Perpetual Independent End Game Level Progression Concept
Gidorick
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I had this concept a while ago and have been trying to understand why it would be a negative addition to the game because I know the suggestion will be unpopular. I have tried to address the issues that people generally have with raised level caps.
TL/DR
The core concept is that level cap be raised by 1 regularly and independent of DLC to encourage continued play. This concept is sort of unorthodox and has some justification that needs to be explained, so I ask that readers try to actually consider the concept I am suggesting before jumping to an automatic knee-jerk reaction of “no!” Thanks
Topics:
Perpetual Progression
The core concept here is for ZOS to regularly increase the level cap by 1 level. This level increase would be an actual game mechanic that would provide players additional gameplay by giving them an additional level to gain on a regular basis. For the purpose of this concept I am going to use a 4 week (one month) interval for level increases.
Every month when the level cap increases, those who enjoy leaderboards and racing to level cap could participate in a leaderboard for the first 100 players to reach level cap. This leaderboard could be accompanied by 10 Cap-Ranking Buffs that would award players who reach level cap in the following order:
In addition to this ranking buff, every player that reaches level cap in the first 5 days could be given an enlightenment buff for the remainder of the month, making it beneficial for all players who wish to get to level cap for that month.
This would allow players to gain Champion points a little bit more quickly if they are the grindy type of player and would be beneficial to the overall community if my Champion System Catch-Up Mechanic concept is implemented.
This level increase would be independent of content releases and could be used in conjunction with content releases to dictate the level of the enemies within that content. Traditional MMO level cap increases accompany content and the level cap is increased dramatically, sometimes as much as 10 levels. With this concept, DLC could be released with a level range that exceeds the current level cap to give the DLC some longevity and even overlap some DLC levels.
If a DLC is released in a month which has a level cap of 85, ZOS could design the DLC so that the level of the enemies ranges from 85-89. This would mean that the DLC would be a viable zone for 5 months. Players could team up with other players to take down the higher level mobs in the zone or they could simply wait for the level cap to rise in the few months following the DLC release to be on the same level as the mobs.
This could create a sort of scheduling challenge for ZOS. If they must hard code each mob with a level as they are creating a zone, they would need to know exactly when the DLC was going to set the mobs to the correct level for the increase. However, ZOS could code the zone so that they simply need to set the starting level for the mobs and each mob group could level off that base number. It really depends on how the data is organized on ZOS’ end. With their commitment to having quarterly content this sort of DLC level scheduling may be easily accomplished.
For those that will say that “Raising the level cap is not content” I simply point out that while it is not additional content, it is additional gameplay.
Conjoined Concepts, levels 50-80
This concept would be most effective if VR Ranks are converted to regular levels as outlined in my Level 50-80: VR 1-16 Replacement. A New-ish Concept thread. In this concept, players would no longer gain Attribute Points and Skill points every single level. Progression rewards would be delivered more sparingly after level 50. This would make it so a player who is level 100 would only have 25 more attribute points than a player who is level 50. Players who are level 80 (VR 16) will have a total of 65 attribute points to distribute.
SP=Skill Point / AP=Attribute Point / CP=Champion Point / GR=Gear Requirement
In addition to this, I suggest ZOS also introduce design mechanics that would help mitigate some of the issues that arises with continued vertical progression.
Mitigation of Power Creep
To prevent players who are higher levels from becoming unstoppable (IE: level 100 players are twice as powerful as a level 50 players) I suggest that ZOS introduce a Sub-Attribute system at level 81 that would lock the total amount of attribute points that can be distributed between the three main attributes to 65. All attribute points a player earns beyond that can only be placed in a sub-attribute.
The Sub-Attributes would be:
Note that there is no means to directly increase Max Magicka, Max health, or Max Stamina using the Sub-Attributes. This is another power mitigation design so that all players, post level 80, would be on an equal playing field when it comes to how much Magicka, Health, and Stamina they have available to them from the leveling system.
It’s important to keep in mind that if the level cap is raised as often as once per month and the reward distribution of my Vet Rank to Level conversion concept is in place, players would, over the course of one year, only receive:
Upgrading End Level Gear
There has been some discussion regarding upgrading gear. I absolutely adore this idea. There would, however, have to be some limitations.
