AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

I was wondering how people felt about "burning" DCs.

Currently it takes 39 DCs to burn your way from 3-30.
What's the general opinion people have about burning DCs? What about burning DCs to go from 3-30?
To take it further.. What do you think about doing a self-rebuild.. Then burning those 39 DCs to get back to 30?

Even as a player, I always felt bad for people who burned DCs for XP. I still do as a DM. Even now that the slow inexorable moving forward has made it a DC per level, I still feel bad, because I can't help but feel like players would get more mileage out of it requesting stuff that they can make tangible use out of. And I speak as someone who burned a lot of DCs on levelling back when it wasn't near as generous as it is these days...

Quote:

To take it further.. What do you think about doing a self-rebuild.. Then burning those 39 DCs to get back to 30?

I really hope no one's done this... Getting a rebuild costs 3+1/2 level DCs, or 18. So that's a lot of extra DCs to just be tossing away for no real reason. Not to mention, as a DM approving self rebuilds, which are often larger character changes and are supposed to represent a larger change in the character's life, it annoys me a bit as a DM to see people powerlevel back to 30 inside 3 days. I would be an odd mix of annoyed but frustrated for them if they burned DCs to do a self rebuild and then be back at 30 in a an extremely DC expensive way around the full rebuild request.

Mostly as a DM i'm concerned with people getting the most from their DCs, because I'm all too aware that not every player sees a bunch of them, and as someone who knows the server backwards and forwards, I always fee l a bit odd when people use it as a substitute for grinding, vs something that is tangible for the character.

I'll be honest;I hate grinding. The majority of my DCs have gone for leveling. There are a few things I''ve gotten through DCs (stuff for RP reasons ), but honestly I'd rather burn a few than spend hours killing giants or the like.

CrazyCatLady wrote:

I'll be honest;I hate grinding. The majority of my DCs have gone for leveling. There are a few things I''ve gotten through DCs (stuff for RP reasons ), but honestly I'd rather burn a few than spend hours killing giants or the like.

Likewise, for the burning. There's not a single DC I have not burned for levels, and I have no regrets over such.

I try to get through the lower levels without burning DCs, but gods I hate grinding... unless I'm in a mood to just do it mindlessly. My last two PC's I've leveled the upper-mid levels with DCs. Or I get to level 27/28 and have too much RP to get to those last levels and decide to just give up and finish them off with DCs.

A self-rebuild is generally approved for a char to learn things as they level back up. So IMO DCing those levels is sort of cheating. If you were supposed to use DC's to level then you could have requested a DC rebuild which is only 1/2 DC per level. If you didn't request a DC rebuild or you were told to do a self-rebuild instead to get approval, then see the "cheating" statement.

Just rp.

I'll be honest, I don't like hunting too much, but I enjoy meeting new people plenty. New opportunities to RP and all that. Otherwise what? You're 30 straight away and you don't even know what to do with yourself or where to start.

Oh, I always make RP build strongly over powerbuild (no offence to those who make stronger builds), so I never hunt alone. I'd rather wait for someone to go with the hunting RP with me :mrgreen:

I think I may have done it once or twice very, very early on in my time on Amia when I was a few thousand short of another level. But not since then.

I honestly have never understood the hate that comes with grinding to get to a certain level. Or the real necessity of getting your PC to 30 if you hate the process that much. Then again, I'm a weirdo. My 2nd longest played PC has purposely been kept non-epic for something like 8 years now simply because I enjoy having the character at that level. Experiencing plots, RP, and adventurers as someone not Lv 30 and swinging 12 inches of adamantium-plated dick is totally cool with me. She's not weak, but she's not godlike either. If her story warrants it one day, then sure, I would probably level her, but I've never felt that by not getting her to max level I was somehow doing a disservice to her story or my fun in playing as her.

