I wanted to share some thoughts for areas we might consider to help limit / provide relief to locked projects.
First, the failure rate for Enchant is a flat 3% probability, potentially influenced when expending a Gift of the Gods login reward (but with no real guarantee). The real problem is that this 3% probability never occurs when its convenient from the player's perspective. I suspect that sounds kind of funny when it is just read. However, I honestly feel that this 3% area is something that might could use some work. That's worse for the wizard than attempting to cast in reinforced leathers when trained properly - a choice made versus a casting penalty imposed, if that makes any sense.
Perhaps there could be a way for the talented and focused wizard to influence this failure rate directly. I know that I, with all the projects I've had under my characters, would go to some pretty extreme lengths to absolutely do everything I could to ensure success. But the one hurdle I've never been able to overcome has been that 3% luck of the draw.
Maybe we could go alchemical with this - create a potion, lesser and greater, that will reduce / remove the base failure itself. Reduced or no base failure means reduced or no locked project. I'd suggest skills be considered, but the drive for utility versus hunting in this regard gives me slight pause. Maybe it needs to be both.
I'd actually prefer to see it where even a 'result' of 1 could be successful for the massively overtrained wizard. Convert this to an open ended roll where anything resulting in -25 or less is just subtracted from the project, while anything over -25 could be a failure. This ties also to the suggestion below. The problem becomes how to implement it. First, it might be very difficult to code. Second, where those lines are drawn will be contentious (as we should expect). And third, more complexity is oft-times not welcomed.
Second, I'd like to extend on that suggestion that JOEKUPS comment spurred - find a way to tie a difficulty to casting at an item that isn't done curing. For example, if a capped wizard wants to do a 0x to 1x, but doesn't want to wait the 12 to 24 hours (estimated!) to complete the task, let her cast earlier, but assign a difficulty modifier. Take that all the way up through 10x enchants - although I would expect this to be so prohibitive as to likely never be used. The possibility is an important factor in all this.
Let's say, just for the sake of an example in the discussion, that a wizard will experience a -10 to their attempt for each 12 hour period or part thereof in which they attempt to cast enchant at an item that isn't properly cured. At 0x to 1x, that likely results in a -10 to -20. Not likely to be even a consideration for mages of 50 trains or greater with a good penchant for enchanting. On the other hand (same parameters), a wizard attempting to cast enchant at an item that isn't properly cured on a 6x to 7x enchant would experience a -200 to -280 (presuming 10 to 14 days for each step here), if he were insane enough to pour and immediately enchant.
The wizard can control the risk more granularly now, thanks to the recent changes in the enchant spell. Knowing what the modifier is, the wizard can decide what a suitable penalty to risk would be.
If these two thoughts were blended somehow, so that the flat failure rate could be adjusted, and wizards could understand risk better and even accept risk where they feel they want to, I think it would be beneficial overall to the profession.
A final thought on just locked projects. Maybe instead of an alchemical solution or a premium point solution, we should put together another facet of this activity with Sarmoc. Imagine infusing a Sarmoc potion the same as we do other enchanting potions. The difference here is, the percentage benefit stored in the Sarmoc doesn't affect its time, it affects instead the probability of unlocking the locked project. If a 35000 mana pool wizard charges up a Sarmoc, that results in a 95% chance the project can be unlocked (the time to unlock remains unadjusted from any normal Sarmoc pours in this scenario). So it's not 'immediate' in result, but it is 'immediate' in attempting to get the project unlocked.
And if the Sarmoc pour fails, the only other recourse is GALD / Unlock (or any other potential solution put in place, besides the Sarmoc pour concept).
Doug
