Forgotten Kingdoms Forums

Would it be possible to code a command to check how close you are to increasing skill level? Something like skilllevel 'second attack' would show your percent progress to the next level.

How about we alter the skills/spells/trades lists and if a * is next to the skill name it means you are about ready to advance in skill level, the only thing I see as a possible issue would be that fresh players would not understand that we have like 8 or so named skill levels but 25 numerically.

I think Lathander might be putting together a newbie manual and, if so, I'm sure that can be noted there and alleviate that problem.

Would it be possible to code a command to check how close you are to increasing skill level? Something like skilllevel 'second attack' would show your percent progress to the next level.

Could you expand on this to indicate what you feel the advantages and uses would be?

I personally do not see an advantage, other than knowing "Ooh, it's going up soon!"

While it often seems as if my skills never increase, I suppose that they do, and I just don't see it (as alluded to by the multiple levels per rank earlier).

I can't say I see a reason why I'd use this command.

I guess than we could say (as an extreme) that we should get rid of the level and worth commands and just have it tell us when we are ready to advance to the next level?

In opposition to my own statement however,( yes I argue with myself alot ) we do not gain xp and then train a skill level, training skills gives you training in the skill and advances your skill xp. I'd rather see us move to skill points than implement a command like this, since it would be useless once/if we make the switch.

There aren't any real uses or advantages apart from knowing how far along your skills are out of interest.

The main advantage I can see is that it would let you feel like you are progressing.

That's basically the same reason why we have "half towards next level", "nearly at next level" and so on.

I would agree with Dalvyn. I would go completely nuts if I had no measure of how far I was progressing. I suppose for me, the only real benefit is peace of mind, but I don't see any detrimental side to it. I guess what I'm saying is that I am for being able to check progression on your skills and such, simply because it gives me more of a sense of accomplishment.

I've no problem with a command which shows generalised comments about your progress in a skill. One that shows the exact percentage to the next improvement would be less desirable I think.

Kelemvor wrote:I've no problem with a command which shows generalised comments about your progress in a skill. One that shows the exact percentage to the next improvement would be less desirable I think.

Why? Can you expand on what you think the disadvantages would be?

I think that a percentage would be more desirable because it doesn't really grant any extra power or do anything useful for the player. The whole command would be nothing more than a way of keeping track of how far along you are, of constantly seeing progress being made instead of seeing only occasional skill increases. By limiting the number of smaller 'increases' you see you limit the usefulness of the command, but there is no discernable advantage that I can see.

Since this is similar... I never really understood what the reason for switching from percentage to words when it came to xp was? (Yes, I am against the word descriptors for xp as well as I would prefer a % for this as well, but even a word would be a step in the right direction. But then again, this all goes back to the numbers vs. words thread which showed that almost *everyone* preferred numbers)

Btw, I think this would be a helpfule command. Partly because some people are under the impression that some skills never rise and this would be an easy way for them to be shown, yes, it is rising, just slooooowly.

And yes, I agree with Japcil that I would rather see skill points, but since this would probably take less time and effort than skill points, it wouldn't hurt to have this sooner.

Also, on the matter of 8 names skills and 25 numerical ones, I think this really only punishes people that are not "in the know". Experienced players can keep track of where they are. An easy way would just be to have something like Apprentice, Apprentice*, Apprentice**, Journeyman, etc.

To play devil's advocate, I think that having words instead of percents is supposed to be to tilt stats and skills more towards RP than to a numerical system might. Having words represent two or three points slightly dulls the "I have 2547 dps and 500 spirit" Wow syndrome, imo. To give an example, if skills were on a % system, it might encourage someone who sees that his or her skill is at 95% a to go off solo some mobs to get the skill increase rather than RP with another player.

Glim wrote:Also, on the matter of 8 names skills and 25 numerical ones, I think this really only punishes people that are not "in the know". Experienced players can keep track of where they are. An easy way would just be to have something like Apprentice, Apprentice*, Apprentice**, Journeyman, etc.

How exactly does this punish people who are not "in the know"? You can still tell which "point" you are at by monitoring when your advances occur (e.g. @ apprentice you get the "You succeed and improve at ____" = "apprentice*").

I think the system is fairly clear as it is. I don't have a major opposition to numbers, other than that I think that putting more numbers in can in some circumstances increase tendencies to concentrate more on them than RP, but I think the current system works all right.

A simple request, for myself as well as others: Can someone create a topic that is a sticky, explaining what words mean in relation to a numerical stat?

IE:

Skill
Inept (1-3)
Amateur (4-6)

and

Attribute
Dexterity
Awkward (8-9)
Average (10)
Limber (11-12)

Just using those as an example, as I've heard a couple different explanations to the word and numerical relationship. Also, thank you to Kregor for breaking down armour types, material, and quality on another forum topic.

Hviti wrote:How exactly does this punish people who are not "in the know"?

Perhaps punish is not exactly the best phrase to use. It does put them at a disadvantage codewise though. It is the same way that the word descriptors put those who don't know what numbers they mean at a disadvantage.

It is merely the fact that experienced players can learn more about the numbers behind the words than younger players or less experience players who cannot. That, to me, makes it a less of a newbie friendly system.

And yes, from your first example, it might encourage people to go off and train those skills, but looking at the opposite, if a player sees that the skill they want to train is at 5% to the next level, then it might discourage them from doing such. As it is now, if a player wants to train a skill, they have no idea how close they are and instead they merely go and do it until they get an increase. Be it taking 5% more or 85% more.

Rawlys wrote:Can someone create a topic that is a sticky, explaining what words mean in relation to a numerical stat?

I could do that, but I think it would be best to receive an imm's permission first.