Give Rewards for Multi-Masters Part 2: Forage Skills - IDEAS FOR RYZOM

Northstar

The person who has spent more time MUST be better off than a new-comer. This is a reality in every game that there is; it's the de facto situation. (MMORPG).

At the time of this writing this is not the case. What we get is frustration and the super sad question when playing a game:

"Why bother? It makes no difference!".

As I have noted before, you and I have very different ideas of good game design, but these statements are not supportable even under your cookie based viewpoint. A person who has put in more time does have advantages over the new-comer. (I would also say that there is no "must" in game design.)

For mastering weapons I get increased hp and better stanzas. For mastering more than one weapon of each type I get different rates of attack and different damage over time choices. This is useful both for PvE and for PvP

In harvest masteer I gain the 360 degree prospection and "pop 10 nodes" and other stanzas of lesser importance to me. These make my next harvest master easier. Having all ecosystem masters mean I can get any harvestable material. (I also get a cool title.)

I can see the concept of rewarding the multi-master (Spirit of...) with some trifle of a boost. (+250 in focus is always nice but it is less than 1 action. It might mean the difference between [a residual of the normal +250] giving me one last swing of the pick, but that's it.) However, putting the stepping stone cookies at each small stage does not attract me; +50 focus isn't worth anything. I don't hold that Ryzom is perfect, but it is very good of its kind. What I would like to see for ideas is things that would make a real difference, like the ability to heal beasts or NPCs, or ability to have high enough fame with tribes that their wandering patrols will help me with aggro, not little "cookies" or "merit badges."

P.S.In case you don't get the "cookie" reference:

Remickla (atys)
Other games - they give you a cookie whether you succeed or not, in fact you don't even have to participate. Ryzom takes your cookie, eats it in front of you, and slaps you 2 or 3 times for bringing a cookie in the first place.