You've got mail!

[Avaia]

Nothing posted on the Officials yet, but there was this on Discord -

Auchand — Today at 10:11 PM
The mail system is on the Test instance and I've set up a mailroom in Icemule Trace for testing. I'm not sure if Test is active right now, but I'd like to get some eyes on this before it goes live live.

[Winter]

Wow that's fantastic, I thought it was permanently put on the back burner.

[LOL BRIELUS]

Cool, auchand also does icemule events right?

[Neveragain]

Nothing posted on the Officials yet, but there was this on Discord -

Auchand — Today at 10:11 PM
The mail system is on the Test instance and I've set up a mailroom in Icemule Trace for testing. I'm not sure if Test is active right now, but I'd like to get some eyes on this before it goes live live.

I'm curious if this code is derived from the old mail worms. I was always suspect that the worms were a test run on an in game mail system.

Very positive game improvement none the less.

[Idalias]

There is also going to be a Collect on Delivery feature for sending mail/items, which will be hugely helpful for merchanting.

[gilchristr]

This is an example of the obvious shit thats good to work on.

[Avaia]

And there is the announcement - http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/GemStone%20IV%20Announcements/Important%20Announcements/view/3935

[Methais]

Someone sent me this clip earlier, I'm assuming from the test server:


Estimated costs for shipping a pitch-sealed spruce package are as follows:
Standard Mail: 10,600 silvers
Express Mail: 21,200 silvers
First Class Mail: 42,400 silvers

Shipping rates are subject to change based on total parcel weight.

The package has a first class stamp on it and, if shipped at its current weight, would cost 42,400 silvers.

[beldannon5]

Could be spendy

[Berost]

Could be spendy

Ah, good ole eBay days .... "Buyer pays shipping."

GS bringing back the classics, love it! :D

[mgoddess]

Went to try and test this on the Test server... and none of my "GET" actions are working, so not able to buy the things needed, and then fumble with stuff enough to actually test it. Anyone else having GET problems on the Test server?

[Methais]

The stamp system seems kinda stupid if it's going to be more inventory bullshit to deal with. Should just let people pay the shipping fee and be done with it.

Stamps are technically OOC anyway, not that anyone cares, including me. But I'd still rather have less inventory to deal with instead of more.

[Rinualdo]

they may go away


Auchand — Today at 1:24 PMI may look at removing requirements for packaging and stamping your own mail eventually, but not this month.
[1:24 PM]
FOR NOW YOU CAN RP LIKE THE REST OF US.

[Methais]

Auchand — Today at 1:24 PMI may look at removing requirements for packaging and stamping your own mail eventually, but not this month.
[1:24 PM]
FOR NOW YOU CAN RP LIKE THE REST OF US.

I wonder what the proper way is to RP being at the post office and buying postage stamps...

[Tgo01]

I wonder what the proper way is to RP being at the post office and buying postage stamps...

Complain about the long lines and saying "Back in my day the price of a stamp was only 5k silvers!"

[Methais]

Complain about the long lines and saying "Back in my day the price of a stamp was only 5k silvers!"

You also see a wall with drawings of various people with a banner at the top that says MOST WANTED!

[Methais]

https://gswiki.play.net/Mail_system



The mail system, spearheaded by GameMaster Auchand, was activated on the Test server on September 27, 2021. Things are changing rapidly and may not be accurate on this page. Please feel free to edit and update any changes. Once the system is released on Prime or Platinum, please remove this warning.

Summary
In order to mail something you need a stamp and either an envelope or a package. There is a cost for the stamp, for the envelope or package, and a per pound cost. There is also a tax on COD deliveries that the sender pays.

Stamps
Stamps are a separate purchase. They control the cost and speed. You can purchase Standard (taupe, 60 minute delivery), Express (light pink, 20 minute delivery), and First Class (mint green, immediate delivery) stamps.

>look stampbook
The stampbook is a stampbook holding 10 first class stamps. First class mail arrives very swiftly, but is expensive.

You can PULL the stampbook to produce a small mint green stamp.
The choice was made to have stamps in order to set the speed of the delivery, cost of delivery, and also to make the commands less unwieldy to use.

Envelope
Package
Signets and Wax
At this time, the mail system does not work with existing stationery, signets, and waxes. You must buy them separately. A work around, however, is to use all of your existing stationery pieces and place them into a package.

