Strange restricts for spelldam item

[Ertai]

Some time ago I received an awesome spelldam item:
a yellow diamond necklace
-0.2 AC, Spellbonus 7, ResElec 15
...with extremely strange requirements:
GLOW MAGIC 3x40-ITEM
Ma40 and Dr40

Isn't there any mistake? I browsed whole spelldam items eq list and found only two (!) items with AND rests: both of them has manaregen and spelldam and require mage + cleric. Seems logically, isn't it? Plus there are two druid-only shapeshift bracelets (one with 2 spelldam, one with 10, but without any info about 'where to get', probably high-quest-weekly-millenium-christmas-forge from the depth of archives or so). Other items has:
1. Mage or Mage prime restricts
2. OR (caster, any class etc), Avatar or x*40 restricts

I tried to ask an area creator (Neptune) about this item several times. Since I haven't received any answer, now I address this question to the whole Sloth society. Should this item be changed or not? I see two ways:

1. Druid restrictions should be removed. I think that first part of its restricts is enough (40 ma, triple 40). It is not OP item, most of mages get 10 spelldam shoulders as first (or second) drachma item, this necklace is weaker.
2. Add "shiftable" flag to this item. THIS will be OP (comparing with other shiftable neck items), but may be Neptune thinks that it is not, and he just forgot to "set" this flag?

What is your opinion about this necklace?

[Teron]

The mob that pops it is Xerxes.

He also pops sleeves of dawnfire, which have these restricts:
40wa&th&mo&ba 4x40.

I am 80% sure the restricts should be:
40wa or th or mo or ba 4x40
and I have already ideased it.

Still, though, some official response on these items would be helpful.

[*Breeze*]

ask neptune. its his area.

pretty sure he had a reason but i cant find it in my email

[Ertai]

He also pops sleeves of dawnfire, which have these restricts:
40wa&th&mo&ba 4x40.

I am 80% sure the restricts should be:
40wa or th or mo or ba 4x40

The idea of 4*tank restrs is pretty nice for ultimate tank gear. Also 4*caster might be good for ultimate caster eq... but both of these items are NOT ultimate: sleeves are mostly quite, not awesome. Necklace is good, but also can be easily replaced. So the idea of these kickass restrictions seems unclear.

ask neptune. its his area.

Oh, I tried, 3 or 4 times. I've wrote several messages to describe my vision of this problems, not simple "hey man, why you made this?".

Let's return to this necklace. I may understand some variants of restrictions. Mage 40 and 3-4-5-6x40? Why not. 25 avatar (in fact it is almost equal to 8x40)? Sad, but I may understand it. May be I might think "umm, mebbe Neptune overestimate his item?" But it's his point of view. Or if it is an OLD area with Sloth3-style restrictions? No, it isn't. So AND restrs for pure spelldam, which is always mages' perk? You're kidding. The one way to make these restricts actual is to add shift flag. Or let's change it. Everyone made a decisions which seems unlogically some times ago. Mebbe it's time to make it properly?

Of cause, I'd like to listen for Neptune about this item. But... watch my message above.

[*Breeze*]

and the people currently using it with its current restrictions?

[Ertai]

and the people currently using it with its current restrictions?

The most of my arguments are about lack of logic in its restrictions. Also, most of casters has druid high in their classo, because of manaregen. So they don't even notice this fact.

As I've told, I may understand if it have av25 restrs, not ma + dr.

[*Neptune*]

Greetings.

First off, I must apologize for my lack of attention to the matter. I've had simply horrible
connectivity issues for the past month or so, and while I occasionally have been able to
pop in, I am usually either at work or my connection(s) is(are) dropping all the time.
This doesn't mean, however, that I am avoiding the response to your queries. As some
of you have found (I hope) I am more than wiling to address things as stipulations
allow.

