Weekly Update Trends (2014 - 2019) Part 2: Character Apps

I happen to think this conversation overall is a very good reflection of Armageddon's take on character progression, but these two posts stuck out to me the most because they not only reflect the "meta" of combat PvP over the past 10+ years in my experience, but staff's overhaul of the class system seems to suggest that they actually approve of this "meta" and have been working to make it more powerful. Like I've said in past threads, the deadly but tanky mage character is the favored character of the Producers who are still known to play mortal PCs (Brokkr and Nathvaan) and I have no reason to believe they haven't developed the game to be in line with their own personal interests taking precedence over what they think would be good for players' enjoyment in general. They might be given a pass to believe that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, if only the playerbase didn't have a history of public outcries whenever too many plots swirled around magic and magickers were given the first slice of the plot pie because they can "do more" than a typical character.

It's really no wonder that they took this direction, when mundane melee combat skill is the only form of progression limited to access to other PCs to spar with. You can still go outside to shoot at animals, you can still forage or craft, there are still occasionally hidden NPCs you can scan... but if you want to stand a chance against a Producer's mortal mage's strength-spell-enhanced backstab or whatever, you'll need to hope one of the combat clans are populated enough for regular sparring and populated with highly-skilled individuals you can actually learn from. And apparently you better hope you're the right class, since now, some classes advance more quickly than others, if Brokkr's word is to be believed. I'm guessing the "heavy" combat classes advance the fastest at combat.



As far as the rest of the conversation goes, the problem with tying PC progression to access to other PCs is quite obvious considering the last part of this series, which showed the playerbase is losing a substantial chunk of its players (3-7%, averaging around 5% per year) every year. Like I said in that thread, there will eventually be a critical point where the "who" count is low enough to drive off people who would otherwise stick around. And if those people happen to be the skilled fighters you need to advance your combat skill, then you're basically screwed. And then you leave the game, and then the numbers tank.

Arx's progression is largely tied to PC interaction, and while this more or less works with hundreds of characters in existence (progression is RP-tied, so it's always weird to try and RP with someone you have no reason to RP with), it's definitely not a system that would work with a smaller playerbase. And when Arx's playerbase starts to shrink, it's probably going to shrink fast because of that.

If Armageddon's game design goal is to provide an incentive for PC interaction, it did exactly the wrong thing with its combat advancement mechanic. That just makes it tempting to rack up more failures on NPCs and hope one of them procs a skill gain, because unless the chances are 0%, it will happen eventually, and possibly more quickly than with a sparring partner. This system simply provides a disincentive that form of play (it's long and boring). An RPI system that rewards PC interaction would make all things equal regardless of whether you happen to be using code on a PC or NPC, but give players an extra reward for PC interaction, not an extra chance at a reward.

I think I was about sixteen when I realized that if my statements began with "haha" and "snicker" and "lol," they weren't worth listening to.

Maybe some day you'll come to the same realization.

Until then, kindly fuck off.

looks like it's 3 o'clock already

Don't forget 'u mad'.

The combat change is bullshit. It seems to me disaffected players decided to play independent and so staff's response was "now you can only Warrior-up in a clan".
With 1/5 of the players rolling short lived dwarf after dwarf, just to uber backstab or super thump, many players fully focused on poison daggers/arrows why make it harder to just be the club/axe/sword fighting guy?

Looks like we hit the 6 o'clock portion of the Qwerty Cycle where he goes on and on about how every word said here (or in this particular case, by me) is some sort of elaborate conspiracy to prove that I just hate the game and want it to die.

My mention of Arx wasn't even a plug, it was a comparison to a game with a player-interaction-based progression system that will not work if the game has fewer players. Armageddon's combat system, particularly offense/defense gain, is mostly player-interaction-based. Armageddon is also losing players. I'm allowed to opine on game design theory by comparing two similar games trying two similar things.

Your statement on my Arx mention alone, calling it a "plug", is enough to dismiss the rest of your post as dishonest. But I don't even think you're being dishonest intentionally anymore. I think you lack reading comprehension. I think you're too stupid to understand what I wrote. What a dumb clown you are.