Bonus added to trainer if i'm training it?

[Maeght]

Similar but unrelated idea:

Why not scatter training facilities around the lands? Basically they'd be repeatable quests for "temporary" ranks. It saves on pack space and gives exiles (yes, fighters but also the people who go with them) something to do that isn't directly a hunt for tangible gain.

Like a temporary rank boost that lasts a few hours? That'd be cool.

Like those ethereal boots and whatnot?

[Slartibartfast]

Similar but unrelated idea:

Why not scatter training facilities around the lands? Basically they'd be repeatable quests for "temporary" ranks. It saves on pack space and gives exiles (yes, fighters but also the people who go with them) something to do that isn't directly a hunt for tangible gain.

To take things even more off topic:
I shouldn't ruin it, but I've been wanting to use a gimmick like this for a while. I don't have concrete plans, but they are probably more temporary than you had in mind. More like smaller 5-15 minute tools rather than end of area rewards. For example, maybe a difficult area has a rodnus booster in a not-so-defensible spot, so you could take the risk to run there in order to get a nice bonus. Or to take the idea even further, what if some monsters gave you 20-30 second boosts for killing them? (And the same mechanic could be used for debuffs. Sure, you can kill the high atkus low defense monster first, but it'll zap your defense so the thing you're bricking might hit you.)

[Maeght]

To take things even more off topic:
I shouldn't ruin it, but I've been wanting to use a gimmick like this for a while. I don't have concrete plans, but they are probably more temporary than you had in mind. More like smaller 5-15 minute tools rather than end of area rewards. For example, maybe a difficult area has a rodnus booster in a not-so-defensible spot, so you could take the risk to run there in order to get a nice bonus. Or to take the idea even further, what if some monsters gave you 20-30 second boosts for killing them? (And the same mechanic could be used for debuffs. Sure, you can kill the high atkus low defense monster first, but it'll zap your defense so the thing you're bricking might hit you.)

Please consider giving us counters to these debuffs if you're going to do that. Otherwise I'm thinking it's going to be a lot more common to get debuffed than buffed.

[Shadowfire]

In terms of boosts, I think all of those ideas have merit. Some notes:

1. A 30 second boost is likely to be nigh useless, unless it's pretty huge and not based on tags. Or worse than useless if it's Atkus.
--> Edit: I like the idea of status effects like that. It would add additional tactical complexity, which is a Good Thing in my opinion, even if it makes things harder in spots.

2. Defense boost areas like Slarty mentions would be fun, but it would need to be a VERY high number to offset the current CL battle paradigm. This is assuming that you're not Daimoth or Mujin and can't stand and solo the place and thus have to subscribe to the current generation of CL tactics: the Romp & Stomp, i.e. run in, kill as much as possible as quickly as possible and then run like you stole something, followed by chain runs to retrieve people. The really isn't any such thing as a "Defensible area" other than a tightly controlled entry such as those created by exiles with kudzu, as long as you're hunting kills/vanqs in a place where 5+ dangerous critters can show up at once.

3. What I was originally considering was something along the lines of a repeatable quest for 5 or maybe 10 decaying temporary "ranks" that can accrue over time but have a cap. Such that you would need to repeat the quest at regular intervals to maintain your edge, i.e. continuous maintenance training. What might be interesting is if lower ranked exiles had a higher power gain from these phantom ranks, and a higher cap, and a slower decay perhaps. What might be an interesting twist for higher ranked exiles is the ability to train with Phant'um Rankus, who increase their maximum cap but otherwise provides no benefits...

[Killian]

Similar but unrelated idea:

Why not scatter training facilities around the lands? Basically they'd be repeatable quests for "temporary" ranks. It saves on pack space and gives exiles (yes, fighters but also the people who go with them) something to do that isn't directly a hunt for tangible gain.

