XP Balancing

Azog

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Keeping in mind that more contend will come, i'd like to share my thoughts about the actual XP balancing, wich in my opinion needs some improvement until the full release.
I also keep in mind that there are gamers who love to grind for ages, but i dont think they are in the majority.


I now played with my actual char until Lvl 18, wich took me 58 hours. I dare to say that i rather used an effective playstyle to reach this Lvl as fast as possible.

But lets be fair and therefor lets say i somehow wasted 10 hours, still 48 hours left.
Keeping pure XP farming aside, i easily can say that the actual contend + getting all items took me no more than 15 hours. But lets be fair again and give it another 5 hours, still 28 hours left.

So being said in a very fair way, 28 hours were pure XP farming.

Of course you could say that nobody forced me to reach Lvl 18, since the actual content could be done on lower levels too. This is true, the main contend i already did on lower levels, but i also think you always automatically try to get better when the possibility is given. I also think that the endgame contend will force you to have the claimed Lvl 20, and therfor XP farming is necessary.

So 28 hours of pure XP farming to reach Lvl 18 is definitely far too much for me. In my opinion it destroys the fun, the game flow and also the replayability. Knowing how long it actually takes to reach a high Lvl, i'm not sure if i'll play a 2nd game when the full release arrives.

So i think there should be a Lvl cap. And according to the balancing, if the endgame contend really needs you to have an around Lvl 20 char, then the game should provide an faster XP gain that allows you to have a Lvl 20 char by the end of the contend, without the need of endless XP farming.
 

feldon

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David has tweaked XP given by lvl 11+ mobs, so maybe that helps.

For me, any grinding done after lvl 15 is players choice and is a product of addiction to a great game.

The only true problem with XP is you are all but forced to grind levels around 6/7 and 11/12. This mainly is a result of the staggered development and people clamoring for higher lvl mobs (hence the fens being a fairly big jump in difficulty from the older surrounding areas).

As you said, the big question yet to be answered is what lvl can you efficiently beat the game at and what lvl do you naturally gain playing the major content.

Until then, I like to cap my guys at 15/16 and start something different. It helps that I have multiple playthrus purely dedicated to Wiki research so I'm able to keep busy.
 

Azog

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David has tweaked XP given by lvl 11+ mobs, so maybe that helps.
Yes, +3 XP from a Lvl 11 troll. :p



The only true problem with XP is you are all but forced to grind levels around 6/7 and 11/12. This mainly is a result of the staggered development and people clamoring for higher lvl mobs (hence the fens being a fairly big jump in difficulty from the older surrounding areas).
Absolutely. The Lvl 18 char was an example, but XP gain takes too long even on lower levels. In my opinion it would be very ok when the level gain rate stays the same after Lvl 7, still would include some grinding.


As you said, the big question yet to be answered is what lvl can you efficiently beat the game at and what lvl do you naturally gain playing the major content.
Thanks, thats the exact words i was looking for.
 

DavidBVal

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On increased XP: At level 11 the increase is small, gets bigger from there. I am still tweaking it and looking at the data.

Quests will give more XP too.

Edgame will be doable around level 17 if you do everything right, but I might change my mind about it and raise it.
 

Arborice

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13/06/2016
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When playing thru content without grind I find myself at a near end around lvl 6. And it took till about level 11 or 12 to reach the cutoff point in the main story.

There will be a ton of grinding.

Why not consider repeatable quests like for skulls and poison glands? Since even crafting won't be grind heavy; or with the given style maybe crafting should be a grind. Two bird's one minotaur.

If the experience gain rate stayed the same after level 7 then you would spend a lot more time on level 8 then you would spend on level 23 as the experience gained from higher level monsters becomes more cumulative. That just wouldn't seem right.

I think that some monsters and areas could be encounterable at lower levels and all level up based off the characters current level the way only some do. That way those who want to fly thru are able to do so while others can take time to indulge without ever out leveling zones.

But the game only has just begun. I'm seeing enough room for more squares to be added to the map to reach labeled dots. This means having ground up to 15 will be like running thru Outlands with level 90.

Unless....
 

alacardnightmare

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Arborice":els6dpda said:
Why not consider repeatable quests like for skulls and poison glands? Since even crafting won't be grind heavy; or with the given style maybe crafting should be a grind. Two bird's one minotaur.

I like the idea of repeatable quests, mostly because I don't like solid grinding for exp; IMO most of the funnest RPGs don't make grinding the only way to access higher level content. I understand the town hall is an option, but it is costs way too much time versus straight grinding.
 

DavidBVal

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Two things regarding XP rebalance in mid levels.

In .931 (out soon) increased again the XP rewards for monsters level 9+. The increase in the last test build was a bit timid, so I improved it.

[row][cell]monster level[/cell] [cell]old xp[/cell] [cell]new xp[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]8[/cell] [cell]49[/cell] [cell]49[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]9[/cell] [cell]59[/cell] [cell]61[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]10[/cell] [cell]70[/cell] [cell]74[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]11[/cell] [cell]82[/cell] [cell]89[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]12[/cell] [cell]95[/cell] [cell]107[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]13[/cell] [cell]109[/cell] [cell]129[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]14[/cell] [cell]124[/cell] [cell]154[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]15[/cell] [cell]140[/cell] [cell]183[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]16[/cell] [cell]157[/cell] [cell]218[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]17[/cell] [cell]175[/cell] [cell]260[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]18[/cell] [cell]194[/cell] [cell]310[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]19[/cell] [cell]214[/cell] [cell]369[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]20[/cell] [cell]235[/cell] [cell]441[/cell][/row]

Note: some monsters flagged as miniboss or boss give an additional XP reward of level*8 or level*12 respectively. This remains unchanged.

Town Hall quests are not truly repeatable, but once I overhaul them (already in the works, probably very soon) there will be hundreds of town hall quests available, and with each of them giving 50xp per level, it means for instance at level 14 you get 700xp per quest. The good thing is some of them will take you to higher level dungeons where people already grind, like the trollfens or minotaurs, so it's like a "bonus" for going to certain areas where people used to hunt already.

Having said this, I don't concern myself much with XP balance beyond the content available (at this point, 15+). I go step by step.
 

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