Could we be told the XP gain numerically, not just shown it by animation?

Discussion in 'Feedback and Suggestions' started by Sir Knight, Jan 14, 2013.

  1. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    I'm trying to understand the XP mechanic. Unfortunately, because the XP graphic starts sliding the instant you go to your character sheet (after completing an adventure), it's easy to miss what the initial number was for comparison: zoooooooom, the XP is already on the move! Could we get a pop-up number on the slider that tells us the exact amount?

    It looks like you gain 10 XP for an adventure at your character's level. I guess this because level 1 characters have 10 XP at the end of the XP animation on their first adventure. I'm guessing you get 4 XP if you are 1 level above the adventure's level: a new character is at Level 2, XP 8 after completing the four tutorials. Me, I would have set it at 6 XP for being 1 level above.

    Then, because I measured it over here, you get 2 XP if you are 2 levels above the adventure's level.

    What about the other direction? I brought a level 2 character into a level 8 adventure and gained 20 XP. That doesn't look like nearly enough for a 6-level difference, unless 20 XP is a "cap" to prevent just the sort of abuse I was attempting. I mean testing.
     
    SurgeonFish likes this.
  2. Jesus669

    Jesus669 Orc Soldier

    I think it would be nice to show the player what they are gaining somewhere. Most people don't like hidden numbers. This is especially true when it isn't all that important to be hidden and can easily be tracked if you were to take the time to write everything down as you see it. I feel experience should always be shown in games. People are just going to figure it out eventually anyway.
     
  3. Jon

    Jon Blue Manchu Staff Member

    We could show it on the initial pre-adventure screen but, because it is per-character, it would make that screen quite busy.
     
  4. sokolov

    sokolov Mushroom Warrior

    I don't believe Sir Knight is asking for the XP you will get, but the XP you actually got, which could be easily added to the character sheet at the end screen.
     
  5. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    Yes, what sokolov said.
     
  6. Jon

    Jon Blue Manchu Staff Member

    Yeah, I got that. But you could show it at the start of the adventure.
     
  7. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    True. So . . . you're the devs, you figure it out.
     
  8. Jesus669

    Jesus669 Orc Soldier

    LoL
     
  9. Neofalcon

    Neofalcon Goblin Champion

    Perhaps it could be shown in the XP bar, in a different color from the currently earned XP. So if you have 8/20, and will gain 4 for completing the adventure, it shows the 8 as the current yellow-ish bar, then has an orange segment that extends an extra 4 that says "+ 4" on it.

    Here's a terrible MSpaint picture of what I mean:
    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    That's a possibility. When I mentioned "a pop-up number on the slide," I was thinking something like that, but in a bigger font like the "uncommon," "rare," etc. labels on loot.
     
  11. Jesus669

    Jesus669 Orc Soldier

    Different color and show the old xp number and the xp earned number with a different color bar. then a slash and the total xp?
     
  12. Hallas

    Hallas Mushroom Warrior

    I like the XP bar idea proposed by Neofalcon. It doesn't add any clutter and is easily identifiable as exactly how much XP was gained. Works in a visual and textual way.
     
  13. Szczypior

    Szczypior Orc Soldier

    I like your idea, it's similar to the LoL post-game screen where you can see how much IP you earned (hovering makes you show tooltip with description what are the points for):

    [​IMG]

    (screenshot googled, not my game)
     
  14. Jesus669

    Jesus669 Orc Soldier

    The only difference is I would like the total you have/needed in there as well. It's annoying not being able to see my xp in LoL despite me being able to make a fairly close guess.
     
  15. Szczypior

    Szczypior Orc Soldier

    yes, I was talking about the bar only, so there would be still 6/20XP on the right side of the bar as it's on the screenshot from Neofalcon :)
     
  16. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    I just took a group of level 9 adventurers into the level 10 Garnet Demon Portal and gained 15 XP each. That doesn't fit any pattern I can see.

    To summarize, comparing your character's level to the adventure's level, we get:

    +3 or more above the adventure: 0 XP
    +2 difference: 2 XP
    +1 difference: 4 XP
    0 difference: 10 XP
    -1 difference: 15 XP
    -2 difference: ?? XP
    -3 or more below the adventure: 20 XP (have to assume this)

    How peculiar.
     
  17. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    And now, in the interests of science (rhymes with "violence"), I took a Level 3 and a Level 4 character together into the Level 6 adventure The White Star. Many, many dead Kobolds later, both gained exactly 20 XP. Still assuming that "your character's level compared to the adventure's level" determines XP, we get:

    +3 or more above the adventure: 0 XP
    +2 difference: 2 XP
    +1 difference: 4 XP
    0 difference: 10 XP
    -1 difference: 15 XP
    -2 or more below the adventure: 20 XP

    Now it looks even more imbalanced. Opinions?

    Again, I would set the +1 difference to 6 XP. This way, your increasing reward for taking risks is still quick (5 XP per level), but your diminishing reward for facing old challenges is slightly more slow (4 XP per level).
     
  18. mightymushroom

    mightymushroom Goblin Champion

    It doesn't bother me the way it's set up now. Balance in the sense of having an equal value added/subtracted per level difference is less important than balance in terms of character progression versus the adventures that are unlocked. Might increasing the reward for dungeons that ought to be beneath you allow the characters to advance too quickly from repeat adventures?

    Supposing a character is +1 level relative to an adventure with 0/20 progress toward the next level.
    Right now it takes 15 replays to exhaust a module's potential for XP. (5x4 + 10x2)
    After the proposed change it takes 12 replays. (4x6 + 8x2) It reduces by 20% the grinding in a game that uses grinding to control its pace.

    Edit: bad math the first time
     
  19. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    That's the sort of math I wanted to see. Thanks.
     
  20. Jesus669

    Jesus669 Orc Soldier

    How would everyone in the beta feel about the reduced grind for early level from 15 to 12 as posted above?
     

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