Tactics, Exp, Decay and God and the World, read and learn!

[xenofur]

lately i had a little talk with my clan leader, and upon posting it in the german forum i got replies that indicated my theory was mostly correct, so i'll post it here with the goal of helping you all get more fun out of the game

(@XenoFur) k, first off a bit of theory:

(@XenoFur) the exp-gain is calculated by using the highest level that has been used in killing a mob, added to that there is an artificial cap at 3000 XP, now if you kill a very high mob it is possible that you shoudl actually get 15000 XP from it, but due to the cap it is impossible to get more

(@XenoFur) you understand that so far Jharin?

(@Jharin) yes

(@XenoFur) you also realize that is is simply stupid to hunt big mobs only to be capped to 3k, while you could get 2800 XP or similar with easier mobs

(@XenoFur) ocyx <-> clopper

(@Jharin) yes xeno, we'll search mobs that have a yellow info screen con and blue brackets, they should give 2800-3000

(@XenoFur) please wait, i'm not done yet

(@Jharin) k, i'm waiting

(@XenoFur) now add item decay, the factor for the decay is apparently calculated for the team as a whole and used on every item

(@Jharin) stop

(@XenoFur) yes?

(@Jharin) what about armor that is worn, but not subjected to attacks?

(@XenoFur) it also decays, as long as the player had at least one action that was connected with the fight

(@Jharin) k, go on

(@XenoFur) the factor is determined in the following way:

(@XenoFur) lvl of the lowest itme vs. lvl of the mob, the increase seems to be logarithmic. my armor dropped by about 80 HP against 3 ocyx yesterday near thesos, while with the same team later at 4ways it dropped by about 5 HP against several rendor herds and some cloppers and goaris

(@Jharin) so it's **** when everyone has Q50 equip and one guy has a Q20 item when fighting against a lvl 50 mob

(@Jharin) alright, i understand

(@XenoFur) now the following theory:

(@XenoFur) 1 ocyx, 3k xp, huge decay, 2-3 minutes
http://ryzom.l9c.org/mobs.php?do=view&mId=17
(@XenoFur) a herd of rendors, 5 * 800 xp, normal decay, 2-3 minutes
http://ryzom.l9c.org/mobs.php?do=view&mId=39
(@XenoFur) nevermind the fact that hunting a whiole herd of rendors is way more fun than bashing one ocyx

(@XenoFur) i'd like to see that we hunt social herds instead of single bigger mobs since this has several advantages: lower decay, more fun, more loot, more training in teamplay and if you apply a little brains, even more XP per time unit. in my eyes a herd of low lvl mobs is one medium lvl mob, as long as you hunt them with a team, it's not for nothing that they are social *g*

(@Jharin) yea xeno, and what about hunting single cloppers?

(@XenoFur) clopper hunting is okay, for relaxing after the stress of hunting herds ^^

(@XenoFur) you'll surely agreee, that it is far moe secure to kill single mobs than ful herds, when you apply correct pulling

(@Jharin) yesterday we fought agains 2-3-4 cloppers successfully and it was real fun

(@XenoFur) well, if the team is capable of that, i'm all for it

(@Jharin) great, then we have the same views

(@XenoFur) i'd simply like to keep the xp gain below 3k at any times, since xp/time is higher, decay/time is lower and every once in a while a named mob to get some high loot, and frahar hunting only when we can take on a full herd of them at once ^^

(@Jharin) k xeno, i think the same !!!

(@XenoFur) thanks jharin

[loyats]

Mathmaticly and socialy corretc. I think that's how all groups should do, unfortunatley in America most people's minds are stuck on bigger = better.

[fratt37]

This is what I was thinking as well.
Last night I was exhausting my full pool of HP, sap, and my self heal to kill one Baying ragus for 3k xp to Offensive magic. I am level 30 there.
I switched to scowling class and this drastically changed. XP was 1900 or so, but i was killing two of them in the same amount of time, without having to use my self heal.
Obviously much more efficient.
But like in my earlier post, I felt like i hit a wall because my equipment v.s. "level" v.s. current skills and actions are all over the place.
When I was teamed the other night, between the two of us, our combined skills, "levels" whatever you want to call it, was making it very difficult to get consistant gains. It was frustrating, but i see how it works now.

NOW as an American, I don't follow most mannerisms other than I am lazy
More accurately "gamers" think along the lines of: If one kills the biggest named mob one will go up the fastest, AND it can be bragged about.

I know I don't think this way, I am a fan of the moderate damage, quick successive hits in a shorter time, against many smaller mobs, less downtime, sort of player.
ATM however all my weapons are the 2h sort, so go figure

Thanks for the post, this info will certainly help folks with their tactics.

[xenofur]

well, ryzom was never a standard game and always required thinking outside of the box
and if this helps only one person i am happy

but it's not only the americans that behave that way, i had all of the above knowledge latent in my memories for quite some time, and only got to confirm them 2 days ago, i literally went on strike after i noticed what the ocyx did with my knifes and light armor ^^

[evalisa]

MM, very interesting post about the decay, thanks xeno.
Ofcourse, the 3k cap thing was ovious.. if only groups would realise ehe

[chuangpo]

How very Socratic of you Xeno. Nice

[varelse]

Thank you for this informative post. It's certainly helped me, and hopefully will help many others.

[kisedd]

Very nice post.

Gamers think bigger is better because in all the previous MMORPG's gamers have played this has held true. EQ is still the 100 pound goriila and epic hunting is its bread and butter. It is nice that a game takes a different approach.

One thing I don't like about the "group item decay" concept is that it hurts parites that want to have younger members. I like games that are inclusive. When parties realize that that level 20 mage they have in their party is ruining their equipment, he won't be invited anymore.

[sonion]

Understand the concept but its obviously broken game mechanics.

Why should the equipment level of a party member be able to determine how quickly someone elses gear decays?

Yer right too, once everyone fully understands this it will limit who and what level groups with whom.

I knew about the exp issues tho.

Still, great to see this information being spread, even if it just brings one more broken aspect to light.

[kamagi]

So you want to join our group do you?
Just look at you!
What the hell are you wearing dude?
Get some decent clothes and then you can fight with us!
What's that? You are only at the back healing? What's that got to do with it man? You have to look decent.