MMO Communities (was RE: [MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?)

[Douglas Goodall]

cruise wrote:

> Well, it depends on how many skills players can have, but I don't
> see that being a problem per se - most non-combat skills in MMOG's
> are next to useless anyway. Scouts might actually get to /be/
> scouts for a change, rather than "the class that uses bows."

The skill system was rather ignorant of player behavior, most of
which was my own fault.

You started with three base stats (physical, mental, spiritual),
each of which had three "child" stats (strength, stamina, speed),
each of which had three "child" skills, which were very broad in
scope. Any time you raised a skill, there was a chance the skill
increase would propagate up the tree (i.e. raising Gunner could
raise Speed which could raise Physical). But the sum of skill points
in the core stats was fixed. So raising Physical would reduce Mental
and Spiritual, which would then lower all their dependent stats and
skills... So adding another skill would have been tricky.

Some skills were a bit weak and, with a Sci-Fi context, just about
any skill could be justified for finding hunting grounds (which were
things like "magnesium rich asteroids" as often as "bug eyed
monsters")... So "hunting" could be added to one of the weaker
skills. But that would still increase the number of skills players
feel they "must" have and reduce the number of "free" hunting group
spaces I.e. In a typical game you "must" have a Tank, a Healer, and
a Crowd Controller, leaving 3 spaces "free." Adding a Scout and a
Travel Speed Expediter (to find the camp and get there before the
crowd) leaves only 1 space "free." A skill/loot-based system works a
bit different from a more class-based one, but the problem still
exists.
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