1.0.6 gives XP for tournaments and...practice matches?

[SpectreSC]

I really don't think you are understanding what I am saying. The length of time is already there, it already slows down organically. I honestly wonder how far you have gotten through your playthroughs to be making comments on this, given you don't seem to have experienced just how slow it gets. You are worried about lengthy multi-hundred hour campaigns? Trust me, you won't get 250 skill until hundreds of hours are invested even if you spend all your time in the practice arena. One my playthroughs was about 35 hours, and I couldn't make a dent in a combat skill beyond 65. That's 65, companions you can hire have 150. Maybe before everyone panics thinking you'll have a maxed out character right out of the gate because you can practice, these same people should make a personal goal of seeing how long it takes for them to reach 150 skill, and that's not even the cap and then report back.

I've gotten as far as 630+ days in my current playthrough and I don't seem to be having the urgency or necessity to make my character a literal God. It takes time and this game has made it so you enjoy the time in between by either trading, questing, managing your fiefs or doing other smaller un-related tasks while you grind your proficiencies up at the same time. Is it still slow to level up your skills and character? Yes! And that definitely needs improvement... but using the Arena as a catch-all/power-levelers wet-dream is just stupid.

If you want instant gratification then just get an XP boosting mod and call it a day, stop trying to force your casual approach to the rest of us by making it so you can power-level your stats in an arena with ROOKIES.

My gripe with this is that the regular arena PRACTICE fights are giving you 100% of the XP everytime when all you're doing is fighting chads and low-tier scrubs until the last four or five contenders. Why are you being given full XP in these types of practice fights? It's exploitable as hell and it costs you, the player, virtually nothing to do except your time. Tournament fights are perfectly fine granting decent XP but an Arena situation where it's meant for just light practice... no real consequences.. no actual limit on how many times you can jump into the arena... do you not see the issue there? It's just ripe for exploitation.

 

[Ghostwish]

I've gotten as far as 630+ days in my current playthrough and I don't seem to be having the urgency or necessity to make my character a literal God. It takes time and this game has made it so you enjoy the time in between by either trading, questing, managing your fiefs or doing other smaller un-related tasks while you grind your proficiencies up at the same time. Is it still slow to level up your skills and character? Yes! And that definitely needs improvement... but using the Arena as a catch-all/power-levelers wet-dream is just stupid.

If you want instant gratification then just get an XP boosting mod and call it a day, stop trying to force your casual approach to the rest of us by making it so you can power-level your stats in an arena with ROOKIES.

My gripe with this is that the regular arena PRACTICE fights are giving you 100% of the XP everytime when all you're doing is fighting chads and low-tier scrubs until the last four or five contenders. Why are you being given full XP in these types of practice fights? It's exploitable as hell and it costs you, the player, virtually nothing to do except your time. Tournament fights are perfectly fine granting decent XP but an Arena situation where it's meant for just light practice... no real consequences.. no actual limit on how many times you can jump into the arena... do you not see the issue there? It's just ripe for exploitation.

exploitation?
1.you playing singelplayer you can ignore the arena.
2.your character starts as a 30 year old good for nothing ....he is weaker than recruits and has no real skills.....why should anyone follow someone like this? (from a roleplaying perspective)
3.raising your skills to a reasonable lvl takes even with the arena too long.
4.snowballing factions..... your lacking time to raise your combat skills
5. ageing your char becomes old ........when should he become a good fighter at 50 ? (well i dont know if you grow older atm)

 

[SpectreSC]

exploitation?
1.you playing singelplayer you can ignore the arena.
2.your character starts as a 30 year old good for nothing ....he is weaker than recruits and has no real skills.....why should anyone follow someone like this? (from a roleplaying perspective)
3.raising your skills to a reasonable lvl takes even with the arena too long.

I understand that but the Arena in general should not be giving you nowhere near 100% skill gain. Keep it like it was in WARBAND where it gave you the bare minimum amount possible. Why? Because the Arena wasn't meant to SKILL-FARM it was meant to practice yourself and learn how to use your own weapons.

And yes, even in a SP game exploitation of a game mechanic is not a good thing. Why? Because it defeats the purpose of the rest of the game and the loop the developers are setting out to create. If the game was all about just sitting in an arena and skill-farming then that's great! But it's not. This game is about doing MANY other things and GROWING your character along the way naturally, not by sitting in some podunk Arena with Timbuktu Jack while you become the Master of the Land.

As it stands you can sit in the Arena, grind your skills up and become just as good as those Lords who've (Lorewise) always been skilled warriors and leaders. It just breaks immersion and makes zero sense unless you're RPing a Gladiator from 400 years ago. ?

