KO / Death effect and penalty [suggestion]

[Randis]

the KO status and penalty is much discussed and seeing all the mixed opinions i gave it a longer thought.
As it is now many agree that dying in this game is no big deal, punishment is lush, other however oppose the idea of adding a SP penalty.
All sides make good points imo.

In my idea it may not be necessary to work with harsh penalties, especially penalties that are plain annoying. I think fearing the death because of annoying consequences would not be the right way to go.

The death lacks excitement, trill and stress and i would try to improve the event of 'death' using dramatic and psychological element.

As it is now... you loos all HP, you moan "uuggh" and fall... that is it...
That is not very exciting!

Imagine: When getting dangerously low on HP:
- the sound theme would change to something more urgent
- you would hear a heart beat
- some visual effect on the screen, red glow around the corners, blurry/shaky vision or something... nothing annoying! It must look cool!

Using the right means you can create excitement and stress! You must make the player aware of the danger! Make the player feel relieve when getting healed again.

And then... in the moment of death! There must be some dramatic effect! Great visual and a great SFX!

If the game play is exciting and the effects dramatic and shocking then it would be a lot more fun!

And if you want to add a penalty, it should be something creative and not annoying like gear damage or SP loss.
Be creative!

For example, if a player dies in a party you could have a series of immediate penalties that would affect some or all party members:

If a player dies, there could be some sort of shock-wave and:

- the shock wave would kick back all party members
- people nearby could suffer HP loss (maybe within a radius)
- all party could suffer some TP/MP loss
- party members could suffer from various status effects (poison, blind and so on)
- loss of all protective buffs

and others...

not all penalties at the same time of course, it would depend on the party setup and situation.

If done right this could be a very exciting experience.


Also instead of lying round on the ground in a sleeping position the characters could move a bit... gesture for help, show pain.... moan...that would be fun

[Reika]

Shockwave? what are we, unstable elements? Those death penalties are just plain silly.

[Randis]

Your comment is plain silly.

[Paksenarrion]

Well, some of it seems a bit extreme... at least to me, but otherwise it would be cool to add to the game. As it is now, dying doesn't really do anything... Which is sort of a huge difference from FFXI. I remember the days when one tried to avoid dying at all costs because it could mean all the hours of leveling you put in days previously could go to waste. Now it's more like worrying if you'll lose the gil because you don't have time to return and run to where you were just fighting. (If you're doing a leve). Oh and of course the weakened state...scary.

Honestly, I've got mixed feelings about losing EXP. On one hand it does give you that consequence of dying and really motivates you to fight hard. On the other hand losing EXP so much that you de-level....that's just harsh. I think the key here would be balance. Yes, lose EXP but not so much that all the other fights you had that day become meaningless.

[avalonstormm]

I think loosing SP or EXP on deaths is ridiculous, I've played FFXI for 9 yrs and its not fun regardless to what extent. I'd rather get longer status effects after being revived instead of loosing any SP or EXP. The point of playing a game is to stay away from stress and get away from real life issues for a few hours or so IMO. I don't agree on penalties that will create stress for me in game, that is just not the way to go for any smart MMO developers.

If you want excitement and fun, maybe your toon should blow up or turn into a popsickle when you die but never never never implement SP or EXP loss. The pain of earning back loss SP/EXP no matter how big or small the loss is unbearable IMO. I don't intend to waste minutes earning SP/EXP and loose any of it later on especially on a ladybug.

[DeadRiser]

I think loosing SP or EXP on deaths is ridiculous, I've played FFXI for 9 yrs and its not fun regardless to what extent. I'd rather get longer status effects after being revived instead of loosing any SP or EXP. The point of playing a game is to stay away from stress and get away from real life issues for a few hours or so IMO. I don't agree on penalties that will create stress for me in game, that is just not the way to go for any smart MMO developers.

If you want excitement and fun, maybe your toon should blow up or turn into a popsickle when you die but never never never implement SP or EXP loss. The pain of earning back loss SP/EXP no matter how big or small the loss is unbearable IMO. I don't intend to waste minutes earning SP/EXP and loose any of it later on especially on a ladybug.

By the looks of your signature, you look like you invest more than a 'few' hours into XIV... I don't think it'd hurt to earn back SP by a couple of battles.

BTW losing it on a ladybug, maybe you should watch your AoE's?

[Randis]

i did not mention any EXP/SP loss. My take on this excludes SP/EXP loss and gear damage.

[RobotRivers]

I like the idea of 'something happening upon death in a party, but to make it a little more simple, you could make a decrease in morale which could lower an attribute for example. However I've noticed in this game that you do tend to lose health quite a bit so any effects that happen when near death would just be annoying after a while.

[Mugiwara]

the whole point of a death penalty is for an incentive for you not to die. If get to the point where you hate to die because of sp loss, then the penalty is doing its job. thats why its called a "penalty". Im tired of "pats on my back" not very motivational imo.

[darkstarpoet1]

the problem with needing a penalty for death means you want to tke the easier route to get sp. if you would rather go fight simple mobs because you do not want to die for fear that is not up to me. i prefer get a group of people and go see just how strong a mob we can kill. if it's too strong then we leave it alone until another time. it is up to the individual if they hate to die or not and i don't care if they took you all the way back to r1 after death some people would not care anymore than they do now. if you make dying too much of a fear you have people kicked because they are not good enough or people afraid to try and fight the toughest mobs at their ranks.

sorry some of us prefer to fight tough mobs and do everything we can to stay alive regardless of the penalty.