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Similar to the Gift of Lumnis changes, RPAs will be changing from a time-based to point-based system. The size of the point pools awarded will continue to be determined entirely by GM decision rather than through the contest, but the end goal of removing the pressure to remain saturated to not "waste" an RPA remains the same.
Similar to the Gift of Lumnis changes, RPAs will be changing from a time-based to point-based system. The size of the point pools awarded will continue to be determined entirely by GM decision rather than through the contest, but the end goal of removing the pressure to remain saturated to not "waste" an RPA remains the same.

Coase

{{saved-post
| author = GS4-COASE
| messagenum = [http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Game%20Design%20Discussions/General%20Discussion%20about%20Gemstone%20IV/view/2546 2546]
| subject = Re: Updates to the Experience System!
| date = 11/23/2016 04:04 PM EST
| category = Game Design Discussions
| topic = General Discussion about Gemstone IV
}}Regarding the complexity of long-term experience, it need not be considered particularly complex. The basics of it are "you can store some field exp away to slowly absorb later". If, at any time, you have a full head of exp but would like to keep hunting to finish a bounty, or for more loot, or because your group partner is not yet fried, or perhaps because an invasion is ongoing and you think you might die and lose all your field exp anyway, then you can tuck some field exp away and keep going without waste. There are no caps on storing the boosts or on the size of your long-term exp pool, so you can save as many long-term exp boosts for as long as you want and use them all at once for a marathon hunting session, or simply use them as you get them. Either way, there are no complex hoops you need to jump through to get the maximum bonus from these boosts.

This, combined with the Lumnis changes and offline exp, are intended to actually reduce complexity in the long-run, as we have gotten quite a few complaints that people feel the need to grind out exp on strict time-table or else they feel like they are "wasting" their various exp modifiers. These changes are focused on reducing that stress and to allow players to play as they'd prefer to, not how the experience system used to push them towards. While this may seem complicated on the surface, its actually removing a load off many players' shoulders by moving the maximization calculations onto an automated system that takes care of it for you.

Regarding the contest, for clarification, it will be based upon tracking only bonus Lumnis experience that players earn during the contest period. That means only the extra experience added via the Gift of Lumnis multiplier counts toward the contest, which excludes the base experience amount, RP award modifers, Login Award modifiers, instant absorption, Death Sting inefficiency, and so on.

We have been tracking exp numbers in detail since August of 2015, so we have a fairly broad view of what people have been earning on their own even without a contest to motivate them. The mathematical maximum Lumnis bonus exp that one can earn is around 26,460(assuming a burghal gnome with maxed logic, max logic enhancers, always absorbing their maximum chunk on a supernode). We have never observed that occur in the last year. In fact, we have not seen anyone surpass 22,000 in that time period. Most weeks, the top earner earns slightly more than 20k. When motivated by a contest, we believe that there is a good chance that the average of the top 50 will, in fact, beat the top 1 person for almost any given prior week (the gap between the top 50 and the top person is not particularly large).

The contest should actually reduce the workload:exp ratio for powerhunters too, since they will need only focus on maximizing their Lumnis output during one week every 3 months, and then be able to reap the same rewards without having to put forth the same effort for the remaining ~11 weeks. We did think about using only one contest result to permanently fix or inform the size of the pool, but we also think that a recurring contest actually might be a source of fun and motivation to play for a good number of players, but if that turns out to not be the case, we will certainly be willing to review the frequency of the contest once we see the end results.


Coase
Coase

Revision as of 16:21, 23 November 2016

Posts regarding the experience system, nodes, super nodes, and Gift of Lumnis since 2015. For posts prior, see experience (saved posts archive)

LUMNIS Command

Category: Game Design Discussions
Topic: General Discussion about Gemstone IV
Message #: 1883
Author: GS4-COASE
Date: 10/27/2015 07:15 PM EDT
Subject: Gift of Lumnis Updates!

A new command has been released: LUMNIS!

