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Player Features and Ideas Discussion

 
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Skill Que Tweak

Author
Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#41 - 2012-02-08 15:14:17 UTC
Mag's wrote:
rel]It's not an improvement and you've posted nothing to make me think otherwise.

Ok, first of all, by context I must reject your use of the word improvement. Improvement is based off of improve
;to bring into a more desirable or excellent condition

It is beyond a doubt more desirable to the players who will be able to train their desired skill, rather than a filler or have an idle que. Not being able to reliably log in every 24 hours does not justify penalizing paying players in that manner, it is simply what the current system leaves them stuck with.

Mag's wrote:
It is in fact, an increase to the queue length.

ONLY when it is invoked by very specific circumstances, and your description is misleading. This simply disregards the ending by one skill level by autostarting the next, and only of that specific skill. You do NOT get to change skills beyond the 24 hour que limit, simply continue the last skill you started INSIDE of the 24 hour limit.
It extends the runtime of the que by treating all untrained levels of a skill as a single combined level.

This is an increase of your commitment and choice, (some would describe as an improvement).

If you want to effectively counter my idea, you really need to define how you would be harmed by it.

Repeatedly saying it is bad, or not needed, are simply using undefined blanket statements with no substantive evidence.

I have, on the other hand, explained in detail how it would benefit players who fell into this category, while taking nothing away from players who did not.
Velicitia
XS Tech
#42 - 2012-02-08 16:47:23 UTC  |  Edited by: Velicitia
Most I've seen thus far is that it benefits those who're inept at having a long skill thrown in their queue for planned absences from the game.

Obviously, "things happen" and you can't plan for everything in life ... but honestly, is a few hours/days of missed skill time that important? Battleclinic, for example, estimates my SP at just about 85 million. I'm short by at least 10m SP due to absences over the years (time,financial, "I'm a dumbass and forgot to set a skill for a week over Christmas break", etc considerations).

edit -- maybe the best "buff" to the skill queue would be to straight up take it out.

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia

Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#43 - 2012-02-08 18:00:09 UTC
Velicitia wrote:
Most I've seen thus far is that it benefits those who're inept at having a long skill thrown in their queue for planned absences from the game.

Obviously, "things happen" and you can't plan for everything in life ... but honestly, is a few hours/days of missed skill time that important? Battleclinic, for example, estimates my SP at just about 85 million. I'm short by at least 10m SP due to absences over the years (time,financial, "I'm a dumbass and forgot to set a skill for a week over Christmas break", etc considerations).

edit -- maybe the best "buff" to the skill queue would be to straight up take it out.

Sometimes you don't have a long skill available, that you actually care about training.
At that point, you can dig for a skill just to be a filler, or let your que go idle when it finishes the last skill level you actually have an interest in.
As to being that important, what can someone do with 10 million skill points, that would give them an advantage in PvP or PvE style play? I am fairly sure you can suggest something if you tried.

I advocate in favor of limiting out of game influence on game play. Since the que lets you preplan up to 24 hours of skill direction changes, (which would not be changed under my idea), you still need to be able to log into the game within 24 hours of the que ending in order to get the same benefit.

Not everyone can do this. Some people can, and some cannot.
To use the skill que to full benefit, however, requires this.

Some people, by example, can play heavily over the weekend, but have little or no access during the week due to school or job issues. This que punishes them for that absence. I am sure they try to compensate for it, using longer skills at the right times, but they still need to lose training time on the skills they actually care about.
Assuming they keep playing, over months of lost SP's adding up, can put them at a disadvantage with players they once were evenly matched with.

This won't completely solve that issue, changes in skill direction will still have that 24 hour limit, but at least they can pick a skill they want, and move it to level 5.
Iris Bravemount
Golden Grinding Gears
#44 - 2012-02-08 18:48:12 UTC
I support your idea.

Haters gonna hate, but this would only improve the game and not harm anyone.

"I will not hesitate when the test of Faith finds me, for only the strongest conviction will open the gates of paradise. My Faith in you is absolute; my sword is Yours, My God, and Your will guides me now and for all eternity." - Paladin's Creed

Velicitia
XS Tech
#45 - 2012-02-08 18:48:43 UTC
If you don't have a long skill to train that you care about, then either you're out of things to train (lol, what?) ... or you just finished a long queue of things to L5 and have to start all over again in a new area. However, at the same time, even if it's something you don't necessarily "want" to train, training a random skill can help out. For example, a while back I ran into "oh ****, I'm going to be gone for a week, what can I train!?" ... didn't have much that would fill the week ... but then I saw I had 10d left on Gallente Cruiser 5. At the time, I was a huge carebear (one of the "why are they picking on me" types), and combat was something I never wanted to be involved in... Threw it in anyway, and ended up only needing half an hour to jump into an Oneiros when I finished it.

