Shattered Kingdoms

The reason that leveling slowly is less interesting is because people know what gear is out there and none of it is safe in the hands of someone lower level. A high percentage of people that play do it because of the gear. There is also the higher level means more power mentality. Why stay low level and be considered weak when you can level and gain all that potential power. Most people play that they are world-wise the moment they step into newbie academies. Not the sophomoric world-wise, but as someone who has spent half their life traveling the world. To them, it is a matter of why wait to level when I can do it now.

Sounds like a good thing to me. While we're at it, they can reward good RP too.

That's actually something I'd like to see.. a way for non paragons to reward other players for good RP. Why not make a log system, similar to the bug log, that would allow someone to report good RP as well as poor RP? Maybe that could be a way to help the immortals police as well as recognize and reward players who do a good job, even when no one is looking. Though.. the log buffer would need to be a good bit larger than the bug log.. that thing is far too truncated.

EDIT: Perhaps a similar system can be put in place to help recognize someone he takes the extra effort to aid/offer aid to others as a mentor.

This is more of a focus on current and old players as a possible means to further retention. I think new players, once they realize what's up with this, would also appreciate such a system.

Thoughts?

I like this idea. It's almost like a +1 button for players. Syntax: like CharName reason&*.
I don't think that it needs to be a log. But if everyone ends up liking this character for various reasons, it should lead to par. I think it's a better system than judging character based on par enlights.

The goal then is to make the newbie through master statuses more exciting and/or desirable. How to do that is a valid question.

Revised my list from bottom of page 8 to include any more new ideas I could find in subsequent pages.

Dulrik Response Key:
???? - I don't know how or don't have the ability to make this happen
NO - Will never happen (usually contradicts SK's design goals)
MEH - Perhaps someday but not enough impact to merit discussion here
MAYBE - I might do this someday if I'm convinced further
SURE - I plan to do this someday, but not sure when
YES - This sounds like it could be a huge help


New Mechanics:
Multiclassing - NO
Heroes - SURE
Ways to communicate your RP: Gamer archtype - NO
Ways to communicate RP: Journals - SURE
Ways to communicate RP: Think Channel - MAYBE
Tradeskills (forging, dyeing, mining, etc) - SURE
More use for loyalty tokens (improve skills) - SURE
NewGame+ - NO
Altitude changes - MEH
Marriage status - MEH

Balancing Mechanics:
Reduce effectiveness of spell items (wands, staves, potions) - MAYBE
Make the game less difficult/more casual - MAYBE
Balance melee and spell damage better - MAYBE
Fix "exploits": Ethereal dispel - SURE
Fix "exploits": AoN - MAYBE

Change Mechanics:
Fewer levels - NO
Cheaper move for lowbies - MAYBE
Eliminate penalties of aging - NO
Change CRS: No ability removal - MEH / MAYBE
Change CRS: Enforce "losing" - MAYBE / ????
Reduce impact of prep on PK - MAYBE
Protection from looting - NO
Reduce looting - MAYBE / ????
Cheaper brew/scribe - NO

Updated Content:
"End Game" content - MAYBE / ????
Update existing armor for new enchant system - SURE
Change the pantheon - MEH / NO
Revamp quests for transparency - SURE
More / easier quests - SURE
Increase number of starting cities - NO
Decrease number of starting cities - MAYBE

Updated Policies:
Remove static alignments - NO
Global channels - NO
More regulation: PK - ????
More regulation: Hoarding - SURE
One character per player (enforced) - NO / ????
Easier to get/"farm" loyalty tokens - NO
Official info sharing (Wiki) - MAYBE
Official info sharing (Guide forums for Builds, Areas) - SURE
Official info sharing (Guide forums for Quests, Items) - MAYBE
More OOC communication: Imms - ????

Players Attitudes:
Less team mentality - ????
More role playing - ????
More newbie friendliness - ????
Less cheating - ????

Other:
Native clients for Facebook - YES
Native clients for Mobile - SURE
Existing channels compatible with other chat clients - MAYBE
Email notifications for in-game events (such as CRS) - SURE
Make the game more interesting before Master - YES / ????
Pwipe - MEH / NO

If you want to know why I feel a certain way about one of these, feel free to ask. A lot are probably obvious and I don't want to waste time on answers that everyone thinks they already know. But if you don't, make a request and I'll dive into specifics.

Will be adding a preliminary poll next.

Hero would be fun again, minus the crazy amulet but i mean it would be fun to have those back to!

Well, there's a reason why people brag about 25 hours to GM and that sort of stuff (and why they become so good at it). Once you experience the "top level" of SK, the lower levels are only interesting for the first ~25-100 hours where you flesh out and develop your character. Basically everything after that, even at GM, is you being in the "big leagues," and because its basically the part where your character's most complete in terms of being able to be competent in PK / exploration / etc., it always remains so extraordinarily desirable that there's no incentive to get there.

What if you had a bonus to skill learning % when you weren't GM? I don't know.

It's perfectly natural, and in my opinion not a big deal that many people consider the game to "begin" at master. The fact is that this is certainly the case for anyone who is mechanically minded more than RP minded, or just equally weighted towards both.

Obviously RP begins even before the creation halls, and for many people (myself included) there's plenty of RP to be had if you want it before you level up even a lot. My last paladin character had all sorts of RP before he even graduated from the newbie school.

For many people, their main enjoyment from a character comes from exploring the game and/or helping others do the same. As that is very mechanically based, that means that there are plenty of people who are very inclined to consider the game as really 'starting' after they hit master. There are already plenty of areas that someone can explore at lower levels, people just generally don't want to play as a commoner: They want to play as a hero or a champion, which starts to come into its own around master level.

I think it would greatly help out newcomers if there was a mapper, maybe something built into the description of the room, or maybe a separate window for mush like the chat catcher. More newbie friendly instructors that guide and teach you how to set up targeting aliases for spellcasters etc.

I also feel that the game would have more longevity if there was another way to slowly but constantly build onto a max level character.
Yes, you can gain stat points through mentoring, but that all depends on the player count and If there are any people the same class to mentor.

Honestly, mastering skills and spells is plenty enough to build onto a high level character. Amassing wealth in your bank account is another. I'd say EQ enchanting, but that obviously isn't permanent.

The problem is that if you add ways to make longer-lived characters even a little bit permanently stronger (In addition to stat points which are good enough for now) then you end up making newbies feel oppressed, because not only are the longer-lived players going to be better than them, but their characters will be better on paper too.