World Idol Shrines

Pretty simple suggestion as follows:

Each region has a singular 'shrine' dedicated to gathering Offerings in a single place. Each Shrine contains three pedestals, on which you can place your Offerings. Each Shrine also houses the Shrinekeeper, an NPC that could potentially give hints as to the locations and solutions to each Shrine, or just act as flavor. Fragments would be found hidden around the world, locked behind puzzles, combat challenges, or exploring into hidden corners of the world.
Upon turning in the three Offerings/fragments, there would be a short cinematic that gives a little bit of information about how and why the Offerings you gathered turned up in the places you found them, and you would be given an Idol.

World-class mockup of what a desert shrine could look like
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Why are Idols worth gathering Offerings for?

Spoiler: Why are Idols worth getting?

A number of reasons! I feel like Idols offer a lot of creative freedom for GMs in term of how they could be used. I do have a couple of ideas, though:
- They could provide certain temporary buffs when used, like an temporary increase in an ID, or temporarily spawning an ally to help fight for you
- Gathering small lore bites. I feel like a lot of Wynn's lore (as a game, this includes Gavel and Corkus) focuses on the main conflicts, and it would be cool to have Idols dedicated to talking about less 'consequential' lore - perhaps an Idol found in the Molten Heights might clue you into the religion of the Doguns pre-Dwarven colonization.
- Acting as 'keys' to areas: maybe an Idol found in the Silent Expanse could open up some mysterious door in the ruined Olmic city.
- Unlocking certain dialogue options with specific NPCs - not exactly dialogue, but having an Idol in your inventory while talking to an NPC could change their dialogue.
- 'Bragging Rights' effects - some Idols could unlock super-special particle effects or animations - you could show off some of your Idols by placing them on the ground in Detlas or around the world.

Why should we add Shrines, Shrinekeepers, and the ability to trade Offerings for Idols?

Spoiler: Why should we add Shrines, Shrinekeepers, and the ability to trade Offerings for Idols?

- Encourages exploration
- Allows for a new unique genre of content not similar to the existing archetypes of Boss Altars, World Events, Discoveries, or Quests
- Allows a wide range of creative freedom in making more unique challenges
- Many end-game players have also expressed a great deal of interest in late-game content at the beginning of the game (backtracking), and creating Idol shrine content allows a way to make this happen
- Allows for less hand-holdy puzzle, combat, and exploration challenges

Overall, I think the addition of Idol Shrine content allows for greater diversity of content, better world design, and more unique avenues to tell stories in the universe of Wynn.

Spoiler: Postscript

I personally have always been someone who likes the push the boundaries of our tech and I think that for other content creators that are also excited to really push the limits of what types of stuff we can make for you guys would also be really excited to break out of our existing design doctrines to create truly unique experiences and I think Idol challenges are the perfect platform for this.

 

How to get and use an Idol 101:
1. Discover the existence of a power item
2. Uncover whatever ancient thing-a-ma-jigs are around the area
3. Lust for power in the pursuit of said new item
4. Obtain said powerful item
5. New Objective: World Domination

6. B̵e̵c̸o̷m̶e̶ ̸e̸x̶a̷c̶t̴l̵y̷ ̵l̵i̴k̵e̶ ̷W̶y̸n̶n̴e̴x̸c̵a̵v̴a̵t̷i̴o̴n̴

7. Ȍ̵̘v̷̍͛͜ȇ̵̟r̸͚̊̈́t̵̨̎͘h̶̞̿̋ȓ̴̲̤o̴̢̰̽̈́w̷̱̟̎̆ ̷̹̈́́t̴̞̂̈ḧ̸̛̤e̸͖̾ ̵̬̀͜M̴̖̚ȍ̵̗͒n̷̥̹̕ä̴̹̲́͘r̷̛̙͌c̷̀́ͅh̴̢͇̔̎ỵ̸̑ ̵̻͑

8. Ḱ̴̡͔͔͙̼͖̠͠i̷̢͎̎ļ̷̳̹̘̰͋́̏͑͛̉͝l̶̢̨̞̩͙͐̊̈́̂̚ ̸̟̼̪͈̈́͆̎̌͑̕a̷̗̞͊̕n̵̡̞͍̜̆̐̽͑̓̇y̸͈̹̦͇͙͑̓͌̈́̒̀o̸̡͔̳̠̎͒̈́͋n̷̮̄̈e̴̜͇͗͝ ̴̖̺̉̍͑́̑̌͜i̴̢̛͎͈͓̬̔̂n̶̪̬̬̲̰̈́̎ ̶̠̘̦̕y̵̡̩̭͈̋͠ỏ̴̝̻͎̰͍̳͂ͅȗ̴̪̯r̸͙̣̜̻̉ ̵̹͙͎̻͗w̵̡̥͖͇̘̰̄͋̅͜å̷̻͊̍y̸̡̖̦̝̼̭̲͊͌̈́

9. Kill players in PvP with your new found powers with Toxo efficiency >:3


10. O̵̦̝̹̭̤͗͛̈̄b̴̨̤̗͎̪͎̭͓͎̗̙̣̂̽t̶̛̞͍̦̹̻̞̫͚͔̼̊́̄̚͠â̷̢͉̙͎̼̤̭̈́͛̀̒̎͌̾̚̚͜͝ͅͅi̴̧͔̮͇̳̝͎͚̼̮̦̙͐̏́n̸̺̺̥̲̞̍̅̌͗͂̆̑̍͝ ̸̮̰̯̘̱̰̦̯̈́̽̎̀̈̓G̴̨̝̱̩̺̊͝o̷̝̒̂d̶̥̝̟̰̘́̓ ̵̦̝͇͎̝͓̝̬̾̍̐̆̿̅́̕̚͠Ç̶̛̛̯̟̈́͊͗͌̓̕͘ō̷̞͊͘m̵̠̖̫̟͔͎̲̦͉̬͔͋̾̈́͒͌͝͝p̵͙͎͚̲̮̼̜̼͑̀͌ļ̶̹̱̻̲̓̿́̃͗̽̆̒͘͝ę̸̨̨͙̮̹͇̺̦̬̬̺̃̎̆͛͌͒̍̕͝͝x̶̦͖̰̪͍̝̦́ͅ

 

Quietly deletes any mention of stat buffs from thread

 

So it's like a crazy worldwide version of secret discoveries with awesome rewards? Sure, I love exploration, lore and puzzles, and this could serve as a unique way of presenting a sort of easter egg and like the Talking Mushroom and Revan head are.

I'd love if there were some that are super difficult to find with intentionally garbage hints so that finding them without a guide is even more rewarding.

Also, the first like 50 person to find a certain idol could get some kind of cosmetic reward to show that they were one of the first, the first person getting a golden version or something

I also just want to say that really well-hidden idol shrines should blend in with super old content because usually people don't bother to check old places like ocean caves

 

I think this is a great idea, but maybe add something afterwards so the shrines don't become a one and done deal? For example, maybe make it so that after offering all three objects and completing the first offering, you can then make regular offerings with items that fit the lore of whoever you're offering to in order to increase devotion or piety, with rewards being maybe buffs in that area or maybe special equipment accessories unique to who your offerings were to.

 

Yeah. Unfortunately, the first-50 type of stuff is really hard (pretty impossible) to do, but I would actually love that. I had intended it to be more along the lines of collector-completionist, but I really appreciate the support + like the suggestion of hiding them in old places.

 

Can someone explain why using this many diacritics is allowed?