Please Adjust how XP is awarded in the Explorer Areas.

[Ringos]

I would support something like the OP suggested. I'm not quite sure I'm gonna like it if and when the whole 'collecting bloody toes' thing comes about. I know some guildies have been pickin' up those collectables lately...I just hope it doesn't get outta hand. Soon my Cleric will be out in the forest choppin' wood to sell in town!

[ENGRAV0]

Just me, my feelings on the subject. I would prefer they just leave it alone. I, for one, enjoy earning those kills between level ups, getting right to the brink of a large XP award, and then when the cap goes up, I don't have to spend days (or hours, in my case) getting the same XP. I can run into those explorer areas, get my kills, get my XP, then go level and spend my APs.

As far as leveling way too fast as soon as the level cap is raised, well, I earned it, I should benefit. I just preplanned my advancement. If your fighter (and mine, for that matter) can't do it without great cost, which kinda makes sense to me, then form a party. Socialize while getting the kills. It is one of the things I enjoy doing, to take it away so that everyone gets XP for each and every kill, or XP at smaller gaps, would absolutely ruin it for me. I wont speak of others, not my place, but for me, it would absolutely make even going in there a waste. In the Orchard alone, with the right Rares showing up, I can get over 300 kills in one instance, and do it on a routine basis. Hehe, I even bring in my other account and leave him at the door to help him level faster, and get loot. Something many would say is wrong, but hey, I pay for that second account, it is my option to do with it as I please.

[Blagrak]

Impaqt, I'm not sure I understand how getting your slayer totals up a point where it's near the next stage and then holding off on earning the xp is cheese/an exploit. I must have missed the dev post that claimed it was such. You are not getting X thousand xp for killing one rat - you're getting it for killing all of the preceeding rats, something that took time and effort. And I don't really see how your suggested implementation of disributed xp would change that. There's not a bit of difference between 25 xp from giants in Threnal and 35000 xp for killing 7000 Orchard/Gianthold/Vale inhabitants.

Then there's your tangent about fighters not being able to solo areas/quests - those areas weren't created so people could solo them, whatever you'd like to believe. They were a response to people who asked for outdoor areas to explore/gain XP in instead of having to enter quests. The fact that you can solo some of the earlier areas on a melee is irrelevant as to why they are there.

Frankly if they changed it so that XP is distributed, I'd roll my eyes and move on, but to call stacking up slayer kills an exploit is asinine.

[Impaqt]

Impaqt, I'm not sure I understand how getting your slayer totals up a point where it's near the next stage and then holding off on earning the xp is cheese/an exploit. I must have missed the dev post that claimed it was such. You are not getting X thousand xp for killing one rat - you're getting it for killing all of the preceeding rats, something that took time and effort. And I don't really see how your suggested implementation of disributed xp would change that. There's not a bit of difference between 25 xp from giants in Threnal and 35000 xp for killing 7000 Orchard/Gianthold/Vale inhabitants.

Then there's your tangent about fighters not being able to solo areas/quests - those areas weren't created so people could solo them, whatever you'd like to believe. They were a response to people who asked for outdoor areas to explore/gain XP in instead of having to enter quests. The fact that you can solo some of the earlier areas on a melee is irrelevant as to why they are there.

Frankly if they changed it so that XP is distributed, I'd roll my eyes and move on, but to call stacking up slayer kills an exploit is asinine.

I'm not here to get into any argument about whats cheesy and whats not. I find it low budget. If you do not, thats totally fine by me.

How come we dont get ALL the xp we lost when the level cap goes up then? I ran 1000 Quests in the 6 months of being capped at 16... All that XP is Gone forever. Never to be seen.... But I can go into the Orchard and Kill one thing for 30 thousand xp? the 2999 Mobs I killed in various Quests count for Nothing... Why should the 2999 Mobs in the vale?

While Not designed specifically for Soloing, the devs have make mention many many times about the explorer areas being suitable for soloing. And heres a newsflash for ya, People dont Solo to be anti-social. SOmetimes I dont have Time to group up, Sometimes I just LIKE to solo stuff. I can get a group whenever I want... But sometimes I like to solo.

