Make skill decay understandable

You'll be saddened to know, then, that's exactly what is in store for Portalarium, regardless of what mechanics they try to implement for this failed philosophy.
You can't stop players from becoming masters-of-all. Every game that has ever tried it simply gets more accounts, and the players do it all themselves, with multiple characters and multiple accounts, if necessary.

Put another way.. everybody will craft everything themselves, that want to. There will be no synergy. Everybody is self reliant.
Sorry.

 

I'm not talking about crafting myself. I accept that as a possibility. I'm more concerned about combat skills that synergize.

 

Currently, not implemented. It is purely based on time. One of the things Chris was referencing was making it so it was possibly limited to time in game or death to see decay happen. I have rephrased my previous comment better.

 

Does this mean that players might be 'penalized' with decay for logging in a high level alt every few days just to trade gear, check mail, or role play for a few minutes without adventuring?

Sounds like if we log in, we need to be prepared to do more than socialize?

 

yes, though it doesn't actually apply unless you use that skill or die.

 

Yep, they really managed to make it the most annoying implementation possible.
Your "meaningful choice" is: play as you wish and/or like most people would, and be penalized now, or do nothing, and just get penalized later. Woooeee, sign me up for more of THAT! Hee hee.

 

Oh i think i get what you're saying now. Sure, everybody CAN be self reliant if they want to. I've done that in lots UO free shards (easy on those) when i had more time... but i don't have it now, so if my character is not suited to be an allmighty knowitall i'll have rely on the rest of the community, because i need to chose where i progress with my character. Imo it's not the same being able to than being encouraged to.

If i understood it correctly you're proposing to increase the exp needed to increase a level so it's almost unreachable... if i'm right... well, if you asked me three months ago i've said having 20 GM's was almost unreachable

What i'm trying to say is that without some kind of limits (hardcaps) or drawbacks (decay) every second invested keeps counting towards being more powerful, so it's not exactly the same... i'm happy with the kind of softhardcap decay proposes. I think it could be more interesting for the endgame if whatever the progression system we end up having it generates some kind of "point of stability" that everybody will eventually reach and from there you allow more dedicated players to have a "skill bonus" that they need to mantain (I know i'm repeating myself but i'm not sure if that was on a different post or in this one... my brain is decaying! ).

I'm not saying that (or other suggestions) won't work, and i won't mind having a third system in place, but i keep thinking about what decay could be and can't help but liking it. Also, instead of a progression that just gets slower and slower, i'd go for hard caps directly.

 

wasn't the decay meant to keep people from mastering all skills? If yes than not losing a lvl will not stop people from that. Themo proofs that on the fast way, but there are other ways if you just know the system to get all skills to 100. So why than decay at all? Only to punish those that play normal?

 

Think of skill decay as a tax (the way taxes are supposed to work). The goal is this, the more accumulated skill points you have earned, the more you lose as you try to maintain them. The loss is not supposed to impact you in any signifigant way until you have accumulated the equivalent skill points for a handful of grandmasteries.

The current approach is proof of concept. I think it should be handled in a tiered approach instead of a gradual increase in decay, but we should, at the very least, be shown the impact decay will have on us as we play. We should be shown that we are reaching another decay milestone, to the effect of, "If you continue to branch out into other skills, your overall decay will increase." It is a psychological barrier, and will help to organize amd focus players. Additionally, it would provide another meta goal for the hardcore among us, similar to getting a level.

 

But it is not like that at all, I made once lvl 100 and have nothing to do to maintain it. Because I don't lose a lvl. I only have to pay anything than for trying to lvl a skill later again.

 

Levels and skills are tangetially related. We can't discuss both as the same thing. While they both have an impact on PvE, skills affect your level, not the other way around.

 

She means skill levels and not adventurer levels. Two types of levels (Adventurer and skill) and 3 exp bars (adventurer, production and per skill bars) might be part of the confusion

 

I see. Well on that regard, it only makes it harder to level up other skills which I posit is part of the design. I just think that it could be articulated better. (I.e articulated at all)

 

Decay doesn't stop power gamers from putting distance between themselves and casual players, power gamers not only have more time and understanding to gain levels.. they have more time and understanding to maintain them. It is just annoying for everybody and discourages social activities. The reason why i prefer the scaling exp requirements is that power gamers will quickly leap ahead but gradually slow down advancement to the point where it takes an extreme amount of time to go further. This means that other people catch up to within a level gap that is functionally insignificant. If it NEEDS to be in then an adjustment to how it functions now would be the least punishing form, with levels never being taken away but progress towards the next level being difficult to hold on to. Right now, it is not somebody like me who is hit by decay... it is people with long work hours or other reasons why they can't log in AND use all their skills daily. I had 18 GM yesterday, 20 today and il have 21 or 22 tomorrow.

Also remember that (as i understand it) exp gain is accelerated for pre-alpha.. and ON TOP of that we have 4x exp gains up to highest level previously reached. But we do not know if the rate of decay is also accelerated or standard. We also have fast travel and accelerated overland map speed that will be going away, as well as control points that do not yet control anything. What we accomplish in these 3 month brackets could very well be the equivalent of a year or more playtime after release. Think about what that means for your own play styles, and then think about how decay factors into it. I will still be level 100 with 20+ GM skills, i just won't be enjoying myself as much as i could be, some of my friends and guild members however just plain will not be here. What i want is a competitive system that prevents me from becoming a god but lets me push limits without making the game antisocial and miserable for everybody else.

 

But decay should not make leveling the skills harder, it should stop people to gain to many high levels.

 

? Two ways to say the same thing, except your expectation requires hard caps.

 

If it was upwards of a year or more I would sell my account and pop off as most of my friends wouldn't put in that type of a time sink. TRULY hope that is not the devs intention...

 

Let's keep in mind that other of the design goals of this game was to make the game playable without having your character maxed (regardless of how far are they to get there). With that goal in mind, i don't mind requiring six months - 1 year to achieve perfection, as long as my 2 weeks character allows me to enjoy the game, and my 4 weeks character is competitive enough to fight almost anywhere.

 

I am sure that the actual rate of advancement will be adjusted to suit, it is something many people don't even think about though (pre alpha is sped up). That being said, i hope it is not TOO fast.

 

What do you mean by perfection? My very first GM taking 6 months or a year? Or getting all the stuff I want to get up to GM taking 6 months to a year? There is a VERY significant different to that level of progression. Especially with something like decay in place... it will simply not be attainable for some people who don't have time to grind.

I agree it shouldn't be easy, but that has always been my fear, in hopes of not making it too easy we make it too hard. There needs to be some sort of balance between OMG this grind is impossible and annoying vs. huh boot up and already maxed in everything. I don't know where that sweet spot is... but I really am hoping the devs make clear their intentions. I was already frustrated by the earlier post in your first grind concern where it seems the dev intention was to not HAVE normal players achieve GM in anything and avg being stuck around 80 in skills.