evilbob
Explorer
I've looked back through the proposals and no one has advocated for or against this yet, so I thought I'd throw out an admittedly radical idea and see what everyone thought.
Proposal: when you create an additional character, you can start that character at a level equal to your highest level existing character minus one.
Example: If you have a level 5 guy and a level 3 guy, you could make a third character at level 4.
Reason: This board has been around a while, and we keep gaining folks and losing folks. As people leave and are replaced, the average level gets driven down, since everyone starts out at level 1. Meanwhile, people who have been online for a long time gradually find themselves a bit lonely (like level 8 and no one else is close). This proposal would allow the average character level to be driven up dramatically, and over time, be more balanced. It would also enable the potential for more interesting characters. Additionally, it would only reward people who have been on the boards a while (since this rule wouldn't affect anyone with a character lower than level 3) and it would significantly reward people who have been around a long while. But most of all, it would let all of us play higher level characters and possibly get to more interesting abilities and content.
I can think of two main potential downsides.
First, I'm sure some will be worried that there will be a period at which there won't be enough low level folks to play together. I don't think this is true, for two reasons: we have a pretty decently established pattern of people joining and others leaving, and I think we'll always continue to have new blood. Also, people are already playing with folks who are more than 1 level above or below them anyway, so having everyone be the exact same level is clearly not a requirement.
Second, this will be a pain to implement, but only for a short while. Once it is going, I don't think it will be difficult, but right now this could affect a large number of people. For example, if someone has a level 4 character and a level 1 character, that person would be eligible for a level 3 character (as their 2nd PC). They would have to retire the level 1 in order to get the level 3, and that's not a good incentive. I would suggest instead allowing them a one-time boost to bring their level 1 guy to level 3 - however, this will be awkward because what if they are in a game with 4 other PCs that are still level 1 and run by new players? You could wait until the end of the current adventure, but then the level 1 guy KNOWS he's just going to be level 3 once its over no matter what, so all current XP is not useful to him. And this doesn't even begin to cover the treasure issue. Obviously, all of this would need to be worked out. But I don't think it's impossible.
(And on a related note, we might have to re-work the new retirement rules, since this actually could encourage "feeder" PCs, as was discussed in the new retirement rules thread. Also, there could be some weirdness when a 2nd PC levels more quickly than a 1st PC, but that doesn't seem like it would happen for a while.)
There are details to be worked out in the implementation, but I think it's a sound proposal. Thoughts, suggestions, ideas welcome!
Proposal: when you create an additional character, you can start that character at a level equal to your highest level existing character minus one.
Example: If you have a level 5 guy and a level 3 guy, you could make a third character at level 4.
Reason: This board has been around a while, and we keep gaining folks and losing folks. As people leave and are replaced, the average level gets driven down, since everyone starts out at level 1. Meanwhile, people who have been online for a long time gradually find themselves a bit lonely (like level 8 and no one else is close). This proposal would allow the average character level to be driven up dramatically, and over time, be more balanced. It would also enable the potential for more interesting characters. Additionally, it would only reward people who have been on the boards a while (since this rule wouldn't affect anyone with a character lower than level 3) and it would significantly reward people who have been around a long while. But most of all, it would let all of us play higher level characters and possibly get to more interesting abilities and content.
I can think of two main potential downsides.
First, I'm sure some will be worried that there will be a period at which there won't be enough low level folks to play together. I don't think this is true, for two reasons: we have a pretty decently established pattern of people joining and others leaving, and I think we'll always continue to have new blood. Also, people are already playing with folks who are more than 1 level above or below them anyway, so having everyone be the exact same level is clearly not a requirement.
Second, this will be a pain to implement, but only for a short while. Once it is going, I don't think it will be difficult, but right now this could affect a large number of people. For example, if someone has a level 4 character and a level 1 character, that person would be eligible for a level 3 character (as their 2nd PC). They would have to retire the level 1 in order to get the level 3, and that's not a good incentive. I would suggest instead allowing them a one-time boost to bring their level 1 guy to level 3 - however, this will be awkward because what if they are in a game with 4 other PCs that are still level 1 and run by new players? You could wait until the end of the current adventure, but then the level 1 guy KNOWS he's just going to be level 3 once its over no matter what, so all current XP is not useful to him. And this doesn't even begin to cover the treasure issue. Obviously, all of this would need to be worked out. But I don't think it's impossible.
(And on a related note, we might have to re-work the new retirement rules, since this actually could encourage "feeder" PCs, as was discussed in the new retirement rules thread. Also, there could be some weirdness when a 2nd PC levels more quickly than a 1st PC, but that doesn't seem like it would happen for a while.)
There are details to be worked out in the implementation, but I think it's a sound proposal. Thoughts, suggestions, ideas welcome!
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