[Suggestion] Collector Rank, either as an addition or replacement to Completion %.

[Own]

Collector Rank: A mechanic to judge you as a collector overall. Also a better judgement of how well you're doing than the 'Completion %' in the main menu. You start off at low points with a Collector Board somewhere in the Collector HQ displaying the overall rankings. So something like, on a small scale...

Charlotte - 10,000 points, Goddess Rank.
Ivy - 9,000 points, Season Rank.
Marino - 8,000 points, Essence Rank. (Paid to win)
Luke - 5,000 points, Card Rank. (Endlessly grinding)
Biggs - 1,000 points, Sword Rank.
Wedge - 500 points, Shield Rank.
You - 100 points, Rabby Rank.

Whenever you ascend a rank and overthrow a rank holder, they're moved to the rank beneath you and talking to the previous holder forces them to relinquish their rank prize to you. Or you just get it automatically by inspecting the board at the HQ. Luke might relinquish his Berserker Badge, which adds a lot of melee damage but dramatically reduces EP. Marino might relinquish his Coinpurse, an accessory which makes enemies drop more gold or non-rare items.

So how would you gain rank as a Collector? Undertaking various tasks that boost your standing in the guild as a Collector. Every treasure chest looted might add 10 points, every card obtained might add 100 points. Every treasure map loot unearthed would provide 25 points, while doing sidequests for various NPCs would add 50 points.

'Clearing' a dungeon could add 500 points. Which would involve clearing every room of enemies, turning the room from blue bordered to gold bordered on the minimap (assuming SoG ever does get a Zelda / Castlevania / Metroid-esque minimap system for dungeons). Maybe obtaining every chest in the dungeon as well, or getting every item drop from all enemies within it.

Beating rival collectors, assuming dueling your fellow collectors is still a thing, could lower their overall points and increase yours for the first time they're defeated. Of course you would probably only be able to duel the one directly above you and all under you, so you couldn't just challenge the top dog ASAP.

As usual, I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but it would give the player a sense of progression within the HQ, how they stand among all the collectors of past and present. Sort of like FF8's SeeD ranking.

 

[GarlicJelly]

I think we've talked a little about this before but I don't remember any full threads about it. I really like this idea and I would LOVE to have some more interaction with the guild than just using their facilities to re-fight bosses or talk to my dad, when he's around. I also think that beating the arena challanges should give you some points and completing the achievements should also reward you with some collector points.

 

[Fred]

Way back when, in the early stages of the game, this was THE system I wanted in the game. I've kinda forgot about it lately but this thread sparked its slumber!

My vision was pretty similar to yours. You would increase in rank by doing tasks, like clearing dungeons and side quests, collecting rare items and so on. Whenever you would raise in rank, new parts of the HQ would be available to the players where only more seasoned Collectors could enter. Here's just a rough example pulled entirely out of my ass:

Iron Rank: You are only allowed in the main hall, maybe the lab so you can go chat with your paps!
Copper Rank: The Memory Room becomes available.
Bronze Rank: The Museum becomes available. Here you could look at some rare loot achieved by the HQ over the years and read cool lore about ancient monsters and legendary Collectors.
Silver Rank: The Battle Room becomes available. Here you can fight other Collectors in duels (which is another dream of mine I've talked about before) and perhaps spawn random enemies to practice perfect guarding or whatever on!
Gold Rank: Living Quarters becomes available. You would be granted a small apartment used for Housing. This is an old idea we had, back before you would buy an actual house in Evergrind to use for housing. Perhaps you could do both, and the area in the HQ is just way smaller (college style)!
Platinum Rank: I dunno, some kick ass treasure room filled with legendary rare items on display!

Like I said, the pecking order of the rooms and even the rooms themselves aren't fully thought through, but hopefully you understand the core idea. You could probably come up with a ton more ranks as well and squeeze in some less "important" rooms while still keeping the sense of progression.
On top of that, people within the HQ would change towards you the more ranks you gained. Simple dialogue changes and perhaps even some side quests only available once you're a certain rank.

I'm also thinking that just playing through the main story of the game would yield enough ranks to unlock most of the rooms. To gain the higher ranks though players would have to do a lot of side quests and collecting on the side. To reach the absolute highest rank you maybe even have to 100% the game, I think that would be a cool touch (paired with a really dope reward/room of course)!

What I like about this is that it's not just a "here you go, another item"-system. Instead you get rewarded by being able to explore more of the HQ, which I think a lot of players would enjoy. I mean, in the end most rooms would lead to more items (duuuh, it's Grindea we're talking about here!) but I still think it's a nice change of pace.

