Transcript of upcoming Vidcast:KN745: Welcome back folks to another great Vidcast about our favorite topic: Genesis Engine, brought to you by your favorite recreational beverage: Bludgeon Brew! Grab a couple of cold Bluds and kick back while we talk some numbers.

I'm here with my favorite punching bag, Darkdeath54...DD54: Hi folks.KN745: ...and a first timer on the show, TIMMYthewonderboy34.

Nice to have you on Timmy.

I hear you and DD go way back.

DD54: Well, not TOO far back, 'cuz little Timmy here ain't been around too long.

You wearing long pants yet?TTWB34: Hello Mr.

Darkdeath54sir, and yup, my pants go all the way to my ankles now.

Thanks for asking! I'm wearing a pair of custom crafted leggings made from Blazebear hide.

They add +10 points to my fire resistance and provide 3 points of physical mitigation while having no stealth penalty.

That's 3 out of 5 points of mitigation in the leg slot, and yet I haven't had to move to metal armors.

I won't claim they are 'Best in Slot for Tier 1' but they are certainly a contender.

KN745: Very nice Timmy, and you're right, that's a 1 point advantage on some of the better leather armored leggings.

Pay attention folks! This is Gaming Gold Information.

We brought TIMMYThe...Can I just call you Timmy? No offense intended.TTWB34: And none taken Knuckles.

Everyone calls me Timmy now.

Even grandmother.

On Top Tier raids, you don't have time for silly gamer handles.

Right? Mr.

DarkDeath54sir? KN745: I'm sensing some old hostility between you two.

Excellent, makes for some good conversation.

Let's get some comparisons on gear between you two.

What are you covering your legs with DD?DD54: ..mumbles...KN745: I didn't quite catch that DD? DD54: I said "a Goathide Kilt." It's awesome.

No mitigation and doesn't even keep my balls warm.There, happy?TTWB34: My, that seems like it's below your usual standard Mr.

Darkdeath54sir....'sniff'...Sorry folks, getting a little teary here.

It's just so sad to see the gaming legends you used to worship go to seed.

I remember how proud you were of your 'Gilded Silversteel Pantalooms +7' back in EQO3.

You used to make me polish them every day.

Sometimes several times a day.DD54: Keep it up kid, and you'll get a boot up your ass.TTWB34: And what kind of boot would that be Mr.

Darkdeath54sir? More goathide?DD54: Naw, too expensive for me.

Still wearing sandals.KN745: Wait, you're fething serious aren't you? Why the hell are you in shit gear only fit for a level 0?DD54: Because we got it all wrong! I deleted my character so I could start over.

I'm wearing crap armor and killing squirrels to level up.

And I'll do it as many times as I need to until I get it right.

TTWB34: Yeah, me too.KN745: You too?!!! WHY?TTWB34: Like DD said.

Things we thought were good, aren't.

We thought this was just going to be EQO4, and it isn't.

Things don't work the same.

There are a lot more calculations going on underneath.

I'd rather start over now than wait until it's even more obvious.

I gave the Blazebear Leggings to a guildy and rerolled at level zero.

My build sucked and I'm not quite sure why.

Pretty much everyone who wants to raid with a Top Tier guild is starting over and trying to figure out the system.

DD54: Damn, and I thought that Shining Paladin build of yours was pretty cool.

You know what? I think this calls for a round of Bluds and then we need to talk builds Timmy.

Sorry for that crap about short pants.TTWB34: I apologize too.

Would you like to discuss new characters with an ex-squire? DD54: No...but I'd do it with a drinking buddy.<The two shake hands and head for the cooler.

Cut to commercial for Bludgeon Brew>KN745: Ok, we've got a couple more Bluds under our belts.

Lets start with what was wrong with your first characters.

DD54: Bad testing for one, and we made bad assumptions.

Lets start by explaining that the system doesn't just let you level straight up to 50.

Every 5 tiers is a separate sub-system of skills, stats, and leveling.

What holds true for levels 1-5 might not for 6-10.

