EXP cap per hunting session

I had an idea about a system from a MUD that I've played for a long time. Hunting or killing critters was a different type of system that may not even work with a visual game.

When going out to gain experience you had a "mind" meter that would eventually fill up.

Once your mind turns red you can not hold anymore experience. At this point you still have not even gained the experience because it acts sort of like a hopper. That's when you head back to town and sit in a "node". The node drains your mind faster than other normal rooms without resting spots.

You can kill and kill for hours but you only gained famed once your mind was "fried". It would only make sense that someone couldn't go out for 5 days straight continuing to kill without being able to take a break.

Maybe a modified version of something like this could work? Maybe it wouldn't work at all...

 

I don't want to sound discouraging of new ideas, especially to a new poster so please don't be.

When I was a DM on a NWN server we had a similar system. There was an upper cap on how much XP you could gain while hunting that would 'drain' at about 13xp per minute. The idea was that once people hit their cap, they would go into town to RP while it drained..

The result? People who wanted to RP didn't give a rip and would sit in the tavern for hours yapping away.. people who didn't want to RP would sit around AFK or log off and let it drain offline.

The only good thing it really did for us is made a lot of people happy when I turned the system off. RPers still RPed to their hearts content but there was no system trying to force it on you.

The only real purpose I can see for it is to regulate skill progression.. but I think that is better handled by points awarded per level and XP awarded per individual kill than a forced XP cap.

 

Eh, I still like the idea myself. It only would make sense to have some type of penalty for continuously being on the run for multiple days at a time. Or even hours...

How about every few hours you have to rest or you start to receive exp penalties? Or even every night if you didn't want to be too hardcore about it.

Thanks Bowen, Now I'm never gonna post again.....!

 

I understand the rational but what practical purpose does it serve? It's not really going to regulate behavior.. A lot of folks would describe it as a hardcore mechanic and love it just for that reason.. but that is countered by people who would hate it for the same reason.

 

Once (If?) they introduce penalties like hunger / thirst we'll need to stop for food and water at least. Encumbrance will also play it's part in slowing the grind down.

I don't recall seeing stamina pool as and effect / debuff but I like the idea Lumnis! I could see a good deal of fun coming out of that. I can imagine setting up a camp to recover stamina faster, maybe attracting mobs if you set it up in the wrong place. Actually I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard to implement. Stamina is another pool that drains during combat, and fills slowly when not. Malus to base stats when stamina is below some threshold. Make temporary lots, restrict the placement of items (if they choose to do so) and allow ppl to set up tents & bedroll rather than houses. Lay in the bedroll and your stamina, health and focus recover quickly.

 

I can see both sides, as on Siege Perilous in UO they had a ROT system. A Rate Over Time system. It is different because it is a skill based system but it does limit you to how much you can gain per day.
http://www.uoguide.com/Rate_Over_Time
In UO I think this was done on Siege to stop people from using macro's nonstop while trying to gain gm or above skill level. If there will be people afk auto attacking or some kind of unattended macro system this would be an option. I think the unattended macroing would be hard in sota but there are a lot of really smart creative people out there lol. Anyways that's just an argument for such a system. Hopefully something like this is not needed.

 

I dont think id like that since i only get like 2 days to play, it would hurt me more than help! It might be ok for players that play all the time, but many of us work, have families etc... and dont have enough time to spend grinding on this game for days! So it seems to me it will hurt us that dont have a lot of time to play.

 

This is just horrible idea. I have 4 kids, full day job and still i can find a way to spend my time in game. I can easily spend 4-8 hours hunting/grinding if can sneak up some private time. And i play daily ( ofc not 8 hours a day, duh). When i get that time, i certainly expect to get full reward for using it. MUD's are so easily scripted, that they have to have that kind of mechanism. Some people just like to spend more time in game and some not. Making them still equal, is not fun and fun is the core of gaming, no fun, no players.

Still this did not affect anything really. You just could not script it all in one day, but spend few more days ( or nights actually ).

There will be players, who don't care RP and have no jobs, no kids, just time to play ( used to be one ). They can spend dollars for game and have lots of freetime to grind, this kind of stuff would have huge effect for them and for what? Why would you wan't to restrict this anyways ( you did not mention any reason for this ). Just so that they can't become super level, while you are spending hour a day and still want to have same level?

PS: IMHO.

 

It was just an example, and If you read my statement I State that I do not hope this is needed lol. I was just stating that this HAS been done, the reason for it, and not much more.

 

Ok, so I was thinking that if you were to implement this system... how would the amount of time you play have a role? Everyone is limited to the same system therefore the experience would be scaled to each players time hunting. I might be missing something there but it seems to me like it would work.

