Attenuated

@Chris I'm all for the exp cap but once you are attenuated it's very much Russian roulette on how long it is before you can re cap.

We're told it's an hour, but many a time I've lost the attenuated marker next to pooled exp between 20-40mins after I've stopped playing and gone back to exp'ing. Sometimes i can re-cap the full exp limit again and other times it's back on after like 5minutes with only 200-300k exp gained.

My question then is it an easy (ish) fix to keep the attenuated image on next to pooled exp until we can go back to grin.... roleplaying without having the guess work or setting our own stopwatch each time to measure out time (wasted) till we can go back to gaming.

During these frequent double exp sessions can the cap be increased too? It seriously gets boring very quickly sitting around for an hr every 10-20mins opposed to every 30-40mins. Yes I appreciate some players hate double exp and grinding whatever but likewise I hate role playing and dance parties before anyone suggests I try those activities in the downtime. I'd rather go do chores in RL, being able to know how long I need to be away would help.

 

Check this great post out by Mimner, I think it will explain what you have been experiencing.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...vatar-a-quantitative-study-math-heavy.130627/

 

I'd kinda just like a system that is simple enough that no one writes research papers about it.

 

Is pretty simple people, you max at 1 mil xp in one hour.

If you party clears Tears fast (15 mins) and you break for atten, then you have to wait longer (45 mins), again, its an hour. If you take a long time to clear it (45+ mins) then you have to wait a shorter amount of time to clear atten (15+ minutes). The longer you wait the more clears back down to 0.

What we need is a double of that 1 mil to 2 mil during 2x days. We were getting atten in Tears even without 2x XP pretty easily.

Simple fact is to me, its funner and vastly more productive to run Tears in normal times (not 2x) because the parties just run 24x7 and cycle people in perfectly. In 2x days, the parties end up breaking for variable amounts of time and its a logistical nightmare getting it started again.

Its actually easier for me to just solo the Rise for atten during 2x.

But again, the dev's did us one of the best "solids" in the entire time I have played this game creating tears. We finally have some seriously good group/part action going (as long as you dont end up with a party of 7 alts just afk farming in your group).

 

I actually haven't done Tears yet. I just went in once to make sure I knew where it was. But after all I heard about how quickly you hit the limit in there, I was in no hurry to go there during 2xp. I would rather get crafting XP anyhow, as my adventuring pool is up to 15m because I haven't felt like training much of anything except crafting.

 

This spells it out perfectly. I would only add that there is a very short period of time in between when your attenuation buff turns on and your experience slows to a crawl. Watch your exp and stop for the hour when it bottoms out.

It seems to me that the real issue is a lack of diminishing returns. The way attenuation works currently, exp can be gained without attenuation until you hit a cap, at which point the attenuation turns on and is very severe. If one were instead to introduce attenuation much earlier but turn it on very gradually then exp gains would not bottom out but would be truly diminishing. Move the cap from 1 million to 2 million if you want, but you're going to run into the same problem of people taking breaks once the devs introduce higher level content. Plus, its not like everyone kills the waves in tears in equal amounts of time, so exp per hour varies from group to group. That makes it very hard to come up with one perfect target exp per hour rate. Anyone over that target rate will be able to take breaks. If you make the gains diminishing then you'll always gain more exp by leveling continuously verses someone who is taking breaks.

 

Yup, we talked about this in the group this past weekend. It should be doubled during 2x xp to make up for the time difference.

And I agree they did us right when they included Upper Tears.

 

This is EXACTLY what I was thinking over the weekend. I was like... "OK, so we are all attenuated after that 20 minutes... Now we all break up and try to form another one later, and then it all falls apart, and we have to start from scratch trying to form up a good party again. Wonderful!"

This really needs to just be doubled all of the time, or at least for the 2X XP events.

 

Upper Tears is very fun. It is rewarding, I feel like I am a part of a team, I feel like goals can be met, I group much more now then I EVER have before. PLEASE do not nerf/destroy this! We need fun, rewarding places to group up!

 

100% absolutely agree!

@DarkStarr & Team Looking for Group (& finding a GOOD group) + Upper Tears CAVE = BEST addition to Shroud so far!
We need more scenes like this, as finally we have a Real & Tangible SOCIAL GAME.

5 GOLDEN STARS to the Dev team.!

 

LOL thx for the link from miner, I prefer the attenuated button is either on or off suggestion though

Hmmm I'd like to agree but as per another thread whilst most folks are decent enough there's been the odd one or two who seem to leech / don't understand efficient team work mechanics.

