Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

NegInfinity wrote:Would be nice to have some sort of xp pool where you can sacrifice characters and then draw out xp from there to make new concepts - as much as you need.

im usually all about your ideas. seem like a pretty thoughtful guy...... this one is not good.

Then why not just let everyone pick what level they want? Newbie to the server? Here's your level 30 toon to go waltzing about... Sick of your current character, no need to RCR, just create a new PC and select level 30.

I agree (though I would argue it's level 19/20 where the true grind starts...18 is no different from 17 in terms of XP gains. 19 is also fine unless you're ECL race. For humans or other 0 ECL races 20 is where you see XP cut in half or worse.

dedude has some interesting ideas for making the leveling experience better and I am hopeful the XP pool will go in or some other method to bring Epic XP closer to being in line with pre-epic (doubt it will ever be made equal though).

Point being the solution is making the leveling from ~20+ more enjoyable...the solution is not to allow it to be circumvented all together.

in addition to chad's xp pool. i would totally like to see a complete revamp of the questing system and would even be willing to join the dev team to work in getting that done.

chad878262 wrote:Then why not just let everyone pick what level they want? Newbie to the server? Here's your level 30 toon to go waltzing about... Sick of your current character, no need to RCR, just create a new PC and select level 30.

Reductio ad absurdum? Strawman?

Never said that this should be available all the time.

chad878262 wrote: I agree (though I would argue it's level 19/20 where the true grind starts...18 is no different from 17 in terms of XP gains. 19 is also fine unless you're ECL race. For humans or other 0 ECL races 20 is where you see XP cut in half or worse.

I usually play ECL+1.

My logic is that if somebody already walked the damn 1-30 road once, they should have an opportunity to make a new concept. Doesn't mean the opportunity has to be available every day, though. Maybe there's to one complete reroll per month or something.

The reasoning for this is real-life obligations. Lots of people are adults, and don't have the time to grind like crazy. So it makes sense to offer an opportunity to make a new concept by sacrificing the old one. How often they can do that is another story.

having said that, I think that "once per month" is good. "Once per qurater" is not, and "once per year" is for elves.

chad878262 wrote: dedude has some interesting ideas for making the leveling experience better and I am hopeful the XP pool will go in or some other method to bring Epic XP closer to being in line with pre-epic (doubt it will ever be made equal though).

I'm not holding breath for that. Currently enojyable leveling stops at level 9 or 10 and then becomes a chore. Past level 18 it becomes torture. If progression speed at 18 was comparable to progression speed at 9, I'd probably find it enjoyable. The problem probably lies in DND xp curve.

However, seeing that staff was adamant about raising xp combat cap in the past, I'd be extremely surprised if something will be done about it. Feel free to surprise me, though.

aaron22 wrote:in addition to chad's xp pool. i would totally like to see a complete revamp of the questing system and would even be willing to join the dev team to work in getting that done.

I hate quests in their current form and wouldn't mind seeing them go. (Why can't I kill those damn halflings in the cave). Not sure what they can be replaced with, though.

I don't understand why everyone is so inclined to impose more and more limitations on this server. It seems a lot of people are always up in arms and ready to impose more restrictions instead of less.

As a gamer who doesn't always have the time pool available to devote as much time as others, a monthly 100% RCR window would allow me to be able to RCR some of my 21 toons that I've made mistakes with without having to rush through something during the limited 1 week window, whenever that may be.

If someone RCR's a well known long timed RP'd character and uses the same character concept and name into some drastically different form of who the character was before, then just don't RP with them if it bothers you that much OOC.

If I RCR to fix a mistake, or a slight change, that's one thing. If I RCR into a drastically different class combo, then yeah it will be a different character with a different name. Whats the problem with 100% RCR monthly?

Reckeo wrote: If I RCR to fix a mistake, or a slight change, that's one thing. If I RCR into a drastically different class combo, then yeah it will be a different character with a different name. Whats the problem with 100% RCR monthly?

Well, a lot of people already use the 50% RCR to do radical changes on already existing characters.

There's also a question of level economy (not gold economy), as you'd have a larger inflation of high level characters. You'd naturally shift the average character level up quite significantly.

Also, this argument that "I have only so much time" is only valid if you play this game purely for mechanics, in which case - what are you doing here? Roleplay starts at level 1. Not at 10. Not when you get HiPS. Not when you get dragon form. Not when you have the power to do stupid evil/good things and have a "chance" in PvP. At level 1.

NegInfinity wrote:

aaron22 wrote:in addition to chad's xp pool. i would totally like to see a complete revamp of the questing system and would even be willing to join the dev team to work in getting that done.

I hate quests in their current form and wouldn't mind seeing them go. (Why can't I kill those damn halflings in the cave). Not sure what they can be replaced with, though.

my idea for questing would be a complete revamp and only the ghosts of what it is now will remain. along with some bad memories.

i hate them too.

Deathgrowl wrote:Also, this argument that "I have only so much time" is only valid if you play this game purely for mechanics, in which case - what are you doing here? Roleplay starts at level 1. Not at 10. Not when you get HiPS. Not when you get dragon form. Not when you have the power to do stupid evil/good things and have a "chance" in PvP. At level 1.

