Keep characters between events? [POLL]

[Shantu]

Maybe allow people to keep their characters OR start a new one. Let them choose. This would need some tweaking and thinking because new characters may need some kind of bonus (legacy?) and kept characters may need some kind of penalty (aging penalty?) to balance it out, but I think that it could work.

[ScaredGuy]

Maybe allow people to keep their characters OR start a new one. Let them choose. This would need some tweaking and thinking because new characters may need some kind of bonus (legacy?) and kept characters may need some kind of penalty (aging penalty?) to balance it out, but I think that it could work.

I'm pretty sure that if Option 1 is picked we'll still be able to use the 'reset character' button if we want to start new characters.

[Zaealix]

Well, achevement-style 'perks' sound like a good way to reward veterns, and would ensure the power gap can't go beyond a certain limit. That said, just figuring out how to play WOE and what skills are useful will be tricky, so it's going to be nice to have resets, so if you make a character with a horrendous build, it won't mess you up for all eternity.
Something else I thought of was having a certain amount of WOE games you could go for before resetting, but being able to do so earlier. Like, 3 rounds is the max, but you don't have to wait if you want to change up.

[YoungSot]

I think we can all agree that from the player's perspective the optimal system would allow a choice between either keeping their current character (which he/she still enjoys playing or hasn't finished leveling), OR start a new character to try new skills or teams. The difficulty in such a system mostly lies with new players feeling perpetually behind.

The reason I liked the "no xp for too low level characters" approach (or a similar system), is that it would still allow new players to go about their business questing and gaining levels without being trounced by high level players. while the older players would be ahead, a maximum level cap means that if the new player is willing to put in the same time as them, they will eventually catch up and be just as powerful. perhaps by then the older player will have reset their character to try out something new. either way I don't see what would be wrong with such a system.

[Jocko]

I haven't read the whole post since its too late and its too long, but here are my two cents:
-Restarting your character over and over again is tiring, but so is joining a game where a few bunch have all the power and you will never catch up.
-Speeding up the xp gain may allow some more dinamic gameplay
About the storyline issues, i don't think it matters that much. I mean, Ash always gets to be the champion of an entire region only to get his ass kicked on the first gym of the next one

[Onizuka]

There could be a rewards that pile up when you get more games under your belt.
More exp per battle, maybe extra quests, more starting gold, etc.

Something that lets you get to the top quicker than others, but doesn't disadvantage new people so much.

[Scaredgirl]

I've been thinking about this some more..

The reason why MMO's get away with having veterans and new players is that they have different areas for different level players. There's the newbie area, the endgame area, and everything in between. In WoE we don't really have that luxury, so things are a bit more complex.

First of all, I think we should have a system where you gain 0 XP and 0 salvage if the player you are attacking is 7+ levels below you. This means that a level 7 character could attack level 1 character and get a bit of XP and cards, but level 8 character would get nothing. That should discourage high level players from ganking newbies. We could also give them some kind of small rep penalty for attacking weaker players. Then again this system would become a problem when defending a City or a Town.

Option 2 sounds better and better to me. If we talk about fairness, it's much better to have a fresh start every now and then. Having those level 24 veterans running around the map, owning everyone (or not being able to attack anyone), would not be that much fun. As a new player, I wouldn't be very motivated to join an event that already has tons of veterans with tons of skills and cards.

I've been trying to copy MMO formula as much as possible but in this particular case, resetting characters could make the event better.

[bored_ninja777]

i think starting from scratch is the best way to go.. some people were able to accumulate way more than others during beta. i didnt fight a single person even when i tried charging someone.. all i did was gain some for darkness and steal some hexes.  starting from 0 everything would give everyone a fresh even playing field.

[sebysebyseby]

I voted don't care but after reading I do care,

How about for this next re-launch, we can reset becuase nothing too dramatic has happened too far, but for future WoEs how about you lose a certain % of your progress, that way those who have played longer still have some advantage, but not too much advantage.

[YoungSot]

I've been thinking about this some more..

The reason why MMO's get away with having veterans and new players is that they have different areas for different level players. There's the newbie area, the endgame area, and everything in between. In WoE we don't really have that luxury, so things are a bit more complex. Agreed.

First of all, I think we should have a system where you gain 0 XP and 0 salvage if the player you are attacking is 7+ levels below you. This means that a level 7 character could attack level 1 character and get a bit of XP and cards, but level 8 character would get nothing. That should discourage high level players from ganking newbies. Yes. something like that sounds good. We could also give them some kind of small rep penalty for attacking weaker players. Then again this system would become a problem when defending a City or a Town. The rep penalty seems unnecessary. Attacking another player takes time and involves risk, even if they're much lower level. Simply removing the incentives should be enough I'm guessing.

Option 2 sounds better and better to me. If we talk about fairness, it's much better to have a fresh start every now and then. Having those level 24 veterans running around the map, owning everyone (or not being able to attack anyone), would not be that much fun. As a new player, I wouldn't be very motivated to join an event that already has tons of veterans with tons of skills and cards. Why not? New people join WoW all the time. There is nothing stopping a new player from catching up and becoming just as powerful as the player who's been playing for months. Those players won't be attacking you most likely, so you can just do quests and attack others closer to your level, until soon enough you'll get to enjoy your own powerful and successful character.

I've been trying to copy MMO formula as much as possible but in this particular case, resetting characters could make the event better.

In a game like WoE, the whole focus and goal rotates around building and enjoying an awesome, fun character. Getting to actually use and play with your character is the reward for all your months of work spent building it. I don't think we should make any changes that diminish that reward. Optimally I think that would mean resetting is always optional. If we decide to go ahead and build in a forced reset, we should at least be sure that the game is long enough and the leveling is fast enough that both hardcore and casual players will have the opportunity to play as a high level character for quite some time before they are forced to start all over.

[xsindomanx]

The actual 'Elements the Game' already has very slow grinding and quite a lot of gaps between veterans and newbies (not that it really matters).
I think it would be nice to give the newbies a chance to enjoy the game without stressing about grinding for hours first. I do understand that WoE is a different type of game, but I don't think the current method works for non-veterans (and possibly WoE could turn into a dead game for 50- people.)

[TStar]

Keeping characters would really discourage new players since they will start at a huge disadvantage, and no matter how much you try to discourage it the leveled up characters will just feast of them for free income and salvage.  WoE would lose alot of it's appeal if you have a few supremely powerful characters just rolling over everyone else.  At least most MMOs have "no PvP" servers or areas where players can safely level to try and at least be competitive.  Trying to implement something similar in WoE would be very tricky to say the least, and making characters immune to attacks until X level is very abusable so that teams could send noobies into dangerous areas to do things for them safely.