Missing Skill-Boosting Quests

[Nightflyer0ne]

Just wanted to let you know that I am poking at my quest script again, trying to finish it up. No guarantees. Really having writer's block with some of it. 

[Uadjet]

When I get writer's block I either do something physical or work on another project. Honestly I think writer's block is akin to the 'yips', where a person over-thinks things and essentially gets in their own way. Distractions are often an effective way around that.

[Eonwind]

The skill boosting quests make level up too easy, in part because they reward an entire level.

Just as an FYI it does not grant an entire level. It takes you to the next level. so if your bar is halfway to 155 it will only take to you the start of level 156, not to 156 and a half. Also, a lot of these quests require you to gather items, travel have knowledge or information of certain things not to mention the fact that they have all a timer so you can't just sit there and repeat it and get 10 levels right away. The quests scale as well depending on your current level.  I think this was the compromise for several players who felt they were spending way to much time and energy grinding skills that it was cutting into roleplay time. As well as with the current engine we have the possibilities are very limited. The server can't even tell if you are wearing skill-boosting jewelry and will not award you a point if your boost takes you over the max skill level. As with most things we are excitedly awaiting the Unreal Engine upgrade to be able to really start focusing and fine-tuning issues such as this one.

I just wanted to add a few technical notes to this discussion:

• Awarding practice points: we have the technical means to award skill practice instead of a full level. The first implementation of the skill-boosting quest (never released) did that. However we felt awarding a whole skill point once in a given amount of time (8h IIRC) was just about the right compromise. We reasoned that a player wanting to grind their skill he may gain more skill points/day by questing & grinding as usual. We knew we would hardly cover everyone needs ad expectations (as always) but we felt it was the best tradeoff we could offer.
• Skills not awarded by possessing a skill bonus: skill bonus etc. are not an Unreal specific implementation and such things can be debugged right now and there could be a solution. I'm quite confident this bug can be fixed right away but I need to investigate better to be sure.

[MishkaL1138]

Hi, it's been a while since I last posted here, I mostly lurk. I'd like to offer my two tria, however: 
There.
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Just kidding, actually - the implementation of skill-point giving quests has given me a reason to develop my character's skills further. There's a point during leveling up in which you start feeling the stagnation, that you'll never see the end of the current level, etc. It's not just discouraging, it's also disheartening. I was just about ready to call it quits trying to level up and just go along with what I had at the moment. But then, these skill-awarding quests appeared, and they changed how I play.

Instead of making Mishka (I'll stop saying 'my character' and use her name now :'P) train and grind and maybe once in a blue moon get an order for weapons or armors, I have turned her into a commissioner for the Octarchy/Guards/Arena/Squadrons. It has given my character a new purpose, to be fair.

I might agree that giving a full skill point to starting players might be too big of a kickstart, but as has been mentioned, there are ways to give 25, 50, 75% of completion on a skill, or so I think - correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't know whether my argument helps or not, but it's an opinion - and opinions are like, uh... I'll spare the comparison.

In regards to quest writing, if the system hasn't changed from back when I wrote some, I am more than willing to offer my skills as a writer in my free time to offer ideas, flux diagrams, possibly quest-writing/drafting, and proofreading. After all, unless it's been rescinded, I have an NDA contract signed still...

[Eonwind]

Instead of making Mishka (I'll stop saying 'my character' and use her name now :'P) train and grind and maybe once in a blue moon get an order for weapons or armors, I have turned her into a commissioner for the Octarchy/Guards/Arena/Squadrons. It has given my character a new purpose, to be fair.

opening up new possibility, also from a RP / character development point of view, was one of the main reason we designed this gameplay change. It is very hard to reconcile RP and gameplay in RP-focused game like PS (believe me, we try  ) but we feel like training and raising own character skills should be possible in-game and in-character as well. It should be fun too.

In regards to quest writing, if the system hasn't changed from back when I wrote some, I am more than willing to offer my skills as a writer in my free time to offer ideas, flux diagrams, possibly quest-writing/drafting, and proofreading. After all, unless it's been rescinded, I have an NDA contract signed still...

the system has always been the same but with a few more edges added from time to time, feel free to discuss your ideas and drafts in discord-prospects. The NDA is still valid.

[Nightflyer0ne]

When I get writer's block I either do something physical or work on another project. Honestly I think writer's block is akin to the 'yips', where a person over-thinks things and essentially gets in their own way. Distractions are often an effective way around that.

It could be that. Mostly, I'm having trouble coming up with errands for the character to run in each instance that aren't too basic and aren't too hard. Over-thinking, like you said.

[Eonwind]

Uadjet: could you please strikeout the skill-boosting quests that have already been implemented in the first post. Thanks.

[Uadjet]

I've done so. Here's a quick summary of where it stands. The remaining quests that need to be added are:

Blacksmith: I swear I'll get to it!
Body Development: Apparently I wrote one! Awaiting testing
Leatherworking: Waiting for testing/items
Lockpicking: Waiting for testing/items
Musical Instrument: Someone is writing it
Repair Armors: Someone is writing it
Repair Weapons: Someone is writing it

[Eonwind]

I've done so. Here's a quick summary of where it stands. The remaining quests that need to be added are:

Blacksmith: I swear I'll get to it!
Body Development: Apparently I wrote one! Awaiting testing
Leatherworking: Waiting for testing/items
Lockpicking: Waiting for testing/items
Musical Instrument: Someone is writing it
Repair Armors: Someone is writing it
Repair Weapons: Someone is writing it

great progress, thank you a lot!