I dont want it to be casual in that sense, and its some nice ideas, but as you mentioned we need to keep scale in it.
i post alot on the forums, and most of them are just general discussions on different systems and how they could possibly fit into the oort universe, most of the time i dont say ‘‘we should have this in the game’’ (other than dye system, we need that) but more like ''I have an idea here, it’s prob too much to demand from a game but lets discuss how we could compress it so we could something from it.
you also need to take atleast a sense of lore into account, like choosing inherited abilities is a pretty cool feature but it wouldnt fit well if you mixed races for example. instead it should be features decide on your character and not your ancestry.
although i disagree on your opinion i think it shows some potentional, so you have the major predetermined racial that affects your char, and then you could pick 1 of 3 - 4 racials as a minor racial, for example a cat would get night vision, but then it could choose quicker reflexes, more movement speed or less fall damage as a minor racial ability. in that way it would make sense and it was a system that i wouldnt have thought of if you hadnt mentioned it (not that my suggestions are the correct thing to do ofc)
also while i dont agree on losing abilities i still think its a good idea to make it so you get passives that connects to your given profession at certain points and connect them to eachother, if you get blacksmithing higher you might get faster mining, and if mining is a skill you might get a bit more strength at certain points, and kinda connect them.
in that sense project gorgon did a nice job, it is an indie game but was build around having differnt skill trees all connected in several ways, like there was a skill tree called calligraphy which is the art of writing, leveling it enough would increase your precision with swords because you became so used to moving precisely to make nice calligraphy
I came up with a skill/stat system a while ago based on the use it or lose it system, for one of my own game ideas. It’s based on a ‘potential’ stat that sets how much skill xp you can have. As you train skills, once you reach the cap, you start losing xp from skills you’re not using.
This means you never lose xp for simply not playing, rather you choose how you distribute your proficency based on how you play. Think of it like the traditional point distribution character creation, but dynamic and ingame.
There was an additional mechanic option where, as you train skills, your potential stat slowly increases, and another where each set of skills had it’s own potential that only increased when using those skills.
eg combat skills and economic skills having separate potentials.
The benefit of this system is that you can easily be a jack of all trades in the early game but later on if you want to improve you have to specialise.
instead of losing exp then just make leveling every skill insnaely hard or limit it to 1 or 2 crafting skills, another system is also where you get 1000 points, and every skill have a cap of something, when you have used all 1000 points then you cannot level up anything else unless you unlearn one of the trees and get the points put into that.
but people are against that because they want to be able to do eeeeverrryyyyything.
I like a points system for skills. Perhaps rather than unlearn the whole skill it is a up/down toggle.
fx. Im maxed out in points but not quite a grand masyer in Oortomancy, I could down toggle my lumberjack skill to free up the points needed. As I continue to use my Oortomancy skill I slowly gain those needed points and the lumberjack skill goes down accordingly, also taking the associated bonus to lumberjacking because I am no longer as skilled.
May be that there will be a potion you could craft from rare herbs and shards which then has the downing effect you described. That would fit well in the style of the game
I also like when skills are directly tied together. A GM lumberjack gives additional bonuses to an axe weilder. A GM farmer gives additional bonuses to an herbalist and a cooking skill. This of course narrows playstyle choices if combined with a max skill point allotment. But then depending on # of avatars per account may mean I would need multiple copies of the game to be able to master every skill option.
I am currently earning a degree and I work full time “use it or lose it” would make it demotivating to play this game. Why punish the player who can’t log in EVERY day. Sometimes it’s hard to even play once a week or even a month.
“Use it or lose it” in the sense we are using it, applies to skills you are activly pursuing, tied directly to play time. No “hit” for being off line. Just shown as if you want to be a better swordsman, use your online time hitting things with a sword.
In no way should offline time effect anything done , except perhaps to grant a bonus rest experience
Then what is the point of even having the system? I think if you put several possibly hundreds of hours into doing certain skills, why should you be punished for pursuing another skill. Maybe you could change your focus and lose access to a certain role while you switch, but taking away what you have earned is just wrong.
How about combining the battleskills/-abilities (I’ll shorten it to bs/a) with the craftingskills/abilities (cs/a).
For example:
You get, let’s say around 30 points in total.
The average amount of bs/a you can have is 5 out of [insert a random amount].
The average amount of cs/a you can have is 2 out of 6.
Each bs/a cost from 1 to 4 points where the more points you use the more usefull they get (think of a light-spell for example, which had only use in the night or dark places and would cost 1 point, where a spell or ability like a fireball would cost 4) and each cs/a costs 5 points.
That makes 5x4 points for bs/a and 2x5 points for cs/a, total: 30 points.
So you want to learn all cs/a ,so you have to spend all 30 points for them, but can’t get bs/a anymore.
Someone who spend his whole life to learn to craft things etc. would have no time for battle, right ?
This would also give the person the freedom to choose whatever he wants without him being able to do everything at the same time.
All values and classifications for creation, skills, traits, abilities etc. are just examples.
No punishments for not playing a lot. No rewards (besides what you get from actually playing) just for playing. A system that forces you to change your play habits is always annoying, and almost inevitably leads to me leaving that game. If you feel like you’re losing something if you don’t play, and then you don’t play, it just dis-incentives you to start playing again, and can eventually compound and make someone stop playing. You feel like you are losing out if you’re missing an opportunity (like rewarding consistent logins) and you doubly feel like you’re losing when you’re literally losing what you have in game from a punishment for not logging in.
Not to mention a system like this is an added layer of complication to features that aren’t even close to being in game yet.
As for how abilities should go down…
I’d like to see a sort of skill tree with a limited number of points to assign. “points” could be earned by reaching a new tier of world (this incentives the play cycle really well). The skills should be smaller passives and such, but with a couple big ones at the end of a branch (to encourage specialization a bit). Skills could be advantages for you vs players and monsters, but not the deciding factor in any fight. They could also be boosts in harvesting and production as well as building related things- It would all depend on the branch. Points could be reassigned for a high-ish cost.
