Shorten time to unlearn a certification?

[Veteran]

I had an idea for changing the time for unlearning a certification, since changing your combination of certs can add fun to a play session. Here it is:

When you forget a cert, a one hour timer starts ticking down. If you log off, it stops ticking down. Simple as that. If you play for seven or eight hours, you could conceivably reform your entire character.

This probably won't happen, and I'm not trying to start a movement, I'm just curious as to how many people would like to get away from the punitively long recertification period. I find that if I pick a cert for fun, and it turns out to be lame, I'm not going to have the full amount of fun for at least a full day. I'm only gonna live so long, why should it be full of arbitrary waiting periods?

I'd even go so far as to say let people unlearn certs at will, provided you control a Bio Lab. I won't go that far though, or I'd be branded a heretic.

[Cease]

Heck I'd be happy to have it reduced to 12 hours. Or allow it so someone could forget a whole tree of certs. For example. Lets say I was Adv Hacking and didn't want it anymore. Well currently I have to unlearn Adv Hacking and then Hacking -- 2 days. It would be nice if I chould unlearn Hacking and Adv hacking goes along with it.

So along those same lines if I unlearned Med Assault then it would also unlearn Sniping, AV, Spec Assault, Heavy Assault if I had them.

[ZionsFire]

I'd say just cut the time in half down to 12 hours:)

damn cease beat me:p

[JetRaiden]

make a time once a month where you can redo all your certs.

[SandTrout]

Make you spend your personal outfit points for a full recert.

[321]

Yeah I think reducing the time would be a good idea but I don't think that making on penalty would be good either. It's like having every cert then just not at once.

[SandTrout]

Also, if you could recert everything without delay. why would you have another character on the same server?

[Flammey]

No, I think it's fine. I only ever change one skill at a time anyway. Usually vehicles. Go from a Mag to a Sunderer. That sort of thing.

[321]

Yeah same here.

[Happy lil Elf]

I'd like to see something less than 24 hours eben if it's still like 20 hours. I can't tell you how many times I've played late one night, dumped a cert at like 2:30 and wished I could dump the cert I picked up but end up waiting two days because I can't afford to stay up until 2:30 two nights in a row.

[CraZy]

reduce to 6 hours

[Doppler]

I honestly dont see why people get so worked up about having a cert timer, as it stands now the game requires *gasp* long range planing in the building of your character. If your changing certs anymore often I really strongly suggest you spend some quality time in VR>

[Nimbus]

The timer is fine, I just wish you could unlearn trees. Either that prerequisate certs more useful. I wish I could have taken hacking and adv hacking out at the same time. It's not like hacking itself is actually useful for much of anything.

[Jagd]

What are you talking about, hacking kicks ass! You can get gear and equipment from any powered base whether it's friendly or linked or captured or not, plus you have slowed down medical and engineer abilities available by hacking a terminal, switching armor types and grabbing new med kits. Not only that, but you avoid being a sitting duck while hacking doors and standing out in the open where anyone can pop you in the back.

[Flammey]

Forget about unlearning certs, why doesn't SOE fucking fix that Grief system, cause right now, it bloody blows. And I mean BLOODY BLOWS. I run in an outfit squad and 3 of my guys, who don't want to stop playing, because they LIKE this game, they keep getting weapons lock because people keep running in front of them, running them over, or their deployables hurt some unfortunate. It's annoying when 3 out of your 5 total members can't do a damn thing for 5 minutes.

[Cease]

What are you talking about, hacking kicks ass! You can get gear and equipment from any powered base whether it's friendly or linked or captured or not, plus you have slowed down medical and engineer abilities available by hacking a terminal, switching armor types and grabbing new med kits. Not only that, but you avoid being a sitting duck while hacking doors and standing out in the open where anyone can pop you in the back.



He's talking about Hacking - not Adv Hacking. All Hacking does is speed up IFF and CC hacks a little and let you hack Med Terms, Cert terms, and Lockers. It's popular opinion that there is no point in certing in Hacking if you don't intend to get Adv Hacking.