There are several things I considered when constructing the yellow diamond necklace.
Since you were fond of emphasizing some sort of 'logic' element to your argument, let
us consider some things: 1.) It's a fantasy game and "real world" logic doesn't always
apply, 2.) The Pareto Principle sometimes applies to my decisions (aka "the general rule"
or the 80/20 rule), 3.) The occasional Occam's Razor slips into my mode of thinking at
the time for simplicity's sake in the context of completing theories and ideas that I have
at the time, 4.) The decisions that we make at character creation will ultimately affect
what avenues we can explore and at which times that we can explore them whether or
not we can apply this idea to experience, equipment, etc.; and that does not mean that
just because we find out, later down the line, the game should be modified in some sort
of way to account for the things that one may or may not have taken into consideration
earlier on in their experience levels, 5.) Newer options may become available for you in
the future that are comparable to what it is that you want to achieve in the game and
with your character, and all it requires is a bit of patience and due diligence in this
context, 6.) Sometimes elements of the game relate to other elements of the game,
area, storyline, theme, etc. rather than the players or characters themselves, 7.) The
frame of mind such that was eloquently expressed by Willy Wonka to Veruca Salt: "We
are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.", and finally 8.) I may not
always remember the 'whys' and 'why nots' to every single decisions that was made by
me or another immortal, and as such, there may not always be a reference point from
which to extrapolate that information (i.e. there may not be a reason at all).

I'll try to address each point that relates directly to the yellow diamond necklace and its creation:

Observe: -0.2 AC +7 Spell Bonus +15 Resist Electricity, Worn on Neck, 3x40 Restricts
requiring both Druid 40 and Mage 40, Loads on Epic Mob Xerxes in the Ruins of Gildebrüun
on the continent of Lyme.

1. The Pareto Principle (The general rule, the 80/20 rule)

As you pointed out, (what appears to be) "most of casters has druid high in their classo,
because of manaregen." Because of this, in creating areas with items and mobs for you
guys to hit, the yield other than purely experience is tailored, often, the existing player
base to account for needs and gaps in the equipment and class matrixes. While on the
surface, this seems pretty simple, it's actually fairly complex and gets even more complex
as we add more elements to the game. Furthermore, we cannot account for things that
haven't been addressed yet such as new areas and a future shift in the playerbase
concentrations. Therefore, at the time that area and its items were created, your
particular class order was not as much of a consideration because it fell outside of the 80%
(i.e. in trying to keep with the idea that we may or may provide instance of focus on the
80% of player types that are looking to achieve 20% of the possibilities.) (The numbers
aren't meant to be exact; It's the principle that's the important part here.)

2. Occam's Razor

In creating these areas and their elements, we always try to stay relatively consistent
with a few things. One of those things is consistent themes, both internal to the area
itself and within the context of the game itself. For example, Xerxes' thing is lightning,
and thus you have Resist Electricity. Likewiwse, it's Gildebruun's home, and because of
that (she being a mage and a witch) we add Spell Bonus to the necklace. Furthermore,
demons and devils are aberrations and therefore are best combated by their antitheses,
the druids who represent the natural forces that oppose Gildebruun's summonings. But
there are the considerations regarding theories and practices of game balance (or the
continual attempts thereof) when it comes to game elements such as (without going into
too much detail) AC for Shapeshift items. This is especially difficult when we consider the
attempts by the staff here at SlothMUD to create more areas that are friendly to the four
classes that we added in previous versions of the game, the types of players we have now
versus the types we had in the past, the continual attempts to provide new and otherwise
fresh content to the game, to give players a greater number of options in achieving their
goals and finding their own uniqueness while they are here. Furthermore, it is often the
theories and practices of each of those sort of things that compete with momentary ideas,
however fresh, that drives one to eventually consider the option with the least assumptions.
Now, I'm sure some of you are asking how all this relates to having Druid 40 restrictions to
the yellow diamond necklace. Well, such an item requires (again, without going into too
much detail) that it be a 3x40 item and a caster item. There are less assumptions to be
made by putting Druid there instead of Necro because, like bard, they have a duality and
clerics are primarily healers (plus we are short on cleric primes as of late). So, chances
are that most everything aformentioned (and likely a few other similar theories and
practices) came into play in making the decision there with putting Druid in place of any
of the other caster types.

