polls are created again? To see if players would be happy to have upgraded swords and shields?
With the new leaderboard and all, it would give perks to long time pkers.  

Skip to bottom bold for simple conclusion or read w.e. =p

Aguzo, although all you wrote are all great ideas in general and perfectly descriptive, I still have to wholeheartedly disagree because I do not think this is for "classic" Graal. =x Just speaking from my personal experiences with Classic development anyway.

Don't get me wrong, there is always room for improvement for the server and in development side, and should be an on going thing. However I'm very satisfied with how the current management has played their role overall for player experience. Nothing will ever be perfect but I've seen nearly all of the management over on Graal timeline and the today's current team is among the best, most successful and productive with just enough engagement with community. Hats off to those all and others who play vital roles behind the scenes but keep looking to improve.

On a side note; today DavidEn was very passionate about Rufus's, fp4's, and Dusty's contributions to Graal. Unix and the community are really lucky to have that kind of teamwork and dedication.

Anyway having said all that, I think with the right focus Aguzo you and others with open creativity will have a lot to contribute too should you ever decide to apply to join the team. David thinks Thallen would be a great addition and tbh I really don't think it's a biased opinion because Thallen is a very bright guy with a lot he could offer.

I just encourage staff to be humble and extra patient with their responsibilities. I know from experience how difficult and challenging that can be sometimes. =x I've failed my fair amount of times, mainly in patience and being humble department, but I find I'm at my best when I'm not taking things personally..

To sum it all up, great ideas Aguzo and nice details but I personally don't think this is for Classic. =x  

No, shields. sword and other main items should not break  

why would it break? no thanks. but I hate and love this idea I don't like it but I don't love it there are some parts which I disagree there are some parts where I agree like the shields but the shields are only there for aesthetic, but I will agree with the breaking part if it takes time to like heal itself like if your shield breaks you must wait 5 hours to something hours in-order to pk again or fight baddies, I like the time limit more (it might) reduce players.
And I wish there was also a energy bar if your energy is low you cannot pk, cannot farm, cannot do jobs but you can only walk and talk. (By meaning you cannot do anything but walk and talk you need to go to beds and stuff or you need to turn off your device or the game for a while in-order to make your energy go up.) this idea can also reduce players.

blabitty blah blah how did this post turned into a idea idk but i'l leave now bye.  

Swords and shields shouldnt be able to break otherwise great ideas.  

How much does repair cost? Does it even cost anything or is it time consuming?  

Nah  

Posted by Aguzo

Shield is to help baddy killing evolve to make it more fun. You would have to evade more to dodge hits, thus keeping your shield intact..

I can tell you from 120,000 baddy kills worth of experience, even when abusing a BK bug it was never fun. I completely agree with Red this is a bad idea