Exp Bonuses

[forever]

Ok, people who have utter hatred for people who spend $ on EL to gain stuff prepare to have that hatred all over again for this suggestion.

 

 

Having spoken with another friend who currently plays he and I have thought of something that might be beneficial to almost anyone. Including Radu.

 

 

As we all know this game is free. As with many games it is pretty much reliant on donations and "shop items" for the game developer to make revenue to further incorporate and expand the game as a whole. As is, almost anything shop related can be found ingame for the right amount of GC and that therefore kinda makes most players not want to buy said item off the shop because well it's ingame for XX GC and they can make XX GC simply by harvesting or various means. We do have a good bit of shop only things, we have special swords, and for a week some of you guys can get your hands on those special Orange Spammy items that we all love and enjoy. But honestly there is still very few things in the shop that are SHOP ONLY, and are something that any person in the game would like to have. Thermals, which a lot of people use and love are expensive and a lot of those die hard penny pinching people just don't wanna fork over the $ for that item since the warranty is only 3 weeks and they don't want it to snap into pieces and have wasted 90$.

 

Ok lets continue.

 

The suggestion at hand is for there to be an Exp bonus type of thing. I've done it in the new free game I'm playing and I have to say I think if the idea is incorporated into EL it could quite possibly expand EL's growth a great bit. Lets take a look at the top list of chars in the game. We have chars in the top 20's and 50's that have been sitting there for a LONG time with little to no hope for other chars to catch up or even be able to be in a competable stance. 120's will have to train for hours and hours to be strong enough to fight against those 140's+. As such quite a number of chars who reach their 100's and realize that they have little to no hope just quit.

 

We've all had debates on the large exp growth and how long it takes to reach a level, which is fair I mean hell hitting a high level should not be EASY, it should take effort and work and diligence. But in most games that I've noticed and in most cases there is always a sort of 'cheat' or rather easier way to do it. But it comes with the right price in terms of $$.

 

So I was thinking, not to make it too unfair, these boosts that could be sold would be of fair price and only last a certain amount of time. Here an example. 1 Week A/D exp bonus (50% bonus exp) 20$. <-- I'd buy that. I'd probably buy that once a week if I could afford it. To make things better make that exp bonus stack with those special days of Tzu or Scholars or whatever.

 

Make them specific I'd say.

 

A/D week exp bonus.

Harv week exp bonus.

Alchemy week exp bonus. Etc. Etc. Etc.

 

I talking to a friend can't really see any down side to this. A little bit of money put in and it allows you to put those nasty levels that can take you ages a little easier.

 

New coming players who can visit the shop page and see this can say "hey i can boost up a bit faster with this". Older players who are trying to reach harder to obtain levels can use it to their advantage to make leveling that specified skill a little easier.

 

 

Also another off note.

 

Those of you who hate character buying to it's core. This could quite possibly diminish some of that !. Why buy that char in the 100$'s when you can put a bit of $ in and get it yourself. You get that same satisfaction as you wanted, by havign done it yourself and it was just a bit easier.

 

 

I'd say this quite possibly could be a huge thing for EL's player base and a good way to make some $ for Radu. As these bonuses that can be bought for $ would be accessible to Anyone And also considering it shouldn't be able to buy more than 1 a week, there shouldn't be any one boo hoo'ing at how it makes $ players all that superior or whatever.

 

Just my 2 Cents and opinion and random idea.

 

Thanks.

-Inferno

[TvManPwns]

That would be amazing. i would spend $20 a week no problem.

[Nova]

sounds like the gold membership idea that radu has already considered

[Entropy]

From what I heard, some games have an even better and more fair system.

You buy an item that gives you 2x exp for 1 hour, 1x exp for another hour, and 1/2x exp for the next few hours.

So it is good for those people who can play only 1-2 hours a day but still want to keep up with those who can play the whole day. However, it would give no advantage for someone playing many hours a day.

[Aislinn]

Personally, I don't think it's fair that if you don't put in the time, you should be able to buy your way to the top. If you put in the time and effort at the game, you deserve to be at the top of the game.

 

There will always be this core concept divide.

 

And a side note, if these "top" characters weren't sold and passed around, they wouldn't be the false standard everyone else feels they have to "catch up" to.

That would be a better way to level the playing field, imo.

[saxum]

Better to create a 3rd continent that only pay players can go to. The more of the pay players who kill others to get DBs there are the more players you will lose. Imagine C3 invasions only and those who will pay to go there. On top of it there could be 'ordinary' items here w/special abilities on C3.

