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Special XP and loot attention

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Special XP and loot attention Empty Special XP and loot attention

Post by daveyeisley Sun Aug 24, 2014 2:40 pm

I know there is a cap on XP per kill equal to 100xp per pc level - so a 40th level PC cannot gain more than 4kxp from a kill, and it goes down from there.

Certain bosses should defy the cap based on criteria like how much time and effort it takes to get to them, and having extreme threat levels (for things like Dev-crit, 5 or more attacks per round, very high attack bonus, additional damage types, especially non-elemental damage types like negative, positive, divine, or magical).

There really arent that many of such bosses:

Lots of effort to get to (even after first contact - cant be teleported to)

Gron, Nemesis, Horaxona, Necronius Venger, Elder Brain, Blood Witches, Darkblades, Elite Orc Archers, Orc Beasts of War, DarkFire Reavers, Marilleth Dervishes, Dark Realm Ooze, Barbed Demons, Dragon of Icereach Castle, Icegrind, Forsaken Mummy, Soridanithor, Mindeater Demon (lab above demonic barracks), Brain in a Jar, Burning Frost, Deep Goblin King (under wizard academy), Greyskull, Dracolich above/outside the Citadel of Devoured Souls, Grathnor Nightblood, Boss Demon in the 'Evil Residence' in Dark Realm, Maganor

Dev-crit

Gron, Nemesis, Horaxona, DarkFire Reavers, Arcane Blackguard (don't think I am missing anyone)

Non-elemental damage

Barbed Demons, DarkBlades, Blood Witches, Gron, Nemesis, Horaxona, Marilleth Dervishes, DarkFire Reavers, Mummy of Divine Wrath, Beholders, Elder Beholder, Elder Brain, Calithian Elder Vamp,  Ancient Demilich, Arcane Blackguard, Vamp Shadowslayers,  (I know there is more of these, I'm just drawing a blank)

5 attacks per round, or 4 with very high Attack Bonus/Damage per hit

DarkBlades, Elite Orc Archers, Orc Beasts of War, Gron, Horaxona, Nemesis, DarkFire Reavers, Marilleth Dervishes, Mummy of Divine Wrath, Barbed Demons, Beholders, Elder Beholder, Vamp Shadowslayers, Arcane Blackguard, Necronius Venger, Dracoliches/Vorshlag/Frostornicus/Ancient Dragons, Corpse Eater, Orc Destroyer, Grathnor Nightblood, Orc Palace Dungeon Guards, Half-Orc Slayer of Knort Scrar, Arcane Guardian, Monstrous Scarabs

Thats a list to start from. Feel free to chime in with additions.

I believe these all need special attention to balance the effort/risk versus reward (XP and loot) equation.

Are all these enemies likely to carry as many magic items as a powerful Lich? Of course not... but considering how powerful or hard to get to all of them are - the PCs should have a chance to claim rare and powerful loot for defeating them - maybe not as many loot items as the Liches, but certainly on par or better in terms of rarity and power. The liches are easier to get to and far less threatening, and much easier to kill than these baddies. I can't see a good reason why the Liches loot should be so much better (perhaps more of it, but not better).


Last edited by daveyeisley on Sun Aug 24, 2014 4:56 pm; edited 4 times in total (Reason for editing : Keeping list updated)
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Post by daveyeisley Sun Aug 24, 2014 5:06 pm

Persuant to the discussion and ideas in this thread.

I know flat xp gain would suck - I think we can all agree on that.

However, we do have minimum and maximum xp gains, and I think a lot can be done with that.

I propose that we keep the maximum per kill as it is, but exempt specific 'boss' enemies from it (by perhaps granting a scripted XP bonus, sort of like how trolls used to work) that require extra effort, or high-risk to defeat as categorized in my list above.

I would propose, however, that we adjust the minimum XP gains upward. Some types of common enemies that are remarkably trivial for non-lowbie PCs should probably be exempted from this.

Right now, as I understand it, the minimum xp gain is 10, or 1xp per character level (whichever is more) - which can then be reduced by XP penalties, of course.

