Decay: Worst Mechanic Ever

I could certainly get behind something like this. I am not a fan of the current skill decay.

 

@Iforgot

 

Alright since you meant to make this about ME . . . . .
I have an interest in EVERY aspect of this game, EVERY.
It not working properly is NOT the reason you made this post, you made it because you DO NOT like it. OK got it.
As for what other people think, I do NOT care. That is the point of a free (open) forum; ideas, concept, points of view, are subject to counter perspectives.....

Now as for the topic, as you so eloquently point out is / was, (((( Decay is BAD )))) Got it, and yeah in its current form and how it is working (broken or not) needs tweaking, . . . . . . BUT . . . . in lieu of any other viable way to prevent Mastering of ALL skills over time . . . . . It is the ONLY viable option so far.

Do you want Skill Caps (some do) MOST do not . . . .
Do you want to be limited to how many skills you can have GMed ???? I do not think so, not in the least . . . . . .
How else do you prevent a player from GMing ALL ???? Not one of you presents anything even remotely viable.

Keep on complaining BUT . . . . .

Now think about this for all the, bandwagon jumpers . . . ATM the ONLY thing you lose from a decay is a title, the affect it has on your skills is MINISCULE, MINUTE, INEFETIVE, and purely cosmetic.

But jump up and down, bang your drums, make as much noise as you can, 23 pages of it and what has happened

Acknowledgement that it is broken and needs tweaking

If you don't like this, SHOW me facts on how badly it affected you, or will affect you . not that it is just BAD

 

I wished we could have kept the old level and skill system. @Chris

Having a use based skill system, with out hard cap devalues any class speck or profession.
If some one can be everything, there is no need to play with others or trade.

With hardcap i mean that you only allowed to go in x ammount of skill treas in this treas you can climb up as high as you want.
Over time it gets harder and harder to reach the next level.
for every level cap say 10-20-30-40-50-60 you get a bonus to your skill trea (dameg cast speed what ever)
Over 60 the cap would be 80-100 than 120 ect ... wich than would take a player to reach level 130 over several months or maby 1 year to reach. You wouldnt need a hardcap.
at say 150 you get only achivments or special titels.

Make leveling rewarding, let us feal uniq

You would get unig specs and classes, people would trade cous they cant be every thing.

And yes i still know that there is singel player, but to be hones i couldnt be every thing in skyrim to and it didnt botherd me.

I know now it is way to late to change it but the system we have now brings a lot of problems.

 

Kinda Confused - So you want us to show you facts yet you do not care what we think?

Could you elaborate on what you mean or are trying to convey? If you are just angry you can take a break and come back later.

 

That moment when humanity makes your avatar implode.

 

@Weins201

Uhm????

Lets see here. The current mechanic, skill decay, does not prevent someone uber from having multiple grandmaster. Nor does it prevent an AFK botter from getting multiple grandmaster.
You simply need to login to the avatar every second day and use all your GM skills to prevent decay. (Please note how many GM Themo has).
Chris also talks about going to the oracle etc to prevent decay from happening. ...And if they remove decay in use and only add it on death then there it is even easier to avoid for the min max crowd.
So if it doesn't stop the uber nor the botter nor the min maxed, then who is this mechanism built to prevent?

Well right now it hits most regular gamers the most since they dont cheat nor can't be bothered to do the chore every second day. On top it hits those who are social AND playing multiple aspects AND playing irregularly (like weekend gamers - a huge demographic in the upper tiers of this games funding).

While a model of increased cost like I outlined above simply wouldn't. It would hit casuals and weekend gamers the least and mitigate the newbie factor.

So there is no "in lieu of any other way to prevent..." scenario, such a view on things simply isn't congruent with reality.
There are multiple other models suggested to prevent the base issue that skill decay is supposed to do but doesn't.

Most of those scenarios also take the "been away a while want to test again" folks int account. While skill decay as it is implemented is one of those things that makes people not bother and just not come back at all.
And return gamers is something most successful games in the genre actively try to encourage, not discourage.

