Joseph North
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
0
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Posted - 2013.05.20 08:25:00 -
[1] - Quote
One of the biggest things wrong with certificates imo is the way in which they seem carelessly or inconsistently thrown together.
There are many certificates at a basic level, for example, with skill training required to 5 in one or more skills. This, while corresponding certificates in other areas are far easier to get. Often this is true between exactly analagous certificates -- like racial soldier. Honestly, sometimes I look at the inconsistency across all the certificates and I wonder what the thought process was in their creation
In order to make the certificates make more sense, why not make comparable certificates have more even sp requirements and actually represent 'basic', 'standard', 'improved', and 'elite' skill levels.
In my opinion, something like a basic certificate in anything should take about a day or so. standard should take maybe 3-5 times as long. improved 3-5 times as long as that. elite 3-5 times as long again.
Then, make certificates which actually use lesser certificates as prereqs (like core competency basic) start at the standard level so that this all stays consistent.
I can practically guarantee that if certificates became customize-able people would create schemes like this anyways. As a new player I actually loved certificates and wanted to get them in an almost RP kind of way but I quickly realized they made little sense. It wouldn't be that hard to fix this. While doing this, rethink some of the the actual skill requirements so that they take into account various game changes that have occurred and make more sense from a recommended training point of view.
One example is the 'core' certificates, which are mostly good, but have some very strange requirements at different levels (why targeting 4 for basic?) and seem to be missing some pretty core skills at the same time (shield operation?)
THEN...
once you have fixed all this and have made the certificates make more sense and have more consistency of sp requirements, give the certificates a small purpose. I love the idea of tying together certifications with Nex items or other custom features.
The fact is, as much as people say things like 'I don't want to give away information' etc, the real problem is that certificates are just poorly designed. Fix the overall design and consistency and give them a real purpose (even if just vanity) and they will start to be used |