Branching

[creeper386]

Now, I'm going to say first off, I'm not asking about what branches from what or anything like that, if you are looking for that, too bad.

Anyways, now, this game isn't always about coded skills, but they are nice to have, but the problem is, I don't ever see any new skills. Maybe I just suxor, but I don't very often. I've only seen one branch happen and that was after about 12-15 days of the character doing his job. No matter what type of characters I've tried to play, between people that are forced to do alot of work ICly to the people that are laid back and do hobbies, I think it sucks pretty bad to never see any branching, because I don't get to see any new things, ever.

Now, my question is, is it common for your characters to take 10+ days to branch anything? Now, I'm sure it's dependant on lots of things such as what skills and stats and everything, but it always seems other people have seen new skills, and this and that, and I have seen only one branch, ever in the time I've played Arm.

[Marauder Moe]

I think I've only had one non-magicker branch skills, and I suppose that was after like 10 days playtime or so of actively working on those skills.  It does take a very long time, and yet maxed out characters don't seem that uncommon.

I say just consider death the ultimate form of branching: you get to branch a whole new guild's worth of skills if you choose.  

[marko]

From my experience it depends on the character, the class, and the skill.

If a character never uses their skills then they will never branch.

If a character uses their skills occassionally then they may branch between ten days to fifty or more days.

If a character regularly uses their skills then it may be between four days to fifty or more days.

If a character is constantly using their skills then it may be a matter of days to fifty or more days.

There's no good way to judge how long it'll take any skill on any given character simply because it all depends on what that character is doing.  Time played is an awful way to judge how "skilled" someone "should" be.

[mansa]

I usually branch my first skill around 12 - 15 days playing time.

And that's me using the skill actively.  If I don't use it actively, I branch around 25 - 30 days playing time.

[Marauder Moe]

The staff have also said that branching is very random.  I wouldn't be suprised if you could have two characters with identical stats and guilds, have them always perform skills at the same time with the same difficulty, and yet have one branch something many days after the other.

[jstorrie]

In all my play-time here on Armageddon, I've only had one skill branch, ever. And it may not have even actually branched.

[Agent_137]

I usually see some branching around 12-15 days, also. That was with both a warrior of mine and a ranger, both pursuing soldiering type jobs. The base skills for the branch i used periodically, maybe once or twice an IC day.

[Spud]

If my character lives long enough, they branch. Simple as that.

Fastest branch - within 2 hours of playtime.

[Moofassa]

Trees have branches IG. I don't know when they branch. Possibly as saplings?



Branching is really random in my experience. I've had warriors branch in 5 days, and then warrior with whom I've twinked out (in my earlier years) not branch until like 20 days.

I'd say don't even think about branching as a possiblity IG, just be amazed when it happens.

[Dakkon Black]

The best is really not to worry too much about branching. If you aren't having fun with a char through rp before branching, then branching isn't going to change that.

Oddly enough I seem to branch more when I spend most of the char's time rping rather then training.

[Ktavialt]

Well, I'd estimate that it takes about ten days of straight clothworking
spam as a merchant to branch vulcan neck pinch, and about three days
of constant spam to branch donkey punch.

Hope that helps, I love to help new players!

- Ktavialt

[Twilight]

There is a method to the madness, and there is a lot of randomness.  Keep in mind combat skills are the hardest, pretty much, to branch.

As proof that the gods must be crazy, my fastest branch by far happened in under ten RL hours.  With a half-giant.

[creeper386]

Well, I'd estimate that it takes about ten days of straight clothworking
spam as a merchant to branch vulcan neck pinch, and about three days
of constant spam to branch donkey punch.

Hope that helps, I love to help new players!

- Ktavialt

Heh, way to be an extremely rude person. If I was new here, and didn't expect at least one response like that, it's the sort of sarcastic crap that turns new players off.

Anyways, I was just curious as to general timeframes. Guess I'll just need more characters to live lots longer. Myself, I just really don't like not experiencing the code when it's there. And it seems alot of people I know don't see many branched skills. So it's rather crappy.

[Ktavialt]

Heh, way to be an extremely rude person. If I was new here, and didn't expect at least one response like that, it's the sort of sarcastic crap that turns new players off.

Hunh, and I thought I was making a joke, guess I only saw the funny in
that.

[Dakkon Black]

Hunh, and I thought I was making a joke, guess I only saw the funny in that.

Actually, it was funny. I saw the funny in it. But he's still right, it's somebody who is so new they don't know what a mul is. And considering what I normally find on other muds, maybe a vulcan neck pinch, isn't really unbelievable.

I think that's all he's asking you to watch out for, and it's a good point that we should all keep an eye on. I as a noob could have read that, seen that this mud has vulcan neck pinches, and been like, Meh, another Hack and Slash, not for me. And the more aware we are of helping new people adjust, the more we keep right?

Back to the topic, go branching.

[Pantoufle]

There's nothing wrong with wanting to branch skills.

If you've been playing for a couple of years and never once branched a skill despite effort, you may need to change your approach.  Of course, if it's not something you're actively working towards then there's a good chance it won't ever happen.  I'm convinced that there are some skills out there which require staying alive for longer than a (non-game) year before you have any hopes of seeing it appear on your skill list.

I've never experienced these alleged 0-day branchings but it's inspiring to know that that's a possibility.  Despite the randomness of it all and despite the fact that a 20-day warrior can be anything from a whimp to one of the game's most dangerous opponents, it is more than pure chance.

My suggestion is to find an in-game tutor who can teach you all about the wonders of branching without having to worry about someone thinking you're either powergaming or exchanging information about the code OOCly.  

[ThirdEye]

Fastest branch I ever had was in 6 days playtime.

[Dresan]

Practiced a skill about six times over the course of a RL week and it branched, low wise too.

[moab]

Practiced a skill about six times over the course of a RL week and it branched, low wise too.

I don't believe you.

It's not random.

Do we really need this thread?

[Anonymous]

A watched skill never branches.

[Ghost]

A watched skill never branches.

What is a watched skill?

[Eternal]

Having the skill that is being watched improves your chances of noticing its use.

Couldn't help myself.  I assume he was going with the cliche "A smoked pot never boils." or something like that.

[spawnloser]

Ghost, he was paraphrasing an old saying: "A watched pot never boils."

It means that if you're waiting for something to branch, you're getting impatient and it'll seem like it takes longer.

[Marauder Moe]

Sometimes I alias the 'skill' command so it doesn't work.

[Dresan]

'watch' is a skill  :wink:

And to moab its very likely the same 0 days branching skill some people are talking about, its exists and there is only one way to find out, ICly.

Is branching random? I have no idea

Don't believe me...Meh...

Is this thread needed? Probably not but again Meh. :twisted: