So to sum up my previous post:
Tiki Tooki is doing a double duty of being a gold giving utility good (apealing to newbies) and a very powerfull "all-you'll-ever-need" god for vets (powerfull boons require heavy balancing, and specific rules).
There isn't a "starting out safety net" utility god, but there is need of one. A god which gave gold on blank boon buttons would be enought to satisfy the need, and this is probably the most common overall way people use the current TT. This is how I used him for the majority of the Beta, and so did probably most other people, judging by the fact that one of his "power" boons wasn't "discovered" publicly until recently.
TT is balanced to prevent abuse of his "powerfull" boons (aruably among the select few most rule-breaking boons in the game), and his restrictions are confucing and hard to deal with to the newbies. His balancing also makes him hard to play as your "only" god because of his severe punishment. Optimal usage of TT sort of demands a conversion into or out of, and in my expirience heavy use of the Pactmakers "Consensus" boon. The board community seems to have a consensus that the consensus is way too good, so the current TT relies on a way too good ability to deal with his balancing. Add to that the fact thet the Pactmaker takes a while to get unlocked.
So, to conclude this part, in order to acess the only goldmongering utility god, who's boons you take for the gold rather than the "proper" effect, people are forced to deal with the restrictions of one of the most if not the most powerfull god in the game. This has led me, for example, to wait untill I've finished the dungeon to pick up TT and grab all the boons I can in order not to screw my run up trying to get his gold. This is where I draw the "I'd still use him if his boons gave nothing but gold". This also led me to learn to save popcorn, only I was saving it for AFTER the boss, rather than during or before, for a long time. I believe this is the practice for most non-vets.
So, in addition to the need for a goldmongering utilty god, there is also need for a non-restrictive piety farm, if anything is to be gleaned from the fact that everybody and their grandmother seems to have been using the Pactmaker for consensus. We all knew it was too good, but we also had a need for it for some reason. Most gods there days are piety farms, but the way they farm piety mandates some of your gameplay, and consensus gave you a (flawedly instant) way to get some "no strings attached" piety out of nowhere.
I wouldn't mind having a way to "earn it" in a non-restrictive manner, without my casual piety farm having very powerfull boons like clearance, refreshment, mystic balance or stone heart attached.
Ok, now to explain why I sort of suggested a Tinker god. And why I'm not in love with that particular idea, but I feel like there probably should be one.
Most people who played the alpha used to worship the old Pactmaker. In every "recommended gods" part of a dungeon guide there was probably a clause "Pactmaker works too". He was too powerfull, yes, he was a newbie crutch, yes, but he was also incredibly non-restrictive. People didn't even use him optimally most of the time, but they were happy there was a god you could just worship whatever you were and not be affected negatively. If you managed to squeeze something out of him - great, if not, no harm done. Some of that functionality has been spread around (JJ rewards exloration, TT gives bonus XP per kill), but the main reason everybody worshiped Pactmaker was that they could get on with their game without having to worry about thier god.
What people are looking for for their initial "player friendly" god is ease of use and gold. The early game is also devoid of a lot of utility which makes the game run smoother. Once you unlock gods, however, you get exponentially more powerfull with the current god roster. If a god is usefull on his own, like Taurog, he creates guaranteed abilities where there were none before, making you many times more powerfull, but also dictationg your gameplay. And while this works out for powergames, it's not really the case for casual minded people, who would probably be happy to have a good which doesn't give too much, but doesn't force them into a particular playstyle.
Such a god wouldn't be attractive to pros unless the utility provided could really be usefull - they'd compare him to other gods, and valuing the "ease of use" part less, they'd find his boons lackluster. Powergamers motto is ussually "power at any cost", or "power I can trick the game into not making me pay for it". But even they could get mileage out of a gold per boon giving god, if he provided stuff that couldn't be found elsewhere, and some easy to acquire piety - or just a place to convert out of a more restrictive god.
So I listed stuff which I feel like I'd love to have more acess to in game rather then from the prep screen, and those things are:
- A compression scroll = a generic inventory management boon. Compression scroll is such an importan part of gameplay that having to unlock it, and not being able to acess it any other way, has me prepping it all the time. If it was available through a boon, I'd feel very happy as a player when I did unlock it, because I'd gain a way to start out with something I had to worship for before, and unlocking the alchemist in this regard would allow me to explore other gods with more ease, removing my newbie crutch in this regard.
- Miner Bombs = a specific wall destruction boon, because I'd feel less obliged to prep a tinker or a transmutation scroll if I wanted to explore / reach a walled off subdungeon. People are at the mercy of the RNG or foresight about those right now, and the cramped dungeons with long hallways could use a way to "earn" your one time wall destruction as opposed to having to play/prep binlor.
- Sensation Stone = making it obtainable in a way other than having to kill the troll and then locker and relocker it would really be sweet. It would be something to try for, it's not too powerfull the way it works now, and the price of lockering a consumable item in the current economy, pre PQI, is a bit too steep. Then, when you kill the troll, you'd get something you can put a mental price tag on, a high one, and know you've been rewarded really well.
Other things which could work and are under represented:
- Rewarding equal lvl monster kills - either asa way to gain piety, or togather with a Tiki's Edge like boon for Equal lvl Monster kills. People would be taking his boons for the gold anyway, and this effect is only represented by the Balanced Dagger, which has only really worked in Gaan'Telet for me. If a god rewarded me with piety (and gave me gold for piety), then yes, I'd be happy to do it.
- Spawning a subdungeon - could be an alternative big piety boon. Would probably be too powerful / hard to code, and very "tinker like", but that's one bigass reward that would really be worth it. If he spawned a walled-off one (from any list) you could use it to give "previews" and give the players reasons to go looking for it then
- Rewarding picking up stuff - either from the shops or from the ground. Somebody suggested it for TT.
- Fixed small XP bonus bonus - used to be a "consolation" one for the old pactmaker. Could be used to set up level catapults.
- Selling potions - could steer players away from relying on copious potion use, as well as a reason to play Halflings and Gnomes (would need tuning to avoid pure goldfarming runs). Could also entice the playes to try to beat bosses while saving as many potions as possible so they can sell them "after the fight". Would need a steep piety cost (and increese) to avoid overusing it. Tricky but worth thinking about.
Most of these are just suggestion, apart from the "Gold per boon" principle. It could be a 5 gold per boon, as long as the rest of the package didn't iclude balancing for poison and dodgestep potions. The "pay gold for piety" is only busted if you pay the gold for poison or the potions, not utility. TT would be better served with a "pay for XP" boon which would allow more ease in early worship, especially if his gold-per-boon stuff was moved where it belonged (and toned down, ofc).