 

After spending several hours in Etceter mines I was able to accumulate 100 copper, 100 iron and various amounts of tin, etc. Without botting. After a week of that I could quite easily sell 400 copper and 400 iron ingots. What you are suggesting is reporting people for excessive grinding, which has never been a crime in MMOs. It's just a matter of finding something interesting to do (like read these forums) between clicks.

 

I think the problem has been approached with the wrong mindset, a negative one. In fact, I have read the word "discourage" too many times.
A game should not discourage players from doing something, it should instead encourage them to do something else.

At the moment there is a huge disparity with no grey areas: you can craft useless rubbish that gains you nothing (actually you lose money), or you can be a GM and craft awesome gear.
The result is once again: if you are not a GM then all you can do is grind until you become a GM.
And no, it's not a matter of adjusting the prices because nobody wants your low-level stuff, not even free.

This is min-max by design, and introducing a decay system is trying to cripple your own design.

 

Ehm...

Uhm...

Iforgot, I don't know how to say it without appearing blunt. Really, I guess it's a deep shock for you, but...

This is not UO.

This is SotA, it's not UO, and thanking Sequanna, it will never be. You may be mistaking these forums for those about another game, of another company, of another century.

I'm sorry if that's a disturbing news for you.

 

This thread has become too long to me. For everyone perhaps. So I will try to be brief.

1) The decay system is not working very well. That´s normal, it´s a new system on a game still in alpha, we cannot expect it final.
2) We complain about. Again, that´s normal, is what we people do when something goes wrong.
3) Devs changed some minor stuff and promised to look at it later. And again, that´s normal, they have not the time to rebuild the game anew.

Basically, everything run OK, all goes as we should expect, so lets go on.

Q&A
What would be bad new? Devs not noticing the threat, or players not starting it.
It´s a risk? Sure, devs might find a way to make it fun, or might not. We will have to wait to know for sure.
Is the decay system bad? I have good expectations about it.
Would be a hard cap a better way to avoid waste? Well, on other games we can GM, say in six months, and then we will play for 10 years (120 months) using the skill everyday without any gain. THAT is waste, and it feels anti natural.

 

This are feedbacks. since it is still a pre alpha it is the pefect time to point out game meachanics that dont work or dont make fun.

Somtimes i dont get post like this. whats the point of your post? whats your goal?

1) The decay system is a flawed designe mechanic.
2) We dont complain we point it out. We found ingame stuff that dont work so we speak about it.
3) Some people dont wont skill decay fixed they dotn want it at all.

 

the skill "lock" that is currently in is actually a decay accelerant. when u mark a skill to no longer progress, it still decays. I have 2 skills at 90 and no GM skills. I play for several hours every day and lose experience in multiple skills that are anywhere from lvl 10 to lvl 90ish if i decide to make a new ABC file or hang out with people in a town for a while.

^ Thats why alot of people are disproving of decay. Because you CANT lock a skill, and it happens too quickly. There was talk of having a way to lock a number of skills so that those skilsl do not decay, but other skills progress slower, which would greatly improve the system, but as it is now it is no good.

 

Skill Decay is, as the title indicates, clearly in the "worst mechanic ever" category, as currently implemented.
If now is not the time, Krohon, in pre-alpha, to "rebuild the game anew" then when would be a better time?
If Decay isn't addressed, it will become the monkey-on-their-back for Portalarium, and will become the rally point for all things perceived to be 'wrong' with this game. It's happened before, dozens of times over the past 20 years. It will happen again.

 

Thank you, you just made my day
Nothing as funny as as a thief complaining about other people not being willing to work for their goods and complain about people's greed!

You might want to reread Spoons and my postings. Have you been worried that anybody would GM every single skill under the 'old' level-point system? I doubt it, but mathematically, that is exactly the same.

 

Locking this thread for review.