Magical gem will work best, if the total amount of gems influx is about equal for each type. This is clearly not given due to IG politics.
At the moment the situation is the best for Cadomyr and worst for Galmair from the point of view of a character.
Why?
Since Bras 44 (46 IG month) the output for a rank 2 character was 222:191:154. A single Cadomyrian got over the last year about one and a half the amount of gems compared to Galmair.
Taking out the donation raids the distribution is 107:55:148.
That's ok because it shows the wealth of each realm. Any inbalance can be changed by IG driven politics such as donation raids. See Runewick what was 2 month ago far behind Galmair.
But at the end the distribution is critically unbalanced. The total influx of Cadomyrian gems is marginal, since there are a few chars only playing in Cadomyr. On the other end is Galmair, having a lot of player and moderate influx.
The situation get worse with the fact, Obsidian is the favorite Galmairian gem and additionally found at the most common gathering (mining). According to my records total obsidian influx is 2.5 times higher as sappire (246:105 over 1IG year). The influx by mining is about the same range as sappire influx by taxes.
At the end a lot of Galmairians have no chance to use his/her earned gems whilst the few Cadomyrian have all chances.
The fact who plays in which realm mostly is controlled by RP opportunities. IG politics have much more influence than any number of gems, a char can grind or coins a char can earn. But controlling the politics is not the task of game balancing.
My Proposals
So for the physical game balancing we need a mechanics, allowing a uniform influx of every type of gems independently from IG politics.
- Calculating the number of gems based on taxes shouldn’t be touched. The total amount is neither too few nor too high from my point of view.
- The balance in between the realms is ok and can be influenced by the player.
- The probability finding a gem during mining and fighting shouldn’t be touched. The discussion in past showed this is a lottery what it should be.
- The assignment of gem types to the realms shouldn’t be touched. This is a question of Lore.
- 1. It seems there is an unbalance in the output of gem types in a realm according to taxes of 60:40 or even worse. I had month where a rank 7 character got more than 10 of the favorite and none of the second. This distribution should be 50:50.
- 2. We can change the type of gem, found with monsters, treasures and gathering. The best way would be to bind the type of gem to the emission rate last month.
Since is not easy to realize a second best way could help to avoid the effect some gems become worthless due to gathering. Let’s find the miner, timber, herb collector, fighter … a random type gem. - 3. There should be a way to convert gems. Maybe 3 gems of one type can be converted into 2 gems of other types. So whatever unbalance we will have, the player can compensate.
This might be a task for Raban, gives him a touch of a sorcerer or a dragon NPC in the deep of the volcano.