While I applaud the staff for making the grind easier for new characters and players with the SP changes, I do not think you have created the best solution for the problem. As background I have played this game since 2017 at a vey involved level. One of the major reasons for me getting back into the game was because I wanted to create a character that had a significant impact on the story. To that end have subbed premium every month since returning. Additionally, I have purchased a fair amount of Story points, enough that I have maxed my primary character (including Empathy) and was working on the second one.
When the staff decided to no longer do half-off promos, I stopped increasing the stats on my alt and because of the difference in playing a max stat and a stat skilled character are, I did not play that alt much. Now I see no reason to ever play an alt. These recent changes have created a perverse incentive, here is how.
On Prydain I was averaging between 400-600 sp removed link I mostly did combat as I was waiting for opportunities to RP. I knew that at any time I could play catch-up and really knock SP for a week. I work on a computer and am finishing a degree; I am in front of a screen for 14+ hours a day. At one point I was getting 1400 sp/week and if I wanted to, I could do that again. However, I have chosen not to pursue the grind and only sit at my current level as I have enjoyed becoming more involved in the Gameworld.
This change forces me to make a make a poor choice. There is no more catchup mechanism, I cannot just choose to grind more to make up for less SP earned last week. Now my threshold has been increased and I need to hit 900 sp a week as that is the hard cap. At the very least I need to hit 750 because otherwise I am leaving SP on the table that can never be recovered. With the reduction in SP earned I cannot justify putting any effort into an alt as more attention needs to be dedicated to Prydain. To people like me you have created a situation in which I NEED to put SP gain over RP. Really what this has done for the staff has removed any reason for me to continue to sub. On Prydain I have, maxed stats, max empathy, a domus, all the custom gear needed.
To those people that say RP more, my answer is I have. I have a character that is incredibly involved with the Gameworld. I hosted thirty-four events in the last year, have earned 8 bonus points, highly involved in rebuilding an Org, and recently won Role-player of the month. I am stating the case that I think a more than a few hard gamers would make but I am able to express it best. This criticism is not from someone that just power-levels only but someone that enjoys all aspects of the game.
I hope that the staff seriously looks at the vacuum that this has created and does something to rectify it. There must be another way to progress beyond SP, since that has been retarded. Money is useless as the best armor is on the ground. There is no social system and an extremely limited crafting system. These areas need massive improvement quickly as the quicker sp will leave new characters and players at the endgame faster and once the blush of the combat changes has waned, we will see a decline in interest and revenue with the game.
My last point is this, if I would have returned to the game with this system in place I never would have stayed. As unrealistic as it is I want to have a toon that is the very best in the category that I have chosen. It was what appealed to me initially about TEC and the reason I came back after a 17-year break. This system prevents that from happening, you can scale up to middle faster but you can never catch those at the top.
Your goal is to make Prydain the very best in his category.
His actions in the game is the end out come that makes him the very best. SP is just a means.
What I mean to say is in a game like this. Your character is WAY more than their numbers.
What if during the 17 year break you made 200 sp a week? With the new system 200SP takes what 6 ish hours. You are more likely to continue long term because it takes less effort to get to your goal. No caculator but I think it is 200ksp.
I genuinly hope this advice helps. We certainly don't want to lose you for another 17 years.
Being mechanically the best, is a goal, sure. But Gendibold is widely considered the best at things, that he absolutely isn't. Just because he's memorable enough for people to think of him first.
Be memorable, if you want to rp more than skill grind, and you'll be remembered as the best.
Coming from someone that has been forced to roll 5 new main characters cause of some BS in the past 7 years, I love the new SP gains system. Spending 6 months soloing just to get to a point where I could actually go out and hunt or play a part in the storylines was the worst thing ever to have to do. Also when you are learning these new weapons you do not get a trainer that will teach you to rank 100, these new skills are and absolute pain in the butt to gather the moves and then they only train you to 30/10, that leaves you to selftraining the rest of the ranks. When you are spending 100 sp to move up 10 ranks to everyone elses 50 sp to do so, this change is a major Godsend.
Not everyone here can afford to Sub let alone justify 30 bucks a month to sub Premium to a 20+ year old MuD. Not everyone has a max stat character. I hate that you feel that more SP earned in a week is what will make you feel the need to quit Subbing or playing. As much as I butt heads with the staff, they have done amazing work with new skill sets, combat changes, and actually giving us a story to try and follow. I guess the main thing I am trying to say is not every new thing will be set in motion for every person and with the amount of changes going on I am sure you will find something to keep you around, even if not one of the changes do this then the relationships built with others should be.
Change is hard, but change is progress. - Goat.
@goatlover69 I've actually made a character purpose built to teach people chainblade and falx, he's not good, but he'll teach everything in one place for those who want to learn. Just missing three moves in falx currently, two of which most people don't want, grip and accuracy. Look for him in game, to get started. And make a character self-taught if you're after the new skills being better than 30/10
I pretty much agree 100%. Changing the weekly cap to a monthly (this used to be more the case with rollover rolling over 3 weeks, but with the new hard cap that doesn't help as that hard cap is simply lost forever), or better yet a yearly cap! That would incentivize more RP as the SP could be made up later when maybe there aren't as many RP opportunities at some point in the future. Even if you don't make it up, psychologically you feel like you could, and it's not such a pressing issue.
Also, while I understand this is the mechanically easiest thing to do to limit the need for script checks, I always prefer making things easier instead of harder from a game design standpoint - as making them harder rewards the people who botted previously, and pulls up the ladder behind them so they can never be caught. Ditto for the self-training change. I would prefer seeing lowered rb bonuses across the board and increases in sp gain for everyone, which "levels" the playing field, minimizing past gains and incentivizing new work, instead of stratifying the playing field by rolling up the ladder behind the 4 people who already have cross-trained and self-trained to 3000 ranks, but preventing everyone else from bearing the fruits of the same cross-training / self-training mechanics. This is simply good game design!
- Cheers
I do agree the sp changes has helped newer players but also has penalized older players. I think the 900 sp hard cap is a good thing, but as pry has said, if you don't hit it then you lose it. Can there be a change for say, any sp not reached can be brought up to the next week? So, example, I only hit 500 this week. Can the next week be able to reach 1300. Now of course there don't need to be abuse to this so just like roll over, maybe have a 3 week roll over incentive to it up to a max of 3600 you could gain in a week? Now no one will hit 3600, that's crazy. Even on a huge week the most I had was 1800 and that was because I was home with covid.
What is the current SP system like? Assuming it isn't the same outline as when Prydain made this post over a year ago.
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