XP Rewards reduced?

[ErictheRed]

I've played Das since version 1.03; a long time ago (four years?). I know most of the XP comes from quests. I still think that these XP changes seem a little too drastic, perhaps more drastic than intended, so I thought I'd bring it up. I'm not going to quit playing or anything if the changes stay.

I'm all for rewarding grouping, but it seems right now like there was a 60-80% cut in kill XP for soloing players (I haven't really tested groups). That seems excessive to me, maybe not to some others. If it was up to me, I'd do something like:

# Players in Party XP Adjustment
1 -20%
2 -10%
3 0
4 +10%
5 +20%
6+ +30%

Of course, there would have to be another adjustment based on the level range of the players in the group.

But anyway it's not up to me, I'll still play and have fun, I just genuinely thought that there was some mistake when the XP reward for defeating enemies was cut so much.

[Rob]

This thread contains so much negativity and misinformation it paints a pretty unfair picture of Dasaria. The goal of Dasaria is to bring the table top D&D experience to the PC. Changes are made constantly to help reach that goal.

There was a system wide XP change. The change was made to encourage partying over power-gaming, and has little impact on normal solo play. Characters no longer gain massive XP by killing creatures above their level. However they still get normal XP for killing creatures near their level and gain a significant bonus while partied, up to 120%! The impression that there has been a 20% to 80% decrease in XP across the board is false.

Here are some accurate before and after numbers. Some numbers are higher, some are lower, but it demonstrates that XP has not been systematically decreased.

XP awarded to a level 1 character for killing a level 1 wolf - before: 20 / after: 20.
XP awarded to a level 11 character for killing a level 7 bugbear scout - before: 14 / after: 21.
XP awarded to a level 13 character for killing a level 11 tassielian guard - before: 33 / after: 31.
XP awarded to a level 13 character for killing a level 13 tersii master - before: 73 / after: 36.
XP awarded to a level 17 character for killing a level 14 vokk stalker - before: 25 / after: 34.
XP awarded to a level 17 character for killing a level 15 vokk warlord - before: 37 / after: 36.

It's also unfair to point out only the negative adjustments made to the quest XP. Yes, Terminate Laugwart was reduced from 400 to 300. But in return another quest was added to the same area worth an additional 400xp! And, the quest XP for the Message to Aucklorn was not reduced. The only change to the Aucklorn quests was a redistribution of XP. 200 XP was taken from The Undertaker quest and given to the Angela's Ashes quest. Angela's Ashes was not reduced. It was increased!

Hopefully folks will now have a better understand of what has changed. And Dasaria was launched in November of 2006. Nobody has been here four years.

[Wired]

a 60-80% cut in kill XP for soloing players

I'm sorry but this is just incorrect.

[Mystic T]

Sorry but your numbers are totally wrong, My lvl 1 killing a lvl 1 wolf gets 12 xp not 20.

As to the Angela's ashes quest i can 100% guarantee my druid did it and got 850 xp and the next day did it again after reset and got only 700 - clearly reduced not increased. As others have pointed out also its NOT a game breaker im leaving situation for me.

Just thought i would clear those two up

[ErictheRed]

a 60-80% cut in kill XP for soloing players

I'm sorry but this is just incorrect.

I'm not trying to argue just for the sake of arguing, and I'm willing to go in-game to test he XP rewards with you if you want. But, I remember that a level 4 character used to get ninety-something XP for killing a wererat, and now I get only 36. I'm pretty sure that a level 4 character used to get 150 XP for killing a Ru'Sat Clan Scout (I used to kill those guys while hunting for hides, pretty tough at that level!), and now they give 42 XP. I could be remembering the old XP rewards incorrectly, but those are the correct current rewards. That seems like a cut of about 60-70%, which is why I thought there was some mistake.

I used to like to challenge my characters a lot. For instance, I'd take a level 4 character into the Wererats, or a level 8 character into the Monastery, etc. There was absolutely NO way I could complete those quests at that level, even with my more powerful characters, but I could kill some of the bad guys and pick some of the better loot. Plus, it was fun for me and even when I died a couple times I ended up making some XP. Now, that doesn't seem viable anymore.

When you say that it is just incorrect that there was a 60-80% XP cut, it leads me to think that things aren't operating as intended. I don't mean to argue; I guess I'm asking that someone please take a look at the XP reward changes and see if they are actually behaving as intended.

Thanks!

[ErictheRed]

This thread contains so much negativity and misinformation it paints a pretty unfair picture of Dasaria. The goal of Dasaria is to bring the table top D&D experience to the PC. Changes are made constantly to help reach that goal.

Hopefully folks will now have a better understand of what has changed. And Dasaria was launched in November of 2006. Nobody has been here four years.

Hi Rob, I didn't mean to be negative; in the beginning, I thought there might be a bug. I also don't want to argue exact before/after numbers, as I have only my memory to go on for the "before" numbers (see above). If someone could dig up some screenshots, though...

I agree 100% with XP changes to quests; I'm only concerned about XP for defeating enemies.

The staff here works hard, and I appreciate that. I've brought up my concern, now I'll just be quiet and see if anyone looks into it. I wish that you wouldn't say that this thread contains so much negativity and misinformation. I think it contains confusion, which at least in theory, could be cleared up rather easily. I probably should have posted this thread in the Bug Reporting section, so that it wouldn't seem like I'm attacking the changes.

And I apologize for thinking that I might have played here for four years. I guess I started in January 2007, so it's only been 2.5 years, though it seems longer.

[Wired]

Honestly, kill XP is not only roughly the same as it always was (I have the code right here in front of me as well as reams of data like Rob has posted), but as you outlevel monsters you are actually getting MORE xp than you used to.

We've tried to provide legitimate, good-faith answers to your questions here and are getting continually challenged to provide more "evidence." As a result, this thread already contains more of the internals of our module than I really care to be discussed in public, yet you seem unconvinced. I like and respect you, but we can't keep going in circles like this so I am locking this thread. I also don't want people to get the wrong idea.

Understand that changes that happen all the time. Cear v15 alone has been edited 170+ times since release, constituting 1000s of individual changes from added quests, bugfixes, and minor tweaks. Important and material aspects of changes are posted to the Developer's Blog thread, such as the fact that there is now a partying bonus in the xp system but we don't publish details.

Nonetheless I hear that you believe there's an issue and I promise that I will quintuple-check that everything is functioning as designed.