Author Topic: The stuff that itches me personaly...  (Read 2195 times)

ruskie

  • Traveller
  • *
  • Posts: 14
    • View Profile
    • ruskie
The stuff that itches me personaly...
« on: May 09, 2007, 02:42:17 pm »
Here's some stuff I think should be improved and I know some are already being worked on.

magic system:
     at the moment magic it's just there for show... though I am and will be playing a spell caster(no specialisation in any way).
     The stuff that I find absurd:
     To get any spells above the basics ones you need to spend tons of trias and PPs to acctually get anything done. Unless either
     the usage changes or a lot more spells get added so that players can for example use lvl1, lvl2, lvl3 etc spells and making them
     balanced with the rest of the combat system would go along way. Having specific skills that you can train that allow for example casting
     a spell that is lvl1 at a higher level which of course alters certain properties of the spell. I.e. duration get's doubled(+1level) power get's
     maximized(+1level), area get's doubled(+1 level) so to cast a level 1 spell that lasts for twice as long, has double the power and
     double the area would have to be cast as level4 spell. Other possibilities include range, max damage and others.

quests:
     you should get quests that give items only once(i.e. ring of familiar and others), any simple quests like: bring me some gold ore
     or such would bo possible to run multiple times.

npc interface:
     I like the freeform way of doing things but make the following command and interface available:
     /dialog command that will provide possible phrases(not only the needed ones for the quest)
     basic idea:
     come up to the npc and start talking to him you or he can't get through to the other so you switch to the /dialog
     it would bring up a selection of pharses some that include the keywords for the quest in the proper way or some that
     are completly irrelevant. Also this should not be limited to the quest npcs. You could ask any npc about quest keywords.
     some might even give you a clue.

new characters:
     provide starting packs for players. For example:
     1000 trias, some plain boots, plain pants, plain shirt, plain belt, plain hat, and depending on some combat/magic/etc stats:
     either one base glyph from the way the charater is most skilled(if more than one are equal random of course)
     or daggers(if skilled with knives etc...) or other weapon depending on the skill. An interesting ingame way of doing this might be:
     Character start in:
     Training school for adventurers ran by guild of adventurers
     Get's assigned an NPC mentor that guides him through some initial things.
     Movement, combat, spell casting, crafting, etc... All training tools would have to be returned or character couldn't proceede OR
     they could be kept as a starting pack. At the end of the training school the character would then have his starting pack or be given one.

npc interaction:
     npc's should be able to respond to:
     about magic or about craft[ing] or about training skills etc... of course not all would know the same information but this way the
     characters would be running around and asking about things. They would either get directed to the trainers refered to other people
     or be given the infermation they need. For example:
     I ask the Kran at the plaza about magic and he points me to the north gate saying the guards there might now.
     So I go to the north gate and ask one of the guards about magic and they direct me to the magic shop(give me directions).
     When I arrive at the magic shop I ask the owner about magic and he explains to me about the basic ways of magic and if I wish
     I can train under him(quest). If I agree he would then first direct me to get some trias so I can afford the glyphs. He might say that I
     might want to mine some gold ore first and he would generously purchase 5 ores at 240/ore. So then I need to learn how to either
     mine or I can ask him about money and he could tell me some other ways on how to earn money. Then when I have enough I would
     come back and buy a glyph(if I didn't already have him). I would then tell him I have a glyph. He would then instruct me on how to use
     it properly.

mines:
     I don't really like the current way of a mine is just an area you dig in. What I'd like is a mine dug into the side of the muintan(doesn't
     have to be huge network or anything... It could even be just an entrance and like 5 steps in. They should also have a graphical
     representation of what one can mine there a little sign with a picture of gold for example. Also I think a player should be limited by
     the ammount they can mine for themselves in a day. For example: you can mine 30 ores per day anything above that is taxed.

economy:
     self sustaining ecenomy ussualy requires the money to circle. So having some way of taxation would be nice. I'd say you can have
     N thousands of trias of gear with no tax(general tax exemption) anything above that you pay 10% of the extra as tax. Of course you
     would have to come to an official building to pay your taxes and if you wouldn't pay them within N time slices of due there would be
     a bounty on you and you would be fair PvP game for players to find you and either bring you in peacfully or kill you and collect the
     money that way(it would auto-detuct from your inventory) or if you have the money in a bank/vault it would be auto-deducted from
     there.


Just som eof the things that itch me :) I might post more later...

Caarrie

  • Forum Addict
  • *
  • Posts: 3369
  • We want no UNFIXED bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • View Profile
    • PlaneShift3dMods
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2007, 02:56:40 pm »
Most quests ingame now can only be done one time unless they are very simple quests.

