One idea I was having when I read over this was, for characters under level ten, the guards could say something to them as they are leaving the gates.
ex. "Excuse me lad/lass, but you may want to reconsider your journey this day. I have heard that bandit activity is nearly unberable. If you wish to travel, I would suggest a companion or two."
That way they can't say that they weren't at least warned.
New Character Creation
Okay, one thing I might consider to suggest, though, in light of the lower exp rewards, while training a young newbie character, is that perhaps we can also lower the exp costs for skill training, at least at lower ranks. As it is, learning aid a few ticks just cost me two thirds my exp to level 7. This cost used to be trivial, now it basically translates to, if you want to train your skills, you do it at the expense of levels. In my opinion, that will make the potential for unbalanced skill/level distribution (ie, level 10 wizards with GM magic missile) even more pronounced.
I wouldn't even mind seeing a different currency for skill training than exp, like... say... D&D style skill points?
Why reinvent the wheel, after all.
I wouldn't even mind seeing a different currency for skill training than exp, like... say... D&D style skill points?
Why reinvent the wheel, after all."There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men."
Kregor - Ranger of Tangled Trees
Rozor - Lady Luck's Duelist
Tygen - Ranger-Bard of Mielikki
Kregor - Ranger of Tangled Trees
Rozor - Lady Luck's Duelist
Tygen - Ranger-Bard of Mielikki
Just a few ideas I had to throw out there.
1) I still love the skill points idea and am completely behind that.
2) Make use of the new teach system (though I don't know if that is something coming in the near future or distant). That would encourage more RP between players and help alleviate the skilling aspect of being a lowbie (I base that on the assumption that inter-player teaching will be done at a lower XP cost, if that isn't the case, I would offer it as a suggestion).
3) In response to something Lathander said earlier as far as joining a guild without knowing they couldn't join something later, I would suggest a very simple version of the current faith system. Basically, you just need an OK from another member of that guild. No quest or levels or anything, it would just give players the opportunity to learn a little about that guild instead of just blindly running into a guild and finding out later that it isn't what they wanted. It shouldn't be hard to do and any mid+ level member of the guild would be allowed to OK others to join. Now I would note that this is NOT admitting people into the guild, it is simply a step that needs to be taken before the applicant can approach the recruiter and go through whatever quest or requirement is currently in place. As far as experienced players and not needing explanations, all that would really be required is to mention that they've already done their research on the guild or something like that and get the OK without the hastle of listening to stuff they already know. On top of all that, it gets characters acquainted with others of like mind and can lead to an increase in grouping and maybe even apprenticeships and stuff of that sort. This would also allow the joining of a guild before L10. Just an idea, though.
1) I still love the skill points idea and am completely behind that.
2) Make use of the new teach system (though I don't know if that is something coming in the near future or distant). That would encourage more RP between players and help alleviate the skilling aspect of being a lowbie (I base that on the assumption that inter-player teaching will be done at a lower XP cost, if that isn't the case, I would offer it as a suggestion).
3) In response to something Lathander said earlier as far as joining a guild without knowing they couldn't join something later, I would suggest a very simple version of the current faith system. Basically, you just need an OK from another member of that guild. No quest or levels or anything, it would just give players the opportunity to learn a little about that guild instead of just blindly running into a guild and finding out later that it isn't what they wanted. It shouldn't be hard to do and any mid+ level member of the guild would be allowed to OK others to join. Now I would note that this is NOT admitting people into the guild, it is simply a step that needs to be taken before the applicant can approach the recruiter and go through whatever quest or requirement is currently in place. As far as experienced players and not needing explanations, all that would really be required is to mention that they've already done their research on the guild or something like that and get the OK without the hastle of listening to stuff they already know. On top of all that, it gets characters acquainted with others of like mind and can lead to an increase in grouping and maybe even apprenticeships and stuff of that sort. This would also allow the joining of a guild before L10. Just an idea, though.
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die. ~Mel Brooks
While personally I'd still favor a boost in exp gains, if not back to the old level then somewhat higher than it is now, a change in the way skill training works would be fantastic. The levelling difficulty wouldn't be too bad if you could still reliably train skills, but at present it really is basically an either/or proposition. You can either level or work on skills, but not both if you want to make any kind of progress.Kregor wrote:Okay, one thing I might consider to suggest, though, in light of the lower exp rewards, while training a young newbie character, is that perhaps we can also lower the exp costs for skill training, at least at lower ranks. As it is, learning aid a few ticks just cost me two thirds my exp to level 7. This cost used to be trivial, now it basically translates to, if you want to train your skills, you do it at the expense of levels. In my opinion, that will make the potential for unbalanced skill/level distribution (ie, level 10 wizards with GM magic missile) even more pronounced.
I wouldn't even mind seeing a different currency for skill training than exp, like... say... D&D style skill points?
While I do not like the new system, basically forcing us to fight a lot more, it's not something new to me. I'm the sort that spends as much time as possible in the newby dungeon trainingall the weapon types I can as high as I can. At least to apprentice. This new system makes a warrior spending 120 hours in training actually more reasonable, lol. Actually, not only in the training area. There are some weapons, like bows and crossbows, you'd have to seek outside, but yeah, that's one bright side. All apprentice with one weapon of choice at Adept or somesuch before leaving the temple 
Windows 95: n.
32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that can't stand 1 bit of competition.
32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that can't stand 1 bit of competition.