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 |
Experience Pools and Pulses
Experience Pools
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
As of July 10, 2009, there are now 35 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 |
Experience Pulses
This field experience is gradually converted into actual ranks. When field experience is converted to ranks, it is called a pulse. Every 200 seconds, one of your skillsets will pulse. Primary skills pulse first, followed by secondary skills, and finally tertiary skills. The primary factor affecting pulse size is whether the skill is primary, secondary, or tertiary. Wisdom also affects your pulse size. (Higher Wisdom means bigger pulses.)
Skillset | Time to Pulse From Mind Lock to Clear |
---|---|
Primary | 40-60 minutes |
Secondary | 50-80 minutes |
Tertiary | 70-100 minutes |
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.
Experience Drain at Login
Experience drain at login is based on when you last logged out of the game. Starting at 30 minutes, you will drain a percentage of your experience equal to the number of minutes that you have been logged out divided by 480.
When you're logged out, experience drains at a static rate, regardless of skillset placement, ranks, or stats. (Technically, the experience doesn't actually pulse into you log back in.)
Time Logged Out | %Pulsed |
---|---|
30 minutes | 6.25% |
1 hour | 12.50% |
2 hours | 25% |
3 hours | 37.50% |
4 hours | 50% |
5 hours | 62.50% |
6 hours | 75% |
7 hours | 87.50% |
8 hours | 100% |
Players who have received a warning within the last six months will not drain experience at login.
Obsolete Experience Mechanics
Discipline used to affect pool size (along with Intelligence). Now, it has no effect on the experience system.
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 were "mind locked" in a skill, you could not gain new experience in that skill until you absorbed 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.
When the new experience system was released, mind states were disabled. At the time GMs stated that the mind state system would return, but not in the way it was previously implemented.
The mind states were as follows:
- clear
- fluid
- murky
- very murky
- thick: penalty begins
- very thick
- dense
- very dense
- stagnant
- very stagnant
- frozen: no longer absorbing experience
- very frozen
The learning penalty increased as your mind state worsened until you stopped 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.
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.
Experience Pool States
The experience pool states under the old system were:
- clear
- learning
- thoughtful
- pondering
- concentrating
- muddled
- very muddled
- perplexing
- perplexed
- bewildering
- bewildered
- dazed
- mind lock
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
Related Forum Posts
Click here to search for related posts.
- Experience drain
- Demystifying the Experience System: Isharon's explanation of the experience system (a good link to share with new players)