Why dont we keep 10 as the base minimum, but increase the level-based calculation to 2.5xp or 3xp per character level? This would mean a 40th level PC slaughtering low-level enemies would gain 120xp per kill at most - which isn't terrible at all, and thus, it could make hunting drow warriors, illithids, elementals, umber hulks, orcs, dinosaurs, ogres, skeleton warriors/mages/priests, mummies, zombie reapers, devourer zombies, vampires, young dragons, wildlife, werewolves, and a host of other low-to-mid level enemies attractive enough to bother fighting.

.... but, to ensure we don't end up with high-level PCs farming trivial (for their level) enemies like goblins, drow trainees, giant ants, skeletons, kobolds, rats, devourer beetles, cinder mice, carnivorous chickens, fire beetles, zombies, and the like, the most common low-level enemies would be exempted, and retain a flat minimum of 10xp (though PCs who are of an appropriate level for their CR could of course, still get more).

Then you have the enemies that are above the mid-level stuff, 'above average' - tough enough to take time/effort to kill, but not high risk enough to merit anything 'exceptional'. For me, things like Soulbourne Demons, Trolls/Scrags/Cinder Trolls/Ice trolls/Frost Trolls, Elder Elementals, Incorporeal Undead, Giants, and Iron Golems come to mind because they are so tough (or hard to damage) - it takes too long to kill them for the xp they grant. These enemies would need an increase in their normal xp grant (not a scripted bonus that is exempt from the xp gain cap, like suggested for the list of 'bosses' above) to take it above the minimum of 120xp - maybe to something like 300xp for level 40 PC - in order to make them attractive kills for PCs on or above their challenge level.
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Post by daveyeisley Sun Aug 24, 2014 5:13 pm

Link to specific suggestion for Palace orcs getting a scripted Xp bonus as part of the 'bosses' list - link.
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Post by Lasombra Sun Aug 24, 2014 7:07 pm

This is something I was pondering myself lately and came to the same conclusions. We definitely need a bigger XP spread, to make fighting those enemies that do require some effort even at higher levels actually mean something. If it's more demanding of a player, then it's safe to assume it is for his character as well. It really sucks when I kill a Balor and discover goblins give the same amount of XP. Feels like I'm killing ducks, not some of the most powerful demons.
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Post by daveyeisley Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:52 pm

I will post this in the related bug thread, but I ran Dark Realm with Crid last night and I was getting only 40xp from pretty much every single enemy.... Nemesis and Horaxona included. All the demons only gave 40 xp in my log. Sad

Edit: Found the problem - explained in this post.


Last edited by daveyeisley on Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:02 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post by Ramana Jala Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:33 am


Your L40 ranger/rogue companion got 558 XP for Nemesis and 968 XP for Horaxona.

Soulborne and Shaxok 32, which I think is correct for a multi-classed L40. Barbed Demons were 56 and 60.  Oozes 44 and 47. Mariliths 142, 149, 153 and 161.  Reavers 149 and 161.  Balor Shaman 271.  Balor Hunter 38.
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Post by daveyeisley Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:11 am

Crid got 700 for Nemesis, an 1k for Horaxona last night... so XP has been adjusted, though I think, not quite far enough.

Also, Marilleths and Reavers should be giving a lot more XP than Balor Shamans.
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Post by Angel of Death Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:19 am

daveyeisley wrote:Crid got 700 for Nemesis, an 1k for Horaxona last night... so XP has been adjusted, though I think, not quite far enough.

Really? Anna got twice as much the other day when she went down there. Alone though. So maybe it's the party divider which plays a difference if Crideas was in a party with Ramana down there. But yeah, I think they should be given more xp given the difficulty.
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Post by daveyeisley Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:35 am

Simple math to prove Nemesis and Horaxona - and all the other epic baddies aren't worth the reward for the effort and risk involved:

Horaxona - easily takes an hour to get to her, more if you aren't bypassing everything along the way. She is tough as nails, very dangerous, and lives in a hazardous area surrounded by other tough and powerful enemies. Lets say she gives 1500xp for a 40th level PC, and lets say thats the highest of any Dark Realm enemy.

