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« on: June 07, 2010, 05:36:31 pm »
I for one hope that hunger, thirst, etc don't get implemented in any way. It's a resource management issue, and I don't see where that is a desirable element in this game. Strategy games, action, etc where resources are limited then it becomes an integral part of the game. But in an open-ended system like this where it's not a problem to get more tria to buy the food you're just slowing players down, with no gain in a feeling of achievement.
But that's not the issue at hand. There are two general ways people level skills:
a) deliberately: I want a higher level in cooking, crafting, or whatever. So I repeat the same action hundreds of times until I gain a level, go to the trainer (who might be 15 minutes of running away), repeat.
b) incidentally: I get theoretical training, and let practice points accrue as I do stuff. I tangle with a mob, get hurt, cast healing spells; I just got a few crystal way, some weapons, armor, maybe repair.
While (b) is the preferred method of being able to level (I would say so), (a) is necessary when the current skill level is not enough to get you the results you want: I can't smelt gold, or the axes I craft are crap. Ideally, past a certain point I no longer need to focus on improving these skills, and let them improve as I do things that require these skills. Again ideally, I should be able to get to this point without too much tedium. (a) is the boring part, we'll all agree. Less so for skills like combat where a single action (say kill a rogue) yields plenty of practice points, plus has the added benefit of possibly generating loot. Crafting on the other hand, takes minutes to produce as many practice points (if that) and either produces nothing valuable (if you recycle the blades for training) or is materially expensive.
I think we'd see more success in making skill leveling less about drudgery. I'd love to see more support for macros, though I definitely wouldn't ask for automation. Doing away with so much mouse-clicking by allowing macros to manipulate containers (putting things in them, taking things out) would be a great idea I think, without increasing the possibility of abuse through automation.