EXP Absorbtion in HJ

I was wondering, any ideas how EXP points are going to be absorbed? I am all in favor of the Gemstone style myself. I was curious if anyone had heard anything about it. Not sure if DR does it the same way? maybe?

Thanks!
 
Do you mean like in terms of leveling and whatnot?

I had heard at some point somewhere that things were intended to be somewhat skill based, much like in DragonRealms (where you train an ability, get "Field Experience" in that ability, and then slowly convert Field Experience into learned experience) but I no longer believe that to be the case. I'm pretty certain things will operate in a standard MMO format, you kill something, you get experience points toward your next level. As you level you gain abilities/spells/etc.

The diversity comes from the Wyr system, to my knowledge. So say you are a wizard primary class and learn a fireball spell at a certain low level, you slip a special wyr into that ability and it gets altered somehow. More damage perhaps, longer range perhaps, shift from fire to frost, larger area of effect, added burn damage over time, or whatever. Course those are just basic concepts and wyr may in fact be even more complex and interesting and altering.

~Dune Walker~
 
Ah alright. Thanks for the information on that. As for the explanation for absorbing EXP: What I meant was Gemstone has a system... you have a mind bar which fills up with EXP once you kill something. But after you finish hunting you must rest to actually absorb it into your EXP bank. So if you died on the way back from hunting, you lost your mind.

-Kevin
 
Ah alright. Thanks for the information on that. As for the explanation for absorbing EXP: What I meant was Gemstone has a system... you have a mind bar which fills up with EXP once you kill something. But after you finish hunting you must rest to actually absorb it into your EXP bank. So if you died on the way back from hunting, you lost your mind.

-Kevin

That is quite possibly the most evil XP system I've ever heard of. I think I like it. ]:smiley:
 
I like both GS's and DR's systems. Both require you to take a break and actually INTERACT with people (or do something else).

Additionally... in GS, if your mind is full (meaning your field experience meter hit its full capacity), and you rest in the field, it drains slower than if you were in town in a "node" (maybe the central hub of the city: Town Square or in a tavern).

Social interaction all around. Yay RP.
 
I've only played games with standard exp where you kill stuff and get exp. I'm defiantly up for some other type of system, one that encourages more.. skill or less grinding or something.
 
I've only played games with standard exp where you kill stuff and get exp. I'm defiantly up for some other type of system, one that encourages more.. skill or less grinding or something.

I can just now see the return of SWG's huge crowds of people waiting for the shuttle. Back when there were ten-minute wait times between shuttles and no player starships, there would be dozens of players (mostly afk) sitting in the starports.
 
I don't mean a system that requires waiting so much either. It's hard to describe but really just something different from the standard kill mobs get exp grind.
 
One of the biggest things about DragonRealms and Gemstone was the system of central gathering points. You wanted to have people socialize, so certain draws existed to prod people into a certain sort of area.

So yeah, hunting. There is field experience in both DragonRealms and Gemstone, and when you fill up you really ought to go back to town and rest, because if you overfill you lose learning efficiency. Also, you have encumberence. If you skin a few dozen cougars and pick up trapped and disarmed treasure chests from humanoids and pick up coins and gems that are dropped, the weight starts to add up and makes it harder for you to fight, so you have to go back to town.

After a bit of hunting you have to clean and sell your skins, you have to find a Trader to sell your gems for you, you have to find a quiet spot to open your boxes (or find someone to do it for you) and you have to go to the bank and deposit your earnings. And of course, any wounds you picked up while hunting you have to tend to. If you're bleeding you can use herbs and first aid to stop it, but you'll still need basic cleaning at Empaths because it will make it harder to fight, hide, move, etc if you're all banged up, even though you aren't slowly bleeding to death anymore.

Players have different skills and abilities, and each different ability has usefulness that drives players of different types to find each other. Rangers, for example (and their Urban brothers too *winks*) are the folks to go to if you need herbs foraged, or boxes popped, assuming you aren't skilled in that yourself. Empaths are the healers, huge demand from everyone, and they can do Shifting to alter your physical appearance. Clerics are the favor savors, and they make death a lot less annoying. Traders have the cool stuff, so head on down to the bazaar. Moonies can moongate you, and can enchant well. Barbs tend to be good smiths, go find yourself some nice weapons or armoring. War Magi are a bit less in demand, but they've got water balloons and snowballs (fun!) and some enchanting and can fight like anything. Bards are just damn fine company, and lots of fun and drinks. And Paladins are just kinda there. *grins evilly* Sorry Pallies.

Anywho, it's this kind of interactive service trading that helps keep people together and socializing. I love going to the bazaar, or the Empath's guild, or the Bard's guild, or the bank, and stumbling across good friends and good times. You also make new friends when you go to these gathering places. You meet a new Trader who specializes in neat pants, or some Bard you don't know makes you laugh yourself silly with a song, or a Moonie locates someone for you, or whatever, and viola, you've become an acquaintance. Then you come back to them and you remember each other from before and perhaps chat and introduce friends and maybe your friends already know the person and it all snowballs.

~Dune~
 
I don't mind the weight thing however after having left GS for other MMO's, and now coming back, the exp absorbsion is freaking annoying.


So far the "pro's" for it is that it makes you RP.


Wait what? You need to be made to RP? You can't do that on your own? It's not some magical choice that you make, between RP'ing, or not RP'ing. You can RP whenever you want, I see many people sitting down and talking while having an empty head. And I see many people out hunting and RP'ing.


