XP & Levels Alternative
Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 3:14 pm
Before you read, please take my suggestion with a grain of salt. I'm still fairly new to the community and have yet to see how it works from a Knight or more advanced perspective. So, please understand if I don't understand something about the XP and level system or the history behind it, I'm not stubbornly refusing to acknowledge something or making some other kind of stance or statement. I've simply only been around for 2 and a half months.
What is even the point of XP?
From my understanding it:
To be frank, the XP system's only actual merit in my eyes is regulating the HP/Shield/Force Juice. However, that could easily be done by just limiting it per rank, with Padawan maybe split into three OOC tiers to represent the diversity in skill levels there.
I feel like people put a lot of emphasis on level, with people even making off handed comments about Kiara's level being "low" when she was knighted. And as much as the council goes ''Level doesn't matter, it shouldn't.'' That doesn't change the fact that as it currently stands, level does seem to matter quite a bit. The resident's page is even organized by who has the highest level. That kind of sends a different message, ya dig?
Frankly, a better system in my eyes would be to just get rid of XP and instead regulate the HP/Shield/Force Juice based on ranks, with, like I mentioned before, three different ranks within Padawan for beginner Padawans, intermediate Padawans and advanced Padawans. Perhaps something similar for knights but only split into two, new Knights and experienced Knights.
To go a step further for a more RP based system that focuses more on character, you could even have different ranks within the ranks, but I'm not sure if this would even be viable. However, you could have different balances of HP/Shield/Force Juice for different "archetypes" of characters. So, let's say there's a ''balanced'' build that has 100 across the board for HP/Shield/Force, (100/100/100) for characters who are more balanced and train in a bit of everything.
Say a padawan like Billy Bob who focuses a lot more on saber stuff but not actual physical or force stuff stuff would be more balanced with equal HP/Shield with a bit less force, so 110/110/85 or something. A padawan like Joe Joe who focuses a lot on physical strength and training that but not really force stuff that would have something like 120/100/85. Another padawan like Robby John focuses on force abilities and trains that super well, but they don't focus as much on physical stuff. 85/100/120. Finally, you could have padawan Jenny Penny who's super into her tech and artisan stuff and focuses a lot on that, so she tricks out her shield capacity so 85/120/100.
These are just examples of little "archetypes" that could be available for people. There could be five archetypes with different HP/Shield/Force Juice pay outs. Balanced, Saber Focused, Physical Focused, Force Focused and Shield Focused. I can already think of lots of characters who would fall into each of these groups. Of course, this is just an example of an alternative that could still regulate varying levels of HP/Shield/Force Juice while also adding more of an RP flare to it.
So it would be something like this:
I can't even begin to understand how this kind of thing could get coded or expanded upon. This is just a suggestion on something I think would be more RP and character oriented than the base XP system we have currently.
I hope that made sense. Sorry, this was originally supposed to be a much shorter response to the .5 XP thread but then Jana said she'd like to see alternatives to the XP system. So I figured, what could it hurt to post a suggestion?
What is even the point of XP?
From my understanding it:
- Acts a reward for attending classes/events
- Helps measure levels to assist in showing how long people have been active and around.
- Is used to unlock skills
To be frank, the XP system's only actual merit in my eyes is regulating the HP/Shield/Force Juice. However, that could easily be done by just limiting it per rank, with Padawan maybe split into three OOC tiers to represent the diversity in skill levels there.
I feel like people put a lot of emphasis on level, with people even making off handed comments about Kiara's level being "low" when she was knighted. And as much as the council goes ''Level doesn't matter, it shouldn't.'' That doesn't change the fact that as it currently stands, level does seem to matter quite a bit. The resident's page is even organized by who has the highest level. That kind of sends a different message, ya dig?
Frankly, a better system in my eyes would be to just get rid of XP and instead regulate the HP/Shield/Force Juice based on ranks, with, like I mentioned before, three different ranks within Padawan for beginner Padawans, intermediate Padawans and advanced Padawans. Perhaps something similar for knights but only split into two, new Knights and experienced Knights.
To go a step further for a more RP based system that focuses more on character, you could even have different ranks within the ranks, but I'm not sure if this would even be viable. However, you could have different balances of HP/Shield/Force Juice for different "archetypes" of characters. So, let's say there's a ''balanced'' build that has 100 across the board for HP/Shield/Force, (100/100/100) for characters who are more balanced and train in a bit of everything.
Say a padawan like Billy Bob who focuses a lot more on saber stuff but not actual physical or force stuff stuff would be more balanced with equal HP/Shield with a bit less force, so 110/110/85 or something. A padawan like Joe Joe who focuses a lot on physical strength and training that but not really force stuff that would have something like 120/100/85. Another padawan like Robby John focuses on force abilities and trains that super well, but they don't focus as much on physical stuff. 85/100/120. Finally, you could have padawan Jenny Penny who's super into her tech and artisan stuff and focuses a lot on that, so she tricks out her shield capacity so 85/120/100.
These are just examples of little "archetypes" that could be available for people. There could be five archetypes with different HP/Shield/Force Juice pay outs. Balanced, Saber Focused, Physical Focused, Force Focused and Shield Focused. I can already think of lots of characters who would fall into each of these groups. Of course, this is just an example of an alternative that could still regulate varying levels of HP/Shield/Force Juice while also adding more of an RP flare to it.
So it would be something like this:
- You join and are initiated, you get basic Initiate stats of, say, 25/25/25.
- You are taken as a Padawan or pass the Initiate Trials. You get bumped up to Beginner Padawan and have, say, 50/50/50.
- You progress your story enough to have a feel for what your character is good or bad at. You've been here for a couple of years at the least. You get bumped up to Intermediate Padawan and have, say, 100/100/100 at base but you now also get the option to choose an archetype that further customizes your stats based on your choice.
- You've been here a while now and are fairly experienced and have gone on several missions or what not. Basically, you've been here for several years now and your master has worked with you to help you grow even further. You get bumped up to 150/150/150 or something according to your archetype.
- You've finally been knighted! Woo! You get bumped to New Knight and get 200/200/200 or something. Archetype plays in as well.
- You're one of the older knights now, you get bumped up to Experienced Knight. 250/250/250.
- You're now a master, wowzers! 300/300/300.
I can't even begin to understand how this kind of thing could get coded or expanded upon. This is just a suggestion on something I think would be more RP and character oriented than the base XP system we have currently.
I hope that made sense. Sorry, this was originally supposed to be a much shorter response to the .5 XP thread but then Jana said she'd like to see alternatives to the XP system. So I figured, what could it hurt to post a suggestion?