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Isildur | Sat 28-Nov-09 04:56 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
5969 posts
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#329, "tweak skill improvement code -or- tweak certain skills to be "group friendly""
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My understanding is that the current skill improvement code imposes a big penalty when a character is fighting against mobs that are way below his level. Or, alternately, gives a bonus when fighting tough mobs. I understand why this is the case. However, I think it has some unintended consequences.
There are certain skills that are "reasonable" to work on at, say, rank 25, that are much, much harder to work on at, say, rank 50. This is because at rank 25 many characters can reasonably fight "tough" mobs for significant periods of time whereas rank 50 characters find this much more difficult. (Generally speaking).
This is a "bad thing" because it creates a perverse incentive to stop ranking in order to work on these skills while still in the "sweet spot" w.r.t. practicing efficiency. Ideally a character should be able to work on skills at any point between 11 and 51 and have it be similarly efficient. Otherwise, if it's going to take me 5 hours to perfect something at level 50 but only 1 hour if I work on it at level 25, then I'm going to stop ranking at level 25 and work on that skill before continuing.
As a solution, I would make it so that as a character gets closer to 51 the penalty for fighting "weak" mobs is reduced. This is just an example, but maybe the level 51 character learns at the same rate while fighting "easy kill" mobs as a level 25 guy does while fighting "perfect match".
As an alternative or add-on to this idea: modify skills that are "group-unfriendly" to be more "group-friendly", albeit with a penalty when used in the non-standard way.
Mule kick is a good example. I've played a few assassins and I rarely if ever use mule kick while ranking. It's certainly possible, but doing so is a much greater hindrance than other situations where you might choose to use a sub-optimal skill just to learn it (e.g. tripping instead of throwing).
For the particular case of mule kick, you could modify the skill such that it can be used against a single target but suffers in a manner that makes it harder to learn. Maybe it lags the kicker 3 or 4 rounds instead of 2, thus giving him fewer chances to improve per unit time. The big payoff is that this change would allow him to practice mule kick while still part of a group that's doing normal group-y things, such as killing solo mobs.
It sucks when you're grouped with an assassin, doing well, and all of a sudden the guy is like, "Sorry to break up the group, but I gotta go spam mule kick."
I'm sure there are probably some invoker spells that work like this too. 
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rathamon | Thu 03-Dec-09 10:47 AM |
Member since 03rd Dec 2009
8 posts
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#331, "RE: tweak skill improvement code -or- tweak certain ski..."
In response to Reply #0
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>It sucks when you're grouped with an assassin, doing well, and
>all of a sudden the guy is like, "Sorry to break up the group,
>but I gotta go spam mule kick."
>
>I'm sure there are probably some invoker spells that work like
>this too.
Some? More like lots. You've got a great levelling group, but then you realize that you're way behind on your spells, because you can't spam grease, create spring, drown, adhesive web (and the list goes on....) when your job as an invoker is to be a howitzer. "Sorry, y'all, I'm going to go be pretty bored for a couple hours spamming 'create spring.'"
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Zulghinlour | Thu 03-Dec-09 08:17 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
9792 posts
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#332, "Thanks for the reminder...another upgrade"
In response to Reply #2
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The way offensive spells worked was really a hack, and you didn't benefit as much as normal combat skills. I've changed it so that offensive spells use the same set of bonuses of normal combat skills. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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Zulghinlour | Tue 01-Dec-09 11:50 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
9792 posts
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#330, "Santa Zulg abides Isildur (skill improvements)"
In response to Reply #0
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>My understanding is that the current skill improvement code
>imposes a big penalty when a character is fighting against
>mobs that are way below his level. Or, alternately, gives a
>bonus when fighting tough mobs. I understand why this is the
>case. However, I think it has some unintended consequences.
I would actually call it a penalty, not a big penalty 
>There are certain skills that are "reasonable" to work on at,
>say, rank 25, that are much, much harder to work on at, say,
>rank 50. This is because at rank 25 many characters can
>reasonably fight "tough" mobs for significant periods of time
>whereas rank 50 characters find this much more difficult.
>  Generally speaking).
>
>This is a "bad thing" because it creates a perverse incentive
>to stop ranking in order to work on these skills while
>still in the "sweet spot" w.r.t. practicing efficiency.
>Ideally a character should be able to work on skills at any
>point between 11 and 51 and have it be similarly efficient.
>Otherwise, if it's going to take me 5 hours to perfect
>something at level 50 but only 1 hour if I work on it at level
>25, then I'm going to stop ranking at level 25 and work on
>that skill before continuing.
>
>As a solution, I would make it so that as a character gets
>closer to 51 the penalty for fighting "weak" mobs is reduced.
>This is just an example, but maybe the level 51 character
>learns at the same rate while fighting "easy kill" mobs as a
>level 25 guy does while fighting "perfect match".
This actually existed to some extent already, I just moved it up another notch. I also added in some code about when you try to practice in places you are unable to learn so that becomes more clear as well. One last thing I did was tweak the scale of learning for the upper ends in that I made it a little easier to learn things as you approach 100%. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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