When using the official mail system wax, you will see the below messaging.

>put wax on package
After placing your black and gold wax on your burlap-covered package, you press your steel signet ring into the wax. Heat blossoms momentarily over the surface of your ring and it presses into the softened wax, leaving behind a seal.
You have 9 pieces left of your wax.

>look package
A thick burlap-covered package is a parcel meant for sending items to other adventurers.

A blob of black and gold wax is affixed to the package. It is imprinted with a seal depicting a whiny airship owner.
COD
You cannot mail a package with a negative delivery amount.

>mail send arianiss cod -50000
You must specify a payment-on-delivery amount that is greater than zero.
If someone does not accept the package, you can use MAIL RETRIEVE.
There is a 2% tax for COD deliveries. The sender pays this.
The maximum amount for COD is 250 million silvers.
Steps
Visit the post office one west of Town Center in Icemule Trace to test.

Buy a stampbook. PULL a stamp from the stampbook.
Buy a package.
Put a stamp on the package.
Put something in the package.
Close the package.
Send.
Commands
Insert pretty list of commands used here bulleted with VERB
VERB NAME - example of what it does
MAIL
Note: Once live, this will need to be created on its own page and can be transcluded in.

Usage:

MAIL CHECK - checks your received mail
MAIL COLLECT {stamp #} - collects an parcel mailed to you
MAIL DND {on|off} - toggles do not disturb on or off
MAIL RETRIEVE {stamp #} - retrieves a sent parcel that the recipient has not picked up
MAIL ESTIMATE {item} - estimates the cost of sending the designated item
MAIL REJECT {stamp #} - returns a mail item to its sender
MAIL SEND {name} - send the item in your hands (prioritizing right)
to the designated person's mailbox
MAIL SEND {name} COD {amount} - sends mail, requests payment on delivery
MAIL STATUS - checks the status of your sent mail
MAIL COLLECT
This defaults to the top item when used alone.

MAIL DND
>mail dnd on
You are now rejecting all mail sent to you.
MAIL RETRIEVE
You will lose all associated costs for stamp and shipping if you retrieve a parcel before the receiver picks it up.

Costs
Envelopes: base 300/600/2400 silvers
Packages: base 800/1600/4800 silvers
Per pound: 25/50/200 silvers
Stamps (20): 2500/5000/10000 silvers
Messaging
>put parch in env
You put a snow white parchment in your frost blue envelope.

>close enve
You close a mule-printed frost blue envelope.

>put stamp on enve
You pull an individual stamp out of the stampbook to place on the envelope.
You neatly place a small mint green stamp on the front of a mule-printed frost blue envelope.

>mail send paidreg
You inquire with a mail clerk about sending a mule-printed frost blue envelope to Paidreg. They say, "Sending the envelope to Paidreg will cost 5,000 silvers based on its weight and priority."

If you're certain you'd like to send a mule-printed frost blue envelope to Paidreg, enter MAIL SEND PAIDREG again within 30 seconds.

>mail send paidreg
The mail clerk takes a mule-printed frost blue envelope from you, along with 5,000 silvers. They say, "We'll make certain to get this safely to Paidreg. Don't you worry!" The clerk places the envelope atop a pile of other parcels.

>mail status
You hail down a mail clerk and ask for the status of parcels that you have sent. Capably perusing a small ledger, they say, "Ah, yes. Here you go." They place the ledger before you.

Stamp # Sender Parcel Status
--------------- ----------------------------------------------- -----------------
512100001 Paidreg a mule-printed frost blue envelope ready for pickup
A courier hurries over to you and says, "I heard the post office might have a package inbound for you. You may want to check and see if it's been delivered yet."

[Northern Post, Mail Room]
Framed by windows of frosted glass, the front door of the post office allows wintry air to cut through the warmth of the close room. Beeswax candles sit along the window sills, but they lend more light than heat and perfume the air gently with their honeyed smell. The real heat source is a blazing coal stove behind the polished pine counter, behind which stands a perfunctory-looking giantman mail clerk.
Obvious exits: east, out

>mail check
You hail down a mail clerk and ask if you have any parcels available for pickup. After a brief search, they return to you and say, "Ah, yes. It appears that you've got mail."

