The reason why the GMs opened the pandora box now seems to be clear. Bug exploiters, rather than the usual farming bot suspects, have been using the St Patrick's Hat to flood the economy with tens of thousands of ales. In order to limit the damage to the economy and the game, the GMs - in good faith, to their credit - were obliged to stem the crisis by severely curtailing the use and transfer of green ales. I wonder, however, if this is a good solution, or the only solution. Our discussions reveal that any changes to green ales will likely be extremely controversial. Yet, anything short of an extremely controversial change is unlikely to remedy the bug exploitation issue. And here, we have an impasse.
I propose that we set aside the issue of green ales for the time being (ie no changes at all) until the skill balance patch/14.1 sets in when we'd have a clearer sense of how things stand. Instead, I propose that we address the bug exploitation issue directly by disabling the St Patrick's Hat completely. That will also achieve the effect of stopping any and all future supply of green ales into the economy. Perhaps in 2 months, green ales will be so scarce or the price so prohibitive that this issue will be rendered moot and we can all get along again. In order to compensate current St Patrick's Hat owners, I suggest that the GM's implement a Boxter for which they can use to exchange the hat for something of equivalent value (2000 hugel medals/previous kafra box hats/etc).
My impression is that no one will feel shafted this way but I'd be delighted to hear what the community and Hat owners think.
Edited by sexytime, 04 November 2011 - 09:38 AM.