Updating 'Might' in honours

ElrynGreythane

Would there be any appetite for changing the might line in honours to be a bit more informative?

My understanding is that currently it mostly uses the amount of lessons spent on active (?) skillsets, but this doesn't really seem very reflective of actual threat or relative capability.

Could I suggest changing this to be something like:
* He is considered to be <*> your equal in general resilience and combat proficiency.
* He is considered to be <*> your equal in exerting charm and influence.
* He is known to have acquired <*> the blessings of good fortune and wealth you possess.

Where <*> is one of:
- a pathetic fraction of ( < 10% )
- significantly less than ( < 50% )
- somewhat less than ( < 75% )
- slightly less than ( < 90% )
- approximately ( 90% - 120% )
- slightly more than ( > 120% )
- somewhat more than ( > 150% )
- significantly more than ( > 200% )
- an awe-inspiring level above ( > 400% )

And the calculation is weighted as something like:
Combat score = sum(health + mana + ego) + (bashing attack damage / bashing attack delay) + (average resistance) - (number of abilities missing in guild skillsets + discipline, combat, discernment, environment) + (number of combat, utility, defensive category artifacts) + (number of recent arena wins - losses)
Influence score = ego + (influence power / influence attack delay) - (number of abilities missing in influence/dramatics skillsets + city influence skills) + (number of influence category artifacts)
Artifact/Wealth score = total gold + (number of artifacts of any type) + (number of shops/clans/manses/aetherships owned)

Obviously each of these would need multipliers to make sure they are roughly equally weighted, but I think that would be a lot more accurate than lesson investment and level. Still not capturing actual skill and other attributes, but more likely to be informative, I hope.

Any thoughts?

Foehn

I can't speak to the formulas you provided, but I'm fine conceptually with the first two. I agree that lesson spend is not a particularly useful comparison in might.

But I am not remotely fine with people being able to determine how much gold, credits or artifacts I have. Even if it's ballpark, that feels like a terrible breach in privacy that extends beyond the character to the player of that character. Given the direct link available between the in-game economy and a players own finances, that's just not okay.

The other point I'd make is I feel like I've never cared at all about the might comparisons and would be perfectly fine with them going away. They add nothing to the game to me.

ElrynGreythane

Foehn said:

I am not remotely fine with people being able to determine how much gold, credits or artifacts I have. Even if it's ballpark, that feels like a terrible breach in privacy that extends beyond the character to the player of that character. Given the direct link available between the in-game economy and a players own finances, that's just not okay.

That's fair. I did wonder whether it would be going too far, but thought that a simple count of in-game assets would be a useful measure of how likely it is that you are going to be facing someone who has paid for or earned a significant artifact advantage (hence leaving out count of loose credits, goop, etc). It's definitely not necessary though, just a thought!

The reason I've been thinking about the uselessness of might right now is that I actually like the idea of being able to CONSIDER other players, and know that either I'm far outgearing them or vice versa. If that relative score was a bit more accurate in terms of how fair a conflict is likely to be, then it could lend itself to more interesting follow-on mechanics that might be possible one day, such as bonuses during group combat for taking on opponents that are much more powerful than oneself. The current total lesson count (or even level comparison) though would be less than useless for that kind of thing, because it just isn't reflective of relative advantage.

Versalean

I would rather they removed might altogether than elaborated on it - as Foehn correctly notes it just opens up a can of worms. I've seen enough people 10% my might (in other IREs, granted) get ganked by somebody twice my might and proceed to absolutely feed the ganker his ass to have come to the conclusion that might doesn't just tell you nothing useful, but less than nothing useful. Combat rankings... time spent with masochism... number of duels... even time spent awake whilst wildnodes was on... any of these things would give you more useful information than might.

Sylphas

ElrynGreythane said:

My understanding is that currently it mostly uses the amount of lessons spent on active (?) skillsets

I can confirm that it's certainly active skillsets only. If I flex to a class I'm not fully trans in, my might drops compared to others, and learning those skills don't increase my might when I flex back to a class I'm done learning.