10m SP over nearly 5 years (19 May will be 5) is like a month's SP per year. Sure, I'd love to have battlecruisers to 5, and whatever else I can do if that 150 days of SP was just given to me ... but honestly, it's really not important. I just have to be better at assessing a situation than the other guy.

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia

Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#46 - 2012-02-08 19:00:28 UTC
Velicitia wrote:
If you don't have a long skill to train that you care about, then either you're out of things to train (lol, what?) ... or you just finished a long queue of things to L5 and have to start all over again in a new area. However, at the same time, even if it's something you don't necessarily "want" to train, training a random skill can help out. For example, a while back I ran into "oh ****, I'm going to be gone for a week, what can I train!?" ... didn't have much that would fill the week ... but then I saw I had 10d left on Gallente Cruiser 5. At the time, I was a huge carebear (one of the "why are they picking on me" types), and combat was something I never wanted to be involved in... Threw it in anyway, and ended up only needing half an hour to jump into an Oneiros when I finished it.

10m SP over nearly 5 years (19 May will be 5) is like a month's SP per year. Sure, I'd love to have battlecruisers to 5, and whatever else I can do if that 150 days of SP was just given to me ... but honestly, it's really not important. I just have to be better at assessing a situation than the other guy.

I admire your positive attitude, despite having the setbacks of not getting all the SP you might have otherwise.

Maybe someday, people can export training plans from EVE Mon, and this will be a distant memory of 'the old days'.
Maybe Mag's feelings are shared by more than I expect, and we are seen as all just whining about not being able to log in like they can. (For the most part, I am able to log in reliably too, I just have empathy for those who cannot)

Whatever the case, a positive attitude makes this and any other game more fun for everyone. Big smile
Velicitia
XS Tech
#47 - 2012-02-08 19:32:40 UTC
Nikk Narrel wrote:
Velicitia wrote:
If you don't have a long skill to train that you care about, then either you're out of things to train (lol, what?) ... or you just finished a long queue of things to L5 and have to start all over again in a new area. However, at the same time, even if it's something you don't necessarily "want" to train, training a random skill can help out. For example, a while back I ran into "oh ****, I'm going to be gone for a week, what can I train!?" ... didn't have much that would fill the week ... but then I saw I had 10d left on Gallente Cruiser 5. At the time, I was a huge carebear (one of the "why are they picking on me" types), and combat was something I never wanted to be involved in... Threw it in anyway, and ended up only needing half an hour to jump into an Oneiros when I finished it.

10m SP over nearly 5 years (19 May will be 5) is like a month's SP per year. Sure, I'd love to have battlecruisers to 5, and whatever else I can do if that 150 days of SP was just given to me ... but honestly, it's really not important. I just have to be better at assessing a situation than the other guy.

I admire your positive attitude, despite having the setbacks of not getting all the SP you might have otherwise.

Pray tell, what setbacks are those?

Nikk Narrel wrote:
Maybe someday, people can export training plans from EVE Mon, and this will be a distant memory of 'the old days'.
Maybe Mag's feelings are shared by more than I expect, and we are seen as all just whining about not being able to log in like they can. (For the most part, I am able to log in reliably too, I just have empathy for those who cannot)

Whatever the case, a positive attitude makes this and any other game more fun for everyone. Big smile


TBH, I think most of the "b-b-b-but I need a longer queue" people are relatively new to the SP/hour concept that EVE uses, and are more familiar with the "typical" XP grind of other games. I remember back when it came out everyone being excited about the 24 hour "window" the queue opened up so you could "set and forget" a bunch of short skills...

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia

Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#48 - 2012-02-08 20:21:34 UTC
Velicitia wrote:
Pray tell, what setbacks are those?

10 million SP difference... you don't need to see setbacks in anything, but many players would consider that an enormous loss.
As you do not, I will respect that you accept this as the cost of playing, and move on.

Velicitia wrote:
TBH, I think most of the "b-b-b-but I need a longer queue" people are relatively new to the SP/hour concept that EVE uses, and are more familiar with the "typical" XP grind of other games. I remember back when it came out everyone being excited about the 24 hour "window" the queue opened up so you could "set and forget" a bunch of short skills...

