New level rewards are confusing
There isn’t really a pace of reward levels. A new person wouldn’t question it is much because they NEVER got one skill point per level. They’d see at different levels I get different stuff….cool.
One of the problems with the old system that annoyed me early on, was that I was getting 1 skill point per level, but I needed to buy 6 point skills at that point and it was like really? It was annoying to be getting something I really couldn’t use till I got a bunch more. I’d look around for skill challenges on maps, and farm a few skill points to buy the next skill, but it wasn’t fun.
This way you get stuff every level. You have a mouseover thing that tells you what you’re getting next level, and what you get at which level, if it’s not already, will be in the wiki.
But the expectation of getting specific stuff at specific levels is only going to affect current players. The rest will see it as cool rewards as they get them.
It’s not about prior expectations. It’s that until you’ve already leveled significantly there is no way of knowing what you’ll be getting beyond the next level. It’s not about differing from the previous way, it’s the fact that if there is a structure to rewards, you need to level significantly in order to reach the point that you can extrapolate it, and even then the rules still change often (1 trait per 30 levels, followed be 1 trait per 6 levels, followed by 1 trait per 2 levels?).
There is no in game way to figure out what you’re going to get.
The fact that it’s on the wiki isn’t a good enough means of communicating this. If it’s unacceptable for people to look up resource gathering on the in game client’s help menu, it’s hardly acceptable for people to have to look up leveling rewards out of game.
(edited by Eponet.4829)
One of the problems with the old system that annoyed me early on, was that I was getting 1 skill point per level, but I needed to buy 6 point skills at that point and it was like really?
I actually liked that system. The fact that I wanted more skills was a motivation to go do skill challenge. Now that I have no idea what level I get skill points, the motivation is to just go to skill challenges just to even get tier 1 skills, much less the tier 3 skills.
The 1 skill point per level made it a lot easier to judge when I would be able to unlock certain skills. I also felt like I was actually getting something for each level, whereas now I really don’t feel like I get anything unless the clicky-click UI at level-up gives me something shiny, or I happen to reach whatever level gives a dump of skill points.
I much prefer the old trait system, as well. Not so much because I got something at every level, but because I had access to traits earlier and I could build on that over time. IMHO, cramming the traits later into the leveling process actually hurt progression in the game. It is more convenient with the respec to have 14 trait points instead of 70. But, I would have preferred to start getting trait points at around level 16 or whatever the equivalent level would have been to keep the gains the same as what we had before April. It also meant that lower levels were more useful in WvW mode, whereas now low levels are significantly weaker.
The previous system was much clearer in that you got the same thing every level. Now you never know what you’ll get. It’s similar to the trait revamp in that the new system makes aquiring trait points a non-linear affair and that’s weird. They should’ve just kept the 1sp/lvl system and given you one trait every five levels after 15. That’s much simpler.
There isn’t really a pace of reward levels. A new person wouldn’t question it is much because they NEVER got one skill point per level. They’d see at different levels I get different stuff….cool.
One of the problems with the old system that annoyed me early on, was that I was getting 1 skill point per level, but I needed to buy 6 point skills at that point and it was like really? It was annoying to be getting something I really couldn’t use till I got a bunch more. I’d look around for skill challenges on maps, and farm a few skill points to buy the next skill, but it wasn’t fun.
This way you get stuff every level. You have a mouseover thing that tells you what you’re getting next level, and what you get at which level, if it’s not already, will be in the wiki.
But the expectation of getting specific stuff at specific levels is only going to affect current players. The rest will see it as cool rewards as they get them.
The problem is I have to go to a third-party source just to see “when can I unlock a new skill?”
With predictable rewards, like skill points every level, I can accommodate for my mistakes if I buy skills that aren’t particularly helpful plus it helps me to save up for targeted acquisition.
The previous system was much clearer in that you got the same thing every level. Now you never know what you’ll get. It’s similar to the trait revamp in that the new system makes aquiring trait points a non-linear affair and that’s weird. They should’ve just kept the 1sp/lvl system and given you one trait every five levels after 15. That’s much simpler.