3. Future Prospects

I have about twenty or so areas on the backburner that I have neglected to share with
you because I don't want to spoil any surprises. I am sure that the other immortals have
other ideas that they are trying to get to as well, and I won't speculate any further than
that on the matter. But know that it's always entirely possible that the types of
equipment may eventually show up. Also know that we DO listen and take into
advisement the request for changes and additions. Twenty years ago when we all were
20 years old, we all had much more time to spend trying to implement things. But we've
all got jobs and family that require more of our time, and our lives are far more
complicated than they used to be. So, in a nutshell, be patient. I'm working as fast as
I can, and I'm sure every other immortal is as well

4. Game Element Relationships

While much of what we do is for the player, keep in mind that it's not always about
you. We all have goals and aspirations that we are trying to achieve, too, and every
tiny piece of it, no matter how great or small, may be a part of that. In the context
of putting Druid as a requirement for the yellow diamond necklace, I draw your
attention to the Galavan theme on the island and how it permeates several areas
and storylines throughout the continent. If you are unfamiliar with the Galavan lore,
then I suggest you spend more time checking it out. (I'm not finished, either.) I'll
leave that there for right now, but know that things, old and new, may yet find a
common thread in the lore and history of this game and world.

5. Faulty Memory

As I said before, we are much older (and hopefully wiser) than we used to be when
we started all this, and I don't always recall things I was thinking two or three years
ago. But I will not gratify any reactionary response that because of this, it must be
the reason for anything. For all I know, the frame of mind related to things that are
no longer part of the game, or times with different directions. However, that is not
the case with the Ruins of Gildebruun. It's a relatively new area in context of the
World of Jord. Likewise, it may not be as easy as to say 'just go look through your old
emails' because I, like most relatively organized individuals, like to clear their email
accounts of the clutter every once in a while. Moreover, we're simply not willing to
keep an NSA sized database of every communication we've ever had related to the
game and its players. We all pick and choose, but then again, that is our prerogative.

---------------------------------

In response to the Sleeves of Dawnfire question: it was a group immortal staff
decision, if my memory recalls correctly, to put those restrictions on there, and
rightly so as that item has both Damage and Damage Reduction, the only one of
its kind that is not a drachma item. I believe that the restrictions were put on
there to try our best to try to restrict it to non-caster use without making it a
prime class piece of equipment, and at the same time requiring 4x40. This also
needed to fit within line of the Sandals of Speed restrictions and stats. Bard
requirements aren't actually part of the restrictions; the fourth class can be
any of the other classes for that item whereas the Sandals of Speed are Monk Prime.

-----------------------------------

I hope that helps. It generally not as simple as whatever anyone who wants to take a few
minutes to whip up a forum post may think. But then again, that would be fallacious,
as in an over-simplification of circumstances with which they are not involved. So often,
it easy to focus on the tip of our nose rather than the world beyond it. Let's not assume
that because we aren't seeing the logic or that we aren't exposed to the logic that there
isn't any logic at all that went into the decisions around here; in that context, let us note
Argumentum Ad Ignorantium: the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence
(i.e. "The most of my arguments are about lack of logic in its restrictions.")

Anyways, It may be long-winded, but you know what they say:

"Be careful what you ask for; you may get it."

-Neptune

[Ertai]

Neptune,

Thanks a lot for your full reply! Now separate pieces of this problem were assebled into a full picture. According to this point of view all became clear.

Also I'd like to add several words about the reason of my question: I really wanted to understand a logic of item's creation. (I'm not a munchkin to have problems with 'ahh, I can't wear my precious-s-s-s': if I had druid class higher, I might even don't notice if it has dr restricts or not.) And I'm really happy that I gained exactly this kind of reply.

Kind regards,
Ertai

<edit> Ah, yes. A small add-on: I'm not afraid of receiving answers to my question. </edit>

[Yasik]

Neptune just told you to shut up and deal with it, in short terms

[Ertai]

Neptune just told you to shut up and deal with it, in short terms

Thanks for your valuable comment. Now GTFO.
And next time read more mindfully.

Neptune's post answered all my questions. I've written above about it.

[Yasik]

My comment answered all your questions as well, just in shorter length

[*Splork*]

Neptune never answers questions with a big FU He may over-answer a question every now and again! hehe

He is our most level headed Administrator! Try asking that question to Breeze or myself and see what answer you get! JK!

[*juggleblood*]

Yeah, that was seriously the best answer I think I've read.