Death Penalties

I already posted some ideas in another part of the forum, the ones i like the most are not penalties, but the following:

1. XP/Attributes Bonuses
2. Show-Off Aura
3. Archivement

Explained in the next post.

Do not grant bonus for being alive X hours, it is too easy to fool.
I like the idea too, but it would be better if you granted an XP bonus (or a MF bonus quantity+rarity) based on the amount of enemies killed, and which would reset every new instance (when entering new areas, but not when tping in town).

Maybe implement such a mf boost, and keep the current exp loss penalty but lower it? Just an idea...


And when counting the amount of enemy killed, avoid increasing the number when player is idling next to a summoner and killing minions infinitely (you may already have such a code for regular exp award, didn't check but there should be...)

Yeah, you are right.
Although, what if high level characters go to low level areas to kill mobs... i thought on an exp counter but that'd be unfair for lowies.
Maybe, it could be based on, as you said, number of enemies killed. But also, if:

Mob level < Character level = 1-0,33*(difference of level)
Mob level = character level = 1
Mob level > character level = 1+0,33*(difference of level)

Note: Deadly mobs (blues) if same or higher level => x3, Bosses: if same or higher level => x50

So, Dealy mob of 2 levels higher will give 1,66*3=4,98, so it will count as 5 mobs of same level. A boss of 2 level higher will give 1,66*50=83,33, so it will count as 83 mobs of same level.

The devs can figure out a better counter, anyways.

But the ideas of giving bonuses to xp/attributes or mf(as you said), a show-off aura (when people sees a guy with that aura will say that guy has not died in a long while, he must be tough) and removing them when you die, are the ones that i like the most because players will try not to die but if they die they will not feel frustrated, but they will try to beat their previous record to obtain more bonuses and a more shiny show off aura.

I will explain the ideas i posted before with examples, to make it simple:

Counter (As suggested in the previous post): Mobs Killed of the same or higher level).
Note: Bosses, Yellows and Blues count as 30, 10 and 3 respectively, normal mobs as 1.

1. XP/Attributes Bonuses:

Counter > 500 = 0,28% bonus to XP and 0,14% bonus to Damage.
Counter > 1000 = 0,8% bonus to XP and 0,4% bonus to Damage.
...
Counter > 2500 = 3,16% bonus to XP and 1,58% bonus to Damage.
...
Counter > 10000 = 25,32% bonus to XP and 12,66% bonus to Damage.
...
Counter > 25000 = 100,07% bonus to XP and 50,04% bonus to Damage.


When the player dies the counter goes back to 0, and the bonus is removed.

Note: The XP and DMG bonuses increase exponentially, so that the player always wants more. :P
Note: The bonuses do not get removed when killed by another player, with the exception of cut throat league.
Note: The DMG bonus does not work in PvP, with the exception of cut throat, where the DMG bonus and XP bonus work (if PvP enforced).


2. Show-Off Aura:

Counter > 1000 = white aura
Counter > 4000 = pale yellow aura
Counter > 9000 = yellow aura
Counter > 16000 = golden aura
Counter > 25000 = golden aura + lightning around you. (SSJ3 XD)

When the player dies the counter goes back to 0, and the aura is removed.

Note: The aura does not get removed when killed by another player, with the exception of cut throat league.


3. Archivement:

Counter > 5000 archivement called: Terminator
Counter > 12500 archivement called: Rambo
Counter > 25000 archivement called: Chuck Norris


Trust me, everyone will try to get the Chuck Norris archivement. :P

What'd be even cooler, is that the Show-Off Aura (posted in the previous post), would increase constantly. As the COUNTER, increases, another particle is added to the animation of the aura.

"

Although, what if high level characters go to low level areas to kill mobs...

It is not a problem if the counter is reset every new instance.
However if you'd rather have something that increases more and more as you progress, without any reset, an exp counter could work. And if you want to keep it fair for lowies, a %-based one would be the right option.

But still, it has to be more rewarding for high levels, as I believe it is classier to make 50% of a level without dying when you are 60+ than to make levels 1 -> 10 without dying.

I like a few aspects of the counter idea, but it doesn't synergize with the HC league. I don't think this would be a proper way to deal death penalties in the default league as you can just lose too much and the system is of recursive kind, see matthew effect, "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". You just overly penalise death and if you don't then you have no significant benefits of this system to sustain it.
This game is a hack and slay, you want to jump into the middle of the fight and scrabble in the guts of your enemies (at least thats the way I immerge :P), it's not a tactic shooter where you need 30 minutes to move for a few meters because of the imminent and divine death by a single shot. Or the imminent death which penalises you epicly by taking all the buffs you gathered over an immense time of gameplay.

Possible penalties on death as I would imagine:

- Lose a massive amount of experience, you can regain a latent amount of experience by dominating your former slayer. Assume about 60% to 70% of the loss that is latent and can be regained by killing your slayer (this value should be higher than 50% so you are motivated to move your butt back to your grave and get your revenge, also it stacks better with the further ideas)

- Make it harder to kill your slayer, give it an aura which greatly enhances it's damage/endurance and these of the mobs around. Applying these rules to boss monsters would make them much harder and lets you gamble with your experience points, especially if you battle the bandits (damn Oak, summoner builds are absolutely worthless against him...). If you make another attempt to reclaim your experience points, theres the possibility to lose even more XP and further power your enemies, as the aura enhancements would stack. If you quit trying then you learned it the hard way as you definitively lose all your latent XP to the exceeded instance life time. It's your choice how hard you want to be punished for not being able to defeat certain mobs :)

- Additionally there could be the death penalty which weakens the character significantly until you regained all of the lost experience. Lets say, if you lost 1000 XP, the latent part of it would be 700 XP, then you could kill your slayer to regain the 700 XP but you would be weakened until you gained the outstanding 300 XP. I wouldn't use the death penalty as aura which would affect other party members, as they would exclude you from the battles to not get punished for your incompetence and suffer a painful death as well (with all the consequences). Don't let the killed players be punished by other players.

- NEVER EVER think about item loss on default league! This system does not work properly as your skills are not bound to your character but to your equipment, if you leave a corpse with your items on death then you have to regain it using your FISTS. In case you are Chuck Norris there would be some sense behind this, else... not. Playing this game should be fun and not overly frustrating...

Further advantage of this system: You can advance the death penalty for higher difficulties, so on normal you only have your latent death penalty, on cruel you get debuffed until you regained your XP and so on.

I hope this was kind of inspiring to you.

Didnt read the previous 118 pages but it hink the penalty needs to be BIG, i love the feeling when im fighting a boss or something and he shoots a laser at me, im like oh sht im gona die im gona die im gona die, dam dam dam, nooooooooooooo, ah got to portal in time im safe!

That feeling more than makes for the crappyness of the times i get owned.

Players already punished by "Death Run" (from nearest waypoint to place of death). May be forced refresh of areas/mobs?

P.S. I am sorry for my bad English.

I think the problem with death penalties isn't death penalties, it's server instability. If I die because of something that's my fault, it sucks but I can deal with it.

If I die because I go, run around, then freeze and in that 6 seconds before I d/c some mobs from off screen run up and kill me (the cause of about 40% of my deaths) or there's already some mobs that I'm fighting and I freeze mid fight (cause of another 15%) and I die because of that or zone, die on zone in before disconnecting (20%) what does that teach me?

If it were me, or something that were my fault I'd have connection problems on other games, when downloading, using IM clients, or anything else that requires a constant internet connection. I don't. And all of this is with the quick d/c and the invincibility for 10 seconds or until you move... it'd be worse without it.