Toldain Talks

Because reading me sure beats working!

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Toldain started as an Everquest character. I've played him in EQ2, WoW, Vanguard, LOTRO, and Zork Online. And then EVE Online, where I'm 3 million years old, rather than my usual 3000. Currently I'm mostly playing DDO. But I still have fabulous red hair. In RL, I am a software developer who has worked on networked games, but not MMORPGS.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Writ Dilution

With the new guildhalls coming, and our guild needing to level up a bit. I thought I would start grinding writs with Fahfrd, my Defiler. He's a level 60 (well, 62 now) Provisioner. Yes, I meant to do that. No, he most certainly does not defile the Soaring Espresso in any way.

I discovered something while doing this, though. The amount of status earned from doing a writ seems to depend on your level, and it decreases if you ding while working on the writ.

Here's the writ when I got it, while level 61




Here's the writ when I turn it in after dinging 62




The thing I want to know is, why bother doing that? Is it that much of an exploit to get a writ, level a bunch, then hand it in? This really feels like micro-management. And it kind of breaks a contract. When I got the writ, it said it was worth 10270 status. But it wasn't. I don't mind when a level designer throws tricks at me, but this kind of silent dilution erodes trust. It's kind of like nerfing a weapon or a spell, and not saying anything about it in the update notes. But that never happens, does it?

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6 Comments:

Blogger Stargrace said...

As you level within a tier, the writs constantly change how much status they reward you - based on your level vs. the writ level. If the level of difficulty has changed (no matter when you received the writ) the status also changes.

When you do a blue writ, and then level, the status changes unless you get a new level of writ to do. So from 60-64 (or maybe higher, I forget the exact numbers) you're doing the same writ, and each time you level, you'll gain less status from those writs until you hit 65 and get the new ones. Then those new ones will also decrease until you hit 69 and get the new ones again.. make sense?

Not so much them worried about exploit or anything like that, but the fact that the status amount is based on the difficulty level vs. you - not a set number.

7:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the point is "The amount of status awarded shouldn't change mid-writ" rather than the "status changes as you level" issue. It makes sense status would change from writ completion to writ completion for the same writ as you leveled. It makes less sense that the status changes between the time you get the writ and completing the writ.

I have to agree with Tolly, it seems a bit petty and solving a problem that doesn't exist.

1:20 PM  
Blogger Stargrace said...

"I have to agree with Tolly, it seems a bit petty and solving a problem that doesn't exist."

my point was - that it's just poor coding, not something that they planned out and decided to actually give any thought to. /feedback is a great command, maybe they'll change it to a set number instead of basing it on your level vs. the level of the writ.

The way it works is like regular quests - as you level, they turn gray. No matter when you completed the actual quest. Writs work the same. So as you level, the status decreases because it's turning gray to you.

7:54 AM  
Blogger Toldain said...

You know, Stargrace, I wouldn't have minded if a green writ had grayed out while I was grinding, and thus didn't give me (tradeskill) experience.

But knocking down the status seems more like giving you less gold or a worse item.

How would you feel if that quest that is white suddenly gave you less money when it turned blue? Or the promised item changed? This is in that category with me.

And I have to say, that same logic makes me think it's not appropriate to knock down the status award as you level, whether or not it was in mid writ. As you level, there will be more difficult writs with greater rewards anyway, and the lower ones won't be available.

11:25 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Personally, to me, I don't really care if it changes mid writ - there are already quests that reward more / less gold based on your level as you complete it, so it's nothing new.

I just simply wanted to point out the fact that it was lazy coding and not a vindictive act set out by the devs that they gave any thought to at the time, and for those who are not happy with the way it goes (because I actually AGREE that your status shouldn't change mid-writ to less) there's a feedback command ;)

4:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ah, I see. I missed the point of your initial post. I can see how that would be.

I've never coded but from simple spreadsheets I know how easy it is to have an unintended outcome.

7:45 AM  

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