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Risk
06-21-2010, 09:06 AM
So the other night, I noticed that the middle green bar had raised, and someone mentioned it was an xp bar based on skill gains, kind of like a level up bar.
So today I set out to fill it..
Finally I did, and after it rolled over a little +Sign showed up.
When I clicked it a window opened with a list of empty "Skill" boxes with <> buttons next to them.
Unfortunately nothing worked in this window, no skills would display.
Is this still under development?

cbowsin
06-21-2010, 09:08 AM
Leveling has not been turned on completely yet

kiwibird
06-21-2010, 03:54 PM
In my view, this is likely not to be turned on to launch... at least I would hope its not. Its one in my view that should be a guarded secret.

Cunk
06-21-2010, 04:11 PM
Guarded secret? There's no mystery here. When you "level up" you get points that you can distribute to any skill you want (and maybe stats -- I forget, I haven't seen the panel in a while). There's really nothing to guard other than maybe how many point you get but that's hardly a spoiler.

antemortem
06-25-2010, 04:41 AM
Hum, I thought there was no levels at all?

I mean, we level our skills by using them...

Damn it, I hope it won't turn this game into another grind-fest...


Even though, keep it up, the game is starting to get amazing :D

Cunk
06-25-2010, 10:44 AM
antemortem wrote:

Hum, I thought there was no levels at all?

I mean, we level our skills by using them...

Damn it, I hope it won't turn this game into another grind-fest...


Even though, keep it up, the game is starting to get amazing :D
There are no levels. You just get some extra points to distribute however you want.

But I don't see how the lack of levels prevents a game from being a grind-fest. There will always be people who obsess over maximizing their character, whether it's reaching overall character level 50 or skill level 100 in leathercrafting.

joexxxz
06-25-2010, 11:33 AM
But its different here. If you reached let say level 100, and if u not gonna play for a while, then the leveling will decrease.

Jadzia
06-25-2010, 11:51 AM
joexxxz wrote:

But its different here. If you reached let say level 100, and if u not gonna play for a while, then the leveling will decrease.
I hope the skill decay only takes effect when the player is online...

GDWhite
06-25-2010, 04:53 PM
It had really better, otherwise this game won't work out for me. I start an MMO, get bored, come back a few weeks/months later, and pick my character back up. Obviously this won't work too well if I'm a high-up player in a tribe with default level skills.

Nails
06-26-2010, 01:08 AM
u wont be high up in a tribe for long if you stop playing for weeks/months at a time :)

joexxxz
06-26-2010, 11:57 AM
I have to agree with Nails, and ppl, dont forget that this is a sandbox game. If you stop exercising your character, then u should loose a bit of skills :laugh:

Jadzia
06-26-2010, 12:16 PM
joexxxz wrote:

I have to agree with Nails, and ppl, dont forget that this is a sandbox game. If you stop exercising your character, then u should loose a bit of skills :laugh:
Any game mechanics which discourage players to come back to the game is a bad one in my opinion.

GDWhite
06-27-2010, 12:15 AM
Nails wrote:

u wont be high up in a tribe for long if you stop playing for weeks/months at a time :)
True :D
Jadzia wrote:

Any game mechanics which discourage players to come back to the game is a bad one in my opinion.
Yes.

cbowsin
06-27-2010, 05:21 AM
Jadzia wrote:

joexxxz wrote:

I have to agree with Nails, and ppl, dont forget that this is a sandbox game. If you stop exercising your character, then u should loose a bit of skills :laugh:
Any game mechanics which discourage players to come back to the game is a bad one in my opinion.

True, but this is a MMO. What you may find discouraging another person may find acceptable or favorable.

Jadzia
06-27-2010, 06:06 AM
cbowsin wrote:

Jadzia wrote:

joexxxz wrote:

I have to agree with Nails, and ppl, dont forget that this is a sandbox game. If you stop exercising your character, then u should loose a bit of skills :laugh:
Any game mechanics which discourage players to come back to the game is a bad one in my opinion.

True, but this is a MMO. What you may find discouraging another person may find acceptable or favorable.
Ok...so you think there are players who love the idea to loose skill levels if they aren't able to play for 1-2 months or even more for any reason? And when they try to come back they find their character lost his abilities ? I really doubt there is one single person who would be happy for that :) I may be wrong though.