All that being said, last time we talked about this we decided to put in on ice for the time being. The added work, as always, being the main reason. I don't think Teddy was the biggest fan of the idea either, but I can't remember the reasoning.

I still really, really like this idea though. Be it in the form I've rambled on about or something more similar to your suggestion. Or even a combination of both! Hopefully I can convince my ferret companies down the road that adding a Collector Rank system in some shape or form will increase sales by at least 10 folds!

 

[Own]

Hopefully I can convince my ferret companies down the road that adding a Collector Rank system in some shape or form will increase sales by at least 10 folds!

If you need an anecdote, Trails in the Sky has a Bracer Rank system. You complete sidequests and you choose actions in sidequests that determine how many Bracer Guild Points you receive when turning it in at the guild for your reward. Every time you rank up in points you get something new and cool.

People go out of their way to do every single sidequest possible ASAP just to go up a Bracer Rank in that game.

Side-quests become a bit more appealing when they go from "Eh, something I'll spend 10 minutes doing that rewards me with something I'll find a better version of in 30 minutes" to "Swag AND I rank up at the guild? Hell yeah!".

 

[GarlicJelly]

SWAG?! HELL YEAH! XD
I wouldn't mind a combination of Fred's and Own's suggestions. Gaining access to more rooms in the HQ and also recieve items inbetween sounds super awesome! Maybe you could get one or two of those seeds I've been hearing about?

 

[KoBeWi]

New content is always a good reward. I mean new stuff to explore or defeat not some random "super" items.
How about a sealed chamber deep below HQ? An ancient beast is locked up there and every collector fears of it. But you can break into there and challenge it (of course you need access to this area). Also some hidden mini dungeons etc., HQ may hide many secrets

 

[Own]

If you want more room ideas:

The Room of Knowledge - The secret vaults beneath the Collector's HQ, filled with ancient texts from Collector's long ago. Interacting with things in here will add new recipes to the player's crafting list, potentially as well as new reward achievements?

The Apothecary's Room - A room filled with strange alchemical equipment. Here the player can put various monster drops into a cauldron and brew them in the hopes of obtaining a potion. Potions, unlike equipment crafting, are done purely blind by mixing different items together for a reaction. You can maybe view potion recipes by reading the description of certain pieces of equipment, inspecting bookshelves or being hinted at by NPCs?

Ex: Reading on a grave, "I was a condemned alchemist, who thought of a way to prolong fate with his last meal. A taste of essence of spring glazed over poultry, covered with slices of orange. Alas, if only I could have gotten it in a bottle." [Hidden recipe: Cauldron + Honey + Turkey + Carrot = Potion of Vitality, current and max HP multiplied by # for # minutes. Both reduced by # when it wears off.]

Mixing together ingredients that have no set recipe could result in sludge. [-# HP when drinking it]

Maybe potion brewing would be best for your home, though, or you unlock the cauldron in the HQ and one to put in your home, if you have one.

I do like the idea of rooms better than items.

 

[KoBeWi]

So this turned into HQ room suggestion topic?

Alchemist Forge
Bring back old and rusty artifacts to they former glory.

Oracle Orb Room
This mysterious item will allow you to trace progress of your adventure. It will tell you if there are any treasures/items/enemies/places you haven't discovered (like you missed one chest in dungeon X, but it won't tell where exactly). Useful for 100% runs.

Old Library
Room filled with ancient lore from old times. If you are lucky, you can discover Grindea's secrets in some books (hints to hidden places etc.)

Teleport Plate Chamber
It links HQ with various temples and ruins explored by former collectors. Most of them are already collapsed, but maybe there is some loot others missed?

 

[GarlicJelly]

When I think of the rooms I see them as "big" rewards that you gain when you reach every 5 rank or so. I'm imagining a list of maybe 1-50 ranks where ever 5th rank rewards you with a new room access and all the other ranks inbetween rewards the player with an item. To come up with 40 items to have as rewards for this system might be a but too much but it would be really awesome.

Ideas for other HQ rooms:
New Archery room where you have more challanges that involves the bow. Maybe an obstacle course with traps shooting arrows towards you and the goal is to shoot all the arrow traps to deactivate them while also avoid getting hit. Maybe you could have a challange that tests your speed so a target flies across the screen and every time you hit it it goes faster and if you miss you lose.

Puzzle room? More fun puzzles to do! Maybe a challange mode where you get a timer of X minutes and you have to solve as many puzzles as you can within the time limit. (Maybe this could be a steam workshop thing in the future so people can make their own puzzles and add them to the game)