Idea: exp scaling.

Dying is penalized, so lets reward living.

Introduce exp scaling that provides bonuses for not dying, this increases through x ranks, starts over on death.

Games shouldn't be a grind for the sake of grind, but I'm down with leveling shouldn't be free. Lets find a middle ground.

I realize this introduces issues with campaign balance for difficulty- so something to navigate there; however I love the reward/punishment mechanic.

I simply thing there is a massive imbalance at the moment. A HEAVY death penalty, but no living reward- wouldn't it be much more fun to level faster if you play well?

It would have to be based off of progress in some manner, as obviously it can't be based on time.

What if instead it were the opposite? Downscale the death penalty. First time is the hardest hitting, but if you die again you lose less than before, and so on. Meaning that a bad player would get the hint that their build isn't working for the content they're attempting, there's a penalty, but not a brutally punishing one. Just enough to get the point across. I just don't think making people who already play well get even farther ahead helps those who aren't.

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Gorbarr#2442 a écrit :

What if instead it were the opposite? Downscale the death penalty. First time is the hardest hitting, but if you die again you lose less than before, and so on. Meaning that a bad player would get the hint that their build isn't working for the content they're attempting, there's a penalty, but not a brutally punishing one. Just enough to get the point across. I just don't think making people who already play well get even farther ahead helps those who aren't.

My initial reaction is to compare this idea to law. If penalties are not severe enough, in general, people will not adjust behavior. So decreasing I disagree with, however I do think you're on the right track.

Exp scales, so the death penalty is inherently a greater and greater punishment, in relation to time. For instance jail, people are locked up depending on the severity of the crime. The crime is the same, but the punishment naturally becomes worse, the more difficult it becomes to obtain exp. A level is easy at 70, at 90 is much much more difficult, the penalty is the same. That sucks. Its like getting punished for murder, when you got a speeding ticket.

In that way I agree with your concept, it should likely scale down based on level- maybe even some sort of reward could be tied to it.


REWARDING MORE
My goal is not to even out the field.

I'm not worried about making the game equally fun for a good or bad player. Balancing to the lowest denominator is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Its upto the bad player to become a good player. Its upto game design to help them do that, I think.

The goal of rewarding good consistent play, is to alleviate the grind from the game, and in turn make it more fun. This would actually make dying MORE painful, as you lose more. However you just lose opportunity, nothing you already had.

That is the major pain point of the current xp loss system. Exp loss overall, I think is good, its needed. There simply should be a punishment for death, and ultimately it makes the game more fun when done correctly.

The problem with it, is it takes away what we've already earned. Its not taking away opportunity, its robbing progress.

For instance, you beat a map, you gained exp, you are at 30%. You do another map, die at +1% exp, you lose that 1% and 9% of the map you already beat. 9% that you've already earned. That is why players are upset about exp loss. It punishes your past success.

We're also rewarded based on immediate performance. You kill a monster and pick up the loot, its yours. So it doesn't make sense to be punished AFTER you killed the monster, for something unrelated to that monster. It would be like if you beat a monster, picked up the loot, died died to the next monster, and the previous monsters gear is gone. That would be insane! However that is what is happening with exp loss.

There needs to be some sort of healthy boundary/punishment.


EXP LOSS CLARITY
Last thing. Its also completely unclear you're going to lose exp at 70. At least, I didn't detect anything in multiple playthroughs. So its at least not obvious. All it needs is a notification like the resistance negatives when moving through acts. You've hit 70, now you're losing x exp on death.

The why is another question entirely. I really wish it happened throughout the game, so it was consistent.

Its bad design, its frustrating- which is why players are frustrated. Its math.