Orcs. Skeletons. Any other enemy that spawns in large numbers with around 100hps or less. 40xp for a 40th level PC.

Kill 10 of the lesser baddies, and you get 400xp. Kill 40 of them, 1,600xp.

I can kill 40 of them in 15 minutes. Why bother with Nemesis or Horaxona when they have no loot (or crap loot), and less XP reward than enemies which are *far* less troublesome?

If I am gonna spend an hour plus to get to an extremely dangerous boss, I want 2 or 3 times the reward I would have gotten spending that time on lesser enemies. XP wise, that means in the neighborhood of 12,000 xp - since an hour spent slaughtering orcs will get me around 6,000 xp. If the enemies on the way to the boss gave better XP that would certainly help as well.

It a matter of the effort and risk offering a proportional reward. DR doesn't have that currently, neither do the low-levels. Its so 'grindy' its a tedious fun-killer.
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Post by MannyJabrielle Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:32 pm

The lack of treasure adds to that.  For those who struggle, stacks of healing potions are expensive.

Even for those not looking to soften the GP drain, sacrificing treasure is a random, but still solid XP gainer.  I get 700 to 1200 from sacrificing the loot off orc soliders in the gate room in tesh.  That coupled with the XP from killing them makes it a very nice spot to work up XP.

If demons offered up some nice stuff to sacrifice, that would be a double-wammy.... offer a "on level" means to recoup supply costs AND offer the random XP from sacrificing loot as well.
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Post by daveyeisley Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:33 pm

Ran a new test PC through DR...

Paladin 10, Champion of Dalix 20, Ironheart 10. Non ascended, no custom items, no magic besides his gear (which was significantly upgraded, but only with things everyone can get) and class features. Fought his way to Nemesis solo, cleared everything. It was tough, and I had to be slow and cautious to avoid getting surrounded/overwhelmed, but he did it with only 5 of his 10 starting cure light wounds potions (which were only used out of combat). Oh, and he never died.

Nemesis was a slightly different matter, only because of how hard he hits, and the fact that the test PC had already used up most of his boosts (Divine Might, Divine Shield, Lay on Hands). Still had enough gas in the tank left to take two runs at Nemmy, using up the last 5 cure lights in between. Test PC was lasting quite well, and could have easily taken Nemmy with a rest to replenish and a stack of 10 full heals. Hitting his AC was not an issue - but the test PC was using Divine Wrath for part of it - ironically, he was already out of Warhulk power points.

The only design flaw that really stuck out to me was the utter lack of resting spots after the Crimson Portal. Spellcasters can at least get their non-epic spells back with renewals, but meleers who rely on use/day class abilities will assuredly run out before the bosses... and have no way to replenish. I was carefully conserving as much as I could, too.

I can think of a few ways for smart players to handle it via custom items, or Use Magic Device skill, but the non-magic types seem to be hand-cuffed pretty well. I wouldn't want to have it be the only solution to rely on magic or custom items, but I see opening rest up in those areas as problematic, too. Spellcasters would benefit too much, since it would allow them to easily fully replenish epic spellcasting, I think.

That said, I am thinking we need a compromise for non-magic types. Maybe a once per *respawn* trigger (has a cooldown on the same timer as enemy respawn) placed just after the 3 Reavers in the Gauntlet (or even better, put it in the onEnter script for the Heart of Darkness area) that works like how the one in the Astral Conjunction does - maybe add some flavor text like "<diety> has noticed your bravery and skill, and rewarded you with renewed vigor to carry on the battle."

Back on topic, before I forget - the XP gain was noticeably better than a few days ago. Test PC had a subrace penalty and was still pulling almost 1200 from Marilleths and Reavers (Reavers should give at least a few hundred more due to Dev Crit and their Damage Immunities), got 2k from a Dracolich, Barbed Demons almost 500 (could be a little more, due to dmg shield and epic dodge+concealment - they take a long time to kill), Soulborne Demons only 44xp though (I know they aren't threatening, and only a little even in large groups, but they are too tough to kill quickly without dev crit, so this amount of xp essentially incentivises players to ignore/bypass them, in which case, why have them at all?).
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Post by MannyJabrielle Wed Sep 03, 2014 9:03 pm

Every area after the crimson portal should be rest-enabled, or most of them save that area right past the cliffs where you run into the first reaver.  Cliffs, gauntlet, Nemmy's area and Horaxona's area are all areas you can rest it.

The only caveat is you need to activate the bedroll item itself, as the 'rest' button on the gui won't function.
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Post by daveyeisley Wed Sep 03, 2014 9:10 pm

Embarassed I haven't manually activated my bedroll in so long, I forgot it was possible. Embarassed
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Post by daveyeisley Wed Sep 03, 2014 9:42 pm

Test PC got rested using bedroll, then I gave him some heals. First run didnt go so well, because my buff boosts kept wearing off after 2-3 rounds (they were supposed to last 3 times that long), so I was losing a lot of ground having to recast them.

Rested again, got more heals, and then dropped Nemmy on his butt only using 3 full heals. I also remembered to use Test PCs Dalix blessing, which raised his AC by 5, and helped a good bit.

Still, tiny bit of trial and error, tiny bit of bad luck, then the buffs lasted like they should have and Nemmy went down, flaming axes and all. 3k XP which was much better than previous, but still needs to be higher, and that guy needs to have a hoard of loot... "Trophies" from all the other powerful demons and adventurers he has killed.
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Post by RustyDios Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:07 pm

What was test PC's subrace ?.... .. and well done on the achievement, that whole DR area is hard to melee...
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Post by daveyeisley Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:27 pm

Wolfblood. Probably would have been better with Vampire, since it was a test PC... but I already ascended one vampire.... and don't think I have it in me to do it again... so I just sort of shied away from it instinctively.
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Post by daveyeisley Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:11 pm

Just dropped a few DR baddies with Crideas and was given the unpleasant surprise of minimum XP again, and then trying to figure out why since The Amethyst Dragon has not announced any changes at all.

I must not have connected the dots the first time I read The Amethyst Dragon's breakdown of the XP system here.

All this time I have been so frustrated and confused by how everybody's PCs get so much more XP than several of my PCs, especially Crideas.

I think the answer is right here:

Amethyst Dragon wrote:
---Party Average Treasure Adjustment: Better-equipped parties earn a little less XP because the fight was easier, poorly-equipped parties earn a little more because the fight would be harder.


Party Average Treasure Adjustment Examples:

formula: (AverageTreasureValue - (min_xp_for_Avg_lvl * 10)) * .000002 = percentage decrease

Average party level 20 with an average per PC treasure value (GP + items' GP values) of 5,000,000 gp...

(5000000 - (190000 * 10)) * .000002 = 6.2% decrease

Average party level 20 with an average per PC treasure value (GP + items' GP values) of 1,000,000 gp...

(1000000 - (190000 * 10)) * .000002 = -1.8% decrease (which, being negative, is actually a 1.8% increase)

If I am reading it right, the reason Crideas is being punished with minimum XP gain on epic level baddies is because of how much gold he carries and the value of his gear and inventory... most of which is custom gear he cannot drop (nor should he have to to avoid XP penalties). I can only assume the items in his inventory count as well.

So if I am getting it straight, investing time and effort to upgrade/make your gear better so you can increase your success rate in combat will actually punish your PC with less XP gain... and at the high-end we are talking a *lot* of lost XP.

If I am correct and this also counts inventory items, This also forces players to dump things in an ethereal chest for storage, or they get hit with even more XP penalty - just for keeping bags of holding on them, whether or not it impacts the fight(s).

I hope I am wrong about the inventory part, honestly.... but if I am, that means that all the countless hours of playtime, testing, leveling, experimenting, design, and planning I put into my favorite PC's gear is actually something I feel I am being 'punished' for.

Invested an awful lot to reap those benefits, and so the XP system is cutting thousands of XP out of my rewards because I paid my dues and worked to acquire better tools - resulting in it taking me hours of playtime just to recoup the XP costs of crafting even simple wands and scrolls - let alone the cost of researching new epic spells or trying to purchase Lady Shea stat boosts.