I really think not knowing what you’re going to get is a plus for most people, not a minus. It’s that surprise feeling.
Original system: Look a skill point I can use when I get five more. Look a trait point I can use when I get four more. Next level, oh look another trait point. I knew what I was getting, but so what? It wasn’t exciting. It has no flare.
I think most people, and again this is just my opinion, don’t really worry about builds and stuff until they’re approaching 80. Some people don’t even worry about builds then.
They’re not anticipating a new skill point. They’re getting a cool reward. Most people just don’t think that deeply about the gaming experience.
Those that do might be put out by this, but I’m pretty sure we’re in a pretty vast minority.
There isn’t really a pace of reward levels. A new person wouldn’t question it is much because they NEVER got one skill point per level. They’d see at different levels I get different stuff….cool.
One of the problems with the old system that annoyed me early on, was that I was getting 1 skill point per level, but I needed to buy 6 point skills at that point and it was like really? It was annoying to be getting something I really couldn’t use till I got a bunch more. I’d look around for skill challenges on maps, and farm a few skill points to buy the next skill, but it wasn’t fun.
This way you get stuff every level. You have a mouseover thing that tells you what you’re getting next level, and what you get at which level, if it’s not already, will be in the wiki.
But the expectation of getting specific stuff at specific levels is only going to affect current players. The rest will see it as cool rewards as they get them.
The problem is I have to go to a third-party source just to see “when can I unlock a new skill?”
With predictable rewards, like skill points every level, I can accommodate for my mistakes if I buy skills that aren’t particularly helpful plus it helps me to save up for targeted acquisition.
This is a really good point. But as someone else pointed out, skill challenges abound in the game. This just gives players a reason to seek them out.
Since the patterns not repeatable or understandable, that makes the in game points more valuable, leading people to them to gain those skill points.
BTW, I never counted my leveling points as important to leveling my skills. I always hunted down the skill points in the game. I counted the level dings as a bonus, not a means to the end.
The previous system was much clearer in that you got the same thing every level. Now you never know what you’ll get. It’s similar to the trait revamp in that the new system makes aquiring trait points a non-linear affair and that’s weird. They should’ve just kept the 1sp/lvl system and given you one trait every five levels after 15. That’s much simpler.
I don’t think that is necessary true.
It is probably more of you are accustomed to the old system, that is why you find the new system confusing.
A new player probably wont’ even notice.
It’s not about prior expectations. It’s that until you’ve already leveled significantly there is no way of knowing what you’ll be getting beyond the next level. It’s not about differing from the previous way, it’s the fact that if there is a structure to rewards, you need to level significantly in order to reach the point that you can extrapolate it, and even then the rules still change often (1 trait per 30 levels, followed be 1 trait per 6 levels, followed by 1 trait per 2 levels?).
There is no in game way to figure out what you’re going to get.
The fact that it’s on the wiki isn’t a good enough means of communicating this. If it’s unacceptable for people to look up resource gathering on the in game client’s help menu, it’s hardly acceptable for people to have to look up leveling rewards out of game.
Have you ever thought about just y’know, playing the game and being excited about what you get each level rather than being angry at how you can’t find out what you can get in 10 levels?
The “issue” you’ve outlined seems to stem from a ‘need’ to know what each level gives you rather than a flaw in the system. You don’t need to know; you can play well enough without knowing when you’ll get your next batch of skill points until you see it for the next level’s rewards. If you feel the need to do everything with the utmost efficiency, then I gotta say that may not be the most enjoyable way to play a game.
As for how it’s communicated, I don’t recall (to my knowledge) Anet ever saying they would show players a list of what they get per level. As such, it’s not really that they’re telling you to look up leveling rewards out of game. They aren’t even telling you to look up leveling rewards. It is by the players’ choice if they want to know in advance what they get for each level and for that to happen another player must have documented it. Since the patch to fix leveling from 20 to 30 was just released earlier, the complete list may not be as easy to find.