[MUD-Dev] UO rants

[Brad Wyble]

Richard Bartle writes:

> 
> Dave Rickey [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu] writes:
> 
> >It should be possible (but slower) to level all the way up to
> >max level without entering the frontier region.
> 	Why?
> 
> 		Richard

I assume you're asking why is it slower.
 
The question then is: why should players have to live out on the frontier,
battling PVP to advance at the fastest rate?

The partner question is: why do they advance faster?  Is PVE more
efficient on the frontier? or does PVP provide XP? 
 
Speaking as someone not associated with Camelot in any way, but who has
considered a very similar solution to the PVP +/- problem, it seems to me
that risk should be rewarded, and therefore frontier fighting should
afford faster advancement by some means.
 
Am I trying to force people towards a PVP playstyle? perhaps, but that is
not the goal.   The goal is to set up a satisfying risk vs reward system,
and where risk is concerned, PVP is unparalleled. PVE is always going to
be safer than PVP (in the near future) due to AI constraints.  You might
be battling an extremely hard dragon, but you know exactly what it's going
to do and you can decide your own level of involvement with it.  The only
time its AI will surprise you is if the designers changed it yesterday.

But the flip side of this coin is that there should be real risk.  If you
reward risk with more XP, make sure that players pay a price if the risk
doesn't pay off. They chose to get involved with PVP after all (at least
in the scenario Dave is describing). 


-Brad Wyble





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