Subclass Rework: Leveling Poll

[Azoth]

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Azoth here, and I have something that I want your input on; the subclass system.

As the Roleplay is set up now, you have three classes. You have your Main Class, your Roleplaying Subclass, and your Crafting Subclass. It looks cool and seems fun because you get to pick your core build, derp around with a fun secondary class to support your adventures, and you get to make stuff, all at the same time. Sounds cool, and it is cool. However, this is where it gets obnoxious. You have three classes, and you have to level all three of them separately. That's a lot of work, yea? In the previous system, you had to make threads and posts for all three classes and could only apply certain threads and such to these classes. If you were creative and could write a lot, then there was no issue. Personally, I had no issues and was able to level quite a few classes, but the average player hardly leveled their subclasses at all.

Thus, I will be changing that. There's two ways to do this:

• The first way is to install a Mastery Level system. Instead of leveling the ordinary way and gaining experience in terms of tickets, you will be given tasks and be required to hit certain milestones using your subclass. Upon reaching these subclasses and finishing these tasks, you will increase your Class Rank. For Crafting classes, you will unlock a variety of new recipes and skills. For your Subclass, you'll get certain buffs, access to a wider range of equipment and items, and will be approached by NPCs or be able to interact with certain NPCs. Along your way, you'll come across Masters and higher ranking NPCs that may be able to give you hints, tips, and may even teach you a few things. These things will increase your ranking or give you experience towards your next rank. Should you reach a high enough level, you may also be able to take on an Apprentice (another Player Character) and will be able to help them along in their path.
• The second option is to create certain quests and storylines which allow players to increase their Subclass abilities separately from their main class. You will be doing such things like you are now, but this option removes quests entirely. There's no simply "one and done" deals. You will be given chain quests and be required to finish the tasks provided to you. Of course, this will yield you more Tickets in the end as you'll be doing more work, but yes it will take more effort to complete. This option will benefit players by giving them a bit more streamlined character development and allow players to really focus on using their skills, rather than honing them. Your character will learn more by doing, and less through being taught. The downside? Higher risk. With this option, there will be a higher risk of failure and should you fail, you won't gain experience at all.

Both choices have their pros and cons. The first choice makes it a bit easier to level, allows you to actually use your subclass to affect the world and make things, but it will require you to actually perform tasks and reach certain requirements before you can level up. The second option compresses quests into larger chain quests and outlines everything you have to do. It'll also allow you to use your subclass, however you will have a risk of failure during these quests.

Both paths will give you opportunities to interact with NPCs, will allow you to make things and perform tasks, and you will also be able to affect the world around you as your character progresses. However they will be different as you will have to go about leveling them differently. Keep this in mind when you make your choice.

Feel free to include your opinions below, however you are only able to post once. Post what you think about the choices and if you have any suggestions. However, you are unable to respond to any other posters. Those that do so will have their posts deleted.

This poll will close this coming Sunday, January 1st 2017, at 4:00 PM Eastern.

[Laelia]

Number two gives me a heavy SAO RP feel toward quests, and many of us know how that ended up.

I believe number one, the Mastery System, is more friendly toward keeping up a social RP atmosphere, especially if some of the requirements are something like "As an Animal Trainer, participate in a thread where another Animal Trainer has ______ tamed" or "Perform research with at least 2 other players with ______ subclass". At the same time, it shouldn't be absolutely necessary to hit all the milestones to level up. Maybe you're 8/10 on your subclass advancement and the last two involve something like PVP (which you couldn't care less about) or RPing with a Woodcrafter (coincidentally, all the other active Woodcrafters are on vacation this month). You should still be able to advance by meeting a majority of what you need.

Perhaps if you're open to changing up how subclasses work, maybe Mastery Level can branch off into secondaries in order to make it easier for someone to switch subclasses. For example, rather than simply [Mastery: Dancer], there would be [Mastery: Entertainer]. Subclasses of the Entertainer category (Dancer, Idol, Puppeteer, etc) all benefit from raising the base Entertainer Mastery and gain whatever common shared buffs or universal skills they give. Whereas if you want something that's unique to Dancer such as its specialized skill, you'd then focus on the [Mastery: Dancer] sub-branch.

[Azoth]

In a final vote of 7 to nothing of everything, we will be converting the Subclass System to a Mastery System. Thank you to all who have voted.