Unorthodox Quest "Rewards"

[narakunohana]

Okay. I'll make this brief and easy for everyone to read.

I've been planning a quest for the past month to be done a while after the School board scenario is done and over with. However, there is an idea of mine that I would like to consult with the general populace of 42 due to it's dangerous nature.

It's something I'd like to call "negative rewards."

If we'd all noticed, there is little if any restrictive methods in terms of experience. I plan to create an event that will introduce "removing" a certain percentage of experience points to targeted and random participants.

To make it simple as to how it works: I will take Emily and Haruka as an example. Emily's stats would arguably be the highest in the board overall, and Haruka is basically still at a starter stat of 120 (because I never really got to dealing with her anyways X_X).

Emily Exp Total
Without items: 330
With items and Set: 508 (... yeah, I'm kinda shocked myself. Wtf?)

Haruka's flat Exp: 120

The quest I plan to do will involve targeting certain, randomly chosen characters which will decrease their stats on EVERY attribute to a certain percentage.

Now the question for you guys is:

• Good idea, or not?
  
• Should these "negative rewards" be permanent, temporary, or totally not done?
  

The percentage will be computed though an excel formula (which I've already started doing) and from the top 15 character participants (that exceed a certain amount of total exp) with the highest amount of total exp without stats, only 3-5 will be given the said "Negative rewards". These computations will be available for the public to see through Google docs and a random number generator will be used to select the "victims" though a lotto-type drawing.

These are your stats, ladies and gents. Considering what had happened a few weeks back I was slightly afraid this idea may not be appropriate, but I find that it may more or less introduce a bit of thrill into our RPing. I mean, personally -- I've been fighting some of my fights without items or statless now primarily for the reason that most of the people whom I've approached for fights would have a completely unbalanced fight.

-- and if I may say, there's actually only a handful of fighters who can fight Emily at this state. Transfers from 259 are notable examples.

Be reminded that these "negative rewards" will not be exclusive to Transfer students, but will also target natives should they exceed the exp computed.

It's almost 12 in the morning, I must go to bed. X_X However, if any of you got any questions or ideas. Please do post them here. Let's have a discussion to clarify what we want and what we do not want for this idea.

o-o

[Trizen Takano]

Hey Em,

The idea sounds cool for people who could actually take the risk of losing stats, lol. Permanent loss of stats after a quest is something that might be geared towards people of a higher statistical bracket. However, maybe dampening the full negativity of it might prove interesting.

What about double-edged items? Raising one stat while decreasing another? Some items on this board have weight and such, you could mess with attributes like those.

Another idea could be restrictions. Chosen or Not. During the quest, certain stats could be drastically reduced (chosen by the user or decided by the admin of the quest). At the end of the quest, those stats are not only restored but gain experience points on top of that.

[seishounohana]

Yes Trizen. I had been given that idea before with regards to stats restored after the quest ends.

Though, giving extra stats like that may allay the reason why I'm doing this. I'm not doing a balancing effort, but rather an effort to provide more variety than add and multiply stats. Though, these are your stats, and I'll go with whatever people decide on here.

TALK PEOPLE. I NEED YOUR FEEDBACK D<

[Demetra Katsaros]

It sounds like an interesting idea, mostly because it would give new characters like mine a fighting chance against those who've had some stats taken away, yet I foresee people getting ticked off. Not me personally, but erm, I can't picture a lot of players willing to give up experience points that they worked hard to earn, especially permanently, but even if it was temporary, like for a special set of fights, it might still suck for those who have nice stats and want the opportunity to use them.

Still, the concept is exciting. I think there should also be positive awards given out along with the negative awards, that way it'll be a gamble with a decent chance of something good coming your way, and if you do end up getting something negative, well, that was the risk you were willing to take.

[seishounohana]

Yes, there are positive awards given out along with the negatives. However, those who go below the boards general median as computed will be "exempt" from the negatives for as long as they don't go past that median. So the higher your exp the higher your chances of getting yourself getting chosen.

The negatives will not be uber drastic. It will go from somewhere around 10-25%, I foresee. something significant but not overbearing.

[Ryuu]

Okay, so Marianne, you already know my thoughts on this, seeing as we talked about this on MSN

But I'll say it again anyways.

This sounds like an interesting concept, which would give new students a chance to close the rather large gap with the transfers. Because let's face it, nobody wants to fight 50+ fights just to play catch up. Then RPing just becomes a chore.

However, like stated by people before me, not everyone will be thrilled about this. But keep in mind, it's VOLUNTARY. If you don't want to risk your stats, you don't have to join the quest. There will be other ways to earn EXP, ones that don't carry this risk.

[seishounohana]

XD Like he said.

Plus, if anything -- I will do these sort of quests personally. They will be very, VERY plot driven quests and you may expect your characters to become key people quickly.

And this is not just to close the gap between the transfers, but rather pull people down to a certain degree. I mean, let's face it. After you've reached 70 in all stats there is not a lot of people you can fight without it getting boring to some point (because it's become too easy or something like that).

This will involve all characters, native or not - for as long as they're participants.

[THE Justin]

Hell to the fricken no. That's reducing people's hard work, sorrz, gonna vote no on this.

[Gabriel Seran]

hmmm thats interesting, I myself see it in two different lights. Personally I'd like to see it in a trial run see how things work out....

I only had a limited purpose towards working this hard I'd rather have my characters play the underdog anyways. Though I see how others want to keep things to their best. Again I'd like to press for a trial run at it. Or give those the option to downgrade as character development.

Would like to hear everyone else's opinion on this ...

[Max]

I believe they should do it just for the sake of the new people. Yet like gabriel said i like to play the underdog also so i really don't care personally

[Adrian]

It's awesome.

It's new, it's paradigm shifting, it makes you actually think about getting into something before you do it.

I mean, look at this way: You can post-whore and fight whore and put lots of 'hard work' into getting your XP with no foreseeable penalty. And I <3 you J-bomb, but I don't consider RP'ing hard work, and when I do, that's when I take a break from it, because that's not what it's meant to be. Regardless, I see what you're saying.

ORRRR, you go for the events/quests. These things are SUPPOSED to be serious business, but in the end, there's no real downside to them. These are the parts of the story where bad things are supposed to happen, but, really, nothing truly bad ever happens, at least nothing that people can't get over in a few threads, plus the bad is cushioned by the heavy mat of experience points they land upon at the end.

This way, people can either opt for the quicker, but slightly more dangerous route, or the slow and steady route.

I'm very much lessening the gap between myself and the rest of the world stat-wise, and I don't consider myself in the 'low stat tier' category anymore, and I still support this. Making it temporary is just a waste of time. Don't be afraid to lose what you have, usually it'll make you stronger because of it.

[seishounohana]

(: Thanks for your feedback guys, any other thoughts before I start making my plans for the quest? O:

[zer0]

I'm thinking make a separate series of quests that are GAMBLE quests. High rewards, chance of negative rewards.

It seems generally that most people are ok with the idea of playing the underdog and that if the GAMBLE aspect is implemented in most quests (the main series of quests) that participation in said quests shouldn't go down.

However, if the possibility of lower participation appears, it is probably better to make a separate line of GAMBLE quests beside the quests we have currently.

Another thing I'm thinking about is negative stat effects from the character's state (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc.)

IE drunk person has lower WIS, INT, DEX, more Ignorant to Pain, Unpredictable, Increase in CHA (depending on the character and how drunk) etc.

Depressed person may become angry losing WIS, INT, CHA while gaining STR

Injuries in battle affect stats---> Tired Leg lower DEX, STR --> Broken leg, significantly lower DEX, STR, etc.

So I'm just saying that negative stat effects can come up in normal threads so that a normal fight, underdog fighters can turn the tables by trying to injure or manipulate their opponent.

How exactly I'm not sure yet.

These will be temporary unless the injury or damage isn't easy to remedy.

Note that if a character was built to be depressed and recovers, stats shouldn't be gained, the negative effects of a depression only occur when they add disfunction from a normal state since character creation.

IE Depressed character from creation has 120 stats. Recovers, no change in stats

Happy character from creation has 120 stats. Gets depressed and loses 5 WIS and 5 CHA Recovers and gains 5 WIS and 5 CHA back (numbers arbitrary)

a Broken leg however may become a permanent loss in DEX and STR for instance until the character has learned to control his or her body better with it and may recover some of the stats but probably not all.

That's my take on negative stats/rewards

[Adrian]

I LIKE Albo's ideas there.

Very interesting, especially the bits about stat decreases as the result of actions in a fight. I think we should implement this immediately. Personally, I'd fucking hate it if I broke someone's leg in a fight but they kept hopping around on their one good one just because they brought a boatload of dex with them.

[I. Sin, M.D.]

Okay; to make this clear - and to any person who will be participating in my quest. This thread will be the official FAQ for the experimental quest.

This quest will be experimental by nature, it is not perfect but I hope that it would provide something interesting for you all to play with plot-wise and stat-wise.

The negative rewards will be temporary and will last only until the quest is over, or if the player chooses - until he/she ranks up. Permanent exp loss will have to be discussed OoC. It will be a personal choice that will not be taken back. Elective, per se.

If that is alright with you all, then the quest will start within two weeks if not within this week.