Players Power-Leveling True Newbies

Comments

• Jolanthe

  June 2022

  This might be more emblematic of our overall game culture in the current state. Been getting harder for me to not just fixate on mechanical aspects of the game lately, especially with the economy focus.

  
  

  When the base line is all that matters, and you want to optimise every last second of your time, then the rest of the world outside of that may as well not exist and everything starts to feel way smaller.
  

  2
• Saran

  June 2022 edited June 2022

  I think it's a few issues at play really.
  
  

  1. The game wants you to get to demigod, that makes you want to get to demigod, levels are an impediment in the way of you getting to that carrot. But at the same time you're being given the carrot of levelling lessons and credits as you do it so it's kinda the most tangibly and immediately rewarding thing you can do. So powerlevelling can be the most effective activity.
  2. On the flip side, engaging with other stuff doesn't really provide nearly as much at all, orgs you can do org credit stuff which also covers conflict. But sitting around for a ritual or a chat... you could be grinding and getting actual rewards in that time.
  3. Grinding also tends to take you away and can make it difficult to just drop into things. Aetherbashing particularly.

  I don't super see the value of the levelling experience personally other than the effort it would take to replace it. Something like milestone levelling seems neater but could be complicated. i.e levels become more analogous to guild ranks with tasks to level up.
  
  You start out as a novice and do things that get automatically marked off, maybe there's tasks to kill "x power level mobs" that is more like grinding up, but you could then also do other trackable things like quest, go up guild ranks or org ranks, participate in combat, etc. There'd be some other impacts but it'd mean you could progress level by engaging across the board and the reward for completing that is demigod.
  Just to confirm, I'd think you'd have only a few "levels" in something like that. All of "novicehood" would be one level for example

  0
• Selia

  June 2022

  My favorite part of the game experience is when you're between like...levels 40-70. It feels more grounded at that point. You are an adventurer, there are some dangers, your skills are kinda...there but not wholly developed, in a more fleshed-out/populated world it'd be easy to imagine yourself as...ugh, all I can think of is Naruto so forgive me, but like...chunin level. 
  
  Sadly there's not a *whole lot* you can do to meaningfully contribute at that point; like Saran says it's kind of a "yeah you're there now but you should be grinding to demi". And when the fun of being just another face in the (supposed) crowd wears off and you do strap down and get to grinding...well, it hurts to do past 70 or so (powerlevel ur'bashes notwithstanding).
  
  I'm not sure what my point is or what I would propose to change this but that's my 2 cents.

  1
• Everiine Wise Old Swordsbird / Brontaur Indianapolis, IN, USA

  June 2022

  For combat, levels 1-98 don't mean anything. So if someone wants to participate in PvP, they can either not do the thing they are playing the game to do until they grind their way up over months, or they get someone to help them get to the only part of the game they want to play (and that's their choice). Since most other things in the game are neglected anyway, I don't blame them.
  

  Everiine is a man, and is very manly. This MAN before you is so manly you might as well just gender bend right now, cause he's the manliest man that you ever did see. His manly shape has spurned many women and girlyer men to boughs of fainting. He stands before you in a manly manerific typical man-like outfit which is covered in his manly motto: "I am a man!"
  
  Daraius said: You gotta risk it for the biscuit.
  
  Pony power all the way, yo. The more Brontaurs the better.
  

  0
• Saran

  June 2022

  Selia said:

  My favorite part of the game experience is when you're between like...levels 40-70. It feels more grounded at that point. You are an adventurer, there are some dangers, your skills are kinda...there but not wholly developed, in a more fleshed-out/populated world it'd be easy to imagine yourself as...ugh, all I can think of is Naruto so forgive me, but like...chunin level. 
  
  Sadly there's not a *whole lot* you can do to meaningfully contribute at that point; like Saran says it's kind of a "yeah you're there now but you should be grinding to demi". And when the fun of being just another face in the (supposed) crowd wears off and you do strap down and get to grinding...well, it hurts to do past 70 or so (powerlevel ur'bashes notwithstanding).
  
  I'm not sure what my point is or what I would propose to change this but that's my 2 cents.

  I think it's kinda that everything you can do in game that's not purely creative (writing/plays/designing/etc) benefits in some way from you being a demigod or even requires it on some level. (i.e you have to be a demi to actually claim domoths, you need it to get a cult in an order, you need the choicepowers to get those order/org/guild/class specific customisations)
  
  
  If Chris sits around doing their guild tasks and taking on a position, their only real reward is satisfaction and guild ranks. At the same time, Andy could ignore all of that in favour of grinding, eventually they'd get demi and unlock the choices.
  
  If they were Listeners, Andy would now be able to wander around visibly blessed by the Ancestors and teleporting through the Mists but might never have even set foot in the guild hall or even know what the mists are/mean.
  Meanwhile Chris likely would have gone through a lot of guild ranking stuff, likely performed certain guild ritual things but doesn't get any nice flashy stuff as a reward.
  
  
  Which also points at one change at least... shift the rewards. Customisation should be a reward for engaging with different things, if the "choice" powers were just a basic ability and the options could be unlocked in different ways, they become a reward.
  i.e A guild leader might decide that their choice packs might be... 1 is unlocked at rank 3 as a reward for reaching that point, 2 requires the completion of certain quests, 3-7 are each locked to a different guild path with a minimum rank requirement, 8 might be for rank 10, etc.
  
