A lot of complaints from power gamers and people otherwise focused on the numbers.

Here's one idea. Drop the leveling and keep the perks. Start with a blank slate, but have nifty titles that come with accumulated perks, such as 'Great Warrior', 'Notorious Assassin' or 'Renowned Wizard'. At lower 'levels' you may collect a few titles (lesser mage, wanted cutpurse, accomplished swordsman) as you dabble in different trades. But as you specialize and develop, you can reach greatness in a particular 'class'. There's no need to put a number on these levels for the player's bragging rights and it would be more immersive.

Again, they'd have to do away with scaling so that your 'Master Swordsman' doesn't get whacked by some sewer rat, but I think it would be closer to actual role-playing while still satisfying min-maxers. You'd still have pressure to improve yourself and 'beat' the game if those are your goals, but it would take out the focus on math and make character development more fluid.

How would perks be gained under your alternate system?

if you keep the skills you could get a perk and some points for health, mana, stamina every 10 skill ups and you wouldnt need levels all monsters and npcs dont need to be scaled and items either, guess that could be a nice work around for the scaling issue

Leveling is still being done, behind the scenes. The numbers are crunched and when a skill is advanced you still get the perk options. I'd just rather not see 'level 10' flashing on the screen.

Better yet, perks could be sought out through training with NPCs or completing quests tailored to that skill set, once the character has attained a certain skill level. We don't need to be told the number but teh NPC could say something like "come back when you've gotten a little better". Yoda style.

The problem is players visualizing themselves with a numbered level and being unhappy when it doesn't meet their expectations. That's a scaling issue. But I also think the whole numbered levels thing is passe - it dates from the late 1960s and the first D&D game - and RPGs need a more innovative approach.

But keep the perks.

So, it would be exactly the same, just with only 100 m/h/s.

You've changed next to nothing, but pretended it's revolution.

Nearly all the professional complainers here have no idea WTF they're talking about. They just see a chance to troll and rabble rouse for their own personal entertainment.


Back on subject, no. With the professional complainers I mentioned earlier that would be like using gasoline to put out a fire.

Yes, it's a small change and no, I do not pretend it's a 'revolution'.

My idea is to change the approach. At some point in a game it's all math, but in real life we don't go around with levels, stats and percentages that determine our physical capabilities. We either can't do it, can't do it well, can do it or can do it very well.

We still need progression in an RPG, but players and makers alike are too hung up on the numbers. I say put these numbers behind the scenes.

Magicka, health and stamina would still be there but increase with use and not necessarily be assigned pure numbers. You could just be told after a lot of running and fighting, "stamina increased" and leave it at that. Eventually you'd notice the difference.

Same for perks: Instead of saying "You are now 20% quieter when you sneak", they could make it sound more fluid. "You are now considerably more difficult to detect, almost undetectable, completely silent when sneaking." It's the same levels, but taking out the numbers I think avoids a lot of player disappointment when their percentage expectations aren't met. It adds a caveat for those occasions when even a high level thief is spotted for example, or a master swordsman gets blocked. It also makes the whole thing more organic and fluid.