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Skill depreciation

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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (7:57 am)

GETAWAY2 wrote:While I think it was a very creative solution to the problem of characters getting too big and having nothing that teaches them. I don't think it is the right one.


No, no. This was not a solution to characters getting too big and having nothing to teach them. Not at all. We released this to make skill development rewarding and challenging. While previously anyone could master almost any skill and then move onto the next to rape it's XP value and become a grand master of everything, it should be extremely challenging to do that now. Surely, someone could do so with enough dedication, but nobody can lazily swim through their skills and yawn at everything they need to do with them.

This isn't about character class advancement, but skill advancement and protection of the value of skills. How many of you are known for being the best at something?


GETAWAY2 wrote:Perhaps less experience gained.. longer wait times on mind drain that would force more interaction instead of taking away from it. I agree with the concept of making things more difficult. Though I like it the way it is now it is unrealistic we should, as youngins, get to be in the same hunting ground as the oldtimers and hold our own within weeks. I am not one to make threats, nor am I going to start now. I will not be logging in any character that I care about til I see the effects for myself. Please, let's not continue with threats and demands. Let's work together to see if this solution is viable or if ,perhaps, we can find a better solution. If you think outside your knee-jerk anger you will know that Exxy and staff have always tried to be fair in everything and make the players happy. Thank you for your time in reading.


I agree. And if the only happy solution is to rip the whole thing back out and go for a different solution, then I'll do that. This is the best we have that tackles all the problems and with a few tweaks, it should be very managable from your end. I am, of course, open to and hopefully will hear some ideas rather than only criticisms.
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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (8:00 am)

BLOODMUFFIN wrote:The quality of the game has swiftly been decreased... I can not act like a fool anymore. I can not learn to play Castles. I will not be able to enjoy alone time with a lady. I can not be lazy. The skill depreciation will make me too paranoid. I'm lazy, I love the ladies, I am a fool and I love interacting with the other players and making them laugh, and I often get bored so I want to learn to play castles. I love Eaxia and i dont want to see everybody leave.


I disagree. I think the quality of the game has steadily risen over the past few months (and longer, but I'm sure you mean recently) and I believe this current change, with a little fine-tuning, only adds to the value of characters instead of finding that everyone has nearly the exact same skill set with most of the same skills maxed out.

The skills you care deeply about, with a proposed "top 8 slow depreciation" tweak won't decline much at all (see previous post). The skills you don't and have barely used (30-50 ranks) will take nearly just as long to depreciate with non-use too, as this is based on percentages and caps, not a flat value.
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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (8:02 am)

Xanetea wrote::cry: Well, my first reaction was, It's not so bad. I'll find a way to keep all my skills working. Then I panicked! I go days when all I do is hunt. And since I'm learning daggers and dual weapons right now, I haven't been using my sword, shield or longbow. For that matter while I'm hunting I'm not picking pockets. I'm not doing alot of appraising either. Not making potions or cutting gems. I haven't had a bleeder in a while either, so that means no tending. I'm not out foraging or trying to use the dang cauldron. Which if it's not working, how do I keep that skill going? By the time I work a little of everything, I'll still be loosing.

I'm not writing this in anger as one post suggested people were doing. I thought about what I'd write and read every other post first. But whether I write in anger, perplextion, anxiety, etc., it doesn't change the fact that this is just plain wrong. We've suffered loosing our skills, not once but twice. We've gone along with changes that some of us didn't find neccessary or very fun. Most of us have stuck it out. But this goes too far.

This is not a threat, but common sense. Many will decide this just isn't worth it any more. It'll be hard going to another game. We've made friends here that we've come to feel strongly for and even rivalries add spice to it all and we'll miss them too. I'm with Goharo and Claudvon. I'll hope it'll go away or at least be more realistic. And I'll be ready to leave if it stays the same.


I appreciate your thoughts. Let's toss around some ideas that may make this change managable, challenging, and rewarding rather than a huge burden. It's not our intentions to make life hard on anyone or to ruin the fun, lazy times people like to have -- only to make skill development far more valuable than it has been. And more challenging, rather than yawning your way through the ranks of one skill after another after another.