Absorbsion is counter intuitive. It actually makes me go hunt, every chance I get. Because I can't miss that chance! Gotta go go go. It takes for-freaking-ever to get leveled. What? You wanna talk? No way!!! I'm muddled!!!! I gotta go kill! I'll be back in a little bit then we can RP. ...I mean talk. :P
 
I think it would also prevent gold farmers from sitting at their PC for hours and hours on end! now they can take power naps! >.> <.< so maybe that wont help much for stopping them. I just want to see interaction between people in the game. If the game is designed for people who don't like to interact and just level... that games not for me! Nor would I really want them running around, especially on an RP server. It happens in Lord of the Rings online. Landroval is supposed to be an unofficial RP server... but no one knows that. They get on like its any other, so RP is basically pointless there. I'd like to see full world RP constantly as in Gemstone or Dragon Realms. I hate hearing Computer specs in game! (when trying to RP)

-Kevin
 
I definately think I'd be a bit disappointed if HJ moved away from this whole concept, and piggybacking on what Dune Walker said, I can see this whole "return to town thing" will be less of an "annoyance" and more like... whew, ok I'm tired of grinding, time to reap my spoils back in town.

With the whole concept of "service abilities" I'm definately thinking this is going to be a must. Of course, if you're like me, and play MMOs with your spouse, with the dual class system, there won't be much you have to ask around for, especially if you decide to make a few alts to be supremely antisocial.

For the most part, it's a good system, that seems to integrate a break from the traditional grind till you're insane, to a more community based experience. Woot to that. A strong and friendly community builds a great game.
 
I like the fact that the hunt/rest scenario actually makes it take longer to "cap."

Capping in Gemstone, although not to the degree it USED to, MEANS something. You can't cap a character in 3 months, period. It takes time, devotion, and some skill to actually be powerful. Unlike graphicals, where you can bang that sh.. out in a couple of months and be OMG U DUMB N00Bing folks with the quickness.
 
Capping in Gemstone, although not to the degree it USED to, MEANS something. You can't cap a character in 3 months, period.

Though it depends on what the game is really about. A lot of MMOs out there are all about aquiring the best gear, which can take a very long time even after you've hit the level cap. In WoW, for example, your character's stats continue to grow just as much after you've hit 70 as they did before, during the leveling. They even have an option to replace your exp bar with a reputation bar for whatever faction you are trying to get in good with. The "leveling" goes on long after 70.

In a game where gear is god, leveling can be somewhat of a rite of passage to the "real" game. In a game where your character's innate stats matter most, leveling would seem to be the key part. Honestly, I can see it both ways, and I have cause to like both systems at different times.
 
Problem with the whole WoW Gear Raiding is that it's a huge dropoff from pre-end game materials.

Oh hey! I gained level 59! Awesome! New stats! New abilities! I can wear that new helmet now! I can use that new longbow now! I can probably finish that one hard quest now! I have a sense of growth and accomplishment!

Then....

Oh hey! I ran another raid tonight! We spent an hour killing tough trash monsters that do nothing for us at all just to get to a boss, and then we got a couple tries to learn the boss fight before there were respawns! So then we spent another hour clearing the trash monsters we just cleared! Oh hey! We finally got the boss down! Now one or two people in our group got a single item they can use! Maybe! Oh! That awesome warrior helmet dropped again! Pity we've gotten four and no one can use it! Yay! At this rate I can get a full eight piece set of gear (plus weapons and accesories) in just under a year! And then I can use that set of gear to attempt the next raid up in difficulty and do this exact same process over again! I'm "progressing"!

~Dune~
 
Well, that really depends on your gear expectations, Dune. I don't raid because the profit does not equal the effort. Depending on how you set your standards you can get "good" gear from the battlegrounds, arena, factions, and 5-10 man instances, and hell, even some crafting. Lots of choices on how to spend your time. A very tiny percentage of players are actually hard-core raiders, dispite their dispoportionately large voices.

Also, I'd point out that fast leveling encourages alts which is different playstyle from a monolithic character scheme entirely. To get a wide variety of experiences or to focus on one long experience... that is the question. I personally have a 70 druid and lock and a mid/upper level hunter and shaman... so my preference is obvious.
 
I never liked the idea of a levelcap, personally. That's why I played dragonrealms. It didn't even matter what level you were, just how skilled you were. Attributes were important, but trumped by how skilled you were in... whatever you were trying to do.

If there is a level cap in Dragonrealms, I never met anyone who had achieved it. Maybe Edgee, but I dunno.

Anyway this is more difficult to achieve in a 3d MMORPG setting, where bots and macros can mean retardedly powerful characters. Sure, if we can set up good code to catch 3rd party programs without the need for GMs to constantly have to poke around to see if people are AFKing their skillups, as well as training a skill require more than a heavy object placed on a key on your keyboard while you sleep... well hey, we're in business. Level should be important, so should stats, and so should skills.

I would hope to see a happy balance in HJ, as Simu is famous for, even though there are some realms where the balance shifts, such as in GSIV, I know there's a particular importance on gear as well. Perhaps that's where the Wyr comes in. So then, I would hope a character's power is not just based on their level, but their level, stats, skills, and equipment.
 
I think the technical cap on DR is circle 150, but the difficulty in attaining such a level is intense. Most folks spend their time roughly evenly between training and socializing, and then also most people play multiple characters instead of just working on a single one. This means that even people who have been playing five, six, seven, eight years are still not capped.

~Dune~
 
Gear can make or break you in Gemstone IV for good hunting areas... depending on your build (Especially a max growth wizard at a low level)! I also have a lot of trouble "frying" my character due to mana quantity issues. I'd like to see HJ that hardcore, but I can only dream...
 
Back
Top