This drifts off the main topic, so if you're only interested in glassblowing move on from this post:
Kamilar wrote:Skills have become a much larger focus than they were in the old client
On that note. In the old client there were lots of roads and forests between settlements free from monsters. This allowed you to play a non-fighting character better without being stuck to towns and portals. This is one of the things that made skilling more prominent, it being required to walk about the world outside of the towns "safe" zones. This is one thing that encourages powergaming.
Another point is that since we are split into three towns, and due to the gems and crafting tool distributions forced to split between them instead of gathering in one town like trollsbane in the past (That most players gathered in bane, I think proved that if you give the players the choice , they will move to a big central town with all tools, while few stay on more remote settlements like varshikar and tol vanima.).
This split, as well as high level dungeons being far away from towns, make it so that players have a harder time finding RP. What do they do then? They turn to the engine aspect and start power-gaming, in order to stay active. For some this becomes an obsession and they end up favoring it over RP, some do it as a past time while waiting for RP, and some end up growing so tired of the whole system that they leave the game. (A recent example was the p.o. Ashbell/Renoah).
Myself I enjoy the current MC system, and am one of those that have grown fond of grinding while I wait for RP to appear, though it can get a little too much.
I do however understand why those who complain do. If I had less time to spend on the game than I do I'd probably not be willing to put up with the engine-aspects of it, and if I was not so attached to the playerbase that I am, I'd end up like Renoah seeking out a more pen and paper esque roleplaying game.
To be a bit constructive though..
From what I understand, three towns are there to stay in hopes of a larger playerbase one day, so I won't try and suggest to remove that.
As to the MC. I like it better than the old system, but it's still a flawed concept as is. I'm not sure if it just needs to be worked on, or be changed. But I dont think the old system or the one now in its current state are the right ones yet for an RP focused game like ours. Still. In my opinion our system for it now is a step in the right direction compared to what was in the past.
I imagine safe walking paths between towns could be made via player events over the years to come, but even this wouldn't really solve the problem. Remember the peaceful woods south of bane stretching all the way to the harbor, and settlements like the farmers union? You had plenty of choices as a non-fighter back then, I didn't truly take up the mantle of a fighter character until post-vbu, and first then after months of being stuck in town growing tired of all the people leaving me by my lonesome cause they were going out doing whatever, and my character would've died immediately if she came with. Personally I've never been fond of the fighter-RP, duels, spars and such, but it's become somewhat of a must to wield a weapon in post-vbu illa.
So for players being so split. Maybe a system can be thought out, so players know where to go for RP? Like.. If there are 5 players online, and three are in the galmair safezone or within galmair itself, then a system that tracks this and lets players know that the "largest amount of non-afk characters are currently gathered in the vicinity of Galmair" so people atleast have a general idea of where to seek out RP? I dont know if this exact idea would be possible, but I assume people would get what Im getting at with that example.
I like how skilling is extended over a certain amount of time no matter if you RP or skill all day. However since the system favors those with most time to play, over those who have little, I see why those with little time are upset that we went away from the old system. The old system would still favor those with most time, but it wouldn't punish those with little time as hard as it currently does. However I think MC wouldn't be this much of an obsession if it was not as I mentioned more or less "required" to have a fighting skill to be able to participate in a lot of RP. Hell, most quests both GM made and player made are fighting-based. (Though I really enjoy quests like the ones lucy-p has been doing that are purely RP based!).
It's easy enough to be a crafter. You can gather food from trees, gather resource inside the safe zone, easily enough gain the skill level in crafts to make your own tools and be entirely self sufficient that way. That ignoring the fact that players literally throw free tools and stuff at new characters that show willingness to RP. Sure, you level a lot of skills in the process that you didn't necessarily intend to level, but that ain't bad as leveling is supposed to take time. (In this Im ignoring how you spend a lot more time gathering mats than crafting, since they intend to fix this with the big craft update by extending craft time and by doing so also how much xp each item you craft gives).
I think the bad thing is that you are basically forced to fight, 3 skills that raise your mc, to actively partake in much of the RP and events that goes on.
Maybe if fighting and crafting/gathering/etc mc was split into two different pools, so you had one for fighting/magic and one for any peaceful skilling? Yes this would end up with people "metagaming" switching between the two, but we already do that in a way by doing actions we know will reduce our MC (like melting at level 20 smithing) in order to lower our MC when no people are around to RP with. We would just need to find a balance to make up for this, so skilling wont necessarily become that much faster, like making the MC go up a slight bit faster but go down as slow as currently?
As for the high end dungeons I mentioned, Ive before talked about the option to have an attunement of sorts. Think of the quest made by Evie outside of Galmair, the cave with the lizards. There you reach a quest status that allows you to leave the small island in the end repeatedly. Now, imagine that system being activated through a questline in a high-end dungeon, which allows you to use a tool or similar to get a quick-transport there from a point that is near town. No need to make one back since portal books exist. This would decrease travel time (yes I know mage portals plan to do that but this is also a way), so that players would have more time on their hands to get stuff done and then also this would result in people returning to town faster and being away for less time. There already exists the portal pedestal by the runewick quest that teleports you around and youre stuck until you beat it or die (wonder..something? The name eludes me right now). I was told this could be scripted to serve the function of only allowing you to use it if you have a specific quest-status.
What I imagine is something like the defensors in akaltuts cave, once you get to say the point where you get the special reward(wont write it cause spoilers), you could also get an attunement to fast travel there through, maybe a pedestal in town by the bounty hunter? Youve already proven plenty of times by then that you are capable of walking there by yourself, but doing so makes you miss out on a lot of RP or waste a lot of time when theres no one to RP with and you dont have a lot of time to play.
No tl:dr, if youre in the proposal forum you should expect long texts :p
Anyways, thats all I have the energy to put down on paper right now. English is not my first language so some points may be unclear and Id be happy to clarify what exactly I meant by them. Im trying to be constructive here, not trying to upset anyone or insult anyones dev work. All this is just my opinion, Im not trying to state anything but technical stuff as facts.