Topic

Specialization

As it is right now, it's pretty easy to do everything. Even if you don't want to be able to craft everything, you can still learn the skills. 

Do you like it this way? Or, would you rather it be harder to learn some skills if you already know one branch of skills. For example, in a fantasy, skill based game, I can specialize in magic and it'll be harder for me to learn combat, Or, I can learn both and not be as skilled in either.

Or, I could learn mining and weapon smithing, but I may have a hard time learning farming and cooking.

See where I'm going with this? Right now, I only buy stuff because I don't feel like making/gathering it myself. But, if could make or gather it myself if I really wanted. If we have specializations, if I wanted something that I couldn't produce myself I would have to trade with others.

Don't get me wrong, I like the set up here and enjoy being self-sufficient. I'm just curious about everyone's else's thoughts.

Posted 8 months ago by EzBreezy Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I prefer self sufficiency :) I'd like to be able to do everything myself, if at all possible :)
    Posted 8 months ago by Liza Throttlebottom Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It already is that way to a certain extent, with the 3% cumulative increase in time to learn new skills. Someone who's specialized in just one or two things can learn new skills much, much faster than those who want to have everything. Admittedly, the skill list is still fairly small, but I imagine that when there are hundreds of skills, it'll be prohibitive to learn everything.
    Posted 8 months ago by Pocket Bard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • To be honest I hate having to specialize in things and love being able to do everything. I think it takes away a big part of the game for me when I am forced to choose one thing or another. I've played games where I've chosen one path being a newbie and not knowing anything at the time, later regretted it (and then had to pay real money to buy some item to reset it... in which case I pretty much refuse and usually lose interest in the game). 
    There's always going to be people who prefer one aspect of the game to the other so people will always trade. For example, player A might love mining and player B may love harvesting trees, which means that even though both have the ability to mine and harvest trees, player A can trade player B sparkly rocks for player B's cherries.
    Posted 8 months ago by Omnika Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Another thing to consider is the greatly reduced XP allowance per activity. It will pay to be able to do many different things.

    Earlier I made one Spicy Grog and was told that was all the XP allowed for making that for the day.
    Posted 8 months ago by Miss Parsley Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think imagination will change some of that, but honestly I believe its better to add a practice points to it, like if u do it often you will be able to do it quicker, or using less materials. That way it would be possible to specialize and still be able to learn all skills.
    Posted 8 months ago by arizoo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ... Aren't you level 60 Miss? It will tell you that until the imagination switch for everything you do :)

    Unless by earlier you mean 'before I was level sixty' xD In which case I shall be quiet and wrong :P
    Posted 8 months ago by Liza Throttlebottom Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the variety of different things we can do. At the same time, I think it'd make the economy more interesting if specialization existed to some extent e.g. skill proficiency contingent on how often you have used it (and perhaps not for all, but for some of the more advanced skills). So everyone can still learn everything, but those who are more practiced and focused on certain skills will be able to offer you a more refined product e.g. more energy from foods, longer buffs, etc.
    Posted 8 months ago by Spirit of Xanadhi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's an interesting idea, Xanadhi, I like it :)
    Posted 8 months ago by Omnika Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Miss Parsley is Level 60.  Nothing she does will earn any XP for her and every recipe will give her exactly that same warning.  
    Posted 8 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For a note, any crafting activity will earn you 6% of the way to the next level before you're capped.
    When the new level system comes in along with imagination (We can assume there will be some sort of new equation since 60 will be compressed down to 40) this may change, but we do not know :) 

    So while crafting a lot of things may be useful, even just having only the skill botany means you can get 42% of the way to the next level in a single game day by crafting beans :) 

    And, like I said, the cap is only per game day, so really it's not much of a limit :P 4 hours isn't much time at all!
    Posted 8 months ago by Liza Throttlebottom Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There will definitely, and always, be people who argue both sides of this idea.  I'm a casual, non-social, player, so I generally like the way it is better, but a part of me also really likes the idea of specialization, especially Xanadhi's suggestion about possibly not a true specialization in that you CAN'T learn everything, but in that the things you focus on are improved and the things you don't aren't as good.
    Posted 8 months ago by Mithrandnar Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just want to echo the support for Xanadhi's idea ;) Particularly the way Mithrandnar explained them :)
    Posted 8 months ago by Liza Throttlebottom Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like being able to do everything, but I think we should be able to do some things less well than others.  Fair shot at resources- but still need each other if we want to craft faster.
    Posted 8 months ago by Thursday Soleil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've actually worked in that direction, deliberately unlearning cooking, croppery and animal kinship all the way.   Along with a few other unlearned skills this allowed me to specialize in mining, alchemy, meditation and tinkering / engineering.    My theory was and is that cooking and food are cheap and easy to get in the game and I would rather pay money for them then spend time on them myself - which is not to say that I didn't enjoy those skills and activities at one time.  

    What did it get me?

    When the new skills of woodworking, metalworking and furniture making came out I was able to learn them in significantly less time than almost anyone else.  The longest skill, FM2, took me about 2 days to learn.  

    What did THAT get me?  

    Not squat.  They decided to let us learn all the skills well before they could be used.  I still hope that specialization adds variety to the glitch economy and viability to some parts to some undervalued areas*.   It's gonna take awhile though. 

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    * I consider food and cooked food to be a significantly financially undervalued part of the glitch economy.   It's difficult to sell those items at auction, there's little demand and if the prices weren't buoyed by the alternative of vendor buy-back they would crash.    
    Posted 8 months ago by WalruZ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I started with the idea that having every skill and every item was what is was all about. 

