Deschain:

With the price of figurines it seems like the number of people who would want to buy one for some quick karma to sanctify is probably low. There isn't a way to offer the esteem in the figurine without losing the figurine

Correct on both counts.

I'm just gonna drop a bunch of information you may or may not want here, just in case you or someone else finds it useful, ok? Ok.

Sanctify/defile will not destroy your figurine unless you use up the last of the esteem on it while doing so (it gets destroyed then, right? I've never risked it.) Offering, however, will always destroy it, unless you're one of those lucky ducks with a figurine rune.

As for how long it takes to fill a figurine up...a really freakin' long time. You can hold up to 500 units at a time personally, but a figurine can hold 10 flipping million. I'm pretty sure 10,000,000/500 = an eternity of grindy tears. It is such a ridiculously high ceiling that you will never have to worry about accidentally filling your figurine up to full capacity, so you only really need to carry the one (as opposed to carting around an entire generation of rockeaters worth of piercing needles at all times.)

If you wanted the exact numbers on all of this esteem business (though afraid I don't have anything on the karma side of things, if someone wanted to contribute that so I could make my notes more complete, hint hint), I copied a nice chunk of the stuff said on the forums about the details into a handy little .txt file when the change first went through, for personal reference.

A figurine can hold up to 10,000,000 esteem, and can have a maximum level of 40.

Every level of a figurine grants a 5% boost to the value of the esteem->essence conversion, with a maximum boost of +200%. The bonus starts from level two onwards (level 2, +10%. level 3, +15%. etc). The maximum essence that can ever be offered is 2,000,000,000 essence (offering a level 40 figurine with 10,000,000 esteem units is wasting 1,000,000,000 essence).

One unit of esteem correlates to 100 essence.

In order not to waste essence, either go for a max level figurine with 6,666,666 esteem units, or a level 20 figurine with max units.

You don't need a pedestal to sell esteem, that's mainly for shops. Depending on what you need the esteem for, I don't see why someone wouldn't buy the whole figurine, if you were willing to sell it. Hallifax for example would rather buy a figurine than have you transfer the esteem to one we already have in storage. Esteem sells for 10-15 gp per unit. Imbuing/sanctifiying/offering is the easiest way to get karma, in my opinion.

Deschain:

How consistently can you sell esteem? With the price of figurines it seems like the number of people who would want to buy one for some quick karma or to sanctify is probably low. There isn't a way to offer the esteem in the figurine without losing the figurine, is there?

I have made at least 10 million gold on esteem ever since the changes went in. (Around three-fourths of that went to buying credits and dingbats. Omnitrans here I come omnomnom).

Phoebus:

I'm just gonna drop a bunch of information you may or may not want here, just in case you or someone else finds it useful, ok? Ok.

Sanctify/defile will not destroy your figurine unless you use up the last of the esteem on it while doing so (it gets destroyed then, right? I've never risked it.) Offering, however, will always destroy it, unless you're one of those lucky ducks with a figurine rune.

As for how long it takes to fill a figurine up...a really freakin' long time. You can hold up to 500 units at a time personally, but a figurine can hold 10 flipping million. I'm pretty sure 10,000,000/500 = an eternity of grindy tears. It is such a ridiculously high ceiling that you will never have to worry about accidentally filling your figurine up to full capacity, so you only really need to carry the one (as opposed to carting around an entire generation of rockeaters worth of piercing needles at all times.)

If you wanted the exact numbers on all of this esteem business (though afraid I don't have anything on the karma side of things, if someone wanted to contribute that so I could make my notes more complete, hint hint), I copied a nice chunk of the stuff said on the forums about the details into a handy little .txt file when the change first went through, for personal reference.

First of all, awesome summary. Just one minor point that might need adding: That's sans-God-essence-boosting. You can get essence boosts through tattoos, god-realm size, that cult-power thing, and... anything else? Not sure.

Also keep in mind that if you level a figurine, it increases its lifespan significantly, I have a level 25 figurine that has an active lifespan of around 670 MONTHS (just under 2 IRL years), granted I'm probably going to offer it next week during an event I'm planning, but it is not out of the realm of possibility to cap out a figurine with time and patience.

Some of you may also find this interesting, if you don't watch reports. Comments (not included) talk about what to do with the figurine rune and some clarification. If you want to read 'em, log on and do REPORT 847 !

Report #847 Skillset: Influence Skill: Idols
Guild: Hartstone Status: Submitted May 2012
Problem: To cut down on needle-based server bloat, the new esteem system revolving around figurines
was created. However, the nature of the figurines mechanic makes it more expensive to offer
small(er) amounts of personal esteem at a shrine, as figurines used are destoryed. This also de-
personalizes what could be a very cool figurine/player/god interaction based around what Esteem
means. This report seeks to make esteem offering to a god easier and increase a missed facet of
order RP.

Solution #1: Create a new skill at the Inept level of Influence called 'Idols' that allows each
player to favor a figurine. This figurine then becomes their 'idol', a personal statuette that has
special value. No one else may offer from this figurine, or transfer esteem to or from it. This
figurine will not be destroyed when offered from. Favoring a figurine removes all essence and levels
from that figurine, as does favoring a different figurine, which may only be done once per
Lusternian Year. Idols should not decay, or should recover decay time when esteem is added to them.
Solution #2: As solution 1, but cause idols to not increase in level through battles. You may
transfer esteem from a idol to a normal figurine for offering (or sale) if you wish, with the normal
loss.
Solution #3: As solution 2, but make it so that you can transfer esteem to your idol for no loss.
Transfering away from the idol would still have equal loss. This is anticipatory for some other
minor bonus to offering from your idol.