Heyya,
I have a request - I wish that you would please not quote messages in
your responses unless it is extremely important to emphasize the
wording used to make your point. Unlike email, where messages may
come in willy nilly, the board's are all well organized, and I've
generally read the post(s) immediately before yours and don't need
to see them again. And can easily read them again, if I need to.
That said, I thought maybe I should respond to a couple of other points
have brought up. Inventory (and body suits) - I always think of inv as
Ptah's pet peeve as he dislikes the 'floating' eq as much as you do :)
A solution to it would be great, but I'm not sure the body suit (which
seems rather out-of-period, and wouldn't hold a canoe
) is the final
solution to this problem. Various things which are intended in skill
trees and various ideas on dealing with movement should help the issue.
By all means, mention it if you get another idea :).
Small eq requirements for using skills: I'm with Wraith in that enjoy this
sort of thing and expect we'll see more of it with skill trees as well.
I'm not sure carve is the right skill for an extra requirement due to
the low usage already as many have pointed out, but there's nothing
wrong with the base idea :)
Making eq easier to get, making it easier to level, allowing players to
rent more etc: I doubt you'll ever see legend really get -easier- to
play/level (making it more -interesting- is another question altogether).
Legend is a hard mud and is intended to be that way. I realize you are
not primarily interested in the 'game aspects' (you're a 'socializer'
according to the mud types article - so am i..), but many people are,
and we (as immorts) have to consider -all- the players :). Many people
feel the game is 'finished' (they've 'achieved' the ultimate goal -
these are 'achievers' :) when they reach level 50. Legend's depth and
difficulty lead to a higher player retention rate than most muds have.
Players leave most muds after 3 to 6 months. They stay on legend for
twice that (generally) and sometimes -much- longer. Changing even a
small part (increasing rent limits slightly) for example, causes balance
issues across the entire mud. Mud's suffer from a 'creeping ease of play
disease in any case. That is, new areas are added with harder mobs (the
builders are trying to do cool new things remember :) and neat items to
allow dealing with the mobs and appropriate reward for the increased
difficulty. The eq 'shifts down' (higher level players get it for their
friends or to 'be nice' to newbies etc.) and the amount of damage a
player can do has (on average) increased. Which in turn means all the
mobs need to be upped in difficulty to compensate, which is seldom
done for old mobs. On a mud that's been around awhile, you can see this
in the ease with which players kill 'older' mobs (even new players) and
sometimes in the 'double difficulty' levels of a player who has friends
and thus access to eq (can kill things easily) and those who do not (and
can't). So the mob cannot be set properly for the mud as a whole - the
difficulty level is either right for one group or the other - not both.
I could (obviously) go on all day :)
Eating/Single Deaths: I've played on muds that take hps if you don't eat
and I agree with whoever said it that this makes it almost unplayable.
Very few other muds have 'ooc' and this kind of thing also detracts from
one's ability to socialize (constant 'you're hungry' msgs that -have- to
be dealt with. It's especially difficult for new players. I've also played
on muds where if you die - once - you're dead, and feel about the same way
about them. Generally speaking, I think more realize means more fun, but
there definately IS a place where playability should be emphasized over
realism and these two ideas cross that line, imo.
Why do we 'level'? Because this is a game :) I prefer muds myself, with
rules for combat, and real eq, to mushes or moos which are rp/social
oriented. I've considered ways to make a mud without levels (thus lowering
the need to 'kill' mobs and removing the need to gain exp), but it's a
fine line between that and taking all the gaming aspects out and simply
rping (I think it can be done, but it's not easy and would be almost
impossible to do on legend at this point - requiring a complete change
in the game). There are things, again in skilltrees, meant to emphasize
other ways of gaining experience (quests, learning skills, exploring) and
there are those options -now- (which are more 'realistic' means of
indicating how a person 'learns' than through killing), but we'll never,
imo, get away from leveling altogether here.
That's certainly more than enough for now :)
Sabella
