Shop Rebalancing Ideas

[HeatAndRun]

In this beta the both upgrade cost and the drop numbers of material are decreased overall. And the shop encounter before miniboss room is also changed, so the players now visit Alphonse's shop more frequently. The problem is, the price of legendary powers - which you can  purchase by upgrade materials - was not changed.

It requires random type of material to buy. The problem is the amount of demanding materials are same regardless of the type. It can require 9 common loots from that area, or occasionally 9 rare loots, and at times even 9 boss loots. Common loots are fine, but players need an enormous amount of rare materials to upgrade their weapons, and only 2 boss materials are obtainable per a hunt.

So, what about changing the price of those powers at the shop according to the rarity of materials? Such as :

1 Legendary Power for :

 10 Common Materials

 5 Rare Materials

 2 Boss Materials

Many players I met in public multiplayer didn't prefer purchasing powers by materials, especially at the shop right before the boss fight.  It's quite obvious because purchasing those powers every time inevitably occurs net loss. Kinda irony that you need to give up one of the main reason to constantly repeat the hunt, for more fun. Decreasing the price to a reasonable degree would make the shop encounter much more welcoming moment in a run!

 

Also, I would like to suggest a way to exchange Corestone into Teffra at the Alphonse's shop.

Spoiler

  The name could be like "Teffra Extractor" or similar, perhaps?

With the introduction of Super Frenzy, the value of teffra in a hunt became much more important. Not only because the players're more likely to visit the shop as I mentioned earlier, but also there're not a such thing as free potion sample or free upgrade in the super frenzy hunt, eventually leads to higher demand for teffra, and that's where this feature can take place.

The exchange ratio could be something like this :

1 corestone for 50 teffra.

Can exchange up to 3 times per a shop. (Regardless of player numbers in multiplayer)

With this feature the players can have more choice in the hunt - buy powers at the shop to increase the possibility of victory in higher difficulties, or save the teffra for purchasing potions or upgrades later. Also, there could be more positive interactions in multiplayer, such as helping other players buying more powers, or even, more corestones for equipments! Selecting corestone rooms at a crossroads will become much more preferable option to pick with, even after collecting all kinds of weapons and armors at the shop. 

[jambell]

Setting up more ways to exchange currencies between one another is definitely on our mind! As is potentially rebalancing the existing currency exchanges we have.

We have been relatively light-handed with this so far since the economy is still in flux (see the progression changes in beta right now as an example) and new game systems using some of these currencies are still on the way in which will affect the way players think about them.

As an example in a similar realm as yours, before Early Access internally testing we talked about a "Corestone Converter" that could go the other way, and convert Teffra into Corestones, since that's what the game felt like it needed the most at the time. Now, the game has changed quite a bit and you're feeling the need for the exact opposite, which is a great example of how things change not only throughout development as systems are added, but also throughout the progression of the game!

More currency exchanges like these are definitely on the table eventually, but we just want more of the systems in place before we start exploring it too much deeper!

[Kacpert25]

Maybe, apart from exchanging corestones for teffra, it would be possible to add the option of selling powers and potions to Alphonse himself?

The price of sold power could vary depending on its level. For example, power at the first level could be sold for 25 teffra, at the second level for 50, and at the third level for 75. The price of the sold potion could be the same as the power at the first level.

The option of selling powers would be really useful because you could get rid of unfavorable powers such as Body Of Light and Alphonse would then be a more useful NPC than he is now, this is: "Talk once and never have another conversation with him".