Originally Posted By: Xsi
What are your intentions for how character stats should be allocated?
This change has nothing to do with how character stats should be allocated, in my view. My personal belief is that stats should be allocated based on what the player feels their character is best at.
 Originally Posted By: Xsi
Are you trying to encourage more diversity and more balanced characters?
In general I believe diversity is the most important thing in terms of characters and will be working toward that end. Diversity in stats isn't part of that - stats should be assigned based on what the player feels their character does best and worst. More stat-balanced characters should be good enough at everything they do, I would think.
 Originally Posted By: Xsi
Are you trying to make less used stats more common?
Yes.
 Originally Posted By: Xsi
Do these stats actually make the game more interesting and varied, or should the system perhaps be re-tooled to use a smaller number of base stat categories?
Since its inception, the fact that we haven't made significant progress toward incorporating the new stats has made this hard to answer. Theoretically, by having more stats with which to base things on you have more variety. We had 6 stats before the late 90's and the CMS system, when we went up to 11 (originally 12, but perception as a stat was scrapped). We may gain or lose one or two stats, but I doubt it. 11 seems to be right where we're sitting.
 Originally Posted By: Xsi
Will, as Rancid suggested, the new system require a different amount of allocatable stat points in character creation in order to preserve the current balance?
No. See my previous post. In short, balance would be undone rather than preserved by having more stat points to allocate to the same number of stats. This would result in having higher stats on average, which I'm sure everyone is aware has far more reaching implications that merely the bonuses to skills afforded through stats.
 Originally Posted By: Xsi
Is the current balance correct, and worthy of being preserved?
Balance is not correct, so will be changing over the course of 2008-09 and beyond, as it has always done. The current balance is definitely worthy of being preserved in so far as it is balanced. Both myself and Madoc work hard to avoid shifting balance in significant ways already, and will continue to do so.
 Originally Posted By: Xsi
Do you intend to allow players to re-allocate stats in the new system? Or even as Rancid pointed out, re-pick a race that might be more pertinent to their guild than was previously?
No. I am patently against reincarnations for reasons other than IC events. If another administrator wishes to take on the responsibility of reincarnations, that's up to them. My stance will not be to support player reincarnations.
 Originally Posted By: Xsi
How will this effect the balance of the varied buff spells in the game? Will the impact be negligible, or will the balance be shifted in unexpected ways?
That's a great question. Buffs that directly affect skills will not have their use altered, but buffs that affected skills indirectly based on their stat bonuses may. For instance, blessing of agility has both a direct skill bonus and a stat component. Since intelligence is now keyed to attack, the bonus granted by blessing of agility's stat portion will deminish - to what degree I don't know, but since the bonuses granted through stats are in all cases much less than those granted through direct skill modifiers the balance will not be shifted in unexpected ways.
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cerberus@darkemud.com