404_name_not_found's page

I'm so impressed with this blog post. The game seems more and more like a 'must have' every time I come back here. So hope my wife gets into it too. I can imagine the enjoyment of carving our own little niche in the world.

note that in Pathfinder Online, skill system will be open-ended. so, in 2.5 years, i become Ranger 10/Fighter 10, and you become Fighter 20. you get cap-stone ability. 2.5 years later, i become Ranger 10/Fighter 20, and you become Ranger 10/Fighter 20. i don't get cap-stone ability.

doesn't that strike you as odd?

You know, I was in favour of the proposed system until I read your post, now I'm convinced it needs tweaking... someone with 5 years of play time (although I think your numbers are off, 5 years = 40 levels not 30... assuming linear progression for the sake of comparison) is hardly 'gaming' the system to want a crack at another capstone, or 3-4 years of play time with diverse skill choices wanting their first.

What if the rate at which you accrue skill points towards a capstone is inversely proportional to your total 'level' of archetypal merit badges... with a hefty hit from levels 20 to 21 and a sliding scale beyond.

So a character that goes straight to Fighter 20 gets their capstone faster then a character that takes even a single side-step along the way. Because of the way your total skill point pool would be effected by slower progression, characters get a meaningful choice.

* Higher pool total and faster skill growth = stay with one class.
* Lower pool total and slower skill growth = feel free to spread out.

And the theory extends to a 5 year old character who is 20/20 and wants a crack at a second capstone... with stupidly slow skill-point accrual. At the end he may well be the first guy on the server with this setup, so its a tempting offer.

Describing a system like this sounds ridiculous in a table-top setting, but an MMO this would be trivial.

I'm sorry, but I find this absolutely false. Yes you will always be "ahead." Yes it might take 3-6 months to get in a T2 fit battleship with all the other appropriate support skills, but that's all you need for any PvE in the game. In PvP you can go Rifter Hero on day 1. You can always use more tackle.

I agree with most of what you are saying, and generally speaking I love the EVE skill system. I'm excited that PFO is going in this direction, and I look forward to it making a @#$%-hot game as a result.

In the context of the original comments though your own response is proof enough of my point (and the blog post acknowledges it too). The skill-point system in EVE causes a gap that effects game uptake amongst some users, even with friends in the game... my example being my wife. PVP is of no interest to her, and telling her to wait 3-6 months before we can enjoy the same sort of content is a good recipe to sleep on the couch. Especially when you factor in that any EVE player that hung around for longer term play (my wife included, past say a 3-6 month MMO burn-out period) would probably want to start diversifying and reach that point of realisation where they know they will never, ever catch up with older players, or even just me.

If I was talking about my workmates or other gaming friends where I enjoy a pseudo-competitive friendship then I think they (and I) would argue in favour of the same points you make, but with my wife I would love to see there's at least a slow option to close the gap when parties on both side make the deliberate choice. EVE doesn't offer this, short of saying "Oh, I'll stop growing my main until she catches up"... not an attractive choice.

I love the details I just read, although I have to second the concern that EVE has a system where it is very difficult to address the skill point disparity between old and new players. I'm not really concerned about the idea of 'catching' the current king pins ahead of everyone else... they got where they did (hopefully) through honest play.

My issue has always been with more personal gaps, like between my wife and myself. We play a number of online games together and she'll never play EVE with me because my character is a lot older and the gap is really obvious... not only that, but it will only widen over time, if not stay arbitrarily large.

I've always thought it would be great to have a mentoring system where I could deliberately sacrifice some of my skill-point growth to speed up hers... in a pathfinder context, somewhat like a lvl 20 warrior spending time to teach young warriors. Given the alternate progression systems you are providing as well perhaps it would also contribute to something like a 'teacher' merit badge, providing a status incentive.