Nicana

  • Traveller
  • *
  • Posts: 36
    • View Profile
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2007, 03:16:02 pm »
A few comments:

quests ... there are certain ones you can only get once ... and others you can get multiple times.  Not sure what your boggle is.

new characters ... a starting pack would have been nice.  As it is now, as long as you're polite I'll forward you some tria to buy a weapon or two, show you to the sewers, give you some pointers etc. ... the present method increases your interpersonal involvement right from login

most of the money circles (intentional pun) just fine ...  don't you think we get "taxed" by paying for training?  Training up a level of sword and med. armor together costs approx. 15k tria.  Crystal way ... approx. 5k.  Stats ... by limiting mining to 30 ores per day you'd basically be stifling training of any kind (although you can still loot) ... mainly for the less developed players who can't kill the beasts that produce the highest loot.

Induane

  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 1287
  • What should I put here?
    • View Profile
    • Vaalnor Inc.
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2007, 03:23:46 pm »
Mines:

While near the magic shop you can do a little gold mining, there are actual mines in the dungeons in those caves, so its not like its all out in the open.There are actual mines :)

I don't know why you are so keen on tax.  Personally I think its moronic to have income tax in real life anyways... In the US we pay on average 30% of our income, exactly 0% of which goes to national defense,  0% of which goes to health care, 0% of which goes to social programs.... and 100% of which is used to pay interest on the federal deficit with the treasury.  Sure there is social security but if it continues the way it has, then all the money I've put into it will be wasted since it will be gone by then.

Seriously, why tax?  Hard enough to implement, harder still to justify.  If a guild wants to collect dues from its members, I say go ahead.  But the game shouldn't take stuff from you involuntarily.  We have random wipes for that ;)

Jeraphon

  • Hydlaa Notable
  • *
  • Posts: 717
    • View Profile
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2007, 03:42:54 pm »
Quote
When I arrive at the magic shop I ask the owner about magic and he explains to me about the basic ways of magic and if I wish I can train under him(quest). If I agree he would then first direct me to get some trias so I can afford the glyphs. He might say that I might want to mine some gold ore first and he would generously purchase 5 ores at 240/ore. So then I need to learn how to either mine or I can ask him about money and he could tell me some other ways on how to earn money. Then when I have enough I would come back and buy a glyph(if I didn't already have him). I would then tell him I have a glyph. He would then instruct me on how to use it properly.

Something tells me you haven't talked to the magic shop owner.

ruskie

  • Traveller
  • *
  • Posts: 14
    • View Profile
    • ruskie
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2007, 04:37:32 pm »
Quote
Seriously, why tax?  Hard enough to implement, harder still to justify.  If a guild wants to collect dues from its members, I say go ahead.  But the game shouldn't take stuff from you involuntarily.  We have random wipes for that ;)

It would be interesting but yeah I guess implementation would suck... But a tax might stop the people that keep hoarding stuff and then
selling it on. As in stabilise the economy or some such by imposing a "virtual" cap on the ammount a player can own without acctually restricting the total amount.

Quote
Most quests ingame now can only be done one time unless they are very simple quests.

Ahh...

Quote
new characters ... a starting pack would have been nice.  As it is now, as long as you're polite I'll forward you some tria to buy a weapon or two, show you to the sewers, give you some pointers etc. ... the present method increases your interpersonal involvement right from login

Yeah that's basicaly what happened to me... Two random characters were passing me(first hour game time I was in) and one gave me
some trias the other some weapons. But atleast having an offer to get a starting pack(some players don't know yet how to properly interact with others) would help.

Quote
most of the money circles (intentional pun) just fine ...  don't you think we get "taxed" by paying for training?  Training up a level of sword and med. armor together costs approx. 15k tria.  Crystal way ... approx. 5k.  Stats ... by limiting mining to 30 ores per day you'd basically be stifling training of any kind (although you can still loot) ... mainly for the less developed players who can't kill the beasts that produce the highest loot.

I have YET to mine 20 ores per day and I'm ussualy happy with the ammount of trias I get so I don't really see this as an issue. Atleast
it would get some of the people that keep beating the rocks at the magic shop to look around and get them moving.

As for the stifling training if I would be playing to powerlevel I wouldn't be recommending any of this. I've played quite a few D&D pen and
paper games. I never went for powerleveling nor did anyone else I know. We played because we wanted to have a good time, do some
roleplaying and such. {my VERY VERY personal opinion}People who play this game to only gain levels etc should find a different game to
play{end my opinion}.

