7 replies to this topic

[Jergis]

-Howdy folks. no mention as of yet, and i know that Vanguard fans and critics may have somethign to say as well, but i wonder if any thought has been given to social skills in Alganon? At the very least perhaps tie vendor prices to a charisma-tied skill for negotiations? That type of connectivity to some of the more mundane aspects of the game could create a great opportunity for another area of specialization. Possibly could also lead to more or different quests depending on how persuasive you are?

So would the community like to see this, and if so how would you implement it? Or would you simply prefer a faction-based scoring system to set out what favorable merchants and quest-givers you could use? Let us know!

[Syndic]

I always like the idea of working my way into peoples good books, things like getting better prices, more benefits like items, houses, mounts, travel options from certain places in the world. Although by working my way I don't mean I wont it to feel like work but something that would happen through normal play of the game.
Whether that is through the old faction style, or something as simple as completing a particular quest I'm sure there are many ways to do it but I think faction plays a big part in roleplaying games.

I'm not too sure about a stat or ability (discounting illusions from EQ1) that would give better faction but I have yet to play a game that takes these things into account (except maybe Oblivion which i didn't like at all).

[Syndic]

I'm not too sure about a stat or ability (discounting illusions from EQ1) that would give better faction but I have yet to play a game that takes these things into account (except maybe Oblivion which i didn't like at all).

Maybe I should say

EQ1 allowed you to change faction with people through illusions, but this left these benefits available to only Enchanters and Druids. Druids could change into a wolf which gave them Beta Neutral faction which generally meant noone liked them but noone hated them either, made it really handy to get into enemy territory. Enchanters had racial illusions so going into a Dark Elf city was made alot easier when looking like a Dark Elf (although religion had it's problems but thats another story).

This I perceived as unfair since those 2 classes had advantages over others that couldn't be replicated by other means and I don't regard this as very balanced (even though I used to play a druid), iirc this has been changed so illusions don't alter faction anymore.

Oblivion which I didn't play for more than a few hows seemed to have some system that I never fully got grips with and frankly played too long ago to remember well, all I know is I didn't like it at all. I think there was a random number calculation in there which I don't think should come up in interaction with others.


I think you should be able to change NPC's view of you but everyone needs to be able to do it equally and without randomness however it gets done.

[Grimmway]

EQ1 allowed you to change faction with people through illusions, but this left these benefits available to only Enchanters and Druids. Druids could change into a wolf which gave them Beta Neutral faction which generally meant noone liked them but noone hated them either, made it really handy to get into enemy territory. Enchanters had racial illusions so going into a Dark Elf city was made alot easier when looking like a Dark Elf (although religion had it's problems but thats another story).

That's a gray issue to me. I'm all for distinct classes and abilities - in fact, I think homogenization of classes is a horrible, horrible idea. With that, races should be distinct, and homogenizing them is also a horrible idea.

Back in EQ1, needing an illusion to venture in places was pretty neat - stealthy like, paranoia that a guard would cut you down, etc. Having a druid's wolf form faction not tied to their human faction = half-baked idea that every druid abused (guard killing, etc.).

But how do you balance having special class abilities that you don't undermine by creating insta-clicky items that give the same benefit? Bards got many items that gave them many different illusions. Some of the original items (Guise of the Deceiver) could be clicked from inventory by non-Bards until one certain patch day. Hard to balance, and impossible to appease everyone.

Grimmway

[dog]

Adding a charisma element would certainly set Alganon apart from many of the other MMOs on the market today. But I'm guessing it would be quite tricky to implement into the system, especially the economy. If your getting cheaper prices from NPCs because of your high charisma I'm not sure how that would affect the market. I would actually like to hear from one of the developers about this. What kind of an effect do they think a charisma bartering element would have on the game's economy?

[Celestina]

cant say a charisma bartering is usefull.

instead make it a random success rate click a button.. " barter price" and either the npc agrees or he does not, can be done up to 3x per item or " bunch" that you are selling.

[Zoie]

I think its a great idea. I didnt like it in Obvlivan either but thats cause it was a bad system with negative outcomes and the lack of it made the game hard to progress though. But I have seen similar systems run in other games though and it worked well, with npc discounts and things and sometimes extra hints (but not essential knowledge) to help you with your quests. You could get it from being helpful or questing and through the study system so that way the casuals and the hard core players are covered. It could be something that could grow with you as you progressed through your whole game with benfits at all levels being added.

[Hasala]

why not just have faction earned with a city as you do quests for them that lowers prices/fees for that city. They could also add something to the studies that would allow an extra discount to all fees/prices for NPC.

Maybe when a certain level is reached, special quests could open up for that faction or city.