Multi-skill question

delete5230

Watched and loved the Q/A video with lots talked about crafting.  I loved your John Wayne approach about being on a long adventure and situations arise where it helps to have different skill sets along.  

I'm new to first generation mmorpg's.  
It's been so long, it's a new concept to most.  It's almost ground breaking all over again.
It seems first gen is most about being needed, Second gen is less about being needed, and third gen no one needs anyone.



I often play a healer, for the reason of being valuable.  Not so much to be a healer but more to be needed.  I'm sure all of us want to be needed... It's a large part of the fun.  Infact, deep down inside, this could be the single most driving force of playing for years, to be come more and more valuable.  

In most mmorpg's you hit end game "then it's only about gear"... But if it's about MORE VALUABLE, people may stick around longer.  This through multi purpose. 


Nothing feels better when: 

"can someone fix the bridge" 
Ya.....I could help with that !  

"We need a doctor" 
Sure....I could do that too ! 

It's obvious, it takes time investment to multi-skill.  However if your in for the long haul you should be able to accomplish several.  But later you say you could trade one for another....Do you think you could elaborate on multi-skills  

Renfail

You will always be limited by the maximum number of masteries you can achieve. Currently, we have 5 Adventure + 5 Utility, and there are a couple of Supplemental slots as well, giving you 12 total. (Supplemental are things like Dual Wield). That is the "max build" scenario where a player has maxed out their character. 

You start with 2 utility and 2 adventure and as you progress, you get access to more slots. 

You will never be able to have more than those max allowed Masteries. Think of it like Dunbar's number: there is a limit to how much information your brain can process, and thus there is a limit to how many skills you can have. 

If you are playing for a year, and decide you want to trade out bows for 2hs...great. You'll drop a bow mastery, lose a couple of points in dex, add a 2hs mastery, gain a couple points of strength. Your new sword skills will be at 0 b/c you've never used them before and you'll have to level them up from 0. 

Meanwhile, your bow skills related to whatever mastery you dropped will reduce in potency because you "use it or lose it". In this case, you got rid of a bow skill, and your skills in that area dropped accordingly b/c you are no longer actively using them. They won't drop to zero, but they will drop. 

If you later on decide that you didn't like that decision, you can switch back to the original bow mastery...but you will need to re-level any of those associated abilities back up from wherever they dropped to, back up to the max. However, the 2nd time around they will level up faster than they did the first time, due to "muscle memory". 

If you stop going to the gym, you lose muscle mass, but if you go back six months later, it's easier than it was the first time to get back into the routine b/c your body remembers the routines. It's the same principle here. However, we want players to have the flexibility to mix/match ANY mastery they desire to build their own unique build, and they can slot those in and out at ANY time. 

The caveat is there is always going to be a win/lose in terms of abilities associated with those masteries as you will lose potency in anything you pull out, and have to re-level things if you bring them back later on. 

Obviously this is a Work In Progress and none of this is set in stone. 

Renfail

I should also add that crafting masteries will be separate from adventuring masteries, and we do not yet have a set total on those, nor have we finished fleshing out that system. But if a person has the time/dedication to flesh out BOTH sides of the coin, they absolutely can. 

delete5230

Renfail said:

I should also add that crafting masteries will be separate from adventuring masteries, and we do not yet have a set total on those, nor have we finished fleshing out that system. But if a person has the time/dedication to flesh out BOTH sides of the coin, they absolutely can. 

Thanks for the clear up Ren  

I believe I'm more talking about the crafting masteries.  

But you have a point, in real life if your a carpenter, your most likely not a Doctor.  But it would be nice to really offer a lot if you've been playing for a long time...Good incentive to press on.


A good example of this: 
I'm 55 years old, I gained a lot of wisdom in life. I'm a technician, I fix things for a living.  However If someone is trying to screw me on property tax, I could go to my local courthouse and play attorney.  If I pop my back out or something like that, my chiropractor thought me how to pop it back in my self... I could go on and on.  

But still I really get your point.

Renfail

Using your example: 

You've got a lot of "life" skills. You are good at many of those "life" skills, but master of really only one thing: technician. 

Should you choose to, say, switch over to being an attorney, and leave your technician career behind...you will get rusty at the former, while becoming polished at the latter. 

Meanwhile, many people are jacks of all trades. I'm another good example of that. I grew up on a dairy farm + cattle ranch, spent 15+ years as a third-generation ceramic tile and natural stone contractor, and the last decade as a writer/blogger/photographer & videographer/marketer/public speaker. 

I have lots of "life" skills. But I haven't worked construction in a decade, I haven't worked with animals in two decades, and even the past couple of years I've been doing less photography and videography with my full focus on Saga of Lucimia and running Stormhaven Studios. 

My "non essential" skills have grown rusty, while my writing + marketing + public speaking + team/project management skills have remained at the forefront. But if I went back to the family ranch and spent a year getting back into the swing of things, it would come back over that period of time...but my writing/etc. would suffer as a result of not using those skills daily. 

Meanwhile, my construction background allows me to do carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, and beyond...but I also haven't worked in that industry in a decade, so I'm behind the times on the latest advancements in code + technology, and my skill level compared to a trim carpenter who spends his every waking hour working with those tools = not even comparable.