cotillion wrote:Please don't concentrate too much on the stats themselves. They seem relevant for your as it's what's presented.
What's important in the end is how the game then uses those stats.
That can be changed without changing the stats themselves. What's the best approach depends on what we wish to accomplish.
What I've got so far is that:
- The combat advantage given to some races has a too large impact.
- It takes way too long until a new player can actually be a part of the game at the same level as older players
Thats how I would summarize the two main problems regarding this as well.
A solution for the first problem would be to make all stats even and add other bonuses for races? Or make mental stats matter more? Or what do you all think?
Solution for the second problem I've heard have ranged from a stat cap, to letting new players start at GA or above level, or give them increased combat XP bonus / less brutality at smaller levels. And also the idea Arcon suggested about bonuses for smaller players who get attacked / are teamed has also floated around before in different ways.
Anyone have more suggestions to deal with this?
Allthough it would require more job than "turning some knobs" I would personally prefer adding a skill-tree to the game, I think it could solve both these problems AND make questing optional without making too many people angry...
In short we have a skill-tree where players based on XP can chose different abilities to specialize in. Much similar to many other games, like Skyrim och Diablo for instance.
So we make all races equal in stats, however for instance dwarves start with one or two special dwarf-like skills in the skill-tree. Maybe they have "stone skin" which make them take a little less damage than others. A small amount to begin with, but each time you "upgrade" you stone skin ability it becomes more and more useful until it reaches it's highest level. The special racial skill-tree bonuses are _only_ for that race and cannot be used by other races. Then there of course is a ton of abilities that's the same for everyone as well.
As for sizes, we cap them at champion, any more XP gathered after that is counted towards your skill-tree instead.
As for quests, there no longer is brutality, instead questing only gives XP to use for your skill-tree.
So in short. Races start with equal stats, but different special bonuses in the skill-tree. Each time you reach a new mortal level you get to chose a new ability / upgrade. However, if you want to gain more abilities you can quest. If you just hate questing you can also gain these bonuses by continuing to grind after you've reached the cap. (Or do both of course). There should almost be no limit to have much you can upgrade your bonuses, allthough each step should require more and more XP, and give less and less bonus...
If we made these change races would be much more equal but still have their own special thing. Questing would become optional, but still be rewarding for those who enjoy it. Mortal levels would be lower, more parts of the game would be challenging, and the hardest places require teams again. New players would be able to reach the highest level, or at least not be too far behind, (rising hero / hero would be an acceptable size) within reasonable time. Also, even the biggest myths today who have tons of combat XP and finished all quests would enjoy a lot of cool abilities and bonuses to chose from and upgrade, so perhaps they would not feel too bad about losing stats, since they get still get something for all their work. They could customize their characters greatly, being extremely specialized in some areas, or gain a large number of different cool abilities.
I am starting to believe more and more in this idea, originally posted by Kas regarding quest XP, but I think it can be applied to solve several problems at once.
Yes, I understand we may not have the manpower to make it happen right now, but I think it has great potential some day. And not everything has to be done at once, you could start small by just making the races equal in stats and give each of them a special ability instead.