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A random thought on XP, leveling, grouping, and making many locations of the game more fun.

Discussion in 'Release 50 Feedback Forum' started by Elas TheWise, Feb 9, 2018.

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  1. Elas TheWise

    Elas TheWise Avatar

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    @Chris
    You are talking about fixing the monkey room. I think it could use some work but I think the real fix would be distributing the XP hunting to more locations. Lets face it, if you fix the monkey location the masses will hunt for the next best solo xp spot and start there. You will be following the masses and fixing the areas but never correcting the over all issue. I think you could get ahead of the curve by controlling the cap better and letting the masses roam. Here is an interesting idea for you to ponder over.....

    1) Lower the xp debuff cap from 1 mill an hour to maybe 800k.
    2) Increase the xp given for all mobs by a percent say 20%
    3) Set a condition that if in a group (of 3 ore more if you can) the cap goes from 800k to 1 mill per hour.
    4) Set a condition that if in a group (of 3 ore more if you can) and in a control point the XP debuff cap is raised to 1.2 mill per hour.

    This would spread out the farming locations to many different locations. You would not have to increase and deal with the issues that come form messing with the spawn rate at multiple locations. Increasing the fun and reducing the monotony of gaining xp. It could keep more people in multiplayer mode and likely more PVP flagged for the extra boost. As right now there is 2 real farming locations and those that are not the top of the food chain know we have to be in friends only to make the numbers. It would also encourage partnering up for xp. (lets face it with the current bonus for partnering and the splitting of the xp, grouping is not well liked.) This would also push people to the control points to gain the best xp, but would allow people to run the quest and explore areas while still gaining a quality amount of xp. The lower cap would keep those solo many hours in a row players from getting over powered too fast.

    Just trying to give an idea to help keep the game I love well populated and running strong! Keep up the good work!
     
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  2. Andartianna

    Andartianna Avatar

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    The cap is already working as intended which was to make grouping easier for control points with out going over the 1million mark. That was already 200k to 400k less that what people could get soloing. I would love for groups to just get even exp for everyone. I also agree that it would be nice to have more locations closer to the million mark. There are a few we have been testing in the Rise and Fall that get around 800k which isnt bad but just not as great as the monkies at the moment for solo. Control points are still better exp group wise.
     
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  3. Stundorn

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    If the game (endgame) is only about xp/ hour grinding and skill progression, then this game lacks a lot.

    You can read it all over the place.
    Portalarium until now failed imo to create a worthwhile sandbox game.

    Economy is broken, groupplay isn't rewarding or really fun. Everything feels more like a SP game and that only for one time, after completing few quests, if ever available and be able to beat the mobs there with ease there is nothing why you want to come back. End up grinding xp or ressources.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2018
  4. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    Portalarium until failed ?
    I know English is not your native tongue, and I usually follow your gist... But what do you mean by Portalarium until failed ?
     
  5. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    Yup.... Groups of people having fun together is what makes even mediocre games stay alive...
    And SotA has the potential of being much more than mediocre ....
     
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  6. Albus

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    I'd like to see more areas be more rewarding in terms of xp as well. More locations with viable xp gain would be helpful, so that you can vary your hunting/grinding experiences to have a relatively fresh feeling. I wish I could walk into any of the t5 zones to get xp instead of say 1 or 2 zones being optimal and the rest underwhelming, such that you do not travel for variety (never mind special locations such as "monkey room"). Bigger t5 zones with denser populations of foes and less "waiting for respawns" would be nice. t5 zones with more than 1-2 "camps" with viable xp creatures would be helpful so that you are encouraged to move around more, see some variety as you fight, and not feel slighted on xp because you did not choose between 1 or 2 primo xp zones.

    Also would like to see more "wandering monsters" within zones, to keep you on your toes more and for colour/variety (i.e., not just the same expected patrol every time, suppose various creatures in the zone could spawn patrols at various times, so you cannot predict "Oh here is that elf patrol that always comes by this area" but instead see something different come through (Satyrs or whatnot, appropriate to zone in question).

    In short, more high-end areas with similar xp opportunity, rather than beefing up 1 or 2 zones; bring all t5 zones up to speed for more variety in hunting (with same suggested for adding higher tiered zones). Along with more random patrols/wanderers to keep things more fresh.
     
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  7. Andartianna

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    utterly maybe ?
     
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  8. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    Ok, that would work......
    Not sure how utterly got translated to until, but utterly makes more sense...... ;)
     
  9. Stundorn

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    Thank you for the hint.

    I edited it. Until now failed imo to create...

    There need to be more and other aspects than just skill progression grind.
    That is not what a sandbox imo is about .
    A sandbox is about metagameplay, roleplaying, negotiating, guild wars and alliances, trading and region control and many more.
    Until now the endgame lacks all this and with the actual system where nobody depends on another it will never become like that.
    Diminishing returns are less.
    With Masteries cost 10 times what Stat Skills cost it's only more grinding.
    And it actually is only about grinding and xp/ hour.
    Economy is not existent, see Elronds post.
    The measures are compeletely wrong.
    So many imbalance and the wide gap between players and all that make it impossible to create a living sandbox.
    Even if 10k players will join , they would skill apart very fast.
    Some join the progress train and take support to gain xp very fast the other part will progress very slow.
    There is no Basis to create an even playing field where people depend on each other and interact / compete.
     
