Does Decay kill Specialization?

Yep!! No reason to even have decay in the game... Really should scratch the whole decay thing and give everyone exp back from the deaths since it's been in. It's not like high levels are "GODS" We just have more skills at our fingertips, Skills that do a small amount more dmg at the cost of focus... Since most skills don't really benefit much from taking it higher (except maybe melee/range tier 1 passives) that cost way to much exp to mean anything. Even trying to get to a higher level is getting meh! With the recent HP nerf to everyone.. More so for the higher levels, its another nerf to hurt people who want to keep playing. Eventually people will stop playing once they reach a certain point because the game just isn't rewarding enough to warrant the time and effort needed for just a few grains of salt. #makesotagreatagain

 

Hard cap should be implemented at circa 110, and be done with it.

I realize this is not the same game I pledged for during Kickstarter, but the past several months Shroud is starting to feel more like an experiment than a game ... as in testing on subjects to see how much punishment testers can take
before they leave for good.

 

Also we can't really have a cap of how many skills we can GM cause the current lame resistances mobs have and the soon changes to mobs resisting melee types. We need to have a jack of all trades for all skills. The current resistances also need to be toned down A LOT! Swear the whole resistances for mobs that were put in were to make everyone stop playing a mage type char. Now that we have many more melee/range type players i think its time to fall back on the resistances. But yeah the whole resistances thing can be talked about in a new thread ;x

 

Yes this is one of the biggest issue I have with the way the skills work - you HAVE to raise everything to be able to fight everything, and then get punished for raising everything with higher decay....

 

eh . just looking at the numbers decay seems to be a non issue. everyone will probably reach some equilibrium in low 100s. someone talented might have a slightly higher equilibrium, but wint really have too much of an advantage

 

Decay is definitely an issue. Sure you can talk about equilibrium and whatnot, but it discourages participation. People aren't going to do risky things and help friends because they don't want to loose their XP. Selfish? Sure, but only because the game forced it. Why the flip would a game introduce a mechanic that makes you want to NOT go do things in the game. That is stupid, end of story.

 

That's an interesting comment. So do you think having "less skill cards" is very effected with this beyond those who have many?

Same question as above yet I'd like to hear your spin on it. "How will this effect the locked 5 card players?"

Anybody? ~Time Lord~

 

Funny I say that about PvP... why would I play a mode that I might lose something... so I don't. Port want's Risk vs Reward. What I keep hearing is everyone wants the rewards with no risks. Like I asked earlier in the thread... what are players willing to risk to get the rewards? Maybe players need to back off on high level skills so they don't lose as much, maybe avoid staying in a fight until they die ... I hate games where I lose my entire inventory when I die, so I don't play those or avoid dying.

Port's mechanic to limit growth and to toss in some risk is' decay'. I think if both Port and Players balance things right it's not bad. I know I'm not going to try and get dozens of GMs... I'm going to strive for a point where when I die, I lose a reasonable amount of xp, something I can live with. That will force me to specialize somewhat. Players that want constant growth and all the GMs are not what Port wants and have made that clear numerous times.

So if players are afraid to do risky things to help friends due to xp loss... what are they doing when they are not helping friends? Arn't they taking risks then or are they just playing it safe to grind? Maybe players need to back off on trying to max everything out.

 

Thats not rly true. I get alot more decay with one skill on 120 then with three skills on level 100. Its like a Pyramid. The only way would be to level only a few to 100 and stop leveling forever. But thats not specialisation, thats restriction.

What rewards? My Armor repair costs are heigher then the sum of the Dragon loot and you have 2-6 Players who want something
Its only risk and no reward atm.

Decay over Time based on the invested XP and a Armor/Weapon Decay on Death + a stackable stat debuff for some minutes would be way more better and fair.
The most Games follow a simple rule: Hard cap on Level und Skills but unlimited Armor gain. Farming Armor with better stats on and on to improve your Character.
I thought SotA is the opposite, work on your Character and give Armory the limitation. But it looks like they want to limit us now and i am honest, if it turns out that porta goes the item spiral way .... then im out.

 

Port has always said there were going to be limits on character growth... they never claimed they were trading gear growth for character growth.

Also, as I've pointed out they still need a lot of balance... the rewards still suck for the risk. But if players were expecting open ended character growth then they didn't pay attention to the dev hangouts over the last four years. Hardcore grinders will be able to keep more skills at higher levels but with the trade off that they will have to grind more xp each time they die. The average player will find a balance of xp loss vs skills and risk that suits them.

... sounds like specialization to me. The game was meant to have restrictions. I can't have a lot of skills at 100 either, I don't like the xp loss even at that level. Port was expecting players to have a few at 100, some around 80, and most in the 40 - 60 range. Too many players seem to think specialization is one skill at 120. the difference between the 100 and 120 is negligible as some have pointed out already. Maybe some players will find it easy to maintain a dozen skills at 100 others may not. But 120 was never meant to be the idea of specialization. Port just stuck in the higher possibility of skill levels but never really meant for the average player to reach it let alone maintain it.

 

And what expected Porta how long they play? 1 Month? Level 80 is just a short break befor it get to 100. You dont rly have to work to GM something, if you focus in 1 skill you can reach it very very fast and if you have your first on
it goes even faster. They failed in this Point cause casuals cryed that they dont want to grind and everything takes to long. And for active players everything is to fast and just a joke.
Every time they talked about limits, the answer was: we have a soft cap on level 200, but nobody will every reach that! When i want to spen 1 year and millions of xp leveling some bullshit to get 3% more in a skill then let me do it!

According to Porta in hangouts you will need a long time to finish something.
According to Porta in hangouts the Game is 80% finished.
According to Porta in hangouts you will get high rewarded for everything you do.
According to Porta in hangouts they will never do a Questionmark based Quest System (but to blue Glow **** was just a mistake/test)
There where so many things told and withdrawn over the time or just swept under the table.

So, i am on the Point where Porta wants me to stop leveling, and i have n "okish" amount of money, multiple GMs in crafting and adventuring. I do Roleplay and seen every map and every dungeon, beat nerly every Boss.
What is Porta´s idea of endgame from your side? @cartodude

 

Like I've said a number of times, the game wasn't and isn't balanced. Read Chris's blog where he points out the mistake about control points. I'm not defending them on this at all... just pointing out that their plan was to have soft limits using decay as their mechanic. I'm not going to complain when I finally reach the limit on my character with xp gain vs decay... I knew there was a limit, but then I'm not a min/max'r or a hardcore grinder so I've still got a long ways to go before I hit my upper boundary. Port though miscalculated how determined some players would be to push the limits.

And (as much as I hate to say the obvious...) the game is nowhere near done so there is no 'end game' content yet, heck there's no mid game content yet, just grinding if you enjoy that stuff. Also the game is eventually supposed to have more episodes, so who knows what kind of content they'll add then and how that might effect leveling. Can't say yet. Also keep in mind that they are creating a story... so like most games with 'stories' they generally are not open ended.

I'm at a loss to understand why players think leveling was/is open ended. Players will level to the point they have the skills they want at the point the xp/decay balances out for them. That's the cap. But I'm still hoping that when I max out there will eventually be other fun stuff to do. Don't know what Port's plans are though.