blargle
Clueless newb
Beast Master
Posts: 63
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Post by blargle on Feb 17, 2014 19:59:33 GMT -5
How important is it to you that the "stuff" behind the scenes is laid out for all the players to see? Do you wish all the formulas were made plain and gone into detail?
Would you prefer there were master lists for crafts detailing every recipe so crafting wouldn't be like an old school adventure game where you try to combine random objects with other random objects in the hopes of something coming of it? Would you prefer to know the exact % your skill is at? Or what your resistance to a certain sort of magic or poison would be? How important is the "mystique" that Arm attempts to nurture to your enjoyment of the game? What are your thoughts on how Arm currently handles these issues? What would you like to be see changed? Inquiring Blargles want to know.
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Lizzie
Clueless newb
Posts: 199 
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Post by Lizzie on Feb 17, 2014 20:24:19 GMT -5
I don't really enjoy crafting. Like, at all. Even in other RPIs where crafts are laid out right for you to see, I can't say I enjoy it. So I won't comment on that, save to say that when I have played a crafter in Arm, I've found it to be far too much of a hassle. Most things that I try to analyze can't even be crafted. It's frustrating.
I also, generally, don't particularly care about numbers. Being able to see that I am, say, "journeyman" in dual-wield is just fine. However, I like to know the number range that "journeyman" relates to.
All in all, I think Arm strikes a fairly good stride between the coded mystique and what we need to know. My general issue with information being withheld is that we aren't supposed to know how to raise our skills, or anything of that sort. I don't need to know what my Terradin_Resistance is, or whatever, but I like to know how to go about raising my Piercing skill in an efficient manner. Because Piercing is actually and legitimately necessary to doing what a combat role requires.
Similarly, I don't think exact formulas for combat need to be known. I think if we knew the exact math that goes into taking a hit, and the exact number of defense provided by a certain piece of equipment, things would get too gamey, too quickly-- We'd have the issue that a lot of tabletop D&D games have, with people coming up with really weird builds for the hell of it, or that a lot of MMOs have, with people doing cookie cutter things. Both of which I think are nonconducive to roleplay.
On the other hand, if an item provides a boost to a skill or stat, I think I'd love to be able to see that with just assess, and by how much, and I'd love to be able to compare two pieces of armor to see which one would provide better defense and which one weighs less and so on. I also would very much like it if the hierarchy of equipment material were easier to understand. Is my obsidian dagger better than my crystalline longknife? The dagger sells for less, so...maybe? But then my obsidian dagger with a sapphire pommel sells for more, so that probably isn't the best gauge of things. What about my mekillot hide helmet, versus my anakore skull helmet? Really, I don't know. Bone is probably better. Maybe?
I think as far as skills and stats go, Arm does fine, but when it comes to equipment and other things that we should, logically, be able to have a better sense of, it fails pretty miserably. Another example: I think you're more likely to lose thirst when outside during certain weather conditions and times of day, but I'm really not sure. The helpfiles don't really mention it anywhere. Even if that were the case, I'd have no idea what sort of equipment might mitigate it.
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Post by BitterFlashback on Feb 20, 2014 21:40:06 GMT -5
I'm in agreement with Lizzie and doubt. I'd take it a step further. Say your piercing is at 25%. you won't be that good at comparing piercing weapons unless the differences are significant. You'd have more opinion than fact. Mistakes, possibly. Get it up to expert and you have nuanced comparisons.
I'd like to jump back to crafting. I think it's fine not to publish recipes. That said, you should get hints based on your skill. if I have a chunk of marble IRL, I know what I can make from it. I also can speculate what I could make from it if I had X. It'd be nice if you could just type craft and get a list of what you could make with your inventory. Additionally you should have a hunch you could make something if you had some other thing.
Limited by skill of course.
The more you learn the more inspired you tend to become. it would be good to see the code reflect that.
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