>> A new way to gain XP <<

[Downsizr]

I'm not an adventurer but I really like to explore, discover new sights and sneak in front (errrr.... well, make a big circular detour around...) of deep red mobs.

I feel that it would be a nice role-playing trick to give a small amount of XP whenever you enter some zones for the first time and move around in it for a while (not just staying at zone border of course).

This could be a nice, friendly way to say that sight seeing is also a fun part in AO. I don't see this being abused if it's only granted only once per character.

Of course walking for the first time in Newland desert or Mort shouldn't be rewarded in the same way.

As a better alternative an Anthropoligical Society Board could be created. It would work like Missions Boards, only that you it would collect tokens if you stay long enough in some zone of the games. Some minor buffs could then be granted after collecting enough "wilderness" tokens (speed buffs as you can imagine, ...).

[__________WGMelchior]

I think this is a very good idea. Some other games already has it implemented.

This shouldn't be too hard. Whenever you are in a sub-zones (like West Last Ditch, Old Athens East and such), your XP starts ticking upwards. At first this might be moderately fast, but it gets slower the longer you stay in one place. Then you should move somewhere else instead.

If you keep away from a sub-zone long enough, the XP bonus should speed up again. Thus, making sure your knowledge is up to date, and scanning any changes in settlements, terrain and creature movements would pay off.

This would also give you a reason to rush out to that far off mission. But you don't need to go in a straight line to the entrance. Travel through the whole zone, check things out, and generally be amazed by the wilderness.


Either base this on sub-zones, or on landmarks in some way. Subzones would be easier though.

It would also be nice if you get XP the first time you check ('t') a mob. Maybe some kind of library could be implemented, where you could check up the creatures you've encountered. You could then sell those entries to would-be hunters.

[_____________Notomni]

Very Good suggestion.

I think this would be a great addition, obviously some items of the suggestion would have to be worked out, like sitting in 1 spot would not grant you any XP, or say a zone with all grey mobs either.

But I think FC should definately look into this very intruging idea.

Late,
Notorian

LVL 115 Atrox Clan Soldier (RK2)

[______________Sredni]

Very cool idea. I would love to get little "zone ribbons" for exploring a subzone. Make it so that to get the ribbon you need to kill a number of the monsters in the zone, it would be something we could work on continually as we explore the world, and something new for all the power gamers who farmed to 1000 tokens to do as well

A small bonus for each ribbon, or perhaps for getting all the ribbons for a zone would be neato in my books.

I recently found the City of Home in broken shores and thought it was totally cool. If we actually got a reward for exploring I probably would have been out that way before now :,

[Downsizr]

A lot of "First Time" could be rewarded with a small XP gift :

- Your first full set of a given armor set (would be related to the average Q level equiped).

- Your first monster killed with a new weapon.

- Cruising in some zones as we started the thread with.

- The first successful use of a new nano.

- The 100th time you buff someone that is not in your group.

- All the critical you get with your weapon. Ok, ok a very small XP gain, but adding a +10 xp while fighting would be rather cool.

The whole idea is that online games are only about killing mobs and looting. Tradeskills are quite interseting to get out of this loop, but I feel that there's so much potential yet unexploited ...

[Downsizr]

Hey it striked me this morning too : we have PvP titles, why not Explorer titles and Crafters titles ?

[____________-Picard-]

Cool idea. Maybe even take i a bit further
How about letting the various professions get better XP, than others, for what they do best.

ex.
Engineer creating elctrical gadgets, weapons and stuff.
NP making nano implants,and other thing with nano prog.involved
Doc making liquids, poisons, med. equipment
and so on...

and the end result of, whatever is done, will by far be better than if another profession would try it, even with the same ql stuff used.
Of course others would still be able to create these things, but not with as good a result as the dedicated person

just an idea

[Kinkstaah]

Does that mean, as I, an enforcer would get more xp for you know, like.. killing stuff?

Interesting ideas... although I must have to say that the original poster *hasnt* wandered around mort for very long

[_____________Notomni]

Yah hehe, Mort isn't the most friendly place to be walkin around hehe.

Or try Perpetual Wastelands hehe, not much better except the fact that it's a Mayhem (0% supression) zone hehe.


Late,
Notorian

LVL 115 Atrox Clan Soldier (RK2)

[______________Yazule]

Originally posted by -Picard-
Cool idea. Maybe even take i a bit further
How about letting the various professions get better XP, than others, for what they do best.

ex.
Engineer creating elctrical gadgets, weapons and stuff.
NP making nano implants,and other thing with nano prog.involved
Doc making liquids, poisons, med. equipment
and so on...

and the end result of, whatever is done, will by far be better than if another profession would try it, even with the same ql stuff used.
Of course others would still be able to create these things, but not with as good a result as the dedicated person

just an idea

umm engi's NT' and docs get exp for making all that stuff already hehehehehhehehehe.

[____________-Picard-]

Does that mean, as I, an enforcer would get more xp for you know, like.. killing stuff?

well...yeah. Something like Gummisluv allrdy mentioned would be pretty neat Like an Enf. getting xp when fighting/critting with a melee wpn, a Sol. getting the same for firing his favorite gun etc. etc.
That way Soldiers wouldn´t get XP for making stuff, but IMHO that´s not their job either...now i know im gonna get flamed for this, but it leads me to my next point. Everybody should be doing what they do best, just like in real life. Soldiers for instance should be the ones fighting while Traders should be the ones to supply them (in theory) and Fixer´s would deal in the more "exotic" warez
Just a few examples taken out of context, but i hope i make my point clear...Nowadays you see traders/fixers/docs and the likes running around with huge guns, clubs whatever to do the best damage in combat, which IMO is WRONG...but unfortunatly, as for the current state of game mechanics, its very close to the only thing they CAN do to keep up. Will somebody plz stop me, im getting off track here, but to conclude: In every RP (D&D, Shadowrun to name but a few) you depend on eachother solely for theire uniqeness, and what they contribute to a team. Think about it

[___________Keroberus]

I love this idea, I once at level 17 walked into central artery valley. I would've loved a reward for that! I got screenshots too. I saw some 12 inch tall voodoo doll called an enigma or something.

