[crossfire] classes & guilds

[Juergen Kahnert]

On Wed, Jul 04, 2007 at 06:09:26PM -0700, Mark Wedel wrote:
>   But it would be easy enough to put in level caps for some skills.

I bet it will. ;)


> I know some people don't like level caps that are less than max stats.
> By in my mind, if you have different quality of skills, such that
> amateur, advanced, and master all can get to level 110, but amateur
> level 110 = master level 30, I'd maintain you are effectively doing
> level caps, your just implementing it in a different way.

Basically, yes, I do the level cap on the grade - without a master
earlier with one later.  The result is technical similar, but not the
same for the gameplay.


> So maybe the question is more for those against level caps:  Why?

If you have a level cap of 30 in a skill, this becomes a boring skill
once reached this limit.

Splitting the skill into two values (xp and grade) without limiting xp,
there is always something to do.  Savvy? ;)

People love to form their characters, and after reaching a limit it's
all done.  Nothing more to do.  That's it.  Boredom.  Stagnancy.

Having xp open end will change that.  And maybe even after level 100
you're able to increase your grade by your own (without a master) will
add another good feeling.  It wouldn't make a big difference, because at
this high levels you can't form much, but the feeling stays, there is no
end.


> But IMO, you have to be very careful how well the affinity value can
> get adjusted.  Otherwise, you get the same case of bunches of classes
> maybe looking the same.

Sure, but reducing the amount of classes to sharpen the remaining ones
won't be bad.

If you introduce new roles (classes), make sure that this new class is
something new.  Or make it a special subject of an existing class.

For example we could make the mage guild with different schools inside.
There are masters for pyromancy, for sorcery, ...

Or for each of the schools a new guild and just say that this is a
different area of expertise for mages.

It's also possible to have similar guilds teaching up to different
grades.  A mage guild with a grand master in sorcery, but only expert in
pyromance, a master in evocation, ...


> Maybe they get broken down into 3 or 4 major classes - fighter, mage,
> cleric, thief.  But if all the fighters look the same at high level,
> is that OK?

There is no chance to avoid that; without disproportional lot of work.

But if you have a system allowing you to define a class which will
definitely differ from others, you still have the option to add new
classes.

We need to avoid to create 3 or 4 general classes not allowing us to add
new ones without letting them look a bad choice compared with the older
ones.

As long as there is enough space for new classes which will add real
benefits, we won't end up with 3 or 4 classes looking all the same.

    Jürgen