It's a game, and some--many people enjoy their character being the best they possibly can be as quickly as they can possibly get there. I totally understand that, and were this a game like WoW, Guildwars, etc, I would completely get the gripe with grinding and leveling and would most certainly be someone rushing to get to max with all my avatars too. But in an RP-based setting like Amia, it just feels... odd to me. Whenever I see people talking about burning dozens of DCs before they play their new character, my first, candid thought is "where's the rush? Do you really feel like you have to hit max before you can RP? Who wants to show up to Amia, fresh off the boat, but already having conquered half the known world?". Maybe I haven't played enough alts to get tired of the process over the years or maybe the time to hit max never seems too long for me. But as rarely as I get DC's, I'd much rather spend them on adding something neat or unique to a PC's story, that I couldn't get in-game otherwise, than spend them to do something I could accomplish myself in one or two nights of play.

I typically do the range of low level quests, get to about level 10 or so. After that Amia is functionally a broken game, so I DC level up to 25 to skip the suck so I can run end-stage dungeons with established characters to knock out the last 5 levels.

Whatever gets me pass the grind. How I loathe the grind. :evil:

I could never afford burning DCs for XP. The few I have I'll try to get the most fun out of, though I'm not sure how to do that yet.

I grind a bit, if I feel that I don't enjoy the current level much, but getting to 30 is not my priority. And it's just so much more fun or at least efficient to grind in a group.

If I had a 100 DCs to spare, though, I would use them to level a bit though. My real life time can be spent in better ways than killing a 1000 monsters of the same kind.

Regards
Ts

Quote:

To take it further.. What do you think about doing a self-rebuild.. Then burning those 39 DCs to get back to 30?

I think I have spent like 60-something DC's on my character Earalenia on lvling because I have rebuilt her so many times.

Dark Immolation wrote:

It's a game, and some--many people enjoy their character being the best they possibly can be as quickly as they can possibly get there. I totally understand that, and were this a game like WoW, Guildwars, etc, I would completely get the gripe with grinding and leveling and would most certainly be someone rushing to get to max with all my avatars too. But in an RP-based setting like Amia, it just feels... odd to me. Whenever I see people talking about burning dozens of DCs before they play their new character, my first, candid thought is "where's the rush? Do you really feel like you have to hit max before you can RP? Who wants to show up to Amia, fresh off the boat, but already having conquered half the known world?". Maybe I haven't played enough alts to get tired of the process over the years or maybe the time to hit max never seems too long for me. But as rarely as I get DC's, I'd much rather spend them on adding something neat or unique to a PC's story, that I couldn't get in-game otherwise, than spend them to do something I could accomplish myself in one or two nights of play.

So much this. All of it, but the highlighted part really makes me O.o

Honestly, I have personally burned DC's in great mass before. When things would happen I would try to break from the game or simply make a new character and try something new for a bit. Often times I found myself going back to Izariel in the end mind you. Still given requests in most cases active players can earn back a good portion of DC's as far as I know. Though there are times where DC hand out often reflects player time zones and certain people miss out due to this.

In total burning DC's for characters. I have easily spent over 100 DC's to do so. In truth most of my DC's if not pretty much every one has gone to donations to others or burning to level. Life does not allow for much time to level and time zones affect the chance of finding a good party to do so. Without gear, gold and a good job system job. Leveling is expensive, time consuming and deadly boring alone.

There is also a serious gap between leveling zones. Certain levels are much much harder to get then others. Job systems do help but even then the xp limited to the job you choose which restricts you. So DC's are the most effective way to level. If you can earn them that is.

So as much as it is bad and sucks. Really its one of the only sound options for many in my personal opinion.

I've burned 45% of my DC's over the years. It used to be way way higher before I actively stopped doing it and instead went with the grind, at one point having over 70% of them burned.

And I have to say, that after I've stopped doing it, I become more attached to my chars and tend to put more effort into developing them. I figure it's because I end up putting more time and effort into them due to levelling. And it's a great way for your char to make friends and not just be a level 30 that's completely "fresh".

SkyfallingHaven wrote:

Life does not allow for much time to level and time zones affect the chance of finding a good party to do so. Without gear, gold and a good job system job. Leveling is expensive, time consuming and deadly boring alone.

There is also a serious gap between leveling zones. Certain levels are much much harder to get then others. Job systems do help but even then the xp limited to the job you choose which restricts you. So DC's are the most effective way to level. If you can earn them that is.

+1
Well said!

