Gauging..

[Rache]

I was making a point about who our playerbase primarily is. Personally, I enjoy Genesis a lot: as something that runs in the background, but also I really enjoy roleplaying when I have a bit more time on my hands, I enjoy walking around and finding out new things after ~20 years, or just checking on the places I haven't been in for gods know how long... as well as socializing on Discord.

On PvP
I have very negative opinion about it. I believe re-introducing PvP on Genesis will drive players away because of griefing. And I suspect it will hit those players who genuinely spend the most time actively playing. Genesis having a bad record in this department is one thing, but - as I mentioned earlier - any mud can be automated and scripted to such an extent that in my view cons outweigh pros.

You said, in another post, about Genesis being a clicker and now it's something that runs in the background. I, too, have said numerous times that "Genesis is something to do while you do something else." I believe many of us old-timers have fallen into that trap, we're really busy and hold on to the game as we want it to be, through those rose-coloured glasses.

Regarding PVP, I think it's a very divisive issue for us experienced players: Either you love it and are good at it, or you hate it. There is little in between for those with actual experience in it. What I am hoping is that the 5-on-1 days of the past are gone, to give targets some chance to escape. That has largely been the experience of wars over the years, who can gang up on whom the "best" tends to win. The other side capitulates or quits altogether and a "victor" is declared. If the death penalty is adjusted, there may yet be hope for a future in PVP.

But when I look back over my (ugh) 25 years in the Realms, it's never the grind sessions or the PVP or the chase for rankings that stand out the most. It's the people. It's the RP. It's the flavour and the lore and the whole feeling of the Realms that has been so lovingly curated over the decades. I've made lifelong friends along the way, as well as enemies. That's all part of it. And as Zizuph said, I truly believe you get out of it what you put into it.

Genesis is so vast and has amazing opportunities for all different kinds of gameplay. It'll be a clicker if you want it to be a clicker. Background noise? That too. But if you want it to be an excellent, frustrating, wonderful place -- it's there too. You need to look for it. It's all there, waiting for you to [re]discover it.

[Budwise]

We seem to have drifted a bit off topic. Would be fun to ban triggers tho.
People would have to pay attention then. And yes, only saying this
because I don't use 'em myself. Only quicktyper aliasses.
Upside is I can more or less follow what's going on and react
if something untoward happens. Have seen a few examples of triggers
making trouble for people instead of helping.
Downside is that after 2-3 hours of grinding I start falling asleep.
So guess I tend to mostly go after eq or foes where I can be semi-attentive
and still win.

As for PvP not for me for the above reason. Getting back after death takes a looooong time
for me. Not interested. Also seems kinda hard to initiate these days. "kill (name)!" or something
and have to repeat or? Maybe a bit too nannystate. Also removes the fun accidental attacks
on guildmates/teammates etc. Only thing that makes PvP sound a bit cool would be:
"but in my opinion pursuing PvP on Genesis is the deadest of dead ends... except you're being chased by lava, surfed by Flaming Karens." But mostly it would just make the griefers happy. Folks whose enjoyment of the game
derives from ruining it for others.

And to all a Merry Bah Humbug-day!

[Snowrose]

Exp gain has always seemed stupidly slow for me in genesis, to the point i often go years without really bothering to look at my progress, why bother fighting if there is never any progress.

Through recently i found out i can actually take trolls and 5 trolls = 1 progress. seeing my progress move at all actually made fights fun again. and has encouraged me to... do it. so yes more progress good!

after the nerf i could still take out trolls slower yes.
3-10 min per troll depending on luck and size of troll.
i like that troll don't take half my hp each hit so healing can be more of a top myself off thing. rather than a desperate struggle to survive. that part was good!

its a tad frustrating i can never get more than 2 progresses a sitting when alone, cause i can rarely play more than 1-2 hours and if I'm on more of the 10 min fight end, not to mention after a 10 min fight i often need to take a break, so more prog per kill would have been nice. but i understand why it was not done.

[TaranGoatWalker]

Exp gain has always seemed stupidly slow for me in genesis, to the point i often go years without really bothering to look at my progress, why bother fighting if there is never any progress.

Through recently i found out i can actually take trolls and 5 trolls = 1 progress. seeing my progress move at all actually made fights fun again. and has encouraged me to... do it. so yes more progress good!

after the nerf i could still take out trolls slower yes.
3-10 min per troll depending on luck and size of troll.
i like that troll don't take half my hp each hit so healing can be more of a top myself off thing. rather than a desperate struggle to survive. that part was good!

its a tad frustrating i can never get more than 2 progresses a sitting when alone, cause i can rarely play more than 1-2 hours and if I'm on more of the 10 min fight end, not to mention after a 10 min fight i often need to take a break, so more prog per kill would have been nice. but i understand why it was not done.

Methinks there's a big issue that's not global if you're taking an hour to make a prog at expert.

[Snowrose]

yes, i was accounting for the 10 min kill which is my high end, if i have really bad luck. my low end is 2-3 min. but i do always have issues killing back to back. due to my eyes and stress of combat. i have trouble teaming for longer than 2 hours as well.

I was trying to keep things technical

[TaranGoatWalker]

Even so... as an expert, when I ran gont, I was getting minimum 12 min progs or so.

[Snowrose]

well if i have the singer bow and am lucky to get 2-3 min kills, and i do not stop to rest my eyes after every 2-3 fights a 12 min prog is entirely possible my progs are specifically 5 trolls. that has not changed.

but if i have a lesser bow i guess 20-30 min progs are more realistic as most fights take around 5 minutes when i'm alone under non optimal conditions
I do still get a 2 min kill here and there. butvi also occasionally get a 10 min, if i say lose focus and have to run to heal up.

now also keep in mind these numbers are with trolls not gont also it is after the damage nerf and i'm also not using rune ammo. im using grinding ammo. and im a flimsy low strength elf. after the stat change i will no doubt kill a bit faster.

[cyork2]

Back to the original post / topic... there was very little reward in grinding (solo) as a myth before xp got so slow. Now, I'm generally not even bothering.

Net / net these changes seem to be slowly choking the life of out gen and driving people away. We needed slower combat as the game is too small for everyone to wipe out areas so fast. We did not need slower growth. The 'few players' who were growing too fast will hit the soft cap and that will be the end of it. Balancing Gen for a few players at the edge of the bell curve (because they play non-stop etc) is a bad approach that penalizes the average player.

[Drazson]

Yeah, 2 worlds that can't be joined. We can talk about this ad nauseum - and we are

[Chanele]

None of the current players reached the so called soft cap, the biggest players made progress in 20-30 min so a change slowing things down was needed.

Now we just need to adjust so smaller players grow at the same pace as before the slow combat introduction.

/Chanele