World of Warcraft Preview
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The New "Rest" SystemIn a controversial move, Blizzard has implemented a brand new system in phase 2, which is mainly in order to shrink the gap between the powergamer and casual player. At first, the vocal majority of players (which doesn't necessarily mean the actual majority) felt the system was flawed, and that a new one should take its place. What happened was this: you began the game "well rested," and each kill netted you a bonus 200% of normal experience for the kill. After a short number of hours of play, you simply became "rested" and gained 150% of the normal experience per kill. Upon further play, you only received the normal 100% experience, and subsequently, two more rest states: "fatigued" which netted you 50% and "exhausted, which netted you 25%.
Here's the controversial part: the only way to become "well rested" again was to take your character to an Inn located in most of the towns, and literally log out of the game for up to 8 hours. You can of course play other characters in the mean time, but that character will only regain their rest state by being out of the game. While this may not have been a problem for the casual gamer, the vocal powergamers found it an intrusive idea to their freedom, virtually "forcing" them out of the game while they rest. Quest experience did not count toward the bonus, so quests and trade skills may of course be used with no penalty, but often quests revolve around killing creatures, and so they would still be penalized.
The system still works that way for now, but fortunately in a recent post by a Blizzard employee, the rest system is already due for a severe tweaking. No longer will you be required to find an Inn, but if outside of one when you log, you'll receive less of a rest bonus. If you do log out, even for an hour, it will now count as rest, and if you rest for longer than 8 hours, you will have a surplus and it will take longer for you to drop down in rest status. Finally, it will (when it becomes live) be based on level, so the higher level your character is, the more experience you'll be able to gain until you drop down to "rested" and subsequent tiers. As I wrote this article just before the rest system post by Blizzard, I had a paragraph full of suggestions but they have addressed most of my concerns and so I'll forego most. I still feel that they could add a "camp making" ability to the Survivalism trade skill, and that players who log out in a camp will feel better rested than if they didn't. Alchemists could also be able to find a "rest potion" recipe that would give a player an increase to their rest state... ranging in power as their ability in Alchemy grows. Expect the system to change even further before the game ships.
As a practical bonus to the new rest system and something which everyone seems to enjoy, when you talk to an Innkeeper for the first time you are given a "hearthstone." It's an instant town portal spell which you can use once per hour to teleport yourself safely back to the Inn. Every time you find an Innkeeper, you're able to "bind" to that location by asking them for a place to rest. This sets the particular Inn as your current home spot. Since the hearthstone has a long cast time, it won't be useful in combat, but when you need to get back to the Inn you last called your home, it's a wonderful way to expedite the process.
