I lost 1/4th of my GM's from one death!

I just don’t want another Darkfall where botters and uber grinders max out everything. The ups and downs should be part of the game.

 

@MasterWan

How much does a death cost you in xp's ?

 

As it is right now, its legal for me to pay real $$ to get someone to grind me there, also unfun.

I can pay $$ to have millions of XP in my pool and dodge death decay with meta-gaming.

Not great either way.

 

Not so much that I freak out that I’m not immediately insta-cloned with all my gear and stats intact. If you don’t want stat loss we need to have full loot, gotta run back to your tombstone and hope no one messed with it. Even Minecraft makes you drop everything if you die.

 

But is that a bug then?

If your pool was empty, you'd figure it should pull from all skills set to Unlearning first, and then Not Training, then Maintaining, and then Training...

 

It may be, but Mac posted that is was working as it is supposed to, from his reading of the rules. I would love to know if that is working as intended, @DarkStarr. Just in case it is not.

Thanks for the input all. My pool was low, but losing 10GM's seemed a little much. And for the record my poor avatar is nothing special. A gentlemen's C at best. Meaty part of the curve.

 

The subject has been well covered; just another way of looking at it.
The game has a decay mechanism. Think of it as a Death Tax - and it is levied just like Estate Duties. Based on the total value of your estate (ie the number of points you have invested in training). Poor people pay little or nothing, average people pay a bit more, the rich pay a lot!
Points in your XP pool are counted as Petty Cash, and are NOT factored into the tax calculation.
I can recommend an action plan for everyone:
1) Estimate how much XP you lost last time you died. (example - 50,000)
2) Double that figure (100,000)
3) That is your Critical Threshold for your XP pool. Do not EVER let the pool drop below that figure.
4) If the pool approaches or falls below the threshold, IMMEDIATELY go through all skill trees and set everything to MAINTAIN or NOT TRAINING.
5) Continue adventuring. The pool will increase rapidly (XP in, nothing out)
6) When you have a "decent" amount of XP in the pool, pick one or two skills you want to train, and set the arrow for that skill to green.
7) As has been stated, if you have specialised in up to two skill trees, and have the specialisation glyph up to 80, then the "tax" for all the points in those trees is REDUCED by 75%. Good deal!!

TL;DR - You will die occasionally, and have to pay XP points. If you don't want the tax collector to take a pound of flesh (skills), make sure you walk around with a full wallet (large pool).

Do this simple trick, and you can play the game without care or worry. And you will NEVER suffer actual skill decay.

 

Low players pay little but make little, median players pay median and make median, powergamers lose alot but also earn well over the amount death decay causes them (by their own admission).

So if the goal is to flatten the curve, it didn't and won't work. If we raise the amount of XP those players lose upon death to make it more realistic, it will be social Armageddon...

I receive regular offers from players to train me a million xp for 10$... so basically if you have money or can powergame, you can avoid decay.

For the rest... if you drop below the XP threshold and wanted to go in a higher risk area, forget your fun time, you have to go back and grind before you head back to where you're having fun.

 

I can only put it bluntly I flat quit the game for close to a year solely because of decay. Not because I ever logged off at AL 90 with less XP than I started with, but when I realized that I was playing low risk and not exploring/trying things solely because I didnt want to be bothered with re-grinding the XP if I messed up and died. (mostly after playing on QA and just not caring...and was having fun).

I only came back because specialization adds some degree of protection from delay, its a stupid mechanic and it needs to die. Every player is "high level" on a low enough timeframe, but not all of them have the time to play long enough per day to offset even a single death.

I only play games to accomplish something, being constantly punished for playing irks me more than anything. SOTA could be a great game, but with decay I will never give them another $.

 

Did you end up dying a bit anyway, even playing at low risk ?

 

not really, fighting the same green things, always knowing where to run if the plan fails.

Even now the only times I have died were instant death lava traps while trying to do the oracle quest. (great design, clunky jumping mechanic? lets have a jump puzzle!)

 

Oh well I die occassionally fighting green things from just stupid mistakes, which is where I've been lately. In the past, I fought tougher enemies and also died occasionally also making stupid mistakes -- if easier to make, but mistakes nonetheless since there are always "safe spots" in tougher zones. I was doing Etceter mines when I was many levels below and I just ran to the mine entrance in an emergency. I've gone solo to the Rise a few times now, and I know where to run if I have problems.

High risk vs low risk; its sort amounted to the same thing for me, in any case. And after dying the first time and so on, I don't worry so much about dying more than that because of decay caps.

Not so much a defense of decay, which I find annoying and an ineffective game mechanic. I think a lot of people are in a place where they've locked skills a few levels above GM and then when they die, they then have to unlock and re-earn, which is a bit of a silly process.

 

That's a classic tho, U8 style, nightmare platforming

 

U8 is the one Ultima I never played somehow.

 

If its the same as last time I tried it, even with the punishing lava, the Oracle jump puzzle would be easy if the mechanic involved weren't so clunky. If you jump a little too late or too low, even if it visually looks like you're safe, you're not.

 

Over a period of time I introduced 8 people to the game. After skill decay was introduced and the devs. made it clear it wasn't going anywhere,eventually all 8 left. I had gamed with them all for years and all were good players in every game they did. In each case,they all said skill decay was the reason for them leaving.
Apparently,Chris has dug in his heels and said it's going to be this way,no matter who complains or leaves the game.
You would think the purpose of a game company is to get people to come and play. When a game design is as universally despised as death decay is,the natural thing is to totally remove it to draw folks in and keep them. The refusal to do so makes no logical sense,even death repair in the form of in game currency makes more sense.
As it stands,people don't want to play,don't want to explore,don't want to group. I am really gonna hate to see it released and then have a wave of new players leave because of what a lot of folks have been trying to say for some time.

 

Funny.... I always tell my son when he gets frustrated with a game. If the games not fun then don’t play it. It’s supposed to be for enjoyment, not frustration.

 

If many People dont like this System, they have to expect that many people will not play this game or leave because of it. Looks like they are fine enough with it to keep it running. Who needs players anyway.

 

Maybe what we need is another new type of 7 day obsidian potion, but of decay avoidance. Reduces decay to zero for one week.

 

You don't need to have it to 80. It only needs to be active.