That is definitely a good system, especially as you put it, if you have many short skills.

That's one of the reasons I am trying to not make any huge changes. I see the que stopping itself after that last skill level as unnecessary. You already expressed an interest in the skill, using the accepted que system, having it set to keep that same skill going until it stops more naturally at level 5 makes sense.

(Maybe you only wanted level 4, but it would stop on it's own after level 2 where it was, and your schedule would not let you fix it in time. Tell it to FINISH IT, and then rearrange the skills later in the regular que while it keeps working to finish level 4 instead)

Velicitia
XS Tech
#49 - 2012-02-08 20:36:53 UTC  |  Edited by: Velicitia
Assuming you're not spec'd for it, level 1-4 of most any skill of Rank 7 or lower will fit into a 24 hour window. If you have a Rank 8 skill, you can throw in 1-3, wait 5 hours, and then throw in 4.

if you're properly spec'd, you can throw in a Rank 10 skill, and only wait 7.5 hours to throw in L4, while still having ~24 hours in case you can't get to it.
L1 = 1h
L2 = 4.5h
L3 = 26h

If there's something planned (i.e. a weekend trip camping), and I can't set whatever that skill happens to be for long enough to cover the weekend... then I'll fire up my plan in EVEMon, see what I have that will take a couple of days ... and throw that in "early".

With my current plan, I have just about 60 days worth of skills to train. I have other plans that will take me anywhere from 30 days to 2+ years. I'm sure that I can find something that will cover a planned absence.

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia

Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#50 - 2012-02-08 21:37:32 UTC
Velicitia wrote:
Assuming you're not spec'd for it, level 1-4 of most any skill of Rank 7 or lower will fit into a 24 hour window. If you have a Rank 8 skill, you can throw in 1-3, wait 5 hours, and then throw in 4.

if you're properly spec'd, you can throw in a Rank 10 skill, and only wait 7.5 hours to throw in L4, while still having ~24 hours in case you can't get to it.
L1 = 1h
L2 = 4.5h
L3 = 26h

If there's something planned (i.e. a weekend trip camping), and I can't set whatever that skill happens to be for long enough to cover the weekend... then I'll fire up my plan in EVEMon, see what I have that will take a couple of days ... and throw that in "early".

With my current plan, I have just about 60 days worth of skills to train. I have other plans that will take me anywhere from 30 days to 2+ years. I'm sure that I can find something that will cover a planned absence.

You have a good head for planning skills.

I wish everyone had that going for them. On a side note, a lot of players are trying to be very specific with their training, and want pure indy, or pure PvP toons. They might not have as much flexibility with their training options.
Velicitia
XS Tech
#51 - 2012-02-08 21:39:38 UTC
20m SP in "Industry". You tell me where I focused a lot of time...

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia

Mag's
Azn Empire
#52 - 2012-02-08 21:53:08 UTC
Nikk Narrel wrote:

Ok, first of all, by context I must reject your use of the word improvement. Improvement is based off of improve
;to bring into a more desirable or excellent condition

It is beyond a doubt more desirable to the players who will be able to train their desired skill, rather than a filler or have an idle que. Not being able to reliably log in every 24 hours does not justify penalizing paying players in that manner, it is simply what the current system leaves them stuck with.
Actually your use of the word is incorrect in this context. CCP and the majority of the player base, can see that 24 hours is balanced in regards to the queue length. Your idea to lengthen it, creates imbalance. That's not an improvement.

Nikk Narrel wrote:
Mag's wrote:
It is in fact, an increase to the queue length.

ONLY when it is invoked by very specific circumstances, and your description is misleading. This simply disregards the ending by one skill level by autostarting the next, and only of that specific skill. You do NOT get to change skills beyond the 24 hour que limit, simply continue the last skill you started INSIDE of the 24 hour limit.
It extends the runtime of the que by treating all untrained levels of a skill as a single combined level.

This is an increase of your commitment and choice, (some would describe as an improvement).

If you want to effectively counter my idea, you really need to define how you would be harmed by it.

Repeatedly saying it is bad, or not needed, are simply using undefined blanket statements with no substantive evidence.

I have, on the other hand, explained in detail how it would benefit players who fell into this category, while taking nothing away from players who did not.
An increase, is an increase, is an increase, no matter how you try to gloss over it.