Stamp # Sender Parcel Sent
--------------- ----------------------------------------------- -------------------
512100001 Auchand a mule-printed frost blue envelope within the last day

>mail collect 512100001
You inquire with a mail clerk about picking up a parcel. They disappear for a little while before returning with a mule-printed frost blue envelope, which they hand to you.

>open enve
You tear open your frost blue envelope and pull a snow white parchment from within.

>read parch


A snow white parchment is blank.
FAQ/Comments
This should be codified into the actual article once the system is live. Transferring these via Template:Saved-discord-post to the Mail system/saved_posts page may also be appropriate depending on what is kept for the live system and what is not.

Now that the system is ready to go, I'll probably work on a system where we can send mail to players on login, yes. - GM Auchand
The mail system is on the Test instance and I've set up a mailroom in Icemule Trace for testing. I'm not sure if Test is active right now, but I'd like to get some eyes on this before it goes live live. - GM Auchand This is one west of Town Center
Recipients can be offline at the time of sending. - GM Auchand
Players looking to have an extra locker will be disappointed. Mailboxes aren't big. GM Auchand
Right now, the stamp ID system allows 999,999 letters to be sent a year. If it seems like the volume's going to be higher than that, I'll have to make a tweak there. GM Auchand
So anything you can put into a box, you can send. GM Auchand
Players can have 25 parcels waiting for them before the mail system starts rejecting parcels. GM Auchand
Packages can be reused, although I'll probably make them break down over time before release. Envelopes cannot. GM Auchand
All of the towns will have post offices eventually, but I asked Town GMs to at least get both sides of the Dragonspine covered for immediate release. GM Auchand
I plan to sell collectible stamps! And stamps control the shipping cost and speed.GM Auchand
Right now it's going silvers > notes > MH > WL > IMT > SH > TI/TV > Teras > RR > Cysaegir > ZL. GM Auchand
I could potentially add an ignore list in the future. GM Auchand
I'll be paying attention to how cluttered the mail tables get. If they do start getting awkwardly large, I'll probably clear things out after a month so they can't be retrieved. Or rejected. GM Auchand
Do existing stationery sets work with the mail system?
They are not yet. You can put stationery stuff into packages to send them. But... the waxes and signets are their own deal right now. My codeload (I coined it, don't judge me!) is a little heavy right now, so it'll be a bit before any back-conversion gets done. GM Auchand
Will there be mass mail?
No. Any mass mail is probably going to come from GMs. Like, let's say a GM wants to send a reward to every citizen of IMT that logs in over the next month. That'd be pretty easy to do. GM Auchand
Why don't you use an items value instead of its weight?
If I had my druthers, an item's value would be charged against rather than its weight, but values are wildly unreliable. GM Auchand
The 'value' of an item as we track it is all over the place. Otherwise I'd just slap a very low % surcharge on value of all items sent and call it good.GM Auchand
Why do we have to pay a tax on COD? Why is it the value it is?
Player shops charge a 4% tax. Not to mention rent and all that! GM Auchand



After skimming through this I find myself asking wtf is the point and who is going to use this? :lol:

[Tgo01]

https://gswiki.play.net/Mail_system

After skimming through this I find myself asking wtf is the point and who is going to use this? :lol:

So if I’m understanding this right if I want COD of 10 million silvers I have to pay 200k tax on this? This is in addition to the ~20k for the stamps and envelopes and package fee?

This sounds way too complicated. Why couldn’t it just be a simple system of sending mail and packages and receiving money on delivery if wanted?

[Neveragain]

https://gswiki.play.net/Mail_system






After skimming through this I find myself asking wtf is the point and who is going to use this? :lol:

Why such a giant cluster fuck?

Just put a fucking mailbox in front of the inns and banks.

[Gelston]

Why such a giant cluster fuck?

Just put a fucking mailbox in front of the inns and banks.

What cluster fuck? Just mail collect and you get your mail.

[dzulthu]

I don't have a Premium account, so I'd be down for using this to send shit for service work on items and what not. Also to not have to deal with the hassle of trying to track people down when I sell stuff.

Does seem needlessly complicated, though.