Which is another point the skill system:

I think theorethical training with characters should only happen every N levels i.e. every 5 levels. The other levels would be just progressions of the base skills.
i.e. when you hit lvl1: you're completly fresh and bearly know how to use the skill by the time you're at level 4 you'd have mastered the basics and would have to start learning more from a trainer if you'd like to progress further. This could be enhanced by the character doing new combat moves during fights or similar. Or be able to do other things than basic convert ore -> ingot stuff...

stats training should depend on how much you use a given stat. For example if you move around with a heavy(as in in the 95% range
of what you can carry) pack all the time you would gain an increase in strength after a week or so of running(there would be other ways
to increase the rate etc). Constantly running would boost your endurance. Of course I'm not saying it would be possible to get to 100%
this way in stats but let's say 60% would be possible. Anything more would require special training.

Nicana

  • Traveller
  • *
  • Posts: 36
    • View Profile
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2007, 05:11:15 pm »
ruskie,
I don't necessarily powerlevel, but all training costs a lot of money.  When you're new to the game you HAVE to train ... unless all you want to do is sit around and RP (which is fine if that's your thing ... personally I can only sustain so much drama before my head explodes ... I can interact with people IC but tend to start twitching in long/drawn out scenarios ... like I said, that's just "me").  To get to BD which is beautiful would take a loooooooong time if my stats weren't high ... also, I take great pleasure in slicing/dicing ever-stronger monsters. It's a challenge and I love watching Nicana tear into a beast that killed her in one or two hits a few of weeks ago (the increase in HP helps too ;) ).

I like your idea of theoretical training only every so-many levels.  The poor trainers would go broke though.  :( ;)

ruskie

  • Traveller
  • *
  • Posts: 14
    • View Profile
    • ruskie
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2007, 06:21:08 pm »
Quote
I like your idea of theoretical training only every so-many levels.  The poor trainers would go broke though.  :( ;)

Considering the amount of players I doubt it. And considering how quickly the price skyrockets...


Quote
also, I take great pleasure in slicing/dicing ever-stronger monsters.

I'm not such a fan of hack'n'slash type games... hell I don't even like first person shooters.. and frankly the click and wait for the chars to
fight it out combat is dull to me. I'd prefer something more like click to start combat and then have to move around and fight etc like in
mortal combat or some such...

Hence why I'm playing a spellcaster(Dermott a Menki){yes I pick somewhat odd combos for characters}. It acctually takes some time and active participation to combat with magic
while I could start hacking away at something with weapons and went off to make myself lunch or something...

Quote
but all training costs a lot of money.

Afaik low levels of training don't cost tons of money. And stats training isn't that much as well.

Nicana

  • Traveller
  • *
  • Posts: 36
    • View Profile
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2007, 07:14:12 pm »
Considering the amount of players I doubt it. And considering how quickly the price skyrockets...
Exactly
Quote
I'm not such a fan of hack'n'slash type games... hell I don't even like first person shooters.. and frankly the click and wait for the chars to
fight it out combat is dull to me. I'd prefer something more like click to start combat and then have to move around and fight etc like in
mortal combat or some such...

Hence why I'm playing a spellcaster(Dermott a Menki){yes I pick somewhat odd combos for characters}. It acctually takes some time and active participation to combat with magic
while I could start hacking away at something with weapons and went off to make myself lunch or something...
lol, this isn't exactly hack'n'slash (ala Doom style for instance) but I get your point ... I also use magic at times but when my mana is low, I'm stopped from doing so (again, higher training required for cha, int etc. ... which don't cost as much per level but one level of stats training doesn't increase your ablities much either).   

Quote
Afaik low levels of training don't cost tons of money. And stats training isn't that much as well.
Low levels don't cost tons ... I can't remember where "sword" became expensive, probably somewhere around 15? ... but reallistically, why do sword levels of 120 exist if you're not meant to train that high?  I think it comes down to "To each his own".  Right now the game holds possibilites for a wide range of people.  Some of your suggestions would benefit everyone, others would only benefit those choosing your path (which is completely normal).  I just thought I'd add my perspective.

ruskie

  • Traveller
  • *
  • Posts: 14
    • View Profile
    • ruskie
Re: The stuff that itches me personaly...
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2007, 07:55:58 pm »
Quote
Right now the game holds possibilites for a wide range of people.  Some of your suggestions would benefit everyone, others would only benefit those choosing your path (which is completely normal).  I just thought I'd add my perspective.

Considering the whole thing is still highly inbalanced or to be more precise it's not balanced at all it's basicaly just suggestions
that might be taken under advisment at some time in the future...

And yeah I always like hearing feedback on suggestions I make be it from player or dev or the $random passerby :)