Allowing player to upgrade the gear they are using, and not allowing them to sell that gear will allow players to more quickly move from one gear level to another, but will also keep the need for players to craft and sell high level gear that they craft intact. When upgrading the level of gear the gear’s quality should lower by one level.
This upgrading mechanic could be available only to master crafters and could only be available to gear of level 50 or greater. Perhaps this could even be a skill added to the different crafting abilities.
PVP Leveling
One of the issues with raising the level cap is pressuring PVP players to do something other than PVP. They are in the thick of battle and if the level cap raises and they don’t run to the new content, run through the new content to raise their level, they will soon find themselves fighting a losing battle against those that did take the time to level up. There are a couple of things that can be done about this to allow these players to play as they want to play.
First, the incremental level increases proposed in this concept wouldn’t offer a player enough of an advantage to make them instantly more competitive in PVP. A player who is level 94 fighting against a player who is level 95 may only have a 10 point difference in Weapon Damage when the overall damage is in the thousands.
Second, PVP XP should be more than enough so that a player who primarily plays PVP can level up the one level by the time the next level comes around. In fact, since cap would be raised only one level, most players would be able to continue whatever it is they are doing and, as long as they are playing regularly, and they would be able to reach the next cap.
Scaled Content
Lastly, we come to Scaled Content. This topic is in-line with my concept to scale players down to any zone using the Battle Level toggle.
With Battle Leveling off, players will simply perform at their level they actually are. With Battle Leveling turned on, they will scale to the zone. This is important for this concept of continued progression because it creates a viable gameplay solution to all players, no matter where they wish to play or what level they currently are.
If a player really, truly enjoys killing werewolves in Glenumbra, they are more than welcome to remain Battle Leveled to Glenumbra and kill hundreds of werewolves to earn that month’s level, but it would be more advantageous to travel to higher level zones if they wanted to be competitive with their leveling.
As it pertains to new zones, ZOS could allow zones that are not part of the main quest lines (Craglorn being the first, and currently only, zone) to Battle level lower players to the minimum level of that Zone. So, when a Zone is released encompassing levels 85-89 and the current level cap is 87, any player lower than 85 will be leveled to 85 so they are viable in that zone. These players will receive scaled XP so they will be able to level up using these zones.
Players could even use Battle Leveling to group with their higher level friends. Battle leveling should level all players in a group to the group leader. This would allow players to level to whatever level the group leader is, down or up.
In the Caldwelld’s Redux thread I suggest that players earn an independent set of levels as they run through Caldwell’s Silver and Gold. These independent levels are gained in conjunction with their main levels and are used to determine Battle Leveling and XP rewards. Earning XP and leveling in a zone while battle leveled would increase the player’s zone-level as well as their main level.
To illustrate this let’s suppose we have released 6 DLCs with the following level ranges:
A player joins ESO and decides to dabble in each zone when they reach level 10. After a few weeks they have achieved a bit in each DLC Zone and now have the following zone-levels:
A player who has battle leveled though a zone, but is still a lower level than their zone-level can continue to play in that zone and earn XP for their regular level at the leveled rate. As soon as their main level is greater than their zone-level the battle leveling works in reverse and they are scaled down to zone-max level +1 and no longer receive leveled XP.
Since the player has achieved 12 zone-levels and have been receiving scaled XP they are now level 22 and have out-leveled their main story zone by 7 levels. If the player wishes, they can remain Battle Leveled and their level will be scaled back down to their main story zone per the mechanics outlined in my Zone Scaling concept thread. Or they can remain at their current level and feel the soft skulls of their enemies give way to the mighty power of their boot.
This would give many players the freedom of choice when playing and would allow players to literally play however they wish to play. ZOS could decide to implement zone levels across the board for all zones, main story and DLC in order to facilitate the freedom of play. The concept would work either way.