[ENGRAV0]

Actualy, you lose nothing while capped, if you go into a quest for the first time when you are capped, as soon as you go in once the cap is raised you will still get the first time bonus. Any XP you are awarded while capped might be a waste, but that only applies to XP awarded when you are capped. If you prepaired to get it while capped, but didn't actualy meet the rquirement while capped, then the cap goes up and you suddenly meet those requirements, you didn't lose, or abuse anything. You planned.

Here is how I see it: Some players have an issue where some other players prep themselves for the next level raise by earning the slayers. They don't feel any reason in prepairing themselves for that slayer mark is worth the time. On the other hand, some players spend a great deal of time prepairing to meet the next mark, then ensuring they do NOT go over the mark until the level is raised. It is a concern for some, and a concern for others to make sure, or at least voice their concerns over the work they have done to be ready to go straight to the next level, or even beyond that in a matter of an hour, bouncing between the explorer areas. Thus, in some players eyes, they have achieved an unfair advantage, when in actuality, they planned ahead, and used something that was available to everyone, even though to some it appeared to be a waste of time.

I use the explorer times to help guide along individuals who are new to playing certain characters, and that is why I prefer to not see it changed.

[adamkatt]

I personally dont mind the numbers. Frist run out you do make decent xp and if your want the rares well thats maybe 2 -5 total runs..

[Barumar]

Thats should already be going away with Mod 7 because Slayer areas are going to act like regular quests in regards to completions/kills etc. Even if you are over level, you'll still get your XP at a reduced Rate... By the time your 4+ Levels above the area theres no reason tobe in t hat explorer area anyway.. (Might be an issue with the Desert once the cap goes to 20)

I hope they implement it in a way that does STOP the spamming!

Funny thing about what you say "Theres no reason to be in that explorer area anyway'. While I agree with that for many (like WW, the Hills, or Searing Heights) I HAVE TO enter the Desert to re-run the Demon Queen pre-quests and DQ1! I wish I did not, but that is another topic

I like the check box idea, as not only would it stop the counter for those that want to 'save' the XP, but it would stop the Spamming too - assuming they implement it properly !

Barumar

[Impaqt]

Actualy, you lose nothing while capped, if you go into a quest for the first time when you are capped, as soon as you go in once the cap is raised you will still get the first time bonus. Any XP you are awarded while capped might be a waste, but that only applies to XP awarded when you are capped. If you prepaired to get it while capped, but didn't actualy meet the rquirement while capped, then the cap goes up and you suddenly meet those requirements, you didn't lose, or abuse anything. You planned.

Actually, You Absolutely do. In order to get XP for Any quest once the cap goes up, you must rerun the quest... You do not incur multiple run Penalties. THis is not that same as not losing XP. Youy also Permanently lose the "First Time Bonus" awards for any quest you run while capped.

Here is how I see it: Some players have an issue where some other players prep themselves for the next level raise by earning the slayers. They don't feel any reason in prepairing themselves for that slayer mark is worth the time. On the other hand, some players spend a great deal of time prepairing to meet the next mark, then ensuring they do NOT go over the mark until the level is raised. It is a concern for some, and a concern for others to make sure, or at least voice their concerns over the work they have done to be ready to go straight to the next level, or even beyond that in a matter of an hour, bouncing between the explorer areas. Thus, in some players eyes, they have achieved an unfair advantage, when in actuality, they planned ahead, and used something that was available to everyone, even though to some it appeared to be a waste of time.
How fast another player gets to level cap once the cap is raised is of absolutely no concern to me. I have no problem with people taking advantage of the mechanic if they choose to. Thats not the motivation for this thread. The motivation is to provide everyone, From the Casual Gamer to the Powergamer Paladin an Even contiung benefit from the explorer areas.

I use the explorer times to help guide along individuals who are new to playing certain characters, and that is why I prefer to not see it changed.

How exactly can you prep your Slayer totals for Level cap raise and continue to help guild other players? ANd if your not Preping, then how would acheiving XP every 200-400 Kills rather than 1500-2000 hinder your humanitarian motives?