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  10. Weins201

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    ;):cool::confused::rolleyes::mad:
     
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  11. Weins201

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    All this talk is a joke because it is NOT the Monkey Room that is broken it is / was the FACT that players have Gamed the Play to a level not expected so fast the there IS an end game and MANY of the players have reached it.

    Fix the Problem - Bite the reset bullet - get over it and them you can FIX, what is/was broken.
     
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  12. Elas TheWise

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    Two things with this....

    Biting the bullet will explode in their mouths. Many players having put in insane hours of play will likely leave and it will leave a bad taste close to release. Those end game players have put in the time to get there. There is no reason to go back on their word and yank the rug out from under people.

    The Monkey room is a bit off if you look at it from a perspective of grinding capabilities. If they opened up the field to more areas and made this just a bit more end game things would be level.
     
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  13. danjacobsmith

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    I would consider lowering the hourly cap significantly. If you want people to group make the single player cap much lower and increase the cap with each extra person.

    As an example 300k for single player and an additional 100k per person in the party. Now almost every tier 5 zone works for single players and people have reasons to group.

    I'm sure the current power gamers will hate it, but it would balance things out and create incentives to grouping.
     
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  14. eli

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    I'm a power gamer, and i love your proposal. Being a power gamer is not the same thing as doing the same thing over and over again all day every day. It's more about figuring out what the best things to do are, and combining them in a clever way.

    Your proposal adds more intricacy to the experience system, which means more opportunity for power gamers to get creative. It adds a problem with many optimization strategies, along with an incentive to share solutions.

    There is a technical hitch, though:

    For XP per kill, the formula is based upon number of party members in 40 meter radius, rather than number of party members. Assuming this follows the same anti-abuse system, it would be nontrivial to compute whether you have reached your hourly cap and deserve the debuff. For instance, if you're in a group of 8, and get 500k/hr, then step away for a minute and your party moves on, do you get the debuff? does it go away if you catch up to your party? If not, and in the absence of a novel anti-abuse mechanism, parking alts at the scene entrance would become a problem again.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2018
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  15. Elas TheWise

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    The debuf only needs to be on actively gained xp so a 40 meter radius should be fine. If the check is every 10 min projecting forward they could get a debuf if they are making too much on their own or split up just at the end of the 10 minute count. It would clear if they are not making that much or regrouped by the next check so it should even out. I am sure there are other options as well. I am just running one avenue here. I really just think that there should be more xp to be had all over so we do not feel like we are wasting time doing other things. It is like the "top level" gear. In many games there is top level gear and if you are not running it you are sub par. Same for xp gain. It level up your skills to be competitive you need to be gaining xp. If there is one or two spots that are xp heavy and that is it, you must be there to be competitive. If there is more xp to be had we could actually get deeper into it enjoy the game all over the place.
     
  16. kaeshiva

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    While there are a lot of zones in the game, many, many of them are just not lucrative. I'm not talking about minmax or spreadsheeting here, but just going by the general feel of what you're getting for the time you spend in a zone compared to another.

    It doesn't take a player very long to advance to the point where they can do 5skulls. And 5skulls is where most of us stay, except for the occasional group foray somewhere harder - which usually ends up being less lucrative than staying in 5 skull, due to poor loot, and the group xp split making it so you'd actually be better off doing far easier content on your own, in terms of xp/gold gained during your play session. Not to mention the loss if you die, which unless you're doing some sort of intense grind is going to set you back considerably, at higher levels at least a couple hours, if not days of your 'normal gameplay'.

    There aren't that many 5 skull zones out there, but not all 5 skulls are equal. This is why we repeatedly see the same handful of zones 'crowded' and others are complete ghost towns. This has little to do with placement on the map or convenience and everything to do with resource/mob density.

    Really, I think it would be nice if some of the less visited 2/3 skull zones were beefed up a bit and their ratings upped. Some of them look really cool and are interesting, but after you've played the game for a month or so at a decent clip you're really ready for 4/5 skull, easily. Even moreso now that the outskirts questlines give you a significant starting boost. There's far too many 1/2/3 skull zones - you'll outlevel them all long before you can explore them all, really.

    Respawn is a problem in some zones as well - the 'initial' spawn when you zone into a scene is usually pretty good, but after you've done a couple of circuits it thins out considerably. This is more noticeable in some places than others. I think if this was fixed it would make some of the less appealing zones, more so. One example is Sequanna Colossus that the upon-entry spawn has 10 or so wolves in the wolf spot, a mix of elder/obsidian, 10 or so skeletons in each of the ruins, and 8 corpions in the corpion spot, and a nice cultist spawn both above and below. This used to be a GREAT zone before the spawners went wonky - I live right near there so I'm pretty familiar with it. No matter what you do (kill them, don't kill them, kill everything else, wait for time to elapse, etc.) the 'respawns' of these locations only come back at about half strength so if you run the whole zone a couple times you end up spending more time running around looking for something to fight, than killing. This is even more disheartening if you're with a group. If the zone kept the critter population up better, then this, and other zones with the same problem, would be awesome places to go. Instead, everyone funnels to the same 2-3 places all the time where the spawners do keep up.
     
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