Character Development
UNDER CONSTRUCTION. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.
On the Character Development screen, you can see your progress in various combat and crafting progression trees. Press Quote ['] to open the Character Development screen, or click the icon at the top of the map.
Presently, this system is in place for:
Earning Experience
Activity in a skill with the correct piece of equipment (such as Fishing with an Apprentice's Rod with Breadball bait) earns various types of experience points.
Experience points are applied towards unlocking the skill you are working on right now.
Free XP is earned automatically and can be applied to other skill nodes is explained below.
Surplus XP is like "banked" experience points after you have maxed out a skill line. Surplus XP can be converted to Free XP at a 2:1 ratio for Ambers.
With Fishing, for example, experience is earned in each Breadball bait skill node each time you catch a fish with a Breadball bait. Experience toward unlocking the next tier of fishing rod is being earned at the same time. This means skill nodes do not need to be maxed out horizontally before unlocking new tiers vertically.
If climbing a skill tree is the goal, think carefully about to how to apply earned Free XP going upwards rather than across, because there is horizontal and vertical progression. Generally, horizontal movement will help you do something better/faster while moving upward will all you to use better equipment and provide access to using or gathering new materials.
Free Experience
Free experience is automatically earned at the same time as regular experience at a base rate of 2% of your experience (earning 100 experience nets you 2 Free Experience). Free Experience is used to finish skill nodes. The option to use Free XP will not be shown unless there is enough XP to fully unlock the node.
Free experience is global, that is, can be applied to any skill node on any skill tree as long as you have enough Free Experience to fully unlock the node. For example, if you need 25,000 experience to unlock a Beetle III bait skill, and you have 26,000 Free XP, you will be able to click on that node and select "use Free Experience" to unlock it.
Free experience allows you to use experience earned in one skill line to unlock skill nodes and equipment access in other skill lines. Hate fishing but love digging? Earn Free XP by doing Archaeology and apply it to Fishing. Theoretically, you could level up an entire skill line without ever actually doing it.
Free Experience can be earned at a rate of 4% instead of 2% if you select "Turn off Surplus Experience." This allows you to avoid having to purchase a Conversion Points card but is a little slower.
Surplus Experience
AS OF 8/29 SURPLUS XP CANNOT BE CONVERTED TO FREE XP YET. FEATURE COMING SOON.
Surplus experience is earned by continuing to use a skill line that has already been fully unlocked. Surplus XP cannot be applied directly to nodes like Free XP can. Rather, Surplus XP must be converted into Free Experience at a ratio of 2:1 by using a Conversion Points Card, available in the Supporter shop (soon). That means 10,000 Surplus Experience will become 5,000 Free Experience which can be used to complete any skill node.
Earning Surplus XP can be turned off entirely. This means if you would have earned Surplus XP, instead you will earn 4% Free XP of whatever XP you would have gotten. This is an option that is good for those who wish to avoid using Conversion Points cards but it is slower.
Examples to show the difference (taken from actual live gameplay):
- Surplus XP is OFF.
- Using Breadball bait after achieving Breadball V mastery.
- Each Fishing attempt earns 5 Free XP.
This Free XP can be used as it accumulates to unlock skill nodes directly.
- Surplus XP is ON.
- Using Breadball bait after achieving Breadball V mastery.
- Each fishing attempt earns 131 Surplus XP.
- Earn 131 Surplus XP and 2 Free XP.
That 131 surplus XP can be turned into into 65 Free XP with a Conversion Card when the conversion is live. The Free XP can then be used to unlock skill nodes.
This is a little convoluted, but useful because this would be significantly more than the Free XP earned in the previous example, however it will cost ambers to do so.
