Compromise: When you GM, better notification but no giant explosion

Discussion in 'Skills and Combat' started by Vladamir Begemot, Jun 8, 2019.

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  1. Vladamir Begemot

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    We were running, and one of our guildmates didn't realize he had just GM'd Dash.

    It seems like hitting GM on a skill should never be something you miss due to it just being the little 'wheee' level up effect. Summon some fireworks, or a comet, or lightning from the sky, a one time automatic "Highlander" emote, something.

    Edit: Figured it out.

    I'm talking about a giant bolt of lightening striking you so you and everyone around you goes "Ooooooh gratz!" "Ding!" "Whoa!" and ten people who were just surfing the Twitch stream immediately go download this amazing freaking experience.

    The Quickening (Highlander) emote plays and you are invulnerable during it.

    You know what? It's a big moment, lets have it cause a huge AOE blast at the same time. Try to time your GM Blast for when you are fighting a boss.

    Make it separate chain lightnings shooting in every direction. Do it in a pack of elves.

    Another Edit: Lightning for no reason makes no sense, so we can cut that (unless someone comes up with a lore friendly reason ;) ) but I think a happy making notification seems to be accepted as a good thing now.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2019
  2. Barugon

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    But getting a skill to 100 doesn't give you any added bonus above and beyond the linear benefit progression that any other level gets you. It does provide a training bonus to those in your party though.
     
  3. Vladamir Begemot

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    So we should put out a note saying "GM's mean nothing, stop being proud"?

    Or we should celebrate them and not miss them because people like that kind of thing?
     
  4. Barugon

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    Sure, ok.
     
  5. Vladamir Begemot

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    It's all about the Dopamine.
     
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  6. redfish

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    GM should at least mean a title. Master Bladesman, etc.

    When they put that in, it would also make sense to have some type of in-game notification at the event of getting a GM.
     
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  7. Vladamir Begemot

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    One way or another, meaningful or not, people like hitting GM. It's an important moment because it is the ONLY game acknowledged milestone in the path.

    When I discover that I GM'd something later it is anti-climactic.

    Games are all about this sort of stuff, and we can ignore them but it does no service to the overall experience.
     
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  8. redfish

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    Do we already have a balloon help thingy that pops up for the GM arrow when a person reaches GM, so they know they can at that moment apprentice other players?

    Anyway, Vlad is right that from a UI and gameplay perspective visual cues are important to let players know what's happening. I would expect the GM arrow when it first appears to glow or sparkle or something, and have the same visual cues applied on the GM arrow to also apply to the level up animation.
     
  9. Jezebel Caerndow

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    How about pay attention to the game. We need to stop catering to the ignorant cuz it just makes them more and more ignorant. If they had full attention on the game that would not have happened, do we really want mindless zombies playing the game all over the place? Its like people who text and drive, then because they didnt notice the red light and ran it, we change all street lights to have fireworks and spotlights and bells and whistles. And guess what, the mindless zombie does not pay more attention, they pay less attention cuz they think they can.
     
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  10. Vladamir Begemot

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    Respectfully, a game designer with an enraptured audience you will never make.

    A great player of a game, sure, but

    is a great strategy used early on in Shroud to successfully eliminate a large portion of the player base.

    Audio as well. The loss of the audio designer was one of the biggest hits to the staff, although few people realize it.
     
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  11. Jezebel Caerndow

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    There is a noise, there is a effect that happens around you, if you have the skill sidebar enabled, there is another visual right there. It does not matter what you do, if a person is not paying attention, they are not going to either way without a physical slap to the face.
     
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  12. redfish

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    Hey @Mac2

    I'm definitely against mindless zombie gameplay, which is why I'm personally very much in favor of game immersion. I don't liked the inventory maps over the current map window, like bulletin boards over vendor searches, I like astrology and weather influencing game play, and I can go on about that, but I think most players on the forums know where I'm coming from.

