Extra content suggestion - Ancient system

[Thorim Thunderwood]

This is a total ripoff from a few Ultima Online shards I used to play on back in early 2000's, but hey, so is this game. Don't get me wrong, I've been dreaming of that for more than 10 years. So I'm glad someone did it.

Currently, leveling the skills is somewhat casual. Gains are quite fast and there's books too, to ease your progress while offline. When player reaches 100 skill, he's a Grand Master of that skill. There are different builds and a lot of options, but what I'm suggesting would bring even more depth to the skill system. True specialization would happen after 100 skill points, by reaching an Ancient level on your selected skill.

The Ancient System

- A usable endgame item or maybe an altar where you'd need to sacrifice something, would allow player to pick a skill for further increase - should be quite expensive or hard to do - so not every newbie could do it. This could be a permanent choice, or if there would be a way to undo it - it should be even harder.
- You could do this 3 times, on a different skill each time. First skill cap increase would be 15, second 10 and third 5
- Skill gains for these skills should be extremely slow - like 10-20 hours of grinding for each full point.
- The difference between 100 and 115 skill, should not be massive when calculating damage or quality of crafted item, but it should be notable. If it was too much, especially normal crafters would get nerfed too hard - everyone would only want the Ancient level items.

Why you ask ? To get a slight edge on your competitors, for the bragging rights or just to make absolutely clear to everyone that you have no life.

 

[firedrop]

Some skills already are very slow to level.. have you tried getting scribing or domination to 100?

 

[Thorim Thunderwood]

And ?

 

[Finnley]

Sounds extremely bad, this is not a korean grind game its about the player skill

 

[Thorim Thunderwood]

Sounds extremely bad, this is not a korean grind game its about the player skill

And that would not change. It would still be the same game, just the players that don't mind the grind would get some extra character development and a SMALL reward for it. It can be balanced how ever devs want.

What I had in mind, was like a max 5% damage or quality boost on your chosen skills. That would not be an game breaking edge over people who didn't choose to do this extra step.

 

[Icegoten]

Interesting system that I think can be paired with the actual grandmaster system they plan. During one of Henrik's streams he showed off like etching designs you could put into the handle of your crafted weapon which I assume is cosmetic only. I think he said it was for people who reached grandmaster status by getting their skill to 100 (or maybe you actually had to craft 10,000 items).

So I think it would be cool if they made a step above that for a proposed Ancient System but this was more tied to maybe a new profession that only the people who had the dedication to go beyond grandmaster. Perhaps with all of the gems in the game there could be a way to imbue weapons with gems or mix them and create different effects. They don't have to be super complex but can be numerous in effects. Something along the lines of taking a Small Rough Andradrit + Small Rough Safir + Rough Amber could give a decrease in STR requirement (from the Andradrit), +5 piercing damage (from the Safir), and a decrease in durability used per swing (from the Amber BUT also only if the handle was made with certain metals like Cuprum or Silver). Players would once again have a system to experiment with and give added value to gems. Or maybe replace gems with animal trophies so they each have their own effect but only activate for weapons made out of bones.

 

[Kyllike]

This is a great suggestion for a Guru or Master push for crafters and people taking their swordsmanship seriously.