>>Much needed for alts, and newly returning players.

There is a rather healthy bonus for 1-50 ranks. Otherwise, compared to 'days of olde' EXP is cranked way past 11 already.

Samsaren

>>I'd want to see the boost for secondaries and tert skills be buffed to 100 ranks again

Yeah.. I thought removing that sucked. 100 ranks these days just gets you into the game and makes tert skills less painful to begin with.

>>Even without that boost the first 100 ranks only take a week or two.

Just, wow...

I knew there was a large disparity in how much people play this game, but I never knew it was that much. I have been focused on a single character I started in early December, and play probably 5-15 hours per week, which for myself I consider borderline excessive for a single game. I have two primary skillset (magic) skills just over 100. Most of my primary skills are in the 80s, and my most frequently used secondary/tertiary skills are in the 60s and 70s.

I just wonder how much someone has to play the game (a single character no less) for the expectation to be 1-2 weeks for 100 ranks in a skill (Primary or otherwise).

>>I'm open to a lot of Scoin options, but an exp booster that puts anyone above subbed exp gain for money is one I'm completely against.

I agree with this for certain. This would definitely be crossing over into the realm of mechanical advantage, and therefor pay-to-win.

>>>>I just wonder how much someone has to play the game (a single character no less) for the expectation to be 1-2 weeks for 100 ranks in a skill (Primary or otherwise).

I tend to make "project" characters, or new alts to either test training theories, or to brush up on guild knowledge for Mentoring. I don't pour oodles of energy or hours into these projects, but my most recent, a War Magi, was 20th in less than 2 weeks, and hit his first 200 rank skill in 3. The current EXP model, combined with offline EXP drain makes the lower circles incredibly fast.

Samsaren

>>Ninevah1: I'm open to a lot of Scoin options, but an exp booster that puts anyone above subbed exp gain for money is one I'm completely against.

This.

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Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!

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<<an exp booster that puts anyone above subbed exp gain for money is one I'm completely against.>>

Kind of curious here, but why? Assuming it was something that capped out at say, 50th circle. There seems to be a pretty healthy secondary market for high-level characters already, so why should it matter if a person pays another person to avoid having to grind, or if a person pays Simu to avoid having to grind? Heck, isn't it BETTER that they pay Simu, in the grand scheme of things? (well, not from the seller's point of view I suppose)

>>Ratherdashing: Kind of curious here, but why? Assuming it was something that capped out at say, 50th circle. There seems to be a pretty healthy secondary market for high-level characters already, so why should it matter if a person pays another person to avoid having to grind, or if a person pays Simu to avoid having to grind? Heck, isn't it BETTER that they pay Simu, in the grand scheme of things? (well, not from the seller's point of view I suppose)

One argument is that buying characters on the grey market (DRSales) does not change the net level of power in the game, whereas being able to buy experience boosters (or ranks) from Simutronics does. The same can be said for having Simutronics sell plats, weapons, and armor.

Speaking more generally, "pay-to-win" mechanics are often regarded poorly in the gaming community. Granted, DragonRealms already has some of that in the form of quest loot, but I'd prefer that we not go further down that road. Ideally, monetization should be limited to features that don't confer a competitive advantage.

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Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!

sortable list of all Trader-owned shops and inventory: http://www.elanthia.org/TraderShops/

armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide

<<Speaking more generally, "pay-to-win" mechanics are often regarded poorly in the gaming community.>>

But what am I "paying-to-win"? We're not talking buying a level 200 character. An exp boost up to circle 50 or skill rank 300 isn't really "winning" anything, except I guess you win at not having to slog through a grind again, if you've already done it with another character? Or you can more quickly get to a point that matters? I see people talking about their lowbie characters with like 200 of 300 ranks in skills. If that's "lowbie", why should it matter that you could get there more quickly?

I mean I absolutely understand what you're saying, IF we were talking buying max-level or max rank characters. I really don't see what's wrong with buying a quicker start though.

>>Ratherdashing: But what am I "paying-to-win"? We're not talking buying a level 200 character. An exp boost up to circle 50 or skill rank 300 isn't really "winning" anything, except I guess you win at not having to slog through a grind again, if you've already done it with another character? Or you can more quickly get to a point that matters? . . . I mean I absolutely understand what you're saying, IF we were talking buying max-level or max rank characters. I really don't see what's wrong with buying a quicker start though.

Ranks and stats are king in DragonRealms, and anything that accelerates that can be considered a competitive edge, even if it's only at lower levels. I am also concerned that the farther we tread down the path of monetizing experience gain, the more likely we are to end up selling experience boosters with no such skill or time restrictions.

GMs have lamented that "the combination of all of the bonuses given to young players and the size of the pools" caused people to speed through the parts of the game that have the most content, only to be disappointed by the lack of new content awaiting them past 100th circle. This is why GMs reduced the low-rank learning bonuses for secondary and tertiary skills. I don't see them wanting to that change with a SimuCoin option.

That being said, I think there is a good argument that the pace of advancement in this game is too slow, especially among casual players. (New players are often discouraged to find out how long HLCs took to get where they are, and experienced players get bored of covering the same ground with secondary characters.) However, it would be better to address that with across-the-board changes to experience mechanics instead of cash shop items. (Ideally, all characters, including F2P, would operate under the same experience mechanics.)

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Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!

sortable list of all Trader-owned shops and inventory: http://www.elanthia.org/TraderShops/

armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide