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

[cruise]

Thus spake Caliban Darklock...
> On 8/3/07, cruise <cruise at casual-tempest.net> wrote:
>> Thus spake Caliban Darklock...
>>
>>> Imagine two tasks, task A and task B. Task A is sufficient to go from
>>> level 1 to level 2. Task B is sufficient to go from level 2 to level
>>> 3. Now imagine that I perform both tasks.
>> I must be explaining this really badly.
> 
> No, you simply haven't grasped that "perform two tasks" is itself a single task.

And getting to the highest level is itself a single task. So what? Just 
because you /can/ view ti that way doesn't mean it's helpful. In fact, 
I'm not exactly sure why you'd want to apart from to deliberately miss 
the point of the idea...

>> The whole point of the system is reward players for aiming high, and to
>> grant them nothing for performing tasks beneath them.
> 
> But you're not rewarding them, you're punishing them. Each time I go
> up a level, an entire stratum of gameplay becomes worthless to me. If
> I do so by performing very difficult tasks, they don't count any more
> than tasks at my level. A level 9 task is only a level 9 task when you
> are level 9. If you're level 5, it's much harder than a level 5 task,
> but it only counts as a level 5 task. If you're level 10, the level 9
> task is every bit as worthless as a level 1 task.

A level 9 task at level 5 may "only" count as a level 5 task, but it 
makes all other tasks up to level 9 easier (using your view of tasks). 
Doing several higher level tasks can dramatically reduce the time taken 
to gain a level (from factorial to linear). That's not insignificant.

>> That overflow is exactly what this system is designed to prevent.
> 
> I understand that. You're telling me that if I accomplish a level 12
> task at level 2, I don't deserve to get a level 12 benefit - I have to
> take a level 2 benefit instead. You punish me for aiming high by not
> compensating my greater effort to achieve a high-level task; you
> punish me for aiming low by giving me nothing at all for my effort.
> It's a cage without bars, but it's still a cage, and players will
> detest it.

Yes, it's designed to not reward those "aiming low" - if you read the 
original post, the idea was to prevent the farming of easy monsters for 
quick rewards and to encourage players to aim high.

It would remove one of the really drudgy parts of the grind. Sure, it 
doesn't fix all of them, but it was never intended to.