Just noticed Decay for the first time

Yeah, I'm not against having some penalty for dying. In fact I quite liked how in UO you could lose your items if you didn't manage to recover your corpse in time. It meant you didn't treat death as casual but avoided it as much as possible, and also it provided some sort of recycling system to the economy as items would often be lost and new ones acquired or crafted.

But the thing is, according to the Devs, the real reason for the XP Decay is not to be a death penalty, but a system that serves as a form of "cap" to skills without putting up a hard cap like in UO.

I'm just not sure this is even necessary. Even if someone has many skills at high values, the deck system is a form of cap as you can't use them all at once anyway. The guy with many will have more options, yes, but not necessarily much more powerful than the guy who focused on a few skills only.

 

I agree but you just repeated the same arguments that you posted a few pages back. I really don't think anyone is changing anybodies mind.

 

Personally i feel as more people hit higher state and decay starts to feel more crippling, the amount of people wanting to re address it will increase.

We will see in a few months if theres another poll or something

 

To be honest, I think a good way to get people on board and with which i'd have no problem is simply to "move" the scale up on the ladder of skill.

IE, instead of 1-40 no decay 40-80 half decay 80-100 normal decay 100+ double decay. Move it to :

1-80 no decay
80-100 half decay
100-120 normal decay
120+ double decay

The real goal is to curb the very high levels. In an ideal world, mid level players and below would never be hit by it at all. Future tweak maybe?

 

Another possible tweak : donate to the Oracle for a grace period. For example, you donate X gold to the Oracle and your deaths within the next say 6 hours have no decay at all. The amount of gold increases the higher your decay amount would be on death, and you can only donate for a grace period once every few days or once a week OR it becomes exponentially expensive to "chain" it so you don't get perma immunity. So let's say you want to attempt a difficult encounter and/or group content, you just buy a grace period and die to your heart's content with no penalty.

Core system stays intact, but addresses the hedge cases. Even gets gold out of the economy win/win/win.

 

The problem is it doesn't. You don't need to take any real risks, in theory, to get experience and continue increasing your level. You just plain flat out will ensure that nothing you ever do is actually risky and have to continue doing that... And anything we do on this front, like tying mob level vs our a-level into exp calculations, just fags anyone who doesn't already have a bunch of skills and discourages the guys with them to ever do anything that might cause them to lose it.

 

Just reminded of an old saying:
Live and learn; die and forget.

 

If players have something better to do in the game than grind skills, I hope they will do it. To think that anyone would self-imprison their gaming experience is not something I can comprehend. I do understand people choosing safer ways to level at some points in time, but after a while it becomes apparent that playing the game is more fun than gaming the system.

 

I think you're entirely right. My general gut feel is that people would just quit instead. Definitely wouldn't be fun anymore.

 

indeed it was advertised as no hand holding, but now we have skull markers, hospitallers, free gold and exp, so and so forth, so ya, what was then is not now, we have a hand holding sims game with Alzheimers attached to your character so your brain decays and forgets. It was also a advertised as a single player game you can play with your friends, but they sure messed that one up also.

 

unfortunately in present times, gamers grind to endgame. They like to farm and such, even if its meaningless. In this game however I think it plays on peoples emotions with grinding and decay in a sense that makes people feel like there is no advancement and if they do not spend 18 hours a day then they will never be equal to the "jones's". People like reaching goals and being on top, in this game it will simply not be possible for the majority, until the majority is just those few people.

 

This ^^^^ exactly !

 

I can believe that decay in on a list, but no sane gamer is going to quit because it alone. If anybody said they did, they are lying. Compared to the ransom system, decay is a bag of popcorn.

please quit pretending decay is making people quit. that is just plain dishonest.

 

Sure a bunch of other reasons could add to it.. But decay is the tip of the ice berg that finally makes them jump over the edge and bail. After so many punishments and so called "Balances" people have had just enough with this grindy, heavily non rewarding, now punishing game. I can go on and add plenty of things that need to change to make this game a better one. But portalarium doesn't seem to want to listen. Instead they focus more and more on the cash grab and are now trying to rush a release so they can get more cash. $$$$$$$$$$

 

That I can believe. I also know people that left because of the pay for housing and rmt or so they said. In the end, no matter what negative reason they give, it is just that the game was not fun enough to compensate for the things they did not like.

Hopefully most of the people that left will give it another try down the road.

 

Decay was worse the last couple releases.

 

Yep, Housing rent is something they also should lower with the rampant nerfing of all. They based the current rent system prices a month or so before persistence.. I also agree that they focus way to much effort on the RMT (add on store). Once again they have made the game not "enough" fun. Man was it a blast actually grouping and gaining decent exp!! Logging on and actually feel like you were being rewarded for the time you spent playing.. Now it's just a burden and lack luster...

 

Their methodology is truly all cobble-f***ed in terms of what was prioritized. Idk who ever thought killing loot was a good idea.

 

So now, you're a mind-reader ? Perhaps you also define sane ? How humble....
Oh, btw, you are wrong. I know of several who no longer play simply because of the death penalty. Or, at least, that's what they told me.
I can relax now that you have explained that they were simply lying.
Unfortunately, they no longer play - so I guess it really doesn't matter, now does it......

 

As i have mentioned before, Chris has been overly obsessed with the metrics of data. He constantly goes over it and see's that majority of people are doing a certain thing. I wonder why, maybe it's cause it's actually rewarding enough for the time and effort people log on and do. Instead of improving other scenes, Mines, Decent exp scenes, Good Gold output scenes (not the best exp, but the trade off for more gold vs exp is a good thing). He cut corners with his obsessed actions with the metric data. Sure it would of taken a bit more time to improve all the other scenes to bring them inline with the few that were actually rewarding and fun. Nope, they made all the scenes boring, bland and not rewarding just like the rest. I would hate to label him as the "Jay Wilson" of the project (Diablo III) and the downfall.. But i think he needs to step back from being so harsh and bring back the stuff we enjoyed logging on for. Wish they would put out the metrics for the population since persistence and now. I bet it's very discouraging since each release is a nerf this nerf that spiraling decline.