Overview & Wrap-up
If you’ve stuck with me this long, I thank you. This concept is much more than simply adding levels for the sake of adding levels. The regular addition of levels would truly become a gameplay mechanic that could inform the progression of ESO while offering regular challenges to players who enjoy those types of game mechanics. With the scaling mechanics in place, players will be able to enjoy content no matter what their level and content will continue to be viable once they have completed the DLC for further playthroughs.
As many of us do, I wish for Tamriel to be open and available to all players and for all players to continually have the opportunity to play how they want to play.
Please let me know if you have any ideas on how this concept can be improved or why this concept wouldn't work. Please be specific in your feedback.
Edited by Gidorick on July 25, 2015 6:31PM TL/DR
The core concept is that level cap be raised by 1 regularly and independent of DLC to encourage continued play. This concept is sort of unorthodox and has some justification that needs to be explained, so I ask that readers try to actually consider the concept I am suggesting before jumping to an automatic knee-jerk reaction of “no!” Thanks
Topics:
- Perpetual Progression
- Conjoined Concepts, levels 50-80
- Mitigation of Power Creep
- Upgrading End Level Gear
- PVP Leveling
- Scaled Content
Perpetual Progression
The core concept here is for ZOS to regularly increase the level cap by 1 level. This level increase would be an actual game mechanic that would provide players additional gameplay by giving them an additional level to gain on a regular basis. For the purpose of this concept I am going to use a 4 week (one month) interval for level increases.
Every month when the level cap increases, those who enjoy leaderboards and racing to level cap could participate in a leaderboard for the first 100 players to reach level cap. This leaderboard could be accompanied by 10 Cap-Ranking Buffs that would award players who reach level cap in the following order:
- 1st
- 2nd
- 3rd
- 4th-10th
- 11th-20th
- 21st-30th
- 31st-40th
- 41st-50th
- 51st-75th
- 75th-100th
- Week 1: 100% buff effectiveness
- Week 2: 75% buff effectiveness
- Week 3: 50% buff effectiveness
- Week 4: 25% buff effectiveness
In addition to this ranking buff, every player that reaches level cap in the first 5 days could be given an enlightenment buff for the remainder of the month, making it beneficial for all players who wish to get to level cap for that month.
This would allow players to gain Champion points a little bit more quickly if they are the grindy type of player and would be beneficial to the overall community if my Champion System Catch-Up Mechanic concept is implemented.
This level increase would be independent of content releases and could be used in conjunction with content releases to dictate the level of the enemies within that content. Traditional MMO level cap increases accompany content and the level cap is increased dramatically, sometimes as much as 10 levels. With this concept, DLC could be released with a level range that exceeds the current level cap to give the DLC some longevity and even overlap some DLC levels.
If a DLC is released in a month which has a level cap of 85, ZOS could design the DLC so that the level of the enemies ranges from 85-89. This would mean that the DLC would be a viable zone for 5 months. Players could team up with other players to take down the higher level mobs in the zone or they could simply wait for the level cap to rise in the few months following the DLC release to be on the same level as the mobs.
This could create a sort of scheduling challenge for ZOS. If they must hard code each mob with a level as they are creating a zone, they would need to know exactly when the DLC was going to set the mobs to the correct level for the increase. However, ZOS could code the zone so that they simply need to set the starting level for the mobs and each mob group could level off that base number. It really depends on how the data is organized on ZOS’ end. With their commitment to having quarterly content this sort of DLC level scheduling may be easily accomplished.
For those that will say that “Raising the level cap is not content” I simply point out that while it is not additional content, it is additional gameplay.
Conjoined Concepts, levels 50-80
This concept would be most effective if VR Ranks are converted to regular levels as outlined in my Level 50-80: VR 1-16 Replacement. A New-ish Concept thread. In this concept, players would no longer gain Attribute Points and Skill points every single level. Progression rewards would be delivered more sparingly after level 50. This would make it so a player who is level 100 would only have 25 more attribute points than a player who is level 50. Players who are level 80 (VR 16) will have a total of 65 attribute points to distribute.
SP=Skill Point / AP=Attribute Point / CP=Champion Point / GR=Gear Requirement
In addition to this, I suggest ZOS also introduce design mechanics that would help mitigate some of the issues that arises with continued vertical progression.
