Idea for change of Picks - IDEAS FOR RYZOM

As you can see from my recent post in General Forums (http://app.ryzom.com/app_forum/index.php?page=topic/view/17101/) the cheap tools for digging and crafting have been removed from the market. This will not effect some players for some time because we have stockpiles of the affected tools, but it will come up fairly quickly for new players who couldn't afford to do that, and in particular it will effect our digging.

The problem as stated above is that you cannot dig in a q250 *area* without a q250 (expensive) pick. This means that lower level players cannot help higher level players in a high level area without the expensive pick, and cannot level in those areas without the expensive pick.

I propose that the devs change that behavior as follows (this is all one idea to be implemented as a package).

1- Allow any level pick to dig in any level area but only to the q-value of that pick or the level of the digging stanza, whichever is lower.
2- Allow care-planning in any area with any level of pick that is higher than the level of the stanzas being used.

Note, that this does not allow you to use a cheap q50 pick to do level 200 max cp for a master digger; you have to get one that's as good as the stanzas you are using (just as you need a good amp to cast high level spells). It also does not mean that you can dig any high level mats with a cheap pick.

My personal feeling is that the tool prices are way the heck out of line and have been since the merge. I think that this idea would at least allow newer players to advance their skills in areas that make sense for their teachers to help them.

-- Bittty