Why can't we start learning new skills whilst the game is down?
I was wondering what the reason is for making it that way. It seems weird that you can continue learning skills you're already on, but you can't pick up new ones.
My guess is they want to have the world stable with no state change while the game is closed.
The server probably does not do any work while learning except keeping track of when you are done - but changing skill is an update to your character.
Also: This probably is not considered a big deal since the game is supposed to stay up when beta is over ;-).
Skills are not learned at all - it's a flip switch happening after x amount of time passed.
Therefore nothing is happening AT ALL, while the game is closed.
When the game is opened again, all that's done is look at how much time have passed since the skill initially was started, and subtract x amount of time. :)
I've made a suggestion over in ideas that skill learning is way too easy the way it is. Instead of just requiring clock time to elapse, skill learning should require you to be in-game for a certain amount of time.
Eg, Cooking II - 4 hours of game play, not 4 hours of clock time.