I'd rather not have a level cap or a really high level cap and a slower leveling system. I hate capping out and waiting for endgame content and a cap increase. Also I was thinking of maybe giving people some type of mini-game or tasks/quests that they could gain extra experience while resting. As long as its not too physical, after all you are resting!

 

Welcome Lumnis Liabo, well always good to throw interesting ideas out there for the back burner. You never know it does sound like an interesting idea. That's why you mention things and sometimes that lets the idea grow into more ideas. So good job.

I know we aren't quite sure at this point how everything being developed will go together since the story line and how it will all come together is still in development and some is secret to us. Surprises are good too though, ,so if it feels a bit shallow or off, that's because it's incomplete at this stage. Richard wants the food part to be special. He worked really hard on it

 

I like this idea. I'm not a fan of people standing around killing the same things over and over again.

 

I did not install a toilet/desk-chair and a caffeine drip to be sent back to town!

 

I don't like this idea. Why force people to take breaks? There will be plenty of legitimate reasons to head back to town anyways - encumbrance, crafting and training unused skill points. Don't penalize people for grinding.

 

So, another opinion for yas,

I would not be thrilled with something like this. Reasons and examples:

Today I have about 5 or 6 hours to play (wife isn't home today), tomorrow and the next day I won't have but maybe an hour, and lord only knows when I'll be able to get on again.

One of my buddies...(yes, I have a friend or two...ok, I have a friend, not two), can only play on weekends. Since I can play daily, with this system in place, he'll never be the same level as me and it will severely limit the time we can play together.

SotA has brought my grandson to tears, he wants to duel with his PaPa, but since PaPa is retired and plays all day every day, and his tyrannical parent (his mother, my daughter) requires him to get his homework done before he does anything else, he cannot gain levels fast enough to catch up since we only allow X exp everyday.

Guys, those are MADE UP EXAMPLES!!!! but they kinda ring true. There's just such a wide variety of folks who are enjoying SotA, and each of us has a different schedule and things that drain our time. When we have time to play, we wanna play, we wanna gain exp so we can catch up to our friends, so we can do harder content, collect resources in more difficult areas. Yes there will be some that dive in and hit lvl 50 in a few days (that's what they enjoy), but there's others of us (and I would say its the majority of players) that will gain what they gain, when they gain it, and will be happy about that!

Just please, don't do it.

 

So you want to make a player who can play for hours have to sit around and do nothing so he wont be able to advance while you are working or dealing with real life? Sorry this is a BAD idea, limits are being set by more exp at higher levels, monster exp balanced for play areas, encumbrance (if you are looting) Damage to equipment etc. DO not try and force people do play a certain way. Siege RoT was nice but really sucked when you had time to play and where forced to sit around and wait 15 mintues for a skill gain :-(

 

I'm not sure my quote button is working here. To the people that don't like the idea because they want to reach some type of level cap... don't you want to play a different type of game? There are so many other grindy games out there and it would be nice to have a truly immersive game.

Also it really doesn't matter what the leveling system is. If everyone is held to the same conditions while leveling then the experience gained per player per the amount of time they play will still be the same ratio. I'm not sure why people think incorporating resting is going to allow other players who play longer to advance faster. I don't like reaching a level cap and then any content I am playing for then on out is items. That's the template to every MMO. Eh just a thought.

Thank you for the positive feedback too everyone!

 

Are you using Internet Explorer? I've heard some parts of the forums don't work in IE. You can try Chrome or Firefox.

 

Yes. Using IE. I'm ready to switch to Linux!

I will have to try Firefox. Thanks for letting me know.

 

First things first,
I do understand your opinion, i certainly do. As i said, i have 4 kids, full day job and some of my friends, who are high level players with no family and some don't even have a job. When we start to play game together, i always stay behind them. BUT..
That's ok for me. I understand, that they invest more time, thus they get better results. If we take a look at this with RP glasses on, it makes perfect sense. This exactly same thing happens in real life too. Some people just work and work and thus, they get better results. If someone makes 12 hours a day, everyday and other does 8 hours ( lets pretend it's same job ), one could assume that 12h guy gets more money out of it?

OLD OLD OLD Uo had "power hours", anyone remember?
One hour per day, you were guaranteed to get better gains. You could however continue hunting after that, but with less gain. I think something like this, could be great compromise.

WOW has system, that works nicely. Its "Rest xp". If you are not logged in, you gain "rest xp". Once you log back and start doing something that gives you xp, you get that doubled until you have spent the rest xp, then it continues normally. This is a nice compromise also.

Neither of these solutions prevent gaining, because that's not fun.

End note:
I'm strongly against forcing "sleep" and "rest" kind of solutions.

EDIT:
And i did it again. You are actually against the OP's idea and so am i, so i just leave this here