"The Archives' Ghost"

katrinwolf • 4 June 2018 at 2:20 PM

So let's say there's a ghost lurking in the Archives. And it's not just any old ghost, it's a Mad Scientist Ghost! And while being stuck in the afterlife, this Dr EggStein has thought of a way to create life, combining science with supernatural! But he's a ghost, so he can't do it himself anymore, and that's where you come in. This won't be a walk in the Ark Park, though...
Basically, you need to complete a series of tasks for him. Most likely long, tedious tasks. (I've listed some of my own ideas below) And it's also likely you can only meet this shady character once every X months. Which means you will only be able to complete your quest after quite a while. But when you do...
You get a random creature. Absolutely random.
Anything that's in the Archives could end up as your final result.
Yes, you could possibly get a common, too. But these make up less than 9% of total species - I'd still take the chance.

This... event? can give people a chance to obtain a rare creature that's a bit more fair than just a raffle. You get something for your trouble every time, and you don't have to pay money (THAT's important - if you have any ideas for more tasks, they shouldn't include money or specific expensive items!) - take that, Thief Shop Doovoo! You also can't know what creature you're getting, so _maybe_ this will make the lucky ones more likely to trade. But it's still rare and isn't likely to create a dramatic decrease in a certain creature's rarity, and it's random, so there won't be a particular value ratio shift, as all of them have equal chances of appearing. Besides, it'll give us one more thing to do on EggCave! So, what do you think?
My current ideas for the Ghost's tasks:

0) Actually meet an Archives' Ghost 😃
Simply stroll through the Archives. Take your passport and shoes, this will be a long walk. (The Ghost page appears instead of a random Archives' page as you click through)
1) Stardust
Scratch the surface of the Mysterious Asteroid and get some of its dust. (Simply visit an Asteroid and try to approach it and scratch the surface. The same random effects as with the egg-taking will take place - windstorms, sudden darkness, berserker Yeep assassins - but, unlike with the eggs, you get to try again once an hour)
2) Pixie Dust
Shake some dust off these pretty wings! (Click 100 creatures that are classified as fairies by Arkian lore. These might be the same or different species, but you can only click an individual creature once a day)
3) Slime of Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
You'll need a lot of Goggy eggs...so sneak into the Thief Shop as the ghost distracts the owner, and take as many as you can before he returns! (A "hidden objects" minigame where you have to find as many Goggy eggs in a room full of debris and garbage as you can before the time runs out. Can be played once a day. You CAN clear the game (as in, get all 100 eggs) in one go, but it's pretty difficult, so maybe don't stress out and come again another day)
4) (Un)Holy Water
Trapping some Oasis water in an egg shell while preserving its qualities has been thought impossible - not anymore! However, there's one thing... (For this one, you'll have to choose a hatched creature of yours that comes from either the Fiery Shadows or Volcano (I'd rather choose Shadows only, because reasoning, creepy-crawlies come from there, hurr durr, but alas, there're no commons as of now coming from there, so it'd been a lame move on my side), let the Ghost apply the odd sigil on it, and take it to drink from the Leia Oasis. The contact of Oasis water with the marked creature of Shadows or Volcano origins will cause the creature to lose all its power and revert to its egg form - but some of that prized water will be preserved inside an egg, too! Take it back to the Ghost, carefully extract the water and take your poor egg back home)
5) All we Need is Blood
Archive pages hold much knowledge, but the one important thing is missing from the paper - the DNA code! It's up to you to fix it. Feed a creature of every species in Ark and collect blood samples while they are distracted! (Okay, don't panic thinking about reasoning with a mad Halldrag, you'll just have to feed them and the samples will be collected automatically. See? Easy!)
6) Perfect Crime
These pricks from the SAR Center just won't share! So, we'll need to make them! Don't worry, I have a plan... (Another minigame. You'll have 15 seconds to memorize what bottles & vials you need. After that, infiltrate the SAR warehouse and grab the necessary goods. Don't hurry too much, remember where you took them from! After you bring your loot to the door, the Ghost will conjure copies for you. Put them back on the corresponding shelves. Done!)
Might add more later.

I'm VERY open to more ideas. Just, please, don't make them connected to money or very specific expensive items - that's what I'm specifically trying to avoid.
(And one more idea for the road. Maybe doing this, ahem, "questline" should also provide a possibility to get a couple of unique creatures as a reward? Odd weird mutant creatures? It's mad science, after all... 😃)

skyfall4 • 4 June 2018 at 2:34 PM

@katrinwolf
Hmm... I don't think we should open it up to the old creatures though. maybe only creatures released during the year?

katrinwolf • 4 June 2018 at 2:49 PM

@skyfall4 Won't this make the newer critters even more common and the older ones even harder to obtain? I'd say with the end-of-the year CSP rerelease and Toy Drive it's already happening in a way. That's exactly why I was thinking of making it only open a couple times a year (or maybe even once a year, now that I think of it) - so that there's maybe one or two really rare creatures emerging from that at a time. Do you think it'll still cause a big problem?

skyfall4 • 4 June 2018 at 3:03 PM

@katrinwolf
Hmm it's just that if you get a Tine or Doovoo that might... cause some trouble Dx

katrinwolf • 4 June 2018 at 3:18 PM

@skyfall4 Well, it's literally 0,1% chance to get a Tine and it will only be getting smaller... well, maybe one in a thousand people will win a jackpot and join EggCave Billionaires' Club. And a Tine will not cost your soul but your soul minus ten EC, while every other creature will also cost their former value minus same 10 EC. That's why I want it to be all the creatures - it is less likely to affect creature-to-creature value ratio this way. You'll still be able to trade for the same creatures as before with the same creatures as before, just maybe slightly more people will be trading.

skyfall4 • 4 June 2018 at 5:09 PM

@katrinwolf
Mmm that's true... in that case I like this idea 😃

snowwall • 30 August 2018 at 11:58 PM

Considering that creatures die, people leave the site, etc, the numbers of older creature just drops, never going up... While the number of people who want them goes up due to all the newbies. Something to counterbalance the odds is nice!