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Now, I am thinking that bounties will be applicable in 50-90% of hexes, making bounties common. I thought they were a great tool in my previous vision of how it would work. For anybody wondering, I went in-depth on why I thought this in my linked posts above.

I would expect it to be a much lower percentage, especially to start. There will only be laws in hexes controlled by someone. From the descriptions, there can be many forts in a hex. However, in order to place a settlement, one group has to clear all other forts from the hex. Only then can a charter, or set of laws, be placed in effect.

I guess what I foresee is hexes controlled by PCs or NPCs who may or may not have laws against murder. Everything between them is fair game. Perhaps a merchant would find their money better spent establishing settlements along their route where guards they don't have to pay will be patrolling; rather than keeping infinite bounties in effect for possibly multiple bandits.

I'm hoping that bounties will have a minimum payment that makes it mostly prohibitive. Perhaps someone has the option to place a bounty, but can't afford it, or has to decide if they want to afford it. On the other hand, if bounties can be placed for small amounts, what is going to make a bounty hunter take on the assignment when there are other larger ones available?

Curious: Stealth Mechanics is an interesting one.

I'm sure that there will be a stealth skill tree. But since skills aren't going to make us better, I think stealth would have to be ability-based. There should be specific stealth-combat abilities, but I would also like to see passive abilities that may increase my stealth check while crouched and only those with sufficient perception can see me. I always find it much more satisfying to move through shadows into a position where I can backstab, rather than run in swinging... ;)

Yeah, I would agree with that. Having some sort of throttle system requiring tapping of keys and whatnot seems overly complicated. WASD should move you around on key press and stop on key lift. Maybe a run/walk toggle or sprint button would help immersion; but just base sprint-time on a set number of seconds and refresh at a set time as well, not based on stats or encumbrance (although that would be nifty). I would assume a stealth/crouch toggle as well.

@Alku, exactly - a nice extension of my concern. It's not that I "want" to lose my weapons/armor/gold. But not having to protect them in some way doesn't seem to follow the explanation of threading provided in the OP and I really like the concept of threading.

I would expect to have to thread whatever I wanted protected in my inventory, regardless of whether I have it in my hand or on my head. Perhaps a percentage of my gold is lootable, and unable to be threaded. Bandits aren't going to continue being bandits just for the sake of being bandits.

Thanks, Ryan! I believe I understand the concept. It sounds like the skill system and merit system are more independent from each other than I had gathered. I appreciate that you guys are active in the forums. ;)

It says up in the quote that unthreaded gear is lootable. Wouldn't that include weapons and armor, if the player didn't have sufficient threads to hold everything? If equipped items and gold aren't lootable, being a bandit doesn't seem very equitable; and the sting of death doesn't seem so bad.

I wouldn't need to thread anything I was wearing or holding and I might as well carry all my gold with me at all times. If I'm a low-level player that can only effectively fight with a dagger, but have a +2 greatsword in my pack, as long as I equip that sword prior to death, I don't have to waste threads on it? I guess that's assuming that I can equip it at great penalty - which wouldn't matter if I was about to die...

There will be PvE, yes; but the developers have repeatedly stated that there isn't an endgame, per se. We aren't seeking level 20 or to complete some over-all storyline. There won't come a point where we can't train new skills (until we learn them all). Player-driven content appears to be what they intend to be the meat of the game. Players need resources, players create bounties, players are at war, players are bandits attacking players that are trying to complete the above, etc...

I don't see how it encourages AFK activity when you can not select a skill until you've accumulated the appropriate badges which requires active participation.

I can log on, select a skill, then log off while I wait for it to complete the training, but then I can't log back on and select a different skill. I still won't have met the minimum requirements for the next skill.

I may not be able to select the next skill above the one I just trained in a single tree. But I could surely log on every x minutes and select an unrelated skill that doesn't have prerequisites or one that I have fulfilled the requirements for.

Then I would just need to login later when I have more time to complete the merit assignments all at once while training further skills. Perhaps, there will be enough players who aren't going to multi-class so that won't be a huge deal. The active player has some advantage, but whether it is significant remains to be seen.

