A New Form Of Looting: Curio Items

Overview:

1) A new type of unique trade item, each found in only one location in the world.

2) They would come in all grades of rarity, from a white junk tier up to a red-grade treasure tier.

3) Each one would have a little piece of lore in its description, similar to most existing trade items.

4) There would be several curio 'types' for further classification into the collection system. These are just some examples I've come up with:

- Type: Junk - This would serve as the base tier for any White Grade curios. Most Collectors wouldn't bother with these items.

- Type: Luxury- Any curio relating to civilization itself - Fine art, high-quality crafts, exotic foods, etc. Similar in theme to junk items but of definite interest to Collectors. Green-Yellow Grade.

- Type: History - Any curio relating to the on-going history of the major regions would fall into this category. Green-Yellow Grade.

- Type: Ecology - Any curio relating to the denizens of BDO's natural world. Covers most lifeskill activities. Green-Yellow Grade.

- Type: Relic - Similar to history-type curios, only dealing specifically with ancient history. Blue-Yellow Grade.

- Type: Treasure - Only come in Red Grade, usually found in very obscure places with a very low drop chance.

Acquisition:

(By Type)

1) Junk-type Curios:

- Would be dropped by all activities. Could be an NPC's personal keepsake rewarded from a side quest, trash fished up from the river, etc.

2) Luxury-type Curios:

- Rewards for certain lifeskill/trade quests.

- 'Commissioned' from the amity shops of various NPCs or won by beating them at Yar!. Could be an RNG roll for the rarity grade. Master blacksmiths, musicians, artists, chefs... There's tons of them.

- Scavenging from boxes/barrels/crates in towns, cities, and other 'civilized' nodes.

3) History-type Curios:

- Rewards from various quest lines, particularly the main quest. Our characters are making history after all!

- Purchased from the amity shops of famous story NPCs or won by beating them at Yar!. Could be an RNG roll for the rarity grade.

- Random drops from gatherable boxes/crates at any node with history in the world of BDO. Ruins, war sites, enemy camps, etc.

- Random drops while grinding humanoid/faction-type enemies. Bandits, sausans, cyclops, fadus, etc.

4) Ecology-type Curios:

- Rewards for gathering, fishing, and hunting quests.

- Random drops from all gathering, fishing & hunting activities. Perhaps fish could be donated to an aquarium?

- Random drops from all animal and monster-type enemies. Wolves, Gargoyles, Polly's Shrooms, Griffons, etc.

- Scavenging from leaf piles, rock boxes, potion crates, fishing nets, etc. Could be found anywhere in the world, there's tons of neat little lifeskill-themed gatherables scattered all over the place.

5) Relic-type Curios:

- Purchased from the amity shops of various archaeologist NPCs.

- Random drops while grinding any ancient-type enemies.

- Scavenging at any node with ancient ruins. Gyfin Rhasia, Hasrah, Bree Tree Ruins, Atoraxxion, etc.

- Digging in the desert. Yay! \o/

6) Treasure-type Curios:

- Would have a very very low drop chance from most activities, particularly scavenging, but would have an even higher chance of dropping from the locked treasure chests that are currently scattered around the map.

- Perhaps random drops from pirate-themed content and sunken shipwrecks? I think it would be really neat if at least half of the treasure curios were only found in ocean content, just to inject some much-needed purpose into sailing/ocean exploration.

Usage:

1) Sell to new 'Collector' NPCs stationed in a few select places throughout the world. Silver payout and trade XP is determined by each Collector's interest in certain curio types, with higher interest = higher payout.

2) Perhaps turned into furniture items? Only for the treasure curios most likely, but its always nice to have more things that we can bring home and put on display right?

 New Trade NPCs: Collectors

Overview:

1) Around 4-5 of these NPCs would be stationed in major cities throughout the world, each with a unique interest in a particular type of curio.

2) Profit values would not increase with distance or a connected node network, like normal trade items. Instead they would increase by a certain percentage as a player's amity with each NPC increased.

