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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 7297263"><p>I'm going to talk about MMO design for a moment.</p><p></p><p>Back in the olden days, World of Warcraft has "class trainers". Every time you leveled up and a new ability became "unlocked" you had to stop everything you were doing, travel to the nearest trainer and pay for training. Sure, some people waited but as you point out, some things like subclasses are major elements that to force them to wait until the party reaches a town, and then wait until they find the appropriate trainer, can be unfair and unreasonably burdensome to certain classes.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, WoW figured this out too. That there was no real benefit to removing players from the world, taking them away from their quests, and forcing them to head to town to pay a guy 3 gold to learn how to hit stuff in a new way. </p><p></p><p>Philosophically, I come to the same answers in my own game. Taking people away from what they are interested in doing (questing, saving the princess, slaying monsters) and telling them to go do something they are <strong>un</strong>interested in doing doesn't serve any real benefit. Typically I answer my own question with "That's what experience points are all about." They're the efforts you have made during the game swinging your sword differently, attempting to call upon the innate magic within your soul, challenging your ki to new and unique ends. Class features are simply a game mechanic to represent the abilities a player has developed via gaining experience. It is <em>less</em> surprising that many people come to the same conclusions (swinging your sword this way does more damage!) than it is surprising that a player may develop new abilities "in the field". </p><p></p><p>Likewise, it should not be unreasonable to suggest that everything a player knows is the height of their learning. There may be highly skilled, classed (or non-classed) NPCs who know <em>specific</em> talents and features that may not be listed in any book. That is IMO, where training is best served, to learn something that the player could not otherwise pull from the pages of a Handbook.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 7297263"] I'm going to talk about MMO design for a moment. Back in the olden days, World of Warcraft has "class trainers". Every time you leveled up and a new ability became "unlocked" you had to stop everything you were doing, travel to the nearest trainer and pay for training. Sure, some people waited but as you point out, some things like subclasses are major elements that to force them to wait until the party reaches a town, and then wait until they find the appropriate trainer, can be unfair and unreasonably burdensome to certain classes. Eventually, WoW figured this out too. That there was no real benefit to removing players from the world, taking them away from their quests, and forcing them to head to town to pay a guy 3 gold to learn how to hit stuff in a new way. Philosophically, I come to the same answers in my own game. Taking people away from what they are interested in doing (questing, saving the princess, slaying monsters) and telling them to go do something they are [B]un[/B]interested in doing doesn't serve any real benefit. Typically I answer my own question with "That's what experience points are all about." They're the efforts you have made during the game swinging your sword differently, attempting to call upon the innate magic within your soul, challenging your ki to new and unique ends. Class features are simply a game mechanic to represent the abilities a player has developed via gaining experience. It is [I]less[/I] surprising that many people come to the same conclusions (swinging your sword this way does more damage!) than it is surprising that a player may develop new abilities "in the field". Likewise, it should not be unreasonable to suggest that everything a player knows is the height of their learning. There may be highly skilled, classed (or non-classed) NPCs who know [I]specific[/I] talents and features that may not be listed in any book. That is IMO, where training is best served, to learn something that the player could not otherwise pull from the pages of a Handbook. [/QUOTE]
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