Section 1: General Thief Information
1.13: What is Power Hour / Burst Hour / Guaranteed Gain System?
Power Hour/Burst Hour is EXTINCT as of July 2002. With that said, it
was replaced by the GGS, Guaranteed Gain System. I'll just
"Steal" the information from the OSI Website located here.
Guaranteed Gain System (GGS)
The core of this system is the guarantee that if you play "normally", you will gain skill. Under the GGS system, if you
have not gained skill under the current use-based system after a certain time period, the system would recognize this and
force a point of skill gain (point meaning a tenth of a point, as in moving from 70.1 to 70.2). The length of the time
period, or timer, is based on the level of skill. The current time periods are listed below, but note that they are subject
to change. In addition to the time intervals listed below, there would also be a limit on how many GGS points total per day
a player can earn once their skill reaches 70.
Skill Value Ranges Time Between Gains:
- 10.0 – 14.9 160 secs
- 15.0 – 19.9 200 secs
- 20.0 - 24.9 250 secs
- 25.0 - 34.9 300 secs
- 35.0 - 44.9 400 secs
- 45.0 - 49.9 500 secs
- 50.0 - 54.9 10 mins
- 55.0 - 59.9 15 mins
- 60.0 - 69.9 20 mins
- 70.0 - 79.9 40 mins
- 80.0 - 89.9 80 mins
- 90.0 - 94.9 120 mins
- 95.0 - 98.9 150 mins
- 99.0 - 100.0 240 mins
As always, you can only gain skill when you successfully perform an action. So an example of this is as follows: Let's say
you cast a spell of moderate difficulty, and succeed, but you do not gain skill. If the relevant time period passes, and
you have still not gained a point in that skill, then the next time you successfully use that skill again, you will gain a
point. These time periods are based on the server system clock, meaning that you don't have to be logged in for your timers
to refresh.
This does not mean that players would be unable to gain skill until the timer refreshes, because the GGS would not be
replacing the current use-based system, but it would be implemented in addition to it. You would still be able to gain
skill under the current use-based system, but the GGS would now keep track of how long it has been since you had gained a
point of skill. If the time period had passed and you had not gained skill through the regular method, you would gain a
point through the GGS. The use-based system, though, would not be restricted by time. Even if you had just gained a point
through the GGS, the game would still check for skill gain under the use-based system, although admittedly it would still
be incredibly difficult to gain skill in this way at the high end range.
To ensure that characters could not become Grandmasters overnight, there would be a limit on how many points of skill a
player could earn through the GGS during each day. This limit would be high for players of low skill, but as players' skill
levels grow higher, the limit on how many they points they can earn through the GGS grows smaller. This means it would
still take longer to gain skill in the 90's then it did in the 10's or 50's (this is nothing new). Note, however, that this
limit does not affect the current use-based system, so players who reach that limit can still gain more skill through the
old skill system, by using the skills themselves.
The most noticeable difference from the current system (not including power hour) is that skill gains in the 90's while
playing normally would not only be possible, they would be guaranteed (provided you are performing your skill in or around
your current skill level). For example, casting Magic Arrow with a magery skill of 90 would provide no chance whatsoever to
gain skill in magery, even with GGS. You would need to cast higher level spells to see guaranteed skill gain. Similarly,
crafting daggers with a blacksmithy of 80 would provide no chance to gain skill in blacksmithy. Skills that are not
difficulty based, however, would always have a chance to gain.*