[Impaqt]

I hope they implement it in a way that does STOP the spamming!

Funny thing about what you say "Theres no reason to be in that explorer area anyway'. While I agree with that for many (like WW, the Hills, or Searing Heights) I HAVE TO enter the Desert to re-run the Demon Queen pre-quests and DQ1! I wish I did not, but that is another topic


Barumar

Which is why I put the exception regarding the desert in my reply, However, it seems the exception is moot if ya read the WDA entry. It looks like you will still gain some XP no matter what your level is.... FOr Example, Cerulean Hills is L1-4. The Smallest XP you can get is 75 for your first 10 slayers if I go in there with a Level 20 Character I stil get XP

(XP Gained = 75 / (16 + 1)) means I get 4 XP for killing those 10 Mobs.....

[ENGRAV0]

How would I prep my slayer kills while at the same time helping guildies out?

Let me explain how "I" do this:

I look at which caster, cleric is at what count. I switch characters when one get's too close. While earning my kills, via letting the, hmmm, less experienced players kill, and me supporting them as backup, or even teaching them which weapons to use to have a better impaqt on the enemy mobs (little humor, hope it didnt seem in bad taste, was in fun).

More simplistic answer, I watch my kill count, if one character gets too close, I change to another character, while still supporting the less experienced.

How would changing it affect me? That too is easy, once you pass a mark, you have lost that XP. Right now, with the mark being set apart as it is, I can do a great amount of socializing and, for lack of a better word, training without fear of running out of characters to switch to. If it was only 200 apart, I would run out well before I could actualy accomplish much. When you are trying to teach someone something, it isn't feasable to only kill one thing and expect someone to catch on without repeating over and over. Some things are easy, go vorpal that guy. Ok, but some things are random, Go use that Smiting Bastard sword you swear by, and see how long it takes, ok, go kill the entire mob. Great, now use this Smiting Rapier and go at it. See a difference what the crit range can make?

This is just an example of what I am talking about, not the only thing that benefits from this. As far as casual gamer vs power gamer, right now, they both benefit from the way it is, with the time between level caps, there is no rush to get the count up high in a hurry.

[Impaqt]

ok, SO were back to the I have 9 Capped characters.. DOesnt everyone? argument..... fine.....

I dont see it that way at all... We'll jsut have to agree to disagree here.

[ENGRAV0]

Deal.

But some aren't capped, sort of. LoL. Holding them at 15 to support some of the guildies when we do the Desert.

[Blagrak]

I'm not here to get into any argument about whats cheesy and whats not. I find it low budget. If you do not, thats totally fine by me.

How come we dont get ALL the xp we lost when the level cap goes up then? I ran 1000 Quests in the 6 months of being capped at 16... All that XP is Gone forever. Never to be seen.... But I can go into the Orchard and Kill one thing for 30 thousand xp? the 2999 Mobs I killed in various Quests count for Nothing... Why should the 2999 Mobs in the vale?

While Not designed specifically for Soloing, the devs have make mention many many times about the explorer areas being suitable for soloing. And heres a newsflash for ya, People dont Solo to be anti-social. SOmetimes I dont have Time to group up, Sometimes I just LIKE to solo stuff. I can get a group whenever I want... But sometimes I like to solo.

Huh, for not wanting to get in an argument about things you sure run your mouth fast and loose about them.

You lose the XP for quests when capped because you completed the quest. Because you don't complete the slayer quest, you don't get XP for it. I hope that clears that up. Yup, working as intended.

And I'm glad you recognize that the explorer areas aren't designed specifically for soloing, suitable for it or not. So why do they need to be redesigned for it? If you get the same XP per mob later than sooner, and that's the problem, why not drop the pretenses and ask for XP for each individual mob you kill?

p.s. Here's a newsflash for ya - nobody cares about how you play the game, or the whys and wherefores of you soloing. Sorry if I gave that impression.

[Impaqt]

Huh, for not wanting to get in an argument about things you sure run your mouth fast and loose about them.