Edited April 29, 2011 by saxum

[bigkav]

Make a poll. 100-level% suggested is more than fair, can't stand the stupidity of the pissing contest @6 atm.

[bkc56]

You buy an item that gives you 2x exp for 1 hour, 1x exp for another hour, and 1/2x exp for the next few hours.

Perhaps with a 24-hour "cooldown" (not reset when logging in), and maximum OA above which it can't be used??

Edited April 29, 2011 by bkc56

[korrode]

The suggestion at hand is for there to be an Exp bonus type of thing. I've done it in the new free game I'm playing and I have to say I think if the idea is incorporated into EL it could quite possibly expand EL's growth a great bit. Lets take a look at the top list of chars in the game. We have chars in the top 20's and 50's that have been sitting there for a LONG time with little to no hope for other chars to catch up or even be able to be in a competable stance. 120's will have to train for hours and hours to be strong enough to fight against those 140's+. As such quite a number of chars who reach their 100's and realize that they have little to no hope just quit.

EL intentionally has an extremely long character development cycle (Radu said ~10 years iirc).

 

Of the ways EL could provide a gaming experience along the lines of the widely attractive shorter character development cycles seen in more popular MMO's, this isn't the best way to do it. (I'm not completely against the idea, i'm just saying that there's better ways it's goals could be achieved.)

 

Shutting down the failed PK server and starting a new 2nd server with a very different set of modifications to original EL would be the best way to do it, IMO.

[ZootNerper]

It should be noted that not all that play earn in USD/Yen/GBP/Euro.

 

I'm not complaining. Some spend USD 1000s on their chars. OK by me. I can't compete with them and never will. I will continue to muddle along. Just don't make the prices too high

 

-- Zoot

[Sithis]

I have played games that give a "item" that helps u gain more exp for a time of 1-2 hours. Its not bad especially if u dont play for a certain time the game due to real life issues or u just want to increase your exp gain, and there were also players that wanted to grind more so they didnt have any problem and they didnt use the item.

 

Having lets say a "defence boost item of 20%" for an hour that u can buy like 20 for 5$ isnt really an issue i think, many players can buy it and have a good money return in exp, same for ppl that will buy them for gc.

 

Also if this "boost" will expand in all skills, it will solve the problem of many all arounders with gods.

 

I think its a good idea

[Aislinn]

IIts not bad especially if u dont play for a certain time the game due to real life issues or u just want to increase your exp gain, and there were also players that wanted to grind more so they didnt have any problem and they didnt use the item.

 

"if u dont play for a certain time"...."wanted to grind"...

 

Again, if you aren't here, for whatever reason, why on earth should you be the same levels or able to keep up with people who are here? And not being able to be here, or not wanting to be here, happens to everybody at some point. And this point holds ESPECIALLY for those who don't WANT to be here leveling. Why should people who don't WANT to be here leveling be a top player? Not only is that not fair, it's rather stupid.

 

"wanted to grind" isn't exactly how they feel. They ARE playing the game as it was designed to be played. They ARE here doing whatever it was that was required to get ahead.

 

If you aren't interested enough in the game (any game) to play it and level it as it was intended, why are you in that game?

[Immortelle]

Dont wanna say much on this, but as a player who for the last 4months been here for almost whole day i can say i never been able to catch just by a bit the big ones. Maybe in my guild i managed to get back on track and be in top 5, and we arent many who play at the moment really. But i have played other games which gave this so call EXP items in game money and as pack to buy with $$$ and after a while it started to be a big problem. I have quit such games due to this problem and never went back in but found out from friends that those games are almost dead.

So introducing this EXP items in the game it will be a big problem for many. As a small player, to call myself so, i should say "Hell Yeah" but i saw this in other games and it didnt went well.

Yes Radu need some $$$ for the game to make it go on and we play it for free,that we all know, but careful this will go into another "drama" and we shall see soon coming on this forum few/more players who will complain about it.

 

So i tend to go with Aislinn on this matter and say NO .

[korrode]

To add a suggestion for within the current EL system:

 

3vs3 and 5vs5 PvP instances.

 

• 10 level gaps.
  
• When you die you leave the instance but do not drop stuff and do not lose a rosto.
  
• When all members of one team have died (and are thus out of the instance) the other team is the winner and receives some small-ish reward.
  
• Most important part: Random team queuing. (This means 5 people (or 2 for that matter) who're all on chars custom built for the PvP instancing can not group up and always be on the same team together)

 

This would help PvP in EL heaps.