But as far as Tournaments go? You're fighting skilled champions and experienced competitors in these bouts, this should absolutely give you decent XP since it's an actual COMPETITION.

 

[Ghostwish]

you talking like its fun to fight round after round in the arena......its not

 

[✪Chewy]

you talking like its fun to fight round after round in the arena......its not

Some people actually enjoy the arena.

 

[✪Chewy]

Some people actually enjoy the arena.

He then said the graphics weren't a huge upgrade. But corrected himself when he put a side by side comparison. Mentioned in the comment section.

"In hindsight I was probably a little unnecessarily hard on the graphics. Looking at side-by-side comparisons it is quite an improvement over Warband. Looks dated compared to a lot of more recent games but definitely much nicer than previous Mount & Blade games. And sorry about the couple of visual glitches, folks... For some reason my editing software screwed it up when rendering overnight. When I double-checked it everything is the way it should be in the file but the output has ingame footage missing from 11:22 to 11:46, and a couple of black screen moments. When I tried to fix it the software kept crashing. -_- I really hate Sony Vegas sometimes but it's what I'm familiar with and I don't have the time to learn a new editing software. 95% of the video is fine, so good enough."

 

[Dean Beecham]

Its been more fun since patch 06. Before i put in 74hr game play got to level 16 that was going around fighting all the time.still could not use good bows and good horses .. T 4 Clan looked at the map and it had been taken over by one clan... game over no point. now after 8 hrs new game start level 10 from training i can start going around and build up my name .. only minor battles on map so its not changed much.. More fun amd i am getting more out of the game ..Thanks TW... if you dont want to train dont.

 

[Uruk34]

I understand that but the Arena in general should not be giving you nowhere near 100% skill gain. Keep it like it was in WARBAND where it gave you the bare minimum amount possible. Why? Because the Arena wasn't meant to SKILL-FARM it was meant to practice yourself and learn how to use your own weapons.

And yes, even in a SP game exploitation of a game mechanic is not a good thing. Why? Because it defeats the purpose of the rest of the game and the loop the developers are setting out to create. If the game was all about just sitting in an arena and skill-farming then that's great! But it's not. This game is about doing MANY other things and GROWING your character along the way naturally, not by sitting in some podunk Arena with Timbuktu Jack while you become the Master of the Land.

As it stands you can sit in the Arena, grind your skills up and become just as good as those Lords who've (Lorewise) always been skilled warriors and leaders. It just breaks immersion and makes zero sense unless you're RPing a Gladiator from 400 years ago. ?

But as far as Tournaments go? You're fighting skilled champions and experienced competitors in these bouts, this should absolutely give you decent XP since it's an actual COMPETITION.

You can't become as good as lords though, can you? At least, not without sitting in the arena doing literally nothing but fighting the scrubs in there for many hours. It is quite possible that this will be a placeholder until proper quality of life changes are made to the pace of XP gain. For now though, it really is the only way to level up skills in certain weapons (crossbows, 2h) in the early game without losing the will to live. Also didn't you say you'd already downloaded an XP slider mod that fixes this? At the end of the day, someone's gonna be downloading a mod with the current system.

Also, as many others have said, you don't become master of the land by grinding the arena. It doesn't level up any of your other skills in any way. Tbh if my character "was in the household guard" and "defeated someone in 1 on 1 combat" I'd expect them to start with higher base stats in combat skills than those of a recruit (as they did in WB). Again, because this isn't in the game currently, this is a decent compromise. It could still be capped at some low-ish value as a compromise in the other direction too.

Finally, the massively inflated real-time investment into the grindy earlygame as compared to Warband has clearly rubbed many people up the wrong way even based on this thread... And that's when the majority of us are under lockdown with nothing better to do. What about under normal circumstances? Should those people just be ignored?

 

[SpectreSC]

Its been more fun since patch 06. Before i put in 74hr game play got to level 16 that was going around fighting all the time.still could not use good bows and good horses .. T 4 Clan looked at the map and it had been taken over by one clan... game over no point. now after 8 hrs new game start level 10 from training i can start going around and build up my name .. only minor battles on map so its not changed much.. More fun amd i am getting more out of the game ..Thanks TW... if you dont want to train dont.

Or maybe just adjust the XP gained from actual battles vs sim battles and that will resolve the ACTUAL problem with XP gain? It's like people don't even realize the REAL ISSUE here is with combat on the open world in general. Battles against armies and bandits, etc, do not give you NEARLY enough XP to justify doing them or leveling your character in a timely manner.