    Still, I think we're actually talking about a basic UI type of issue here, because in order to support more complex gameplay, you have to teach people while they're playing. Otherwise, the pressure is for the devs to reduce and simplify the gameplay because players can't figure it out. They can try to make players read tutorial books and such, but players aren't going to do that. Or else, you're assuming other players are teaching them. I'm not sure anything as overwhelming as fireworks or lightning is necessary, but I do think Vladamir is on the right track.
     
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  13. Vladamir Begemot

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    Here's a "You just GM'd!" celebration:

    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Vladamir Begemot

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    Remember, GM'ing is a once time event per skill. One that takes millions of XP. A bit of celebration isn't going to break anyone's life, and @Mac2 doesn't have to witness it even once because he's already done with it.

    Meanwhile, for those of us who it is a big deal for, we'll really enjoy it instead of someone else saying "Hey man, you just got a GM!"
     
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  15. OzzyOsbourne

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    wtb fireworks
     
  16. redfish

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    Yea, but even look past this one issue for a second and look at the big picture... I've always felt the whole progression system was pretty dry.

    The skills have an arbitrary number you have to reach to train for the next skill on the tree, and the only way you know this out is by paying attention to small type on tooltip in the skill tree, supposing you've even looked at the skill tree or been to a trainer, as a new player. The way you get to the skills window is either by figuring out to press K or going through a looong menu of tiny menu items, hunting and pecking, and finding Skills. Or I guess you can click the trackers if you think of that. Then you have to move attention away from your direct experience in the game world to small bars and numbers to see when you're "ready" to progress. Nothing in the game world tells you that you're ready enough to progress, you just have to pay attention to tiny numbers. Then you go to a skill trainer, hand him gold, and voilĂ , you have a new skill.

    Nothing about this screams role-playing, first of all, and second, its asking players to figure out the UI more than to pay attention to what's happening around them in the world.
     
  17. Jezebel Caerndow

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    By the time your gming a skill, you should know what a level up looks and sounds like. A person paying attention will know ok I'm level 99 now, I gotta keep an eye on this to turn it off once it hits 100, if that is your plan to stop at 100. They have already put effort into making a level up noticeable twice now, first time with the sound and yellow whoosh thing, and then with the skill sidebar. How often are we going to get the devs to put effort into this before we finally realize the fault is not the devs or game but the player. Like drivers who dont pay attention and hit parked cars or even semis and buildings. If you are not paying attention, you are not paying attention and this is on the person themselves.
     
  18. redfish

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    @Vladamir Begemot

    Anyway, I've always thought every 20 levels you went up or something you should be considered to have gained a new level of mastery. Move from Apprentice to Journeyman to Master to GM -- something like in UO. And the game would tell you somehow that you've reached a new level of mastery.

    And this would make the skill progression numbers make a little more sense, since the requirements are based off multiple of 20s. Or instead of every 20 levels, use the numbers on the skill tree that are required to progress to determine the titles.
     
  19. Jezebel Caerndow

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    Fister had the ultimate idea to solve this. I command that would stop a skill once it hit a certain level. Like if you typed /skill dash max 100. Not only would this solve the problem of people over leveling skills, but would also enable perfect efficiency on spending exp into your skills. Sometimes I will have 200 mil in the pool and the last cast of the skill goes well over the minimum of the next level where I want to stop at. Those little bits of exp add up when you have lots of skills and use big pools when you level skills.
     
  20. redfish

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    @Mac2

    That helps old players who have learned /slash commands and want various methods of powergaming to help them out, but I'm thinking of these issues just as much from the perspective of new players.

    I honestly think something like the tiered mastery as I described above would work pretty good for them and help make the entire skill system more intuitive, RPish, and immersive as a whole. And then probably Fister's solution could actually fit in pretty nicely: instead of a slash command (or in addition to it), have an training option in the skill UI to "train to next mastery level".
     
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