Just getting past the Apprentice Tier and into Journeyman can take a lot of time.

Requirements may be quests, special mobs to slay, rare items to find, or crafting a perfect piece of gear.

A lot of people will be at level 5 for a long time when they find out that they can't meet the requirement to move on.

KN745: But that's ok, because don't they want to grind out all those stat points?DD54: Another thing the early testers got wrong.

Someone took a character from Level 0 Mace to Level 5 Mace.

They also got 5 points in STR.

That was all the time they had in the tutorial.

Someone guessed you could then Level Sword from 1 to 5 and get another 5 points of STR.

Just not how it works.TTWB34: Yes, we found out that the stat points aren't awards for leveling skills.

As you earn experience in a weapon skill, you also get experience in the stat that governs it.

KN745: So STR for Mace or Sword, DEX for Archery or Rapier, AGI for Quick Retreat etc.TTWB34: Yes.

But STR is actually a skill with it's own experience table.

And like anything else, it takes more experience to gain a higher level as you progress.

So instead of being awarded lots of stat points....DD54: We were just adding more experience to the STR Skill.

HA! That silly build I started with? And I thought I'd get 45 STR from 9 skills? So wrong.TTWB34: It takes 1000 experience to get STR to level 5.

But we think that if you leveled all 9 weapons to level 5 earning 9000 experience, your STR would be at level 13.

And that much experience only gets you to level 3 as a character.

To make matters worse, some of those weapon skills were Secondary, taking 3x as much experience to level, and the Tertiary ones take 10x the experience needed.

Just a huge amount of time to gain those 13 points in STR.DD54: And you don't even get to use them.....KN745: WTH? Why not?TTWB34: There's a soft cap of 5 for Tier one.

So you can only get 5 points of STR from the STR skill.

Any extra experience gets banked until you can raise the cap.KN745: And how do you raise the cap? Shit, I'm at 5 Dex and 5 AGI now, and I have a ton of skills that use those stats.DD54: A ton of skills that you need to level, but won't pay off in stats.

Bet you wish you had more that gave you INT, WIS, STR etc don't you? Guess why I'm back at level 0? Toss me a blud!TTWB34: We've found two ways to raise the cap.

The first is by getting to Tier 2.

The couple of people who have done that were allowed to raise their stats by another 5 points.

KN745: Another softcap?TTWB34: Yep, the softcap for Tier 2 is 5 points that add to your 5 from Tier 1.

So if you just keep leveling, that's a max of 5 points per tier.

That's a lot of points left in the early levels that you can't get later.KN745: And the other way to raise the cap? Please tell me it's drinking large amounts of Bludgen Brew!DD54: If only! Nope, we have to go kill Bosses.

Lots and lots of Bosses.

The type of Bosses who eat adventuring parties for breakfast.

Bosses are nasty.

They aren't stuck in dungeons...hell, there are no good dungeons to raid yet.

You have to find a boss then play tag with them on their home ground.

They might have magic, minions, or even be hiding right in a town.

TTWB34: We sent 4 squads out to a little village called Tumbad to investigate some disappearances.

The first three were totally wiped and didn't even remember how.

There are sometimes odd mechanics on bosses.

Hidden bosses stay hidden.

Players forget what killed them until the monster is discovered.

Luckily the fourth team got someone out alive and we could take the monster out.KN745: Geez, what was it?TTWB34: Just a quaint old grandmother passing out bespelled cookies.

Then she visited you in your sleep as a nighthag and cut out your heart.

Stuff of nightmares.

She turned out to be level 5.

The team we sent in that finally killed her had people level 3 to 5.

When she was dead, we all got this message.

Congratulations! Granny Gorpunkle is dead! No matter how many times you explain it, the village children will still think you murdered her to get her cookies.-Paladins and Clerics count as having completed one of their class quests to move to Tier 2.

-Everyone in the group is awarded Core Skill Points based on your level.

-Level 5: one point-Leve 4: two points-Level 3: three pointsCore skill points may be saved, or used to buy abilities from Tier One Core Skills.

Check with your guildmaster for details.