So, any ideas?
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skill depreciation (clarify my last post)

Postby saphyre » May 10, 2004 (8:03 am)

when i said a maximum of 10 percent lost, i meant that if you had 200 in a skill, the skill should never go lower than 180. if after you manage to build it back up to 210, the skill would never get lower than 189. This way, we wouldnt feel like we have wasted time , sometime hours on a skill all for nothing. It would account for rustiness, but would not take away that at one time you got really good at a skill.
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Postby Xanetea » May 10, 2004 (8:22 am)

GDEXXY wrote:
Goharo wrote:i agree i just hope more people agree and leave so this hast to be fixed


Thankfully, Eaxia Online has staff who have ears and hearts. I know where a lot of you come from and I know that a lot of you are used to "if you don't fix it, I'll leave!" being the only way to get attention or to prove a point, but it's far from necessary here and I am completely open to suggestions and solutions. I haven't heard any, yet.


I'd say it's a reasonable reaction considering it's not the first time our world seems to have been turned up side down. It can only be taken so many times before you just give up and either swollow it all or go else where.

Besides, the reason everyone gave reasons as to why they didn't like it, instead of suggestions or solutions is that you didn't ask for any at first. You told us this is it, but come and discuss it on the board.

But now that you've asked I'll try and give ya a solution. Though please keep in mind that I know nothing of game mechanics.

Is it possible for each class to learn specific skills that's unique to that class. That would keep from having everyone learning every skill and being proficient in many different classes.

Or maybe make it that a thief can learn pickpocketing at a normal rate but say a healer would learn it at half or slower rate.

Or using the example above, say a healer can't learn pickpocketing at all unless a thief teachs the healer. I've never been taught by another person, but I've heard that you loose skill points when you do. The same can apply to the thief in this senario.

Or <<ducks her head>> you can leave things the way they were before and move on to something else.
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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (8:29 am)

The following changes have been made to skill depreciation:

#1: All skill depreciation has been slowed by 5x (will take you 5 hours to lose the same amount that you previously would lose in 1 hour).

#2: Skill depreciation for your top 8 skills has been slowed by an additional 6x on top of change #1.

#3: Maximum skill loss has been changed from 25 skill XP per 1 minute to 18 skill XP per 1 minute.

#4: Unless they are in your top 8 ranks, skills at 5 ranks will not depreciate at all.

So now...

For your top skills at any rank, it will take over eight and a half real-life days (208 gameplay hours) to lose a full rank.

For other skills at 100+ ranks, it will take almost two real-life days (over 46 gameplay hours) to lose a full rank. For other skills at around 50 ranks, over 52 real-life gameplay hours to lose a full rank. For other skills at around 25 ranks, over 133 real-life gameplay hours.

This level of depreciation should easily be manageable and still make your skills valuable and worth excelling in what is important to you and your character.

Feedback welcome...
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Re: skill depreciations

Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (8:36 am)

saphyre wrote:Although skill depreciation makes sense, if it's put in practice there should be a limit on how much it goes down from depreciation. like a maximum of 10 percent. There has to be a limit to the amount of depreciation a person can get, otherwise, you'll have major turn off from people. One of my character have spent hours building armorsmithing, and is still below 10 ranks, and i'm sorry, loosing those ranks would be very depressing. Armorsmithing increment per minute could be smashed literally by the amount of depreciation one can get.
There is an interesting side effect to depreciation, it would allow someone to gain experience from skills that have been max out in the present system.


saphyre wrote:when i said a maximum of 10 percent lost, i meant that if you had 200 in a skill, the skill should never go lower than 180. if after you manage to build it back up to 210, the skill would never get lower than 189. This way, we wouldnt feel like we have wasted time , sometime hours on a skill all for nothing. It would account for rustiness, but would not take away that at one time you got really good at a skill.


I like this idea and would be willing to put down a flat 5% maximum skill XP loss and any skill you practice that has suffered depreciation you gain back triple skill XP until you meet where you left off again (relearning how to do something you've done once before should be very easy).

So if you slack off hunting completely for a couple months (in-game time, ~200 real-life gameplay hours) and lose a rank in each of your top 8 skills, you can gain them all back in a third the time you would normally by getting a 3x bonus to XP gained until you reach where you were -- then normal skill XP gain.

