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Post by nessalin on Sept 15, 2013 16:25:09 GMT -5
Anaiah,
Thank you for your response. Your feedback may indeed prove quite valuable. I have another question, although I believe this may be the last one from me. At least for now. Possibly the answer to this question would be of more benefit to newer players than to me, but I still think it is one worth asking.
I have elsewhere partially recorded a small subset of character roles, roles identified either by me or by game staff as roles that are surprisingly enjoyable for players, surprisingly easy to achieve and yet surprisingly underrepresented in attempts by players.
Examples of this include the archetypal Tuluki assassin. For whatever reason, it seems like many players prefer to play assassins in the south, where it is far more difficult. Or another such role is that of the trail guide. Despite the constant need of professional guides for the wasteland, few players undertake to play these sorts of roles, and they can be quite interesting.
Based on your experience on staff, can you identify for the benefit of newer players roles that are both easy and fun? Maybe something others might have missed.
Thanks again. We here appreciate your willingness to engage in such an open and long-awaited dialog between players and staff.
-Nessalin
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 19:20:05 GMT -5
Examples of this include the archetypal Tuluki assassin. For whatever reason, it seems like many players prefer to play assassins in the south, where it is far more difficult. If they are anything like I am, the reason for this is simply a dislike of tuluki roleplay and/or a dislike of having to work with the Akai or the feeling that all of the 'crime' in the sense of sanctioned crime (assassinations/burglary) that would be 'easy' (and thus actually legal) has to go through a. The Akai (which is ridiculous), or b. The Lirathans (which has apparently had things set in place after I got banned this week that -may- change that).Or another such role is that of the trail guide. Despite the constant need of professional guides for the wasteland, few players undertake to play these sorts of roles, and they can be quite interesting. Enough people will generally answer this with 'oh, that's what the Byn is for' for the question of why they play in the Byn rather than -as- independent caravan guides almost answer itself, in my experience. Because with the more current rules, damn near the only thing the byn -will- do that's not for a huge clan is escorts.Based on your experience on staff, can you identify for the benefit of newer players roles that are both easy and fun? Maybe something others might have missed. This depends highly on your playstyle and what you consider fun. If you consider seeing the world more enjoyable than other roles, definitely a ranger with some Byn time (thus training) under your belt so you can survive the beasties a bit more easily. If you prefer unravelling the intricacies of the crafting code, getting some time in with a merchant guild character in various clans can be of a lot of help, as many of them have lots of clan specific recipes, and people who've been around longer to help teach you new recipes. If you enjoy political RP, you just can't go wrong with some form of aide. Though the aide may, themselves, go wrong fairly easily, as political rp can be particularly tricky. This all, of course, depends highly on whether or not you're specifically talking about unclanned roles or clanned roles as to whether or not it's of help. Another good, noncombat sort of option would be to take the physician subguild with any guild, and try to get on with the Byn, one of the militias, or possibly the Kuraci fist, as some sort of medic. This is a role that seems really underplayed, IMO, and with a medic around, it unlocks the ability to roleplay out a lot more injuries, and also leaves the medic a fair amount of downtime to do other things.Thanks again. We here appreciate your willingness to engage in such an open and long-awaited dialog between players and staff. While your account is likely as not a troll account, it still makes me laugh a little to see those words above the signature Nessalin, considering the ban email I got this morning from Morgenes, Nessalin, and Tiernan. That said, I think a bit of transparency and accountability is entirely possible and positive. After all, without the players, the staff really have no game. All they have is a coded sandbox.-Nessalin |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 19:27:09 GMT -5
I got one. Can you give us a list of hidden skills? Like the resistance skills, and so on? I can't give you a comprehensive list of them as they only show up when you type 'skills soandso', 'score soandso', 'stat soandso', and even then, some don't show up that are suggested here. Like poison resistance does not show up, or did not to someone of ST rank. Weapon skills, though, are divided further in a seperate category. I can't list off all the categories (it's been a couple years), but I'll try to explain. If you've fought mostly humans, you're not going to be as good at fighting a hawk or a erdlu. If you've fought a ton of spiders, your weapon skill may go up and defense may go up (these happen with every fight), but it won't improve you against cilops as much as it will against spiders. There's different categories like humanoid, arachnid, avian, etc, that are raised dependent on your combat experience with each. There is also -magick- resistance. Yes, with enough time, experience, and survived attacks, you become more resistant to magick. This is divided up much like the schools of magick in D&D or the paths of magick in Arm, so that you do not build resistance, say, to being set on fire, by having someone summon you, but you have a chance to be more difficult (only slightly more difficult) to summon later. Other than offense and defense, those are the only two places I recall seeing categories of skills that do not show up to players. |
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Hardboiled
Clueless newb
Eggs, their good for you.