I did burn a fair amount of DC's, but usually just to break the Party Range gap to team-up with people, or for a new level of spells in the case of casters. I think I like a good mix of both, especially when as aforementionned, a party is not readily available and the character is not meant to solo areas.

I usually level with DCs and the last time I did such was waaay before the price reduction, which meant 3-4/level.

If you can afford it then why not? After all that is your reward for spending your time rping instead of grinding/leveing (however you wish to call it). I also find grinding or boss hunting pretty boring so I burn DCs if my maxed level characters don't have enough money...and I still have infinite amount DCs.

I myself would rather buy cool DC stuff if I can.... EXP is kind of easy to get when compared to dream coins.

And when stuff costs Dreamcoins its the only way to get it, so its better to get exp the free way and save up for reskins, custom items, neat powers....ect

Yeah, I'm too lame to request anything for myself but I like to sponsor requests if I'm asked!

I think I've spent almost 150-200 DC's leveling up characters. All of that was before the changes, when it took roughly 100 DC's to get to level 30. I spent them then, and I would spend them again if I could.

I just hate, hate, hate grinding. I would rather spend the DC's on leveling so that I can RP with people and not have the crushing feeling of being useless, or vulnerable to a single fireball spell.

I used to be of the opinion that DCs should never ever ever be spent on anything but DC requests, but especially with the reworking of the cost to burn for levelups, I've changed my view.

It costs 1 DC to level up if you're non-epic. How long does it take to grind a level in a decent party? An hour, maybe? If you're in a DM-convenient time zone, and/or in a faction or circle of PCs that often gets DM attention, and if you're not shy about smacking people with your green DC wand, you can often get that DC back in an hour of RP. It's really a wash, in my experience. You can have the RP *and* the XP at the same time.

Your mileage may vary, of course, as several of those factors aren't within a player's direct control.

When I first started, I thought "I don't need to request things for RP to be fun" and just used DCs for leveling. Then I decided that request things were great and only used DCs for those. Now I'm back to using DCs for leveling because I just can't be bothered to run laps around zones.

I'm in doubt about it myself. I do not think I have an abundance of DCs but I have been relatively frugal with those I have amassed throughout the years playing. (Though I honestly do not know what is considered a low/high/average amounts of DCs. This is both a different topic and something that is different un function of player, play style, time zone, hours played....so it could and should not be quantified imo.)

Requests
Primarily I prefer saving them for requests. Especially since I have a preference for mage characters and the custom spells have quite a cost because of the scripting time (which is only reasonable). I always have several ideas for requests that I want to make. Not all will eventually arrive on the request board because either the circumstances were not met in game, the idea was disbanded or my altitis took over and another character was put forward. Mainly the first, I like working towards a goal with a character, often the build up to a request is equally fun as the actual IG yum yum.

Burning
At the same time I have used them to level as well. Last only a few weeks ago. However the main reason here was to be of a high enough level to cast a spell of a certain level. Other times I have done that it was to bridge the gap between the character and the others he parties with. The reasons her were mostly ooc to achieve a certain IC situation. I could also envision myself to use DCs leveling with characters that are non-combat orientated. However I tend to use the job system as a different source of exp to allow them to progress at a crawling pace but still develop certain skills and talents (My own Allia Devere is an example of that).
Even though I'm a terrible farmer: a combination of bad personal skill and horrid character builds (from a combat perspective), I do not use DCs just to progress characters in strength. I'm one of those players that do not mind having a character of mid-level range. The progress will happen in those small bouts of hunting (often inspired by lack of gold).

Rebuilds
I have no experience with rebuilds myself, so I find it hard to judge this. On the one hand it seems a hard cost to DC them back up to level but it also makes little sense for a character to lose their entire combat proficiencies (safe a caster-melee switch). Should it happen I think I'd reDC to about 20'ish level and progress from there, emulating the initial reduced battle effectiveness when learning and mastering a new style of fighting.

I remember once burning ~80 DCs for levels on a PC back when it was 10 DC/level. Since that painful day they mostly go for DC requests.

DC Out
Alaria- (6)

I think that is the list for those I have burned for XP. I gave Lyraesel a little bit of a jump start with those.

