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Greetings...

We had a bit of confusion in getting the correct information to Arjun.  Our apologies.  I think we've got a bit better explanation of what's happening here. 

There has been lots of confusion lately over the Jedi Death system and how it causes skill loss.  Ultimately the problem has been that there are 2 tracked numbers.  One is the current DeathCount which is reported when you use the /deathCount command and every time you die.  The other is the number of deaths that count toward skill loss.  This number is not communicated but is always known by the Jedi Death System.  Hopefully this explanation will shed a bit more light on the situation and remove all the lingering questions.

There are 3 levels of Jedi that the Death System tracks, these will be called Padawan, Knight & Guardian.  These levels correlate with the groups of skill boxes that Jedi can earn.  As a Jedi progresses up the skill tree the number of deaths toward skill loss that a Jedi can receive before losing a skill become more stringent while at the same time the buffer area where there is no risk of skill loss becomes less. 

 At each level there is a buffer where you will never lose a skill.  If the current death falls within this buffer you will never lose a skill.  If the death is above that buffer than you may lose a skill.  Deaths are tracked for a period of one week.  Each individual death has a decay time of 1 week.  If you die 5 times in 5 minutes, in 1 week and 5 minutes all your Jedi deaths will have decayed.  However deaths that are tracked as contributing towards skill loss never decay.  This means that every single time you die and you are out of the safe buffer you risk losing a skill, depending on how many times you have died outside of the buffer and what your current DeathCount is.

The following table outlines what the DeathCount ranges are and what the specific risk of skill loss for that death is.  These numbers are in reference to the current death, meaning if your /deathCount was at 6 and you die you would be looking at the 7th death in the below table.

Padawan

            DeathCount  Between 1-3 deaths = safe area, there will be no skill loss ever

            DeathCount  Between 4-6 deaths = Skill loss every 3 deaths

            DeathCount  Between 7-8 deaths = Skill loss every 2 deaths

            DeathCount  9 or more deaths = Skill loss every death

  Knight

            DeathCount  Between 1-4 deaths = safe area, there will be no skill loss ever

            DeathCount  Between 5-6 deaths = Skill loss every 2 deaths

            DeathCount  7 or more deaths = Skill loss every death

 Guardian

            DeathCount  Between 1-5 deaths = safe area, there will be no skill loss ever

            DeathCount  6 or more deaths = Skill loss every death

Examples:

 The greatest confusion has arisen from the deaths that count towards skill loss.  These deaths will never decay (and it's important they don't for a fair balanced penalty which can not be exploited) and will only reset when a skill is lost.  The following examples should help explain the situations that cause the greatest confusion.

 1)  A Padawan receives 5 deaths all in one week and then lets them all decay.  The next time their DeathCount hits 4 they will lose a skill no matter what.  Deaths 4 & 5 from that first week went toward the count of 3 deaths to skill loss meaning the very next death in that range will cause skill loss, if the Jedi always stayed at a DeathCount of 3 or lower than they would always be safe.

2)  A Padawan receives 4 deaths and lets them all decay, then receives 4 deaths again and lets them all decay.  Again, the next time their DeathCount hits 4 they will lose a skill.

3) A Knight receives 6 deaths in a short period of time and loses a skill.  After that, every death they get within the week from their first death will cause a skill loss.  The Knight is then careful and allows their DeathCount to decay down to 5 and then die so that the DeathCount is 6 there will now be one death tracked towards skill loss.  If they allow a death to decay and then die while still within the 5-6 range then they will lose a skill.  If they allow all of them to decay and then die 5 times they will also lose a skill.

Hopefully that answers many of your questions and concerns.  If there are more, we are happy to take them.

Blair
Producer

Message Edited by JChace029 on 03-12-2004 07:36 PM

Cool thanks a lot Blair.  I can read up before I unlock, when I unlock, or if I unlock.  LOL!

Hmm system is a little confusing....so then death decay isnt all that useful then? So basically we just get less deaths to work with each week until we reach nine total or six at guardian. Then after that every single death takes a skill?

No wonder people were confused with the system. Why did'nt you guys mention deaths dont really ever decay from the total count before?

Message Edited by Virrago on 03-15-2004 03:29 PM

So why can't /deathcount tell us both numbers?

And the reason why you have a system like this is why? Just becuase you can? No really why have a system like this? Just to add a factor of randomness to losing a skill box?