I'll state this again, I follow CCP's ideals that the current queue is balanced at 24 hours. The onus is upon you to give a valid reason why this is needed. Telling us that some people are bad at using the current one, is irrelevant and not a basis for change.

I'm already aware that no matter what I say, you'll simply keep posting bad excuses and poor reasoning. All the while thinking they some how give credence to this idea.
Now your argument has moved on to saying that because it will automatically start another skill, that somehow means you're more committed. Personally I don't think logging in less, can be considered as more commitment.

Destination SkillQueue:- It's like assuming the Lions will ignore you in the Savannah, if you're small, fat and look helpless.

Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#53 - 2012-02-08 22:19:11 UTC
Mag's wrote:
An increase, is an increase, is an increase, no matter how you try to gloss over it.

I'll state this again, I follow CCP's ideals that the current queue is balanced at 24 hours. The onus is upon you to give a valid reason why this is needed. Telling us that some people are bad at using the current one, is irrelevant and not a basis for change.

I'm already aware that no matter what I say, you'll simply keep posting bad excuses and poor reasoning. All the while thinking they some how give credence to this idea.
Now your argument has moved on to saying that because it will automatically start another skill, that somehow means you're more committed. Personally I don't think logging in less, can be considered as more commitment.


Gloss over it? In many cases, it is not an effective increase, it is a substitution of a desired skill over a filler. The que still goes idle if a long enough time frame passes.
And with my suggested idea, the que still does not allow changes after 24 hours. Skill training itself currently can extend well beyond this period as the skill need only start in that timeframe. My idea only permits the que to treat all untrained levels as one big level for the sake of progress, you STILL need to start the training inside the 24 hour window.

This is a fact: Players expecting to be away longer than 24 hours, who do NOT have skill levels they can start within the next 24 hours that will take long enough for them to return, have only two choices.
Choice 1: Train the second best skill, (if one is available), in some cases this skill is meaningless to the pilot, but the skill training duration lasts until they get back.
Choice 2: Stick with the skill they actually want, but allow the que to go idle after it finishes until they can return.

This is a fact: Their ability to log in is not a reflection of their commitment, it is a reflection of their real life limiting their availability to play.
You logging in every 24 hours or less does not make you ANY more committed to the game than them, it just makes you more able to play it when you choose to.


This is a fact: The que is a tool. It is better to have than nothing, noone denies this, but it does give players more able to log in that advantage in training.

These are neither bad excuses or poor reasoning. It is flat logic combined with facts.
Mag's
Azn Empire
#54 - 2012-02-08 23:46:24 UTC
Nikk Narrel wrote:
Gloss over it? In many cases, it is not an effective increase, it is a substitution of a desired skill over a filler. The que still goes idle if a long enough time frame passes.
And with my suggested idea, the que still does not allow changes after 24 hours. Skill training itself currently can extend well beyond this period as the skill need only start in that timeframe. My idea only permits the que to treat all untrained levels as one big level for the sake of progress, you STILL need to start the training inside the 24 hour window.
Now you're being disingenuous, to suggest it's not going to be an effective increase. Some level 5's take weeks and even ranks 1 skills take days. That's days or weeks more than the current queue. Fact.

Nikk Narrel wrote:
This is a fact: Players expecting to be away longer than 24 hours, who do NOT have skill levels they can start within the next 24 hours that will take long enough for them to return, have only two choices.
Choice 1: Train the second best skill, (if one is available), in some cases this skill is meaningless to the pilot, but the skill training duration lasts until they get back.
Choice 2: Stick with the skill they actually want, but allow the que to go idle after it finishes until they can return.
Your one sided opinion is exactly that.

They could organise themselves better and have level 5 skills they want ready to train. Fact.

But as I said, people not being able to use the current queue correctly, because of RL or simply bad planning, is not a valid basis for change.

Nikk Narrel wrote:
This is a fact: Their ability to log in is not a reflection of their commitment, it is a reflection of their real life limiting their availability to play.
You logging in every 24 hours or less does not make you ANY more committed to the game than them, it just makes you more able to play it when you choose to.
You suggested this idea would mean they are committing more. I'm simply pointing out that going by the aims of the idea, more time with RL less with the game, is hardly what anyone would deem as more commitment. Fact.

Nikk Narrel wrote:
This is a fact: The que is a tool. It is better to have than nothing, noone denies this, but it does give players more able to log in that advantage in training.

