Post:The Handy Guide to Your New EXP Pulses - 7/12/2009 - 2:08:09

The Handy Guide to Your New EXP Pulses · on 7/12/2009 2:08:09 AM	5255
Hello! By now you've seen the new experience system and its scary tendency to produce relatively lower mindstates than you're used too. Do not fret! We are here to help guide you through this new and, I think you will agree, marvelous new addition to the DragonRealms family of systems. Part 1: Meet Mr. Bit You might not have noticed him before, but one of your best buddies in the whole game is a little fellow named Bit. He is the fundamental component of all experience gain, or, you could say, the DragonRealms equivalent of the experience point. He's awfully busy and doesn't get to say much, but rest assured he's always right there with you when you perform actions that grant experience. Now, the thing about Bit is that he is an absolute measure of experience gain. When you perform an action, you gain a certain amount of him. But he's a very shy fellow and you never see him directly. The important part to remember when transitioning to the new system is that Bit is your buddy for life. Unless there has been an unintentional system bug (or unrelated update, such as tonight's Power Perception changes), you have the same amount of Bits coming in today that you had yesterday. Your fundamental measure for experience gain has not changed. Part 2: Relative Amazement! Now, if you can't see Bit directly, how in the name of Ronald Reagan's wholesome good looks do you figure out how much experience you have? The answer to that is our patent-pending Experience Pool technowhirlyhoo. While Bit is an absolute measure of experience gain, the Experience Pool is a relative measure, based on your character's peak performance. This varies from character to character, based on your skillsets and mental statistics. Each and every Experience Pool technowhirlyhoo is custom-designed to fit your character like a glove! Its 34-step fill system is calibrated to your maximum performance. So that when you reach Mind Lock, you know that you have reached your maximum limit! Remember, folks, this is amazingly relative. The smarter you are, the bigger your Experience Pool is. This means it takes more Bits to fill the pool and, thus, you can have more experience coming in at once. While new players might look at their technowhirlyhoo and assume they're getting less experience as their character grows, you now know the truth! Part 3: Teacups and Kittens Now, we have Bit and we have the relative pool that Bit and all his buddies hang out in, but how do they get out of the pool, dry off, and go back to work bringing you skill gains? The answer is your Experience Pulse. A lot of metaphors have been used in the past to describe this process, such as the size of a teacup with a hole in it. The real truth of it is that it simply describes how many Bits can go from your pool to your skill ranks in a single moment. The smarter you are, the more friends Bit can bring along! Once again, this can see counter-intuitive to those people who do not have the Handy Guide to Your EXP Pulses. Since your pulses get larger as you get smarter, you move Bit and crew to their final destination even faster. This can give the impression that you are struggling to learn the same amount of experience, when in reality you are struggling because your character has greater potential! Yay! Part 4: Change is Frightening So, now that we know all about how the experience system works, what's the gosh darn problem? Well, there's been a lot of changes, but there's two big ones that cause a lot of confusion. First, your character got a huge brand new pool! Bit can bring the entire family over for a swim now. It may seem like you're slogging away all day and night to fill up the pool now, but that's because you can put so much more experience into it. Remember Part 1! Unless there is an unintentional change, you have as many Bits around now that you did before. Second, your pulse sizes are now static. Previously, the number of Bits that left the pool depended on how crowded the pool was: if Bit was there all alone, he might take a vacation, while if there was a really big party then a larger number of Bits would get a bit put-off and go home early. Now, the same number of Bits try to go back to work regardless of how full your pool is. That amount's pretty big, too! You have roughly the same size of pulse now, at all times, that you had when you were Mind Locked under the old system. This means that not only can it be harder to get to the higher mindstates because there's more pool to fill, it can also be harder to get to the higher mindstates because you have more Bits going to work getting you skill ranks even faster than before. But cheer up, this is good news! Your skill growth is no longer dependent on how full your pool is as long as you have enough Bits to get a complete Experience Pulse. Your skill growth is the same at Learning as it is at Mind Lock! High-end mind states are now there to provide a "bank" of experience: a steady stream of Bits to go to work for you after you stopped inviting them over to your pool party. Because of the size of your new pool, the party can go on for a very long time! However, it's not necessary to enjoy your character's maximum possible skill gain while performing an action, such as hunting or playing the accordion. As long as you keep getting enough Bits to fill a full pulse -- somewhere in the neighborhood of Pursuing to Learning -- your growth over time is optimal! For optimal fun! -Armifer
This message was originally posted in Abilities, Skills and Magic (4) \ The Experience System (11), by DR-ARMIFER on the play.net forums.