Using the Arena as a substitute with 100% XP gain against no-name nobodies is just downright stupid and a bandaid on the real issue. Hopefully they revert that change and reduce the XP gain and then fix the real issue with battles themselves.

You can't become as good as lords though, can you. At least, not without sitting in the arena doing literally nothing but fighting the scrubs in there for many hours. It is quite possible that this will be a placeholder until proper quality of life changes are made to the pace of XP gain. For now though, it really is the only way to level up skills in certain weapons (crossbows, 2h) in the early game without losing the will to live. Also didn't you say you'd already downloaded an XP slider mod that fixes this? At the end of the day, someone's gonna be downloading a mod with the current system.

Also, as many others have said, you don't become master of the land by grinding the arena. It doesn't level up any of your other skills in any way. Tbh if my character "was in the household guard" and "defeated someone in 1 on 1 combat" I'd expect them to start with higher base stats in combat skills than those of a recruit (as they did in WB). Again, because this isn't in the game currently, this is a decent compromise.

Finally, the massively inflated real-time investment into the grindy earlygame as compared to Warband has clearly rubbed many people up the wrong way even based on this thread... And that's when the majority of us are under lockdown with nothing better to do. What about under normal circumstances? Should those people just be ignored?

You can actually but that's if you do spend a majority of time in the Arena, as to your point. I know I came off as entitled or upset but it just baffles me that people are accepting this as the solution to the real issue, which I've pointed out above to the other poster in my first quote.

I'm hoping this is a temporary measure, which I'm sure it is, until they've fixed the issue with XP gain elsewhere. And yes, as much as I was advocating for others to DL an XP "slider" mod I did it as well to reduce XP gain in tourneys and arenas down to something more acceptable. I was mostly bothered because although the XP gain right now is horrendous, barring the Arena/Tourney changes, I don't want this game to cater or dumb down the difficulty to more casual based methods of reaching the "end-game".

 

[Niomedes]

I agree! They could balance it by adding stamina just like smithing. Can only do so much per day and then you need to rest.

How about no ?

 

[Dean Beecham]

You may be right but until then i am not doing another 70+hrs just to see the game end before i have a chance to play the game the way it should be. with this change right now it plays better in that part....

 

[Fletcherea]

I dont like using pikes, there are about a dozen other weapons I really enjoy using, but since pikes are there, I must use them instead.

Any who, maybe they just add a check box at the end of character creation XP from tournies, pretty simple in the grand scheme of things, and everyone gets what they want.

 

[Dean Beecham]

Dont fight in towns that use pikes. then you will not get one ... i dont like them as well but i am getting better lol

 

[Uruk34]

I'm hoping this is a temporary measure, which I'm sure it is, until they've fixed the issue with XP gain elsewhere. And yes, as much as I was advocating for others to DL an XP "slider" mod I did it as well to reduce XP gain in tourneys and arenas down to something more acceptable. I was mostly bothered because although the XP gain right now is horrendous, barring the Arena/Tourney changes, I don't want this game to cater or dumb down the difficulty to more casual based methods of reaching the "end-game".

I don't think catering to people who want to play the game more casually is necessarily a problem in itself? There was already scope to do that by reducing damage-sliders, upping movespeed etc etc. The problem comes when the solution affects people who don't want to do that, in a way that means they can't avoid it. Obvious short-term solution is the checkbox suggested above. Longer term, probably implementing proper training fields.

 

[SpectreSC]

I dont like using pikes, there are about a dozen other weapons I really enjoy using, but since pikes are there, I must use them instead.

Any who, maybe they just add a check box at the end of character creation XP from tournies, pretty simple in the grand scheme of things, and everyone gets what they want.

I don't think catering to people who want to play the game more casually is necessarily a problem in itself? There was already scope to do that by reducing damage-sliders, upping movespeed etc etc. The problem comes when the solution affects people who don't want to do that, in a way that means they can't avoid it. Obvious short-term solution is the checkbox suggested above. Longer term, probably implementing proper training fields.

No, this idea isn't even necessary. Pretty much EVERYONE wanted XP from tourneys and arenas, myself included, the issue is the AMOUNT of XP being given from these actions is far too much compared to actual combat.

 

[Uruk34]

No, this idea isn't even necessary. Pretty much EVERYONE wanted XP from tourneys and arenas, myself included, the issue is the AMOUNT of XP being given from these actions is far too much compared to actual combat.

A slider for the xp modifier like the mod but actually implemented in the base game then?

 

[SpectreSC]

A slider for the xp modifier like the mod but actually implemented in the base game then?

