Shattered Kingdoms

Welcome back! Been a long time.

I think the game needs a serious overhaul in imm-policing/snooping and the numbers.

I couldn't get away with -anything- when I first started playing this game. Now, I don't need to(and I'm not playing), but I have seen the same situations you have Rennus.

It leaves a sour taste when you watch anything like this happen over again.

Praying/reporting might help, I myself may resort to this if I come back.

I voted no on this, for one reason, there are numbers next to your status level. I do not think that numbers should be known in dealing damage or healing damage, but I do think that they should be seen in some cases.

For instance, when asked if you are new to SK, give people a chance to see their numbers for their attributes in a similar fashion to status. Example: Int: Smart (2). And for those that are not new to SK, a toggle in the auto section, similar to the one that reminds people about adjectives, that way people can choose to see it or not.

Revealing numbers would just allow the theorycrafters crowd (I prefer "min-maxers") that currently divine the mechanics with only the evidence-based clues, to be much more accurate in their approach.

What little the average folks would gain by knowing some numbers, the min-maxers would leapfrog further again in their ability to see the direct affect of everything, to the exact degree. So thus I doubt there's any benefit in knowing or not knowing the numbers in terms of playing catchup to some shadowy group that always seems to be playing the characters that PK you.

Enjoy the game for as much time as you have to spend with it. If you're the type that finds it challenging to 'get under the hood' and work out the mechanics then there's mystery for you to find out. If not, there's plenty of other facets of the game to enjoy.

Like getting your butt kicked by the people who do understand the game's mechanics.

I completely disagree regarding the effects of hidden/revealed noumbers.

On the contrary, I think that hidden numbers leave the newbie, more RP based players completely clueless about how to make their characters more ... viable in the battlefield, and allows the min-maxers maybe not have it 100% correct, but still have a really huge advantage against those who do not have the experience to understand the numbers behind the mechanics.

Letting numbers (or at least some basic ones) open for everyone, every player who has played one RPG game on his PC or console will be able to build his character much better mechanics-wise, and stand a few more chances against someone who is a twink.

Think again:
"What difference of knowledge is bigger? 2%-98% or 45%-100%"

Find the answer and you will see my point.

Re-read my post. As I said, I don't think the victim here would benefit as much as you think, likely being PK'd just as much if a simple change were made like 'numbers revealed'.



This is a slightly different suggestion, but I think it's an important distinction - revealing only some, basic attributes - perhaps those that are already 'in the wild' are probably less impacting than showing every dice roll in the game. Two very simple examples of commonly posted numeric information: the numeric ranges for each attribute value; the obvious one of level ranges which have been shown in the game for a while now anyway. But if they're so well known already, how much benefit is there to the newbie in revealing such simple information? Wouldn't a help page on the website be just as useful and perhaps not break the game's In-Character experience?




Notice that you've quite naturally extended your request for assistance to include not just the numbers in a 'show me what they are' request, but explanation of the mechanics. Threads that help in this regard are extensive - take a look at OA's response in the recent Bard discussion; I'd suggest the information in there would be nigh on priceless compared to simply knowing "your INT is 21".

There was also an exhaustive discussion about attacking cabal headquarters that not only covered off the basics (which got a bit heated) but eventually turned into a brainstorming session that Achernar ran with for a few changes.

Any character's fighting successes are about tactics and knowing the game - such knowledge is NOT instantly gained by simply knowing some numbers used by the combat system, nor would suddenly knowing some of those numbers necessarily give you an immediate edge over your opposition (who would have access to their own numbers in the same way). Some might even drown more, struggling to comprehend what the numbers mean to their character's strengths and weaknesses in the various modes of combat (solo, pets, groups, mass groups / NPC combat or PK).

From what I've seen over the years, the most productive way to be less of a victim would be to share your difficulties with some well put scenarios and asking for suggestions. Ask around in-game if you prefer explainable IC character improvement. Either way, you might be surprised at how many people are willing to help folks become more prepared and achieve a more survivable gameplay style when it comes to PK.

In my opinion then, for what it is worth, why not take out the numbers by the status and put them into the help file? Having the numbers in the help file would be of use to a newbie, if you could see something like this in the file (numbers are just an example, I am not sure of the ranges):


Though, personally, I would like to see something like status numbers brought in for stats, as I have said before. Don't give a total number of trains for each stat, simply start over when someone reaches a new level in it like what happens now with status.

What I'd like to see is a command like attribute that tells you how much Magical Resistance, Fortitude, Magical Protection, etc. you have. (not necessarily the numbers, but even what attribute's got goin would be nice)

I for one am thankful that we even HAVE the attribute command.

Dice roles should be kept hidden. As far as attributes I'd love for them to be displayed like your status. Most people that I've tried to get into the game understand the basic stat and level numbers after about 30 seconds of reading the help file on them. I really don't think these are the numbers any newbie have any problems with. The problems I've dealt with as a newbie and with the others I've tried to introduce the game to are tactic/strategy based eq numbers. The main thing being that they want numbers on the weapons and gear. I understand that to a point with identify (and lore?) that there are some a player can figure out. But the question they and I would have is what weapon would I do more damage with per round. What spell does more damage per fight. If numbers are put into the game (even if just more detail with the compare command or identify spell) I'd like to see something like Katana has an accuracy 10, does a damage per hit of 6, and has a speed of 11. (random numbers, btw) Flamberge has an accuracy of 10, does damage per hit of 10, and speed of 5. In this way a new player can find out if he wants to do around 3 hits per round with a total possible damage of 30 per round, or if he wants to get around 4 attacks per round and do a total possible damage 24 per round.

Now most of you may think that this part is not a big deal, but I just asked two people that I tried to get into the game what they didn't like about it and it was the second thing they brought up.

But that's the very thing that is trying to be avoided. It kills the atmosphere of the game for a character to be running around saying "But this claymore does 35 points of damage a round as opposed to the shuriken's 25 points of damage per round."

Best way to test how powerful a weapon is? Hit stuff with it.