I think the xp decay thing is a really dumb idea

I think the xp decay thing is a really dumb idea the way I have seen it described. (and this "4 hours worth of decay" thing sounds like meaningless gibberish... decay is per death, not time, so what does that mean? and people who tested see nothing like that... they just lose xp each time every time; I haven't tested it myself and don't plan on wasting xp to do so)

I'll expect nobody will ever party again to kill the dragons, phoenix, etc. again. Or people will drop groups if they die too much, ruining a fight in progress. And you can't go AFK or risk dying (because the respawn rates are extremely high....which is good for xp and loot, but terrible in other ways). And you'll end up never taking any challenges or exploring since it's too much risk of wasting huge time. And nobody will want to tank such a fight ever, since they'll die more than once each run. And also, lag and other things kill you for no reason.. you shouldn't lose much for such things. Such features are not fun in games...they're just a nuisance. Do you want people to hate it or enjoy playing? In other games you just get minor penalties like taking non-permanent item damage... then you don't mind doing fun challenges.

I suggest either:
- make it a debuf instead... just a percentage penalty to xp gain until some time runs out, higher percentage each death.
- make it toggleable... turn it off and lose some bonus that doesn't hurt your combat (good for afk or tanking)
- make it once per some time interval, like an hour... so you don't lose any more xp if you die twice in a dragon fight, just lose some, then if you gain some and die again, you lose that gain since the death, but not the same amount again. (is this what it's supposed to be already? people don't seem to confirm that)

And to fix the AFK guaranteed death problem, make it not apply for when you're logging out but still have that 20s still in game.

 

Not sure if you were actually looking for an explanation, but here is one anyways :

The "4 hours worth of decay" is the MAXIMUM amount of decay you can accrue.

So if you have not died in five hours say, the next time you die only four hours will be applied (rather than five).​

The reason players see decay every time they die, is because they have accrued decay in the time between those deaths.

If you were to die 10 minutes after last dying, then 10 minutes of decay will be applied. Your decay would then be reset, and start accruing again.​

So, players will always see some sort of decay if they are following their skill values close enough, that is to be expected.​

However, you can die as many times as you want within the "4 hour" window, and only ever see the *exact* same decay as if you were to only die once at the end of that same window.

----

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

If everyone actually test the decay before posting, there would be no thread complaining about the skill decay.

The time it takes to regain the loss xp is less than the time to complain on the forum.

 

So am i misunderstanding what i posted in other forum?
Doesnt this mean if i play it safe ( i mean i only die once or twice a week in PVE) .. couldnt i still GM every single skill without any real penalty?

If death is the only time skills or experiance is going to take a hit... doesnt that mean everyone will just play it safe and eventually everyone will have enough stuff GM'd that anyone can run any role?

 

It's fine for mass wipes too, since your decay scales by time of last death

 

You can play dangerously too. The amount of skill decay accrued up to 4 hours is insignificant compare to the total xp you have put on all your skills.

If your adv level is around 60-70. Try to stock up the xp around 4k and try to die consecutively, you will notice the xp will decay most on the first death, the later ones become almost nothing.

Again the rate the skill decay grow is very tiny compared to the xp you gain from killing mobs at the appropriate levels. It also stop growing once it reaches 4 hours. Reset to zero when you die and start growing again until it reaches 4 hours.

If 4k xp from skill decay cause your skill level to go down. You would only need 4k to bring the skills back to original.

It becomes a challenge at higher level when the mobs can no longer give the xp proportionally to your skill levels.

 

The thing is that due to the exponential increase in xp needed for higher skill levels there will be some point where you cannot maintain any more skills if you die at all. The max time window will also be increased. At least that was hinted at in earlier postings. So I guess after some balancing it might be an okay mechanic.
I still don't like it, because it encourages taking 0 risks or farming a huge xp pool before doing anything risky.

 

How is the 4 hours of XP calculated? Last 4 hours? That could be significant.

 

Per Chris's post its 0.0001 X hours since last death capped @ 4. So a max of 0.0004 of your total xp in each skill. Has nothing to do with amount gained or lost during that 4 hours. Only calculates what you already have accumulated in that skill. So you lose roughly 400 xp if you have 1 mil exp in a skill. If you have 1 mil in ALL your skills, then it would be 400 x all your skills.

 

My first thought would be don't log out in an adventure scene (I know this isn't always practical due to crashes and what not).

 

Let's if you have been putting 1 mil xp into multiple skills.. The skill decay will slow accrue up until it reaches its 4-hour and it will stay there until you die. So the maximum XP that you will lose after you haven't die for over 4 hours would be 1 mil x 0.0004 = 400 xp for the first death after 4 hour. Then the decay will slowly grow back from 0 to ~400ish xp and stop at the 4-hour time marker again.

 

Isn't it correct that if you have all your skills set to train or maintain,the XP deducted upon death come from your pooled XP, not the XP spent in any skill tree?

 

Yes, I believe the order of decay might be the following:

Untrained skill -> Locked skills -> XP pool -> maintained/trained skills

 

My objections to decay since this misguided mangled fiasco of a mechanic was introduced in concept a year ago haven't changed:

1) The fact is that depending on your skill settings, how far you've advanced, and how much XP you have in your pool, decay can be quite punitive.
2) Decay will cause people to avoid exploration, battle, PvP, and risk-taking in general. Which is a recipe for less fun.
3) The players who adventure the most will be the most penalized, bad for veterans and long-term stability.
4) The mechanic continues to be confusing to many and will not be easily understood, if ever, by new and some older players despite Chris' good efforts to explain the math behind the mechanic.
5) Nobody likes losing skill or XP. See: This thread and every other thread ever about decay. Cluster*&^%.
6) The usual answer, and you can see it in this thread, is "you'll hardly notice it." Which begs the question: WHY DO WE HAVE IT THEN?

Bad idea. Always has been. Always will be. You can't design your way around SUCK.

 

If they really wanted to "level the playing field" with the decay mechanic, they should have it effect ONLY SKILLS BEYOND GM.

That way only the "power gamers" need be concerned and do more "fine tuning" on their decks, while the bulk of casual players won't need to concern themselves over deaths and will continue to adventure and explore without that unnecessary pressure.

My 2cents.......

 

It is my understanding that decay does not effect deaths due to PvP.
Is that correct ?
If so, that sucks big time. Why should they be exempt ?

 

Precisely and this is one of Chris' big justifications for decay, not allowing everyone to have too many GMs. Fine with me! Just leave me alone before I get there please.

 

I've lost alot of xp to this already and I'm not a power gamer. I've only got one skill close to grand master at 95, and i lose alot of xp per death. It's not some small amount i can get back by 1 or 2 kills, it's a decent amount of grinding for me. Stuff like this is what turns me off to most games.

 

Would you mind sharing more details such as what ADV level are you? How many skills do you have at what level? How much did XP you actually lose?

 

Made a post about it in another thread. I don't want to die again to test as my pool is small atm and i'd lose more from the death than I have to recover it. I don't lock any of my skill and i'm training everything, nor do I plan to lock anything. I play blades, light armor, and most all spell trees with plenty of points in all the trees.