So many games fail as devs can't make content fast enough for the 10% of players
that reach end game the first week.

I thought PfO wasn't intended to have an endgame, but player-created content... ;)

EDIT:

I think in this case it is about letting the player base build enough content before reaching the max level for a skill tree. Since it will be the players that provide the end game.

I guess that makes sense at the beginning, but after the game becomes more established - it loses something.

When you receive a merit badge is when you get new abilities or feats. I'm unsure, but I doubt, that you need to do anything after attaining the merit badge. i 'think' that you just receive whatever new abilities that co,e with the badge.

Yeah, I would guess that's the intent as well. I was just trying to indicate how ridiculous I believe the terminology is ;)

If you've ever played Eve, what they plan is similar to Eve's certification system. Their system will have a template that you can look at and plot your skill training. This screen also shows what, if any, benefits a skill gives.

Those are the only answers I know and to be fair any of those may change between now and open enrollment.

I would totally expect that kind of planning template, regardless. I guess my main thought is that someone who is actively engaged in the skill they wish to train should be able to fast track that skill - perhaps complete the merit assignment while training - rather than have to train, then complete a merit assignment; or, perhaps, if the player's actions during training are part of a related merit assignment, allow them to apply them to it. Maybe it satisfies the requirement, maybe it doesn't. In the case of advanced skills, I would expect that it wouldn't.

I just don't understand why a company running an MMO would want to encourage AFK activity. If they feel it is value-added, allow it; but allow active players to have an edge.

The whole system seems completely counter-intuitive as I see it described around the forums. I choose a skill I want to train, fine... but it is completely independent from what I am currently doing? So, I want to train crafting and select that, but I can still go out and whack Orcs? Then after 15 minutes of training in crafting while I'm killing stuff I have to go back and spend 15 minutes crafting 20 items of a certain sort to earn a merit badge? What do I do with the merit badge? Do I get to proudly display it on a sash? Do I have to turn it in to some Boy Scout Troop Leader to receive a skill?

Personally, I would like to be able to look at the feats I want, and see what merit badge(s) I need in order to obtain that. Say I want simple weapon proficiency and that requires the Orc Slayer merit badge which requires I kill 50 Orcs with a simple weapon.

I would rather spend 15-30 minutes doing that. Doing something meaningful, isn't that what they keep saying? If I'm not proficient with the weapon I have equipped, I am taking a penalty and I will probably need another player or two to help me kill those Orcs. Isn't that more meaningful than encouraging a FarmVille mentality: "oh, I gotta login and harvest/plant quick and then wait another 3 hours..."

If they are completely invested in the independent training/advancing while AFK, fine... but let players who are actively engaged in their training take a fast track. Sure, the young punks on their summer break or the disabled/bedridden may be advancing their skills faster; but that doesn't make them "intrinsically better", right?

I can understand why some people want revealing "armor" and agree it has a place. But it should be by choice, buy it or craft it. It should have a lower armor class, and perhaps stiletto heels have a movement speed penalty.

Perhaps we take the lack of HP regeneration as a starting point. Potions and trail rations restore a modest amount of HP. A camp cooked meal affects a slow HP regen rate. A home or tavern cooked meal affects a substantial regen due to the value of the nourishment. High quality ingredients can add stat buffs.

Perhaps there shouldn't really be a "fast travel" option as such with hubs in cities, but more of an "auto-route". Where-in you can set your character to head toward a location, given that you have already explored it. You can choose to move "as the crow flies", or follow an established road. The former would avoid bandits waiting in ambush along the road, but be more likely to encounter monsters.

Any mass conveyance option (caravan or ship) should be player-run, give preference to merchants with cargo and be much slower than walking. A player could run a smaller passenger carriage, but it should be exorbitant and be marginally faster than walking, slower than running.

Any sort of "auto" movement can be interrupted by NPC or PC bandits/monsters. I hope the developers have a default combat system in the case where we are set upon while AFK...