Recent roleplay

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vurdijak
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Recent roleplay

#1 Post by vurdijak » Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:36 am

I have seen some very good roleplay recently and I think it probably represents the best collective roleplaying I have experienced in any mud.
Not necessarily the best IC results, but that is beside the point. The participants have stayed in character with only a few exceptions and seem to be giving lots of thought to how they play and what their characters would say. And now, because of this collective effort, new and interesting dimensions have been added to the world of politics, social alliances etc.

Just wanted to point this positive aspect out and encourage more of the same, because it is what set Geas apart.

Vurdijak

Blizt
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#2 Post by Blizt » Fri Jul 14, 2006 4:40 pm

Heh, when I read the topic of Vurdijaks post, I was expecting a flame, not a note of praise. I would just want to say I have noticed the same. Latley on this mud, I have noticed an incredible raise in the amount of roleplay I have encountered. Almost every character I hwave interacted with lately has seemed to put alot of effort into playing the situation well. I think you players know who you are, and I thank you for it. Until recently when our Heroic Crusader met someone doing bad deeds, there was nothing to do but simply kill them on the spot. Despite what you all think, I really just dont like killing players, I would rather beat them unconscious, whip them, cut off some limbs, then feed them to a Tshahark after they cook. Much more fun that way, for both sides :)
Also, there are alot of players that have made the mud pretty enjoyable for me the last few weeks with their fun roleplay, and you know who you are and thanks :)

Atrophius

#3 Post by Atrophius » Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:56 pm

I'm still disappointed in how quickly skillrot sets in, when you spend extra time roleplaying. I *refuse* to turn Atrophius into a powergamer, but the Rangers had a huge roleplay spree that lasted about 4 hours the other day, and I took some tremendous hits to skills because I wasn't out constantly killing things. The biggest reason I see that the roleplaying doesn't stay as high standard as it has been lately, is because people are constantly having to get their skills back up from when they do roleplay a good bit, instead of wandering out bashing troll heads.

It doesn't make *any* sense to feel like you're being punished when you spend time doing quality roleplaying.

Just my 2 cc.

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Delia
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#4 Post by Delia » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:30 am

I know its really disappointing to see your skills drop after RP, or anything for that matter, but I guess the skill decay is a tool for delicate play-balancing. Atleast for Delia the recent events proved to be disastrous for skills too, but I don't really mind, I've gotten used to it, after all, If I whine for bits of "realism" from time to time, I need to swallow this bitter chalk too,eh? :D
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jezz
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#5 Post by jezz » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:37 am

Ehrrmmm.. I know I have whinned about how hard is to improve skills and such for quite some time, but really, I have skills I haven't used for more than four hours of gameplay and they haven't dropped a single point.

Maybe the problem is that you have too many skills you want to mantain? Even Elminster would have problems remembering the 1908298 ways to cook an omelette...

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#6 Post by Abharsair » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:30 am

I have talked to several people about the skill-drop when the discussion first came up, and most people who play a specialized, or even a somewhat specialized character, do not have the problem you describe. As poJezz has already said himself, even "Elminster wouldn't be able to remember 1908298 ways to cook an omelette" and he has a point. If your character tries to be good in many things, he'll have a harder time to stay good in all those things, and that is something we desire in order to maintain a balance and to prevent characters from becoming all-powerful. You simply can't (or if you do it's at least bloody hard) become an expert in fighting, rogue skills, mining and writing books, and that's exactly what we want. Now, you say that this punishes those who do RP, but frankly, if you are more concerned about having the mining skill drop 2 points rather than doing good and enjoyable roleplay, then I really wonder whether you should do any roleplay at all, since it can't be that important to you.

Anyway, if you really think that a skill display such as 98(100) prevents people from doing proper roleplay, then I feel inclined to replace that display with either a rough description of your skill level (e.g. a skill of 60-65 would be displayed as "proficient"), or to only display the theoretical skill and hide the practical one.

