Diplomacy Preview

From Vanguard WikiSpheres

Loot in diplomacy is handled very differently than it is when adventuring. Instead of gaining loot for completing a parley, you will instead earn special points that can be turned into an Information Broker for items.

Information Brokering

One purpose of Information Brokering is to provide a more immersive connection between the activity of Civic Diplomacy and the loot you get out the other end. I think we can all agree, for instance, that Entertains giving you money makes some sense (tips for your jokes, etc.). It makes much less sense for you to be receiving a shirt for asking a soldier to buck up and fight the enemy.

As you win parleys, you will begin receiving Information, which you can spend at an Info Broker for a randomly selected Diplomacy loot item.

Now, you spend your Information with Brokers who specialize in types of information and degree of quality of information. We even have a broker who points you to other brokers!

The Information types break down into:

• Blackmail

• Plots

• Arcana

• Trends

The degrees of information break down to:

• Hearsay

• Rumor

• Evidence

• Fact

When you desire to get loot, you will take your Information to a specific broker, such as a Blackmail Broker. Based on the broker you have selected, you get a random loot item from a more specific set.

For instance, Arcana Brokers give out Chest and Waist items. Thus, if you are looking for a chest item, turning in your Arcana Rumors, Arcana Facts, etc. will get you a good shot at this.

Alternatively, turning in Rumors will get you a shot at any item in the list, but at a presence quality tier. This is useful in that the exchange rates for a "roll on the loot table" are better for the degree brokers than the type brokers.

Example numbers:

It may cost you 15 Hearsay, or 10 Rumor, or 5 Evidence, or 3 Facts to get a roll on the Arcana Broker. Alternatively it will cost you 10 Hearsay to get a roll on the Hearsay Broker (or 7 Rumor on the Rumor Broker, etc.). These are example numbers, by the way, not solid yet.

The specific information brokers (Arcana, Blackmail, etc.) have "boobie prizes" in them that have value, but are not specifically clothing. The "tier" brokers (Fact, Hearsay, etc.) have pure item lists, with no boobie prizes.

Finally, not every Broker is present in every town, city, or village. Lomshir will have a Hearsay and Trends Broker, and you will have to travel to Khal or Hathor Zhi to turn in your Blackmail info.

When we connect this up to the Diplomat's Mask you will start to see when Writs and Embassies start popping up, we hope to give you a lot of choice as a player in getting the best shot of choosing your own loot when you need it.

Writs

The tenative starting skill for the Writ system is skill 200 in Diplomacy, and 500 points of local Prestige Faction. These are subject to change, and will likely be brought lower for testing until we get more content in.

The Writ is given by a randomly spawning "writ giver" who exists in or around the Diplomacy hub of each city (Diplomacy hubs will be in much later in Beta).

There are nine individual writ givers in each major city - their properties are discoverable by you all as to which Writ each one gives.

Writs are divided into three broad categories:

• Adventuring-centered Writs

• Crafting-centered Writs

• Internal City Writs

Adventuring and Crafting centered Writs have a destination to another city on the continent, and normally requires stopping in the chunks in between to do a number of parleys.

The reward is determined by the choice of Writ taken. For instance, from Bordinar's Cleft to Leth Nurae there are six Writs. One Adventuring and one Crafting Writ goes to the Queen, one of each to the King, and one of each to the Chancellor in Leth Nurae. The same is true in the reverse direction. Which quest you choose to take determines the reward you will receive.

Among the rewards you receive from Writs:

• Prestige Faction (this and Gossip Civic Diplomacy are your best way to build up Prestige Faction) in the city you are travelling TO.

• Some money

• A special item specific to the Writ giver.

• Local Faction in the city you are travelling TO.

• other goodies.

Internal Writs are quite a bit different. Functionally, they are very similar to a simple Diplomacy quest, and they come in three flavors:

• Legal (representing the King or government)

• Favor (representing an individual or family)

• Illegal (representing the criminal element or other nefarious groups in the area)

For example, in Bordinar's Cleft there are 3 Internal Writs, one to help the Flamehammers woo some Bloodsworn back to the clans, one to help a dwarven family recover a lost heirloom, and the final one is to assist the Thunderaxes in a plot to... well, you'll find out.

Internal Writs are a large source of Prestige Faction, Faction, Diplomacy Clothing, and Diplomacy Abilities. Some of these quests come with built-in faction hits (mostly the illegal ones), so you need to plan accordingly!

Writ givers will be arriving soon in Bordinar's Cleft in the "Monument of the People" room right outside the Throne Room. You will have to parley with them to get the quest, and they despawn upon giving the quest.

Oh, last thing, and most important: not everyone in that room is a writ giver. "Placeholders" spawn in addition to the writ givers, and you can speed up the spawn cycle by parleying with the placeholders and forcing them to despawn as well.

Look for the Writ system in the next week or two. It will be popping up in Leth Nurae almost simulataneously to Bordinar's.

The cities that will eventually have Writs in them:

The Diplomat's Mask

Beginning in a future patch, a Diplomacy clothing vendor will appear in some major cities. In addition to some basic Merchant-based clothing, they will offer Diplomat's Masks.

These Diplomat's Masks are adventuring head items - they take up the mask slot. At this time the masks will not display on the avatar, but we have hopes for that.

The masks have four* (subject to balancing and change) slots that can be upgraded. Those slots are: Gem, Rune, Inlay, and Points.

Examples of gems you can upgrade your mask with are: Water Opal, Tomb Jade, Dragon Tears, and of course, Diamonds.

Examples of runes you can upgrade with include: Pure Rune of Loyalty, Vile Rune of Deceit, Rune of Honor, Rune of Wrath.

Examples of inlays you can add include: Ivory, Nacre, and Niello.

Examples of points you can add include: Thorn, Ray, and Flame.

When you complete an Adventuring Writ (and a number of other pieces of content), you can choose one or more of these rewards. Provided you have enough Diplomacy skill, you can upgrade your existing mask with one of these items, giving your mask mods such as + attribute, heal mod, nuke mod, resists, regen, and more.

Thus, the mask is a magic item that you customize as you see fit. Gems and Runes are fairly plentiful (and varied), while the inlay and points are much more rare and powerful.

Once a mask is upgraded, it can only be worn by those with a skill equal to the highest skill item placed in it.

For instance, a mask with a water opal (no skill requirement), a rune of devotion (200 skill requirement), and a nacre inlay (300 skill requirement) will require 300 Diplomacy skill to equip. There are no restrictions, however, on trading the mask itself, or the parts that make up the mask.