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General Discussion / Massive disparity between combat vs non-combat EXP gain.
« on: April 29, 2017, 01:57:44 PM »
The EXP gain you get through combat dwarfs any other means of getting it. You basically level up after every major engagement. If you decide to do some random warzone fighting to grind rep points you can rapidly level your character, potentially shortening the game.
By comparison, the life of a more explorational/merchantile character who tries to avoid combat is very grindy, and you feel compelled to seek out combat just to level, even though you're not really specced to do it.
The game encourages specialization through the upkeep costs for inefficient fleets, so I assume the goal is to make a variety of different playstyles viable. To those ends, the EXP payout for combat should be reduced --it probably needs to be reduced anyway just to keep the game from losing its appeal before a player achieves their goals--and there need to be better opportunities for XP gain outside of combat.
I personally believe that the bulk of any EXP should be gained through completing missions, not random pick up activities. That way players of any preferred playstyle can be rewarded for the missions of the type they specialize in, and not feel compelled to do something their character isnt good at to get ahead. In this, current EXP payouts for random salvaging/survey/trade could probably be left more or less the same, but the EXP gain for combat outside of missions should be greatly reduced.
By comparison, the life of a more explorational/merchantile character who tries to avoid combat is very grindy, and you feel compelled to seek out combat just to level, even though you're not really specced to do it.
The game encourages specialization through the upkeep costs for inefficient fleets, so I assume the goal is to make a variety of different playstyles viable. To those ends, the EXP payout for combat should be reduced --it probably needs to be reduced anyway just to keep the game from losing its appeal before a player achieves their goals--and there need to be better opportunities for XP gain outside of combat.
I personally believe that the bulk of any EXP should be gained through completing missions, not random pick up activities. That way players of any preferred playstyle can be rewarded for the missions of the type they specialize in, and not feel compelled to do something their character isnt good at to get ahead. In this, current EXP payouts for random salvaging/survey/trade could probably be left more or less the same, but the EXP gain for combat outside of missions should be greatly reduced.