To take things even more off topic:
I shouldn't ruin it, but I've been wanting to use a gimmick like this for a while. I don't have concrete plans, but they are probably more temporary than you had in mind. More like smaller 5-15 minute tools rather than end of area rewards. For example, maybe a difficult area has a rodnus booster in a not-so-defensible spot, so you could take the risk to run there in order to get a nice bonus. Or to take the idea even further, what if some monsters gave you 20-30 second boosts for killing them? (And the same mechanic could be used for debuffs. Sure, you can kill the high atkus low defense monster first, but it'll zap your defense so the thing you're bricking might hit you.)

I love that idea. Hope the debuffs aren't as bad as the balance posion toads tho. Thos are rough!

[noivad]

Similar but unrelated idea:

Why not scatter training facilities around the lands? Basically they'd be repeatable quests for "temporary" ranks. It saves on pack space and gives exiles (yes, fighters but also the people who go with them) something to do that isn't directly a hunt for tangible gain.

To take things even more off topic:
I shouldn't ruin it, but I've been wanting to use a gimmick like this for a while. I don't have concrete plans, but they are probably more temporary than you had in mind. More like smaller 5-15 minute tools rather than end of area rewards. For example, maybe a difficult area has a rodnus booster in a not-so-defensible spot, so you could take the risk to run there in order to get a nice bonus. Or to take the idea even further, what if some monsters gave you 20-30 second boosts for killing them? (And the same mechanic could be used for debuffs. Sure, you can kill the high atkus low defense monster first, but it'll zap your defense so the thing you're bricking might hit you.)

10-15 minutes simply isn't enough time to make a reward buff desirable. Think of people who go to an area to get the buff, then spend 5 minutes travelling to a place they can use it, then 5-10 minutes waiting for everyone to get there. Then another minute setting up shares and such, and another 2 minutes to talk strategy...

No, an hour seem like a better buff time unless you plan on making an area that has buffs along the way to tougher and tougher things, instead of at the end. Then 15-30 minutes seems reasonable. Also, these buffs should be proportional to the character receiving the buff or at least 100 evus/eva/mentus-mentus regen ranks. It could be other trainers, but it'd have to be balanced, so a character maintains their healing rate/health/respia and a fighter retains their darkus:regia or atkus:balthus ratios.

Basically, make the boosts totally WORTH getting to entice players to go to these new places. Then follow it up with deeper areas where they'll probably need the boost, unless they are an uber.

[Slartibartfast]

10-15 minutes simply isn't enough time to make a reward buff desirable. Think of people who go to an area to get the buff, then spend 5 minutes travelling to a place they can use it, then 5-10 minutes waiting for everyone to get there. Then another minute setting up shares and such, and another 2 minutes to talk strategy...

Re-read what I wrote, we are talking about two entirely different things.

And Shadowfire had yet another entirely different idea (smaller boosts lasting days or even weeks).

[Daimoth]

10-15 minutes simply isn't enough time to make a reward buff desirable. Think of people who go to an area to get the buff, then spend 5 minutes travelling to a place they can use it, then 5-10 minutes waiting for everyone to get there. Then another minute setting up shares and such, and another 2 minutes to talk strategy...

Yeah, they're talking about something not really related to the original topic.

[Shadowfire]

The thing I like the most is that letting people train in "Phan'tum Rankus" would have no benefits that were permanent, and would not slow decay at all, just increase the maximum temporary boost. So older exiles could make the tradeoff of maintenance in return for faster advancement and younger exiles (because they would gain more inherently, based on rank count) could get going faster. Everyone would have more to do, all the time. It would work for all classes, and if we were to make new areas with this concept in mind, suddenly trips all about the game world to out of the way places would be more common. If they could be to some degree linked by a system of portals like Arindal mages have, so much the better--getting somewhere you can already go more efficiently isn't so much doorman forcing as it is a nice thing to have as a supplement.

[Azriel]

Similar but unrelated idea:

Why not scatter training facilities around the lands? Basically they'd be repeatable quests for "temporary" ranks. It saves on pack space and gives exiles (yes, fighters but also the people who go with them) something to do that isn't directly a hunt for tangible gain.

