Rules of Engagement and Beliefs

[Krantarin]

I think there should be something that will keep non-violent, peace oriented players safe. There should be something linked to belief sliders that would allow for someone to be knocked down and out, but not killed. It would be a switch like criminal acts.

I think criminal acts would automatically keep you from being safe.

[Rift]

i have mentioned this before, but i believe the upgradeable skills LP [unarmed/melee/marksmanship] should be seperated from all the aquired skills LP in such a way that you can learn every skill while full tradition, but lack the ability to gain combat/ranger/thief skills.
I think people should always perma-die.. but taking away the seriuos concequences and letting people go pure farming without having to worry about choosing between full tradition [and basically stalling learning new farming skills] and full change and having to worry about dieing as much.

I think this is a good compromise.

However, in reality its a bit moot as j&l have said a couple times that they intend to re-organiaze/remake the skill system in general.

[Junkfist2]

I think there should be something that will keep non-violent, peace oriented players safe. There should be something linked to belief sliders that would allow for someone to be knocked down and out, but not killed. It would be a switch like criminal acts.

I think criminal acts would automatically keep you from being safe.

Why?

[lazerdix]

I AM A WIMP.


PLEASE CATER TO ME.

THANKS JORB.

(PS: I PLAY VIDEO GAMES ON EASY BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO HARD FOR ME ;_;)

[Onionfighter]

I AM A WIMP.


PLEASE CATER TO ME.

THANKS JORB.

(PS: I PLAY VIDEO GAMES ON EASY BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO HARD FOR ME ;_;)

Hmm, I would like to see you say that to Rift of Krantarin to their face in game. Or, for that matter, anyone else who has been playing for more than five days.

[theTrav]

Ignoring the tactless flames, try and think of it this way.

What point is having black skills in the game, if you can't mess with peace loving hippies?

Crime only works with unwilling victims and J&L are determined to leave crime in the game as a possibility.

[loftar]

Of course, I would hate the idea of making players completely immune to crime, but I don't terribly mind the idea of adding a few balancing skills on each side.

For example, say that there would be a couple of progressing white skills "Pacifism", "Sanctity" and "Saintly Immunity", with countering black skills "Rage" (the current one, that is), "Defiling", "Corruption" and "Volatility of All Things". Pacifism and Rage would be mutually exclusive, and all the skills may require progessive amounts of, say, Life/Death alignment. One would only be able to attack a player with less of the white skills than oneself has of the black skills. I'm not exactly sure whether I like the idea or not, but for now, I like playing with it, at least; and I'm rather sure that Jorb has expressed similar sentiments at times. (In general, we would like to add more mutually exclusive skills, to encourage more character specialization; but it might also come through other means).

That being said, I do think that people are overly protective of their characters. In the end, our thought is that you will die from time to time, and you might even enjoy it (since you get more and stronger ancestors) -- the main thought being that what you're playing is not necessarily "a character", but rather "a bloodline". You should want to be "farming" strong and unique ancestors.
The main reason, I think, why people are complaining is because everyone seems to be playing at 100% Change, which was, really, not our thought -- I've even seen sentiments in style with <100% Change incurring a "penalty" in LP progression. Our original thought was that 100% Change is something every (reasonable) player would avoid like the plague, except, perhaps, in short and riskful bouts of rapid leveling. Maybe nature is not hostile enough to warrant more Tradition? For sure, we are planning on making the wildlife far more lethal, so that there will be a chance (progressing with creature level) that they won't just knock you out, but kill you and eat you. It should also be easier to starve to death, which is currently next to impossible (though one player apparently succeeded, much to our amazement and amusement).

On the other hand, it is true that protecting one's property is too hard right now. While characters should be more volatile than currently, it should be possible to inherit the ancestors' property to your new character without having what you've spent weeks building ruined in a few logged-out hours by a passing-by griefer. We have a few ideas for remedying this situation (which would also tie in with the future, probably final, effects of alcohol).

[Potjeh]

Protecting my farm with alcohol? I like the sound of that!
*starts digging a moat*

But seriously, I'm please to hear that you intend to make property safer. It's easier to replace the farmer than the farm.

[KoE]

Our original thought was that 100% Change is something every (reasonable) player would avoid like the plague, except, perhaps, in short and riskful bouts of rapid leveling. Maybe nature is not hostile enough to warrant more Tradition?

I let a bear have his way with me while I was testing out pathfinding. I think I lost maybe 1/12th of my total HHP. I've lived probably more than half my career on the edge of Mordor, gleefully slaughtering the local fauna as I had no shame at abusing pathfinding. I was full Change until I killed my first Alternate thief and got quite paranoid about it. Not to mention I basically had my combat skills where I wanted them. Basically, wildlife is more like tamelife. Walking puddles of meat begging to be eaten. Well, now, it's a little more self-preserving what with pathfinding, but yeah.

I think a lot of people look at Change like some sort of difficulty slider for the 'grind' involved in your typical MMO. 3.6x XP is something hard-wired into a lot of gamer's brains as better than anything else, especially when the incidence of murder (at least seems to be) so low amongst 'legit' players (i.e. non-thieves). The fact it's very easy to wind up there accidentally by changing other beliefs might be a contributing factor. And during the initial hell that is the early game (speaking from the experience of herding three new guys at once), delicious Change points are worth their weight in gold (or, rather, steel) a few times over just so you can do anything.

Personally I'm probably going to remain incredibly paranoid until we get the full goods on how ancestral worship will work, or probably until it's implemented (same thing, actually, I suppose) and I know I can die and get the benefits.

[Antioch]

I think that people should get a combat bonus on their own claim and/or don't require rage or murder to attack/kill someone on their own claim