  It wouldn't change the world realistically, just a step.
  But you'd then take other steps over time making other things more "worth the investment". Channel specific omniscience would be really useful for org/guild leaders to do their jobs, for example, and it'd be a nice reward for doing those jobs for the game. Should additional trades really be a demigod power or should they be earned through trading somehow.
  
  One of the reasons "endgame" has so much is because people were finishing the grind, one way to address that is as was done by expanding the system but another way is to add/enhance diverse pursuits into the game that make people want to split their time between things which then makes the grind take longer because you're having fun with guilds/orders/etc.

  1
• Kitchie

  July 2022 edited July 2022

  As a new player, I came into this game with the idea that since it is reading-based that I would have to do a lot of reading--and writing. When I entered the game, there was a lot about lore. I have been roleplaying my character based on the fact that he is having a crisis for coming into a new world after forgetting everything that came before. There are emotional issues that he is having. He remembers how to do things and say things, but very little from the prior life has seeped through during his experience in the Pools of Remembrance.

  
  

  As I have been having my character go around asking questions about lore, I have been given some experience, such as from listening to someone explain the history of the beginnings and of the gods and their wars. I have experience some who tried to get me through initial quests just to get them done, but I didn't get much out of it. Getting through it lost the roleplay value. Why was my character doing this and what was I getting out of it as a player in those moments?

  
  

  The idea that someone automatically becomes a part of a city, commune, or collegium just for entering that location after leaving the Pools of Remembrance and having to read hints that keep popping up on my screen that I need to choose a class from the very beginning have pushed the idea of this game being less about roleplaying and more about leveling up and getting into combat, which precipitates the desire for power leveling. When I choose a class, it goes even further that by choosing a class, you are actually choosing a guild in which you will be a member; however, how can my character be choosing a guild if they have never met anyone from the guild? I come out of the Portal and am being told I must choose a guild right away--when looking from an in-character rp viewpoint instead of a point of view of this is what I must choose if this is the type of class I want to play.

  
  

  When I came into the game, as a player I had to choose a city or commune in which to start--and not just start but that my character should swear fealty from the beginning when they--the character--has no idea about that place. The idea of having the Fates' Protection of Innocence could make the case for providing the character the opportunity to visit the six places to determine which kind of place would he like to live and which kind of vision of life he wants to have. Now, in the game, with the Protection of Innocence leaving at level 30 and having started to understand this world, I have my character at level 29, because my character wants to explore Lusternia while under that protection to learn about the world at large. My character just came into a whole new world and remembers almost nothing of their past. What makes it more difficult is that my character is "officially" aligned with the city that I as a player chose for my character when I created the character and the "guild via choosing a class" that I chose for my character at the behest of all the in-game notices to make that choice actually causes the possibility that others may choose to deem that my character may not be allowed to be in their city when the character themself has not made the decision for themself of those choices, much less even understand what those choices even mean.

  
  

  I have still yet to finish the collegium tasks, which I was informed is there to help my character learn some basic skills and survival skills. However, I argue that those basic skills can be learned without having joined a collegium. For example, when my character enters a commune or city for the first time, instead of being automatically joined to it, he could start asking denizens about the world. The denizens can give lore about their local commune or city. They could give them basic laws and guidelines that visitors should know upfront. The character can inquire about needing some support; since they don't have a job, the denizens send them on tasks in lieu of payment for some support. These tasks should include some lore. Then after getting their basic needs met of say a place to stay and food to eat at a tavern for the innocents, then it might be a good time for them to start learning more about the lore of the world or of their commune; this could be a good time for a representative of the city or commune meet with them, say at the tavern or Nexus, where the representative is now a player who roleplays in character to then give additional lore about the place and can then start answering specific questions that the player's character has.

  
  

  After doing so, the Fates' initial quests that are given to the players could alert that they have completed one of the six lore tasks: Going to a city or commune to learn about their lore and their way of life. Going back to the POOLS and finding another entrance to one of the other six NEXUS locations to learn about their lore would be the start of the second of six LORE quests to learn about the lore of each commune and city but by doing it in a way of where they are learning about the six NEXUS points and why they are so important. The point with this is that it gives the character (and player) a frame of reference of what the world is about. They can see how the people in the different locations treat each other, treat them as guests, and explain why their commune or city is worthy of them as a new resident and what their vision is for their city or commune and what is at the center of their city. Then the characters can decide which kind of life and vision interests them. Then they can start learning the ways of the communes' and cities' guilds.

  
  

  After completing the Six Nexus quests, they can then move on to learning about the different guilds, which will ultimately cover the classes. This could be considered as the Guilds quests. Even these quests can be automated through denizens as players learn about these guilds and their associated purposes followed by explaining the kind of skills people need to have to be successful in those guilds, which are the skills that form the baseline of the class systems. They could even explain the specializations that they may pursue as a member of the guild as they learn about these at these guilds.

  
  

  Now that the character (and player) has a good understanding of the world by learning about the lore of the six Nexus points and the guilds that support the six Nexus points, and after meeting other players and the kind of social environment in which they could play, now the players can really choose what they want from the game and how they want to enjoy playing the game--and they will have a roleplay reason for doing so. If this also were the case, then during the initial character creation and even at the beginning, there could be a choice for both location and for class (guild) as "undecided," which can then inform the other players to be especially careful on how they interact with them as roleplaying is much more important to them than power leveling. By doing all of this, this will then potentially help reduce the idea and the practive of power leveling true newbies.
  

  1