Allow Players to control Double XP via Control Points

This is just an idea I had when replying to another thread that I *think* in general might be a interesting idea, at least.

Basically within a 24 earth hour period, if all 4 control points have been cleared at least once, everyone would now have a buff icon that last for a certain duration that grants Double XP. Just like the regular Double XP you turn off and on occasionally. It could also possibly be only a 1X bonus to xp. But that might feel too little a reward.

I do think this could actually engage the player base more as well as make more use for the Looking for Group function.

Now for the complicated part:

In general, completing all four of the Control Points is something a group of players can achieve currently. And then what would be the reward of such an activity (clearing all 4 Control points at least once)? Double XP for an hour? 2 Hours, 1 Day, 2 days etc... That's the answer I don't know.

Just throwing this idea out there, and want to also know what other people think.

Bonus Feature: Upon completing all 4 Control Points, a server wide message goes out. Something like "Prosperity returns to New Britannia as the forces of the Control Points have been controlled for now..."
And then at the reset time: "The forces of the Control Points regain their control..."

Thank you for your time!

@Bridge Troll

 

I'd like to see something extremely challenging that could only be done by coordinated groups that could unlock double XP for the whole server and reward those who took an active part in those groups with triple XP (total). No idea what that would actually be. But, something impossible for even a full group of top tier players to handle.

I don't think we would want a short-term reward as it could get boring pretty quick. If we could come up with something truly challenging, maybe it unlocks the global boost for 2-4 weeks. Maybe pull in some of that work that was done for the astronomy so this could only be unlocked during a few celestial events a month.

 

Sorry, don't mean to be a negative nancy, but I'm not really a fan.
If there's going to be a change to the advancement rate, I don't think its nice or fair to gate it behind "players get together and do something to earn xx time". Firstly, this is bad for people in non prime timezones. Extra bonuses to the "people who did the thing" eliminates everyone else, and people who play during quieter times would never get a chance to benefit from it. Secondly, since CPs are in themselves usually a vehicle for grinding experience, I can't imagine a scenario in which this bonus would ever be "off" since people obviously want it, you'djust be adding the tedium of "oh, thing's worn off, gotta go hassle with it" which just becomes a chore, esp since clearing all waves of a CP doesn't take particularly long and quite a few of them can be done with just a couple of people. Seems like a lot of hassling about but wont really change anything. Either xp is always on, or its always on for people who play primetime. So just turn it on and move on with it. Having to do an INDIVIDUAL quest to turn on your double makes more sense, but it would be better if it was a certain QUANTITY of rested/bonus experience as opposed to a length of -time-. It just seems a lot more fair, and you could diversify activities instead of just parking on the boat.

Not a fan of the "superchallenge" gateway to bonus either, because we'll have same problem we have now except with added demoralization. "Oh, bonus isn't on, and I'm not powerful enough / there's nobody on doing it...guess I'll log off and do something else." And if it never gets turned on during your timezone or, on your days off because you work weekends, then...well, too bad. And if it stays on constantly, then, you've just added what will become a really boring repetitive task to achieve status quo - so as per previous - just turn it on and leave it (or leave it off).

I'd rather see a return of the previous "daily bonus" system with a daily set experience amount (say the first 20 million, or whatever) achieved at a double rate and normalizing thereafter - this would eliminate the "global toggle" pain of people not wanting to do anything but grind, be fair regardless of geography, stop disinterest in non-xp activities/scenes/events because "omg double", etc. etc. But still be limited each day to curb extreme 20 hr daily grind activities somewhat. You'd control when you burn off "your" bonus and if you couldn't get a power-group, you could still burn it off elsewhere more slowly without losing anything. It would be a great incentive to encourage daily login as well.

In this sort of scenario, if you had 20 million "bonus" experience, you could do a couple airships or CPs and you've burned it off- proceed with your day as normal. Or you could just runaround tier 5 for 5-6 hours doing easier/more casual stuff and burn it off, you'd get the same amount of bonus xp as someone who chose to powergrind without having to actually sit and do tedious content.

