Is physical level a problem?

[Lamhirh]

that is for you to fight that it wont happen.

My dream solution : NO endgame. Just slow down and enjoy the low/middle tier content.

[darkstarpoet1]

to me it is not the physical level that is the problem. it is the way it is the deciding factor of all classes. if i am physical 50 i have the same stat points on 1 that i do a 50 class. to me physical should have some bearing on the next class you work on but not everything.

to me there should be more balance between physical and class ranks to allow each class to have its own stats. that way physical levels would assist the next class, but not be 100% of the factor of how many points you have.

[Kazimir]

I agree they should do away with self allotment of points. It was a good idea in theory, however if doing so makes each stat much less effective than it would otherwise be then they should certainly make it a pre-set allotment with more even distribution. As it stands now the base stats don't have much of an effect on the character.

I've tried set ups with lots of STR and DEX and some with much less (around 40 less) and I noticed no difference in my damage or accuracy. STAT+ gear and food are also rather pointless with the exception of HP+, which makes crafts like Goldsmithing and Cooking rather worthless.

[Dreamer]

I agree they should do away with self allotment of points. It was a good idea in theory, however if doing so makes each stat much less effective than it would otherwise be then they should certainly make it a pre-set allotment with more even distribution. As it stands now the base stats don't have much of an effect on the character.

I've tried set ups with lots of STR and DEX and some with much less (around 40 less) and I noticed no difference in my damage or accuracy. STAT+ gear and food are also rather pointless with the exception of HP+, which makes crafts like Goldsmithing and Cooking rather worthless.

No, no, no.


My big gripe with most MMOs is the atrociously small amount of customization they give you. Being able to assign stat points is one of the best part about character design in this game. The only thing that needs to be done is balancing the effectiveness of adding points to stats other than vit, and adding a once per week or so full stat reset. I would rather have a marginally less effective character of my own design than to have a preallocated set shoved down my throat in the name of balance.

[AlexiaKidd]

No, no, no.


My big gripe with most MMOs is the atrociously small amount of customization they give you. Being able to assign stat points is one of the best part about character design in this game. The only thing that needs to be done is balancing the effectiveness of adding points to stats other than vit, and adding a once per week or so full stat reset. I would rather have a marginally less effective character of my own design than to have a preallocated set shoved down my throat in the name of balance.

But don't you see there is a reason other MMO's don't allow this, it is because it creates so much unbalance to the game play. You wonder why stats are not effective and that is exactly why they are not, it is because if they were then people could put so many points into only the stats they need for that class and it would make it everything unbalanced.

Yoshi P. said himself that they are looking to remove the Physical Level system as it is extremely difficult to balance.

[Evenstar]

The physical level and manual point assignment is a good idea, but it is hard to balance.

They either have to adjust the system and make the stats/points more effective in combination with a shorter cool down on resetting your points or they have to remove the whole system.

[Kaedan]

And that is the consequence of Min/Maxing.

I take a moderate approach at stats. I main a Conjurer, so I put most of my points in VIT and MND, less points in INT and PIE, and the least amount of points in STR and DEX. Basically I keep my STR and DEX at half the value of my VIT and MND, and my INT and PIE in between. This allows me to change stats fairly quickly if I decide to play a melee. But at the same time, I keep my primary stats high.

Also keep in mind that as you go higher in stats, the cost of increasing those stats has HUGE diminishing returns. This is ANOTHER discouragement towards Min/Maxing.

So do you get it yet? SE is discouraging Min/Maxing. Take the hint.

[Dreamer]

But don't you see there is a reason other MMO's don't allow this, it is because it creates so much unbalance to the game play. You wonder why stats are not effective and that is exactly why they are not, it is because if they were then people could put so many points into only the stats they need for that class and it would make it everything unbalanced.

Yoshi P. said himself that they are looking to remove the Physical Level system as it is extremely difficult to balance.

First off all, they're not all that unbalancing. A large number of of offline RPGs use such systems with little problem. Even if they cause some minor balance problem, honestly who cares? I'll take customizable and interesting over balanced any day. Besides, they can easily fix the problem you mentioned by giving multiple tiers of diminishing returns returns after a certain point (which they already do to an extent). No, it's not the same thing as preallocation - all it does is discourage trying to max out one stat.

I'm not sure why the prevailing attitude on this forum seems to be "I'm not happy with the way this system works, so instead of just fixing it, let's replace it with something completely different that I'm used to." I honestly wish they would quite trying to design the game according to popularity contests and instead properly design and playtest their systems and changes.

[SirEdeonX]

Honestly, I see nothing wrong with having physical level, I just think they made it way too fast to advance. There's 14 or so classes in the game, each with their own independent rank/skill points. Just getting one of them up to rank 50 puts your physical level pretty close to cap. It would've been more interesting if physical level took a loooong time to cap, thus making leveling other classes just as fulfilling.

Well, the point allotment stuff is a bit much also, making attribute bonuses from gear less rewarding.

I agree with this. And if you start with a new class, you'll get a huge amount of exp :S

[Nikkita]

Yoshi P. said himself that they are looking to remove the Physical Level system as it is extremely difficult to balance.

I don't recall that Yoshi P said anything quite like this in fact this is what I saw was this

"To be honest, I'm genuinely surprised by the response to Question 8, as are Matsui and Gondai on the battle team. We certainly didn't think that over 50% of players would be for doing away with physical levels."

This was in regards to the poll question that started out with

"The free distribution of attribute points has given rise to certain problems, however, such as compatibility issues with the Armoury system, and the lowered effectiveness of the attributes themselves. In particular, this lowered effectiveness of attributes also extends its influence to items, and is therefore something that we feel must be rectified."
all this tells me is that people can't figure out how to use the system to be most effective."

So basically what I as a player should realize is to not just throw everything into a few attributes because otherwise things like my armor and food are uneffective.
The system in and of itself is not unbalanced. People are unbalanced
if you as a player know how to use the system efficiently and effectively you will create balance
Also as some others have pointed out they did give you the ability to reallcate points so that you're not limited in any given class. I will say though last I tried you could only reallocate in increments and the time inbetween increments seemed to be little while. Long enough that switching from a "maxed out" DD to a "maxed out" Mage was not really viable.
On a side note I fully realize that regardless of my thoughts on the matter the system is going to change in one way or another. I personally hope they will stick with as much customization as possible.