shockedfrog
01-21-2008, 09:58 AM
I've seen a few posts here and there mentioning that one of the things that citations of conquest can be traded for are skill points. This in itself sounds good - development other than levels, and encouraging players to contribute to their nation - but there's a lack of info around, so I've got a few questions.
1 - How many citations is it going to take to get these extra skill points?
2 - Will extra skill points be available for both career and swashbuckling?
3 - Will there be a cap on how many extra points can be obtained?
4 - Will these extra points (or the citations) be available through other methods than the 3/1 for map victories?
My initial concern is that these additional skill points seem to be the biggest reward in the game, at least in terms of an individual character's development. In the early phase of the game, before many citations of conquest have been handed out, players may be encouraged to join the nation most likely to win rather than balancing the teams. As a result, I'm concerned that some players who do very little to aid in winning the map will end up with more skill points than those who do all they can to support their (weaker overall) side, and I'm hoping those players who do contribute have other ways of accessing additional skill points. I'm also a bit worried that, if there is no cap, long-term players will eventually have so many skill points that new players (new to a certain server, not neccessarily to the game as a whole) are almost completely unable to ever catch up. While this certainly doesn't mean they won't have any chance of winning battles - it does leave new players facing a major disadvantage. What I'm mainly hoping for is that additional skill points are capped to a reasonable extent, and that players are instead offered a range of useful, but not permanent bonuses - for example, consumable items strong enough to turn a major battle around, high quality ships/fittings (which are only good until they're sunk, naturally), bonuses that help in the short term but that won't leave their opponents at a huge disadvantage many months later.
It's never easy to balance a game in such a way that long-term players are kept interested without newer players being pretty much disconnected from them, but I'm ever optimistic that this one's going to be a bit different. Anyway, mostly asking this due to a lack of info rather than any major worries, I'll save those for when the game's actually been launched. :)
1 - How many citations is it going to take to get these extra skill points?
2 - Will extra skill points be available for both career and swashbuckling?
3 - Will there be a cap on how many extra points can be obtained?
4 - Will these extra points (or the citations) be available through other methods than the 3/1 for map victories?
My initial concern is that these additional skill points seem to be the biggest reward in the game, at least in terms of an individual character's development. In the early phase of the game, before many citations of conquest have been handed out, players may be encouraged to join the nation most likely to win rather than balancing the teams. As a result, I'm concerned that some players who do very little to aid in winning the map will end up with more skill points than those who do all they can to support their (weaker overall) side, and I'm hoping those players who do contribute have other ways of accessing additional skill points. I'm also a bit worried that, if there is no cap, long-term players will eventually have so many skill points that new players (new to a certain server, not neccessarily to the game as a whole) are almost completely unable to ever catch up. While this certainly doesn't mean they won't have any chance of winning battles - it does leave new players facing a major disadvantage. What I'm mainly hoping for is that additional skill points are capped to a reasonable extent, and that players are instead offered a range of useful, but not permanent bonuses - for example, consumable items strong enough to turn a major battle around, high quality ships/fittings (which are only good until they're sunk, naturally), bonuses that help in the short term but that won't leave their opponents at a huge disadvantage many months later.
It's never easy to balance a game in such a way that long-term players are kept interested without newer players being pretty much disconnected from them, but I'm ever optimistic that this one's going to be a bit different. Anyway, mostly asking this due to a lack of info rather than any major worries, I'll save those for when the game's actually been launched. :)