3) Every new item brought to a Collector by the player would increase their amity by a flat amount, say 5, thus increasing profits for every new curio the player discovered. A true collectible system :)

Connoisseur:

(Velia)

- Would offer increased sale prices for all luxury-type curios from all parts of the world.

- Would offer daily randomized quests to search for a particular luxury curio from any city, town, or trade node out in the world.

*Bonus Idea* - Could perhaps be the only one affected by a distance bonus?

Museum Curator:

(Calpheon)

- Would offer increased sale prices for all history-type curios from all parts of the world.

- Would offer daily randomized quests to search for a particular history curio at a historical location somewhere in the world.

*Bonus Idea* - Might include the introduction of a new museum-themed location in the center of Calpheon. Perhaps a place where players could come and gain knowledge about different exhibits, similar to the library?

Conservationist:

(Grana)

- Would offer increased sale prices for all ecology-type curios from all parts of the world.

- Would offer daily randomized quests to bring them a particular ecology curio from a specific ecosystem somewhere out in the world.

*Bonus Idea* - Similar to a new museum location in Calpheon, could perhaps introduce a new garden-themed paradise somewhere on the outskirts of Grana where the Vedir tend to all kinds of different plants/animals from all over the world.

Archaeologist:

(Valencia)

- Would offer increased sale prices for all relic-type curios from all parts of the world.

- Would offer daily randomized quests to bring them a particular relic curio from a specific set of ancient ruins somewhere out in the world.

*Bonus Idea* - The digging mechanic from the desert could definitely be expanded on here for some real archaeology fun. Maybe to all ancient dig sites and even Atoraxxion itself?

Deve The Storage Keeper!

(Altinova)

- The Collector NPC located in Mediah would purchase all curios for a fixed price scaling only by rarity. This allows players a one-stop-shop to sell all of their curios if they don't feel like traveling all over the world chasing optimal prices.

- However! In the lore Deve seems to be interested in collecting completely random nonsensical things, he even has an adventure log dedicated to it. So my argument would be to turn him into a true Collector NPC and let someone else in Altinova be the storage keeper :)

- Thus Deve could have his own type of daily quest where he offers a *hefty* sale price for a single random curio of any type, even junk curios, and it would make perfect sense.

Shakatu

(Shakatu~)

- Turning Shakatu into a real collector of treasures would be really neat I think :) He might also be the only one rich enough to blow money on ultra-rare Red Grade treasure items, who knows?

- His daily quests could come in the form of genuine scavenger hunts leading the player from location to location with clues to uncover treasures. Lower grade curios could also be rewarded along the way, using the lore attached to each as a way to weave together a small story.

*Credit to Aisenjack for the idea!

 Potential Balance Ideas

Weight Values:

1. In order to not slow down exploration I can't imagine these items actually functioning as trade packs. Instead they would likely have higher weight values that increased exponentially according to the item's rarity.

Drop Rates:

2. Curios with percentage drop rates would be directly affected by a player's trade skill and investment into the surrounding nodes. Drops for higher rarities could even be entirely locked behind higher trade skill levels.

Guaranteed Sources:

3. Curios gained from guaranteed sources, like NPC amity shops, would likely have a daily sale limit attached to each. 

Tagging Restrictions:

4. As with most trade items in the game currently there would likely have to be some restrictions put in place for tagged characters.

*Credit to Unikornu.

 Other Fun Stuff

Scavenger Buff For Nodes:

2. All nodes could provide a new type of buff upon connecting and investing energy into them to increase the drop rate of higher tier curios gathered in the area as well as the amount of trade XP earned from this activity. This would fit very nicely under the recent node investment overhaul.

Curio Catalog:

3. Curios could also have a catalog very similar to the fish species guide for an extra bit of completionist goodness. This would allow players to keep track of all of their discovered curios, their associated lore, and perhaps even a mini leaderboard for most turn-ins?