I like it. Anyone else?
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Return of the Idiot

Postby SHAMAN » May 10, 2004 (8:36 am)

surprise, surprise, surprise...well lookie whos back fora visit

been hearin this buzz bout something GGoE an crew has implimented thats got everyones armor ina bunch. samatta with everyone? want your cake and eat it too with a side of fillet minon?

i know no one is gonna wanna hear whats commin next, an especially when most realize i only know from what i read, that i havent due to personal problems and such i havent been round as of late...but well the idiot must speak and so if you dont like whats gonna be said next..change posts..cackle

first off, all im hearing in these posts is anger this and pissy moan that and whine me...this game was never set up for skills, or ranks or lessons, it was set up for Rp interaction, and the occasional learning of skills and such. if the system were set up where each guild had set regulations about what was needed to be learned per level and this new depreacition was implimented, i could see where the problem would seem cataclysmic...but it's not and from what i see it never will be. so you loose some skills, why cry, just do it again...most compaline that they have done and seen everything and have nothing left to do, well welcome to an answer...just cauz ya dont like it doesnt mean ya autta threaten to screw up someones life and hard work(Yes im talkin bout the countless cash, blood, sweat, tears, hours, agrivation, grief, that Exxy has put into this wounderful place i am sorry i havent been to in much much too long, not including this line of I'M leaving if i dont get my way BS he has to weed through and listen to when all he does is for us just as much as it is for him).

It wasnt a very long time ago when some people had some very encouraging things to say bout the RP value of certion people in our world, and id be a fool if i didnt mention that my name came up oft and in high reguard, and most that know me well nuff know i dont hunt nearly as much as i used to or maybe i should, but its not about going out and killing everything in sight to try to achieve ghodlike statis and be miserable... so people who have been playing for half the time i have are like 10 levels or more higher than me and have twice as many skills in something or everything, screw the skills, if i wanted to be Ty lord of the thieves what would that accomplish or solve or more importantly how much fun would it really be?

look there are many i would hate to see go, but the more that complaine and threaten to leave, the more i must say just do it and leave the rest of us Exxy and staff in peace to find solutions. idol threats are more than annoying and really just childish, even if some of you are complaining just cauz you pay x amount of $ per month...most autta know that if you ask, thou shalt usualy recieve. insted of saying if i dont get my way I'm leaving, how bout sit and really think about a solution and offer it up for discussion or something. i've had plenty of things happen in the time i been here and i cant remember a time i have siad i was gonna quit if i didnt get my way, and there are still a few prolems im haven, but does anyone hear me whining or threatening, an im just a friggen idiot...maybe thats my advantage?

well in closing cauz im pretty sure ive weewee'd on some peoples wheaties...think before ya speak, type, get pissed, threaten, or just plaine only think bout yerself?

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depraciation and trade skills

Postby SMARK » May 10, 2004 (10:14 am)

Now I am not sure about other skills, but there is at least one that I know for sure I cannot protect with the top 8 rule. I have hit the cap on it. So it seems I will continualy be at an skill exp loss, unless I underhunt and then other skills will erode. And I was one of the players who got potions from others. Alchemy wasn't my thing, so I did not do it. I got my potions from the box or asked Chull. When Astrid got good I started getting them from her. Now I am not gem cutter, but I tried it out becuase it was something new to me. Tough skill to work and train, and I ma sure pople that have praticed it are going to be dissapointed. It is very time consuming. The Heal skill is another concern. As Goahro posted it's gonna be real rough for him to keep his skill, same with me to a lesser degree. I spent alot of time nurtuing that skill along and it takes a pretty decnt wound to teach me. I understand that it should be hard for one to be a master of everything, but just being decnt at something shouldn't. My suggestion would be to model skills after the weapon system, Sure as a thief I could Falchion, but there is a penalty to it. Make it guild oreinted. Make it for example that thieves suffer no loss in what thieves specialize in, ie: hiding, move silent, pickpocket, top weapon and defenses etc. And set up "guild skill groups" for each. And something to protect the young character, like the no steal, No deacy for characters 5 and under, if not higher.
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Postby THECAT » May 10, 2004 (11:08 am)

Hmmph, I think the depreciation is not neccessary if you just slow the progress of skills learned in areas that arent guild related. Why would a thief NEED to know more healing than a healer? Why would they be able to heal better than a healer? Or even as good as one? Why would a Healer, a Cleric, A Barb, or anyone other than a thief be allowed to learn sneaking, stealing or any other thiefly deeds (locksmithing) at a rate similar to the thief?

I like the idea of the guild specific skills being protected. Guild specific skills should be given a boost when learned by someone from that guild and a be made harder when they are being learned by a persona not from that guild. That seems more real life to me.

As far as i can see there is little of the common sense that makes sayings like.."Easy as riding a bike" tangible. Once ya learn how ya dont really ever forget. but some folk learn the skill slower than others because of lack of innate ability.