Mitigation of Power Creep
To prevent players who are higher levels from becoming unstoppable (IE: level 100 players are twice as powerful as a level 50 players) I suggest that ZOS introduce a Sub-Attribute system at level 81 that would lock the total amount of attribute points that can be distributed between the three main attributes to 65. All attribute points a player earns beyond that can only be placed in a sub-attribute.
The Sub-Attributes would be:
- Magicka
- Intelligence (+ Spell Damage)
- Luck (+ Spell Critical)
- Personality (+ Spell Resistance)
- Health
- Willpower (+Magicka Recovery)
- Constitution (+Health Recovery)
- Endurance (+ Stamina Recovery)
- Stamina
- Strength (+ Weapon Damage)
- Speed (+ Weapon Critical)
- Agility (+ Armor)
It’s important to keep in mind that if the level cap is raised as often as once per month and the reward distribution of my Vet Rank to Level conversion concept is in place, players would, over the course of one year, only receive:
- 6 sub-attribute points
- 6 skill points
- 6 additional Champion Points
- 6 new levels of gear
Upgrading End Level Gear
There has been some discussion regarding upgrading gear. I absolutely adore this idea. There would, however, have to be some limitations.
- Gear can only be upgraded to your current level
- Upgrading gear requires a fraction (1/4?) the materials of creating new gear
- Once gear is upgraded it is BOUND to the character
Allowing player to upgrade the gear they are using, and not allowing them to sell that gear will allow players to more quickly move from one gear level to another, but will also keep the need for players to craft and sell high level gear that they craft intact. When upgrading the level of gear the gear’s quality should lower by one level.
This upgrading mechanic could be available only to master crafters and could only be available to gear of level 50 or greater. Perhaps this could even be a skill added to the different crafting abilities.
PVP Leveling
One of the issues with raising the level cap is pressuring PVP players to do something other than PVP. They are in the thick of battle and if the level cap raises and they don’t run to the new content, run through the new content to raise their level, they will soon find themselves fighting a losing battle against those that did take the time to level up. There are a couple of things that can be done about this to allow these players to play as they want to play.
First, the incremental level increases proposed in this concept wouldn’t offer a player enough of an advantage to make them instantly more competitive in PVP. A player who is level 94 fighting against a player who is level 95 may only have a 10 point difference in Weapon Damage when the overall damage is in the thousands.
Second, PVP XP should be more than enough so that a player who primarily plays PVP can level up the one level by the time the next level comes around. In fact, since cap would be raised only one level, most players would be able to continue whatever it is they are doing and, as long as they are playing regularly, and they would be able to reach the next cap.
Scaled Content
Lastly, we come to Scaled Content. This topic is in-line with my concept to scale players down to any zone using the Battle Level toggle.
With Battle Leveling off, players will simply perform at their level they actually are. With Battle Leveling turned on, they will scale to the zone. This is important for this concept of continued progression because it creates a viable gameplay solution to all players, no matter where they wish to play or what level they currently are.
If a player really, truly enjoys killing werewolves in Glenumbra, they are more than welcome to remain Battle Leveled to Glenumbra and kill hundreds of werewolves to earn that month’s level, but it would be more advantageous to travel to higher level zones if they wanted to be competitive with their leveling.
As it pertains to new zones, ZOS could allow zones that are not part of the main quest lines (Craglorn being the first, and currently only, zone) to Battle level lower players to the minimum level of that Zone. So, when a Zone is released encompassing levels 85-89 and the current level cap is 87, any player lower than 85 will be leveled to 85 so they are viable in that zone. These players will receive scaled XP so they will be able to level up using these zones.
Players could even use Battle Leveling to group with their higher level friends. Battle leveling should level all players in a group to the group leader. This would allow players to level to whatever level the group leader is, down or up.
In the Caldwelld’s Redux thread I suggest that players earn an independent set of levels as they run through Caldwell’s Silver and Gold. These independent levels are gained in conjunction with their main levels and are used to determine Battle Leveling and XP rewards. Earning XP and leveling in a zone while battle leveled would increase the player’s zone-level as well as their main level.
