Lore

I never really know how accurate lore is, if I master it is it as accurate as identify? If not, make it so please?

Go find out. Lore an object ten times, get its id. see how far off you are. Master it, repeat.

And I would be against lore being perfect. Mages/Communers are supposed to be more survivable.

You are against most things. smirk

Only things which are shortsighted and lack a view of the depth of game mechanics.

heh, not to be rude. But if lore is perfect, why not just give melees identify? There are good reasons lore is flawed and it plays into both the mechanics at work behind the class and the rp.

Lore is used to see where an item comes from. Do some basic quests and you can have ID fun. Or just wear it can check your score sheet. (may as well give an id).

edit: it is very easy to say someone else has a lack of knowledge on game mechanics, but it doesn't need to be said, and especially when you aren't much better yourself.

Have you ever mastered lore, Warpnow, through regular use (not spamming it)?

Because I think it would take damn near forever to master lore, and I don't think many melees would take that time. But if they did, I think it should help them. In either case, it wouldn't tell the special affects that identify did.

Anyway, to the first post, I would assume it would get more accurate as your proficiency went up, to a certain point. Probably around +/- 10% as opposed to much worse if it's at 75% proficiency.

Lore is used to see where an item comes from. Do some basic quests and you can have ID fun. Or just wear it can check your score sheet. (may as well give an id).

edit: it is very easy to say someone else has a lack of knowledge on game mechanics, but it doesn't need to be said, and especially when you aren't much better yourself.

heh, nice insult. Especially considering I have a pretty thorough grasp of game mechanics and balancing.

And, yes, I've mastered lore.

...right.

Next you'll tell us you have a pretty thorough grasp of pk...

Heh, no, but the two aren't the same.

I know how muds work, and I know well enough the concepts that balance them. I do know alot about pk theory, hah. I know things, I just have trouble putting them into place. I'm a person who operates in theories alot. I can teach alot of people things I can never do myself.

The two are not mutually indistinguishable.

You can completely know and understand the meaning of every single line of code that is in the game, and -still- not have a sound knowledge of game mechanics.

Knowledge of game mechanics not only requires you to understand how each class balances each other out in theory, but also understanding at least a good degree of maximum strength peaks, output, duration, as well as how much equipment, from average to best, factors in ALL these calculations, as well as the intended purpose of each class in fulfilling a specific niche in the game, while maintaining a balance of niches as well, especially when implementing changes.

PK ability and game mechanics are linked, precisely because PK ability, in major part, IS the understanding of game mechanics, in a segmented level. PK ability with a char refers to one class, and understanding its strengths and weaknesses, while maximizing/minimizing them to best effect, while keeping in mind the entire assortment of problems that could be tossed your way.

Game mechanics refers to the knowledge of that for EVERY class, and on a higher level yet. None of this can be accomplished in theory, unless you have an inordinate amount of time on your hand, to do all of the mathematical calculations required to compare, say, in a simple scenario of warrior vs shaman, with regards to hitroll of warrior vs ac and dexterity of shaman, damroll of warrior vs spells up by shaman, speed of damage done vs speed of spells landed/speed of shaman's curing, the comparative chasing speed of warriors, the proximity of places for healing, and a whole host of other variables.

Everyone who's played understands vague 'theory'; ie, 'battlemages are the anti-melee', 'do fast damage to shamans, run away if they land (x) mals on you,' etc. etc. etc. For anyone but newbies, though, those theories are common knowledge and effectively useless. Knowledge of PK is necessarily fluid and multi-faceted, simply because PK scenarios, for the most part, are themselves fluid and multi-faceted.

I have met very few people who are good at PK that have a poor understanding of game mechanics, because, from long experience, they know exactly how huge a difference just a small change would cause/force in their strategies and in balance. The vice versa is equally true; the two go hand in hand.

I can keep going, but I'd rather leave it at that.

With regards to the lore skill itself, I have only two things to say; one, that a higher lore skill does lead to more accurate readings. And two, the difference between which skillsets get lore and which get identify are primarily on an RP basis, not a 'game mechanics' basis.

That big-turnip post.

Well said.