Experience

Every guild uses skill requirements to determine circle.

There are five skill sets which are learned by varying degrees by every guild. Each guild has chosen one of the five as a specialization skill set or primary skill set. Two of the remaining four have by chosen by each guild as a proficiency and support skill set for the specialization skill; these are known as secondary skills. The remaining two are considered to hold minor relevance and referred to as tertiary skills.

Guild	Armor	Lore	Magic	Survival	Weapon
Barbarian	Secondary	Tertiary	Tertiary	Secondary	Primary
Bard	Tertiary	Primary	Secondary	Tertiary	Secondary
Cleric	Tertiary	Secondary	Primary	Tertiary	Secondary
Empath	Tertiary	Primary	Secondary	Secondary	Tertiary
Moon Mage	Tertiary	Secondary	Primary	Secondary	Tertiary
Paladin	Primary	Secondary	Tertiary	Tertiary	Secondary
Ranger	Secondary	Tertiary	Tertiary	Primary	Secondary
Thief	Tertiary	Secondary	Tertiary	Primary	Secondary
Trader	Secondary	Primary	Tertiary	Secondary	Tertiary
Warrior Mage	Tertiary	Secondary	Primary	Tertiary	Secondary

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Experience Pools and Pulses

Every skill has its own individual pool into which raw experience is dumped. As it is processed into actual ranks the pool becomes smaller. The pool ranges in states from clear to mind locked. A skill with a clear pool is not being learned. A skill that is mind locked is no longer absorbing raw experience. When an amount of experience is converted to actual rank, it is called a pulse. The pulse size depends on many factors, such as the distance from the wall rank, the size and fullness of the pool, and overall mind state, can range from anywhere near 1% to 50% of a rank. Some of these factors you can control to a certain degree through the training of mental stats, others are statically determined, such as the distance between wall ranks.

The size of the pool is primarily determined by Intelligence and Discipline, but how important it is consider by a guild, as judged by Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary skillset rank, also plays a part.

The experience pool states under the old system are as follows:
Clear
Learning
Thoughtful
Pondering
Concentrating
Muddled
Very Muddled
Perplexing
Perplexed
Bewildering
Bewildered
Dazed
Mind Lock

Under the new system, effective July 10th 2009, there are now 34 states of learning.

clear (0/34)
dabbling (1/34)
perusing (2/34)
learning (3/34)
thoughtful (4/34)
thinking (5/34)
considering (6/34)
pondering (7/34)
ruminating (8/34)
concentrating (9/34)
attentive (10/34)
deliberative (11/34)
interested (12/34)
examining (13/34)
understanding(14/34)
absorbing (15/34)
intrigued (16/34)
scrutinizing (17/34)
analyzing (18/34)
studious (19/34)
focused (20/34)
very focused (21/34)
engaged (22/34)
very engaged (23/34)
cogitating (24/34)
fascinated (25/34)
captivated (26/34)
engrossed (27/34)
riveted (28/34)
very riveted (29/34)
rapt (30/34)
very rapt (31/34)
enthralled (32/34)
nearly locked(33/34)
mind lock (34/34)

Mind States

Mind state is a very important factor in experience to rank conversion. The worse your mind state is, the slower you learn. Mind states range from clear to very frozen. Every skill you raise to a mind lock state affects your overall mind state. At a Frozen or very frozen state, you no longer learn at all.

However, as long as the Multiple Opponent skill is not Mind Locked, the state of the Evasion skill, the Parry Ability skill, and the Shield Usage skill will not contribute to overall state.

When the new experience system was released, mind states were disabled. It has been stated that it will return, but not in the way it was previously implemented.

The mind states are as follows:
Clear
Fluid
Murky
Very Murky
Thick: A small penalty to learning is applied at this point.
Very Thick
Dense: Penalty increased
Very Dense
Stagnant: penalty increased again.
Very Stagnant
Frozen: 100% learning penalty
Very Frozen: Yeah, its bad.

Stats and Learning

Your character's mental statistics are an important player in your overall learning process. The three mental stats, wisdom, intelligence, and discipline affect learning in different ways, and all of them are based upon a logarithmic return rate, thus eventually reaching a point of diminishing returns.

Wisdom Wisdom affect learning more so than any other skill, and has less functionality than any other skill. Wisdom increases the amount of raw experience converted into rank per pulse. The point of diminishing returns is around 30 points.

Intelligence Intelligence affects the size of your experience pools. It also has a point of diminishing returns around 28 or 30, however it also plays a factor in spell resistance in Spell Vs. Will scenarios.

Discipline Discipline is probably the most useful of all mental skills. In relation to learning, it determines the speed at which your overall mind state changes and increases the size of your experience pools. It also has a point of diminishing returns, but only for learning. It's other uses including resisting fear effects, and modifies several guild specific abilities, such as the barbarian's dance ability.

Wall Ranks

Each skillset is learned at a different rate depending upon if it is primary, secondary or tertiary. The rate at which each skill is learned is controlled by wall ranks. A wall rank is a reduction in the amount of actual rank percentage gained from the experience pool per pulse. The amount gained per rank depends on the ranks distance from the wall, The first rank after a wall is gained at 9/9^ths, or 100%, of the pulse amount for primary skills, 5/9ths for secondary skills (56%, roughly), 3/9ths (33%, roughly) for tertiary skills, and it drops by a ninth for every rank following up to 2/9^ths for the wall rank. For the primary skill set, your wall rank is every eighth rank, and because 0 does count as a rank it begins at rank 7. For secondary skills it is every fourth rank, thusly beginning at 3. and for every tertiary skill it is every other rank, beginning at 1.

However, due to recent changes to the experience system, wall ranks have been slightly modified for all secondary skills below 80 ranks and all tertiary skills below 120 ranks. The change is thus, for ranks 1-20 all skills are learned at 9/9^ths (primary skill rate), for 21-40 at a rate of 8/9^ths, 41-60 -- 7/9^ths, 61-80 -- 6/9^ths, 81-99 -- 5/9^ths (secondary skills will stabilize here), 100-119 -- 4/9^ths, 120+ -- 3/9^ths (standard tertiary rate).

RP Messaging

Ranks in each skill are numerical. However, there is also a role-playing system of nomenclature set up for skills, to make it easier to integrate into gameplay.

Ranks 1-49 / Novice

Within the above range:

• + 0-09 = Lowly
• + 10-19 = Promising
• + 20-29 = Able
• + 30-39 = Trained
• + 40-49 = Full

Ranks 50-99 / Practitioner

Ranks 100-149 / Dilettante

Ranks 150-199 / Aficionado

Within the above ranges:

• + 0-09 = Beginner
• + 10-19 = Competent
• + 20-29 = Proficient
• + 30-39 = Experienced
• + 40-49 = Skilled

Ranks 200-299 / Adept

Ranks 300-399 / Expert

Within the above ranges:

• Rated by degrees 0-99

Ranks 400-499 / Professional

Ranks 500-599 / Authority

Ranks 600-699 / Genius

Within the above ranges:

• + 20-39 = Exceptional
• + 40-59 = Outstanding
• + 60-79 = Renowned
• + 80-99 = True

Ranks 700-799 / Savant

Ranks 800-899 / Master

Ranks 900-999 / Grand Master

Within the above ranges:

• + 20-39 = Distinguished
• + 40-59 = Venerated
• + 60-79 = Exalted
• + 80-99 = Transcendent

Ranks 1000-1249 / Guru

Ranks 1250+ / Legend

Also See

• Experience drain

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