Now Discussion of "Test Avlis XP and Loot"

[sinn]

but it's another to just stop swinging just because this Bugbear is blue! And very often (and I have been grimaced at by DM's for it, yes), I will keep on swinging, anyway.

But that's my opinion.

I agree with you 100% on this.... I hate when suddenly people suddenly want to talk when they see a 'monster' in blue, even if they just killed 75 of the same thing..... and had to visit the DP they want to stop and talk all the sudden.

[solitude_peace2]

Has anyone thought of having a monster or NPC drop....

... a new crafting recipe?

[Tigg]

There should be a level-dependent cap on the exp that anyone can get from a single monster.

As for thinking it better 'not' to hang out at Elf Gate or the Rock, that's a poorly thought out suggestion that's not really very accurate either, given that many DMs have said it's the first place they look. You have to have central meeting places, which tend in turn to work better when there are actually people there to meet. From there you can head out elsewhere, certainly, if you feel like it. But without the people that hang around there for long periods of time, meeting places really aren't. Every Cheers needs its Norms.

[Arieanne]

Has anyone thought of having a monster or NPC drop....

... a new crafting recipe?

Good idea

For example: the tougher monster, the better recipe. So far I found only recipe for grainshots.

[spool32]

but it's another to just stop swinging just because this Bugbear is blue! And very often (and I have been grimaced at by DM's for it, yes), I will keep on swinging, anyway.

But that's my opinion.

I agree with you 100% on this.... I hate when suddenly people suddenly want to talk when they see a 'monster' in blue, even if they just killed 75 of the same thing..... and had to visit the DP they want to stop and talk all the sudden.

hah, I like to change it up some... converse with Red monsters, or else turn casters blue, possess, and then have them buff their friends and fight.

Tigg, there is a cap - 10x your level. IMHO that seems to be way too high.

-spool32

[Jaybob]

Tigg, there is a cap - 10x your level. IMHO that seems to be way too high.

-spool32

I'm wondering, though if it needs to be different, depending on the level. If we drop it to 2x or 3x the level, then a level 1 PC has a cap per monster of 2 or 3. That ssems maybe too low. How about front loading it, so that Levels 1-5 get 8x, 5-10 get 6x, 11-15 get 5x, 16-20 get 4x, 21-25 gets 3x, 26-30 gets 2x, and 31-40 gets 1x.

is that possible?

[Nob]

Here's an idea.

Readd the party's average level into the equation, but make it influence from the base level of the character(+/- 5 levels), instead of the highest level character in the party, while keeping the xp cap per kill 2x the level.

What this would do:
Say a level 20 character goes around killing CR 25 monsters.
(Skipping the exact xp code math because it's not entirely relevant)
Solo they would get their limit of 40xp/kill.

On the other hand in a party with an average of 30, they'd be treated as a level 25 character against these same CR 25 monsters.
However they'd be getting 50xp/kill on these monsters.

The net effect is that while they might get less xp on average for easier monsters, more challenging monsters are more rewarding if you party overall to take them out.

[Tigg]

Tigg, there is a cap - 10x your level. IMHO that seems to be way too high.

Yeah, something like, for a party with a big level spread, xp=CR of monster would seem more reasonable.

[yorlik]

Here's an idea.

Readd the party's average level into the equation, but make it influence from the base level of the character(+/- 5 levels), instead of the highest level character in the party, while keeping the xp cap per kill 2x the level.
[...stuff left out from Quote...]
The net effect is that while they might get less xp on average for easier monsters, more challenging monsters are more rewarding if you party overall to take them out.

I think thats a good idea.
After an overall cap against PGers and a generally increased influx of XP
to support low frequency players and players who do a lot of non-XP related
stuff, that would be the third layer of a sophisticated XP system which
would support good playstyle, like grouping up, diversification and stuff.

[xarthna]

but it's another to just stop swinging just because this Bugbear is blue! And very often (and I have been grimaced at by DM's for it, yes), I will keep on swinging, anyway.

But that's my opinion.

I agree with you 100% on this.... I hate when suddenly people suddenly want to talk when they see a 'monster' in blue, even if they just killed 75 of the same thing..... and had to visit the DP they want to stop and talk all the sudden.

hah, I like to change it up some... converse with Red monsters, or else turn casters blue, possess, and then have them buff their friends and fight.

-spool32

I have a couple of things I like to do:
Talk to the pc's after I've pwn'd them and they are in the bleeding script.
Use Flesh-to-Stone on the pc's and talk to them then. (turning them back is optional)
Turn the monsters invulnerable and let them swing.

Or you could wonder why this one monster suddenly spoke up when the others you've slaughtered didn't. Sounds like an opportunity to investigate.

[/hijack]

Hopefully the X times the level would be on a slider, so it could be tweaked by the team as necessary (more time = more data = better settings).

[Darkfire]

IMO nobody should be able to hit the cap unless they hit at least 3-5 spots in any one week.

Haven't tested the server, mostly because I don't think I would have any insights other, more experienced players haven't. However, I've been following this closely, and I completely agree. I'm one of those who would probably be getting a ton of XP under the new system, and I certainly wouldn't want to hit the cap in 30 minutes, or in one dungeon. That'd be a bummer.

-J

Agreed. No testing has to be done to know that.


Also, I hope they don't make it too hard for level 40's to gain XP.

[Stravento]

I think that the cap together with faster xp collections is a good idea with regards reducing the incentives of powergamers. A flexible cap that depends on the level of the carachter seems even better.

On the other hand it would probably affect the number of hours players are online. I don't think anybody would stop playing in the mid of a group adventure because he has reached the cap, but I think people would simply cease to do that small amount a weak of powergaming that we all do, or they would refrain to do those frenzy pg days when you are close to levelling,

Thus I believe we would probably end up with much more role-playing and a bit less populated world. Not because people would stop playing and leave Avlis, but because they would go for quality instead of quantity.

The only minor problem with this that the current system incentivazing people to stay online a lot per day also induces a lot of opportunities for meeting new people. If the new system reduces the amount of time that we spend online these opportunities will go down.

I think that after the code is tested for bugs it should be tested for the effects on playing time and overall on the population of Avlis with an EXPERIMENTAL PERIOD of a month or more in Avlis.

One of the beauty of Avlis is that in there is always somebody online, if this code is implemented there is the possibility (only the possibility) that the situation would change. Thus we have to test the cost of that. And if this cost is higher than the benefit of reducing the effect of PGamers on the world.

Maybe is not a cost at all and we will attract a tons of new players. The number of new players would compensate the redution of playtime of each of us.

Or maybe nobody will reduce their playtime because they would discover that the fun of Avlis is not linked at all to xp gathering.

For sure I think this in the long run would be a major change that would affect the overall feeling of the game. I personally think it's worth the risk. I think this is an healthy change, we are inducing a scheme that force people to play in a fun way, instead of moronically repeating over and over again the same actions to gather xp.

With this change there is the opportunity to playtest rules that could be extremely useful for future experiments like this game (e.g. Avlis2 or other Copap worlds).

these are my two cents and as usual many thanks to the Team that works endlessely for us!

Strav