Well said...I've never had the time to play this game, sometime going months without logging in and even in the best of times being limited to once a week, maybe twice for around 3 hours. If you enjoy level 1-10 most then just RP your characters during those levels and enjoy the ride. If you enjoy epics than you can still get there, and RP the whole way there. Nothing says you have to grindgrindgrindgrindgrind until 30 before you can start actually role playing.

Problem with "RP starts at 1" is...

Every single time I get on the server and check scry, I see the following:

People in random epic area.
People in random grind zone.
1 person at FAI, probably afk.
Even more people in some random grind zone.


You have absolutely no chance meeting anyone at level 1 with how everyone and their mothers are in some random area.

Nothing says you have to grindgrindgrindgrindgrind until 30 before you can start actually role playing.

Agreed with the above. And if you find you bore of your character, you can already transfer your xp with the current system.

This server plays fast and loose with the concept of RP in a lot of ways. That's ok, that's how it was designed. RCR helps with small mistakes in builds with appropriate penalties, I think.

But giving people the ability once a month (or once every few months, or even once a year) to completely change their character concept 100%, or to start a new one at the same level that can mule the gear of the previous one kind of spits in the face of dedicated roleplayers. What's to stop players from simply powering through levels as a min maxed build, and then deciding to RCR as an 'appropriate' RP character?

Or maybe you decide to RP a 'good' character, gain levels, and then RCR into an evil one who then wrecks havoc on the same characters? At a certain point, you're favoring ease of play over roleplay. And it breaks immersion to have these things happen with regularity, because we're all in the same sandbox; I can't simply 'not play' with others while maintaining a roleplaying mentality.

You know who gets to play multiple character concepts at any given day? A DM.

1. It's exploitable.

2. Facilitates throwaway characters

3. Allows to capitalize on play time even more than currently, the exp you earn would be forever and would keep on accumulating. This in fact slowly invalidates 90% of the server content.

4. Allows more tweaking, which in general ends up as power ups.

Losing exp is only a bad thing if you consider leveling a chore. I completely disagree with this but even if you agree with that statement then the RCR is a weird solution, instead the exp rate could be raised to reduce the time needed to level up. For me the question is why do we have an RCR system at all ?

As far as I'm concerned it's a bad idea all around (rooted in the hate of grinding, nothing less) that completely failed to achieve its goal (an incentive to retire old characters) and is almost exclusively misused (tweaking existing characters), effectively acknowledging the hate for grinding. This is in total contradiction with the promotion of a relatively slow leveling experience but we're keeping it around because many people find it convenient. What's good for some individuals is not good for the server as a whole, which is to see people from all levels using all the areas and enjoying a variety of adventures.

Deathgrowl wrote:
Also, this argument that "I have only so much time" is only valid if you play this game purely for mechanics, in which case - what are you doing here? Roleplay starts at level 1. Not at 10. Not when you get HiPS. Not when you get dragon form. Not when you have the power to do stupid evil/good things and have a "chance" in PvP. At level 1.

While that is true... it's also not entirely true. Some character concepts only work with levels that supports that concept.

Hoihe wrote:Problem with "RP starts at 1" is...

Every single time I get on the server and check scry, I see the following:

People in random epic area.
People in random grind zone.
1 person at FAI, probably afk.
Even more people in some random grind zone.


You have absolutely no chance meeting anyone at level 1 with how everyone and their mothers are in some random area.

you should try playing in the UD or any openly evil toon.. LOL at your loneliness.

Reckeo wrote:I don't understand why everyone is so inclined to impose more and more limitations on this server. It seems a lot of people are always up in arms and ready to impose more restrictions instead of less.

As a gamer who doesn't always have the time pool available to devote as much time as others, a monthly 100% RCR window would allow me to be able to RCR some of my 21 toons that I've made mistakes with without having to rush through something during the limited 1 week window, whenever that may be.

If someone RCR's a well known long timed RP'd character and uses the same character concept and name into some drastically different form of who the character was before, then just don't RP with them if it bothers you that much OOC.

If I RCR to fix a mistake, or a slight change, that's one thing. If I RCR into a drastically different class combo, then yeah it will be a different character with a different name. Whats the problem with 100% RCR monthly?

+1

Deathgrowl wrote: Well, a lot of people already use the 50% RCR to do radical changes on already existing characters.

And a lot of people don't have the time to grind back.

Deathgrowl wrote: Also, this argument that "I have only so much time" is only valid if you play this game purely for mechanics, in which case - what are you doing here? Roleplay starts at level 1. Not at 10. Not when you get HiPS. Not when you get dragon form. Not when you have the power to do stupid evil/good things and have a "chance" in PvP. At level 1.

This is an extremely poor argument.

Chasing people (who don't wanna grind) away from server is not a good idea.
Someone who utilizes 100% rcr will be simply providing more characters to interact with - for YOU. The alternative for them is to quit. Which is less characters for you to interact with. Yay?

100% RCR period usually result in spikes in server population, because people who despise the grind come back to try that other concept they had in mind for months or years. Why would anyone object from it, is beyond me. If Roleplay starts at level 1, why do you care at what level someone else starts? If they have a character to sacrifice, they've walked the road before and their xp is earned. Roleplay with them.

Also, it is not like "RP" is abundant. My usual play session is 2..3 hours of roaming without bumping into ANYONE. I don't know how the hell am I doing that, but apparently I have a knack for never meeting anybody at any population. So, arguments like yours aren't addressing that.