I admit to being unexpectedly, actually upset IRL at this particular moment. Let me be clear, I know that The Amethyst Dragon would not intend to upset players,  so there is no blame here.

I find myself, however, wishing to express the following concept in the strongest possible terms and emphasis for consideration by The Amethyst Dragon:

I think the treasure value calculation needs to be adjusted so that it only applies if a PC is 'under-geared', it should *never* penalize a PC for having good items. That's not how PnP works, and NWN shouldn't either.
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Post by daveyeisley Thu Sep 04, 2014 10:45 pm

And it seems I have confirmed this now...

After spending an hour cleaning out my inventory and then losing almost 5 million gold to Arkon's deposit fees, I went back to the DR and killed some Balor Hunters and Shamans. At first, I got 40xp per kill and felt a little embarassed after making the above post.

Then I got to thinking about how it would be terrible if the XP scripting checked the value of GP and items on every PC every time something died, and I realized that it had to get calculated at a different time, and stored to be called later during XP calculation.

Since I had already done some area transitions, I knew it wasnt then, and I doubted it would be 1st login upon server reset because so much could change between resets.... so I figured it was probably the login script. Sure enough, relogged and then whacked a shaman, and I got 2k xp.

I think this is a problem, because the example numbers above make the penalty seem innocuous at 6.2% in the example... but for Crideas he was taking a full 100% penalty, causing what should have been a 2,000 xp reward to only be 40xp. That's frankly outrageous.
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Post by MannyJabrielle Thu Sep 04, 2014 10:57 pm

I agree that GP values in checks should go.

It also can penalize players who gather loot as they hunt baddies, especially if you tend to take the choice items and sacrifice the rest, extending time before you gotta run off to a merchant to sell off stuff.
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Post by MannyJabrielle Sat Sep 06, 2014 4:32 am

Another aspect of how the GP value of items could unfairly muck a player's XP is exactly what properties are on an item.  The property values scale exponentially, not arithmetically.

For example, a plain copper ring empowered with +10 intelligence bonus will cost 180K

Two copper rings enchanted with +6 intelligence bonus (for a +12 bonus in total) will be only just under 65K each, or 130K in total.

The player with the two +6 rings is therefore getting more bonus, but his items are contributing less to his XP penalty than the player with the single +10 int item which grants less overall intelligence bonus, but is contributing more towards the XP penalty.

The way item properties scale up when combined with other properties on the same item likewise jack up an item's value exponentially.

With the above example, the +10 intelligence ring STILL has more value (180K) than two +6 rings that also each have +10 spellcraft (each at just a tad over 88k each, or 176K total, still less value but far more bonus)

So.... GP value as a means to gauge how "well prepared" a PC is does not actually work, and the mechanic overall is a detriment to enjoyment.
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Post by MannyJabrielle Sat Sep 06, 2014 4:41 am

And another bit of example....

If those two +6 int/+10 spellcraft rings at a total of 176K value were combined into one ring with +12 int and +20 spellcraft, that single ring's value would be over 400K. Which is over double the value of those exact same properties split between two items.

Also....



Another factor....

+10 INT on a ring is significantly higher than +10 int on a helmet or gloves.  For example, my one PC has all his vouchers (20k through 500K) invested onto a single item... a ring.  The total voucher value is 910k, and it IS loaded with a lot of nice stuff.

However, had I put all the same properties onto a different base item type, say boots.... those exact same properties would have cost almost half the price, and that would leave a LOT of room for even MORE nice bonuses.



