Personal and Global Research

Post by **Chrisax** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 2:38 am

Personal and Global Research

What are the new research and character development options all about?

There are two forms of research in the expansion, personal and global.

Personal research allows players to decide to dedicate a percentage of their experience towards their research pool rather then their exp or sk pool. How much they decide to set aside for research is entirely up to individuals. As research points are earned players then get access to new upgrades and abilities that are unique for each profession.

Global research allows players to set aside a percentage of their experience towards a global faction goal. These research points go towards upgrades for the equipment that their side can call upon in PVP. Want the scout-mechanized walker to have better armor? Then you can give up some of your exp towards researching that goal for your faction! Each type of vehicle and installation will have various forms of upgrades available in this manner.

What area of global research you want to contribute to is also entirely up to each individual, so some of the people in your faction may be working towards an armor upgrade whilst you and others work towards new weapons, or you could come to an agreement and try to speed up research on one area by having as many people as possible dedicate their research contributions there!

If one side dedicates more research it will certainly give them an edge but I doubt we would see any one side dominate totally. Theoretically it would be possible for one side to control all notum bases and the battle stations, but just like the players maintain their own balance on the notum fields currently we would expect to see the same in Lost Eden, with a constant fluctuation of the balance.

How high a percent of experience will players be able to donate to global research? Will we be able to set it at 100% so that we don't get personal exp at all?

Yes! If a player wants to dedicate all their earned XP/SK into research they are free to do so.

How will “the giving some percentage of your XP or SK” work on already 220 AI LVL 30 players? Since they can’t gain any XP/SK/ASP how can they benefit from the researches?

Maximum level players still earn the appropriate XP/SK it just doesn’t progress them any further, but system wise the XP etc is still there, 220 players will therefore be able to dedicate 100% of their SK/XP to research should they want to.

How will personal research differ from faction-wide research? Also, won't there be a point in which the faction/personal research will reach its endpoint?

Personal research allows the player to research new skills or bonuses that they personally get to use. Think of a researched style of perks, the key difference being that the new person abilities will be passive. One example of these new types of skills will be triggered abilities – on every attack (or attack on you depending on the type of skill) will have a % chance of triggering a special attack (or defensive buff if it’s a defensive skill)

The global research grants their faction access to upgrades to the various vehicles and equipment available in Lost Eden. Examples would be better guns for the mechanized walkers or base turrets.

Yes, there will potentially be an endpoint when a faction will have researched all available upgrades, we can of course add further upgrades if necessary beyond those in at the launch of the expansion.

Can you give us any information on the new personal research? Do they work like perks or are they something new?

The personal research system offers seventy new options to learn for each profession. Unlike some perks, there are no ‘shared’ research lines, each profession has their own unique line of research open to them.

These researched abilities will provide two types of benefits – firstly passive stat bonuses just like perks that boost your stats. Secondly there are also around twenty new abilities for each profession in these research lines (The final number is still being decided). As mentioned in previous updates these new options provide an ability that when activated gives you a chance on hit (or being hit) to fire off a special attack or buff as a ‘proc’.

teredoc · Post by **teredoc** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:43 pm

Maximum level players still earn the appropriate XP/SK it just doesn’t progress them any further, but system wise the XP etc is still there, 220 players will therefore be able to dedicate 100% of their SK/XP to research should they want to.

I wonder if 220 players will nerf the SK/XP in teams like they do now.
I'm aware that a wellequiped 220 with endgame gear is a valid asset for an xping team, but I can't help but wonder if getting a team is gonna be hard.

Post by **Chrisax** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 2:22 pm

I don't think the current rules of SK will change but it's of course possible.

One thing, though, is it should be easier to get SK (as it is now) and also Axp (thanks to motherships missions). So, maybe the relative nerf caused by a 220 in a team won't be too important or shouldn't be.

Anyhow, expect a new type of team: the Research Team made of levels 220 and of possibly 219ish that are not worrying too much about the SK grind because they are getting close to 220 fast enough with the new SK rates.

Sillanto · Post by **Sillanto** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:00 pm

This will be intresting

but just like the players maintain their own balance on the notum fields currently we would expect to see the same in Lost Eden, with a constant fluctuation of the balance.

It only balanced cus they banned people.

The personal research system offers seventy new options to learn for each profession. Unlike some perks, there are no ‘shared’ research lines, each profession has their own unique line of research open to them.

Does this mean my 60 twink can get the same procs as a 220?