Heh. Yeah, maybe two Logs, two Heavy Sticks, & some rope for a melee target. Archery target would be neat-o but isn’t really necessary: one can shoot at a Rock fairly well. Figure a 2x4 if you want to make a top-shelf target?
[quote=“Kevin Granade, post:33, topic:703”]Books as temporary buffs.
Skill books consuming or lowering accrual of xp.[/quote]
Just so you know, though my proposal may LOOK like “books as a temporary buff”, it isn’t. It is, rather, the only effective way I can think of to implement “Skill books consuming or lowering xp” in a reasonable way. That is through a temporary (but fairly long lasting) higher effective level, but consider this:
People can’t practice effectively if they don’t have the unlocked abilities a higher level would grant. Maybe for produced /quality/ of items, it would use the AL, but it could use EL to determine the recipes you have access too.
A buff implies a certain amount of points over your AL. This isn’t true - gaining skill doesn’t increase your Skill Level while you are operating under the effect of the book. If anything, it’s a way to take out a loan against the future, and promising you’ll pay off the experience later (though it will be easier than without the book, thanks to the gain boost)… although not too much later. And the level it brings you too is governed by the book in question. But still, reading a book that is your level or below would grant no benefit, and I think we agree that’s desirable.
It’s realistic. If you’ve just read a recipe for a cake, you will probably be able to make the cake even if you aren’t an expert cook. But if you DON’T make the cake, there’s a good chance you’ll have forgotten some important ingredients and the times involved by the next day. I’ve had plenty of times where I’ve read a chapter, thought I grokked it, solved a problem or two (but not enough) and found myself having to come back and read it again several days later as the knowledge flits from my mind.
Implementing a book where it (somehow) increases your level of skill growth, without actually giving you any skill, is not only unrealistic, but any implementation I can think up is sloppy and unnatural feeling and generally very ‘gamey’ without being fun. Now, you know I’m all for gamey when it would actually increase enjoyability, but I’m honestly not seeing it here.
I imagined “books as a skill booster” (in the current discussion) as more of a “it unlocks potential” / “it allows me to learn faster” but it isn’t temporary. Think of it as “the next level worth of skill will happen faster” because I have knowledge of how to do it the right way.
For example:
I just hit Cooking 3 (+0%). Making a cake gives me +5% toward the next level. So, after one cake I’m at 3 (+5%). It will currently take me baking 19 cakes to get to Cooking 3 (+95%) and the next one will put me at Cooking 4. So I’m 20 cakes to the next level just by repeat practicing.
I find the Cookbook “The Cake is a Lie”. It has an effective level of (up to) 4. If I read this book, it will give me 1 full level of cooking knowledge. This will not instant-magically-I’m-so-smart boost me to Cooking 4 as it currently would in game. I’m still at Cooking 3 (+0%) but I have an effective knowledge “boost” for the next level worth (+100%) of skill practiced.
I know how better to make cakes from now on, I think. I still haven’t made one though. I’ve unlocked a level worth of potential, though, because I know now what I didn’t before. I will practice/skill more efficiently.
So, I make a cake. This time, thanks to having read the book, it gives me +10% toward the next level. Now it takes me only 10 cakes to get to level 4, because I’m so smart and I know that the cake is a lie already.
If you make “The Cake is a Lie” work up to level 4:
- sooner or later I’m already too skilled to benefit from it, so no abuse.
- If each title only works once per character, for ONE level worth of knowledge/potential then you can’t just chain-read a book to skill to level 3 like you can right now.
- If I find the book early, I can use to to skill faster from, say, level 0 to 1 … or from 2 to 3 … so I as a player have a trade off to think about … hold it until later when it takes longer to skill up or read it now for a quick & early boost?
- you can code in multiple different titles for each of the skills. Raiding a library might get me “The Cake is a Lie” today … maybe the library in the next town has “How To Feed Man (but not to Zombies)” that will give me another potential boost to my cooking tomorrow.
If books unlock potential/faster skilling … you can see how it applies to the combat books as well. I read “Not In The Face!” about melee combat, and learn some pointers. Now when I venture out, I practice what I learned … and thereby skill faster.
Illiterate? No biggie … you just skill at the normal rate. You’re punished by your choice in negative talent because you can’t use books to speed your skilling, but you’re not crippled. “Bookworm” positive talent (yeah I made that up)? Maybe you get double (or whatever balances best) benefit from books … they unlock “extra knowledge” for you.
Int can still unlock what books you can read. … or maybe … int can have a direct percentile influence on how much knowledge/potential you unlock from a book. 10 int, you get the full 100% (1 level) knowledge from a book. 9 int? 90% … 11 int? 110% … etc.
(Note: I even drew pictures to back up my babble above, but spared you from my Excel drawings … lol … and thank you for your work on the game, and listening to my TL:DR ideas … I come up with ideas & pitch them for a living, and it has been a slow month at work, so this gives me an outlet)
So… almost exactly the same as what I proposed, but without the time-based use-it-or-lose-it component?