Okay, some monsters give experience for the killing blow, and I think that makes a lot of sense. Say, the satisfaction and extra boost of being the one that actually took down a big ol' Small Snake or Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs!
In fairness, Nightmist acknowledges killing is important - killers get the drop. So why not improve the experience system. Nightmist is a grind, and that's part of the game. However, adding kill exp can make it a more tactical grind for some (forcing kills onto an alt) or enjoyable and faster for others (just boosted exp for killing things).
I am proposing a standard (for almost all monsters!) of kill exp is equal to 2 to 10-rounds of damage on a monsters or 5-25% of the monsters total experience, but with bonuses for bosses.
For example, Bandit Leader is 63 experience per damage (xpd) and 50,000 kill experience.
This seems roughly correct for such a boss. It could be higher, but it at least exists!
50,000 exp / 63 xpd = 793 damage
That is maybe 7-15 successful attacks, depending on level and other things. My suggestion is that it be 2-10 rounds; so that is within the range. It is debatable if Bandit Leader is a "real boss" - so lower end makes sense.
However, my case would suggest that Bandits should give a kill bonus!
Monsters have variable HP, but for our purposes, lets estimate 500 hp is the base for Bandits (sorry, I couldn't test to figure out their HP).
500 hp x 60 xpd = 30,000 experience total
So, I suggest a "kill exp" of 1,500 to 7,500 (5-25%).
This might be tedious to implement for a huge set of monsters - I really do not know monster editing demands. But I think it would greatly improve experience and play styles on Nightmist.
Additionally, it would better balance allowing more damage multipliers in-game. Because damage multipliers are basically experience multipliers as well. However, kill exp is a fixed value.
So, this would balance out the multiplied xpd by having a fixed amount going onto the killers. Rather than making certain classes or weapons completely out-scale those without multipliers, this would give a boost to kill focus that could balance.
In general, it's only an upside. So, I know some people feel like that is not 'balanced' - it's balanced. It is part of the game already. It just is not used properly, and that is silly. CHANGE IT!
Everyone gets extra experience, and some could attempt to abuse it by funnelling kills onto specific characters. BUT that is designed! Not abuse!
It would be healthy for players because they could introduce new characters they want to level, rather than feeling like a level 31 can NEVER catch up or be good enough to join a party of level 34s, etc.
If you're coasting enough to be able to funnel the kills, why not let those crits benefit.
And if you're not funnel-strategy, then your crits still get the boost across a whole party.
I think the above is perfectly reasonable and in-line with current mechanics, standards, and systems. It is just ignored.
Below, I propose a bit of an over-boost.
It could make the funnel strategy too strong for low levels, but I think that would be great! Being able to move past the mid-levels should be enabled better for ALL classes and characters. The mid-levels should be fun and move fairly quickly, but they're a HARD grind from 15-28.
Boss Boost - Kill Experience
I suggest that bosses get even more enhanced bonus for kill. I recognize some people don't boss, but that is a choice, and I've suggested all monsters be given kill exp - so that should help the grind without bossing.
However, lets give bosses their due! These are the baddies! These are the guys we are meant to take down with purpose! And Gold Sovereigns greatly improved their useful side. Well done.
However, only a subset got the kill experience boost, and it is often quite low because we were timid about how it would impact the game. People wanted to shackle the idea because it makes the game 'easier.'
Yes, getting bonus exp is easier than not, but...it's a game. Stop shackling it into the grind mentality.
Players are not 15-year-olds with 8-hours per day to dump regularly. So, giving bosses big bonus experience can help make them level without spending 8-hours --- not suggesting those should be equal, but putting in 30-90 minutes should feel like progress, even on high-levels.
To FEEL like progress, they need to be earning 10s of millions of exp --- and that cannot all be on kill bonus; cause it would be too much, most of the time.
My suggested listing:
Mini-Bosses: 25,000 - 100,000 exp
Bosses that are for level 15-25 or spawn at 5-10 minute intervals (avoid abuse).