To take things even more off topic:
I shouldn't ruin it, but I've been wanting to use a gimmick like this for a while. I don't have concrete plans, but they are probably more temporary than you had in mind. More like smaller 5-15 minute tools rather than end of area rewards. For example, maybe a difficult area has a rodnus booster in a not-so-defensible spot, so you could take the risk to run there in order to get a nice bonus. Or to take the idea even further, what if some monsters gave you 20-30 second boosts for killing them? (And the same mechanic could be used for debuffs. Sure, you can kill the high atkus low defense monster first, but it'll zap your defense so the thing you're bricking might hit you.)

Like the blue spirit potion should be? I doubt anyone has ever actually used that effectively in a battle, because obtaining one is far too difficult (parts are too scattered for on-the-run use; you have to save up from earlier trips to a place no one goes - because the ingredients are the only reason TO go there). But the idea is a good one, temporary advantages are available that make a difficult path more worth the gamble.

Personally, I'd like to see these buffs coupled with decision points: take the long easier way versus quicker route through a much tougher chokepoint, using a temporary buff? Higher level hunting should be accessible without having to trudge through (and clear) lower level areas where others could be trying to hunt at their level, and such buffs linked to shortcuts can help alleviate this. Make the buff start there in the area, so you can't save it for someplace else (like a potion), keeping things balance-able. Areas where such a thing would be useful would be in faster routes very distant hunting grounds so that mortals with real lives can go there too since not everyone has 3-4 hours to spend in one sitting: the Metz rainforest or Tepui come to mind. The Orga Stronghold also could become an awesome hunting area at the high end too, except the route through Slate caves is long itself (even with amazingly fast Daimoth-led hunts there recently), and the Stronghold "front door" requires extraordinary effort to break through (this area really needs a 'cove' where one gets to hunt a limited amount of this level).

Az

[Killian]

Similar but unrelated idea:

Why not scatter training facilities around the lands? Basically they'd be repeatable quests for "temporary" ranks. It saves on pack space and gives exiles (yes, fighters but also the people who go with them) something to do that isn't directly a hunt for tangible gain.

To take things even more off topic:
I shouldn't ruin it, but I've been wanting to use a gimmick like this for a while. I don't have concrete plans, but they are probably more temporary than you had in mind. More like smaller 5-15 minute tools rather than end of area rewards. For example, maybe a difficult area has a rodnus booster in a not-so-defensible spot, so you could take the risk to run there in order to get a nice bonus. Or to take the idea even further, what if some monsters gave you 20-30 second boosts for killing them? (And the same mechanic could be used for debuffs. Sure, you can kill the high atkus low defense monster first, but it'll zap your defense so the thing you're bricking might hit you.)

would every monster give a buff or debuff? If so that would be cool. That way we would always have a buff or debuff going on. It would make it a bit more fun imo.

[Geotzou]

What would people say about a simple NPC that would offer us to temporarily increase our current trainer efficacy by 10 ranks flat. No cost, no item, no gimmick. It works in the coliseum, in the circle tests, everywhere. The boost disappears whenever you switch trainer or toggle it off at the same NPC.

Nothing complicated, nothing to hate, nothing to lose. Just GMs showing us that hey like us

People who would want to "abuse" the system and go through the whole trouble to temporarily switch trainers before/after specific hunts/quests would be most welcome to do so and nothing would be done to block them, since the bonus is 10 ranks flat and only temporary.

[Maeght]

What would people say about a simple NPC that would offer us to temporarily increase our current trainer efficacy by 10 ranks flat. No cost, no item, no gimmick. It works in the coliseum, in the circle tests, everywhere. The boost disappears whenever you switch trainer or toggle it off at the same NPC.

I'd say put the effort into boosting noob experience rate since they're the only ones that would significantly benefit from 10 ranks in most areas people want to train.