Improved save feature

All in all this is a very fun game to me. The ONE thing that really irks me about it is the save feature. Did you design the game this way to ensure that people die and lose a good deal of exp to slow them down or is it so that death will "mean something"?

I guess my point is this. If, at any time, I can go to a save terminal and save my progress, why should I not be able to do this any where? Perhaps make a quest (repeatable) that allows you to get an item that allows you to save any where, any time. It wouldn't bind you to a new spot but it would save your exp as of the save time.

Having to run from a mission way out in the middle of no where just to save is annoying. Not only do you lose the map of the mission, but you run the risk of being killed by an npc or pc (I avoid pvp areas but some don't) on the run back.

I very much prefer this game over any other online game I play or have played, but at least EQ allowed you to get a resurrection to recover up to 96% of the exp lost.

If death is meant to hurt, i.e. the exp loss, then remove saves completely. Otherwise make saving less of a pain in the butt.

I think death is to kind with you. It should really mean somthing to die.

Please explain the logic of how no saving at all is more beneficial than saving as it stands now.

Swerve

Ok, I guess I was confusing when I said no death penalty at all. What I meant is that no mmorpg I've ever played has allowed saving of progress. EQ was the worst in that you could die over and over and over and lose levels. However, you could get rezzed for 96% exp loss recovery in EQ. There have been variations of the "death penalty" in AC, DAoC, etc.

What I meant was that AO is sort of wishy washy on it. You can save your progress and not lose any of the exp up to that point. If you are careful, you can avoid death as a rule. If you are a pvper or like to travel high risk areas, then you are more likely to die of course. If I wanted to leave a mission every few kills to save, in theory I could reduce the death penalty, albeit at the cost of losing time travelling to and from the spot I'm hunting in. Thus, I earn less exp by saving more, or run the risk of losing lots of exp by only saving when I'm in town.

I was just trying to make the point that if they make it easy and relatively cheap to save progress (the current save system), why not just make it a "do anytime" type thing or just take saving out completely. I'm assuming the character data is saved back to AO's server database very frequently so that should prevent the loss of items etc.

The death penalty in AO, on the surface, seems mild. In actuality it's more harsh, depending on how much exp you lose of course, than about any game I've played. Perhaps a different approach would be to auto save your progress at 33% and 66% of the way through a level maybe halfway through. This would minimize that situation where you are in a good group, making very good exp and forget to save, die to lag or whatever and lose almost a full bar of exp.

The current system helps. I admit that. It's just a half-assed approach from my perspective.

I must say that to have no risk of loss of xp would be no fun. With the threat of losing something, it makes the game more enjoyable. What I wish would change is the random spawning of mob's that kill you in a second flat. That to me is the most annoying part of the game. I also believe that is why hunting is becoming extinct on the server. While I don't like the loss of xp points upon death, the game wouldn't be the same if you could die without penalty. Hunting brings risks of their own. Pulling too many of what you attacked.. etc. But to have a fatestealer spawn on top of you out of nowhere is a rediculous part of the game. I do like the idea of losing a percentage of what you haven't saved. That way there is still a penalty, but you still maintain some of what you worked for. I don't know how many times i have had almost a full bar of xp when a fatestealer or chaos minion pops up right next to you and disposes of you in seconds.. no time to react at all. so IMO i would vote for a percentage loss instead of everything.