shortage of components?

[Ilnthis]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this or not. I did a search and couldn't find anything on it, so here goes. I have noticed a severe shortage of certain components, such as earthstones in particular. Is this intentional to maybe raise the rareness of the items or just something that happened for reason(s) unknown? Just curious about it, and thought I would post the question about it.

[Glim]

Mainly it is because such components are used by many spells, do not have many charges, or are difficult to get. Or a combination of the above.

[Nedylene]

the recent shortage is rediculous and we find out how hard they are to get in game when the two PC shops who sell components.... don't get stocked.

[Oghma]

There is a reliable mobile shop keeper that sells them. Though I am not opposed to seeing them widely distributed.

[Glim]

One I can think of that is used very often requires you to do some quests as well as take another character into a dangerous place to get.

[Duranamir]

I have to agree with this post. In general it is possible to get most components in the "wild" somewhere in the game , or some can be made using the precision forges. Getting them this way rather than from shops is a good thing, even if some of them are hard to find and can incourage IC player tradeing. But there are two or three components that should be generally available that are as far as i know impossible to get.

Off the top of my head my top three would be.

Sturdy Nails,
Darts (player constructed ones don't work, which would be the ideal soloution)
Adders stomach

Duranamir

[Aveline]

Sturdy nails, not impossible. You just have to know where to go. I agree with the other two though.

[Nedylene]

Add Earthstones to that mix

[Selveem]

If you ever need any components, just let "Fox" (Xaden) know. He'll kill a couple wizards for you. =)

*ducks*

You know, on my wizard I generally never had problems getting components, so I can't really speak for now, but ideally what I would like to see is the following:

Precious materials/crafted items:

Available in shops, but at a high cost.
Available in the wild, but in dangerous places (high level quest areas and the like - sort of like if you want Dragon's blood, you should kill a Dragon).
(Crafted specifically) Easily accessable components for players to craft them. (Like Dalvyn's earthstone example where pebbles are very easily found, but there is work involved in the creation of earthstones).

Normal materials/crafted items:

Available in shops at a fairly cheap cost.
Easily available in the wild in common places (such as how berries and smooth stones/pebbles are available in the wild), but scattered.

[Glim]

The only component I have ever had a problem getting is yuan-ti eyes.

[Dalvyn]

You generally get them on yuan-ti.

For all the -stone components, something is in the work (should be in the game by the end of next week, possibly sooner).

[Glim]

Thank you for those enlightening words, Dalvyn *grin*

My point was that they are the hardest for me because yuan-ti are fairly difficult to get to. And there are no tribes in Chult I can slaughter just for the luxury of caster my spells

[Nedylene]

Please remember those of us who do not enter cities or try our darndest not to enter cities. While a few of the hard to find out of city components has been added to some wild's stores there are still others we can't obtain right now without finding someone to scurry into the city for us or take a wild ride outselves. *shameless plug*

[Dalvyn]

The "added thing" does not require you to enter cities. Actually, it requires you to leave cities.

[Selveem]

A new entrance to UM?

[Nedylene]

Yay! Love you Dalvyn for that!

[Emrys]

Leave cites?

Me skeered.

[Horace]

I think an important point to keep in mind is what the purpose of spell components is. For the /vast/ majority of spells, they are just fluff that helps to describe the nature of magic and component using casters...that can occasionally be used as a story catalyst with any prolonged removal from any major market.

For all but the most powerful of spell components (and even for most of those, when speaking in regards to Waterdeep) they should be so easy to obtain that even nonwizards know where to get them. I think it's difficult to expect a playerbase of 50 to 60 players to demonstrate the vast commerce of Waterdeep. I know plenty of people are for player driven markets and stuff, but all that favors are players who have been around the block and know where to find everything no matter what you're looking for. In Waterdeep, or really any city of import, getting components shouldn't be something that groups of adventurers rally behind to go quest for...just seems silly to me.

It's nice to say things like "well if someone would just make a shop and stock it with enough of everything to support the playerbase, it'd be fine". And when people hear that, they think it sounds cool that it's all player run market, and it does sound cool, admittedly...but all it really does is put a ton of weight on one or two player's shoulders to help represent a market that has something like 300,000 people and a significant portion of that adventurers.

Why not just make a shop that restocks itself, or can be restocked by an admin/imm command?

[Jaenoic]

Why not just make a shop that restocks itself, or can be restocked by an admin/imm command?

Actually... There is such a place. It's called Mystra's Gifts. =) It's technically a PC's shop, with a storeroom that is able to be restocked by an imm.

[Horace]

heh awesome - we could just use that then.