With this command, you will be able to check your current Gift of Lumnis (XXX) status, including whether it is in effect or, if it is not in effect, when it can next start.

Alongside this release, we have also added the ability to schedule when you'd like your Gift of Lumnis to start each week via the LUMNIS SCHEDULE command. You can acquire uses of this command as part of the Login Rewards system or (soon) via purchase from the SimuCoins store.

For example, if you'd prefer your Gift of Lumnis to start each Tuesday at 11:30 (all times are in-game times, accessible via the TIME command), you can set it as such. From then on (until you either clear the schedule or choose another), your Gift of Lumnis will always refresh on Tuesdays at 11:30, meaning that your Gift start time will no longer be in danger of creeping forward, should you miss earning experience on your preferred day!

Coase

Experience System Major Update

Category: Game Design Discussions
Topic: General Discussion about Gemstone IV
Message #: 2479
Author: GS4-COASE
Date: 11/22/2016 10:48 PM EST
Subject: Updates to the Experience System!

We have a number of incoming changes to the experience system to help make it a little bit more friendlier and fit your busy schedule! This update has three main components: Offline Experience, Long-Term Experience, and changes to the weekly Gift of Lumnis and RP Award systems.

Offline Experience Absorption

Characters on paid subscription accounts will now continue to absorb field experience at a reduced rate when not logged in. Point-based and global experience modifiers (Gift of Lumnis/RP Awards [see below], Death Sting, F2P, etc) will apply to the offline absorption amounts, time-based experience modifiers (Login Rewards Doubled Experience Boosts) will not. The rate for offline absorption is a flat 15 exp per 10 minutes.

Long-Term Experience

A new BOOST has been released, BOOST LONGTERM. Using this boost immediately deducts 500 experience points from your field experience pool and adds 250 experience points to a new experience pool, your long-term experience pool. Experience in your long-term pool is normally absorbed much more slowly than your field experience pool (250 experience points per day), but has no cap on the number of points that it can hold. Experience absorbed from the long-term pool is not increased by RP awards, the Gift of Lumnis, or other such boosts.

Characters that are at or above level 20 on paid subscription accounts can earn up to two (2) long-term experience boosts per day via random drops upon LOOTing creatures that they are eligible to earn experience from. These drops are weighted to occur within the first 50 LOOT drops per character per day. Even if you cannot login every day to hunt, you can still earn a lesser number of long-term boosts; for every three (3) days that you go without earning a long-term boost (the days need not be consecutive), you will get one (1) free "away" boost upon your next login.

Aside from the daily 250 experience point absorption, you can also absorb long-term experience via continuing to absorb experience after your weekly Gift of Lumnis has expired. For every ten (10) points of field experience absorbed while outside of your Gift of Lumnis period, you also absorb one (1) point of long-term experience.

Gift of Lumnis Changes

Currently, the length of your Gift of Lumnis is based on the number of experience pulses that you are present for. Consequently, an experience pulse that occurs when your field experience pool only has a few points left in it results in less total bonus experience being awarded than if your mind is saturated, which can "waste" parts of your Gift. Therefore, we are changing the mechanics of the Gift of Lumnis from pulse-based to point-based. Instead of having a 3x absorption bonus for the first 3 hours of experience pulses per week and then a 2x absorption bonus for the next 3 hours of pulses, you will instead have a 3x absorption bonus until a fixed amount of bonus Lumnis experience is earned and then a 2x absorption bonus until the next fixed amount is earned. The net effect of this is that there will be no more "wasted" Gift of Lumnis pulses -- everyone that completes their Gift of Lumnis will have received exactly the same amount of bonus experience.

The exact size of this Gift of Lumnis point pool will be determined via a recurring contest every 90 days, that runs for a week each time. The top 50 (top 5 in Plat/Shattered) players that absorb the most base exp (measured under the current Gift of Lumnis rules) during the contest period will thus set the size of the weekly Lumnis point pool for everyone until the next contest occurs (their exp returns will be averaged to create the point pool). We will be paying particularly close attention to the players that are contenders for the top 50 during the contest period, so AFK script at your own risk. You can use the LUMNIS verb to see the recurring contest status, those who "won" the contest, and the option to remove yourself from being displayed in the contest list to all players.

