[CF-Devel] seperating skills (was RE: brief introduction)

[Yann Chachkoff]

I just want to underline a few points in the current discussion about "skill 
splitting".

1) For the combat skills: did you know there was an old patch called "Advanced 
Combat System" ? Of course, it may not fit your needs about skills, and it is 
quite outdated now, meaning that reusing the code directly would be difficult. 
But what was interesting with it was that it has been tested and improved 
following players opinion. There was also included in the package a good 
synthesis of what was/could be done. Can't we reuse this document as a 
workbasis for the new combat skills ? (Another question I ask is 'why the 
Advanced Combat patch wasn't included in the main CVS ?')

2) For both combat and magical skills, dividing them into "schools" could 
indeed be a good idea. But doing this without the "map counterpart" (guilds 
and specific quests), would not that system look quite "artificial" ?

3) I've heard several times that splitting skills could prevent the players to 
get experience too fast. Of course, if you add more rules, you prevent abuses. 
But is the "too-fast-XP" problem a rules problem or a gaming environment 
problem ? Don't you think that players get experience too fast because they 
get powerful items too easily, because they get too many experience when 
bashing cyclops, because many quests are simply too easy to finish ?

4) The game currently has some skills that are somewhat "useless" (or, at 
least, much less used than the others). If we split the skills, don't you 
think most of the new stuff will simply be ignored in favour of the "easiest 
way" ? For example, creating "magical schools" each devoted to a particular 
spellpath sounds quite logical, but clearly not all schools have the same 
potential (some can even have no spell !). And how do you suggest to promote 
those "less powerful" skills like oratory or singing ? (Note that I know that 
those skills are used - but they are clearly less interesting than the melee 
or spellcasting ones)

I ask all those questions not because I'm opposed to the "skill-splitting" 
idea. But IMO, considering the problem on a larger scale (the whole gaming 
environment, and not only the "rules part") should not be dismissed.

Chachkoff Y.

-----------------------------------------
Visit 
     
     http://www.chachkoff.f2s.com
     
      for
a journey into a fantastic world !
(But don't expect too much...)
-----------------------------------------