Overall playtime greater than skill

I am pretty concerned that a player with a greater playtime will ALMOST always beat a player with lesser playtime. Generally in games you have some sort of cap and skill comes into play. In this game there seems to be none of that. I time and again see a player with more xp beat a player with less, which is fine but with no cap this will always be the case right? I guess my problem is there is no level playing field ever to promote skilled combat.

 

Combat balancing for both PvE and PvP is sorely needed. But as we still don't have all skills in yet, it will be some time before any of that is done most likely. Supposedly, if you are within a certain unspecified range of another player you should be able to win. In most of my observations, higher grind beats technique (as our combat really has no technique to it). But the intention is to make it so down the road (towards "launch") skill should become a bigger factor. Not sure how they plan to implement it though.

 

There are pretty steep diminishing returns on both skills and gear, so you get more gains per time spent the less that you play. Someone who plays more should progress more though, otherwise there's not much point to playing (for most).

 

Deck build is usually the deciding factor. The thing with claiming that playtime > skill is that most people that have huge amounts of playtime logged ALSO have the skill, which is why they enjoy themselves enough to play so much. On multiple occasions when we still had wipes, we saw some of the top end players stay at level 50 or 60 intentionally. Those players still wiped the floor with everybody. The scaling on skills combined with diminishing return on what you gain from them is going to keep things relatively even. As much as i enjoy PVP, the game has been made so fast and easy in an attempt to keep PVP "fair" that if it was "balanced" any further the game would play itself for you.

 

Good to know.

 

I do see there are diminishing returns however that still does not stop the fact that a person that plays more still has a higher hp, damage, crit, avoidance ect and will win more often. At over 100 in a specific skill you still gain pretty steady. I just am saying I do not see an end point where it does become even and skill based or deck based or pressing the skills at specific times to counter other skills. The current xp rate I am experiencing still means that if I pump more hours into xping, I will be ahead of the competition because there is no cap ( and I been been playing a ton). I guess what I want to know is where does it become even like 150 in skills or 200? I am 110 in a few things still gaining steady, I pvp a lot and see the fact that time is greater skill.

 

Gaining steady in what though? most skills are pretty much as strong as they will ever be at 80, some innates keep improving at insane cost but will also cost allot to maintain the decay on. And quite frankly somebody who spent vastly more time training than his opponent SHOULD be stronger.. but this is mainly only true for PVE. PVP does get a bit of extra hp and focus out of it.

 

You are indeed correct that there are many skills that don't get a damn thing from leveling high. However there are many that do. Mostly the base weapon damage skills that seem to have a direct effect on other skills in the same tree. I am an archer so ranged combat, aimed shot, eagle eye, range, draw strength, disabling shot (not a ton but enough), rapid fire (not a ton but enough), str/health int/focus skills like you said, armor weak points (crit) and others seem to have no real diminishing returns. Some stuff I don't use like obsidian arrow gain benefits off these skills that defiantly mean you get good returns off high levels of things like strength. There are a lot more I am sure.

 

yeah the base weapon skills are definitely a good example. There is a point though (about 120-130) that it becomes soul destroying to try and raise them further.

 

That is what I wanted to know thank you. So the even playing field is 120-130.

 

Or - how good you are with what you've got....

 

If there was a point at which your character could no longer progress or get better, what reason would there be to play?
Someone who's been playing for years should be better than someone who has been playing for a few weeks. Why else invest years?

 

Because in most games the investment improves your skill and the skill let's you win. In SotA, investing time provides a direct benefit that almost always requires time to counter. Personally, I can pick up 9 out of 10 non-twitch-based multiplayer games and be competent in matches with veterans within a week of casual play and competitive in under a month. I'll never be competitive in SotA, too many folks have already invested enough time that I will never catch up, but that's fine, if I wanted to compete directly with other players, picking up an MMO would have been a horrible idea these days.

 

It astonishes me that with over 20 years of R&D to look back upon we are still having this discussion. I can't help but think there is a vast canyon between 'Players' and 'Developers'. The only conclusion I can come to is once a person becomes a 'developer' they lose the ability to be a 'player'. Recently I started toying with video editing, and it has forever changed the way I see videos, instead of enjoying the story...I analyze the cuts, instead of the intro music having a desired effect, a mental note is made of what sound they used and what effect they were going for.

Being a lifelong PvPer, I can describe to you within the smallest detail how to create a balanced, intriguing PvP world. I could outline for you all of the aspects that must be in place for that 'Heart Thumping' 'Rage inducing' feeling almost all of us are looking for. What I lack is the ability to form those ideas into a solid, restricted only by my own capabilities. So until I learn how to make games, or build a catapult large enough to launch my ideas across the canyon, guess I'm stuck with the developer's view of PvP. The question that bothers me the most is, if I learned how to make games, would I still see them the same?

 

yes, in this game right now the greater adv level = Win at this time. I usually lose all my PvP matchs against higher level people. I feel like I usually win all my matchs against people around my adv level. This makes me feel like I am pretty good at what I do and in the least makes me happy (especially since Im melee).

Saying this, if you have QA access, go look at the information posted that is going in R35. Lots of good stuff relating to this topic.

The devs are working on this stuff (yay).

 

I read the R35 post, and am genuinely excited for the new changes as well. Things are looking up

 

Lots of balancing to go.
Skills to get insanely nasty at 120 130.
Deck design and luck in the draw is usually a bigger factor. To a point. ( 5 days vs 5 years damn right you should loose. ) but 100 skill to 130 skill or 80 vs 100 is more relavent to deck management and play i find.

Lots of balancing to come yet so i wouldnt sweat it.

 

We're far from the ultimas where intelligence and strategy made you win.

I was a terror on the atlantic shard with my mage and he had 80ish skills... yet I could beat GROUPS of GM level people if I used a bit of distraction or strategy.

Really the more we go into WoW territory, the less I hope to even PvP... I'll just boycott it like I did for the housing rush, and nobody will care anyways.

What that means to boycott pvp ? Well I'll let people kill me by giving the other cheek, then I'll res and offer to give them all my equipment and start over.

Because I'll always be PVP enabled, all the way, in honor of the geniuses that gave us UO. I'm even thinking of going hardcore and deleting my character everytime I get killed...

really do, this man is desperate...

All men must die...

 

I'm sure this makes alot of us sorry that you missed UO...

 

When you decide to start doing this, can you hit me up first? Ill happily honor slay you.