Meditation!

[nobody]

I would love to have meditation introduced as a verb that initiates repeating roundtime to meditate. It doesn't need to do anything, but I'd love for it to be used to grant meditation a small skill practice each roundtime and maybe also boost morale up by min(skill level/200,+1.00) per day or something after a successful bout of meditation? It should not grant XP though (then people could just sit around to grind XP!). This would be a nice roleplay incentive to buy meditation and develop it some amount, while also removing the automatic you've mastered all the meditation you've bought so far.

[Agelity]

I love the idea of having it as a verb! Goodness knows I've attempted to use the "meditate" command a few times to no success. That said, I'm also not sure whether I'd want to provide mechanical bonuses for it, save maybe offering an alternative method of sitting down to help replenish energy faster. The current benefits against mental effects is pretty useful on its own, though I think the use cases for it are currently a bit limited.

[Agelity]

Was just reminded of another idea: grant scholars higher meditation skill potential than most (save Guardian, who has higher skill potential already). I imagine if any guild would have a calm and collected mind it'd be the studious folks that otherwise aren't great at much else.

[nobody]

Also thought of a nice suite of meditation abilities just now! Meditation can be therapeutic, and I realized my prior suggestion was rather akin to motivation therapy. I'd love to see a suite of abilities that expand meditation to grant you a more limited version (half effect or less, with bigger cool downs) of any of the therapy abilities (motivation, reflection, sanity). I know that would tread on the toes of physickers some, so maybe limit the abilities to members of the scholar's guild? Making them cost an ability point each though would certainly give merit to the expanded use of meditation.

[Rias]

I like the idea of having some RP aspects for the Meditation skill. It does have its primary use as a resistance to mental-based effects (fear, many mesmerization effects, etc.) already, but I could possibly see a few small mechanical bonuses from an activatable command that one might get from it. But at the moment it's essentially like training Dodge, which also doesn't have any active uses and is just there to avoid certain types of attacks, only against mental attacks instead of physical ones.

Oh, and it helps resist sanity loss a little, too.

And increases effectiveness of a few abilities. Not just magic-y ones either: it helps increase duration of Inner Strength, Footpad, and Adrenaline Rush.

So while it's a bit boring at the moment, it's beneficial in a good number of ways. But again, it -would- be cool to add in some active commands for RP purposes.

Scholarly classes definitely need some increased Meditation caps. How did I overlook that? This shall be rectified soon.

[ocayucos]

I think meditating to slightly increase experience bucket would be pretty cool.

[Rias]

I think meditating to slightly increase experience bucket would be pretty cool.

This gets me to the issue I had with meditation in another game, where meditating would increase your experience rate but you couldn't have your meditation interrupted, so it actively discouraged interaction between players. Not that that's specifically what you were suggesting, but regardless: I think for now some RP uses in addition to the effects it already has will suffice, and we can continue to consider whether some very minor mechanical bonuses of some kind might be neat without stepping on the toes of others or turning meditation into too much of a meta tool.

On the subject of RP uses, though: Anyone have any suggestions for actions and messaging? I was thinking it'd be nice to have a variety of meditation "styles" available, and not just the typical sitting cross-legged closed-eyes "oohhmm" thing.

[nobody]

On the subject of RP uses, though: Anyone have any suggestions for actions and messaging? I was thinking it'd be nice to have a variety of meditation "styles" available, and not just the typical sitting cross-legged closed-eyes "oohhmm" thing.

I typically think of sitting, as that's how I've practiced. There are several styles IRL, including mindfulness like meditation which can be done while do almost anything else (doing dishes is an example I've heard often), cmeditation which is internally focused repetition, and styles to actively control one's own thoughts (I've forgotten the name for this variety though). As for actions and messaging though, I'll do some more research for physically distinctive forms of meditation (like yoga).

[Agelity]

On the subject of RP uses, though: Anyone have any suggestions for actions and messaging? I was thinking it'd be nice to have a variety of meditation "styles" available, and not just the typical sitting cross-legged closed-eyes "oohhmm" thing.

I can't think of meditation in this game without thinking of "Dreams of a Brute."

But related to that, I was thinking that having different meditation effects depending on environment or objects in the room could be interesting. A peaceful and wistful gaze out from the peaks of a mountain the valleys below, solemn contemplation while sitting on a bench in the rain, a quiet moment of serenity while sitting out on the docks with the blue sky above, closing your eyes and running through deep breathing exercises while sitting in a chair or on the ground, lots of options.

Could possibly even incorporate some RP effect with simple stretches in coordination with acrobatics for some sort of IC style of yoga. Maybe provides a small bonus to mental resistance upon completion, and higher chance of not spraining or injuring yourself on something for a short while (small acrobatics bonus to those with the skill?)... aside from maybe an axe to the ribcage. Doubt a little extra flexibility and mental clarity is going to help with that.

[nobody]

Actually, I like Agelity's idea better. It inspired the following messaging ideas (directed at the person using meditate):
Meditate breath: You focus on your breathing, not forcing your breath, but noticing it. ... Your breathing is regular, and you are aware of the length of your breath. ... You feel the movement of your lungs as you breathe. ... You feel the movement of the air, into your lungs, and out. ...
Meditate body: You focus on your feeling the state of your body, beginning with your toes. ... Your note the position of your feet and the sensations they possess. ... You feel the state of your muscles in your legs. ... You feel your lungs moving your abdomen and chest. ... You are aware of your body.
Meditate <object in room, a small sandstone block>: You direct your attention to <the object, a small sandstone block>. ... (I know that there are too many objects in the game to do this for all of them but I'm just going to continue with the small sandstone block) You see the detailed, coarse texture of the sandstone block's surface. ... You mentally trace the textured lines of the sandstone block, contemplating how they were formed over vast years. ...You notice the small irregularities across the surface of a small sandstone block. ...
Meditate ocean/sea: You focus your attention on the waves of the sea. ... You see the regular ebb and flow of the water. ... You appreciate the seafoam that rides the edges of the waves. ... You notice the forms of a few small fish, darting about beneath the water's surface. ... You breath in the salt air, feeling it fill your lungs. ...