- Elshira
- Giant Centipede
- Giant Crocodile
- Gardener
- Giant Cinder Beast
- Drow Blademaiden
- Undead Marcus
- Mayor Tvarti
- Mummy
- Seasonal Painting
- Totem Pole
- Armored Horse
- Hut Owner
- Mountain Ranger
- Balrog (maybe not now though)
- Hydra Body
- Rel-Thon's Chest
- Rel-Thon
- Sylva
- Scarlet Daggers Guild Informant
- Bandit Leader
- Teptok
- Waldren
- Drow Archmage
- Drow Mistress
- Stone Sentinel
- Dverger Blacksmith
- Dvergar Houndmaster
- Dvergar Shadowcaller
- Rogue Swordsman
- Quite a few more---the list could be debated
Bosses: 100,000 - 500,000 exp
Bosses that are intermediate, for levels 20-30, and/or spawn roughly hourly.
- Time Mage
- Time Mummy
- Atrium Monarch
- Captain Wylsen
- Wolf Lord
- Telatin
- Storage Cabinet
- Bolted Chest
- Vault Safe
- Herric - far more demanding than level
- Three-eyed Jack
- Mansion Owner
- Jaguar
- Again - quite debatable
Large Bosses: 1,000,000 - 2,500,000 exp
Bosses that only spawn roughly daily, require a moderate party, or pose challenges
- Crystal Giant
- Spider King
- Demonic General
- Bodyguard
- Chief Bodyguard
- Credenza
- Time Knight
- Lieutenant Burton
- Elder Treant
- Red Dragon
- Genevieve
- Giant Chameleon
- Lyzanthir the Enchanter
- Hedge Lord
- Banshee
- Dvengar Runemaster
- Marshall of the Inquisition
- Roc Hatchling
In general, these should still be in the 5-25% of total experience bounds. In fact, I think they're less.
Put that into perspective - these bonus exp are not crazy high. It's a portion of total exp from the boss.
Maybe these should actually be on the higher end, with 2.5-5m if killing monsters is a real bonus!
Major and Grandmaster Bosses: 5,000,000 - 25,000,000 exp
Major and grandmaster bosses that require a strong, high-level party, multiple key-items, or are designated as grandmaster --- these I am kind of putting in order from lower-end to upper-end based on access limits, difficulty, and uber-ness.
- Blue Dragon - much longer trial to get to him since you cannot farm seals now
- Imhotep
- High Priestess Ku'nal
- Cauldron Chieftain
- Grande Inquisitor
- Nyr, Sleeper Under the Mountain
- Stone Dragon
- Resca
- Lord Darksparrow
- Ganymede
- Woobie
- Shadow Drake
- Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs
- New stuff?
I know the numbers look big, but this is basically a rare bonus exp on some of the hardest, longest trips in-game. These things cannot be easily farmed without going to their area (except Imhotep, kind of). They are huge bosses, and the exp bonus would be in-line for them.
Overall, I think it makes bosses fairly aligned with the normal bonus exp.
I honestly could see putting huge bonuses for kills on even lower-level bosses.
In summary: experience should be more readily available and through more than ONLY grinding xpd. Some work was done to add, but the numbers are WAY too low to impact game-play.
Level 40 is a crazy trip with a huge latitude for extra experience here and there. Use it!
Right now, I think many of us are in a rut regarding Nightmist. Adding these bonuses just gives people another reason to go after monsters, bosses, and to PLAY the game. It is too much of a grind, and the top-end stuff is all great...but requires a group.
To get people to group, more than the drop should matter. Cause one person gets the drop, but everyone gets a shot at experience.
Furthermore, if anyone new came, they could get a level 25+ party with the kill bonus system much faster, and a level 25 party could go to most things, if they grouped with another player. So I really think the kill-exp on regular monsters would be a fantastic addition---basically a 5-25% boost in training speed for an overall party, or more if focusing kills onto a couple of characters.