In any event I like that theres a shaking of the tree. It shows that there is a mind set for progress, even if I don't really like this changes.
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Postby SMARK » May 10, 2004 (11:29 am)

"Why would a thief NEED to know more healing than a healer? "

Becuase if a jungatrha rips my arm off i'd like to have a chance of getting out alive. and besides Heal is not a specific skill, Healers can magicly cure their wounds. To keep alive to find a healer you need to tend your wounds. I don't see that as a "Healer" skill.

"Why would they be able to heal better than a healer? Or even as good as one? Why would a Healer, a Cleric, A Barb, or anyone other than a thief be allowed to learn sneaking, stealing or any other thiefly deeds (locksmithing) at a rate similar to the thief? "

This is role play. If a paladn is a holy soldier in the service of Kahl for instance, he would be hiding in the shadows and creating a little Havoc. Conan was a thief and a barbarian.
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Postby ASTRID » May 10, 2004 (11:38 am)

Goharo, Baltimus and Ryarter covered it all so well, there's not much more for me to add, other than to say I agree with them. I play this game (or any game) for fun, and this is just gonna make it not fun for me. To be fair, I haven't seen the effects of it yet. My husband told me about it, and I logged on to read the news. Before I was even able to read the news message about it, I was in a panic about what was happening to my skills and I logged out.

This can only kill role-play and cooperation between players. If I'm desperately trying to keep my skills alive, how likely is it that I'll care when someone I don't know dies in some other part of the world, or even in the next room, for that matter? I love to help folks out, or I never would have joined the cleric guild in the first place, but if there's a penalty to me for helping a stranger...sorry, bud...I've got my own problems...no time to worry about your corpse when I've got critters to kill, bleeders to get, boxes to pop, stems to forage, things to carve, etc.

I'll be using my younger, useless character to experiment with this, and if she doesn't feel the sting too badly then maybe my main character will try it out. But my gut feeling is that the main effect of this will be to suck the fun right of of this game for me.

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Postby ASTRID » May 10, 2004 (12:19 pm)

Sorry for the double post...

I hope my comments didn't come off as an irate complaints. It wasn't intended that way. I'm not angry, just a little sad because I've come to love this game and I'm afraid it's just not going to be so fun for me anymore.

I appreciate the fact that Exxy is willing to listen and work with folks on this, and I hope something can be worked out that will keep the game fun for most of us. At the risk of sounding like an apple polisher, Exxy amazes me as a GM, and I don't want him to think I'm saying anything contrary to that.

Some folks have suggested that guild related skills should be protected...hiding for thieves, healing for healers, etc. I don't like that idea, because some guilds seem to have a much longer list of guild-related skills than others. I think parity between guilds is important, unless you want a whole world of thieves.

Personally, I'd prefer to see all skills made more difficult to learn, with no depreciation. I wouldn't mind spending a lot more time learning something, but watching it slowly go away is just going to make me wince.

I also liked the suggestion that there should be a "safe" period before the depreciation kicks in. I could be very happy with the whole system if I could go a few days without having to do absolutely everything, and still not lose skills.

As to the idea that every character should not be able to master every skill, I think that would be absolutely true if the game were in a modern day setting. But if you look back in history, there was a time when it was possible for a person to become skilled in just about everything that was known. There probably weren't many who were masters of everything, but then I don't see many people in Eaxia who could be called masters in every skill, either. Most people seem to train some of everything, excel at some, stink at a few, and hit the rest in the middle. This is pretty consistant with the way things were in real world Earth just a few hundred years ago (the distinction being that in the real world there was also a huge gulf between classes, the lower classes being denied any opportunity to learn much of anything....but I don't think any of us want to roleplay that one. I picture us all roleplaying the more privledged folks, with the unfortunate lower class being around...we just don't notice them or speak to them, as was the case in the real world once upon a time)

Hoping this all gets resolved happily,
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Postby Xanetea » May 10, 2004 (12:27 pm)

Well hi Ty,

Been wondering where your eloquent self got to. I'd love to say I agree with you, but nope.. can't do.

I just don't know to many people who consider RPing as only a social gathering. Speaking for myself, I've made some good friends and love swapping stories and helping eachother, but I also love the fact that I can get better at something if I try hard enough. If I hunt enough I can get my dagger and multi weapons skills up and if I try hard enough, someday I'll be able to finally put some barbs on me leathers or those of my friends. That means taking time to myself and working those skills. Would hate to loose that dagger and muli weapon skill because I decided to devote some time to making barbs.