On creation, she had to dye her wings which cost coin.

I don't even know what to do with DCs.

However as someone who purchased the game on the release date using any means to power level is lame.

That's my opinion of course. It isn't the destination that counts. It's the ride. I recently partied up with a group that was power leveling. I left and went solo. Buying levels and/or power leveling is boring. Take your time, look around and develop the character. It's a better experience.

Granted, leveling from ground zero with a mage is tough but if you can't handle the challenge you shouldn't have one. I've had people study my wiz builds and try to mimic them. It doesn't work that way. If you don't know how to play a mage you can't play one effectively. The build is secondary to the ability of the player.

I typically have a few toons going on at the same time and all level differently and follow a unique story. One rogue, one wizard and one dwarf fighter. Wizard is always a party toon, rogue is always 1/2 and 1/2 and the dwarf fighter is what I use to crush things and play solo when no one is around to party with.

When I am in the mood to simply dominate a server I'll bust out a cleric. Let's face it those have been OP since day one of NWN pure ownage.

I love that the DC leveling was adjusted, and I admit that It's a way I prefer to level.

My noble Genevieve is already 30. How'd that happen? DCs and a bit of grinding. But mostly DCs. 2-18 were the normal grindy grindy fun time known as leveling on Amia, and 19-30 was DCs. Now why did I rush the character to 30? Because she's pretty much fresh out of years of training and for her to come out of that as weak as any hedge wizard made zero sense to her concept~

#sorryboutit

Personally, I think they became a good way to Level a character through RP, rather than OOC grinding drudgery. And if I'm being perfectly honest, I don't regret spending that. But I don't think it's a good idea to exclusively do that for all your characters, and certainly don't do the entire leveling process that way. A little bit of grinding and "natural" (ew, that word) leveling does show that you're willing to take things in stride. But, if you really abhor grinding, I don't blame you. Honestly, we're all here to have fun, and if you don't like having to spend annoying amount of time grinding to the eventual max level, then you shouldn't have to. Burn away!

That said, you don't always need to be 30 right away, sometimes your character might develop into a different way than you expected. Or maybe it's not even in your concept to have an amazingly powerful character. And that's alright! (Personally, I just make gimpy builds if I want a weak character) Maybe it is in your concept to be an amazingly powerful level 30, and that's alright too. People who want to have a level 30 character get such a bad rep here, so I'll say it again; Maybe it is in your concept to be an amazingly powerful level 30, and that's alright too. Just don't be an ass OOC about it, Keep that to your brute character~ :wink:

Maverick00053 (64) <-- This doesn't take into account the dozen or so I burned pre DC wand days.

The grind is painful and it sucks

On that note I tend to level mostly through the grind because the RP and fresh faces you meet are rewarding and they help flush out my characters. All those little interactions help me become comfortable RPing a character properly. I still wish it wasn't so god awful slow and extremely difficult to actually find party members at certain levels.

I don't have a lot of free time. I spend my free time either in the client watching/supporting the RP of others, or RPing myself. I don't want to grind so I have spent a lot of DCs on levels. It's more time I get to spend with the people of the world when I would otherwise be grinding when no one else is on / in my range.

Priorities.

When I started Nyacelil. I ate enough dream coins on the old system? To start from day one at lvl 15

I used 6 not too long ago to finish the last 3 levels of Mary.

Despite the early coins it took me 13 months to level Lyraesel to 30.

I'm pretty new here but what I'm hearing is that there are some levels that are a serious grind and the DCs give relief to players stuck going solo.
I understand that and am somewhat feeling your pain.

Is it possible to request more quests to make the grind more enjoyable and rewarding??
IMHO quests add to the atmosphere and RP as well.

Another thought...

I'd said earlier that burning DCs for XP is more tempting with the new costs, but now if it's the case that custom scripting is permadead, then using DCs to level is even more viable. The bulk of what's requestable if scripting is off the table would seem to be either PLCs or uber combat gear, and a lot of characters aren't really oriented towards either of those things. I imagine DC-leveling will become a lot of people's default use for their DCs.

Need a scripter? Lost my job.

The best way to burn DCs is to give them to me. True story.

Burning Dreamcoins

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