- Blackwood:90-94
- Southern Marsh: 95-99
- The Pale: 103-106
- Quin-rawl: 107-110
- Solstheim: 115-119
- Sunforge: 118-122
A player joins ESO and decides to dabble in each zone when they reach level 10. After a few weeks they have achieved a bit in each DLC Zone and now have the following zone-levels:
- Blackwood: Zone-Level 3 (Battle Level 92)
- Southern Marsh: Zone-Level 2 (Battle Level 96)
- The Pale: Zone-Level 2 (Battle Level 104)
- Quin-rawl: Zone-Level 4 (Battle Level 110)
- Solstheim: Zone-Level 2 (Battle Level 116)
- Sunforge: Zone-Level 5 (Battle Level 120)
A player who has battle leveled though a zone, but is still a lower level than their zone-level can continue to play in that zone and earn XP for their regular level at the leveled rate. As soon as their main level is greater than their zone-level the battle leveling works in reverse and they are scaled down to zone-max level +1 and no longer receive leveled XP.
Since the player has achieved 12 zone-levels and have been receiving scaled XP they are now level 22 and have out-leveled their main story zone by 7 levels. If the player wishes, they can remain Battle Leveled and their level will be scaled back down to their main story zone per the mechanics outlined in my Zone Scaling concept thread. Or they can remain at their current level and feel the soft skulls of their enemies give way to the mighty power of their boot.
This would give many players the freedom of choice when playing and would allow players to literally play however they wish to play. ZOS could decide to implement zone levels across the board for all zones, main story and DLC in order to facilitate the freedom of play. The concept would work either way.
Overview & Wrap-up
If you’ve stuck with me this long, I thank you. This concept is much more than simply adding levels for the sake of adding levels. The regular addition of levels would truly become a gameplay mechanic that could inform the progression of ESO while offering regular challenges to players who enjoy those types of game mechanics. With the scaling mechanics in place, players will be able to enjoy content no matter what their level and content will continue to be viable once they have completed the DLC for further playthroughs.
As many of us do, I wish for Tamriel to be open and available to all players and for all players to continually have the opportunity to play how they want to play.
Please let me know if you have any ideas on how this concept can be improved or why this concept wouldn't work. Please be specific in your feedback.
What ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!
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Xjcon✭✭✭✭✭A lot of thought in to that, however your trying to change everything to benefit the 1%. Why would the rest of the players want that kind of system when it is even more of a gap to the people who can't 24/7?Briza Do'urdenx V16 Dunmer DK
Jcon V16 Orc DK
Vierna Do'urdenx V16 Bosmer NB
Jarlaxle Baenrex V16 Dunmer NB2 -
Gidorick✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭A lot of thought in to that, however your trying to change everything to benefit the 1%. Why would the rest of the players want that kind of system when it is even more of a gap to the people who can't 24/7?
It really wouldn't create that sort of gap... one level a month? How long does it take you to gain one level?What ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!0 -
JTorus✭✭✭✭The fact remains, that players have conceptualized, expressed and outlined better ideas than ZOS; yours included. The lack of foresight and years of planning on ZOS's part doesn't hold a candle to many of the player's thought, whims, brainstorms and half cocked drunken ramblings.
For what it's worth, I like your idea(s).
They just don't make them like they used to I suppose.
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Rinmaethodain✭✭✭✭✭
✭People complain now that there is CP/exp whatanot bar and they need to grind 1 2 3 things
and you suggest adding even more stats, even more bars and more numbers?
It will be a flood of new complaint topics buffs OP, sub atribute x,y,z too OP nerf it.
I just like the higher lvl cap (in contrast to silly people who want to remove VR and go back to middle ages of eso with max lvl50) but all those fireworks like another type of points/attributes look lame to me.1 -
Stalwart385✭✭✭✭You put a lot of thought into this, nicely done. But if it was me I would just cap the champion system and raise it every month by like 15-20. This would have pretty much the same effect. Allows people catch up time and end gamers would have something every month to strive for. Since they plan on getting rid of VR this would make sense.Edited by Stalwart385 on July 25, 2015 6:51PM0
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Gidorick✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭You reminded me about a chart I had made when I initially wrote this concept @Xjcon
I think you'd agree that the New Player in this chart is a pretty slow leveler... 7 months to level 50. whew!What ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!0 -
Xendyn✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Gid, one off-topic question for you (and this is asked from a base of admiration and respect for your creativity)
Considering the detail and number of ideas you come up with, do you ever have time to actually play the game?
