CleverRaven
Make focus widget number go UP when "optimizing" learning
Summary
Interface "Make focus widget number go UP when 'optimizing' learning"
Purpose of change
Alternative to #84059
Describe the solution
Once again we abuse human psychology
Describe alternatives you've considered
Honestly I have been taken by arguments for removing focus entirely. But that is a ton of work, so maybe this little bit will be enough.
Testing
"Focus" continues to rise as you're spending the most possible focus_pool
"Focus" drops when you're not spending as much as possible.
Additional context
Removed original statement, as it was wrong.
It's still bad to lie and say a focus of 80-100 is optimal when it isn't.
This is even worse than hiding the value: that didn't actively lie, at least.
So you're lying to the player, by telling him that the slower learning gets, the better it is, until the learning gets so slow it's down to a crawl, at which point it's finally indicated as good old neutral, instead of that horrible bad)? Grind as much as possible, because that's good for you. Don't dare take breaks from grinding, as you'll soon go down into red.
This is even worse than hiding the value: that didn't actively lie, at least.
If your goal is learning you should be learning, that simply remains a mathematical fact. Spending time not learning will not make you learn faster.
I admit I'm of two minds here. On the one hand, this is more intuitive for most people (high numbers GOOD seems highly ingrained), on the other it does obfuscate already dense mechanic further
Updated tests for changes to focus widget
Most of them were simply checking spacing. In those cases we were using the exact same number of characters so there was no need for any significant examination.
The specific check for the focus widget working as intended got some comments, to explain what was happening.
If your goal is learning you should be learning, that simply remains a mathematical fact. Spending time not learning will not make you learn faster.
Isn't this just untrue with the mechanic that replaced skill rust? Don't skills get a boost to learning after having rusted for a bit, which continues at least a little past where it was previously at? Or am I misremembering?
AIUI, at least in the current implementation of focus, in general you make more XP over X amount of time by performing the relevant activity for the whole duration as opposed to doing it for some part, waiting for some focus to regenerate, and then doing it again for the remainder of the time. The 'lower' your old-focus was, the more it would regenerate per unit of time, which would then immediately be consumed by training. This PR changes the focus display instead shows how much 'focus regen' you currently have, which goes up as you spend focus or gain morale.
Not saying I think this is the best solution or w/e but this is what I think is happening.
There's a lot more discussion in the devcord in various channels about ways we would ideally like focus/skill training/etc to be related to morale or other conditions, which unfortunately are far more deeply reaching overhauls and need significantly more care to do than just a display tweak.
If your goal is learning you should be learning, that simply remains a mathematical fact. Spending time not learning will not make you learn faster.
Isn't this just untrue with the mechanic that replaced skill rust? Don't skills get a boost to learning after having rusted for a bit, which continues at least a little past where it was previously at? Or am I misremembering?
Rust takes a minimum of one day to kick in, in that 24 hours you could do a lot of learning, much bigger than one day's boost.
I prefer this option. Looks like a lot of players who care to voice their opinion are invested in managing their focus. I guess even if it's the same as not managing it at best, they like the feeling of doing something about it.
I'd suggest using a smiley like for mood instead of the number, to reinforce the fact that this is something you can manage, but not micromanage.
I missed this before commenting on the other PR sorry. That's what I get for taking so long to review the things I flagged for myself. Sigh.
I think this is a way better step than the other one, but I'd have two suggestions:
- there should be some indication when you are overspending focus. It has been too long since I reviewed how our current focus system works, since it is IMO broken and needs rewriting anyway, but I believe it is quite important to let a player know they can't just wander off afk doing an activity that is going to deplete their focus pool very quickly.
- it's probably better still to represent this descriptively than with numbers. MilosRasic put it perfectly: this is something you can manage, but not micromanage.
If you decide to merge this, before that. please test how it works with supernatural mods. How new focus values adress and signal your ability to cast. For example, Magiclysm is full of spells whose success chance heavily relies on focus.