 

People on very high level chars will have a very hard time ending up with 10 people all queued for the 2 teams needed in the 5vs5 instance, but sometimes there could be 6 people queued for 3vs3 and they can always make an alt to do them.

 

3vs3 really is too low, 5vs5 and 10vs10 would be better, but the playerbase is too small atm.

 

 

EDIT:

in regards to the 'small-ish' reward for the winning team, i actually think a/d exp would be a good reward, to help a little with ensuring people don't 'camp' particular level instances too long.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Korrode

[forever]

Well the suggestion by radu last night is really only intended to give lower levels a boost. 100-level% means that if your skill is over 100 then you gain no bonus for it whatsoever. Meaning it wouldn't directly effect anyone way up there while at the same time giving the lower level player a feel that they are moving up the ladder faster. It's more than anything a false hope or whatever, but in it's own can do a lot of good for a player. A player who feels they are catching up and feels they have the ability due to the exp bonus might in end grind even more and work even harder to achieve whatever goals they have set in mind.

 

None of this was meant for any type of personal goal or whatever was so disputed upon last night in 6. I've given up the game for seperate reasons and this is an idea me and a friend spontaneously thought up whilst reminiscing about some El stuff.

 

As any game's goal should be, it should be to grow and expand. The goal isn't to keep your tops happy or your already ingame players happy (although that's nice too). It's also to be pleasing to the eye so that new players can join feel accepted or motivated or whatever to keep them playing so that they can get their friends playing and etc.

 

The idea is to grow EL's player base even if only marginally and I see little down sides to anything.

 

Character buying is just something being brought up out of the clear blue (although i expected it). It has absolutely nothing to do with this. Most people who play EL now have gotten used to the way things are and just wouldn't be happy with a little change. Fact is, somethings need to change even if just a little in order to bring in a larger crowd.

 

 

I do like some of Korrode's points though. Ty for giving some more insight onto possible fixes.

[korrode]

Well the suggestion by radu last night is really only intended to give lower levels a boost. 100-level% means that if your skill is over 100 then you gain no bonus for it whatsoever.

Accelerating levelling to only 100 won't help all that much in regards to making PK widely competitive and filling KF, as Levelling from scratch to 100 is significantly less than half the exp required just to go from 100 to 120, let alone what it takes to go from 100 to 140+.

 

 

Character buying is just something being brought up out of the clear blue (although i expected it). It has absolutely nothing to do with this.

I wouldn't say it's 'out of the blue' or has 'nothing to do with it', IMO it has a very big impact on the topic at hand.

[Dilly]

The game was designed, but is still evolving, and just because something was never there, is not a reason to shoot something off only because of that. One example of that is the special day stones... unthinkable a few years back and now totally accepted in a very short time.

 

Most people do have a life outside their virtual one, and things can come up making that they can't play for a while. That's not necessarily out of WANT, it's also about BEING ABLE to (as we speak, one of our players is in hospital for an extended period of time, not her fault, not her choice, it just happens, and surely that can happen to all of us). In a game that is intended to take as long as EL before reaching 'endgame', someone that has a competitive nature, simply falls too far behind on the people they feel the need to compete with. And no, this doesn't just count for people that focus on a/d, i know quite a few allrounders who are extremely focused on their ranking. Whether certain people like it or not, a large group of gamers in general enjoy to powerlevel, and to see progress, and they get really happy when they can boost that progress for a limited amount of time (even after all those years, sun tzu never lost it's charm to most players).

 

Imo: happy players = more fun for everyone, so i like this idea.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Dilly

[Zenphon]

The only ppl I see that agree with this are those that log in and do their dailies and then just chat. I see NO way that this is fair to anyone. If you do not want to do the work to get the level, you do not deserve them. Sorry, thats the way I feel.

[FeLkkU]

I do not like the original idea. $$$ already has a big effect for fighters (buying items from shop and selling for gc or directly buying gc => buying PPs which is basically the only way to get stronger at very high levels). Of course i'm not impliyng that every PP buyer buys them with RL money but that is possible and much faster than earning the gc ingame.

 

50% xp bonus in a/d would be too high and compared to the current system(where reaching "competetive PK levels" does take very long indeed) that would still be the case and it'd also require plenty of money to reach highest levels as some people training a lot would constantly buy the bonus XP and therefore it'd be even harder for those who don't buy to catch them.