The thing you're missing out on here is that the ARENA is not meant to grind your skills in. It never was that way in Warband nor base M&B. It was always meant for you to just learn how to use your weapon, chambers, blocks, etc. It's not meant to grind skills in... so having a slider to give yourself more XP per engagement in an environment that has no limit is essentially tantamount to exploiting and cheating the game. In Warband it only gave you 5-10XP per engagement in the Arena and no one ever had an issue with that... why?

Because we ALL knew what it was meant for, learning the game and the weapons you use. Tournaments? Those can have high XP rewards, they're competitive. Battles? Absolutely need more XP reward and so do Sieges... but an Arena with literally Tier 1 scrubs the majority of the time? That's not a challenge and that's definitely not meant for grinding skills up to be a God or Lord of all. It just doesn't fit with the overall gameplay loop TW wants us to engage in... which is to venture the world, build a warband and conquer. That's how you become the better warrior and master your skill.

 

[Swargy]

Practice arenas are fine, just like Warband and M&B1, its a tedious process of getting your weapon skills up, before it actually matters and you need them in battle.

 

[Danandur]

Or maybe just adjust the XP gained from actual battles vs sim battles and that will resolve the ACTUAL problem with XP gain? It's like people don't even realize the REAL ISSUE here is with combat on the open world in general. Battles against armies and bandits, etc, do not give you NEARLY enough XP to justify doing them or leveling your character in a timely manner.

Using the Arena as a substitute with 100% XP gain against no-name nobodies is just downright stupid and a bandaid on the real issue. Hopefully they revert that change and reduce the XP gain and then fix the real issue with battles themselves.


You can actually but that's if you do spend a majority of time in the Arena, as to your point. I know I came off as entitled or upset but it just baffles me that people are accepting this as the solution to the real issue, which I've pointed out above to the other poster in my first quote.

I'm hoping this is a temporary measure, which I'm sure it is, until they've fixed the issue with XP gain elsewhere. And yes, as much as I was advocating for others to DL an XP "slider" mod I did it as well to reduce XP gain in tourneys and arenas down to something more acceptable. I was mostly bothered because although the XP gain right now is horrendous, barring the Arena/Tourney changes, I don't want this game to cater or dumb down the difficulty to more casual based methods of reaching the "end-game".

Respectfully, thats your opinion and if you don't like arena, then don't use it. Noone is forcing you to do so. This is not a competetion like "hey guys I reached this lvl like this, while you didn't". Everyone is entitled to enjoy the game the way they see fit and having an opinion that others should do something else doesn't make you right. I myself for example keep creating new characters in every 20-30 hours to explore and entirely different playstyle and yes I want to avoid the tedious looter grind (even if the arena does not offer me renown). I don't see why I should be limited in any way. You have the freedom of ignoring the arena, I have the freedom of using it in the first couple of levels. It's very kind of you for worrying about my and other people's gameplay or how fullfilling it can be with or without the useage of arena, but allow me to make the decision about it myself. No offence, but it's none of your business and as long as a single guy wants to use this totally normal and RP-wise acceptable feature it's perfectly legit to do so. Probably thats why TW enabled (fixed maybe) it in the first place.

 

[SpectreSC]

Respectfully, thats your opinion and if you don't like arena, then don't use it. Noone is forcing you to do so. This is not a competetion like "hey guys I reached this lvl like this, while you didn't". Everyone is entitled to enjoy the game the way they see fit and having an opinion that others should do something else doesn't make you right. I myself for example keep creating new characters in every 20-30 hours to explore and entirely different playstyle and yes I want to avoid the tedious looter grind (even if the arena does not offer me renown). I don't see why I should be limited in any way. You have the freedom of ignoring the arena, I have the freedom of using it in the first couple of levels. It's very kind of you for worrying about my and other people's gameplay or how fullfilling it can be with or without the useage of arena, but allow me to make the decision about it myself. No offence, but it's none of your business and as long as a single guy wants to use this totally normal and RP-wise acceptable feature it's perfectly legit to do so. Probably thats why TW enabled (fixed maybe) it in the first place.

Excuse me but I will also take the same stance against you then. If you want to enjoy the limitless and endless amount of XP gain from the Arena then that's all on you. Go enable an XP slider mod and have at it. Or better yet, once they fix the amount of XP gain you receive from Arenas and Tourneys, you can enable cheats yourself and do as you please.

But the Arena has always been meant for one thing and one thing only, practicing with your weapons and learning the game. Not to XP farm. I'm fairly sure a good majority of Warband Vets would agree with me on that one. Unless you'd prefer that you can essentially avoid battles and sieges until you're level 10-15 and then power through the game like it was a sunday affair, then sure. But this game wasn't intended to be an afternoon stroll.