I would love explorer titles. But there should be a restriction. Like you have to be on foot for the entire time you were in that zone. If you equip a vehicle at any time in that zone you can't earn explorer titles for that zone until you come back later. That would prevent people with Yalmahas from flying to every point in the world and getting a max title.

I'm always exploring so it would be fun to be rewarded for that.

[Downsizr]

Originally posted by -Picard-
That way Soldiers wouldn´t get XP for making stuff, but IMHO that´s not their job either...now i know im gonna get flamed for this, but it leads me to my next point. Everybody should be doing what they do best, just like in real life.

Hey no flame here.

But to keep your example : who's better at designing new weapons than a good experimented user ? So YES Soldiers should create their Heavy Plasma Nowyouareajustabloodypileofpulp Rifle.

And I feel that all professions are already suffering from uniformity. That's the point of my initial post : let's get out of our hamster's wheels for a while :

Go explore, make stuff, try new weapons, collect your armor parts, etc.

[_____________Notomni]

Originally posted by Keroberus
I saw some 12 inch tall voodoo doll called an enigma or something.

hehe, Enigma Twig. Little skinny guy thats no aggro. He's yellow to me at lvl 115 :P

Late,
Notorian

[___________Keroberus]

Level 115?! Thats one strong little twig person! (I would've attacked it to see what it could do, but a Greater Anun Shredder decided it felt like defending it's territory)

[_____________Cloudeh]

Hehe, i did that before in my yalmaha, Just went in one dircetion and kept going, but what really gets me is, the world is not round.
its flat, If i go to one side of the map i dont appear on the other.
I ust hit a Red Zone and ...cant go further, I see more land but its over.


Also, what is it with the zone that you cant pass through, ill post you a pic of sme of the places you cant pass.
and you have to go aaaaaaaaaaal the way around it to get there :/

[_____________Marssss]

Gummizluv, u absolutly right !!!


i used to pick far away just to have to pleasure to explore wild area. So great to have the feeling you r the only human being for km around.. u can /s all your fear but nobody hear you :-)

even if ridiculous xp (based on lvl and dificulty), should be great to have a small message saying "u receive 30 xp as u discover a new creature <<im a nasty aggro red>>"
same with flag hidden in strange place " u receive 300 xp as u discover the <<ICC office>>"

-Marssss
RollerRat agent
"i come in peace"

[Takir]

WOW now these are some GREAT ideas.

And I think FunCom is just the groundbreaking company to do them.

So how about it FC?

[_______________Neryn]

These are some great ideas floating around here. I really like the idea that each profession should be able to gain experience doing what they do best. A perfect example of this would be the doctor. Why should doctors have to be required to kill stuff to level, after all their skills lie in healing, the giving of life not taking away.

I think it should be possible for doctors starting out to gain experience by casting heal spells and other buffs on their fellow newbies in the training grounds. Maybe base it on the number of nano points required to cast the spell, or something similar. Sure, a doc would be able to gain really quick at the early levels, but think about it. Instead of battling the other newbies over who gets to kill the next leet that spawns, he can actually start off right away making friends by helping save that level 2 soldier who is about to die to the 3 rollerrats who ganged him. This would be great way to help promote the social aspect of the game.

Of course, as the doc raises in level, it becomes harder and harder to gain enough experience to level casting spells alone, so he will naturally join in on groups, just like now, to advance. But I know I sure would feel better gaining a bit of sideline exp as I kept my team alive in the heat of the battle.

The same thing should apply to the other classes as well. Right now everyone gains a small bit of exp when assembling implants. I know I would have no problem giving up that minute amount of exp for my other characters, if nano-techs received say 3-4X the current amount of experience to combine them for me. This would be another great way to help further promote social behaviors in-game.

I also liked the idea about a separate “exploring” title, or reward system for visiting places all over the world map. I think it should take into account the difficulty of the area, as well as the amount of time spent there, as others have suggested. Could maybe have some type of board system, where you need to do so many missions as well as spend so much time in each zone to gain points. The rewards can be slight increases in run-speed, swimming, and so on. In order to reach the highest level, you would have to complete so many missions and spend a set amount of time in each of the play fields. The secret location idea could also be implemented, where each play field has 3 or more secret locations that you would have to have discovered before that play field is completely “explored”. These could be randomly generated to avoid having the knowledge of their whereabouts beforehand.

Well, most of my thoughts are just an expansion of what you guys have already said. I am just glad to see there is this kind of thinking going on. Even if some of this makes it in game, I think it will do nothing but attracted even more people to AO, as well as make the people already here stay that much longer.

[Downsizr]

Neryn I'm not a Doc and never was, but your idea is just so simple that it's genius !

All classes are combat oriented except Docs. Still if you see a lvl 180 Doc trolling around you can be sure of something : he killed or participated in the killing of as many things as an Enforcer or Soldier. I would like to thing "OMG this lvl 180 dood must have healed a bunch of ppl to get at this lvl !!!".

I'm very happy with all these ideas.