[crossfire] Rebalancing, difficulty curve -- simple ideas

[Alex Schultz]

Lalo Martins wrote:
> Ok, one issue with balance is that, as someone mentioned, most monsters
> either kill you too easily or are killed too easily.  I don't have a
> solution for that, only wanted to bring it up so we don't forget it ;-)
>   
Well, I'm not really sure, but I think there are two main causes for that:
-The of chance of hitting isn't very random, it's AC and WC, and has
some random variation, however the random variation seems extremely
insignificant compared to AC and WC.
-The speed of hits is very fast, so the random variation of AC vs. WC
gets averaged out very quickly.
We could try to reduce the speed of battle, however that would take ALOT
of tweaking to balance and not frustrate players. Perhaps one option
would be to make it so the random variation of AC vs. WC should last
longer than one hit, and "ebb and flow" a bit.

> The other thing is that there is a level beyond which you just progress up
> to demigodhood (110+).  What level it is?  That depends on the server --
> more precisely on the exp_table.  On MF I've been told it's about 20
> something; I don't know personally as I never reached that level in MF. 
Well, it varies alot depending on player practices, but from what I've
seen it can be anywhere from 20 to 50 on MF.

> To encourage player interaction, the game needs to strongly nudge
> characters into having different strengths and weaknesses.  This is
> already done to some extents (at low levels) by resistances, natural and
> god-given; of course at higher levels you start collecting artifacts and
> you have any resistances you want.
>   
Personally I think we should also consider ways to make different
classes slightly better at different skills. Perhaps a "skill attument"
of sorts. Also class stat bonuses are currently very pointless very quick.

> An idea I think might be worth experimenting with is cutting the
> contribution that *ALL* skills make to general score.  If you have more
> characters running around with level ~10 and their primary skill(s) at ~20
> that would encourage them to get good at one skill, and therefore to
> interact with other players.
>   
IMHO this would be a good idea, though one would have to be careful
about how much one cuts it by. Perhaps how much it cuts it by should
also vary on a curve depending on the level.

> Finally, the easy answer to the curve issue is tweaking the exp_table
> carefully.  I want to start a mini-project, with the goal of tuning up a
> "perfect" (heh) exp_table.
Well, I don't think tweaking the exp_table is the 'silver bullet' that
will fix it the whole curve issue, however I feel it is an important
step towards fixing it.

> - ideally, a copy of MF's exp_table, which many people seem to regard as
> the best table out there, to start from
>   
MF's exp table is listed here: http://www.metalforge.net/features/index.html

> - rough consensus on the ideal curve.  Here's my draft:
>
> * half a playing hour per level up to 5;
> * 1h/l up to 10;
> * 2h/l up to 50;
> * 3h/l up to 70;
> * 5h/l up to 90;
> * 7.5h/l up to 100;
> * 10h/l beyond 100
>   
Seems reasonable to me at a glance.

> These are for an average player of course.
>   
And should be assuming we fix things widely regarded as overpowered of
course. Also, for the purpose of this experiment, I would suggest that
players participating try to avoid using things generally considered
exploitive or overpowered, and preferable make note of any such things
that come to mind.


Alex Schultz