I've given three solutions, (when asked for them) and hope others will do the same, but I don't begrudge those that say No More.. Don't Like It... Or I'll Leave. I applaud them because even though they love this game and don't want to leave their friends, they'll do it to prove how strongly they feel. I don't think those that voice thier opinions should be labeled for them either.

And before I really start to ramble... I'll take my leave.

Oh.. one more thing.. Exxy, we don't always like the new stuff but we try.. and we really do appreciate the time and effort you and all the others put into Eaxia. Voicing our opinions doesn't take away from that. =)
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Postby ellisj » May 10, 2004 (12:42 pm)

I like this idea and would be willing to put down a flat 5% maximum skill XP loss and any skill you practice that has suffered depreciation you gain back triple skill XP until you meet where you left off again (relearning how to do something you've done once before should be very easy).

So if you slack off hunting completely for a couple months (in-game time, ~200 real-life gameplay hours) and lose a rank in each of your top 8 skills, you can gain them all back in a third the time you would normally by getting a 3x bonus to XP gained until you reach where you were -- then normal skill XP gain.

I like it. Anyone else?


now we might be gettin closer to somethin we can work with. cause even if i do forget somethin i know how to do, it only takes me one or two times of doin it before i am every bit as good as before.

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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (1:02 pm)

THECAT wrote:Hmmph, I think the depreciation is not neccessary if you just slow the progress of skills learned in areas that arent guild related.


I'm not interested in slowing skill development down, I'm interested in making skill development more valuable by making it at least something of a challenge to maintain dozens of mastered skill ranks. We feel it's unrealistic to allow anyone to attain mastery in dozens of arts and skills and never expect to get 'rusty' in them if they don't keep themselves sharp. Hope that clarifies.


THECAT wrote:Why would a thief NEED to know more healing than a healer? Why would they be able to heal better than a healer? Or even as good as one? Why would a Healer, a Cleric, A Barb, or anyone other than a thief be allowed to learn sneaking, stealing or any other thiefly deeds (locksmithing) at a rate similar to the thief?

I like the idea of the guild specific skills being protected. Guild specific skills should be given a boost when learned by someone from that guild and a be made harder when they are being learned by a persona not from that guild. That seems more real life to me.


Skills are not generally taboo among classes. Part of the beauty of Eaxia Online is the total customization of a character, by participating in the activities that you want to -- including taking up odd skills that don't generally suit your class or race. Instead of protecting a class-related set of skills, you have protection among the skills you spend the most time developing.
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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (1:06 pm)

ASTRID wrote:Before I was even able to read the news message about it, I was in a panic about what was happening to my skills and I logged out. This can only kill role-play and cooperation between players. If I'm desperately trying to keep my skills alive, how likely is it that I'll care when someone I don't know dies in some other part of the world, or even in the next room, for that matter?


This is sadly the reaction I expected from some folks. Sheer panic. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't terrorize all of you, my friends, by launching a campaign that destroys your characters like this. Most of you could sit around doing nothing for hours and never notice a thing with the tweaks that have already been made.

If anyone is "desperately" trying to keep your skills in check, please talk to me immediately -- there is a serious problem with what you're doing or a huge bug in the new system. From where I sit and what I've tested, there shouldn't be any desperate attempts nor time-consuming kill-joy tasks required to stay sharp on your skills.
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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (1:09 pm)

ASTRID wrote:As to the idea that every character should not be able to master every skill, I think that would be absolutely true if the game were in a modern day setting. But if you look back in history, there was a time when it was possible for a person to become skilled in just about everything that was known. There probably weren't many who were masters of everything, but then I don't see many people in Eaxia who could be called masters in every skill, either. Most people seem to train some of everything, excel at some, stink at a few, and hit the rest in the middle. This is pretty consistant with the way things were in real world Earth just a few hundred years ago (the distinction being that in the real world there was also a huge gulf between classes, the lower classes being denied any opportunity to learn much of anything....but I don't think any of us want to roleplay that one. I picture us all roleplaying the more privledged folks, with the unfortunate lower class being around...we just don't notice them or speak to them, as was the case in the real world once upon a time)


I can't say that I agree with you and I can't recall there being a time in our world where it was commonplace for anyone to casually be able to master every trade and art around them. Please prove me wrong, but I can't imagine it happening in reality and it certainly shouldn't happen in a game where characters strive to be unique, special, and the best at something.

