Well, we've seen that there may be ratings in Stellar Dawn, and I just had an interesting idea. If there is no XP, maybe you will have a rating assigned based on what you've discovered in game.

Lets look at something common, like finishing a quest. Stellar Dawn has been rumored to have multiple paths, so we take this to be true in this case. In the quest, your asked to grab X amount of Y in return for Z. However, lets say you get more X than what's actually required.

In this scenario, your rating would increase because you did something that was not par se required but different, or over the baseline.

Rating could easily be acquired in situations like:

-More efficient ways to attack something(weak-points/weaknesses)
-Finding a better combination of weapons to equip on a high powered rocket
-The list goes on.

Thoughts?

I hope not... I don't really like quests (unless they require puzzle solving skills, deductions, or some sort of logic game or something). They can be easily completed with guides, anybody could easily rule at the game with that.

I'm thinking that it will have something to do with combat or the equipment you wear. Because there will be four factions that will most likely all war with each other, you might gain rating for killing a player of another faction. If it's tied to the equipment you currently wear, it would be like it would change according with whatever you wear.

The quest thing was just an idea to show the concept. Obviously having a quest give rating for doing it differently would spell quest guides being constantly made.

Jagex said they were recently junking there design for a redo on what they have. So by that time rating might be something different. However, this is what I think it might be:

Rating could be basically anything almost. It could actually be almost exactly like a level. For an example one game might have a rating for a weapon which is more commonly known as the grade of the weapon. Other games have things that actually have a level of the weapon of make that weapon dependent the character's level. We do know that there are no levels so we can assume by this that the character isn't going to have anything that can directly say: this player can wear this but can wear this because of the variable being higher then what is needed.

From that I'll go to my next point. Rating could be used to tell how powerful of technology that the player has equipped or the technology rating that the user has acquired for him or herself. I believe in Galactic Civilizations they have a quartly report comparing your technology to others. They use a rating system where 100 is basically average. Of course that is a turn based strategy game and this an MMORPG most likely.

So what could this rating be for? Well the game is supposed to be focused on technology which might be a combination of achievements, quests, and other things in RuneScape. Of course everything grinding in RuneScape cannot be used at least in a grinding fashion. (Refer to my post here.)

Players affecting how NPCs will speak to them or even would be friendly or not could maybe essentially decide how high of rating a person can get. Maybe it is impossible for some NPCs to like you for one thing or another such as your friends with their enemies and stuff like that. So essentially there could be alternate ways to complete tasks and gain technology. You are able to form the game to how you want it yet can complete most or all of the game.

Having more the one race might make it where some technologies could only be created by that race or is only available to that race. I can see that but I'm pretty sure that Jagex will not limit this too much as the one of the favorite things players want right now is to be able to complete most or all of the game using one character. Of course how the race perceive each other and interact could decide that. Which also brings something else up which I don't want to get into right now.

So basically what I'm saying in a nutshell is that rating will say what you progress in the game is overall.

I agree with max. Technology is knowledge. Knowledge is power. Power is rating. Rating is supremacy. Supremacy is cool .

I think that you unlock technology from the quests. SO the rating is like a quest points level. And you are judged by them. That is agreeing with the basics there are no levels so the game is based upon quests and possibly minigames such as the confirmed wilderness.

Definition of minigame - Not like runescapes. A bit like the wildi or things like that. Big minigames which really have no name. Pk is the name but what catagory really? You can't class it. I just use minigames as a sort of metaphor. Please do not take it literally. By the way. Must find a robot smiley...

I love that statement.

Tyvm. I can say it again if you wish?

If you gained ratins just by going into a cave it'd be pretty lame... Ratings imply that you can go up or down depending on the progress of others.

If the game has a feature where you can pick a certain profession to play as, such as a professional killer/bounty hunter or some related field, i'de like to be rated on how well i kill my targets, and how many i kill versus how many times i fail and die.

That would then be similar to a ranking system. The problem with that is what happens where you have new players starting out all of the time. You then basically have a starting point of one or zero.

Maybe if it was relative to you and the other. Like 100 is the same level and anything below and they are 'like' a lower level.

Nah, I think that would be far too confusing for people to deal with. I think we should all have a rating on how far we have got. Not a ranking. I would like it as a sort of level on how much your have discovered ingame.

Just because the SD client has ratings doesn't mean the SD will DEFINATELY have ratings. I'd actually prefer they didn't if they are how we are all envisaging them.

Actually here is a thought I was playing with for a while and actually quite could be the a possibility.

What might say rating in 'MechScape' using Stellar Dawn assets could actually be something completely different when actually playing MechScape with its own assets. We can't really confirm that the 'rating' part is not build into the MechScape side or the RuneScape side so we could think that it is from MechScape when it isn't really the case. Or you have it where it is appearing in a completely different place.

I for one, think it will not have anything to do with your knowlage of the game.

First of all. How would it work? "OH! i know what that quest is called its called...Death! (chose random story name) You gained one rating." Think about it. It just doesn't really make sense.

Second of all. Even if somehow it did work, people would just use databases to learn everything good and bad about the game. Everyone would be Rating: 138. I do not know how this rating technique will work. I doubt it will be based on knowlage of the game. It will probably be something about how good you are at making items or surviving in harsh conditions or situations.

But your prospect is incorrect. It wouldn't be something you could figure out and add to a database, obviously. I'm not saying that it's there, but I'm saying that the way your thinking of it is Runescape with stellar dawn slapped onto it. The idea would be that logical situations, like keeping some item and randomly giving it to a quest giver might yield rating.

It could possibly be prestigious rating such as for PvP combat or points gained or lost over time which you can achieve it or lose it. Rating is pretty broad.

Possibly, i like the idea, i like quests and i like jagex. But i don't think jagex would think up something like that and put it into action and even if they did by the time their definition of 'soon' arrives they will probably decide to scrap this son of mechscape/fourthscape completely and it will be lost!

Perhaps each player will have a personal home-base in SD; and perhaps players will be able to employee NPCs in their home-bases; and perhaps some of these NPCs will be research boffins who twiddle with test-tubes; perhaps grinding away for hours; perhaps a bit like those lovely people who live on Miscellania. Perhaps player ratings will be based on the number and the quality of the NPCs they employ; leaving players free to go off to poke their fingers about in dark crevices. A bit like I'm about to do now.

But I think you are right. Ratings (if they exist) will probably be quest based.

The hunt for the TV remote continues...

hmmm.. after i thought about it. maybe it can be sorta like levels! like if you try to wield a high rating gun like the omega laser! so if a noob mech trys to weild it it will get this: you need a attack rating of 5234 to wield this.
or something like that. =P

Bad.


Ratings wouldn't make it a good RPG.

Care to explain why?

i think of rating as this way: Every time you do something a normal way for someone, you get an X amount of rating. However, if you do this thing differently either in a good or bad way, your either a larger rating or a smaller rating. You could also be able to lose ratings by dying or not completing a quest. However, I don't know what exactly Jagex is going to do.