Posts: 116
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Post by Hardboiled on Sept 15, 2013 19:52:39 GMT -5
I got one. Can you give us a list of hidden skills? Like the resistance skills, and so on? I can't give you a comprehensive list of them as they only show up when you type 'skills soandso', 'score soandso', 'stat soandso', and even then, some don't show up that are suggested here. Like poison resistance does not show up, or did not to someone of ST rank. Weapon skills, though, are divided further in a seperate category. I can't list off all the categories (it's been a couple years), but I'll try to explain. If you've fought mostly humans, you're not going to be as good at fighting a hawk or a erdlu. If you've fought a ton of spiders, your weapon skill may go up and defense may go up (these happen with every fight), but it won't improve you against cilops as much as it will against spiders. There's different categories like humanoid, arachnid, avian, etc, that are raised dependent on your combat experience with each. There is also -magick- resistance. Yes, with enough time, experience, and survived attacks, you become more resistant to magick. This is divided up much like the schools of magick in D&D or the paths of magick in Arm, so that you do not build resistance, say, to being set on fire, by having someone summon you, but you have a chance to be more difficult (only slightly more difficult) to summon later. Other than offense and defense, those are the only two places I recall seeing categories of skills that do not show up to players. Wow...now that's really cool. Why the hell would they keep that a secret? Maybe some indications at least. It makes the game so much cooler to know. |
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Post by jcarter on Sept 15, 2013 21:03:19 GMT -5
I'm surprised as well. It seems like a lot of work and effort into something that will rarely, if ever, be noticed or have an impact on the game. This kind of segues into my question, which is why is there so much effort put into things like the alternate Grey Forest you mentioned or building the planes when so few of the playerbase will ever see it? Things like more PC housing, rentable clan compounds, new shops, updating Red Storm East, etc would have a much better impact so I'm just baffled as to why there's unique NPC types and such in these tucked away areas and such a reluctance to implement anything else.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 0:22:36 GMT -5
The higher ranking staff rarely play, and when they do, they've been on staff for so long that they've lost perspective on things as players. When I came on, I wanted to add a lot to Cenyr, 2-3 new merchant npcs to beef up the trade and put it in line with what the documentation says about it being 'awesome for trade' to paraphrase, as well as a few dozen new cenyr glass items and some apartments. I was told... 2-3 new glass items was the limit. And referred by Vanth to Adhira, who said that they don't want players in Cenyr, so they're not putting apartments there. The logic behind it is something I can only guess at. The elemental planes, are not actually that large and in the vast majority of areas within them, the rooms are all clone rooms, thus something that takes relatively little time to create. The rentable clan compounds is something that would also give players too much power, I believe, though that is speculation. There was no hardline reason I was given behind it. The alternate Grey is something I doubt anyone but staff will ever see as it's all marked as being underwater (and thus not somewhere a whiran can accidentally teleport), and it's also not linked to the game itself. As to more pc housing, a few years ago when Vanth left, she was in the middle of building apartments to be put in above the Gaj in Nak. Red Storm East is, I am guessing, shut down for the same reasons they don't want players in Cenyr. 'To consolidate the playerbase'. In my opinion, that's not a particularly good way to consolidate the playerbase but... well... you all have enough anecdotes about heavy-handed decisionmaking as the meat and bones of HRPTs. It goes on behind the curtain as well. And storytellers are like players in that regard. Their opinions matter relatively little if they don't tow the line behind those who are in a position to actually put things in the game.
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Post by spitwad on Sept 16, 2013 12:13:27 GMT -5
i would like to know if there is a limit to the number of skill timers. clarifyingly, if i have recently failed a boot and a shirt, and my boot making and shirt making skills have both gone up and have timers on them, can i still learn pick making if i fail to make a pick? or is there a limit of, for examply, two skill timers and then you can't learn any more overall, or within a certain skill category, until one of the timers is gone?
i ask because there is most certainly something like this in place for spells, where you can only typically gain power level twice within a particular timeframe without substantially increasing your wisdom.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 12:25:49 GMT -5
RE Spells: A power level is not a skill level. That proves nothing but that your observations have shown it relating to a power level. I have gone from wek to een on a single spell in the space of under 30 minutes without increasing my wisdom. Some things are just much rarer than others.
RE Skill timers: As far as I am aware, there is not a limit to the number of skills you can gain points in per time frame, only a limitation on how quickly you can gain points in each skill.
