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 Post subject: Re: Tier gaps, new players and other challenges with LoA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:37 pm 

Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:37 pm
Posts: 842
Location: Michigan
I like the linked idea. One concern that I've had is character death. I know it doesn't happen often, but it is possible, and a lot of the most important things that happen in the campaign often involve it. The problem is, with so few mods, and with replays virtually impossible to come by after a certain time has elapsed, if a character dies, the player is then relegated to never having a character that will be anywhere close to being able to do the later arcs at the tiers for which they are intended. The interconnected character/x.p. idea allows you to "fall back" to your secondary as becoming your prime, and thus you only lose a tier, rather than being kicked to the curb entirely.

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 Post subject: Re: Tier gaps, new players and other challenges with LoA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 11:46 pm 

Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2013 12:46 pm
Posts: 1353
toodeep wrote:
<snip>The interconnected character/x.p. idea allows you to "fall back" to your secondary as becoming your prime, and thus you only lose a tier, rather than being kicked to the curb entirely.


At least at this point in time barring characters that are already or will be 3.2 or higher by the time the current arc finishes, the modified cert advancement approach I proposed nets you out ahead. Further, it provides a path forward to close that gap in the future. Unless there's an additional mechanism built in which would add complexity, how does that character ever catch up to other characters? They've played all the mods and are a Tier behind.

What happens if you become far more interested in one of the linked characters than your existing primary? Personally I started one character, played a bit. Joined up with some folks to make a Yhing hir group for the Crusades and that became my primary. After the Crusade, the group fell apart, people moved away and I went back to my original primary. I'm currently advancing a new secondary that may never quite reach my primary, but is a blast to play so I may make a point of getting him closed to maxed out on mods.

Also consider that GMs are awarded a mod specific cert for every mod they play. So if they run the mod 5 times they likely have 2 to 4 certs that will never get a character close enough to active play to feel like it's worth it. If they can keep scaling XP with those extra certs it will certainly make them more useful.

I like the linked character idea, though I think some of it's quirks make it less appealing than the modified advancement cert I proposed. There may be ways to work it out, depending on the gap you place between linked characters (full tier, half tier, something else). Part of the goal is to keep things simple. If your character never dies and you always want to keep the same primary, the linked XP is easy but really unflexible.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul


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 Post subject: Re: Tier gaps, new players and other challenges with LoA
PostPosted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:58 pm 

Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 4:12 pm
Posts: 1037
Hat wrote:
In terms of leveling certs, I like the idea, but think the implementation needs to be tweaked. As it stands it works well for a brand new character. It doesn't help a seldom played character. What might work better would be something like the following:

1. Create a cert that lists all the mods - soft and hard for a story arc.
2. Allow players to catch up by skipping mods getting a flat 175 XP and 10 Sc per mod. For the mods covered by the 1.5 cert a character would get 4735 XP (still 1.5) and 250 Sc - 50 Sc more, but not a huge amount.
3. Allow players to play the mods they skipped at some point in the future, subtracting the 175 XP and 10 Sc from the rewards they get.


I really like this version of leveling certs and hope it is implemented.

Njal Val'Assante wrote:
I would make the case though that while XP and gold could be shared, if you're playing multiple characters then your character that is playing the module should get any additional rewards and consequences; they should not be transferable, particularly non-item rewards. After all, it was your (dark-kin, Coryani Legionnaire, val'Ishi) who helped (Lady Lucia val'Mehan), not your (elorii, Altherian pistoleer, val'Borda), and I can see possible abuses as people could play secondaries to get non-sensible rewards on their 'mains'; for example, an elorii secondary playing a module with an elorii specific reward 'giving' that reward to their Milandisian canton and all of a sudden there's a Milandisian with access to something that no Milandisian would ever have been given.


I agree with your analysis except this last bit. I agree that whatever character it is given to must have been able to qualify for it in the first place (eg Elorii-only to Elorii characters only, Dwarf-only to Dwarf characters only, etc) so no Milandisian with Elorii-specific item/bonus. However, I think that the non-gold awards need to be assignable to any of your characters otherwise you can lose out on a great award for a character simply because the blurb sounded like it was more appropriate to a different character or the character you wanted to have the award couldn't play because it was outside of the level range (assuming those are brought back which would make sense if linked characters are implemented).

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 Post subject: Re: Tier gaps, new players and other challenges with LoA
PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:18 pm 

Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 12:12 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Superior, WI
*rears her head* Hopefully this isn’t disjointed, it’s already been a long day/month/year. :P

I think that a big part of the leveling disparity is the fact that there are so few modules that are available for people to play. I am completely caught up on every module and play only a few times a year – Origins, Gen Con, and Arcanis Con. I do not like replaying a module and so avoid it if I can. My play schedule is spread far enough out timewise that I basically have to relearn my character every time I play her. I have to admit, I teased friends at the end of Arcanis con that I would see them all in 6 months. :shock:

Many people make a ‘main’ or have a favorite character and with the limited play opportunities, are likely to pick playing that one character over starting a new one. There are also people who don’t enjoy dedicating time and energy to more than a single character. I see that some people have said that they don’t mind making a new one to play with friends but I don’t think that is very typical. I think that if you forced a character ‘retirement’ at this late point in the game, you’d have an outright revolt. I know that it would likely make me take a long look at the campaign and what I wanted to dedicate my time do. People are more accepting of a ‘level cap’ when they know about it ahead of time and can plan for it.

In my case, I have a character I bought through the kickstarter that I have played exactly twice. I would LOVE to play him but given the choice in the limited amount of modules, I’ll pick the character I started with that I’ve been having fun with every time. And I don’t think that the tier differences are that big of a deal until players hit tier 3. There is an upswing in power at tier 3 that separates it from the lower tiers.

Honestly, as has been stated, level disparity is an issue with every campaign as it marches on. In a campaign with a bigger player base, I really don’t think it is a huge deal. It is more noticeable with the smaller player base in this newer, unique version of Arcanis.

To sum up, I think that investing in more modules, more frequently would help. I do not have any suggestions on how to increase the module output because I’m not sure what the holdup is, why people aren’t writing mods, or why they aren’t making it to completion. I have asked around my circle of friends as to why they aren’t writing for a campaign that clearly sparks their imagination and the only thing of any strong consistency is the lack of a dedicated monster’s manual. People don’t like making up their own monster’s apparently. ;)

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