Auto-Locked Items: Thinking Out Loud

Due to a bug that was reported by currybun,(don't know how to mention users, sorry!), it actually got me thinking,

What if certain items were autolocked upon reaching a threshold?

Now, this idea wouldn't be necessary for every item, obviously, and the concept of being able to sell a perfected piece of gear should never be off the table, but for safety and security of our end game players(and even those who happen to get lucky), I think it's something to consider and discuss. It's not that I expect anyone to carelessly toss a perfected ZHelm or get hacked and lose all their progress, but I think it's worth having a discussion about.

Assuming that even half of the playerbase would even want something like this, what would the parameters be? Honestly I think they should be pretty strict, but I could just be one voice. However, I do think a few parameters could be considered:

• Level of the equipment
• Typical use of the equipment
• Type of equipment
• Class restrictions of equipment
• Quality of equipment

Level

Well clearly we don't want low level equipment untradeable, or require extra steps to trade, but where does that leave us? What level would he appropriate?

I think that partly depends on the rest of the factors, which is why I've labeled them. But we at least know what level it shouldn't be, which is nearly anything below level 80, and then there are probably several items we would still not want to accidentally destroy, or get hacked and stolen.​

Typical use

Gear that is expected to be used, traded, sold on multiple accounts are always valuable. Make use of that INT cape you only were going to have on your DPS until they got enough base MP, and now you have no further need of it. That gear that isn't quite what you were looking for but you finally have the upgrade you've always wanted. The overall dex you +10'd for your seven night lords but are too afraid of the Chaos Gods to attempt another go at it(not projecting at all, I swear ).
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Type

Should all end game-considered weapons be autolocked? Should it be just the highest level weapon in each category? What about equips? Should all untradeable gear be autolocked just in case? Probably not but it's worth talking about.
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Class restrictions

What about classless gear vs class gear? Honestly this is probably the easiest to suss out, most classless gear is designed by the community to be cycled through the market, one sauna robe can be handed down or sold to their next owner and so on and so forth forever and never lose value. Class gear, especially end game, tends to be permanently adhered to the character it ends up with. Which is usually the person who scrolled it.
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Quality

Something that's potentially divisive is whether or not a +5/+7/+10 gold equip should be autolocked to the character. Part of me considers the potential profit from selling a perfected item, but another part of me understands hardly anyone could afford the cost of such an item, let alone the consideration of buying the white scrolls to allow for such an item to be created. Most people who make them spend billions and billions(though many a ws are untradeable now, the service is still sold as if it wasn't), most people don't have that kind of income. I assume the majority of perfected items come from the idea that players are consolidating their resources, selling what few ws they've collected to service a single item someone is looking for. Though there are a few people out there who are determined to do it on their own. Anyways, I digress, at what level of quality would such an item even be considered lockable? Gold is the obvious choice, but what about just one step below? What about prospective perfect weapons with one slot left?

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Anyways, thank you for your time, hope to hear some interesting ideas.

 

I do admit it's not the most fleshed out idea. It was more just thinking out loud in the confines of responding to(and expanding upon) a thread about a bug. Rather than derail a thread that was legitimately trying to report and solve a problem, I thought it better to pose the question and maybe get some community feedback on it.

Is it a little niche? Yes.
Do I expect this to pass at all? Maybe, and that's a very big maybe. About 48pt size if you're looking for an exact number.
Do I think it's fun to talk about? Absolutely.
Does it need to be the best idea in the world in order to discuss the aspects or potential pros and cons of it? Absolutely not.

My idea is just a drawing board. Contributions are more than welcome. Stuff like this isn't made with the mind of one human, but rather a collaborative effort of many minds coming together.