So.... what BASE ITEM the properties are on are a HUGE factor in GP value, almost as huge a factor as the exact configuration of properties themselves. 
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Post by RustyDios Sat Sep 06, 2014 4:59 am

Damned be the packrats....
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Post by daveyeisley Sat Sep 06, 2014 5:02 am

Great examples of how the value calculations can unfairly penalize... but also, where does the aspect of being able to enjoy the benefits and advantage of your upgrades/customs come in? If you spend a lot of time, or make an effort to acquire something to make overcoming challenges easier, why does that time and effort then devalue the rewards gained? It removes the incentive to seek better, more valuable items, which is arguably half the fun of the game... the other being XP gain/level progression.
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Post by MannyJabrielle Wed Sep 24, 2014 12:23 am

OK, So question.... "Boss demon in the evil residence".... I assume that's the area with the big throne?  I have *never* seen a 'boss' type creature in there.  A regularly spawning balor hunter is all, plus whatever random demons pop up in there (tends to be soul hunters, although every once in a very rare while I'll get other stuff spawning in there like the hellfire lions or bloodraynes.
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Post by MannyJabrielle Wed Sep 24, 2014 12:25 am

Oh, and another big baddie to put on the list of boss types to keep at a high XP payout.... the orc boss up in Lynul Scro.  He can dish out some pretty decent damage, even knocking about a couple of my ascended 40ths unless I'm careful.  His XP payout is pretty decent right now actually, so just a suggestion to put him on a list of baddies to keep an eye on if any XP fiddling goes on.
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Post by MannyJabrielle Tue Oct 07, 2014 7:16 am

Lyme_gg told me this morning that he was only getting 23 XP with his 40th level demonspawn on barbed demons/marilithes/ect.  I suggested he drop off his GP at the bank and reduce his packrat inventory.  He deposited, relogged, and tested on beholders, which he was also getting only 23 XP for.  After depositing his GP, he was getting double the amount (appropriate for his subrace/multiclass penalty)

I *really* think the GP/Inventory penalty should go.  It's not a standard DnD mechanic, and it's not advertised... that results in players getting frustrated because their XP gets tanked by simply not choosing to make use of Arkon's bank and having good items.... and they don't know why their XP sucks.

It's simply terrible for player enjoyment and is not adding anything to the gameplay
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Post by Lasombra Tue Oct 07, 2014 8:43 am

To add to that: At one point, while not being particularly overstuffed, I noted below 700 XP per lich at level 23. After depositing everything, it went up to 1611, which happens to be the maximum for demonspawns of that level.

I have a single DM-upgraded item, which has A LOT of upgrades, meaning its' value is a few(or more) times bigger than it would be when split equally. I also put a lot of unnecessary things on it, as icing on the cake. A lot of them are also completely redundant with my current build.

So after all the dedication of getting over 40 upgrades for an ultimate item, I find I'm far better off just selling it and enchanting myself a few pieces of equipment with basic stuff? Neutral

Having millions of gold or redundant upgrades on me doesn't help me win battles; neither does the fact I put an upgrade on a ring rather than the belt or just have them focused on one item. I'm not 2x stronger because of my necklace, not even close to that; I can duplicate all of its' effects that are even noticable in regular gameplay with maybe 20x less gold value.
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Post by Ramana Jala Tue Oct 07, 2014 1:16 pm


MannyJabrielle wrote:I *really* think the GP/Inventory penalty should go.  It's not a standard DnD mechanic, and it's not advertised... that results in players getting frustrated because their XP gets tanked by simply not choosing to make use of Arkon's bank and having good items.... and they don't know why their XP sucks.

It's simply terrible for player enjoyment and is not adding anything to the gameplay.

Agree.  This has my vote.
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Post by Eric of Atrophy Tue Oct 07, 2014 1:40 pm

Oh, yes. Seems totally unnecessary. Give it the boot, yo.
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Post by RustyDios Tue Oct 07, 2014 4:14 pm

As a packrat-style player and hoarder of gold on my many PC's.. (I sell off what I don't need/want to keep).. this xp hit is just ludicrous....

At least it explains why most of my 40th level PC's average 4xp per kill, regardless of enemy (admittedly I haven't played with any of them in a while, to confirm this is currently the case)...
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Post by The Amethyst Dragon Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:52 am

Gear power/value calculation removed for next module update.
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Post by Ramana Jala Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:10 am


Awesome!

Thank you, Great Purple One!
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Post by Lasombra Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:42 am

cheers
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Post by daveyeisley Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:52 pm

Thanks The Amethyst Dragon Smile
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