Putting this altogether in an example: If the total point pool set by the most recent contest is 18,000 points in total, then your allotted bonus for the 3x multiplier will apply to the first 6,000 points of base field experience that you absorb (netting you 12,000 bonus experience points), followed by a 2x multiplier on the next 6,000 base field experience (netting you a further 6,000 bonus experience points, making 18,000 Gift of Lumnis bonus points in total).

The first Gift of Lumnis contest will commence early Monday morning, November 28 at 00:00 and finish exactly 7 days later. Once the contest has finished and the first point pool established, the Gift of Lumnis will migrate from being pulse-based to point-based.

Role Playing Award Changes (RPAs)

Similar to the Gift of Lumnis changes, RPAs will be changing from a time-based to point-based system. The size of the point pools awarded will continue to be determined entirely by GM decision rather than through the contest, but the end goal of removing the pressure to remain saturated to not "waste" an RPA remains the same.

Coase

Category: Game Design Discussions
Topic: General Discussion about Gemstone IV
Message #: 2546
Author: GS4-COASE
Date: 11/23/2016 04:04 PM EST
Subject: Re: Updates to the Experience System!

Regarding the complexity of long-term experience, it need not be considered particularly complex. The basics of it are "you can store some field exp away to slowly absorb later". If, at any time, you have a full head of exp but would like to keep hunting to finish a bounty, or for more loot, or because your group partner is not yet fried, or perhaps because an invasion is ongoing and you think you might die and lose all your field exp anyway, then you can tuck some field exp away and keep going without waste. There are no caps on storing the boosts or on the size of your long-term exp pool, so you can save as many long-term exp boosts for as long as you want and use them all at once for a marathon hunting session, or simply use them as you get them. Either way, there are no complex hoops you need to jump through to get the maximum bonus from these boosts.

This, combined with the Lumnis changes and offline exp, are intended to actually reduce complexity in the long-run, as we have gotten quite a few complaints that people feel the need to grind out exp on strict time-table or else they feel like they are "wasting" their various exp modifiers. These changes are focused on reducing that stress and to allow players to play as they'd prefer to, not how the experience system used to push them towards. While this may seem complicated on the surface, its actually removing a load off many players' shoulders by moving the maximization calculations onto an automated system that takes care of it for you.

Regarding the contest, for clarification, it will be based upon tracking only bonus Lumnis experience that players earn during the contest period. That means only the extra experience added via the Gift of Lumnis multiplier counts toward the contest, which excludes the base experience amount, RP award modifers, Login Award modifiers, instant absorption, Death Sting inefficiency, and so on.

We have been tracking exp numbers in detail since August of 2015, so we have a fairly broad view of what people have been earning on their own even without a contest to motivate them. The mathematical maximum Lumnis bonus exp that one can earn is around 26,460(assuming a burghal gnome with maxed logic, max logic enhancers, always absorbing their maximum chunk on a supernode). We have never observed that occur in the last year. In fact, we have not seen anyone surpass 22,000 in that time period. Most weeks, the top earner earns slightly more than 20k. When motivated by a contest, we believe that there is a good chance that the average of the top 50 will, in fact, beat the top 1 person for almost any given prior week (the gap between the top 50 and the top person is not particularly large).

The contest should actually reduce the workload:exp ratio for powerhunters too, since they will need only focus on maximizing their Lumnis output during one week every 3 months, and then be able to reap the same rewards without having to put forth the same effort for the remaining ~11 weeks. We did think about using only one contest result to permanently fix or inform the size of the pool, but we also think that a recurring contest actually might be a source of fun and motivation to play for a good number of players, but if that turns out to not be the case, we will certainly be willing to review the frequency of the contest once we see the end results.

Coase