And from the point of the developer's view it would cause loosing possible returning players (and therefore money).

cbowsin
06-27-2010, 08:06 AM
Jadzia wrote:

Ok...so you think there are players who love the idea to loose skill levels if they aren't able to play for 1-2 months or even more for any reason? And when they try to come back they find their character lost his abilities ? I really doubt there is one single person who would be happy for that :) I may be wrong though.

And from the point of the developer's view it would cause loosing possible returning players (and therefore money).

I wasn't really arguing the topic of lost skill points outside of the game. Truthfully I don't care either way. I see it similar to PvP rules. Why do you think many MMOs these days don't have PvP where a player can loot another player's items. Because for that very same argument you make about skill points, people HATE losing their stuff. If I make it to 100 toolcraft and stop and come back a year later and I still have 100 toolcraft, cool, if not then thats cool too, as it gives me something to work on. I don't care about that argument.

Who would want this? Who wouldn't? If I play hard from release and max out my stats and I gain the title of supreme crafter. Now I decide to take a break for a while, when I come back should I expect to regain my role as supreme crafter? All my skills are maxed so there is nothing for me to work on. Why should anyone else even bother? If you are going to have a ladder system then players should accept going down the ladder just as much as they accept going up the ladder.

My argument, is for the second smaller blurb that you find acceptable. You are trying to hold yours and other peoples subscription for ransom. If you demand X and X is not provided, then you take your money and walk. Lets say they get scared and give you X, well shoot, why stop there, demand more stuff because then obviously they are more concerned with keeping your sub than the game they want to make. I have seen many game developers cater to the vocal minority and how pitiful it made their game afterwards and sometimes the changes were good.

From the Devs standpoint, yes they need to decide whether to please every paying customer (which is impossible in a MMO because some people want entirely opposite things) or make a product and stand by it. I was under the impression Jordi wanted to make a game that 'he always wanted to play' not make the game that brings in the most subscribers and retain them. Every choice they stick by will have a possibility of losing subscribers. Then wanted a sandbox instead of a themepark, they lost subscribers. They wanted open pvp, they lost subscribers. They want people not actively playing to lose skill points over time, to give an advantage to players who are active, then yes, they will probably lose subscribers. You want to provide feedback on the topic, then more power to you. But to demand something with your sub is foolish.

Derek
06-27-2010, 08:12 AM
Only people who would want this mechanic are the unemployed or kids who have mass amounts of time to invest in a game.

Paradox
06-27-2010, 08:25 AM
I don’t want a WoW grind fest but I would like my efforts to be rewarded. If you practice something in real life you get better at whatever it is. If you neglect to practice your skill diminishes. I hope that they can add that aspect of realism to the skill system in game.


Derek wrote:

Only people who would want this mechanic are the unemployed or kids who have mass amounts of time to invest in a game.

I am employed, in school full time, and a dad. I would like to see some type of skill decay and gain.

cbowsin
06-27-2010, 08:39 AM
Derek wrote:

Only people who would want this mechanic are the unemployed or kids who have mass amounts of time to invest in a game.

See that's funny because I thought this would actually favor those with little time and those who continually pay to play. I suppose it all depends how you spin. For example:

I play for 40 hours a week you play for 4 hours a week. Now as long as we both keep playing, Ill do better than you. That is the general principal of every MMO.

Now the discussion is just the idea of the concept and not necessarily how it would be implemented. Say it is 1 point per week not logged on. Well after my first week I stop playing for 2 months (8 weeks). Now with no decay when I log on I have 40 you have 36, Im still better than you after 2 months of not playing. With 1pt/wk, When I log on I'll be at 32 while you will be at 36, thus you will be better than me, at least until I put in another week. So it has nothing to do with casual or hardcore. It hurts the non-active player and gives the advantage to the active ones, I never knew that was such a big issue.

GDWhite
06-27-2010, 09:15 AM
cbowsin wrote:

abunchofstuff
Well, you can add me to that strawman front, I don't want to lose my skills.
I work darn hard to get to 30 basketry, and it had better stay that way.