Lag is ruinin' my 'mershun!
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance - Socrates
Member of the Old Guard, keepers of the game's history
PC/NA0 -
Gidorick✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭MaximusDargus wrote: »People complain now that there is CP/exp whatanot bar and they need to grind 1 2 3 things
and you suggest adding even more stats, even more bars and more numbers?
It will be a flood of new complaint topics buffs OP, sub atribute x,y,z too OP nerf it.
I just like the higher lvl cap (in contrast to silly people who want to remove VR and go back to middle ages of eso with max lvl50) but all those fireworks like another type of points/attributes look lame to me.
I would actually be ok with just having more levels flat out without all the fireworks (as you put it) but there does need to be some mechanics in place to combat power creep and level gap issues. The fireworks would be there to prevent level 100 players from being literally twice as powerful as level 50 players.What ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!0 -
Gidorick✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I have a real problem with the concept of a CP gap @Stalwart385. I don't like the idea of preventing players from progressing at all. The idea of telling a player "ok... now you have no reason to play until we raise the cap" seems really counterproductive to me.
This is why I like the idea of regular level caps in conjunction with the non-capped Champion Points, players always have something to strive for.What ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!0 -
Stalwart385✭✭✭✭I have a real problem with the concept of a CP gap @Stalwart385. I don't like the idea of preventing players from progressing at all. The idea of telling a player "ok... now you have no reason to play until we raise the cap" seems really counterproductive to me.
This is why I like the idea of regular level caps in conjunction with the non-capped Champion Points, players always have something to strive for.
My thought was you can still earn them to 3600 cp, giving your play time meaning. Only the caps amount can be spent though. Really the main thought with that was to help with the CP power creep many are saying they have an issue with. I thought it was a nice compromise. I also hoped it would get rid of all the grinding people are doing.0 -
Gidorick✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Stalwart385 wrote: »
My thought was you can still earn them to 3600 cp, giving your play time meaning. Only the caps amount can be spent though. Really the main thought with that was to help with the CP power creep many are saying they have an issue with. I thought it was a nice compromise. I also hoped it would get rid of all the grinding people are doing.
I am not a grinder myself... at ALL... but I recognize the fact that people LIKE to grind. I'd be more ok with a daily/weekly/monthly cap than I would be quarterly cap.
Edited by Gidorick on July 25, 2015 7:15PMWhat ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!0 -
Stalwart385✭✭✭✭
I am not a grinder myself... at ALL... but I recognize the fact that people LIKE to grind. I'd be more ok with a daily/weekly/monthly cap than I would be quarterly cap.
That was poorly phrased on my part.
Grinders could still earn their CP for the future, but others wouldn't be pressured to grind to keep up. Once you hit endgame, you can run your endgame content and continue to progress. You won't have to consider, should I be grinding CP instead of running trials or pvping.Edited by Stalwart385 on July 25, 2015 7:21PM0 -
Gidorick✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Stalwart385 wrote: »
That was poorly phrased on my part.
Grinders could still earn their CP for the future, but others wouldn't be pressured to grind to keep up. Once you hit endgame, you can run your endgame content and continue to progress. You won't have to consider, should I be grinding CP instead of running trials or pvping.
So you would have a pool of un-used Champion Points @Stalwart385? That's an interesting idea.What ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!0 -
locieb17_ESOSoul ShrivenHello!
I sifted tough your post and I have things to add:
Your concept is well tought out and I personally love the idea of being able to turn my level down to zones, because I'm a player who tends to complete every quest and I often find myself overleveling said zone and that takes out the fun of challange.
