Skills Alla Levels

For the discussion of general topics about the game.
Rhelian

Post by Rhelian » Sat Aug 23, 2003 10:10 am

Levels are fine the way they are. We don't need level 50-60 just on RP. RP rewards, not RP levels, is a better way to go
Evyn

Post by Evyn » Mon Sep 01, 2003 8:46 pm

Hey,
We were all talking and reading about this and I was just curious how would the hour thing for leveling fit in with people that have more hours and less levels then they should...my mage has 375 hours on him and he is only level 24.. just curious how that would work with people with similar cases
Sia
Sword Bumbler
Sword Bumbler
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2003 5:36 pm
Location: Ardeep

Post by Sia » Tue Sep 02, 2003 10:58 pm

My thief has 758 hours and she's level 41. I'd tell you why, but Sharni would have to kill me for revealing IC info ;)

Sia
User avatar
Nicolya
Sword Apprentice
Sword Apprentice
Posts: 54
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2003 1:41 am

Post by Nicolya » Fri Sep 19, 2003 3:41 pm

While I am not new to muds and RPing, I am still very much a newbie here to this game. I find this mud to be very exciting, and overwhelming at times.

Now for my question, what is considered the "average" hours for characters? Is somewhere around level 20 with 200 hours normal?
- Current Character -
Cerise Kadrimme
Leyva

Post by Leyva » Sat Sep 20, 2003 4:07 am

I`m sure it depends.... my main character turned max level just as he rolled over to the 400's... I guess that's kinda bad, but the levels came really easy and I prob`ly spent about 90-something percent of that time RPing or at least killing mobs with other people. I think it will really vary depending on who you ask, taking into account how much experience they have on this MUD in particular (ex: leyva was my first character, therefore i did quite a lot of exploring and training all over the map just to get a better understanding of the game), what class they are, (ex: fighters will level faster and easier than mages nine times out of ten), and just the personality of the player in general and what they want to get out of this game. Just to let the twinks know, though, you`ll have so much more fun "in the square" than where ever you`re powerleveling. :wink:
User avatar
Tempus
Staff
Staff
Posts: 669
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2003 9:34 pm
Location: Warrior's Rest

Post by Tempus » Sat Sep 20, 2003 7:49 am

It is my personal opinion that far too much stock is placed in the mythical hours/level ratio. It is up to you as a player to decide, for each character in your roster, whether they have sufficient RP behind them to be the level or power that they are at.

Note I stated RP not hours. I would much rather see someone with a low number of hours and a high level, yet whom I know has a well established background, storyline, relationships etc for that character, than someone with 1500 hours at level 25, but has spent 1450 of them doing nothing but circuiting one area collecting coins or sitting doing nothing to rack up the hours they think they need to then spam their way to L50.

For some, the game is all about gaining character power through establishing RP - good for you, don't feel pressurised to go and level if you don't want to. For others, the game is about gaining character power through coded skills and levelling - good for you too. What both sets of players should remember, though, is that you cannot effectively RP being a master swordsman if you have not the skills to back it up. Neither is their a whole lot of point in being a master swordsman if you never RP with anyone else, so no-one ever knows (unless, of course, thats part of a more convoluted rp you are planning...).
Wybert

Post by Wybert » Thu Nov 27, 2003 7:39 pm

Being a new player to this mud (I do have about 7 years of MU* experience.) reading this post and others and also the help twink file I am concerned about this hour to level ratio. After a few hours of practicing skills on one of my characters I went back to town to sell off loot and train. At level 20 I was able to gain 5 levels and on my score the EXP still reads "May Advance" If the goal is to slow down the rate at which people level their characters perhaps there should be no stockpiling of experience? Once you reach 100% thats it. You gain nothing more not even extra exp for skill training. The experience rewards I have found from relatively easy combats and never being in any real danger of dying make leveling on this MUD extremely easy to anyone who is careful. Reducing all exp awards by 50% or 75% would slow leveling down. Or capping exp allowed per monster killed to say 1-2%. I have fought single monsters worth 25% exp or more per kill and took no more than 10% health in damage.

