skills: stealth and perception

[Valerianus]

move silently + hide --> stealth

spot + listen --> perception

a totally not original idea, thinking about lowering effects\buffs and cutting in half detection checks for both players and mobs.

would this help, even just a little bit, with lag and game calculations?

no idea. asking the devs.

thanks.

[Roonfizzle]

Signed.

If Search could be folded into perception too.... that would be amazing, but even just these two changes seem likely to reduce computation steps.

[Sunnie]

The Coastal Wizards of the order of Hasbro are unlikely to allow it since it means changing skills that are in the Pen and Paper game and the license SSG has for DDO won't let them. At least that's what came up recently when someone asked why wizards (the class in the game, not the company) don't have Heal as a class skill even though there's a sensible argument to be made for them getting it.

I think it sounds like a good idea that very well could work, but legal concerns will probably prevent it.

[magaiti]

You people just keep on coming up with more and more outlandish ideas that are allegedly supposed to combat lag, but in reality just look like an attempt to trick devs into giving you freebies.

[Roonfizzle]

In case you missed it magaiti, this idea was pretty much a nonstarter, as it draws inspiration from a direct competitor, regardless if it would actually reduce lag or not. We, as players, have no real way to determine how much processing power is required to run 50+ spot and listen checks, other than the fact that the Alert system was specifically added, as I understand it, to encourage fewer spot and listen checks.

THAT, tells me, this idea might actually be worthwhile. Spot/Listen/Search being 3 skills, and Hide/Move Silently being 2 skills, along with the level one skill point mechanics, are among my personal pet peeves with the 3.5 system. ... but that may just be the last decade of gaming talking.

[Xgya]

This is the way Pathfinder did it.

They also rolled Open Locks into Disable, and Tumble, Jump and Balance into a single skill: Acrobatics.

Rolling old skills into one is something D&D did before. (Innuendo is now one of the purposes of Bluff)
So is making old skills entirely vanish (no more Scry skill)

I'm not entirely sure I like their idea of making Search a part of it, since it now made Search a Wisdom-based skill.

However, doing so in DDO would be a pretty bad idea. We're already short of a TON of skills that would normally use up precious skill points, without the need to reduce the amount of skill points needed any further.
If Knowledges did anything in DDO, or Disguise, or Escape Artist, or Climb, or Handle Animal... well, if there weren't so many skills we don't need to spend points on in the first place, I'd agree to making that change.

[Buddha5440]

The 'best' way to reduce lag...better AI with much fewer mobs. Challenge shouldn't come simply from being outnumbered 50 to 1.

[Valerianus]

You people just keep on coming up with more and more outlandish ideas that are allegedly supposed to combat lag, but in reality just look like an attempt to trick devs into giving you freebies.

to the new players that may stumble into the quoted comment.

disregard, don't even think for a moment that the listen skill is useful. it's literally useless. ignore it. spot does the same (detect hiding mobs) and has more applications (like spot traps and secret doors)