CROSS-CONTENT DISCUSSION: XP values and Level Cap

[Krux]

[quote=subtledoctor]

Krux, that was bluntly put but nonetheless wise.

[/quote]

thank you, and yes, i call it as i see it.

[quote=subtledoctor]

I disagree; plenty of people *want* to play the wastelands sequentially and get knocked back to level 1 in between.  Plus it's more lore-friendly, in that it abides by the whole premise of New Vegas.  This particular issue is divisive enough that I really think TTW has to cover both possibilities.

[/quote]

I suppose that makes enough ppl to maybe make a MOD that allows this. I still completely disagree that this should be a vanilla, default, ttw feature. Which is really all I was disagreeing with, mods are options.. no reason to disagree with options. Which goes back to what I said about forcing things upon players. So I'd have to say we disagree to disagree, lol.

[TJ]

As far as how to handle getting shot, I think a clever way to go about it would be to add an affect to the player that removes some perks, skills, and maybe a few SPECIAL points. This would simulate the negative affect being shot in the head has on you. As you play afterwards at certain timed intervals you would "remember" a perk or skill. Eventually you could start recovering enough mentally to get a SPECIAL point or two back. The longer you play after the initial wound, the more you would recover. If done right this could be used as sort of a "Level Up" for after you hit level 50. Just a thought. Could possibly be expanded upon and fleshed out a bit but I thought it was somewhat intriguing.

EDIT: I guess apparently this has already been pitched.

[Krux]

[quote=tjmidnight420]

EDIT: I guess apparently this has already been pitched.

[/quote]

yea, not a fan of it personally.

[TJ]

Was just posting in Q2005's Equipment Looted release thread and I had a thought: When you exit V101 the Hardcore mode menu comes up. What if instead of just Hardcore option, there were several boxes asking the player "How do you want to play?" Would you like Hardcore mod to be enabled? Would you like to have your equipment looted when you get off the train and if so what version? Most importantly to this thread: How do you want to handle XP gain/ level cap? Would you like to be able to travel freely between Mojave and CW or would you like lore based constraints?

Better yet, make it one menu that replaces the Hardcore menu: How do you play Fallout?

• 
  Lore friendly with Hardcore rates (Hardcore ON, Must complete WSG quest to go to Mojave, Bullet takes away some skills)


• 
  Lore Lite With Hardcore Rates(Hardcore ON, Must complete WSG quest to go to Mojave, Bullet has no effect)


• 
  Bullet Lite with Hardcore Rates (Hardcore ON, Free travel at any time, Bullet takes away some skills)


• 
  Hardcore rates only (Hardcore ON, Free travel at any time, Bullet has no effect)


• 
  Lore friendly no Hardcore rates (Hardcore OFF, Must complete WSG quest to go to Mojave, Bullet takes away some skills)


• 
  Bullet Lite no Hardcore Rates (Hardcore OFF, Free travel at any time, Bullet takes away some skills)


• 
  Lore Lite no Hardcore Rates (Hardcore OFF, Must complete WSG quest to go to Mojave, Bullet has no effect)


• 
  Hardcore rates only


• 
  No Effect

With an additional 3 setting modifier at the bottom (so you can only choose one of the three):

• 
  XP is Halfed


• 
  Max Level is doubled


• 
  Do nothing.

This would present no extra menu boxes as it could replace the hardcore menu box at the beginning the be forgotten about. You could put it directly after the Hardcore menu as well if that would work better. I think this would pretty well accommodate everyone and every option. You could even add in another 4 setting modifier for Q2005's equipment looted mod if the team so desired/ Q granted permission to use. Any input?

[Krux]

Yea that's where I was originally taking this. Kinda goes back to my initial suggestions back in another thread, but Jax said the whole menu thing is too complicated for right now. We're just dodging it with as many shortcuts for now as possible. I'm sure a late release outside of Alpha would have this set up by then.

[JaxFirehart]

Its not that the menus are too complicated for me to implement, its that we are trying to keep as few menus as possible. If we were building this with the idea that it is a mod, we would have plenty of customization. We are building TTW as though it were a whole new game, so we will pick the one "Best" option and let mods do the rest.

I am looking into a solution that steepens the XP curve allowing early levels to be obtained at the normal rate while causing later levels to become farther between.

Unfortunately, with a game this big, boosting the level cap just isn't viable. Even at 50 you destroy everyone and everything you encounter, even with a sub-optimal build. You can only scale deathclaws so far before the question becomes "Why the hell haven't these things taken over the world!?"

The way I see it, halving XP is the best solution, but the major drawback is the barrier to entry. If I can preserve the first... 10? 20? levels' XP requirements while increasing the remaining levels' xp requirements, I can get the best of both worlds, allowing the player to come into their own fairly quickly but also preventing them from hitting level cap too early.

As always I'm open for suggestions, criticisms etc...

[TJ]

I think that is a reasonable solution. I would say around 15 or so, 10 wouldn't be too unreasonable but most people wouldn't be happy about it. Here's another thought: (I'm having alot of these lately, bet it's getting annoying) When player reaches level 10 bump XP gain down to like 70 percent. At level 20-25 bump it again, down to 50. When player gets to 40 make them work to max out, drop the xp gain down to like 25 percent. Learning curve that scales, not too much of a pain in the ass to implement, and completely invisible to anyone that's not followed this thread.

[JaxFirehart]

Thats exactly what I'm planning.

Well, ideally I'll do the opposite and boost the XP requirements, but I'm not sure how easy that will be, I'll probably end up doing as you suggested.

[Krux]

I didn't even think that was possible, I just been talking about halving it the whole way.

But after reading what you said, I was thinking about what Tj just said.. let it go 100% up to a point, than 50% up to a point, than 25% the rest of the way. Or something along those lines, just for example.

So...are we at an agreement yet?

[TJ]

Yeah, it's possible. I'm not the best at scripting for FNV but I believe it would be something along the lines of a quest with the script attached. When you get to level X the script adjusts the 15-20 some odd xp related game setting records to a different setting, then adjusts it again when you get to level Y.