RE: CF: Object decay, wear, and repair (Was Re: World Map)

[dragonm <>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Wedel
To: 
Sent: 9/17/99 9:26 PM
Subject: Re: CF: Object decay, wear, and repair (Was Re: World Map)

<snip>

 I have at least a few notes -

 CASTING_TIME probably makes sense - the casting times may be a bit long
for many spells, but that is more a tuning issue - using those times
probably makes sense.
-----Begin Response-----
Makes a great deal of sense to me.  This is one of those issues where
"realism" is a null word, but "suspension of disbelief" is important.
Variable casting time is easier to believe.
----------
 One of my more long term goals is to have many actions take variable
time.  Taking off and putting on a set of armor is going to take more than
one tick.  When these variable action times are added, the casting time may
not be as unbalancing for mages as it would seem right now.
-----Begin Response
This is also reasonable, both in balancing terms and in terms of suspending
disbelief.  It takes more than half an hour to put on a full body suit of
plate armor in the real world.
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<snip>

 The others are harder to say.  probably spell failure effects could be
balanced by having the bad affect depend much more on the potency of the
spell - a first level spell is fairly likely to just fizzle out and do
nothing, while that 15'th level spell that takes a bunch of mana to cast
should be more likely to have a fairly intense affect.
-----Begin Response-----
Sounds highly reasonable to me.  More of the same.
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<snip>

 Also, if the outdoor world map scale is increased, then the encounters
can happen on that map instead of special encounter maps (random encounters
might have a new meaning then).  But at this point, it is too early to say
what exactly will happen.
-----Begin Response-----
This is what I'd prefer to see, myself.
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<snip>

 I've been using the simple exp.

 The main difference in simple exp is that level difference does not
adjust the exp award.  So if that orc is listed as giving 15 exp, you get 15
exp no matter what your level is.  Old system would do a level ratio - if
you killed something that was twice the level as you, you get twice the exp.
Likewise, you get less for things of lower level.

 For while, that system was not a big problem.  But with the addition of
more objects that could kill creatures outright, some characters are able to
get massive bonus in exp by killing that higher level creature.
-----Begin Response-----
Non-simple experience is probably recommended, actually.  However, it'd be
necessary to modify how it works.  Rather than award double experience for
killing a very powerful creature, merely bump the experience up a little.
Make the experience gain for killing weaker creatures drop off even faster
than it does, though.  This way, a weaker player who happens to be following
a stronger player through a dungeon won't find the place killed out.  Strong
players won't bother to kill creatures that weak players can handle.

EverQuest handles this by awarding experience based on how many times you
swing at a creature in order to kill it.  This has the disadvantage that in
the first-person 3D perspective of EverQuest, it was possible to
intentionally miss your swing and artificially pump up experience.
Crossfire doesn't presently have that loophole, but it's one way of handling
one-shot kills.  Possibly a bit extreme, but it's something to keep in mind.

DM
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