Alternate Experience/Advancement System

[loudent]

I know a lot of people like to race to level cap and then run end game content and I like that just fine, but I also love leveling up my character and the more interesting and diverse characters can be the more fun it is for me (and the more alts I create and thus the more money I spend).

 

EQ created a really awesome system around this called Alternate Advancement. Basically you decided how much of your experience is going to your level and how much to your "alternate" level. The alternate bonuses were not complete game changers but they offered something a little extra. Maybe some bonus stats or improvement on a set of powers. That sort of thing.

 

One could still choose to ignore it and race to level cap and then build up AA or you could do it as you level up by splitting your xp between SA and AA.

 

This also solves the problem of outleveling your content. A lot of times my quests green or grey out before I even get to them if I could lock my level by putting 100% into AA it gives me time to complete the quests while they're still relevant.

 

If robust enough it also allows for the diversification and uniqueness of characters.

[DOHboy]

what alternative advancement, you talk more about ability to allocate your experience points, but do not mention to where they would go, or how the alternate would work. Currently there is legacy used for certain unlocks and such but that is limited. Social but nothing really comes from that either.

 

IS there some sort of alternate you would like? perhaps you would just prefer a slider bar of how much experience to gain?

[loudent]

what alternative advancement, you talk more about ability to allocate your experience points, but do not mention to where they would go, or how the alternate would work. Currently there is legacy used for certain unlocks and such but that is limited. Social but nothing really comes from that either

 

IS there some sort of alternate you would like? perhaps you would just prefer a slider bar of how much experience to gain?

 

So the it would work is you have a slider on your character sheet that determines the percentage of xp that you want applied to your SA (standard advancement) level and how much toward your AA level. anyone from 0-100% on either side.

 

The AA opens up at level 10 and is like another set of skill trees. However, the effects are not as significant as the main skill trees nor are there as many options and levels. The effects could be minor boost to effectiveness in certain areas, perhaps minor stat boosts or just interesting abilities that might synergize with a particular play style. By making the abilities minor you avoid the "best route" scenario and people can just choose what would be fun or interesting or works well with their character

[theUndead]

So the it would work is you have a slider on your character sheet that determines the percentage of xp that you want applied to your SA (standard advancement) level and how much toward your AA level. anyone from 0-100% on either side.

 

The AA opens up at level 10 and is like another set of skill trees. However, the effects are not as significant as the main skill trees nor are there as many options and levels. The effects could be minor boost to effectiveness in certain areas, perhaps minor stat boosts or just interesting abilities that might synergize with a particular play style. By making the abilities minor you avoid the "best route" scenario and people can just choose what would be fun or interesting or works well with their character

 

The current system is set to vertical progression and all characters and classes follow a very strict formula in how experience is gained and spent. To add any deviation would require a full rewrite of abilities and how classes interact, therefore I in my opinion the resources would be better placed else where.