A Plea for Decay (Character)

[Granger]

Taking a vacation will be punishing under character decay scheme.

Which would be an upgrade to the as-is of a vacation being defeating under the current endless growth scheme.

How?

Currently taking a break (or starting late or having an accident) gimps a character permanently, compared to the ones that don't stop, which can't be solved unless characters are turned from being the sum of all their actions to being the sum of just their recent actions (over the last some weeks, at max very few months).

Dosn't matter how that'll be implemented (meaning in which way that pig is dressed), unless it's done participation statistics of new worlds will continue to follow the curves of the ones before, simply as for anyone that is even remotely thinking about the competition aspect of the game... there's no point in starting late or to continue after character or (especially) base death - or even continuing after having found out that the play style that far wasn't effective enough to keep up with the top... they lost, permanently, and there's nothing they can do except to wait for the next world to start.

See viewtopic.php?p=827365#p827365 (and next) and viewtopic.php?p=827451#p827451 (and 2nd next) for some graphs that outline the differences between now and what is suggested, these should clearly show the problem caused by the current eternal growth in numbers and how stat decay would completely remove it.

[SnuggleSnail]

I'm pretty sure my character is like one of the top five(three?) strongest on the server, and I've logged in exactly once since the 27th of Aug, and I basically stopped grinding stats 1-2 months before that. I could make a close to top stated character from scratch in a couple months right now.

If you can't catch up it's probably because you're not sweaty enough

[Granger]

Anybody who complains about never being able to catch up either isn't spending enough time to justify being able to catch up, or just isn't very knowledgeable about the game.

Enlighten us please, where are all the ones that start late? Why do people quit and state the math behind endless progression as the cause to only return next world?

All of them being lazy and/or idiots falls way short, IMHO.

[MadNomad]

but this will make raising stats pointless

[SnuggleSnail]

Enlighten us please, where are all the ones that start late? Why do people quit and state the math behind endless progression as the cause to only return next world?

All of them being lazy and/or idiots falls way short, IMHO.

Well, I started pretty late... So, me again I guess.
People that aren't motivated enough to spend a large amount of effort over a moderate period of time to make a decent stated aren't lazy idiots. I don't appreciate you putting words in my mouth.


I'm pretty indifferent to character decay, and I'm not personally attacking you. Just sayin', you and most vocal people are wrong about this specific point. You could make a subjective argument like "it's too much effort to make a good character" in an attempt to achieve the same end and not be objectively wrong.

[Vigilance]

Currently taking a break (or starting late or having an accident) gimps a character permanently, compared to the ones that don't stop, which can't be solved unless characters are turned from being the sum of all their actions to being the sum of just their recent actions (over the last some weeks, at max very few months).

This is still not an upgrade. It is just the same as present, but less-so. The people playing while you're on vacation will be ahead of you in the implementation of this, the people playing in the current system if you take a vacation will be ahead of you. Someone will always be ahead of you. This is the innate nature of an MMO. It is completely impossible to solve this problem short of making the gap between casual and hardcore tiny, or adding stat caps.

The thing is that you've never been on the top. I cannot in good faith trust you to have any opinion other than an uninformed one.

I am disappointed by your rebuttal to my challenge.

[Ants]

I'm pretty sure my character is like one of the top five(three?) strongest on the server, and I've logged in exactly once since the 27th of Aug, and I basically stopped grinding stats 1-2 months before that. I could make a close to top stated character from scratch in a couple months right now.

If you can't catch up it's probably because you're not sweaty enough

Write a guide on how to do that so people stop complaining.

[MagicManICT]

This is the innate nature of an MMO. It is completely impossible to solve this problem short of making the gap between casual and hardcore tiny, or adding stat caps.

Not completely. I've taken 3+ years away from WoW, and if I were to log in today, I'd be "caught up" to everyone else in a few months, including PvP, raid, or faction grinding (and possibly all 3). On the other hand, I've played EVE off and on over the last 10-12 years. I can't really catch up to the largest players, but do I really need to? No, not really. There's a niche for me practically day 1 if I want to fill it.

[pawnchito]

I'm pretty sure my character is like one of the top five(three?) strongest on the server, and I've logged in exactly once since the 27th of Aug, and I basically stopped grinding stats 1-2 months before that. I could make a close to top stated character from scratch in a couple months right now.

If you can't catch up it's probably because you're not sweaty enough

Write a guide on how to do that so people stop complaining.

They'd never write a guide. If we all knew what they did they would just evolve and play harder and be just as ahead. I suspect it has something to do with a certain type of will to see something through even to the point of discomfort at times. Some technical background making use of the available time through some automation. These folks just game hard AF.

I'm personally against a cap on stats. I know I'm a dirty casual that doesn't stand a chance at becoming a titan. But that glimmer is always there like it could happen. Plus there can be game mechanics that can balance the titan vs. newbie combat paradigm in an interesting way that keep the epic feel of massive numbers.

[Vigilance]

This is the innate nature of an MMO. It is completely impossible to solve this problem short of making the gap between casual and hardcore tiny, or adding stat caps.

Not completely. I've taken 3+ years away from WoW, and if I were to log in today, I'd be "caught up" to everyone else in a few months, including PvP, raid, or faction grinding (and possibly all 3). On the other hand, I've played EVE off and on over the last 10-12 years. I can't really catch up to the largest players, but do I really need to? No, not really. There's a niche for me practically day 1 if I want to fill it.

That's great reading comprehension, WoW has a cap system. You can only level up or improve item level so far, and then you're at BiS.

quick edit to further dismantle your post: the only reason you need to be "caught up" in this game is to excel in PvP or have "the best" anything, which in itself is a large niche that looks past a lot of the game as a whole. it is entirely naive to say because you don't have top quality flax you aren't able to enjoy the game, and it is entirely foolish to claim because you aren't #1 stat player you can't have fun with the combat or pvp.