These are neither bad excuses or poor reasoning. It is flat logic combined with facts.
It gives everyone the same advantage and is a balanced mechanic. Fact.

You're asking for a change, based on conjecture about peoples private lives. You may as well just say, 'I want it'.

Destination SkillQueue:- It's like assuming the Lions will ignore you in the Savannah, if you're small, fat and look helpless.

Velicitia
XS Tech
#55 - 2012-02-09 14:12:46 UTC
Nikk Narrel wrote:

This is a fact: ... it does give players more able to log in that advantage in training.


Fact --> I haven't been able to log in this week due to work
Fact --> I have a skill that finished Tuesday at 01:00 EVE Time
Fact --> I threw in a 7 day skill Sunday night, to fill up the queue
Fact --> the 24 hour queue gave me the necessary buffer to have something training right now.

Fact --> Mag's (who has presumably logged in every day this week) has no training advantage over me.

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia

Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#56 - 2012-02-09 15:52:57 UTC
Velicitia wrote:
Nikk Narrel wrote:

This is a fact: ... it does give players more able to log in that advantage in training.


Fact --> I haven't been able to log in this week due to work
Fact --> I have a skill that finished Tuesday at 01:00 EVE Time
Fact --> I threw in a 7 day skill Sunday night, to fill up the queue
Fact --> the 24 hour queue gave me the necessary buffer to have something training right now.

Fact --> Mag's (who has presumably logged in every day this week) has no training advantage over me.


I will take your word that the skill you used to fill your training que is something you would train at this point, even if you were able to log in daily to update the que. This accepts that you will achieve your goals at the same point, allowing you to enjoy new ships or abilities without additional delay.
I am also impressed with your modesty, in suggesting that most players are able and willing to also do this,and it is not an indicator that you have any above average talent with organizing.
Myself, I keep running into people who have trouble organizing sentences, let alone a training que with skill spacing requirements.

Please understand, the common assumption being used against this idea is just that, an assumption.

It is, simply put: All players have the ability to organize themselves so that they can have a desired skill available to train that will cover extended absences.

It assumes that all players have organizational skills up to this level, for one. As this is not a game requirement, and they are not being paid to play, but rather paying to play, it adds player time as well as financial cost to the game requirements.
Trivial to yourself, and no doubt Mag's, and you probably see this as reasonable.

That is an opinion.

It is supported by the status quo of the game currently, by default. No indication shows this as an intended limit by design.
Design was coming from the other direction in making the que, this just takes it one step further, by logical extension.
It is entirely reasonable to assume they would have added this at the time, had it occurred to them, but they were already adding in an entirely new feature, and they were justifiably proud of what they were adding already.

Unless you work for CCP, refuting that by default means you know what they were thinking, and trying to achieve, not just what they put out to the public as PR.

Mag's: Working as intended, especially when you will have no negative repercussion to the change, loses credibility. People have motive's for everything, and while you may be selflessly defending the time of the developers, you more than likely have a motive.
I suspect you feel they need to budget their time and efforts, and this idea would be a waste of their time by comparison.

I counter this with an engineer's perspective: The change should be trivial to code in, and when included with other items already in the area of skills, they are going to be working on that code set anyways.
mxzf
Shovel Bros
#57 - 2012-02-09 16:08:11 UTC
So your argument is "But the current system disadvantages stupid people and people who can't plan ahead". Hate to break it to you, but that is Eve; if you fly off to nullsec in a pimped marauder, you're being stupid and will likely lose it; if you fly into a fleet fight without an up-to-date clone, you aren't planing ahead and might lose SP.

I'm pretty sure that if you're competent enough to balance a checkbook to be able to afford Eve, then you can plan around the 24h queue.

And it is working as intended. The devs stated that they wanted to remove alarmclock-skilling and the requirement sitting and waiting to change a skill over, which it does perfectly. The devs have said that the current system works just as intended.

And I'll counter with an actual engineer and computer scientist's perspective, as someone whose job it is to write code: Any change, no matter how trivial, creates a large debugging overhead due to unforeseen consequences. Furthermore, what do you mean by "they are going to be working on that code set anyways"? It sounds like you're grasping at straws.
XXSketchxx
Sniggerdly
Pandemic Legion
#58 - 2012-02-09 16:09:58 UTC
I rarely train short skills anymore.

Just remove the queue altogether.
Velicitia
XS Tech
#59 - 2012-02-09 16:22:24 UTC
Nikk Narrel wrote:
Velicitia wrote:
Nikk Narrel wrote:

This is a fact: ... it does give players more able to log in that advantage in training.