My couple characters are all around the level 20-25 range and have no more than 60 hours on any one character. I do not spend all my time out hack-n-slashing, mainly I go when there is no one about who is rping as I play somewhat off-hours typically. I would say each character to get to level 20 took around 10-15 hours, at most, of fighting the rest of their hours are either roleplaying or waiting about for a roleplaying chance. With leveling this easy how can someone call a player a "twink" when with little real effort they can advance so rapidly? Can you really expect a player to see that " Exp: May advance" and not want to go train that level? Sure some do, that is their choice but they are probably a minority. Most players are anxious to see what the next neat skill or spell they can get does. Maybe leveling gets alot harder at higher levels I can not say, but to really slow leveling down steps could be made at the extremely easy to obtain levels of 1-25 that I have obtained.

(I am scared to see how many levels my level 20 fighter could gain after purposely not leveling in well over 150 combats. I would be curious to see how many levels he could gain and have his level reset back after just for reference if it were possible.)

Thanks
Wybert Wugglesnorffle
Rhelian

Post by Rhelian » Fri Nov 28, 2003 12:00 am

There are limits in place - I doubt this is IC info, so: When you hit level 39, experience is capped. You acheive "May advance" and it doesn't stockpile, which is good. However at lower levels it would not make sense to establish a limit as it is mainly used to train skills and spells. And when a spell is a few levels higher than you are, it costs progressively more experience each train. Therefore, if there WAS a limit on experience at lower levels, it would do no more than encourage people to level faster so they can train the new skills.

As for being able to walk through fights with barely a scratch and acheiving a lot of experience - I am assuming (correct me if I am wrong) that your character is a fighter or a priest. I would suggest trying to gain levels as a wizard, before you try to institute a 1-2% experience per kill idea. Receiving 25% from one fight, you should take a moment to consider the mob, and work out it's relative level, in respect to your own. That is why there is a large reward, because the level of the mob outranks your own by quite a bit.

As for little danger of dying - I would point you to the thread in the clerics forum where players are upset that their priest characters and continually being used for raising the dead. A lot of players die. Experience being easy to acheive? Wait until you reach the higher levels and then see how easy it is. Rhelian, my main character, had over 1200 hours on her before she reached level 50, with roughly 500 hours spent on the last 15 levels.

If you feel your character is advancing too fast, then I would suggest you either a) not level or b) spend a lot of time RPing till you feel the balance is more appropriate.

As for levels - if you assume that level 1-10 are essentially newblood levels (training, not even been on one campaign), and that at around 25-30 you have acheived an average level of character power (been on several campaigns, fought a variety of monsters, have scars and skills to prove it), then the ease of acheive that power is not that un-natural. To go from a novice to an apprentice is a rapid rise, but to acheive mastery of your chosen profession takes much much longer. That is how I personally see the level system, feel free to interperet things your own way.
Caldavien

Skills and your characters level

Post by Caldavien » Tue Mar 02, 2004 6:13 pm

First I apologise if this has been covered elsewere, but I have checked in the recomended areas and not found it yet.

How is skill affected by level? Is a skill capped by your character level? WIll I only be able to train up to a certain point according to my guild? WHen I as a rogue try to use a skill like peek or backstab, do i have a chance of success according to my skill level only or is it dependent also on a counter check by the NPC?
Selveem

My thoughs

Post by Selveem » Wed Mar 17, 2004 10:51 pm

I must have skipped this by accident, so I apologize for the late reply. But I did think it was very important for me to address this issue. As a player who has always enjoyed playing fighters over any other class, I feel the need to stand up for fighters in this instance. Fighters, yes, may be able to level easiest under certain circumstances and with specific knowledge of the game, but there is far more to 'leveling up' than simply going out and hacking 35-40 mummies to death, running to the nearest trainer, and skipping on back. I relate my characters ability to level not by their 'may advance' bar, but by their skills and training. The meaning, I feel, behind the exp bar is exactly as it states: "may advance." If you feel your character is unworthy of leveling up, work on them more. There is plenty in FK to do.. Especially things like repeatedly repairing your armor because some mages want to use you as a meat shield so they can acquire more spells for themselves. :P I think leveling is fine the way it is. People should just continue to take as much time as they have been with leveling. I've never seen it as a problem.
Post Reply