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jezz
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#7 Post by jezz » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:51 am

Abharsair wrote:and he has a point.
I want you all to look at this light ... look at it... keep looking... *FLASH* Ok, now Abh didn't agree with me, he said I was completely wrong. .oO(Phew! If someone notices Abh and me agreeing on something, nazis would ride dinosaurs and invade the world)
Jezz wrote:I like to play with Balls

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Kortha
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#8 Post by Kortha » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:29 pm

The thing is, I have a char who knows a lot more than Atro, and my skillrot isn't nearly as fast as his. In most skills I lose 1 point in a day, sometimes 1 point every few days (even when I play a lot). Is this because my xp level is higher than his, or is that something secret? heh
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Alamar
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#9 Post by Alamar » Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:30 pm

I am also wondering how the skill "types" work with respect to skill decay. Abharsair's comment was very revealing about how the specialization vs. variety thing works.

What about skills that I have only 1(1) by accident? Do raw numbers of skills affect this much? Is it only once they get over 10? 20? 40? I ask because I have been trying to get rid of skills that, in my youthful exuberance, continued to practice over and over. Skill decay works too fast sometimes, but I swear to you that on occasion skill decay moves way too slow.

I am just interested in how the mechanics of skill decay work. I ask this not only because I have a tendency towards powergaming (yes I admit it, but I think that I am not completely devoid of roleplaying), but also because I am genuinely interested in how the code is intended to mirror reality... I know that we all are... if the code weren't so fascinating we wouldn't play it so much!

-Alamar

P.S. I like the numbers after the skills. And that is NOT because I'm a powergamer. I like those because I like to be able to accurately measure my character's abilities. Sometimes adjectives don't convey what 100(100) conveys... similarly some skills require a certain level before you can get bodycheck, gore, etc.

P.P.S. The numbers don't prevent me from roleplaying. It just means I train harder when I feel I'm getting soft (just like athletes do in real life). I will bring it up again however... what about not decreasing the theoretical side? Do those affect what sorts of other skills we can learn? I'll bring it up later when I'm more imaginative... I have a good reason for asking this, honest.

-A

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#10 Post by Blizt » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:21 pm

Skillrot? Honestly, I have never had a problem at all with it.
Recently, I had some skills that dropped about 10 points total............and that was after 6 months of not using them all, maybe even more. I can go 4 or 5 days idling and doing nothing at all, and maybe have one or 2 skills drop a point. I know I am not alone in this, because I know a few Crusaders who used to whine everyday about their skills they DONT use never dropping. They wante those skills to drop so they could improve other skills, but those skills never dropped, even when they hadnt used them for over 4 or 5 months.
Also, those skill points that had dropped of mine, were brought back up again very very quickly, with about 20 more improves on other skills I hadnt even started to learn yet. I heard wisdom affects this, I dont know, but my char has decently good wisdom I think, and that could be why I have never had a problem.

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Abharsair
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#11 Post by Abharsair » Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:20 pm

Let me start by telling you that skills learned by accident won't affect you negatively (e.g. your 1(1) example). I will however not tell you any details about it, nor will I tell you anything about the mechanics of forgetting and learning skills other than what we have already told you either here or in the news. Why? Not because we want to be mean and sadistic, but because it would only encourage gameplay we wouldn't like to see (it's in the nature of people to try to optimize the processes they understand).

And as an advice: there are only very few people in this game who know exactly how the skill-system works. Even most of our wizards don't. Therefore chances are that if another player tries to tell you a secret or some "insider-knowledge" about the system you should take it with more than just a grain of salt.

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#12 Post by stilgar » Wed Aug 30, 2006 6:05 am

Abharsair wrote: Why? Not because we want to be mean and sadistic, but because it would only encourage gameplay we wouldn't like to see (it's in the nature of people to try to optimize the processes they understand).
"REVEAL"
You see VERY BIG RED FLAMES surrounding Abharsair.

We all know you're just simply sadistic and evil.. :twisted: no need to try to show up like you were not :wink:

Anyways.. I pesonally think, the less a character is able to do all on his own, the more he needs to have others around. That creates the opportunity to team up for common goals and even RP a bit.
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