4. SKILLS

Skills or classes (or maybe both)?

No classes. I'd want to have skills that (once a certain level was reached) then allowed new skills to be built up. For example, 'carving' could lead to 'sculptor: wood', etc.

So I can learn any skill or spell?

Yes - but skills go away through disuse and increase through use. If you are a blacksmith and you go out hunting monsters, your combat skills will rise and your blacksmith skills will fall. There will be different specializations. Tradesman, crafter, warrior, caster. These give access to various groupings of skills. Having certain skills gives one access to different skills. A character may change specialization (AKA focus) at any time they wish. The skills previously gained in the old focus will begin to go down (rapidly for the super specialized skills, slower for the more general skills - remember, all skills seek 50) while new skills go up. It is possible to have someone who is 'middling' at everything. It just takes more work than it is worth. If a character needed a set of new plate mail (for example) they *could* spend a month of time and lots of money to make that happen. Or they could just buy what is needed from someone who does nothing but that.

Here's a neat idea that Kevin came up with for learning skills - I added one part:

Rogue Warrior

Trades

Mage Cleric

You get a cap of up to 75% on one of the five, up to 25% one away [and up to 5%(?) on the one furthest?] Example of how it would work: Someone takes warrior primary and cleric secondary. Walla! An EQ Paladin type. If someone wanted a lot of variation in spells, they could go 75% mage with 25% healing. If someone was primarily interested in trading, they could go 75% in the trades with 25% into rogues. I'd have a lot of bureaucratic stuff in the rogue profession - makes them useful. Someone who wanted to streamline could take 75% in warrior with the other 25% [and maybe the other 5%?] also in warrior.

The above choice would be a 'forever thing'. There are only five different main parts to choose from. Hard to really mess that up. All of the skills within would be more flexible. If they decide that fighter/fighter is the way to go as opposed to Fighter/rogue, they could just make a new character.

Do you have skill caps?

Yes, they depend on what your focus is - see above.

How many spells and skills will you have?

No idea. Lots.

Taking a skill based system, 1 being very poor, 100 being very good I am wondering what the game world would be like if all players started at 50% for some sort of combat skill? That would take away a lot of the 'must hunt rats to level up' junk, take away the 'young of the critters hang out closer to human cities while the senior beasts lurk deep in a cave for unexplained reasons' stuff as well. The combat skill could atrophy from disuse or be built up by the players if they go on a lot of training and killing sprees.

Another interesting topic: Lets say we had 50 useful skills, gauged by 1-100, as above. If someone were limited in points to say 500 - I am wondering if that would be a good thing or bad. In other words, you could have 5 skills at 100 and nada else, or 10 skills at 50, etc. The actual grand total of points could be messed about but the concept is interesting. If you were say, a specialist (like a blacksmith) and had built up 5 skills at 100, you'd have to 'unlearn' 100 points of a skill to learn a new skill (like forgery). Would that be overly frustrating? Would it feel like the players were in a box? I am thinking it might. I don't know - it would need testing. In my mind, I still like the skills raising and - if not practiced religiously - falling again. Kevin's 'all skills seek 50' seems to be a pretty nifty way to go. I imagine that the ends (starting at 1 and ending at 100) as tougher but as you get closer to 50, it gets easier and easier to gain the skill. Past 50 you begin to get more and more of a drag. Under that system, the power-gamer (who had been around long enough to do so) would have every skill at 50% except for their three or so specialty skills. That would be the true 'jack of all trades'. I think the hard part would be a) getting enough skills together that are actually useful and b) making raising/using the skills interesting and complex enough that macro-ing is undesirable and possibly impossible.

Why so many spells and skills?

/slap There's a lot of different stuff one can do - there is snaring magic, there is baking bread, there is broadsword, there is making of wooden shafts for fletching.

What is your spell system like?

Incomplete. I'd want to use skill paths that open up other skills for one to use as they went along. A lot of the games coming out (DAOC, AO) have spells that are just slight upgrades of spells you had back in the newbie levels. Wooptie do. I want spells that are NEW that you can build up to. (Just like the skills).

Is there any other way to gain experience than fighting?

I'd be interested to see a game where you got NO experience from fighting. Nada. Zilch. You use what you've learned yes but other than loot you get jack out of fighting. The loot I'd concentrate on would be stuff usable by crafters. I don't want stuff usable (till it has been through a crafter) ever to drop off of monsters. That would turn monsters from 'loot and XP bearers' into 'resources'.

Question - What examples of what type of trade skills will be found?

In addition to the usual 'sword crafting', 'arrow making' type stuff, I'd want to have 'carpentry', 'drawing', architecture, building, road making, statue making, etc. In most other games, building stuff is pretty neglected or crude at best. We want to give players reasons to build things.

