Conraire
Zumari Force Projection
Caldari State
52
   |
Posted - 2012.09.22 04:41:00 -
[1] - Quote
As of right now in the current build. I feel that entry cost of skills in SP is just a tad.... High. As an mmoFPS, You're really going to want it to be easy to get into the game. Otherwise you won't make money on selling AUR, etc. But, right now, the cost of entry in SP to train skills is very restrictive. And makes it difficult for new, or casual players to advance or get into the basics of the game, and fitting system. Now, don't get me wrong, I know if you do really good in a game, you can easily push 50k-80k SP reward after a game. And I can see both sides of the argument, as in EVE, your active skill training que is constantly training, but takes time. But, SP cost of entry there is MUCH lower to break into new skills.
EVE Skills SP Progression: This is the base SP needs, for a 1x multiplier skill. Note that this is the total SP needed per level, not the difference between the levels
level 1 = 250sp Or around 7mins on my main char
level 2 = 1,415sp
level 3 = 8,000sp
level 4 = 45,255sp
level 5 = 256,000sp
All other skills are based off of that base table for their SP cost, they just use the multiplier to make it take more time. Note the low cost of entry for the first 3 levels, and then levels 4 and 5 are what's there to slow you down, and take longer to reach. Though in general with implants and learning skills you can usually reach level 4 within a day and a half, faster if it's a skill based off your higher stats.
Now in Dust, the skill tables seem to be way off. For a 1x multiplier skill in Dust:
level 1 = 10,240sp
level 2 = 30,720sp or 40,960sp total
level 3 = 71,680sp or 112,640sp total
level 4 = 143,360sp or 256,000sp total
level 5 = 256,000sp or 512,000sp total
While Yes everyone gets passive SP, even when they aren't on, that's generally at a fairly slow rate. And, SP rewards from matches really depend on how well you're doing. This almost always tends to favor the veteran players though, who already have many skills maxed out. Like I said I've had games where I went 15/4 and pulled out 75k total SP. But, the vast majority of the time the actual average is around 3k-10k sp. Going by the kills to deaths I see for most in most games I'm gonna say that's true for the vast majority of ppl in the game. Going by that, it can take anywhere from 2-4 games just to train a basic 1x multiplier skill to level 1. When you consider the fact that there aren't a whole lot of 1x skills, other than the very basics, like engineering, electronics, and the side arm improvement skills, and grenadier, that narrows it down quite a bit. Many skills are 2x or 3x multiplier, such as the base weapon skills. When you look at that, it takes 20k to 30k sp just to gain a new weapon skill at level 1. If you're having bad luck, that could take anywhere from 2-10 or 11 matches. Then add on getting those skills to level 2 or 3. I'm sure you get the picture I'm painting here. Lets not talk about how it costs 81k sp, to train a dropsuit class to level 1.
But, I bet you can see the issue here. Cold hard reality is, it shouldn't cost anywhere near as much sp as it does to get started, or learn to use a new weapon class. The multipliers on a lot of the skills wouldn't be so bad, if they base SP table wasn't so high. That in itself will be a major turn off for anyone looking to try out or get into the game. And the skills being so high cost to train, will be a major turn off especially for the harder core fps crowd, who want to be able to get into the game quickly without a lot of grind and hassle. I myself am a long time FPS player, as well as EVE player.
I'm not saying that the skill costs should be the same as the eve table is. But it does seem quite absurd that the cost for level 1 of most skills is almost 41x what it is in EVE, almost 30x for level 2, 14x for level 3, 5x for level 4, and 2x for level 5. It shouldn't be that far off the original EVE skill point tables. Now I'm not saying it should be the same. But no where near the way it is now. |
Conraire
Zumari Force Projection
Caldari State
52
|
Posted - 2012.09.23 01:10:00 -
[3] - Quote
I have considered it. The obvious difference is, I'm a person that works 8+ hours a day. And I may have a couple hours at most every day to play, if I don't get tied up with other RL Issues. Since I started about 2 weeks ago, I've gained approximately 1.8m SP. 2.8 total with the extra mil from I don't know if it was a weekend event, or from reporting bugs.
You also have to remember, that during the beta, SP rewards, and passive gain are accelerated. You won't be getting as much after official launch. They generally do that to make it easier to test things. Plus, you have to realize you're only looking about maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the actual planned skill tree. Each race, will have its own scout, assault, logistics, heavy suit skills. They still haven't added laser weapons, and projectile weapon skills, and their accompanying upgrade skills. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're probably gonna see more missile weapons than just swarm launchers, wouldn't be surprised if you see a single missile all or nothing style weapon, kinda like a real world Javelin missile system, high dmg single shot. I've also heard talk of artillery, mortars, mines, and Ewar. So that's even more skills that will be added. They've already said it would take a minimum of 7 Years to max the skills available at launch. Add tech 2 and eventually tech 3 on to that over time, and specialization skills, and you'll end up with a skill tree just about as large as EVEs.
But, that only happens if the game becomes popular enough to survive as long as EVE has, which is just over 9 years now. As it stands right now, that will not happen. People are trying to make it too much like MAG(a more or less dead game), or they just want it to be for the hard core people. The cost of entry for skills will turn away many casual players, and big time FPS players who don't want all the hassle of having to get large amounts of SP, to be able to use a low level weapon.
Like I said, wasn't saying it should be as low as EVE's base SP table. I'm ok with for example level 5 requiring 2x as much as EVE. But, level 1-3 requiring 41x as much, 30x as much and 14x as much respectively, is where there is a problem. In order to keep people playing and draw new players, skills should be easy to learn, to proficiency, level 3ish, and hard to master, level 5. |