[Jagd]

Oh I agree completely, but for 5 certs it's the best skill you can take.

[Python2100]

Maybe 16 hours because 12 is too short in my opinion but 24 is too long.

[Doppler]

Give me one justification for shortening it other then it's just too long.




.......


I'm still waiting.

At any rate having it the way it is now is a balance issue. It's sposed to bring the focus from "Ooooooh shiny cert" to "what makes me a better soldier.

[Veteran]

If any players whatsoever think that something could change the game for the better, it has merit. This poll proves that some do.

Forcing players to wait 24 hours is an arbitrary time-period. It could be 12 hours, 48 hours or there could even be a stipulation that once you gain a certification, you can never unlearn it. The keyword is arbitrary. Asheron's Call, for example, went years under the policy of forcing you to keep a skill, once learned.

This is not an RPG. 'Long-term character development' seen in this game doesn't parallel mmorpg style development, which takes place over weeks, months or years. Recertifying your whole character can be done in less than a week. Some players will quit or become distracted when confronted with a character that is 'gimped' during the lengthy recertification process.

There is no risk of abusability with a one-hour recertification period. If someone kills you with a tank, you can't go certify AV and waste him unless he's there an hour later. Even if you could recertify instantly, you'd have to go to a cert terminal, change around your certs, get to an equipment/vehicle terminal, and then go find your victim... by no means an instantaneous process.

If players express dissatisfaction with being forced to play a certain way, they have a valid point, and shouldn't be dismissed or belittled.

That is all.

[noxious]

The thing is, people would setup favorites for certs they commonly switch back and fourth to, so the process would be much quicker. The reason we have the certification system in the first place is so that we can rely on each other. I used to think it would be cool if there was no cert system, but I realized it would make the game a whole lot less fun. The point of the 24 hour period is to emphasize the fact that you are in fact building a character like in an RPG. I also understand that here we are not talking about the removal of the cert sytem, only the removal/reduction of the incubation period. While yes, it frustrates me when I switch something and then realize I shouldn't have and must wait 24 hours to unswitch it (I dropped AV for comet max a week or two ago and I was kicking myself, because I was no longer an effective soloist). Honestly though, unless you're extremely impulsive, I don't know that you should have the desire to change your certs much more than one every 24 hours unless you're rebuilding your entire character.

[Doppler]

Thankyou noxious summed things up so eloquently for me.

[Searo]

What's the point of a ten man squad?
5 men could do the same thing with greater rewards in this system.
-More XP
-Same Cert Pool

Instead of "we need an adv medic"
It's "ill grab adv med and eng, you grab us a sunderer"

There's no more squad incentive.

[aiwest420]

24 hours is too much, 1 hour is too little.

how about 8 hours?

[Doppler]

I'm still looking for problems with the current system where does it really hobble you, to free up five cert points enough for anything in the game it takes you two days, how much bigger of a pool do you need then that?

[noxious]

Originally posted by Searo
What's the point of a ten man squad?
5 men could do the same thing with greater rewards in this system.
-More XP
-Same Cert Pool

Instead of "we need an adv medic"
It's "ill grab adv med and eng, you grab us a sunderer"

There's no more squad incentive.

This is another problem entirely, and I do agree that often times less squad members are better. A new thread about this would be nice.

[Happy lil Elf]

Originally posted by Happy lil' Elf
I'd like to see something less than 24 hours even if it's still like 20 hours. I can't tell you how many times I've played late one night, dumped a cert at like 2:30 and wished I could dump the cert I picked up but end up waiting two days because I can't afford to stay up until 2:30 two nights in a row.Originally posted by Doppler I'm still looking for problems with the current system where does it really hobble you, to free up five cert points enough for anything in the game it takes you two days, how much bigger of a pool do you need then that?

It doesn't really hobble anyone. It can however be very annoying and 24 hours isn't really needed. There aren't many arguments against 24 hours, but there are no arguments that really hold up when someone says why not 20 hours instead of 24? Having the timer be 24 hours doesn't accomplish any more than having it set at 20 or even 16 hours would.