9 replies to this topic

[Hesitation]

As I meander about aimlessly trying to figure out how to get my magic level up to 59 (I needed the other tomes to get defence to 50, lazy me), I killed a various number of monsters of varying difficulties and varying strengths and weaknesses, to varying degrees of success.

What I've found is that it can take a while to train combat skills now. I don't know if this is the case for high-leveled creatures; I hover stably at mid-level (because free player, 'kay?). But given that defence suddenly became more crucial (at least I think it did--I'm whiffing more spells and hits than I used to), a plethora of problems began to rise.

Firstly, the experience given is too low. Well, not too low, I suppose, but lower than the old system, I think. I'm pretty sure I could have squeezed those few defence levels in an hour or two in the old system, but I've spent one barely leveling once. Because experience is given upon death, that means one will have to fully obliterate the opponent(s) to gain experience. This presents the problem of trading off drops and fighting against equal opponents in exchange for a good experience rate via considerably weaker foes, usually ones that can be killed in one or two strikes, give or take a whiff. In other words, it polarizes the preexisting fundamental tradeoff, as well as lessening the incentive to combat considerably tougher foes for experience (fun times slowly poisoning/stabbing giant mole, and repeatedly dying to chaos elemental ). Okay... so experience is not necessarily less. It just seemed so for me. Alas, the curse of perception.


Then, there's the problem of competition. It doesn't matter which world one flips to, there'll almost always be people at hill giants, Varrock guards, GWD somewhere, and so on. For those folks, there's usually an incentive for either experience or drops, the lesser one being a simply nice add-on to the process. With the new--and somewhat peculiar--combat system, it does at least two things.

One, it induces chaos, especially with the chain or other AoE attacks (which is not necessarily a bad thing, as mayhem fireworks can be funny). Second, as competitors (sans certain clan activities and bosses, we fight alone), we collectively suffer from getting less by doing more. Before, a group of 10... shall we say, Al-Kharid warriors (for a lack of a better multi-combat opponent) would feed a group of players accordingly to their accuracy and damage output--ergo, sharper opponents with sharper weapons tend to get more experience, as they should. Now, there is no such division; it's either do-or-die--er, kill or be kill-stolen. It is entirely possible to "tag" every guard and get every meaty experience point, while the other players get naught. Then, it too polarized a preexisting issue: competitive combat/kill-stealing (which, at least in my opinion, had been relatively benign back then).

Yes, I cannot deny that the action bar has made combat more dynamic. But has it also made it more arduous to train? How many players can coexist in a mosh pit of hobgoblins (or whatever the new fancy killzone is)? Is the grind shorter, or longer?

These problems are probably hypothetical at best (eg. they're all in my head, man), but if Runescape's community has taught me anything, it's to be efficient. That can and probably will be a tough bridge to cross.

P.S. The ideas stated here may not be the most eloquently stated, and some ideas may have been lost in the process.

Edited by Reluctance, 27 November 2012 - 11:12 AM.

[ʸᵃʸ]

At higher levels, the XP gain is actually pretty massive. It seems to scale exponentially. For example, Iron Dragons give 1128XP (plus 376 HP XP), while they used to give 660XP (plus 165 HP XP). But at lower levels, for example, Hill Giants, will reward 151.5XP (plus 50.5 HP XP), but they used to give 140XP (plus 45.5 HP XP). It's still an increase over the old numbers, though.

I absolutely agree the tagging system needs to go. It works in some games, but RS is just not built to support it.

[Hesitation]

ʸᵃʸ, on 24 November 2012 - 11:54 AM, said:

At higher levels, the XP gain is actually pretty massive. It seems to scale exponentially. For example, Iron Dragons give 1128XP (plus 376 HP XP), while they used to give 660XP (plus 165 HP XP). But at lower levels, for example, Hill Giants, will reward 151.5XP (plus 50.5 HP XP), but they used to give 140XP (plus 45.5 HP XP). It's still an increase over the old numbers, though.

I absolutely agree the tagging system needs to go. It works in some games, but RS is just not built to support it.

Hm, is that so? Well, I had to be wrong somewhere.

[Milktea4me]

Alright, right off the bat I can tell you that XP is WAY easier to get now. People have been averaging ~1.5M an hour at Monkey Skeletons using Blood/Ice Barrage USING MOMENTUM. People shouldn't be worried about XP at all anyway.

[No1]

Milktea4me, on 24 November 2012 - 02:00 PM, said:

People have been averaging ~1.5M an hour at Monkey Skeletons using Blood/Ice Barrage USING MOMENTUM. People shouldn't be worried about XP at all anyway.

I should note, that was an exceptional situation, and it was patched within a day of EOC actually being released. Most techniques and rates won't be incredibly faster than prior to the update.

[Hesitation]

A further note to input, deadly red spider > lesser demons (557 xp vs. 345 xp), and pirate <<< hobgoblins of the same level (14 xp vs. 60 xp).

Edited by Reluctance, 24 November 2012 - 07:53 PM.

[Jay]

Milktea4me, on 24 November 2012 - 02:00 PM, said:

Alright, right off the bat I can tell you that XP is WAY easier to get now. People have been averaging ~1.5M an hour at Monkey Skeletons using Blood/Ice Barrage USING MOMENTUM. People shouldn't be worried about XP at all anyway.

That method was patched within hours of eoc release, it's back to 300-400k experience per hour now.

[CRXrippin]

Some of the monsters may provide a decrease in XP for sure, but I think that with the abilities and multi combat everywhere you can get more kills, it makes up for it. Also, once you start killing decent level monsters you'll be getting huge xp. It's actually way more xp/hr than the old system was.

[Levells]

Tagging monsters isn't enough. XP seems to be rewarded approximate % of the damage you did, if I had to take a guess. So mass tagging monsters isn't quite as effective as it may seem. (If I'm righ)
Grotworms were giving me ~399-400 xp w/ the avatar tagging along. On a few kills where a bot/other player attacked one, I got anywhere from 386-395 or so. Tagging will guarantee you the drop, but it doesn't look like it guarantees you the full xp.

[Sly_Stallone]

For lower levels, the EOC may seem harder in terms of training skills. However, getting higher levels in your skills and becoming a member will greatly increase your xp gained, with more effective members weapons and armour ect. However if you stick to being a free player I respect you, as the free game is amazing compared to other MMO's out there. Personally, I love the EOC and have seen a dramatic increase in my xp gains whilst fighting and skilling- especially mining! ( I love dropping ores so fast :) ). Also, if you need some tips on getting magic experience do all of your daily and weekly D&D's to gain some nice chunks of xp. Getting back OT, I love the new EOC RuneScape and I do not think grindscape has been re-enacted, In fact I think it is moving further away from grindscape with every update.