How about changing the XP loss when you die, so it depends on how much is left for the next level. While the XP loss is a good way too prevent noobs ending up with a rank they aint ready for yet, it might also be very discouraging if the said noob takes a few mob deaths and end up with 60000 XP to gain rank 31. Likely he will delete, and then, either roll up something new, and that is fine, but more likely he will leave, and that for good.
Dying on the same rank with 30000 xp to next rank maybe would only be half as painful in xp loss as dying with 15000 xp to next rank. More newbfriendly => more new players => malf... ehm, more fun. 
Must add though, I DONT know the exact mechanics behind the xp loss due to mob death. I dont several mobdeaths in a row anymore, and I don't remember what it used be like. 
i believe that xp loss is 10% of your current xp total at every mob death. pretty simple formula. but i do think that having less xp loss for multiple deaths is good. maybe instead of basing it on tnl, base it on number of consecutive deaths in a play session?
no clue how hard that would be to code. any other suggestions?
You mean aside from taking it out compleetly?
Nope.
Don't die. And if you do, delete and reroll.
mob deaths should have a penalty.
If someone is dieing repeatedly to mobs they should remain that rank for a longer period of time to perhaps learn how not to die repeatedly to mobs....
Its a penalty with a purpose.
mob deaths should have a penalty.
If someone is dieing repeatedly to mobs they should remain that rank for a longer period of time to perhaps learn how not to die repeatedly to mobs....
Its a penalty with a purpose.
Yes, but when someone has a 50K XP tnl, then it has served its purpose long ago. More or less only a noob would end up with such an XP pen, and the only affect of it is "I give up". I dont suggest to take away the penalty, just to make it not stack so badly for poor noobs who die and die and die and die and die an...
If 50k xp is enough to make someone give up then removing that hurdle will just delay their inevitable quitting when they; get full looted/try to get into a cabal/try to go q race.
The xp pen is not a difficult thing to overcome, I personally have had a few characters that farmed up this debt for dieing foolishly. Mob death cannot be without penalty (other than the con loss), and since the mobs dont loot you here is their penalty. A penalty,mind you, that becomes null and void at 50.
Not to mention with a decent group a penalty of even 50k dissolves in time.
If you keep dieing you shouldnt advance.
I am not talking about having 50K tnl on rank 42 or something. With some combos that could be only one mobdeath.
When someone is really fresh, has just started to play, they WILL quit if things screw up before they start to get a feel for the game. That is NOT the same thing as when you have hit pinn and have an idea of what you are doing at least.
Not to mention, with at least one noob in the hunting group, chances decrease that the said hunting group will be decent.
And if they keep dying, they wont advance. But they wont be so screwed over once they stop dying.
So cap it at 100k then.
Cap is a good idea. But let the cap increase with rank. 100K sounds as a good cap for ranks somewhere 40+. Maybe cap at 4 times the current xp for a whole level. For example, if you are at rank 25, and when you got to 25, the xp tnl (to 26) was 10000. Then the cap would be at 40000, and remain so until you get to 26. Then a new cap is calculated.
When someone is really fresh, has just started to play, they WILL quit if things screw up before they start to get a feel for the game. That is NOT the same thing as when you have hit pinn and have an idea of what you are doing at least.
Genertaing xp debt is a gentle introduction to the harsh penalties evident in the end-game. If someone cant cope with xp-debt, cant learn from their experiences enough to..
a, stop dying and work their way out.
b, restart and avoid the deaths the next time around
Then they will never learn to equip quickly, break 40+ quests, pkill effectivly, prep for good pkill, train all their skills and STILL have the occasional death where you end up with NOTHING after hours upon hours of eq gathering. XP debt in the low lvls is just a small slice of what comes at pinn.
Someone who gives up and quits FL completly because they rack up some xp pen via mob deaths wasnt going to amount to much in FL anyways. It takes a little more patience than that.
Fl is not about what you do when your power peaking its about what you do when your face down in the dirt.
I think you are completely wrong. Can't compare how people react when they start to understand the game with how they react when they just fool about and try things out. Do you remember your first times at FL? I do. I had no idea about what was happening. And I surely wouldnt have stayed if it wasnt for that a buddy talked me into playing FL. How about all those guys who see us on TMS and thinks "hey, could be worth a shot"? What about trying our best to make this at least a bit noob-friendly? Gotta make them stay long enough to catch the addiction. Once they have, they will handle the tough stuff.
It takes a particular type of person, a particular drive to play FL succesfully. You have to be very persistant, ready to take criticism, and able to come back from a deficit time and time and time and time again.
are you denying this?
My point being, that an individual who quits and never comes back because their first try ends up in xp debt from dieing over and over is not someone who will ever do well in FL. Quitting at the first roadblock never gets you anywhere.
Where do you draw the line, so you reduce xp pen..whats next? no con loss pre 50? I mean that guy who dies 60 times to mobs because he gets no pen or has hit some reduced cap...is he going to quit when his toon passes that last time into the abyss?
Geeez, had forgotten about this thread.
There are tons of muds out there. If someone is just trying around, and end up with a big xp hole, he will figure hat he could just as well try another mud.
If someone decides, "damn, I will really give this mud a chance" and then quits out when tough **** comes, then that is the kind of person you talk of. But most people who come here by tms and stuff will be the fooling around guys. We want them to stay long enough to reallize FL is worth a REAL chance, before they say "next".
Then my suggestion maybe isnt the way to go, but rough from the start isn't a good idea, because ppl quit before they have seen enough of FL to want to stay.
Noob friendly is more than just EXP holes. I agree that FL needs to somehow create more initiative in new players to grow the pbase. There are others threads with suggestions on that topic. EXP holes are fine the way they are in my opinion and I dont need to repeat why since Kyzarius had it covered.