Skill gains

[Zaelkaer "Allfather" Vampyre]

I think the current system is well thought-out. However in the future, to accomodate high-end players, more difficult mobs will need to be introduced so that they can continue to gain skills. At the moment everything is in balance, I think. Yes, many players tend to stick with low weapons, and chip out to accumulate skills. But this also means they can't do other things. There are trade-offs on both ends of the spectrum.

The Allfather

[Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton]

skill gains on higher weapons already have more weight imo: one tick (afaik one skill check = half a percent of a stage) equals more SNI volume (skill points) when gained on a higher stage compared to a low stage.

I don't understand how a skill check can be equivalent to a particular amount of skill. Did you mean to say "one skill gain = half a percent" instead of "one skill check?" If so then I have to disagree. The higher the stage, the more skill gains it takes to raise the stage by 1%. If every skill gain was always 0.5% of a stage gain (as it is for skills at lower stages), then it would take 200 skill gains to reach each new stage. Instead the number of skill gains to reach each stage increases steadily. I'm not sure if the increase is linear or exponential but it seems more likely to be the latter than the former.

At an items 100% skilling rate ... isn't the average skills gained per use the same per item irrespective of item used?

This seems to be the way it works in my experience, yes.

If each higher profession item gains more skills quicker than one prior to it - what you are proposing is to make the graph a linear line. i.e. if it takes you 1 month to get from level 0 to level 10 then it will take you 6 months to get to level 60 (instead of 20 months).

It would certainly change a lot of people's minds on the "best" way to gain skills if the line was linear instead of exponential, but I don't think the adjustment needs to be quite so extreme. A small increase in the amount of skill gained for each higher weapon - but smaller that the increase in skill gains needed to reach each new stage - would provide enough incentive for may (or most) people to decide to progress in item use instead of chipping out.

On a side note, I think the biggest incentive of all is better and more valuable loot from harder-to-kill mobs. I get the feeling that it will be a long while until the full complement of loot items is implemented though so a good stop-gap would be adjusting the skill gains from higher-level items.

[Event "Janе" Horizon]

If each higher profession item gains more skills quicker than one prior to it - what you are proposing is to make the graph a linear line. i.e. if it takes you 1 month to get from level 0 to level 10 then it will take you 6 months to get to level 60 (instead of 20 months).

It would certainly change a lot of people's minds on the "best" way to gain skills if the line was linear instead of exponential, but I don't think the adjustment needs to be quite so extreme. A small increase in the amount of skill gained for each higher weapon - but smaller that the increase in skill gains needed to reach each new stage - would provide enough incentive for may (or most) people to decide to progress in item use instead of chipping out.

Most people do not realize how much effort is actually required to get to higher levels (i.e. that currently getting from level 54 to level 55 takes 156 times more effort than getting from level 1 to level 2.
So some reduction in effort would be nice - however, this should not be restricted to weapons (there are many professions in Survival - each having the same issue).
Of course, rather than change each items skill rate (so that a level 54 item gives 15600% more skills than a level 1 item) - the other option is is change the professions so that there is more overlap in item skill rate.

[Jarod "Brickwit" McBrickerton]

I agree that changes should be across the board for all skill ladders and I think you're right that the easiest, cleanest, and best way to adjust it would be to reduce the amount of additional skill gains necessary at higher skill stages.

[oOoOo "Mantra" oOoOo]

It would certainly change a lot of people's minds on the "best" way to gain skills if the line was linear instead of exponential, but I don't think the adjustment needs to be quite so extreme. A small increase in the amount of skill gained for each higher weapon- but smaller that the increase in skill gains needed to reach each new stage - would provide enough incentive for may (or most) people to decide to progress in item use instead of chipping out.

On a side note, I think the biggest incentive of all is better and more valuable loot from harder-to-kill mobs. I get the feeling that it will be a long while until the full complement of loot items is implemented though so a good stop-gap would be adjusting the skill gains from higher-level items.

This would be great!