Experience

Every guild uses skill requirements to determine circle.

There are five skill sets which are learned by every guild at varying rates. Each guild has one of the five as a specialization skill set or primary skill set. Two of the remaining four are support skill sets for the specialization skill; these are known as secondary skill sets. The remaining two are considered to hold minor relevance and referred to as tertiary skill sets. Skills within the primary skill set are learned the fastest, while skills within the tertiary skill sets are learned the slowest. Players start the game as commoners with all skills learned at the secondary rate.

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
Necromancer	Tertiary	Secondary	Secondary	Primary	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
Commoner	Secondary	Secondary	Secondary	Secondary	Secondary

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Experience Pools and Pulses

Every skill has its own individual pool, which fills with field experience as you obtain it. The current amount of field experience in your pool ranges from empty (clear) to mind lock (full).

Factors that determine maximum pool size (in descending order of importance): whether the skill is in your primary, secondary, or tertiary skillset; the number of ranks you have in the skill; Intelligence; and Discipline.

This field experience is gradually converted into actual ranks. When field experience is converted to ranks, it is called a pulse. The pulse size primarily depends on whether the skill is a primary, secondary, or tertiary skill and the total size of the pool. Wisdom also affects the pulse size.

Mental stats should be aligned highest to lowest as follows: Intelligence, Wisdom, Discipline.

As of July 10, 2009, there are now 34 experience pool states:

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

The experience pool states under the old system were:

1. clear
2. learning
3. thoughtful
4. pondering
5. concentrating
6. muddled
7. very muddled
8. perplexing
9. perplexed
10. bewildering
11. bewildered
12. dazed
13. mind lock

Mind States

The mind state system was temporarily disabled in July 2009, meaning that your mind state will always be "clear." Mind murk will return in some form at an unspecified time.

Mind states decreased the rate at which you absorbed experience into new ranks. Whenever you are "mind locked" in a skill, you cannot gain new experience in that skill until you absorb some of your field experience. If you continued to gain experience while you were mind locked, the experience spilled over into the "mind state" pool. When you were mind locked in skills for an extended period of time, your mind state worsened.

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 were as follows:

1. clear
2. fluid
3. murky
4. very murky
5. thick: penalty begins
6. very thick
7. dense
8. very dense
9. stagnant
10. very stagnant
11. frozen: no longer absorbing experience
12. very frozen

The learning penalty increased as your mind state worsened until you stop absorbing any experience at "frozen." (Being "very frozen" simply meant that it took even longer for your mind state to improve.) The only way to improve a poor mind state was to stop gaining field experience for a while. This gave your mind state pool a chance to drain.

If you improved your pool size or pulse rate, it took longer to mind lock, and therefore, you could train for longer periods of time without filling your mind state pool. However, the best way to avoid a poor mind state was to avoid being mind locked in multiple skills for an extended period of time.

Stats and Learning

Mental statistics now have a greater effect on the experience system. Intelligence and Wisdom affect all skills equally and have diminishing returns that are not logarithmically diminishing.

Intelligence Maximum size of experience pools

Wisdom Pulse size

Discipline Removed from experience calculations

The effect of Intelligence and Wisdom is a percentage and not dependent on how many ranks you have in the skill. The effects of these stats can't be "tested" in an hour. This is something that assists you over the course of your entire career.

Soft Caps: Because of the recent changes to the experience system, the point of diminishing returns is no longer known. However, even if it were known, each of these stats affects other systems, so it's usually not a good idea to stop training mental stats. Discipline, in particular, affects many things.

Wall Cycle

The wall cycle has gone away. Now primary skills always pulse better than secondary skills which always pulse better than tertiary skills. However, under 50 ranks skills will all drain like primary, and under 100 they will all drain at least like secondary.

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 game-play.

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 = Beginning
• + 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

See Also

• Experience drain
• Demystifying the Experience System: Isharon's explanation of the experience system (a good link to share with new players)

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