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I just had this thought, and wanted to jot it down, from other games I have played one thing has been clear, the most vibrant economies and pvp and player interaction come from those games with item loss, and death that really counts, and this for a lot of casual gamers seems to be the sticking point , they play casually they dont want to lose the thing they got already, or have to go get a new one.
What if we could have it both ways, what if when you die you lose everything you have equipped, lost armour, lost weapons, the guy kills you or knocks you out and nicks all your kit, at this point most casuals would be like OMG!!. while a hardcore player would be thinking right just need to go back to that place where that mob is and bash him in again.
Now consider what it is in all honesty about the item you just lost that you hate the most, its the stats, nothign more, for some people possibly the apperence, now think about the following scenario.
You just gained the Sword of Epic Doom, with +1000 to all damage, an Item that you really do not want to lose, so an item that heads right for the bank until utterly no other option is available to you but to use it, ok scrap that part, you just got the sword, and you visit a city, in which is a magical sword master, you give him the sword, and a fee, he researches the sword and takes note of all of its magical qualities, this of course costs more money based on item quality.
So you then head out into the world with your new sword, everything is going well, and until, eventually , and inevetibly you die, and some one loots your body, they get a broken version of your gear with less stats but still possibly better than what they themselves had already.
Spawn get your body back, and head to the city where the scribe is, before going to him you find a sword (player) crafter, you ask him for a level 60 long sword, as this was the base type of the one you lost, sadly the sword smith does not know how to make that but he can make a short sword, and has a friend who can make the long sword later, you take the short sword, to the scribe, he explains to you that because this sword is not the same base as the original the stats will be reduced to fit the sword, and then asks you for a small fee to enscribe the sword, which you pay.
You now have a Small Sword of Epic Doom, not as good as the long sword but still epic as hell , you play for a few hours with this sword and eventually head back to the city where you meet the sword smith who can make the long sword you want, you buy it from him and take it to the scribe, who again for a price does his thing and turns it into your Epic Sword the original you lost hours before.
This system comes with a hitch, the scribe can only remember one items stats at a time, and there would be a scribe for each armour type or wep, enough for you to secure most of your equipment at a cost, and each set of stats on scribing become unique so you cant just scribe tons of swords and duel wield it will only let you wield it once, they also become blocked from trade.
So now we have a system much like insurence, but it rewards and makes the games crafters a vital part of the game, and economy, with the auction house filled with item blanks for all levels which people then either use at their base stats or have scribed with their epic drops from raids.
And it rewards those who kill in PVP gives them loot, not as good as the original as its now broken and with a stat reduction tuned to fit, but they still get something, they can use if its better than their original item, or sell if its not.
I really cant see a draw back to this, when considering that MMO's are supposed to feel like living worlds filled with people who need to at some point intereact, even if its just to say, hay can I buy a sword.