Of course the changes to skills don't actually prevent you from being a master of every skill, it just prevents you from doing it half-assed. You'll actually have to try a little now to gain your skills and stay sharp.
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Postby GDEXXY » May 10, 2004 (1:17 pm)

Another round of changes were made, thanks to Saphyre for the good ideas.

#1: skills can never depreciate below 5% of where you had at once trained. If you have 200 ranks in Longbow and never use it for the rest of your life, it'll only ever depreciate down to 190 ranks.

#2: skill XP gained by practicing a skill that has suffered depreciation will be awarded a quadruple (400%) bonus until the skill reaches the point where it had been previously. If you had 200 ranks of Longbow, lost 2 ranks over several months of depreciation, then went back to train it -- it would only take a quarter the time and effort.

Between this, the "top 8" slow-down tweak, and the "general 5x" slow-down tweak, not to mention max cap changes (lowered from 25 per minute to 18 per minute), I think we have something very solid to stand on now.

Also take into consideration that the average consistent player tends to play about 30 hours per week. So to compare and contrast, if you played 30 hours a week and practiced no skills (you goofed off and were lazy for the entire week), it should be pretty impossible to lose a rank in a skill. Throw that against the facts that now you can't lose more than a certain amount in each skill and you will gain back quadruple the skill experience when re-training the skill and it should be a peace of cake to maintain all of your lifestyles while still holding onto some idea that skills are valuable and somewhat challenging to develop.
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Postby BRUCE » May 10, 2004 (1:19 pm)

Sounds good to me.
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Postby MANIACWILL » May 10, 2004 (1:37 pm)

Last night when i first heard about the depreciation on skills I was under alot of durress caused by some older and much higher level characters tormenting me. Titus and Goharo you know who you are! But now that i have had a good night sleep to think about it I find that it is a good idea. But I would be interested in seeing how you think about these ideas on it

1. Each guild has its own skills That do not depreciate for examply Thiefs keep leather armor Dagger Crossbow Hide Moveing Silently Pickpockets and any other skill that is considered a Thief only skill
Another examply would be a Martial artist keeping martial arts Unarmed Combat Dodge blocking and Dagger (that chi blade is a dagger after all) and lose skill depreciation for all thier other skills that are not guild related for Combat.

2. Each person can keep 2 trade skills being thier highest 2 with no penalties. Say someone wants to be a Armoror and has high ranks in Armorsmithing and Carving or Armorsmithing and mining or Armorsmithing and Skinning Those would not depreciate but the rest of the trade skills would. This gives people a reason to specialize in a trade related field and would encourage people to prepare for the Proffesions that will be comeing.

3. Guild related and Profession related skills once professions come online would get a slight boost to exp gained on the skills to encourage people to use the skills that are needed in their professions and once you gain a certain level in the skills you gain Say the ability to craft a magical armor with the mods being either based on ingredieants or on a random modifier.

I think this would make specialist Alot easier say By only allowing Two weapons to have the no depreciation rule A barbarian or fighter would only want to use 1-2 weapons well and you wont have thor running around with max weight in weapons because he uses 15 of them.

I also think it would make people want to specialize in skills that would make them want to adapt for the professions and maybe think ahead to what profession that really want to do once it goes live. Just my 2 cents and overall it might not be as bad as everyone thinks it will be after all even my characters have skills they would rather not have simply because i tried a weapon or trade skill that i later decided wasnt worth it for me
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Postby ASTRID » May 10, 2004 (1:37 pm)

I didn't say that it was ever commonplace for anyone to casually be able to master every trade and art around them. I said it was possible for a person to become skilled in just about everything that was known. BIG difference there. Not commonplace at all, because there was that entire class of folks who were doing all the hard labor that supported the lifestyle of the folks who had the luxury of learning a bit about anything that was known. Obviously it's impossible to make it entirely realistic, because no one is going to want to play the role of the serf who never learned anything beyond how to dig the ditches of the rich fella who was off learning to speak latin, Greek and French, ride horses, train falcons, play the piano and whatever else he busied himself with. He might not have mastered any of them, but it certainly would have been possible to gain a degree of skill that he could be proud of. And of course there would be the occasional individual who excelled in many fields (DaVinci?), and there would be folks who couldn't seem to accomplish much at all. Then you'd have the tradesmen who mastered his craft, and maybe had time for a hobby or two. I don't have the luxury of seeing everyone's skills, but judging from what I can see, all those folks seem to be represented in Eaxia. The only ones missing are the poor, exploited folks who enabled the upper and middle classes to accomplish what they did.

