[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Removing the almighty experience point...

[Caliban Darklock]

On 8/2/07, John Arras <johnarras at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> What if you did this as an ELO system where the monsters or tasks
> are given a dynamic level and your gain/loss is based on this?

To get just a little insane...

What if the level and stats of a monster were dynamically scaled to the player?

Imagine an orc wandering outside the city gates. (Use of AD&D terms is
not intended to be restrictive.) Two characters, one first level and
one eighth level, see the orc. If the first level character attacks
it, the orc has 6 hit points and a THAC0 of 20. If the eighth level
character attacks it, the orc has 40 hit points and a THAC0 of 14.
Whoever deals the first blow sets the stats.

The XP don't change. The orc is worth 4 XP no matter what. As the
players figure that out, the higher level characters simply stop
screwing with the little stuff. It's harder to kill, takes more time,
does more damage, and you still only get 4 XP.

Essentially, every mob has a lowest level which sets its XP value. If
you're higher level than that, and you attack the mob, the mob scales
its power to match your skill, but the XP don't change. If you're a
lower level than the XP bar, the mob doesn't get any easier. You have
to earn the XP. But you can't slum around the newbie areas to earn
easy XP. There are no easy XP. Indeed, the same XP get harder all the
time.