However I kinda have to disagree with the leveling cap adjsutments. Your main idea is to keep up player interests with continously increasing the level cap, however not all of us likes to level for XP, and rewarding players who can level up the fastest with extra rewards isn't much of a happy situation.
However, let me propose a different solution, which might be more in line with TES as well:
-Let's say that after you complete the main quest, you gain a full character sheet with Primary, Secondary, Tetriary and Derived stats. (Derived stats here refer to Health, Stamina and Magicka).
-The pool of these stats does not matter in this conceptual phase, but if you guys fancy I can give you a few examples:
Priamry stats:
These woudl be the msot important of your attributes. Many secondary or tetriary stats are at least party derived from these and they can grant you perks or even abilities. They would effect most actions you can take in the game. They show the primary path your character takes.
Strenght, Endurance, Agility, Perception, Intelligence, Willpower, Wisdom, Intiution. 4 physical 4 mental stats, make 4 pairs.
Secondary stats:
These would the stats that are essential for combat purposes, some might effect non-combat mechnaics, but they are generally combat orianted. They could grant perks and change how certain abilities work. (Synergy with abilities)
Critical strike chance and damage for spelsl and physical skills, attack speed, armor penetration, precision, valor, dodge, evasion (one mitigates single target damage while the other reduses AoE damage for instance), armor, magic resistance and so on. These meant to tune your character and give him/her mcuh needed depth and feel of gameplay.
Tetriary stats:
These are stats that are either not as important in combat as secondary stats or they support your abilities in a non direct way or are not combat related at all. These are meant as spice and flavor for character progression.
like movement speed or roll distance, hit recovery, experience gain, stealth effectiveness, whatever.
I propose the following:
Primary stats would me attributes rarely if ever found on gear. And bear with me, because my idea of how to increse these stats, stats are the most important for any character is rather complex. First you collect XP. You cook food, fight monsters, survive a toguh day in Cyrodiil, read up on books, whatever. Then you spend this experience you gained on to increase the POTENTIAL of a certain primary attribute. The higher the value of attribute the more experience you need to spend on it.
Again this is only the POTENTIAL of said attribute, the actual stat won't increase right away, you just buy room for improvement. Then you increase this attribute by performing skills and activities related to said attribute. For instance wearing heavy armor increases endurance. Using one handed weapons with focusing on attack speed or critical strike (using skills that value agility) would increase your agility, and so on. This of course means a painful work of assigning primary attributes to skills and whatnot, but oh well. Doing so increases your stats and grant you a stat overflow. This stat overflow is mcuh larger than your actual gain. Point is, that until you actually increase said stat you can opt to sell the potential back and regain some of the spent XP. However if you eat certain foods that support the stat you have an overflow with, you would gain the overflow (or part of it, dependent of the quality of the food) as permanent increase. However there is a limit to how much XP and stat you can grind in a gameplay session, represented by a bar of hard stamina. Depleting this bar would greatly decrease all gain you can get. Logging out and resting would recharge this bar and also you can get a well rested bonus. (Thich mechanic was actually in WoW it was just ridicoliously hard to reach). However this stamina loss ALSO has an overflow, which would be perhaps smaller than the actual stamina loss. (Altough I'm nto sure about this, this is something that needs testing and balance to get it right.) Overflow stamina loss would turn to actual stamina loss periodically. You can remove some or all stamina loss overflow by drinking the right drinks.
This way you get some good progression that has built in catchin gup mechanic (since the more of a stat you increase the harder it become to increase further) AND cooking and brewing would become really important (altough they might be important right now, I wouldn't know for sure) Consider adding hunting/farming/foraging as a thing tough. Thing is fgetting stuff and materials is too easy because of the lack of variety between items and stuff I meantion in my own post.
SEcondary stats would be msotly found on gear and would be the bread and butter of itemisation.
Tetriary stats would be found in perks or as extra stats on gear, given perhaps as enchancements for exceptional gameplay and achiements and so on. Basically whenever you want to reward with a player with something that feels as a reward but doesn't get people who didn't get is at a great disadvantage you roll out these bad boys.
Well, that's it for now.0 -
nimander99✭✭✭✭✭
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