Skill Decay To Keep Wurm Social !

[EdibleSheep 7]

Please no, -1.

[Bonegetter 55]

<ramble>While i dont agree with skill decay the idea of spcialization is greatly appleaing. I like that some one could have a skill tree that they say have a in creased rare bonus and higher probability to improve items in. Probly should be a diffrent thread if it already exist. Frankly these days its difficult to find a place for your self socially in wurm do to the amount of highly skilled players, granted they have eraned their skill and should retain it of course. But specialization in its self is a cool idea.</ramble>

[Melketh 92]

A thousand times no!

[Garit 366]

-1 A BIG ASS NO from me on this one !!!!

[Issle 793]

This is one of those moments that I hope you are trolling. Big NO !

[KunAlt 844]

Since you want some kind of explanation, this is mine.

What i enjoy the most about wurm is the freedom to be whatever i like or feel in that moment, mostly the posibility of be a Jack of all trades, I don´t like to do all the time the same things day after day, and i don´t like to play with alts, my char is the only one I have.

Your proposal simply ruin my gameplay style, and if need to concentrate only in one job, i will be bored in allmost no time and leave the game.

[Reylaark 1,100]

Please CAs, close this thread before I become rude too.

There is no debate possible here.

Thank you.

Wouldn't fret too much about it . You just hit a nerve is all.

On the bright side, suggestions you make in the future are bound to be more successful than this so you've got the whole trial by fire thing down. Just need to temper the mettle with some water now and you'll be all imped up for the next one!

[Hussars 511]

Skill decay in games that have fast/easy gain is fine as long as you are earning as fast or faster than you lose it.

In Wurm, the sliding skill gains would mean those folks who have spent, in some cases, actual years raising skills into the 90's would be penalized the worst.

In order for this to work, skill gains would have to be easier/faster above whatever level they started to decay in your outlined system then they are now. Which would deminish the sense of acheivement for a lot of players, and could be seen as a "slap" to those folks who spent the time previously (even worse to those folks who have been playing for years and remember the last time skill decay was in the game).

It would become a case of making the game "easier" in their view, and all to balance this new version of a disliked mechanic that a vocal section of the customer base doesn't appear to want to see come back.

If someone is really opposed to having to skill up to compete, do what others have done, buy an old account. If you want to take some of the older/more skilled characters out of the mix, buy the account and never log in to it.

[Sir Arowhun 473]

wurm used to have skill decay, and it was awful. -1

[boombza 515]

This idea wont achieve what you want, it wont make the game better in anyway. It will simply kill the game.

rethink it and try again...

kudos for being brave enough to suggest the idea.

[Shrimpiie 3,665]

Jeez, guys, if you read previous posts you'd see that there is no discussion here and that the person has given in on his OP -.-*

[Iulianx 90]

Wurm used to have skill decay and no one complained (or if they did they where a few) until you had visual indicators on the skill that decayed and [x3] in front of it, That made people aware of it and made them go amok about removing it until it was removed.

[Sarcaticous 338]

Worst idea ever. I don't skill up just to skill down. If I learn to do something I don't get stupid doing something else. This makes absolutely no sense at all.

-1

[fatboy 448]

-1, this was tried before i beleave, wurm almost went under. It will never see skill decay.

[squirrels 32]

I like this idea. One toon should not be able to do everything. If it means more alts so be it. We should have carpenters, blacksmiths, hunters, tailors. It shouldnt be one toon being able to do all. Would make villages more viable instead of a single or 2 or 3 person deed.

[Reylaark 1,100]

I like this idea. One toon should not be able to do everything. If it means more alts so be it. We should have carpenters, blacksmiths, hunters, tailors. It shouldnt be one toon being able to do all. Would make villages more viable instead of a single or 2 or 3 person deed.

I do hear what you're saying... it's just that using decay for that simply doesn't produce the desired result.

You guys have a good intention, problem is the mechanism proposed to get there. Rather than a negative, penalty type system that forces village life... I think coming up with a positive reinforcement type system that encourages village life would have much better results.

This applies to all sorts of things by the way... training an animal is much more effective using a reward system rather than pain in the long run. The training wears off much much faster once the pain is removed whereas if there's a slight chance a reward might still come, "what the heck worth a shot."

Tons of other examples but guess I shouldn't dive down that tangent .

[Jondo 1]

Ok perhaps this approach is too negative. I get it.

I think the thread title is misleading. Skill decay is not my crusade. Only a possible solution for specialization.

Here is another proposal (I like game mechanisms), more positive.

What about a specialization feature? When you decide to specialize yourself, skill gain become faster or grow higher in this skill (and/or skill subset). There would be a drawback : skill loss somewhere (to be defined), just slow skill gain or lower max skill cap. For all skills or "opposite skills" (to be defined).

We can imagine a mastery system, same as the religious conversion but with jobs. I really enjoy the vision of a far isolated village carpenter coming to the capital or to an hermit shed to seek a specialization.

Advantages : does not impact at all the jack of all trade currently living in Wurm, nor the current skill mechanic.

Default : I trust you to list them all :-D

[KunAlt 844]

As long as your system of mastering works on top of the current system without afecting the current skill gain is fair for me.

No matter this, i think you got the wrong approach, you can´t enforce socialization with this kind of game mechanic. But you can promote it, being talkative with the people in your local, by recruiting in your village people in acordance with your vision, etc.

Usually people look for a nice spot, and evaluate if there is iron, or wood, or this or that, and don´t try to talk with the people around, then once settled they find that his n8 are hermits and get bored to death.

[Vroomfondel 1,128]

A basic problem with your idea is that it would have to be optional, and if optional, then it will get ignored. No one wants to find they are hampered in any way on a skill just because they are getting good in another.

Specialization comes into this game anyway just because it is very hard to get high in some skills. The easiest skills are those that everyone should be good at, the harder ones force you to specialize because they take so much time to get good at. Yes, eventually you could become an expert at everything, but that takes a very long time. I myself have played over 4 years now, am quite good in some fields, but just average or below in others.I may be a jack of all trades, but I still have a long way to go to be a master of them.

[whykillme 1,621]

Please, quit wurm and never come back.

-1.. obviously

[Aristia 37]

-1 All around.

This is fundamentally a bad idea, skill decay was taken out because it limited players heavily to what they could do. This would just make those who have invested months of time into getting high end skills be the ones to lose out heavily as they'd start losing all their hard work for no reason other than playing. That doesn't even take into account the knowledge meditation tree that stops all skill loss (outside fight skill) entirely.

Edited January 22, 2013 by Aristia

[Cartrip 132]

[insert Top Gun quote meaning NO!]

[Reylaark 1,100]

Please, quit wurm and never come back

Whykillme.... with statements like the above, do ya really have to ask?

[shadowblasta 142]

idk about you guys but if my skilles ddecayed i would be less social and be grinding alot harder