I was an EQOA player and loved that game without skill progression. So if Pantheon doesn't have it, I'll be just fine. I am interested in having it, though. As mentioned the small bits of progress do sound interesting. I agree with Janthu's solution to some of the tedium. If I understand it correctly, when first acquiring a new skill/ability, instead of it being completely useless when you first get it, it's like the person who taught it to you actually walked you through it so that it might be weaker than someone who maxed the skill, but actually works.
kelenin said:Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned before when talking about this type of skill up is it allows for a wider variety of equipment. In EQ and many other games, you get gear with +Strength, +Stamina, +Intelligence, etc. While this would probably remain the norm, it would also allow for extra stats. Imagine killing a mob and looting "Gloves of Dueling" which give the wearer +10 Rapier, +10 Dodge and +10 Parry. Basically items could not only be giving stat bonuses, but skill bonuses as well.
This could allow for a greater variety of gear, and "Best in Slot" may depend more on your role at higher levels than your class. For example, monks who do a lot of raid pulling would likely want gear that gives +Defense, +Dodge, +Parry, +Riposte, +Feign Death, etc. While if you're a monk in a raiding guild and you don't pull a lot you may prefer gear that gives +Hand to Hand, +Double Attack, etc. Of course, you may want to keep a spare set of pulling gear just in case :)
I'm a fan of every stat or skill being subject to bonuses from items so long as the item clearly says how the skill is affected and at what magnitude. None of this "Effect:Haste" where "Haste" could be 21% to 40% but the item does not say what percent (or other metric) of Haste.
I like having to skill up. What I would really like is having certain quests push you to do them. Hows about a rogue's epic weapon quest, at some point you have to drop down a magic hole where magic spells like levitation or slow fall are nulled, and the only way to survive the fall is to have your safe fall maxed for say level 44. Or while questing a warrior epic AXEHAMMER, a weapon that deals either slashing or blunt damage depending on what the target is weaker to, you have to have both blunt and slashing skills at a certain level to advance.
Yes to skills! This is the difference in just playing dress up or building a character.
Are you a warrior that is maxed in two hand slash?
Or are you a fully trained WARRIOR thats max in 1hs, 1hb, 1hp, 2hs, 2hb, 2hp, and working on your h2h?
I spent many hours in EQ waiting for my crew to log in leveling my lvl 60 Wizards h2h skill.
Had myself bound in the center of a group of low level skeletons.... needed an item from them. So i would Gate in, PBAOE them, look for the item, then port back out....
Then one day while in a group i died... spawned right in the middle of those skellys, no mana, no gear, no weapon... they chased me all the way to zone line, i barely made it.
It was then i decided i needed to level my h2h... i can punch there asses out now!
I wish raising your non-tradeskill skill caps was more significant. For example, in EQ1, I was not impressed with it taking a week to get from level 70 to 71, and then re-maxing my combat skills (5-point increases) in 5 minutes or less by attacking some random mob.
corpserunner said:I wish raising your non-tradeskill skill caps was more significant. For example, in EQ1, I was not impressed with it taking a week to get from level 70 to 71, and then re-maxing my combat skills (5-point increases) in 5 minutes or less by attacking some random mob.
True it should take some time, and if I dare say, when EQ1 allowed that high of a level cap, they had already gone way down the road of trying to be more like every other MMO out there.
A whole week to level? Try a whole month or two to level from 59 to 60, back in the day.
Yet even then the skills would cap fairly quickly. I agree I would like to see perhaps skill points (if you get say 5 per level in said skill) only popping at say one fifth intervals of your current level. This would spread them out and make it sort of a mini-ding as you progress towards the next level.
Then when somone asks what lvl you are you could say, I'm level 20.75 and it would mean something :P
At any rate, I am for some meaningful skill progression.
You have gotten better at pressing F5 (200!!)
- Az
azaya said:corpserunner said:I wish raising your non-tradeskill skill caps was more significant. For example, in EQ1, I was not impressed with it taking a week to get from level 70 to 71, and then re-maxing my combat skills (5-point increases) in 5 minutes or less by attacking some random mob.
True it should take some time, and if I dare say, when EQ1 allowed that high of a level cap, they had already gone way down the road of trying to be more like every other MMO out there.
A whole week to level? Try a whole month or two to level from 59 to 60, back in the day.
Yet even then the skills would cap fairly quickly. I agree I would like to see perhaps skill points (if you get say 5 per level in said skill) only popping at say one fifth intervals of your current level. This would spread them out and make it sort of a mini-ding as you progress towards the next level.
Then when somone asks what lvl you are you could say, I'm level 20.75 and it would mean something :P
At any rate, I am for some meaningful skill progression.
You have gotten better at pressing F5 (200!!)
- Az
IIRC, your skills increased faster as they got higher, essentially the concept that by that point you understand the basic technique, so advancing is quicker since you can focus on the progression while allowing the motions you've mastered to this point happen naturally. Those early skill rises took a long time, sometimes I would level faster than getting my 5 skill points, but as the skills went up, so did how fast they increased.
Like riding a bicycle, once you've gotten the balance concept down to where it's natural without effort, the speed, turns, wheelies, skids all become must easier to learn.
Off topic, but that comment about how it took a whole month to level back in the day caught my eye.
While waiting for Pantheon I tried Rift again and reestablished that I could get to maximum level in well under a week. I tried EQ2 again and reestablished that I could get to maximum level in well under a week. I tried LOTRO again and reestablished that I could get to maximum level in under three weeks. I thought of trying SWTOR again but contemplated the story line of an immortal undead emperor trying to destroy the galaxy for unknown reasons (other than insanity) and couldn't get myself back there. Just can't generate any willing suspension of disbelief. So I stayed with LOTRO - three weeks is better than three *days*.
A month to gain a level when one nears the level cap may or may not be the right amout of time (and obviously whether one averages an hour a day or 12 hours a day playing is rather critical to the analysis) but it brought back memories of how things used to be and should be again with Pantheon. So mote it be!