One thing's for sure - the current global toggle on, global toggle off system that we have - is rather infuriating. Nobody wants to do anything fighty because double's off, and when its on, nobody wants to do anything else. It very much manipulates activity planning and not in a postiive way.

 

Frost giant wave battle

 

That I do not like (I get it though). Consider this proposal a more.... The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few type of thing. It rewards everyone, not specific people. The giant dangling carrot of Double XP is I feel is impetuous enough to motivate people to such an activity. As Bridge Troll so eloquently said in chat earlier today about Double XP.... the precious....

Fair point, it should then have an extended period of time to cover such people too. As well as participation in effecting such an event.

I do like that, but I don't like the behavioral pattern that emerges from that. It's too static.

That's a really good point, as many of the celestial mechanics aren't tied to a timezone and can happen at many different times. That adds an element of different times for everyone.

 

I like this, but bigger. Maybe something like "drop 2 frost giants in 45 minutes on the same server". Not sure they spawn like that now, so maybe we need to issue a "/2Xchallenge" to start a multi giant event/challenge timer

I want to clarify - for me it is the excitement of making an event folks may attend - if 2x EXP is too big of an ask, 2x Craft EXP, or a %off for obsidian potion and/or cotos...

The important thing is a community that actively fights to make their community better/more pleasant

 

No no no. Unending waves, twelve giants at a time.

 

If - and I am unconvinced it should be 'gated' by us - you want something to let all the players contribute to getting the extra XP, base it on logins and 'active' players of over a base time (maybe 1 hour or longer) to encourage everyone to join in a bit. It's how the Castle Atos generalised buff works, the more people around, the better it gets - if you have to use anything to trigger the XP boost, build on that model and include ALL of the playerbase. The 'boss fights' can give other stuff, for those who enjoy them and can use or trade the things they get there. Making those more 'attractive' of themselves is a fair enough aim but it should not really be a mechanic that affects the much bigger numbers of players who don't do them, either to their benefit or deficit.

Human nature being what it is, if it's something small groups can trigger you can bet your life although many (I suspect more in SotA than in most other mmos) people will do it for 'free', several others will be complaining they should get something more for their 'effort'.....

 

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope,.........

Controling Exp should only be for promoting the game ~TL~

 

I guess before considering all the ideas and wheres and whyfors of "how" players should be able to "turn on double/bonus exp" we should take a step back and consider the wider question - why is this so important to us? Is the base advancement / progression rate once again too slow/painful to progress, and without it, grinding/playing is unbearable? (See related thread/poll about "what will you do during 1x exp" and how many people said they'd grind anyway (but slower), how many would just play another game, etc.)

Personally, I think folks are a bit spoiled, and while I'm enjoying getting millions of experience now as much as the next guy, you are still going to hit a wall where you need 17 hours of grind to raise that skill a single point for barely noticeable results - you're just going to hit it a bit later. I'm not really thrilled that its possible for a new player to come in and, in a singled frenzied weekend, achieve more than I did progression-wise in the first 3 years of daily play, but if faster advancement is good for getting people in and playing and good for the health of the game - fine. But, is it?

Double exp used to be a rare weekend here or there, and I loved/hated it. Loved because MOAR EXP, but hated because I felt like if I didn't play all weekend I would miss out. It then started being full weeks, then full months - which took the pressure off somewhat (although not completely, because you knew it would end, and you had to get all your goals met before that happened), but became too comfortable, and now playing without it feels like penalty-time.

So if we say, yes, players should have more control over this advancement rate/progression/experience bonus issue - some sort of rested/accumulated system or daily bonus time are tried and true methods that encourage daily login and don't over-favor the hardcore grinders who will grind regardless. The added benefit is if the devs wanted to do a promotional exp method, they could simply increase the amount of bonus from say, the first 15 million earned xp to the first 150, simulating double but having a daily cap on it how much you could take advantage of it. The question then becomes does it get turned on by default (daily reset), does it get turned on when you complete your oracle quest ? (already has a daily timer linked to it, so would make sense). Do we want it to be linked to something a bit more activity heavy / something that takes longer to do? A longer quest perhaps, or the required sacrifice of some of the items laying around, or perhaps even a gold sink?

