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Newbie Help (Start Here) / Re: From one Beta Tester to the Dev Team & the future.
« on: November 09, 2017, 07:00:56 am »
Here are my thoughts and why I continue to play.
1) I like the concept of the game. In theory, there are no real limitations, I can nearly literally be *anything* I want to be as a character. If I choose to not run around killing things, it isn't required for success in the game. If I choose to not craft anything, it isn't required for success in the game. Really, imo success in the game is defined as simply as being able to be IC as much of all the time as is reasonably possible. I currently have 3 characters, one is quite self-unaware and submissive and has been controversial in some groups. Another is quite accomplished with CW magic, but not yet a full master, another is still learning about metallurgy and otherwise unremarkable. Yet I feel I can play successfully as each of those roles within the game. I don't have to be a mighty warrior - the chosen one - to bring peace and ... blah blah.
2) The mechanics are rather unfortunate as it seems to take as much effort to level in mind-numbing manual labor as it does to become highly skilled at a complex task. For example, mining... manual labor - most IRL people can master manual labor very quickly to the point that much more master is not significantly better. So becoming really good at mining should take far less time and the rewards come much much sooner (ie higher Q ore). However sword making takes significantly more effort to become a master, so it should take longer. In a manner of scale mastery of mining should come in "days" while mastery of sword making should come in "years", like dozen(s) of them. Manual labor like gathering herbs, mining, etc should be masterable more quickly than using those raw elements to craft a thing (tea, swords, armor, jewelry). Intermediate skills like metallurgy should influence how well we are able to perform at a particular skill level. The more someone knows about herbs and metals the better alchemist because it should take more skill to figure out what blends well, how long to stir, how long to heat, etc. Sadly, putting this much thought into _how_ a mechanic might be categorized for skills could be far more work than most people would really appreciate. And we haven't even talked about combat... I'll leave that alone for now.
3) the chat mechanics to actually perform RP is... well... challenging. I'm not sure how to improve it without making it very complex. Sometimes I want to react with some emotive non-verbal thing (/me frowns slightly, pondering the import of the accusation) takes too long to type... and is gives awkward queues to the other person. When we see someone doing this (the /me thing above) IRL we interpret their behavior and intuitively "know" they are pondering what we just said... in the game there is no way to communicate non-verbal queues more naturally. If I, as a player, could do more to control the animation of the character rather than the somewhat odd race specific loop that currently exists, that would go a long ways toward helping... so if I hit F1 my character brushes a lock of hair behind her ear, F2 she bows, F3 she looks away from the speaker... not sure what the list should really be but assigning common non-verbal "behaviors" to a short list of keys (F1-F12?) might keep the complexity down a bit, but allow more natural feeling interactions... not sure - obviously I can't try it and see how it might work out.
Final thoughts, I stick around the game because my character is free to be whatever he or she "wishes" and I can allow environment and interactions to color how my character develops as a "person". I really enjoy that aspect. Grinding is not fun, but we *all* grind IRL. Each of us practices something over and over and over again until we master it enough to move on to something else, whether its playing the piano, taking a shot on goal with a soccer ball, programming a computer, whatever. So, while it is less enjoyable and more difficult to participate in RP in remote locations to mine some ore, to me, it feels like a necessary evil and I have to manage the time I do that and the time I can be around others for their interactions. I really do enjoy this game and I tell others about playing it and invite them along. It's unfortunate there are only 4 people on sometimes in the evening when I have time to play - nothing like the days when there were 100 or more online, but the game now is much much improved, but losing the number of players means its hard to prove it.
long post, my 2 cents of thought - worth what you're willing to pay :-).
Best!
estaga
1) I like the concept of the game. In theory, there are no real limitations, I can nearly literally be *anything* I want to be as a character. If I choose to not run around killing things, it isn't required for success in the game. If I choose to not craft anything, it isn't required for success in the game. Really, imo success in the game is defined as simply as being able to be IC as much of all the time as is reasonably possible. I currently have 3 characters, one is quite self-unaware and submissive and has been controversial in some groups. Another is quite accomplished with CW magic, but not yet a full master, another is still learning about metallurgy and otherwise unremarkable. Yet I feel I can play successfully as each of those roles within the game. I don't have to be a mighty warrior - the chosen one - to bring peace and ... blah blah.
2) The mechanics are rather unfortunate as it seems to take as much effort to level in mind-numbing manual labor as it does to become highly skilled at a complex task. For example, mining... manual labor - most IRL people can master manual labor very quickly to the point that much more master is not significantly better. So becoming really good at mining should take far less time and the rewards come much much sooner (ie higher Q ore). However sword making takes significantly more effort to become a master, so it should take longer. In a manner of scale mastery of mining should come in "days" while mastery of sword making should come in "years", like dozen(s) of them. Manual labor like gathering herbs, mining, etc should be masterable more quickly than using those raw elements to craft a thing (tea, swords, armor, jewelry). Intermediate skills like metallurgy should influence how well we are able to perform at a particular skill level. The more someone knows about herbs and metals the better alchemist because it should take more skill to figure out what blends well, how long to stir, how long to heat, etc. Sadly, putting this much thought into _how_ a mechanic might be categorized for skills could be far more work than most people would really appreciate. And we haven't even talked about combat... I'll leave that alone for now.
3) the chat mechanics to actually perform RP is... well... challenging. I'm not sure how to improve it without making it very complex. Sometimes I want to react with some emotive non-verbal thing (/me frowns slightly, pondering the import of the accusation) takes too long to type... and is gives awkward queues to the other person. When we see someone doing this (the /me thing above) IRL we interpret their behavior and intuitively "know" they are pondering what we just said... in the game there is no way to communicate non-verbal queues more naturally. If I, as a player, could do more to control the animation of the character rather than the somewhat odd race specific loop that currently exists, that would go a long ways toward helping... so if I hit F1 my character brushes a lock of hair behind her ear, F2 she bows, F3 she looks away from the speaker... not sure what the list should really be but assigning common non-verbal "behaviors" to a short list of keys (F1-F12?) might keep the complexity down a bit, but allow more natural feeling interactions... not sure - obviously I can't try it and see how it might work out.
Final thoughts, I stick around the game because my character is free to be whatever he or she "wishes" and I can allow environment and interactions to color how my character develops as a "person". I really enjoy that aspect. Grinding is not fun, but we *all* grind IRL. Each of us practices something over and over and over again until we master it enough to move on to something else, whether its playing the piano, taking a shot on goal with a soccer ball, programming a computer, whatever. So, while it is less enjoyable and more difficult to participate in RP in remote locations to mine some ore, to me, it feels like a necessary evil and I have to manage the time I do that and the time I can be around others for their interactions. I really do enjoy this game and I tell others about playing it and invite them along. It's unfortunate there are only 4 people on sometimes in the evening when I have time to play - nothing like the days when there were 100 or more online, but the game now is much much improved, but losing the number of players means its hard to prove it.
long post, my 2 cents of thought - worth what you're willing to pay :-).
Best!
estaga