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lurker
Clueless newb
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Post by lurker on Sept 17, 2013 10:27:57 GMT -5
What's the real deal on "Staff Trust" and Karma. I've known people that have played for 3-5 years, and only get 1-2 karma, and get denied for the rest, even if they have good staff communication, and have done good things in the game.
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jjhardy
Displaced Tuluki
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Post by jjhardy on Sept 17, 2013 11:20:49 GMT -5
"Staff Trust" means he or she is my buddy, here, take this role cause I like you.
I have never met a game before where the outcome is determined, and you are just there to play the bit part to make it happen.
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lurker
Clueless newb
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Post by lurker on Sept 17, 2013 11:29:44 GMT -5
"Staff Trust" means he or she is my buddy, here, take this role cause I like you. I have never met a game before where the outcome is determined, and you are just there to play the bit part to make it happen. Sadly, I'm not doubting this. I made friends with a player a while back. She was a female, and had max Karma. But her rp was bad, she didn't get northern, or southern politics, or anything. And she was given a sponsored role that she botched. I mean botched in a way people are still laughing at. And I mean given as in she was sent an email, and told to apply. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2013 12:13:15 GMT -5
That is not unheard of. Nor is getting several applications for a sponsored role, and an admin or higher (the actual decider of who gets the role if there is not a total consensus) holding the role open indefinitely longer. That said: all the karma I had, 4 karma, I had before I came on staff. I was not friends with any of the staff, I did not talk to them OOCly, and points 3 and 4 came from -asking- for a karma review and asking for the next point of karma. The vast majority of pcs who have 5 or more karma got it in bursts of 2-3 karma at a time, several years ago, and staff simply have not removed it due to their poor use of/abuse of that trust because it takes an admin or higher to dock said karma. Best thing you can do relating to trying to get more karma is to try and follow the outlines set for the different karma levels, and ask for account notes/karma review, asking for the next point and outlining why you think you deserve it. Then the entire time that the request is in, be on your best and most exemplary behavior, because you -will- be monitored, and you can use this time to demonstrate in action rather than just via request -why- you deserve X level karma.
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Hardboiled
Clueless newb
Eggs, their good for you.
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Post by Hardboiled on Sept 17, 2013 13:30:45 GMT -5
Hi. I'm wondering if you would confirm or shed more light into extended sub-guilds.
1. Is slipknife sap really worse than thug sap? Is thug sap better than assassin sap? What about in comparison to cutpurse sap?
2. Does cutpurse ever branch any stealth skills at all? sneak or hide?
3. Is it true that if you get thief subguild as a ranger you will be able both hide and sneak in the city? The opposite being true for assassin and hunter subguild. Again not only sneak but hide as well?
4. Anything you could tell us about +skill items? Any items you know give +scan for example, the hawks maybe?
5. Is all hide gear equal in all terrain? The question I really want to know though is if salarr leaf armor actually gives +hide, and if the bonus is equal to kuraci camouflage gear or worse. What about mesh gear?
6. Shields, do better heavier shields increase +shield_use skill?
These are just some of the things that have been alluded to on these forums but there is no real confirmation, so maybe with your experience might be able to confirm or deny some of these things. Its okay if you can't though. Thanks.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2013 13:41:39 GMT -5
All the extended subguilds were implemented after my departure from staff (Oct 2011) and as such, I have no specific knowledge of them.
Yes, if you have wilderness and city hide/sneak due to guild/subguild combinations, you should be able to sneak/hide in both terrains.
I don't know of any item that adds to your ability to scan but many items that add to your ability to sneak or hide.
I have never tinkered with one set vs another, but if you get a bonus to hide with the item, there is no visible indicator a ST gets that says it only works outdoors or only works in cities, so I don't believe the bonus goes away with different terrains. I am not certain of this. I did not tinker or toy with a lot of the coded things to find bonuses and compare bonuses. I spent a lot more of my time working to help those in my clans and build things for the game.
Shield use: No idea. I don't and haven't played much in the way of combat-heavy pcs, and all the ones I've played have been dual-wielders, so I have had no reason to seek out this information.
Just a matter of personal opinion, but I think sunslits ought to add a couple points to scan as well. I don't know if they do, but I feel it would make more -sense- if this was the case, than if a hawk did, and there is no evidence that they do so.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2013 16:44:40 GMT -5
Personally, I think sunslits should "remove" points in scan. Those things arent glasses. They obscure half of your vision in order to protect you from being totally blinded. But oh well  . |
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