TOPIC: Ioun Stone Mystic Orb

TPTB has made the recipe available to pretty much anyone through this thread and the clues in it. Seems to me that they wanted to give everyone a second chance if they didn't see it in 6c.

jpotter wrote: TPTB has made the recipe available to pretty much anyone through this thread and the clues in it. Seems to me that they wanted to give everyone a second chance if they didn't see it in 6c.

Totally agree!

Wade Schwendemann (Dr. Uid) wrote: I agree with it all. I think it's easy to see how a new player could be disillusioned by this.

It would be nice to hear from some newer players as to what they think.

I'm not really a newer player any more at this point, but FWIW this isn't something I'm thrilled about.

IIRC, last year the Patron-exclusive token was announced as Charm of the Elements, so I didn't buy one of the multiple Patron codes being sold at the time as I didn't need the token, but then the Mystic Orb was given out instead. Since I'd missed that, in the set planning for this year, I suggested that a transmute could be made available for Mystic Orb which most people had no way of obtaining, but there was no response about that happening.

After confirming that it was not mentioned in the 2022 set design threads, not in the 2022 QTR, nor in the 2022 transmute page, nor on the 8k order page for 2022, I ended up spending quite a bit of money on buying one as it seemed clear that there was no other way for me to get one.

I'd be fine with the secret recipe now being discovered if there had been any indication that there was or would be another way to get Mystic Orb, but this information has only come to light now, several months after after the Orb stopped being circulated in any other ways and after all 2022 preorders had been fulfilled

I have no idea where the clue was in v6c, or whether we took the correct branch of the path to see it, but if my party took some time to solve the puzzle or win the combat, as is often the case, then we'd likely not have had time to search the room for a second puzzle/clue anyway - not to mention that I don't normally do multiple iterations of the same adventure so would more than likely miss any single-run secrets anyway.

With that said, I've already got the Orb I bought so I certainly don't begrudge anyone else a chance to get one - that's definitely a good thing as it's a very desirable token.

I like having secrets in the dungeons waiting to be discovered, I just think this could have been handled better by releasing a much earlier hint that a recipe was out there somewhere waiting to be discovered, especially for a token this powerful (basically a slotless +1 to saves, since anyone with a Skull of Cavadar is likely to have previously had access to at least one +2 to saves Ioun Stone in their build).

jpotter wrote: TPTB has made the recipe available to pretty much anyone through this thread and the clues in it. Seems to me that they wanted to give everyone a second chance if they didn't see it in 6c.

Was it The Powers That Be that made it available in this thread, or fellow players? TPTB could certainly be behind it, but I didn't see that in the thread.

Well, last year (2020) I missed out on getting a patron code. Prior to last year the patron appreciation tokens were only rare tokens that were useful, but not useful enough to replace anything in most builds. So I really didn't care. And then along came the Figurine of Power: Reaver. It was unannounced with no hint there would be a transmute. And so, I spent Mystic Orb level money buying one. Shortly afterwards it became a quite easy transmute and worth maybe a quarter of what I paid. I have no regrets or bad feelings toward what happened. It'll happen again.

No matter how this was handled, someone would have complained. If I've learned nothing else in this forum, that's kind of how this community rolls. I mean that affectionately, but am just trying to say that it's really not worth getting upset over.

Mike Steele wrote:

jpotter wrote: TPTB has made the recipe available to pretty much anyone through this thread and the clues in it. Seems to me that they wanted to give everyone a second chance if they didn't see it in 6c.

Was it The Powers That Be that made it available in this thread, or fellow players? TPTB could certainly be behind it, but I didn't see that in the thread.

ponyboy is tptb

jpotter wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:

jpotter wrote: TPTB has made the recipe available to pretty much anyone through this thread and the clues in it. Seems to me that they wanted to give everyone a second chance if they didn't see it in 6c.

Was it The Powers That Be that made it available in this thread, or fellow players? TPTB could certainly be behind it, but I didn't see that in the thread.

ponyboy is tptb

I didn't realize that, thanks.

Rob F wrote: I've been playing TD and collecting Tokens for quite a while now and I have absolutely no idea what any of the clues mean and until I read this post I had no idea you could even craft this thing. And you know what...I love it!! I love secret puzzles (not that I'm good at them) and I really hope TPTB keeps doing things like this. So cool when I hear about stuff like this. I'm glad no one's spilling the beans, let people try and figure it out, if they do great, if not oh well.

Grunnel is a big web surfer, for the true dungeon site he practically slashes his way through it. There is definitely a place for him here.

Fred

I missed 6C, I appreciate this thread.

I like the year-round puzzles. The one for the Orion's Belt was a lot of fun and so many people got involved. I get-up early on Christmas looking for clues, but sadly it's been 2 years since the last one.

Some people just want the reward and don't want to work for it, while others want to earn the reward. I don't think TPTB should just throw out the answer. They could however post the clue that appears was missed by many. I'm not saying they should do that, I'm just saying that would be better than just giving out the answer.

Several clues have been given in this thread. They are not substantially different from the clue that appeared in V6C. (The in-dungeon clue was very straightforward. It wasn’t a case of, say, runes that needed to be translated and the resulting message further analyzed.) In my opinion, anyone who reads this thread has equivalent information to folks who saw the clue in V6C.

I think it is hard to speak broadly about what peoples reactions to this kind of thing will be. Surely TD’s player base is large enough that some people will be happy or not with this kind of thing for a variety of reasons.

For myself, I love that little things like this can make Td a year round hobby and build some ties among the small number of players active on the forums.

One year in the dungeon there was an obelisk in the storyscape that was a cypher. My friend was trying to figure it out and I told him: “just ignore it, it’s an old prop or something” - little did I know it was part of a multi year puzzle some dedicated players have been chasing. That seemed cool to me.

I also like the occasional inclusion of information in the storyscape that could be relevant in nightmare runs.

The Orion’s Belt thing was probably the best thing I’ve seen happen for this online community since I have been here, I can’t remember another time so many people were so engaged and collaborative for so long. And - that got kicked off by notes attached to quarterly token reference books which mainly go to large token buyers.

I am glad for the magic Td injects via these things.

If it were up to me I’d shoot for outcomes like Orion’s Belt where however it’s introduced it becomes a community scavenger hunt.