Quests for XP

[luminier]

eh iunno i've never liked temporary things in any game. if i get a weapon i want it forever.

[ganandorf]

The one situation that i can see this topic applying to most is with those characters that are more so "thinkers" than "fighters". For them its alot harder to raise stats i think than those people who fight and do quests. I think instead of removing the quests altogether (because for fighting characters they are awesome) some kind of alternate options should be added for "thinking" characters. I dont really have any suggestions for what these options should be though, so hopefully other people can come up with some suggestions.

[adanath]

The whole point of quests is to get one to think. If anything quests are more designed for "thinking" characters, and all skills that use intel etc will benefit from having more intel by completing a quest. If people roleplayed that their character actually does "think" through quests instead of doing step 1, 2, and 3, then perhaps it would be found to be more so this way. XP wise non-combative characters can acquire just as good of stats by focusing on raising non-combative skills, but of course they aren't going to be good at fighting. They aren't fighters.

[vurdijak]

XP wise non-combative characters can acquire just as good of stats by focusing on raising non-combative skills

I disagree with this statement, but the point isnt about the stats. The point
is that non-combative characters can have just as much fun roleplaying and
doing other things, and can achieve some pretty nifty things by foregoing all the fighting skills.

[adanath]

Well I don't understand how you can disagree really. Perhaps in the long-run fighting characters have both should they choose to improve their non-fighting skills a lot, but in the same token, so do non-fighting characters. There are tons of non-fighting skills from which my fighting characters have received little to no xp from.

[vurdijak]

Let me tell you where I am coming from. I have had 3 characters who focus on fighting and general skills, and one char. who focuses on 'mental' skills and general skills. All of them are fairly old, so that I'm not comparing 'newbs' here. While the comparison is less than perfect, I can assure you that the characters who fight progressed at a much faster rate in the 'experience level'. In one case, twice as fast.

Even though it is much harder for a non-fighting character to do most quests alone (since they involve fighting), there are still several IG options to assist them, such as mercenaries and even good ole fighting friends. I know of at least one quest that actually checks against skills involving mental stats, and most likely there are more. Overall I think allcharacters can participate in the current system with enough effort.

Instead of increasing experience gain for new characters to compensate for 'lost' quest xp, I like Sun's idea of giving items to the char. that would be otherwise innaccessible. I think of the katanas and wakizashis that can periodically be found IG. This would either:
1. Help the char. gain experience. e.g. A better sword helps you win more fights, thus gaining more experience.
or
2. Trade or sell the item, which then puts more gold in the char.s pocket. More gold doesnt translate exactly into more experience, but it definitely helps in lots of ways. More gold = better armour/weapons, money for potions, etc.

Speaking of potions...
A common reward to doing quests could be wisdom potions, which already exist in the game and give a boost to a char.s ability to learn for a time. I'm not sure how this would translate exactly, but I'm sure the imms could work out a formula based on likelihoods so that on average the same amount of 'extra' experience is gained from the task.

[adanath]

Many times people who pick non-fighting characters end up leading a much less pro-active life with their character. If they spent as much time doing various mental activities as other players fighting, I would find it hard to imagine it is so much slower.

If it isn't broken, don't fix it.