Aging and death...

Anofalye · February 2004

Hiya all,

Humbly, I think a game can make like half the races aging and dying of old age(some faster and some slower).

Why would someone pick those races? Well, I think of 2 benefits to motivate players to pick them.

- Those races should have a MUCH faster progression, been mortals. At least 3 times faster, maybe even faster then that. But a player picking them have to suffer less from the treadmill temporarily to have high end pleasure for a few months or a year(no more then many months(8?) before it died of old age althought, and some short terms with like 2 months as well).

- In the mentality that each player is a part of an immortal spirit or something, when a mortal life goes full circle, it add to a spiritual pool or something. This pool can have various abilities, up to the devs. From enhancing all yours toons to changing the world geography and dungeons, cities and all. The accomplishments of the toon should be multiply with a factor, the shorter the lifespan, the more the reward here. Alternatively, a player might want to sacrifice(if evil, good can be a death stand or something in hell) an immortal toon for a lesser reward, but it really should remain a lesser reward.

This setting have 1 huge edge, when folks are bored, they start aging twinks just to make fun and try the game while earning something for their main immortal toon. Those that hate the threadmill suffer a lot less from it if they want, but they wont keep their toon for more then a year, this is really a choice they can make, which is better then no choice at all(they are welcomes to play elfs and be immortals and to suffer the full threadmill if they rather like me). And should they keep playing a longer time then expected, well, it is not lost, it add to the pool and they can do a new toon that progress very fast, it still cost him less XP then an immortal toon and he have some spiritual pool and prolly play 2 differents class, which is what they want, no?

When a server would be old, you would see tons of fast aging races(kobolds? Goblins?) everywhere, they would swarm the server and the new players will have friends for a time, which is better then not having any contact with the old players.

In such a setting, the characters are only infected by the essence of the spirit, and it gave them no benefit until some have been full circle of life to death, as the spirit increase in power. Is the spirit good? evil? under a particuliar god? purely selfish(most should be)? It should all be determined by the host the spirit choose/create(evil can choose a host, while good would create from nothing, it is evil to steal from a lesser lifeform).

Such an idea can be twisted easily for a perma death, as long as it is optional and from the race you pick(might mean many more races). In a perma death setting, you give an amount of lifes for each race(unlimited for the immortal races that are to never be perma death, but also growing much much slower and never adding to your spiritual pool).

Anyway, just an idea.

- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''

deggilator · February 2004

The permanent death thingy would certainly be annoying, but it remains an interesting idea. It gives a sense of progression and role-playing opportunities (the naive young apprentice who ends as a wise middle-aged sorceror).

However, I think that a more sensible approach (that does not annoy players who don't agree with the above) is being able to set your character's age at generation. Thus, you could role-play a middle-aged or old man. I think it's more sensible, as certain compromises should be made to insure a steady gameplay.

JAttractive · February 2004

I'd definitely want some twinking there but I like some of those ideas even if they aren't entirely "new" notions.

The xp modifier for slower aging mortals is probably the key one I like best. This would help games appeal to a broader spectrum of players. Some games I simply can't play because you level too slow and the gameplay isn't enjoyable enough to support such a tedious process. Others you level so fast that suddenly you are searching for things to accomplish or keep you occupied. This would help players pick and choose based on what appeals to them.

The problem I foresee is twinking and powerlevelling up your alternates. Under your system many powergamers would simply plan an orc or goblin up to max level then take an elf or other slow aging race and power them up with the maxed out character thus essentially side-stepping the "drawbacks" of playing those races. There are ways to get around this I am sure but all of them will have their share of pros and cons (ie. maybe the races are at war and can not cast beneficial spells on one another ... but then it is a pvp game which while I would be a huge fan of would also make permanent death too severe and problematic).

Anofalye · February 2004

Well...

I believe in intelligent levels cap on every zone.

So a level 500 is still level 15 or 20 in crushbone, he can zone in, but in crushbone, he is level 15 or 20 whatever the level cap is. It not only prevent PL, it allow u to group with RL friends, just need to add something for them to want to play their toons at those level, like some level range AAs.

Some races like elfs should not ages, but progress as slowly as you can imagine...they are popular and they are immortal...they fit just well for that.

Twinking is easier to limit, the extreme solution is to just prevent between toons trade except a few items that are wanted to be allowed(tradeskill prolly and cash)

- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''

Howdy, Stranger!

Aging and death...

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Aging and death...

Comments