    I've still got all of my skills, but I find that having so much freedom in designing my /home has led me to want to get rid of a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit my design aesthetics. So now I'm specializing my possessions. If I find that the skills cause comparable clutter for me later on, I'll clean them out too.
    Posted 8 months ago by Aleph Zero Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like being completely self sufficient.  I would not have enjoyed the game as much if I didn't have the freedom to try out all the different skills, and I probably would have gotten frustrated with not being able to do certain things and quit.
    Posted 8 months ago by Steelasp Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For me, it's not a question of self-sufficiency (although i enjoy being able to do lots of different things). I have no problem at all with interdependence between players, as long as it is done by choice, not by force.

    The idea of making some skills incompatible with other skills, or making it so learning one set of skills debars you from learning another set of skills has been suggested several times since I've been playing Glitch. This is what I have a big ol' problem with. Playing Glitch is a leisure time activity and I'm not going to spend leisure time being told I'm not allowed to do stuff. 

    Besides, how is someone going to know if they enjoy any particular activity unless they get the chance to learn it and give it a try?
    Posted 8 months ago by Flowerry Pott Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for explaining why I was getting the no further points message. I had read that XP was being reduced/restricted but was a bit surprised by how much :D

    Still think it makes sense to be able to do as many things as possible, so you can switch between skills when you reach limit.

    Flowerry, I agree with you about restrictions. I was excited to learn cooking but dislike it and hardly ever do it. I really disliked mining when I first started but once I got to a higher level I like it. Can't really tell how you will feel about skills until you learn and have a go at them.
    Posted 8 months ago by Miss Parsley Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the idea. I could be a teacher. My pay would be high because it prolly took me days and days to learn and it cost me bunches and bunches to take the certification test. I could then help take time off certain skills...kinda like a time quoin. Possibly, my teacher certification, will enable another to learn a skill for a limited amount of time, or test-drive, so to speak. That way, you don't waste a lot of time learning a skill, only to use it a couple of times.
    Posted 8 months ago by bayBi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Miss Parsley, you are not affected by the changes to XP for making certain things.  You get no XP no matter what you do.

    It is people below Level 60 who will be able to see the differences.
    Posted 8 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • At the moment, the only bonus to specialization is the speed of learning new skills.  To put it another way, those who are currently specialized get a bonus toward becoming less specialized. :-)
    Posted 8 months ago by Tamutnefret Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Real Life is all about the restrictions of time and money -- regardless of ambition and motivation -- standing in the way of pursuing many skills at once.  One cannot become a doctor and a lawyer and a skydiver and a Major League Baseball player and fluent in 17 languages and a best friend of the Dalai Lama and a chess champion in a typical "real world" life.  This is why I like Glitch just the way it is -- with a non-frustrating amount of time and dedication, I can level-set my skills to master literally everything possible in the world, which gives the ultimate vicarious achievement experience.  Games that mirror the limitations, degradations, and frustrations of reality are fun...why?

    Cheers,

    TM
    Posted 8 months ago by Tomorrow's Man Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Back when I had many fewer skills, and there were street projects, I *HATED* showing up for a project only to find out that only people with certain high level skills were going to be able to participate.  The most interesting thing happening in the game, and I was locked out.  This experience put me very much on the side of learning every skill in the tree.  I've only left a couple of branches a little short in case additional quests or badges show up that require learning (like the spend X shrine points to speed learning).

    I know MMORPGs are supposed to be interdependent, but I tend to like soloing, and in spite of the hype about community, Glitch doesn't much encourage interaction and therefore specialization.  Exactly one person I know in RL is playing Glitch, and I've never been happy with online game guilds that I've joined with random people in other games.  It would be nice if the game got a little more interactive between players.  Even street projects were largely just a bunch of single people contributing to the same area.  The group digging and teleportation quests are some of the activities most actually dependent on other people at the moment.  I hope Group Halls and other coming projects will help fill this gap.
    Posted 8 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hello

    If the developers do not add any more BL skills, i think you will start to see individuals starting to specialize.  I do not necessarily think this is a bad thing.    I think that a community that is interdependent is a stronger one.  Currently you can make every thing you want and soon we will be able to harvest every thing from our homes , and while glitch makes a really beautiful chat room i think there is the potential for so much more.

    Welcome Home
    Rev.
    Posted 8 months ago by Revrent Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like the fact that one char can do everything.  Otherwise, that pushes people in the direction of needing alts to experience various things.
    Posted 8 months ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like being able to experience everything and -though I am a social player- be self-sufficient.
    Posted 8 months ago by Fernstream Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't want decisions I make in-game to prevent me from experiencing any other part of the game.

    However I don't mind if decisions I make make it harder for me to experience other parts. And we have that at the moment... if I decide to learn everything there is to know about gardening, I'm going to find it harder to learn about mining later on. And I think this is a good thing.

    The situation we currently have is skewed because we have a large proportion of players who have learnt all the skills. In a more dynamic environment we'd have some players who were efficient gardeners trading their produce to other players who were efficient miners. Sure, the gardeners could go mine themselves but with their skill-set they can earn wealth via crops faster than if they mined themselves.

    I think the challenge for the game is going to be to introduce skills fast enough that we're not all maxed-out. Having said that, the balance will change once the game's relaunched & there's an influx of new players.
    Posted 8 months ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If a specialization in mining meant that all I could do in the game was mining, I wouldn't bother playing anymore. Instead of being diverting, it would become drudgery. I watched my son-in-law grinding a sword in Everquest -- he enjoyed it but to me it would be BORING.

    I prefer to have options: some days I glitch in the mines, others I focus on crops or cooking. It's the variety that makes things fun.

    In short, for me, playing is about escaping reality, not recreating it in excruciating mind-numbing detail.
    Posted 8 months ago by Barthel the Bard Subscriber! | Permalink