Can users allocate their experience to which specific skills, or will it be done automatically?

Automatic.

Are users limited in what type of skills they may choose within a specialization or skill category?

Once you get past a certain level in a crafting skill, you won't be able to pick up more than the most basic things of any other crafting skill. Once you pass a certain level in a spell skill set, you won't be able to get more than the basic parts of any other skill sets.

Can users teach skills to other users?

Yes (though I am not sure how I'd work it) and recipes as well. For example: In EQ, they had jewelry skill. If there were no instructions anywhere in game (at all) then only certain people would know how to make certain things. I'd have a lot of pretty esoteric stuff in the formulas as well so the chances of anyone stumbling on the formula through experimentation are more rare. If someone really determined found out (for example) that a +5 vs. fire ring is made by combining a fire opal, a silver ring and a fire wasp - they could either publish the info on a spoiler site OR make a bunch of money off of it. We don't care which they do.

Where can users learn new skills, and train existing ones?

Organizations, experimentation (though I'd want to have it where if a skill is boring to increase than WE will provide you with a macro-ing program - I'd rather have it interesting to build up the skill though).

Is there a research skill category, and how can it be used?

Not that I can come up with. If a skill needs to be in the game and isn't, submit the idea to the web boards. [Only people with accounts can post on them because, quite frankly, we could give a rats fart for anyone who doesn't own our games opinion. They will be allowed to read the boards however. Also, this way, we can track down any truly brainless people and punish them. The boards will have user ratings not by how many posts they have done but by a point system. Red names (people that work for Evil Enterprises) will be able to give both positive and negative points. Saying 'bump' or 'first post' gives you negative points. Your ability to post goes from once per minute to once per few minutes, then once per hour, then per day, then per week, etc. Posting points in the positive can cause threads which you respond to either become sticky for a bit or even alert the red names.]

Are there any political skills?

That's a good question. I wouldn't mind having certain bureaucracy skills that say get you out of paying a certain portion of your taxes, get you let out of PC jails sooner (i.e. 'Boot licking', hire NPC's cheaper (and more of them), etc. Perhaps even have a skill 'spying' to turn off enemy guards aggro to you. Many of the political maneuverings that must be done between characters. It would be foolish for the king to go over to visit another king (regicide option selected) so they would do well to get someone else (expendable) to do it. I want to have 'writs' that players can get from the government of a kingdom that would make them able to travel freely in their lands. Rulers of various lands would be able to set their guards to KOS (all people NOT from their kingdom get attacked), or hostile (if a citizen and a non-citizen get into a fight they help the citizen) or passive (only people from countries at war get attacked). Keep in mind that these are NOT the uber-guards of EQ and each guard would have to be rented by the realm.

Can users become snipers with ranged weapons?

Unlike in some other games, we believe the point of ranged weapons is to kill stuff from a distance. If the stuff cannot retaliate (because you are on higher ground, in a chopper, etc) so much the better. If you are 'kiting' it (hit and run tactics) so much the better (see addendum 2). We will attempt to program AI so that this doesn't always work. On one hand, we support kiting - it is a good way to kill stuff. On the other hand, it is our job to make a good AI. Most games fail to support kiting because they can't program AI.

Will there be a swimming skill, if so can users swim underwater?

I'd like to see various underwater shipwrecks, dungeons, cities, etc. I think the underwater stuff is used way too seldom.

Can users do any mining of minerals or ores?

I'd like everyone to start the game with a backpack, shovel and an axe. Chopping down trees and digging up stuff should be vitally important. I would like to have the surface of the world layered so that digging *down* (following a vein) makes a lot of sense.

Are there farming skills?

Farming would make raw food. Cooks would be able to make prepared food. Raw food would quickly spoil and give almost no benefit. Preparing food would make it last longer and give a benefit if eaten. To eat food, leave it in your backpack. Same for drinking fluids. I might even make some food and drink that, if taken manually, gives a small temporary bonus. I don't want to have food provide good 'during combat' bonuses. In real life, gunmen rarely have a half eaten snickers bar sticking out of their mouths, attempting to eat while fighting.

Are there civil engineering skills that are beyond research, like for building bridges or streets?

Most things will be beyond reach when the game first opens. In order to have certain buildings, other buildings must first be built. To get various buildings, a minimum number of citizens will be needed. For still other buildings, a minimum number of people will need to always be in the town for them to operate (example: 1 hour by 100 people over the course of a month, etc). Whether a building is operational or not, the rent will still be paid (by the owner) for it.

Is there a hair styling skill within the game?

That's some pretty silly stuff and could be graphics intensive. I'd say yes if the programmers could figure it out, but it would have a pretty low priority.

How diverse will the skill trees be for specializations, any examples?

