I honestly felt that the in game skills were to condensed. For example the Farming skill encompasses the growing of crops, the production of artisan goods, and the growth and care of animals. I think it would expand the experience of the game if skills like farming weren't so condensed. Now this might just be my love of overly complicated skill systems. It could even be a different, for lack of a better word, "difficulty" mode. Dungeons and Dragons has a similar thing where there is the standard game and a more complicated rules heavy version with more of a breakdown of the skills.
I don't know if I'd want skill broken down quite as much as they are in D&D, but I do like the idea of expanding the skills a bit. It seems odd that caring for your animals gets lumped in with farming, especially since animal byproducts don't give you farming experience (or if they do, it's insignificant compared to the experience a harvest gives you). I'd love to see an Animal Husbandry skill that separates caring for animals from farming in general.
I used Dungeons and Dragons as an example is because its a well know RPG. Ultimately skills work in RPGs because there is growth and diversity over time. If you gained Everything after an hour of play time then the what was the point. Alternatively if you have every skill exclusively tied to you level then it doesn't allow for a player to actually make a choice. Though I can understand if someone wouldn't want to have to deal system as complicated. I would like to point out however that D&D seems more complicated because the user is required to be aware of all the information occurring while in video games most of it happens automatically.
I always love skill trees so you have my vote. A good start though would be just separating farming into a few more categories to artisan goods, animal products, and crops. You could also have the axe, hoe, and watering all separate with their own perks as well.
I'll preface this by saying that I JUST finished suggesting something like this on another thread. I'll reiterate what I said here, though. A good way to tackle this would be to have the skills be the same as they are now...until you hit level 5. At level 5, you'll get BOTH of the perks that it can grant you, and the skill tree will "branch" into 2 (or more, if you include tools). This way, "Farming" would have two sub-skill sets "Farming" and "Ranching"...and so on. As for the tools...I wouldn't be opposed to having the efficiency for tools be improved as separate skills (using the can increases its efficiency, using the hoe, etc.). Maybe have the efficiency split between the tools and the skills themselves...or have the tool skills become available once you hit 5 in that skill type as well, and from there the only way to increase tool efficiency is by USING the tool. Each level of the tool (it'll start at level 5, cause...y'know...becomes available when its related skill reaches level 5) could give some sort of benefit...maybe even in addition to the efficiency you receive. The levels would go from 6-10, just like the other skills. This way people wouldn't really be penalized by going with ONE system, and would be able to play with ALL of them and get the benefits for them. I also think the idea in another thread about fishnets should become available to help increase "trapping" as well (if it's split)...or just become available IN GENERAL as a way to get seasonal fish w/o having to stand there and fish every single dang day, heh.
I like the idea of getting better with the tools you use independently of other skills. As for the idea of getting everything as you level up; I'm not completely on board. I don't mind that I have to choose Perks as I Level up but the idea of the skill trees expanding in such a way could be interesting.
Yeah I definitely want to keep those tough decisions to make. I like the ones that cater to different playstyle. At the very least I'd like to see the less popular ones rebalanced. 50% artesian good sell prices vs only 10% crop grow rate is sorta lackluster. A few others come to mind like Befriend animals faster and 25% more for metal bars.
Well, I can say with confidence that unless some other things are nerfed into oblivion and become completely useless...the path MOST people take (the ones that don't do "special" playthroughs with certain limitations and stuff like that) will just completely exclude these things. The reason I suggested just "giving both" level 5 perks at the split, is because it's easier than having to come up with another perk to go with each one...and he wouldn't have to change much with regards to the skills themselves, just...separate how they level up beyond lvl 5, and have the perk choices at 10 be associated with each branch like it is right now. I really can't see ANYONE picking Forester because it's "awesome", for example...given that it's such a...specialized...branch (and trees take so long to grow, heh). That said...I'm sure some do "just for the challenge"...but most won't. The same for the trapping side. I'll never pick that, but if it 'opened up' on its own...then I'd certainly add it to my things to work on maxing out, heh. It'd introduce 'more things to do' in a sense, without having to actually introduce BRAND NEW mechanics. ^^
All I can say is while the other skills are fine as they are, I don't think the farming skill should be both farming and ranching. I think ranching should get it's own skill tree, but that's about all.
I'd actually really like to see a more complicated skill tree just to give me more skills to work on and give a better sense of progression. I love the branching idea of hitting Lv5 before splitting the skill into two sub-categories. Something like farming would split into "livestock" and "produce" (which could possibly have its own subcategories), Mining could split into "prospecting" and "smelting" etc, Fishing into "Angling" and "Trapping". A lot of the times the skill perks feel like you're missing out on almost essential perk just to choose a different essential perk. Splitting them up would reward you for your playstyle rather than the actual route you choose. Example: Choose between speed and profit rather than angling and trapping.
I'd be happy enough if you could keep training after maxing all skills to unlock the other professions. Max all skills, and you are able to level them up again. But this time around, they require more exp, and you don't earn proficiencies or stats. You'd just get the other level 5 profession, then the other 3 level 10 professions. I know there's a mod for that, but I'd rather have it as a vanilla 'endgame' progression. Think of it like Epic levels in D&D that do not increase stats like the previous 1-20 levels. Whether it's by expanding the skill tree or repeating the exiting one, a character should be able to learn everything. It'll just take longer and longer the more they already know.
I'd definitely like to see more perks or an actually skill tree. More choices are always good and add to replayability.