 

Instead some of Korrode's suggestions would make much more sense and wouldnt require to spend even more $$$ to PK(PKing is already expensive and some of the best Pk-items are already bought with $$$: thermal and some part of spam weapons and armors also come from shop).

 

EDIT:Typo

Edited April 29, 2011 by FeLkkU

[Entris]

From what I heard, some games have an even better and more fair system.

You buy an item that gives you 2x exp for 1 hour, 1x exp for another hour, and 1/2x exp for the next few hours.

So it is good for those people who can play only 1-2 hours a day but still want to keep up with those who can play the whole day. However, it would give no advantage for someone playing many hours a day.

 

Does this mean that for example you buy a "serp sword of Attack EXP" from the shop and use it for 2 hours and then you can give it to someone else that can use it for the rest of the time and it will give extra EXP for them to use it too or will it be attached to 1 person only?

 

If the EXP is only attached to the item itself and free for all to use it would be handled like the rest of the shop items, bought from the shop and sold in EL so you could stock up with "iron plate of Defense EXP" or a "pickaxe of Harvest EXP" and sell it to anyone that wants in in EL for GC.

The item should be unbreakable when it is used and when the Sword/plate/pickaxe/needle/hammer or anything else that would give extra EXP in a skill has "run out" of the extra exp it could just break or degrade to a regular item.

[Caliphear]

I hear all the time that I am wasting my time grinding my a/d because PK is dead. In one week i went up 10 oa's and 10 a/d levels by living in the feros cave for HOURS a day. It's not that difficult to level a/d it just takes a lot of time and patience. The problem is the other games out there level so quickly that the people coming here expect to be tops in a week. New quests and even the tutorial now give new players and old players a boost. I mean now you can be over 20 a/d just for the tutorial in a matter of a few hours. Add that to the daily quests and new players are leveling like crazy.There are even the experience books to boost different skills.

 

The problem with pk is the lower levels get tortured by the high levels by being attacked to the point they cant even pvp because someone "takes over" the arena etc. Even though its capped the higher players still have the advantage. Thats why pk is dying.

 

As for this idea. Although i would love to be able to be high enough to compete in pk i dont want the levels i have earned cheapened. I think if you want the levels.. in anything, you should work for them. What will happen with this is the same thing i see with the character buyers now. People will get bored because they leveled fast and quit.If you do something like this it needs to be limited and controlled so ppl dont level TO FAST. Thats just increases player turnover not players staying. Just my 2 cents.

 

And i love korrodes idea. It would give more ppl even at my level a fighting chance at pk.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Caliphear

[Sithis]

Honestly just because there are 24/7 players and might get frustrated just because there are some exp boosts (that they can use too) , is not a reason to delete this idea.

 

I play the game 4 years, i wouldn't mind to see new players that get fast up (8-9 months) to 110s-120s or if they play more even higher. EL needs players and exp boost might keep them in game.

 

I think that the majority of players leaving the game is that after a point they might not have the courage to level more and even if they do, after 1-2 levels they will continue to get pwned anyway.

 

So spending a few $$ to buy a boost, i think that it would help more the game than harm it

[Immortelle]

So spending a few $$ to buy a boost, i think that it would help more the game than harm it

 

 

The question is : Would they??? How many of those players can afford this day to pay anything at all on a game besides the big ones who sell whatever got in game in gc and after in $$$ ? I dont think many see the real problem here and say ok to any ideas which are so easy to put into a game. Tell me how many of the new players even got anything, just one thing, from Shop ?? I am sure very very few which doesnt help at all.

[Dilly]

Tell me how many of the new players even got anything, just one thing, from Shop ?? I am sure very very few which doesnt help at all.

 

 

I think you might be wrong in your assumption. Look at the number of p2p race characters. Look at the amount of rostos/thermal serps in game (no, they really do not grow on trees!) Also, there are always people buying stuff from shop only to put them on the market, and people who help friends out if they have no means to buy from the shop themselves.

[Nova]

Buying XP and chars isn't the answer. The answer is to know that this is a game that takes more then a week to level in and accept that and not try to treat it like some other game you can finish in a month. No more band-aids for people who don't want to actually PLAY. There are quests and plenty of special days that already help everyone level. If you want to PK with people and not get squashed, find your own level and a quiet pk spot and go at it. Thinking that someone who started yesterday will catch up with people who have been playing for years is fairly childish. Leveling faster isn't the answer to making sure people don't get bored, its having things to actually do with your skills and stuff like that is being added almost every update.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Nova