It occured to me that a tribal character should have a higher base contact skill; I'll probably get murdered for saying something like that but....
1. If a character was tribal then I would think that a tribe would use the way to communicate with hunting parties and scouts looking for water or whatever for the tribe.
2. If above was true; then tribal mothers would teach tribal children use of the way just like they tought them to speak or stories.
just my two cents...what does everyone think?
I would think their languages would include some sort of calls or yells to communicate, esp. the more uncivilised ones.
Pretty good points Lohan. But you could say the same thing for city dwellers. They'd use it to communicate just as often because they're all lazy basatards.
Answer my Pm.
I'm of the opinion that everyone should have a higher base contact skill. The Way is used so often and so casually from my experience, it seems more or less like a second language. I've seen new characters (mostly played by newbies) trying to find employment be told to contact X, and they sit there for long periods of time, trying to contact and failing, maybe passing out, until their target quits out. It seems frustrating and unnecessary for something that, after a few sessions of failing contacts, becomes a casual part of life.
*shrug*
i seem to recall reading from an immortal that you learn that skill faster than other skills.
if you up min contact, they'll slow down the learn rate.
just practice. it doesn't take that damn long, unless your char is really stupid. Then it SHOULD be hard.
Actually, I think the Way would be a poor technique for communication amongst hunting parties, since using it causes light-headedness and requires relatively high concentration. Hand-signals would, in general, be much more effective.
-- X
I'm not saying it's difficult, I'm just saying it makes for a kind of OOC concept. Someone who can't contact is a very distinguishable newbie. From my experience, it seems like everyone uses the Way as a basic part of every day life, but 0 day characters have to say "Uh, it's... been a long time since I've used the Way." or "I'm not very good at this mind stuff.", only for it to become a staple of their life within a few IG weeks.
I understand that game balance is an issue. I won't complain that my character isn't good at taming animals, even though their background says that they used to take part in underground kank fights. I just don't understand the balance factor here. It seems like it is easy to boost the skill because it's an important part of the game to playability purposes, and also because Zalanthans are all supposed to have innate telepathic abilities that (from my understanding) come pretty naturally.
It seems like making everyone be decent at contacting from the get-go would make things seem a little less seamless (and frustrating) in game. The first thing you do with a new character is start looking for employment, and everyone will tell you to "Find Sergeant Amos' mind.", etc, which leads to a lot of sitting somewhere, wonderful if your target is online or not while you spam contact Amos. This seems especially off-putting to newbies, who really mostly just want to dive in and start playing, getting jobs and making friends. I know when I first started and was in the stage of bumbling around lost, hoping to grab up any employment that might come my way just so that I'd have people to interact with, I missed a few jobs because I couldn't contact.
Maybe I'm wrong here and contacting should need to be built up just like ass kicking and sneaking, but it just seems unnecessary to me. I'd actually like to hear staff opinion on this, just because it was something that I've wondered since starting.
I'm with Xygax on this one..
Though yes, the way is a staple of ordinary society. It's taxing.. and more so when you are walking around.
So in dangerous places, I don't think I'd be very keen on using anything too frequently that is going to take down my stun and blurr my focus. I also don't think I'd be keen on branching out more than a league or two from my hunting party. Hand signals and certain calls would be more effective if you ask me.