Whatever the trigger is, I'm strongly and firmly against relying on "some other group of players" to control something that may be difficulty gated - this was a big reason for the failure (in my opinion) of games like New World where you were constantly relying on "what other people were doing" to control your access to key gameplay mechanics/unlocks and it was incredibly frustrating. What would be interesting would be to increase the duration/amount of the bonus based on how many other people have also completed the thing, which would add an element of teamwork. However with the size of the playerbase I can see this quickly becoming a case of "log on your alts!!! make more free accounts!!!".

Something like bonus exp, bonus stats, bonus stuff, would tie in really well with a guild levelling/feature unlock system that could be 'paid' for by guild 'funds', too...although I think we're still a long ways off from those sort of things. But one can dream..

 

I would of loved to have a replenishing 2x the current rate of xp potion box instead of that Duke throne room dungeon piece no one ever sees (which was a bad replacement to the custom Duke head pledge promise).

 

My only concern with linking 2x to a consumable is its so easy to cross the line to those consumables being sold - either directly or indirectly - and with the allowability of RMT, intentionally or not, we'd end up at pay-to-win. While I know people could "pay" for their "spot" in a grinding party (essentially paid powerlevelling) at least someone's having to earn it. With consumables that accelerate gains, nobody's having to earn that extra XP, its just arbitrarily created in the way of bonus, "for them that can pay." Its a slippery slope. What's next? Buying XP for Cotos? 100 million experience starter pack for x$ ? Where does it stop?

I think however this is done, we need to ensure that the playing field remains even - if double be awarded, it be awarded uniformly across the playerbase in a way that is not transferrable or sellable and linked to the account. I strongly feel it should be linked to amount of experience rather than to a period of time, which is even more equalizing since everyone gets the same amount of bonus rather than it being contingent on how many attenuation runs they can cram into a 24/hr period by missing sleep. That's not healthy for people, and also not great for the game because it causes burnout.

 

Bookmarking this post for 2 years from now when it's implemented and people are farming it solo.

 

HECK YES....throne room leaves a lot to be desired....now if it had a actual secret door in it somewhere, that would be better, but not by much

 

...while AFK.

 

That is a dream I am looking forward to.

 

The experience gained should be normalized based on adv level. Right now, double or triple experience has a huge effect on advancement for newer players. But if you are at a level where you are trying to advance against crippling experience requirements for little actual performance gain, then the experience doubling or tripling really has no meaning and does not motivate much. I guess I am saying the whole concept is flawed by diminishing returns. And as a solo player, I cringe at the group bias our game has taken. Really, I think the game should be redefined as a group player game if that is what it really is. This will keep us solo players from plunking down a lot of cash on a solo player experience promised when the game is purchased then finding out layer that every thing encourages and supports group play over solo years later.

If the purpose of extra experience is going to be used as a motivator for players, then all players should feel the same level of motivation. The loyal multi year supporters of this game are being left in the lurch. Newer players have a future of diminishing returns that just is not good.

 

I wonder how could a regular solo player, straight from Ep.1, survive the Ep.2 scenes when the main quest is implemented.

Imagine it with me: you're killing hardened skeletons and all of sudden, BAM, tier 10 magic resistant mobs.

 

I can see the OP's idea as an opportunity to begin to add achievements finally to this game and a possible reward for completing one. The reward would be an increased xp buff for a certain amount of time.

 

I lot of good points brought up.

I feel 2x exp is about getting players into the game. Because something special and out of the normal is happening. That draws players in. Helps create a spike in players. (Always needed.) Newer players are more likely to find the regulars. During this time frame.

If 2x exp can be triggered by players. It would be on almost all the time. Making it routine. If it's routine, I think we'll start to loose that combined player surge.

2x exp would not be so special.