Jump to content

RNC 2: Racial Bonuses


Sporadic
 Share

Recommended Posts

The Remove Nexus Chronicles

On bonuses and the races that get them

 

This is my ramblings and thoughts while working on what I believe is the top priority for LotC right now: Remove Nexus.

 

When we announced racial bonuses in '14 the thread exploded. 300 posts or something and a wide array of complaints. Making racial bonuses everyone is enthushiastic about is impossible: Everyone will always want something different. Racial bonuses were of course implemented initially to give each race a distinct "profile" based on lore. We wanted people to feel like encountering an Elf would "feel" different than encountering an Orc, for example.

 

This, however, came at a heavy cost many players were not okay with. And as such, we should not be okay with them either.

 

PvP race bonuses in "Nexus" have proven to be a major source of anger towards the Devs. Their necessity should be reevaluated. While creating distinct identity for the races is important, right now I think this can be done only through racial +xp% bonuses (or at least, a bonus of that nature). Hence this option I am exploring for feasibility (and as always, many things are liable to come up between exploration and implementation).

 

An alternative, oft-suggested by players, is a selectable Persona-based bonus. In short, a pick-your-own-racial-bonus system. Telanir once promised a system "based on the Skyrim skill trees". To me, that seems much too RPG even though it is a great source of character customization. It is important people feel their Persona is unique, but such customizations are best obtained against a backdrop of lore and roleplay. However, because it's something players really like, it is also something that I have been looking into.

 

Of course, doing away with bonuses altogether is the final option, but in my opinion this is a missed opportunity. At the end of the day, plugins do add a unique factor to LotC which can enhance RP in a way little else can. We try to entice new players to partake in LotC, which is increasingly difficult as the lore expands and the complexity threshold increases. We must not forget that most new players will be veteran minecrafters but very new to Role play, and have no idea about "races" or that the game experience is supposed to differ between them. Thus, sometimes something gaudy, even when the veterans object, is the best way to go forward.

 

Let me know what you think.

Link to post
Share on other sites

In my opinion, Racial buffs should be handed out if:

 

A: that particular race is in need of more activity and the buff will help them out (Orcs, Kha, Hou-Zi, halflings etc)

 

B: the buff makes sense in the lore and helps promote the playstyle and roleplay that race offers (halflings being farmers, and Orcs being warlike, for example)

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

IA: that particular race is in need of more activity and the buff will help them out (Orcs, Kha, Hou-Zi, halflings etc)

 

 

No, this view is what got us into the situation in the first place. Where Dwarves got the massive health buff, then Kowaman droned on saying that "They needed the activity." If activity isn't good, they should earn it back, not get a cop out overpowered buff.

 

No combat buffs period.

Link to post
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, iMattyz said:

 

No, this view is what got us into the situation in the first place. Where Dwarves got the massive health buff, then Kowaman droned on saying that "They needed the activity." If activity isn't good, they should earn it back, not get a cop out overpowered buff.

 

No combat buffs period.

 

I didn't specifically mention combat buffs in any way. I just used the generic term "buff" 

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, InfamousGerman said:

pvp buffs != activity 

pvp buffs == pvp personas

 

Translation:

Quote

pvp buffs do not equal activity

pvp buffs equal pvp personas

Cause y'know, I code and stuff.

Link to post
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

In my opinion, Racial buffs should be handed out if:

 

A: that particular race is in need of more activity and the buff will help them out (Orcs, Kha, Hou-Zi, halflings etc)

 

B: the buff makes sense in the lore and helps promote the playstyle and roleplay that race offers (halflings being farmers, and Orcs being warlike, for example)

 

 

 

 

Interesting take, thank you. You will likely not have many people agree with you. This is inevitable. You are suggesting the minority gets buffs and the majority does not. Of course, the majority will not like it.

 

21 minutes ago, iMattyz said:

 

No, this view is what got us into the situation in the first place. Where Dwarves got the massive health buff, then Kowaman droned on saying that "They needed the activity." If activity isn't good, they should earn it back, not get a cop out overpowered buff.

 

No combat buffs period.

 

 

To say a race "earned" their activity is a bit unfair because the activity hierarchy has been constant for 5 years: It is inevitably decided by what race new players are most likely to pick. And in order, these are Human, Elf, Dwarf and then Orc. And this decision is influenced by what race has the most representation in popular fantasy sources, not because one race in LotC is decidedly better run. Orcs did not "earn" their lower numbers nor did Humans "earn" their high ones.

 

But this is a tangent, and a big one. There's other ways to boost activity of the lesser-chosen races beyond lopsided PvP buffs. We don't need to resort to that.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I say instead of PVP buffs we should do something that actually makes sense. Instead of more health or strength, do something like where Kha have increased jump height. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Slothtastic said:

I say instead of PVP buffs we should do something that actually makes sense. Instead of more health or strength, do something like where Kha have increased jump height. 

 

I agree with this statement 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think creating incentives to play less popular races is a good and positive endeavor and also that using PVP buffs as a means to achieve that end is a truly horrible idea.

 

I liked Telanir's constellation system personally, give all characters the same buff options and let them choose.

Link to post
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, Slothtastic said:

I say instead of PVP buffs we should do something that actually makes sense. Instead of more health or strength, do something like where Kha have increased jump height. 

 

 

I think it's already that way for Kha when they press double shift.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If we are to buff certain races over others, what would those races be, and what buffs do you think they should get?

Link to post
Share on other sites

(Now that I realized I needed to join a club...)

 

I personally believe that a skill system like MMOSKILLS was nice on the server, despite the PvP buffs included (Who remembers 100% unarmed making you unhittable) 

 

Though if a skill tree like you explained Telinir talked about with Skyrim based on racial / nexus skill perks, might be good? 

The way I see it being tree hierarchies. 

Pick; 

Farmer Branch: Access to - Farming.

                                     - Breeding.

                                     - Fishing.

                                     - Cooking.

                                     - Leatherworking.

 

Resource Branch: Access to - Woodcutting.

                                        - WoodWorking.

                                        - Mining.

                                        - Stonemason.

 

Refined Branch: Access to - Blacksmithing.

                                      - Enchanting.

                                      - Tinkering.

                                      - Alchemy.

Ext. 

-

You can select upto 2 different branches but have a set amount of points which improves leveling that ability. As example:

 

Primary Chosen branch: Farming.

All skills in farming branch have 15% exp increase.

Secondary Chosen branch: Refined.

All skills in refined branch have 10% exp increase.

 

Then you can further put points into the skills.

Farming branch: Fishing + 50 points. 

Farming branch has 10% exp increase

 

Refined branch: Alchemy + 50 points.

Alchemy branch has 10% exp increase.

-

This means, you'll get:

 

Farmer Branch + 10% exp increase.

Access to;

- Farming.

- Breeding.

- Fishing. + 10% exp increase

- Cooking.

- Leatherworking.

 

ext

- - - -

 

You can level-up any skill in all branches but have increase in a branch you have selected. Removing racial bonuses and having a full fledged skill tree which you can set your own bonuses into. You can limit the amount of skills can be equated to levels so you won't have anyone running around with 10 Angelic skills.

This gives possibility for everyone to have the human racial buff of being able to level all skills to an adequate level and giving more variety to players.

 

Though this post might seem out of place, I suggested this system in place of the racial bonus system in relation to Nexus skills.

Link to post
Share on other sites

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...