XP Pool Bar - It is here to stay (?)

So I am wondering, now that it appears the XP Pool system and the bar are here to stay, we all know many things in the game are placeholders for upcoming refinement..

I think that xp pool BAR is a placeholder, and should be replaced with a permanent representation that isn't always on the screen, in it's current form at least.

Maybe it should be in the Paper Doll, or the Skills screen? And should it be bars, or something else?

I actually have no more ideas than simply the title of the thread so what are your opinions?

(if the xp pool bar is planned to go away, that would be something I'd actually prefer.. but that's not what I'm pushing here but yes i'm gonna slip that in here)

 

I'm not sure why it has to be on bars on the screen like that, it's not required to look at all the time, after all.

 

Last time I heard, there was supposed to be tech that prevent players from locking all skill gain (need to have at least one on training). Once that get implement then there would be less reason to show that XP pool bar and it might all come down to the more skills you have on training, the longer they will take to progress. This might make thing a bit less meta-gaming.

 

I think it will be soon gone - at least in the form we're used to.

But I'm probably wrong, since this answer can come only from some specific people, and I bet they're not telling us right here, right now.

Why? Because

Spoiler

 

I'm sorry but I have to ask cause I'm getting a bit confused and usually thats because I'm either being a **** about something (just ask my wife) or I missed something along the way, please tell me which it is (I'm not trying to be an ass here folks, I really don't understand and feel like I missed something).

Prevent us from locking all skills...ok, I can see them doing something along those lines but the second half.....

Well, why would there be less reason to show the bar or some representation or other? As a player, somewhere or other, I would like to know if I am at the proper ratio between working my skills to show a gain, or working my skills and not being in a position to gain?

What am I missing here, I thought that this was kind of a given at this point.......makes me think I'm screwing up....am I?

Ya think so? In my mind, this is just gonna make myself and a whole lotta other folks figure out further how and what we have to do, to gain. I'm not talking about cheating or anything, and based on the wiki definition of meta-gaming, we are all doing that anyway since we are all alpha/beta testers with a head full of info others will not have.

RK, I'm honestly not picking on what you said, it's just that you kinda expounded on what Fister said so it kinda raised more questions for me.

 

Until Chris decides and says it... no one really knows. I've had him say several things that have changed, but the one thing I know for sure, it will be what he says last. No point in guessing, just giving solid reasons for what we think would work best. [No micromanaging please! Elegant but simple and natural is what I want] {I said it too}

 

I would welcome a little less UI.. if they change it, it should somehow get worked into the paperdoll.. the problem I see at the moment is how the numbers are represented.. as it takes more and more XP to fill the pool. It might be difficult to condense that in a meaningful way.

 

~Less UI~

I would like to see less UI because it effects my attention to it. UO didn't have it and that caused me to think of numbers far less, yet I expected skills to slow their gains as my Avatar progressed. I don't want to know the "inside scoop", I want my head more into what I'm doing from a character reference point more than a "I know I'm controlling an outside/inside entity".
I want to see more of my Avatar becoming an "I, instead of an it".

~Time Lord~

 

The bars take up what - 1/4" at the bottom of the screen ....

I'm goal driven, and I like to see progress - so I'm fine with them.

If they bother you that much, how bout a toggle so you don't have to see them ( if they ruin your immersion.... )

Would that be ok ?

You don't see 'em - I do.... this - really big issue - solved.

Don't like to think about the numbers ?

Toggle 'em OFF and be on your way to do whatever you like.

But for us who like them, we'll leave them - as is.........

 

The Experience pool bars are so we can debug the game during this pre-final wipe testing phase. They provide much needed information about game mechanics so that testers can provide feedback and uncover bugs. We specifically requested they remain when, during an earlier release, they were removed.
I assume they will be gone after final wipe.

 

Assumptions... again, I had @Chris saying the bars would go away, but with limited time and staff (and enough people on both sides of the argument) then inertia may win.
For good or for worse (subjective).

 

*shrugs shoulders*

You are right @GreyMouser2 . It is a waiting game.....but at least we don't have to wait too much longer, muhahah. Whatever the Devs do, I'm getting a bit more excited about seeing us move forward come July. We'll work with whatever they give us and it doesn't mean that what we get is permanent. Just kinda, sorta, almost permanent...right?

 

As long as we have the information we need in a more appropiate format, i'm all in for those to go away!

 

I like the bars personally myself just for a quick glance to see how far for next what ever.

 

He is talking about the Pooled EXP bars at the bottom of the screen, not the individual skill progression bars, found on each skill.

 

Best answer. I always recommended an icon based on the amount of exp pooled.

 

People will test everything regardless, if it's not in the stats screen it will be on a website and formulas will get closer all the time.

But it's not about min-maxing for me, more that I'd like to know the difference between abilities. eg. If water is more powerful than fire but I like playing lightning then I'm still going to be wondering why I forgot to pick up milk.

 

@Chris
You're gonna do whatever you're gonna do, I'm just voicing that I would like to know that I'm in a position to gain in skills. I would not enjoy finding out that all this time I spent killing something to raise the archery skill could have been me gaining in archery and aimed shot at the same time. I would also not enjoy finding out that I was trying to gain in those 2 skills and it should have been only one of them and now I'm completely empty on XP points so I'm not gaining a thing.

Please don't make me try to watch something else on my screen that I would have to squint at, meaning those itty bitty bars on the icons. My attention is already split between battle glyphs at the bottom of the screen, buffs and debuffs in the top left corner of the screen, my health/focus bars, and the screen itself to see where the baddies are either attacking from, running to or where they are laying in wait for me.

Looking forward to July Chris.

 

Been thinking about the XP system since it was brought in another thread, and i'm concluding that the problem is not on the presence of the XP bar but how an XP system doesn't seem to "appropiately fit" as a way of controlling an use based system.

I like the idea of accumulating a resource (XP) that's spent when we use our skills, but do so in the same fashion XP is handled in a level system it doesn't feel just right... because it diminishes one of the best points of an use based system which is "you improve as you play". The current way of handling XP changes that into "you improve as you play as long as you're hunting monsters that gives you the appropiate amount of experience". And that's putting limits in what the game experience could be.

I think it could be great if instead of an XP system in the way we have now we had a system that monitors our activity, checking the amount of things we have done and the amount of times we have done it (Exploration, fighting, questing, crafting, gathering, everything). That way you can also monitor "player activity" and at the same time encourage people to do different stuff instead of staying in the same place killing the same mobs because they're more convenient experience wise. Chris also commented in the hangout that they wanted to avoid people staying in an specific zone and encourage players to explore, see the world and adventure around. And i'm sure one of the things is preventing players to move around and explore is the whole XP system.