DROP THE DEATH PENALTY!

[Azriel]

Az.. When was the last time you fought the nasty slug in Ancient Pupland? He's worth about that! (I think it comes with 4 or 5 parts, each one being about 5million experience).. Surtyr or some such?

The problem is that 4 times 5 millions make 20 millions. There are some 10 millions monsters easy to kill... But you can make around 150 million in 10 minutes by wiping out the demon TC... and no risk to die.

Az

[Zortan]

The problem is that 4 times 5 millions make 20 millions. There are some 10 millions monsters easy to kill... But you can make around 150 million in 10 minutes by wiping out the demon TC... and no risk to die.
Az

Often problem lies in the fact that people play alone.. You may be in a group (maybe) but you don't have any strategy.. and most times you do play solo (on a multiplayer game..weird)..

I can tell you right now.. If you had someone backing you up with spells (heal, counterspell, restore, protect, whatever), you'd die half as much and get ahead twice as fast (even with sharing the experience)... Except no one wants to do that..

The other day (personal story) I did Warrior Tower solo.. I considered that quest difficult! Few weeks later I did it with a team-mate.. We did pretty good backing each-other up.. The quest (for me who has done it solo once already) felt like cake-walk!

Like I said, if you don't like dying, team-up.. you're half as likely to die (at least die alone

By the way.. When you and I teamed-up one time that you were showing me the way to WDSM.. No one died (except after getting the 14th or so Zonk, I run into the Death machines.. ugh!)..

Get a teammate!

[Mulley2]

Question:

Has anybody actually considered the current death penalty as it relates to the split-skill system?

I'm asking this because it's fairly difficult to advance "minor" skills (say lockpicking, inscription, bargaining, etc.), yet it's VERY EASY to lose that exp. via 1 death. An hour or 2 of intense work undone by 1 mistake (or in the case of lockpicking, a couple days work at least). We're talking skills that are WELL under 1 million exp. total (generally). Yet your MAIN skills lose millions (depending on levels), and can generally be gotten back in a half-hour or so (depending on the skill and how you try to regain it.)

How much exactly is "perm" experience worth? O.o I've been lv 20 literacy at LEAST 10 times, more like 15+ in my 110 (often knocked back) levels. Yet I still lose 3 levels in it when I die (most of the time). I've never been able to pass lv 10 bargaining, as it gets hit almost every death, and the exp. given for using it is pitiful. I've been told there's an element of permanent experience for every skill, but for the times I've re-earned minor skill levels, I truly don't notice it if it exists.

Anyhow, I'm rambling, but basically: Why are minor skills hit so hard by death when they take easily 2-4x the time to retrain when compared to major skills?

Does the minor skill "minor" reward (say for IDing something) need to be tweaked up? Does death need to just NOT hit them so hard? I dunno, but I think something needs tweaking/change in re: to minor skills and death. As it is currently, I don't even want to bother spending time intentionally anymore (inscription, anybody?) on something that will go away in a second and take hours to get back.

Edit: Note, I HAVE tried padding my major skills w/ more exp. than needed to return to previous levels (by, in cases, 2+ levels). My minor skills STILL often get nailed.

[Azriel]

I agree with you this time : 20 percent is too high for small skills like literacy, smithery, etc... (but it is a good number for 'attack' skill).
Maybe 5 percent would be more appropriate.

Az

[Zortan]

I know the way the death penalty is setup now, you either loose 3 levels or 20% xp (both seem severe).. I also believe that there is maximum xp you can loose (meaning it's "saved" xp and you can never get below it no matter how much you die)..

Any way.. besides the point..

I believe there should be a separation of primary and secondary skills and xp loss associated with each..

Like Az said, loosing 20% to primary skill may not be a big deal, but loosing 20% (or 3 levels) to seconary skills (esp. literacy, smithery, etc.) is difficult to deal with.. If the division between primary and secondary skill is made then 20% to primary, and maybe 5% (10% max really!) to seconary skills, at least those nearly-impossible to earn xp in..

...or.. provide facility to either make xp in secondary skills easier to get (without resorting to scripting something overnight, even if that would work)..

...or...(my original idea) was to find a potion or item of ressurection (perhaps bring the spell back in but make it do something slightly different) which would restore 50-75% of xp lost (still loose some but not as much).. Kind of like potion of life but for xp.

[aashenfe]

I think the penalty for death should be loss of items. So when you die, you end up at the last save spot with wimpy god given weapons + a little money and food (if over level 5 no money). This works good for newbies also, because they could have dropped thier god given items, or blown thier money. Plus it balances the game better. High level players seem to have gobbs of money and items sitting in their apartment anyway.

Corpse Recovery might be an option also, but I think death needs a penalty of some kind. So if it's possible it should be difficult, or limited in some way.

Going exploring? Should I take the good items?

[Mulley2]

Ehmm... aashenfe ...

Perhaps you should play the game a LOT more (or even a bit more) before contributing opinions about the death penalty? You're seeming a bit ignorant about what death really means in this game... : /

[aashenfe]

OK Mulley2, So what does the death penalty mean? Enlighten ME.

Why is this a bad idea?

[poof]

Why is this a bad idea?

I'll give you my thoughts on the matter. Some special items, White Dragon Scale Mail for example, are extremely hard to get even for high level players with excellent equipment. High level players can be killed easily going after WDSM. Your idea would make going after that artifact an excessively difficult proposition. Why? Because if one has spent weeks gathering the equipment needed to survive that quest and can then lose the equipment in a single death it makes that quest not fun and impractical since one can get by without WDSM. So, no need for the quest at all then.

Bottom line is your ideas about this would hamper game play, not help it. The discussion is about loss of experience in several hard to train areas. Stick to that idea for your suggestions.

[Zortan]

Off topic of death penalty, but having done the WDSM quest 14+ times before I FINALLY got a WDSM (curse you Zonk!) I am thinking it could be a quite difficult quest (as if it wasn't before!) with the death-machines in the first room and the way meteor swarm was fixed.. seeing how they cast quite a few very-high-level comets, a person is going to have to have +95 to magic and +95 to fire and +95 physical to boot just to pass that first room..

YUCK..

Then again, the item is quite good