Me being me, I'm not shy in coming forward and have in party chat called out said leeches. Some have been shamed into actually participating while others are quite obviously AFK and not heard a dickie bird; worst of all though are the 'roleplayers' intent on running off to kill stuff well away from ring of fire / meteor storm etc. which I can only imagine are running through the 'pesky skelly or lich' solo for the groups benefit (that's as far as my rp goes) thus totally oblivious their basically holding up the waves of mobs for the whole group. Yes the simple solution you'd think is don't heal them, but alas there's always one good soul who is taking it upon themselves to keep said chimp alive.

I can put up with leeches, I'm happy with the odd low level guys n gals in group after a quick hit to help them progress and enjoy the game but RP hero's annoy the chuff out of the whole party (unless their all RP'rs) and needless to say that's when I tend to duck out of LFG and go duo UT with a guildie.

Another solution if group kick is to hard to implement for the devs, could be that the group leader has the ability to switch the group to PvP mode, someone can drop quickly then at least we could kill said muppet before carrying on.

Side note: Always interesting how groups fill up when you start them however there's not one available the nano second before you create said group

 

You bring up some very valid points & sentiments I share - bar one.... (The one at flagging a group PVP - Purely cos it would be abused by certain folks & this lil old UO Care-bear would die in a heartbeat.)
But I DO understand what you meant & I agree with the problems associated with certain group members.

We had one who joined the group, last night & turned up while we were busy fighting.
We looked over & saw he was actually sitting on the ground & not responsive when talked to. He hadn't even go into combat mode!!!
The Party Leader kicked them from the group.

I love UT & the LFG system, as it has helped me skill up (now mid 90's) & also learn a lot from other helpful players who I would probably never have met.

But LFG/grouping is definitely is abused by some....
I also despise the XP leeches who contribute nothing. Sad that there are people out there who do things like that!

As for your "side note".... YES posting a LFG definitely does get people to join.
I now have a list of people I enjoy grouping with & those who are leeches or problematic.

& No... I don't ever start a group, as personally, I don't want to deal with conflict & kick people from a group.
But I have whispered to group leaders when I notice the leeches & leave it to the Leaders discretion as to what to do or leave the group myself.

 

@Synergy Blaize hehe I was joking, the CB's would be crying a river if that got brought in to effect whinging about the nasty ebil PvP'rs

I do think LFG system needs refining though as with a revolving group once attenuated you are bound to have said leech end up as GL at some point that then defeats the whole process.

Another annoying factor I forgot to mention is the 'wave looters' FFS once we cleared all the waves there is more than enough time to loot up and roll, having to roll midway through killing stuff to keep folks alive is more than annoying, do folks need that extra candle, dirty chopping board etc. that much they can't just participate in killing with the rest of the group? Auto roll cannot come quick enough IMHO

re starting a group, go for it, you'd be surprised how easy it is and anything but a chore, you can even pass leadership once it's formed if you are more comfortable to someone you trust having grouped with them before.

 

@DarkStarr Just to be clear Synergy is talking aboout the cave, and not the rest of the zone, the rest of the zone is a bit meh. It looks nice but nothing of interest....

 

Autoroll is coming in R55 woohoo

 

Mimner's data confirms what high end players are experiencing and I agree with his conclusion that a better alternative would be to normalize attenuation over time. This would allow us to continue grouping longer without being interrupted by a meta wall.

As a player, it feels like a punishment for being too good at earning experience. I don't know the history/rationale exactly behind it, but I'm guessing the purpose is to level the playing field by trying to keep hardcore players from pulling too far away from the pack. Seems like there are other ways to do this; i.e. bonus exp gain for players that decreases to zero the closer they get to level 100 (and you can adjust the target level dynamically based on levels of player population).

 

All this is just my opinion, clearly.

Its like every other hard cap. Its a crutch to avoid proper game design. If you don't want people earning a zillion an hour then the things should be worth less or require more time to kill. I thought and still think the original point of attenuation was to keep exploiters from exploiting(till a patch could be created/applied) as they found new ways to power level with exploits. The idea being that no legit game play would ever be affected by it. Now its just understood that if you are a high level toon you'll hit this wall ....seems like a FAIL to me.

 

Very good first post! I agree. Welcome, friend.

 

Yep, I really wish the symbol was accurate myself, it is as starr said, but for those who dont know, it would be nice if the symbol did only go away when you were really unattenuated.

Personally, I like the breaks, get some crafting in, have a smoke, make a drink.

 

But why should someone that plays 4 hours a day discontinuously be allowed to make more experience than the player that does 4 continuously?