I'd want to have it extremely diverse. I don't have any examples yet as that would take a whole lot of work.

Will any skills conflict with each other?

See above discussion on 'skill focus'.

Magic?

Magic could conflict with other types of magic. Example: Totemic and Cabalistic magic - very different schools. Wearing one item from each school may cancel both out. Wearing (or carrying) lots of different types of magic could cause an explosion. Best would be to stick in all one (or a closely related) school. At the beginning of the game (if fantasy) very few types of magic would be known about or used. People could work up various skill trees and branch off to different ones - or create their own. The style of magic used is secondary to (but guides) the effect the magic has. Magic would be very complicated. It is hard to balance fireballs vs. swords, so I'd probably work off of the complexity and time involved to do it.

Will you have a run skill?

I'd like to. That is one of the things AO did right.

How many total skills are planned?

Hundreds. The trick is making all of them useful.

Do skills "deteriorate" when not used?

Yes. All skills seek fifty. In other words they want to get up to fifty (hence will not fall if not used) or down to fifty (hence will fall if not used). Skills will rapidly deteriorate if skill focus changing is allowed. Not sure if I would allow it.

Will there be limits as to how much skill can be gained in X amount of time?

Don't know - that would help the wild macro'ing, etc problems as well as keeping the PC's from getting too uber too quick. This would also be a bit friendlier to the 'casual player' as they would (if they played every day for the productive hours) be able to keep up more with the constant gamer. (Though I still think that the hardcore gamer will outstrip the casual on resources, knowledge, etc). On the other hand, I could see it as a potential problem. How many skills will there be for a PC to train in? I could see it getting real boring real quick if you are 'maxed out' in all of your skills for that day.

How hard will skills be to raise? Will you have a 'power hour'?

Don't know.

If a skill is 'nerfed' what happens?

Will players be given the ability to 'respend' some of their character points? That is a good question. I wouldn't mind having it where this can be done but I can see some problems. What if they had say a 70% in bow. Bow skill gets nerfed. They want back those skill points but it would be very unbalancing to dump them into a skill they have a 30% in (making it 100%). It might be possible to construct some sort of mathematical formula that would make sense - giving say a total of 73% (or some such) if they were to dump those 70% into a 30% skill. In order to prevent abuse, I'd have this only able to be done on the characters 'birthday' (their once a month birthday thing when rent is due, etc).

We could also have a total skill point cap - once skills go above that total, atrophy rapidly takes other unused ones down. That would help keep the players from being 'uber' at everything.

If a skill gets 'nerfed', players could simply make sure their characters focus is no longer aimed at that skill and stop practicing it. Their points in that skill would dwindle freeing them up to spend points in other skills. Alternatively, the players might be given the option to immediately unlearn the skill. If the skill is later unnerfed, tough for those that nixed the skill quickly.

How does tracking work?

People who use the tracking skill must have a reference created of what they wish to track. (In other words, if you've never seen the creature before, you can't track it.) They put that in their handy dandy tracking window and watch the bobbing, spinning arrow. The arrow itself is a bit like a 3d compass gone haywire. It spins and bobs and appears to go off in one direction at random and may occasionally point at the target you are trying to track. The bobbing and spinning gets less and less the higher your skill gets. Needless to say, running, sprinting or going faster than a walk also upsets the compass. Many trackers will get a bearing on their quarry, run that direction a bit, stop and reacquire.

Can I macro trade stuff?

Making trade stuff in real life is pretty interesting the first few times and pretty dull afterwards. The game is the same but a bit duller. You can have it set up to continue repeating last action (for making an item you hope will increase your skill) until all of the materials on the table are gone. We encourage the players to go to bed, do the dishes, take a shower for the first time in a week, etc while building stuff that is all on the table.

Skill example:

Disguise (mundane): Allows the player to look like an NPC (though they may have to strip off their armor and dress the part). Causes their name to show up in the same color as an NPC's. PC can also temporarily change his face. Use fo this skill requires make up, wigs, etc. Because most NPC's don't run, the PC will also need to walk least that be a give away. Also allows the name above the head to be changed temporarily. This also removes the PC (abet temporarily) from the town watch's radar [hide/sneak will also remove from town radar but for less amount of time, and can be dispelled by someone getting too close]. If the PC (using successful disguise skill) is wandering around a small town, people might know he's not suppose to be there. This sort of thing would work best in a large city for spying on them. The higher ones disguise skill, the longer duration, shorter amount of time between uses, shorter 'cast' time.

Disguise (magical): Allows the caster to look like an NPC monster (they may not imitate any PC races, just monsters). Various reagents including various monster parts of whatever they are trying to look like. This may cause them to grow or shrink and will alter the height at which they see. No monster abilities are conferred, just appearance. This could be a step on the road of transfiguration.