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1 hr,200,000 exp poof, low lvl character

Discussion in 'Release 67 Feedback' started by Time Lord, Jul 9, 2019.

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  1. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

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    o_O Warning! <If you're a SOTA Fan Boy, "as I am", you may not like this SOTA review>

    SOTA, the EXP Game of the Miser;

    I had a single slice of Lord British's cake and 200,000 in my exp pool went poof after only 1/2 of the effects of a single slice of cake were used up.

    The character I was using was a low level tier 2 hunting area newby character, a character that a new player would be using after a few weeks of normal casual play.

    I don't think it should be normal to have such a drain with or without cake for our new player's to be facing a zero sum exp pool. I don't think it's good for our game.

    Does everyone run around with a zero exp pool?
    Do we think this is motivating new players?
    Should this be normal?

    I'm finding that I must have other games ready to fill in the gaps of my disinterest in SOTA due to low exp rewards.

    Don't get me wrong, "I'll still be playing SOTA forever", but if this continues (which it seems to persist), I just won't be playing that often, due to the content not being interesting enough to entertain me while I shut off all my skill gains to refill the the exp pool.

    I am happy that SOTA has begun to take up less computer space so I can include other games on my computer system without the need to reload the game. That fact is really going to help when my motivation to play more SOTA arises from time to time, which currently is about 3-5 times a month.

    I do understand that SOTA is attempting to motivate player's through content, yet the dominating factor in my own playtime motive is the "ability to gain", which I don't view as something I need to constantly manage as if I were a miser.

    The more SOTA can get me to play, the more I will spend on it's content.

    The LB Birthday Cake just enhanced my motives to play other games and I'm guessing helped those SOTA players who manage to have a large exp pool.

    The psychology of player retention seems to lay within the combat exp pool, because the second that another player tells me that I need to somehow "manage it", is the second I must begin seeing my character as a robot instead of any idea that "I am the Avatar". Having to flip switches on and off as to what's going into my character's brain, blows my immersion as well as interest in our game.

    ~Cmdr Space Time~ of Elite Dangerous o_O <where the emptiness and duldrum of space is more immersive>
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2019
  2. Sean Silverfoot

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    If he only had 200k in his pool, it wasn't a good time to use the cake, and he doesn't understand how the pool works. To me, it's that simple.
     
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  3. Anpu

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    Should have probably saved it till you had a larger xp pool......
     
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  4. Time Lord

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    :)
    For me, this answer misses the point of the post, because it's root cause is the lack of exp being given to the new player through what they're killing. The cake was only a side issue, as the exp pooled the character/account had, was not gained through hunting at a normal pace, because at a normal pace, the pool drains none the less.

    My depth of understanding the pool, is that exp is gained through quest or kills and in the event of zero sum, a player can choose to shut off certain skill gains, or continue to be zero sum where the exp is drained through a trickle.

    If the answer to the above is that a player needs to shut off and turn on skills for their "proper (?)" management, then I'm stating that seems to be more robotic than my SOTA immersion ability.

    Truly there's no way to motivate through excuses which I see as bad game design (in this exp area). Motives in gaming are individual by nature and have no right or wrong. Some may accuse me on their own motivation values of somehow being wrong, yet I am no bot, I am simply a game player who's participation in gaming, helps to pay the bills.


    My guess is that you are not a player who's "go too to play character" is at such a low level as to understand such a motivational problem. One cannot relate when one is not in the same position to relate.

    :) No offence intended and I know not on your's as well, I just don't think you are relating well to new player motives which may better continue their motive in play.


    Yes, it's the saving part which seems to be at the heart of my deflating motives. I don't want to save and I think it's part of an ingame balance problem. The motive to work does not equal my motive to play, which is linked with my exp gains and lack there of.

    Other player's motive levels are different, both far more as well as the far less. If our game design is "shooting for less motive" then I can say I'm at a ceiling within mine with our current SOTA. What I'm saying here is, that I'd like for there to be more motive for my personal tastes in gaming.

    Is there a misunderstanding of the exp pool? <I wouldn't waist my typing attempting to change my review, as I consider most of the many such explanations including my own to be "excuses for, or understandings needed for bad gaming design" when it comes to earning exp.

    This is an extremely old subject which has been historically argued over since the beginnings of our game. It's an Achilles Heel which we accepted long ago as never going away and therefore "needs a certain understanding" or else one is identified as heretic to what has been accepted and accommodated through explanation for. If one does not accept the explanation as being motivational to play, then we say "They don't understand".

    There may be many or few that don't understand, yet there's something or many small things that cause our game not to be as motivating to often play for many gamers, or we would have more players.

    We have paintings for sale in the COTO store of players who no longer play, as well as ONBE recipients who no loner play, so there must be some reasons, if not this, another or for many reasons. Maybe they just don't or didn't understand? I myself accuse my own self of having made excuses for years for our game's lacking in many ways, yet my own personal excuses are my own and also cannot be said to be the "end all, be all" of anyone else's game review. They were either motivated or not to play or continue to play our game through their own standards.

    I'm still here, property invested, company stock invested, continually financially supportive and playing our game, just not as much as I'd like to be motivated to be playing it more than I do.

    I believe in SOTA, yet I do not believe our exp gains are good for the better retention of our newer players <---<<< That's my review :D and what this post is all about.

    ~Time Lord~
     
  5. Barugon

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    The only time that experience does your avatar any good is when that experience is in skills. ;)
     
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  6. Arya Stoneheart

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  7. Time Lord

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    Better game design has always been something that our Portalarium team strives for...

    So the answer is, that we cannot change, thus we must teach others that there's a need to compensate for lacking in better game design?
    "Forgive me, but I the Time Lord cannot accept that, and will be as I have always been, constantly in search of better."

    Chris was discussing this very same subject during today's live stream, yet addressing it in regards to higher level hunting adjustments of gained exp needing to be made.
    "Are we saying here that he needs not change a thing to better our game design?" I think not.

    Darkstarr demonstrated how a log in exp giveaway was very motivational for old & new players which was very successful.
    This motivational tool seems at conflict with the standard answer, "They need to better understand our exp pools."

    I do wish our current player's were more open to making suggestions or stating opinions to aide our better gaming design for the new player experience.


    "There was once a world which seems now lost here within our forums, or excluded, to now, but a few, where player creativity could better flourish".
    We seen to be far beyond now, our world "Rytabul"...

    http://oev.hilands.com/books.php?id=25
    ~Time Lord~
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2019
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  8. Barugon

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    I don't get it. There is no need to "manage" your exprience pool anymore. Decay on death was eliminated, so why would you think that you need to maintain some minimum?
     
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