Fact --> I haven't been able to log in this week due to work
Fact --> I have a skill that finished Tuesday at 01:00 EVE Time
Fact --> I threw in a 7 day skill Sunday night, to fill up the queue
Fact --> the 24 hour queue gave me the necessary buffer to have something training right now.

Fact --> Mag's (who has presumably logged in every day this week) has no training advantage over me.


I will take your word that the skill you used to fill your training que is something you would train at this point, even if you were able to log in daily to update the que. This accepts that you will achieve your goals at the same point, allowing you to enjoy new ships or abilities without additional delay.
I am also impressed with your modesty, in suggesting that most players are able and willing to also do this,and it is not an indicator that you have any above average talent with organizing.
Myself, I keep running into people who have trouble organizing sentences, let alone a training que with skill spacing requirements.

Please understand, the common assumption being used against this idea is just that, an assumption.

It is, simply put: All players have the ability to organize themselves so that they can have a desired skill available to train that will cover extended absences.

It assumes that all players have organizational skills up to this level, for one. As this is not a game requirement, and they are not being paid to play, but rather paying to play, it adds player time as well as financial cost to the game requirements.
Trivial to yourself, and no doubt Mag's, and you probably see this as reasonable.

That is an opinion.

It is supported by the status quo of the game currently, by default. No indication shows this as an intended limit by design.
Design was coming from the other direction in making the que, this just takes it one step further, by logical extension.
It is entirely reasonable to assume they would have added this at the time, had it occurred to them, but they were already adding in an entirely new feature, and they were justifiably proud of what they were adding already.

Unless you work for CCP, refuting that by default means you know what they were thinking, and trying to achieve, not just what they put out to the public as PR.

Mag's: Working as intended, especially when you will have no negative repercussion to the change, loses credibility. People have motive's for everything, and while you may be selflessly defending the time of the developers, you more than likely have a motive.
I suspect you feel they need to budget their time and efforts, and this idea would be a waste of their time by comparison.

I counter this with an engineer's perspective: The change should be trivial to code in, and when included with other items already in the area of skills, they are going to be working on that code set anyways.


EVEMon. Plain and simple.

The skill just happened to be in the plan (probably for a certificate or something), and is not necessarily something that I'm going to be relying on next week ... or next month ... or within the next six months.

As far as my personal organisation is concerned ... well, most people say my flat looks like a warzone. There are three things in my flat that I know their location at any one time:
1. The computer
2. My headset (plugged into said computer)
3. Myself

Ask me where my mobile phone is, or where the cable remote is, or where the playstation controller is, and I'll probably be hunting for said device for half an hour.

It is not CCP's fault that people can't be arsed to remember to set a new skill up to twenty-four (24) hours before the currently training skill finishes (i.e. "queue" the next skill). EVE is a very forgiving game in that regard -- think about it, if you missed a day in a "normal" MMO, you could be 2+ levels behind other people (or farther, in the event that they were power-leveling). You don't have any of that here, due to the real-time nature of skill training.

Bring back alarm-clock skill changes.

One of the bitter points of a good bittervet is the realisation that all those SP don't really do much, and that the newbie is having much more fun with what little he has. - Tippia

Nikk Narrel
Moonlit Bonsai
#60 - 2012-02-09 16:31:00 UTC
mxzf wrote:
And I'll counter with an actual engineer and computer scientist's perspective, as someone whose job it is to write code: Any change, no matter how trivial, creates a large debugging overhead due to unforeseen consequences. Furthermore, what do you mean by "they are going to be working on that code set anyways"? It sounds like you're grasping at straws.

Ahhh, good. I will give the credit due one with experience in that case.

Well documented code can be either complicated, or simple, depending on your perspective.
If they tied together multiple functions to react to a single code, then yes, you will have a cascade of changes resulting from any change.

Now, if the code has aspects that can be isolated, as is likely with a skill que reacting to variable pilot statistics, combined with varied skill levels and such, each skill has an effective value that is unique when combined with the pilot training it.
(Character A takes 4 days with a skill, while the same skill takes 5 days on character B)

Whenever they add or modify any skill, they need to access the database holding the skills with their details and respective difficulty levels.

My idea adds the equivalent of a conditional check, being:
If skill level is below 5, and FINISH IT flag is 1, then start current level +1, else next skill if present