Character resets and you.. and me

If you were able to shift your attention away from Angelina Jolie's um... considerable assets ... during the the Tomb Raider sequel you likely were able to distinctly hear a warning about opening Pandora's Box. It appears as if our friends at Turbine weren't able to divert their attention away from a certain cradled bosom, and decided to open that selfsame box by offering skill resets.

I distinctly remember players telling them not to offer character resets at all because it would skew character populations, and that everytime they tweaked anything they would have to offer another reset. Despite assurances that there would be only one character reset ... and then a final reset ... and then the penultimate reset ... and now an ultimate reset it appears that it's very difficult getting the lid back on the box. It's not surprising, and I was staunchly opposed to the character reset at the time.

I now recognize that offering resets was the best available choice and has allowed for some very positive changes to the game.

Certain classes were completely reengineered. Without resets, the nerf bat would have hurt much, much more in order to bring skills into balance. Overpowered skills were removed and class paradigms were changed so that the new balanced flavor of the characters would be equally enjoyable.

AC2 has labored to produce the best skill system in place of any game on the MMORPG market. It's not perfect, but it's the best system out there. Here's why:

- There are no cookie cutters.
- There are lots of different takes on 18 different basic character classes.
- There is no class that is the best choice across all types of combat situations.

People that go to the boards in search of "perfect templates" soon discover 10-12 different "perfect templates" that all reflect personal taste and style for each of the 18 classes - with the exception of the tactician and possibly the Feral Intendant. The former is being reengineered as we speak and the latter will likely be reengineered in the near future.

The fundamentals of the skill system are brilliant and it's apparent that Turbine labored over them for long periods of time trying to make sure that there were just the right number of skill credits so that, for example, an Alchemist that didn't want dark side, would manage to have just enough skill credits to pick up encase. Citan and the rest of the crew involved in the rebalancing act have really have done a brilliant job.

Unfortunately, there remains one large problem. As a group we're not that bright. Turbine has effectively given existing characters absolute power instantly, and we have no idea what to do with it ... as a group. Sure, there are good skill calculators out there, but until you really try the skills on to see if they chafe or not, it's hard to determine whether or not they'll fit. Normally, levelling up a character and occasionally training and untraining a singular skill allow you to get a feel for what works for you personally. However, there's a large contingent of players that quit with level 50 (or multiple level 50) characters that are having a hard time retraining and getting it to work.

This creates an activation barrier for the returning player. They log in, and they have been forceably reset with an opportunity to play with things for an hour. Unfortunately, an hour really doesn't provide the kind of time required to get a feel for a character.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but there really needs to be a system in place to help these returning players (and there's lots of them) get their characters back into fine form quickly. Some people will take the advice of friends, some will look at the boards, but a few will try and figure out for themselves and really end up gimping themselves. It's taken a lot of effort on the part of Turbine to get many of these people to start up again, but logging in once is no guarantee that they'll continue logging in.

The characters are truly better balanced, and the game is on a wonderful path, but that's really only evident from inside the game after you've played it for a few weeks. I hope that Turbine thinks long and hard about providing a more suitable environment for character resets that really allows the returning players to figure it all out. While it might sound extreme, I'm beginning to think that upon reactivating an account expired prior to July 31st, 2003 it might make sense to give that player an opportunity to have a week long window during which they can perform as many character resets as they want.

I'm fortunate, in that I have friends that for some reason have followed the game closely. They left AC2 really wanting to see it succeed but couldn't justify continuing to pay MS for a game that was released with major issues. Nearly all of these issues (with perhaps a couple small exceptions) have either been addressed or will be addressed within the next couple of months. They've been following the changes and they're comfortable with developing new characters. I only hope that everyone that picks up the game again has either the knowledge or support from others in game to effectively retrain their characters.

Turbine has done an excellent job in rebuilding the fundamentals, and our effort can really help to encourage the kinds of populations that will make this game flourish. That said, I think it's our turn to accept some of this burden. If you happen to see a person that's returning to the game and looking for some guidance - offer it to them or direct them to someone that can. Take the time to walk a person through a quest that you've already done, and can't profit from. Make a new friend. Heck, who knows, maybe they'll be looking for a new patron - but try not to reach out to them with the intent of being their patron.

We're rewarding ourselves first and foremost by adding new blood to the game.

I know I've deviated from my typical jabbery insanity that likely had you inclined to read this in the first place, but I think this is a fairly serious issue, and I'd ask you to take the message that way. Turbine has helped build a game that a lot of us find a lot of joy in. Now, it's our turn to share some of the responsibility involved in turning that game into a world.

I hope Turbine takes the opportunity to examine how they're handling skill resets and consider a few different options so that returning players can really figuring out what they're doing instead of creating a character that they don't want to play.

Ara