Page 1 of 1

learnbook

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 5:03 pm
by Brom
I'm trying to get a few learnbooks and was wondering how effective they are? Whether or not its something we can discuss ooc as well?

For example If i have a skill at 50, and someone writes a learnbook with a skill at 60, will it provide any benefit?

Or what if someone with a very bad common font skill that has 100 in the skill writes a learnbook, will it help?

Basically what factors determine effectiveness of learn books!

Re: learnbook

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:54 pm
by Drayn
Appraise and read the book IC, it'll tell you if you think you can learn anything from it. It'll also tell you if you are more or less skilled than the person who wrote it. Not sure how the benefit scales, but I know there is benefit to reading material that isn't too far advanced of your own level.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:37 am
by fernao
Learnbooks, especially written by those that have fully mastered a skill and are at least fluent with font and language, can be VERY effective. You might even pick up new skills from a learnbook! However, that later seems to be very VERY rare.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 4:46 am
by Delia
Learning new skills from books has been disabled for ages. There have been cases when something new has been introduced it has came with a book but as things are now I would not dream about it :)

Some skills are bit special such as magical rune skills which are open for learning if you have one of the main skills. Thus it can seem you learned a new skill from a book even if you were eligible for learning and practicing the skill even without the book.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:31 pm
by Brom
Sorry I was referring to learnbooks, the kind that help to learn skills faster for training, not the kind that help learn new skills.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 2:34 pm
by Delia
The learnbooks of old could teach you new skills. There was no, nor is, any other skill learning book type than the one that is.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:24 pm
by fernao
Learnbooks still can teach you new skills. The latest skill I learned from a learnbook was in Dezember 2012. I learned a total of 4 skills from learnbooks. And none of those skills are new in game. They were inaccessable to me though for diverse reasons.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 8:02 pm
by Delia
Could be cool if there was a public announcement about learnbooks - as in what flies and what does not.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 4:43 am
by Brom
Let me just rewind and clarify.

I am talking about learnbooks which help to learn faster a skill you already know.

I wanted to know what things play a part in how effective a learnbook is. So far i have been notified that if i appraise a learnbook i will get quite alot of informatino about it.

I want to know mostly, if a persons font skill will effect how good one can learn from a learnbook they write.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 5:37 am
by Sairina
Brom, we know what you want to know, the problem is... we are obviously all as confused about how exactly the learnbooks work as you are :lol:

The things I can tell you for sure:

-There is (and always was) just one type of learnbook in game
-These learnbooks used to work differently than they do now - I never used them before the change, but I think instead of giving a bonus on learning, they actively improved your theoretic skill while studying, similar to a lesson with an NPC teacher
-This was changed because it was to powerful, and as far as I understand it, it shouldn't be possible to learn skills from a book alone anymore, without using them - when you _can_ use the skill although it's on 0, a book should help you learn the first point, of course
-If you can't read the language or font at all, the book is of no use to you
-If appraising a learnbook, it tells you how much the author knows about the font and the language (absolutely) and how much he knows of the skill the book is teaching (compared to you). And finally, whether you think you can learn anything at all (which as far as I can tell, you always can, as long as the author is slightly better than you are).
-I'm assuming the greater the difference in skill taught, the greater the effect of the book, but only a wizard will know for sure
-No idea how the author's (or your) skill level of the language and font effects learning

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 6:57 am
by krelji
As far as I know the complexity on the first page will determine how much of the knowledge will be passed on to the person studying it. Basic learnbooks -those with the lowest complexity - should stop being useful around a skill of 40, and books with the highest complexity should stop being useful around a skill of 80.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 7:23 pm
by Allurana
Sairina wrote:-These learnbooks used to work differently than they do now - I never used them before the change, but I think instead of giving a bonus on learning, they actively improved your theoretic skill while studying, similar to a lesson with an NPC teacher
This is how it worked, yes.
-This was changed because it was to powerful, and as far as I understand it, it shouldn't be possible to learn skills from a book alone anymore, without using them - when you _can_ use the skill although it's on 0, a book should help you learn the first point, of course
It was changed due to the prolific spreading of several private/exclusive skills that were never meant to be made publicly accessible to everyone.

Though it was a shame the change was made, and was a step backwards from the "classless system" advertised by GEAS, as is said on the internet, this is why we can't have nice things.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 1:36 am
by Sairina
It is a classless system - you can leave and join guilds, you don't just click "mage" when creating a character. I don't think it should mean that all skills are available to everyone, and certain skills are still way more wide-spread than they should be, resulting in less diversity in the game.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:40 am
by Allurana
Well, I say it because people are locked out of learning otherwise mundane skills due to OOC mechanics rather than IC reasons. It was a bit of a sad change but I can't really blame the wizards for doing it to protect the integrity of certain skills.

Re: learnbook

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:05 am
by adanath
As far as I understand it Brom, learnbooks increase a theoretical type value as you study them, imagine up to a certain point, then as it is not practical knowledge the theoretical part decays due to a lack of application. So you have a bell curve like area of learning where the height of the curve is right after the book, increasing your chances to improve it practically. I have envisioned it like an invisible opposite of the skill (dropping) system, where you still retain the theoretical knowledge but a lack of application puts you to a point where you need to practice it again. Generally the knowledge of the theoretical will help you catch back up faster than just gaining a point in the skill (although the excessive use of the skill may lead to quick skill raises after due to concentration and focus on the skill). The decay and algorithms I am sure are different but similar concepts.

Focus alone many times can increase the speed, the more specialization the quicker skills in those subsets improve, yet the less skills to the avail of the user.