That's the best I can do without cracking open some history books, and this post is already far too dull to wanna do that. My apologies if i was unclear in my previous post.

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Postby Xanetea » May 10, 2004 (1:41 pm)

Hoorah..

I'll have to go into the game and see how everything is affected, but it sounds like a great compromise if I understand it all correctly.
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Postby ASTRID » May 10, 2004 (1:41 pm)

oh! a whole new deal while I was rambling on about classes and accomplishments. I think I can like the new set-up. Doesn't sound at all like it's gonna cause me any real grief, it might even give me added incentive to do the things I really want to be good at, and it still takes into account the fact that people do tend to get rusty when they don't do something for a while. Nice work!
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Postby MELLIS » May 10, 2004 (2:00 pm)

Well, let's start out with Hello to everybody. As most of you that have seen me will know that I am new to this world, but that does not mean that I am new to this type of game. I have played in others that have thousands upon thousands of players in game at a time, and I agree that being a master at everything is not a good thing. At this point in time I have only seen a few of us in game at any one time (the max has been 21). In other games that I have played there have been guild specific things, even tho all could do these things ony certain guilds could do it the best, or make the best. Now think of a time in the future when there are thousands of ppl in game here, wouldnt it make it more interesting to NOT be the best at everything and have the need to find someone that is? Or on the other hand wouldnt be nice to be the best at a few things and be able to make money off of those skills instead of having to hunt and kill to make money? The biggest part of this game is RPing, now if I had my choice of what I could do in RL I would love to be a weaponsmith. That is just something that is not possible for me in RL but it is in game, and its something that I could get good at. Soooooo here comes my point.


Why should I spend my time getting good at something if everybody can do it? If I want to be the best I must practice it, right? If I am reading things right, there will be professions in the future and I for one would rather not be an expert at everything. Thats how the world revolves, when we get sick in RL we go to a doc, when we need meds we go to a pharmacist, when we need something built we go to a tradesman. Eventually there will be more ppl playing this game with us, and my view on this is that its going to RPing better. Not everybody is going to be a master at everything and if I want something specific, I will need to search for the one that is best at it.

Sorry about the long post, but I see good things in this game and I plan on being here a long while.

And Exxy, I dont have any coding exp, but I learn quick and would love to help develop different things for this game


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Postby BLOODMUFFIN » May 10, 2004 (2:18 pm)

I find this solution to be quite nice. I am fine with this. And even though you replied one post after there was a good solution... Thank you.

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Postby QUEENAMANDALA » May 10, 2004 (3:58 pm)

Hm, I came back from hunting with less in combat casting then I had when I started hunting...
It's my highest skill (sorta like my only good one) and really kinda liked havin' it...being a wizard and all...

Anyway, I guess in my oppinion if we have to have a depreciation at least maybe make it so it doesn't go down WHILE your actually practicing that skill, maybe put like a timer in there if you haven't used it for so long then it starts going down?
Last edited by QUEENAMANDALA on May 10, 2004 (4:00 pm), edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Goharo » May 10, 2004 (3:59 pm)

still dont like it outta all the things that could be done here i dunno how we end up with this i just dont like it
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Postby THECAT » May 11, 2004 (3:14 pm)

Seems a lotta time wasted on something that will effect the game so slightly at this point. Why not work on enhancements rather than deficits. i for one would love to see homes opened up. I understand that you feel that all the time you took working this out was important, but its hard for the folk seeing negative gaming changes to be excited when there are so many positive gaming changes that coulda been made instead this week.
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Postby GDEXXY » May 11, 2004 (9:43 pm)

Making the game a more enjoyable place to play overall is not necessarily always about releasing new systems, areas, items, and quests. It also involves maintaining and preserving game balance and fair gameplay. Kind of like the old analogy of "what if everyone's prayers were answered 'yes'" -- what a scary world that would be.

The changes were made to protect the value of skill development, and to a broader sense, character development. I feel we've done that and I feel like we're all on the same page now between discussing it here for a day and the meeting we had in my office last night (of which 18 players attended, if I recall). I didn't log it, but if someone has a log and wouldn't mind cleaning it up and sending it to me, I'll post it.
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