You lose the XP for quests when capped because you completed the quest. Because you don't complete the slayer quest, you don't get XP for it. I hope that clears that up. Yup, working as intended.

And I'm glad you recognize that the explorer areas aren't designed specifically for soloing, suitable for it or not. So why do they need to be redesigned for it? If you get the same XP per mob later than sooner, and that's the problem, why not drop the pretenses and ask for XP for each individual mob you kill?

p.s. Here's a newsflash for ya - nobody cares about how you play the game, or the whys and wherefores of you soloing. Sorry if I gave that impression.

I'm entitled to my opinion as much as anyone else. Sorry youdont see that.

Next time the level cap goes up, try parking a character in a quest before it happens. When the servers come back up you should be able to finish the quest and get the Xp Right?

This isnt redesigning the Exporer areas for soloers. It provides an equal Playing field for everyone. Grouped or not. The Xp isnt changing, just being distributed more evenly. If turbine felt providing XP for every mob was appropriet, I'd be fine with that too.

YOU may not care about my playstyle, but many do. However that has nothing to do with the proposal.

[Borror0]

Here's a newsflash for ya - nobody cares about how you play the game, or the whys and wherefores of you soloing. Sorry if I gave that impression.

That's false.

If you'd really not care about his opinion, you wouldn't be here arguing with him. When I don't care about someone's opinion's, I just ignore him. He could say something totally against my point of view, I just leave him be as that person is worthless to me and doesn't derseve any second of my time. His playstyle backs up his argument, as one would be silly to argue about something out of his experience.

[Spell]

Turbine should've left the xp style of explorer areas like the Steam Tunnels, small groups for small xp (2-5 monsters for 20-50xp).
Sure, there's a couple of these areas still around for low level characters. You can forget about getting a quick 200xp at level 14 just to level up.
It's bad enough we have to grind quests like crazy for components/ingredients (god help us when crafting comes in) but hitting the 4K kill count for a slayer area is insane.

[ENGRAV0]

It may seem insane, but I try to make it fun. I accidently capped out on kills on one character in the Vale and Orchard, kinda sux, but eh, oh well. Still, I (as I will only speak for myself here) find it very nice the way they have done it. Even though you can not get that 1 little point, you CAN work towards the next goal, and you have several options fo which to take. Do you take the 5k mark, or the 7.5k mark? It is up to you. If you aren't a person that likes encounter areas, then you wont get any of that, which is a choice you had made. No one made it for you, if you think running out there, getting not too much and then all of a sudden a HUGE XP bonus comes in, then good. Nice, seems to be intended as the way it was designed.

I could be wrong, and if so, that is fine, but I certainly wont be spending my time out there nearly as much if they were to change them all to less gapped and less rewarding. When I get that nice huge chunk of XP come level raise, I will be glad I worked on it all this time. If they were to change it, then I would feel like all that work was for very little.

Again, it is what you make of it. If you make it out to be too much work, then just wait and run the quests, if you think it is a nice reward, then go that route. Either way, it is up to you. I made my choices, and have and will benefit from them greatly. At current, I should be able to get almost a full level off of just encounter areas, and probably less than an hour if I work a little more on it now to get it even closer.

This will end up being very much so appreciated, my time will begin to be divided here in less than 2 days, so I will start watching the forums for all the nice builds and such that the monk will be providing. I will enjoy playing one game, while watching which things they are fixing with this mod. Then when I finaly DO log in here, I will have to spend minimal time getting the levels that everyone else was having to work at because they didnt feel the work in between was worth it.

[penumbra]

i LOL@contradictorygamemechanics


i run quests repeatedly, i get less XP each time.

i run explorer areas repeatedly, i get more XP each time...

[Uska]

Yes a thousands times yes.

[Blagrak]

There's nothing wrong with the way things are set up now. These areas were never intended to be solo XP collection areas, suitable for it or not. And I'm against implementing game mechanics based around solo play. It's a waste of development time and resources. Frankly the solo setting for instanced quests is the same.

This game was designed around a group mechanic, and that's the way it should be. If you can solo things, kudos to you, but designing things for soloists in a multiplayer game is ********.