[Tgo01]

I really thought this was going to be like some Harry Potter shit where a magical owl delivered the mail right to you. I guess going to a Post Office isn't that big of a deal, just seems like an unnecessary hassle along with all of the stamps and envelopes and price going up based on item weight and taxes and fees.

[rolfard]

Why not just send a note worth 10m for the cost of shipping something one pound?

[Winter]

Also to not have to deal with the hassle of trying to track people down when I sell stuff.

This is the number 1 reason why I bought a shop instead of selling on the boards, it's going to simplify things for people who only have a few items to sell, huge thumbs up from me.

[Tgo01]

Why not just send a note worth 10m for the cost of shipping something one pound?

Assuming they allow notes to be sent this is probably what people are going to do, which is going to destroy the whole point of COD which makes me question why even tax COD in the first place?

[gilchristr]

Fuck, it looks stupid with postage, taxes, lines, inventory. God damnit, its like he tried to crudely model the shitty partys of real life instead of good game design

He modeled COD, you know what that is, that is OCD!

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

After skimming through this I find myself asking wtf is the point and who is going to use this? :lol:

Maybe the intent is to reduce people from interacting with other people in the game?

[Tgo01]

Maybe the intent is to reduce people from interacting with other people in the game?

The invoker would like to have a word with you.

[Methais]

Fuck, it looks stupid with postage, taxes, lines, inventory. God damnit, its like he tried to crudely model the shitty partys of real life instead of good game design

He modeled COD, you know what that is, that is OCD!

THINK OF THE IMMERSION FROM ALL THE REALISM THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[Methais]

Maybe the intent is to reduce people from interacting with other people in the game?

Judging by what Estild and Naijin want to do to the game, perhaps the intent is to reduce people from interacting with other people in the game via there being nobody playing this convoluted shitfest anymore.

[Xred]

The level of GM autism - again - has gone beyond my expectations. Stamp collecting, really? What’s next, weather and train memorization? Can they just finish ascension and profession reviews?

[Methais]

The level of GM autism - again - has gone beyond my expectations. Stamp collecting, really? What’s next, weather and train memorization? Can they just finish ascension and profession reviews?

:lol:

Here’s how the mail system should work:



>mail item to Bob

You hand your item to the clerk who says, “We’ll get this to Bob right away!”




That is all.

[Taernath]

Really Simu, stamps? Let's put a 10 minute RT in there to simulate waiting in line. I guess everything made now needs a hook for future monetization.

https://i.imgur.com/sUGcSSK.jpg

[Alashir]

Really Simu, stamps? Let's put a 10 minute RT in there to simulate waiting in line. I guess everything made now needs a hook for future monetization.

https://i.imgur.com/sUGcSSK.jpg

I'm surprised it doesn't piggyback off locker moving which I thought seemed similar.

[bluecenterlight]

I'm surprised it doesn't piggyback off locker moving which I thought seemed similar.

I wish there was a system that at least played off of silver sinks like this.

E.g. a shop with alot of transactions/business expands and adds an upstairs or crazy nice service/uniforms/decor, while the same kind of shop in another town that sees hardly no business, reflects that... e.g. a shack with some junk in a crate

[Neveragain]

I'm surprised it doesn't piggyback off locker moving which I thought seemed similar.

After thinking about it for a bit yesterday, I came to the same conclusion. Just add a mail box to the locker rooms.

[Neveragain]

I guess everything made now needs a hook for future monetization.

https://i.imgur.com/sUGcSSK.jpg

It does have that lingering smell of monetization.

[drumpel]

Looks overly complicated. So, it'll just be another waste of time on a system that I won't make use of.

[hamsquatch]

We can teleport across vast distances, make swords shoot plasma, and we still have to buy stamps

[mgoddess]

We can teleport across vast distances, make swords shoot plasma, and we still have to buy stamps

But do we shoot fireballs from our eyes and bolts of lightning from our arses?

[hamsquatch]

But do we shoot fireballs from our eyes and bolts of lightning from our arses?

That depends, is it taco night at Old Country Buffet?

[mgoddess]

That depends, is it taco night at Old Country Buffet?

https://i.imgflip.com/1ey2y9.jpg

[drumpel]

But do we shoot fireballs from our eyes and bolts of lightning from our arses?


Only William Wallace was capable of those things, anyone else that says they can is a liar.