The Idea is that an Item can be corrupted (as the opposite of enchanted).

Here are some archetypes

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Hey lolesch,

Yes.  You could easily™ implement a 'train to gain' type experience system like you described.  It won't work with the vanilla respec option, but you could make something manually.

I would recommend making it kill-based rather than hit-based.  Hit-based means that it actually favors tanks a lot more because you can get more xp from fewer monsters.  Kill-based means everyone gets the same xp for clearing an area.  If it takes the tank longer to do so, maybe we need to rebalance the tank-type character so his average clear time is roughly the same as the glass cannon... or just let him be and let party mechanics make up for it (that is, the tank's xp gain will be fine when in a group).

That's the other thing.  A character who kills monsters with a fast, repeating skill (Magma Spear) instead of big, single hits (Infernal Collapse) is going to get more xp (and faster) in a hit-based system.  They'll get the same in a kill-based system.

It also affects multiplayer.  If a tank and a glass cannon are playing together in a party, the xp will need to be shared somehow for the tank to get an even share of the xp.  Consider: ranged glass cannons can probably pop popcorn mobs long before a tank could reach them.

And here's how I'd set it up. For weapon skills, use hidden passives attached to the player unit file.  Passive skills can be given weapon requirements.  You can then use the passive to set a bool that indicates the player is using the given weapon setup and use that bool in a statwatcher for another skill that grants 'experience' to the current weapon setup's unique experience pool.  The following is a rough example and may need modifications to function:

Equipped Weapon - Sword and Board:
-Is a hidden passive attached to the player
-Requires a sword in the right hand, shield in the left.
-On Event_Start it sets the player's stat "weapon_equipped_swordnboard" to 1.
-On Event_End it sets "weapon_equipped_swordnboard" to 0.
-That's it.  But you'd want one skill for each possible weapon setup.  The bonus to this is that you can use the bool "weapon_equipped_swordnboard" to modify lots of other skills and effects if you like.

Experience Trigger -
-Is a Triggerable attached to the character via a hidden passive skill (see the Friendly Charge Bar Passives Tut for why you want to do it this way)
-Its condition is KILL and Filter Self is false (I believe this should then trigger whenever anyone gets a kill).  If you can set Unit Type here, set it to Friend.
-This triggerable will case the Experience skill

Experience -
-Is a hidden active proc skill enabled on the player unit
-On Event_Start it tries to apply multiple affixes, one for each possible weapon setup.  Each affix is gated with a Statwatcher that requires the correct "weapon_equipped_" stat.  In this case we want "weapon_equipped_swordnboard".
-The affix it applies should have an effect that adds 1 to the stat we want, in this case "experience_swordnboard".  We want this stat to be permanent, so set 'saves' to true.



Okay, so now we need to add something that will give the player a bonus.  There's a couple ways you could do this.  You could give them a set bonus for achieving a certain amount of experience with a weapon.  So, if "experience_swordnboard" is greater than 100, you get +5% melee damage.  That's pretty good. 

You could also award the players points which they can spend on swordnboard specific bonuses, then give them options.  This takes a lot more work than the set bonuses, but I think it makes it a more robust RPG element.

For this second option you could have 3 tier-1 passive skill offerings selectable in a modified skill window.  They could be SwordnBoard Damage (+5% physical damage), SwordnBoard Block (+2% block), SwordnBoard Speed (+2% attack speed).  Of course, with better names.

I'd probably use the UI for this.  It'd be easier.  So:

LevelUp -
-I'd probably add this to the HUD, since it's always on.
-You'll need to create a logic group for every possible weapon setup and every available levelup tier.  Lots of stuff!  But you'd have to do the same with skills, so this is less work and can be easily copypasta'd.
-Set up a logic group that contains the following elements.
-Start with a timer that initiates the logic every ~1 second or so.
-Use a Stat Evaluator for "experience_swordnboard".  Compare it to your threshold, maybe stat>100
-Use a Stat Evaluator for "swordnboard_tier1_awarded".  This will turn off the logic reward after it's been given once.
-Use a Stat Operator to give both "swordnboard_tier1_awarded" and "swordnboard_skillpoint".
-"...awarded" of course turns off the loop.  "...skillpoint" will of course allow you to buy a passive skill in the skill tree.

As for the skill tree.... I imagine that once you choose a Tier 1 skill you can design the system in one of two ways.  1)The other T1 options are locked and the next level you have to choose a T2 option.  2)The T2 options unlock but you can still buy a T1 option the next time you earn a skill point.

The purchasable passive skills would be really easy to create since they have no levels and will only have an Event_Start that applies the affix and an Event_End that removes it.



So, yes, I'm certain you can craft your alternate experience path.  You won't be able to use graphs (and likely no quadratic functions).  You'll have to input the thresholds manually with this method.  Are there other ways to implement your system?  Maybe.  Could we use the existing skill points and stat points and therefore the experience graph?  Yes, I think so, but not in this implementation.  It would require a dual xp system, one where you earn the points by leveling up as normal, but then you have to have the requisite skill points with a weapon style or other skill before you can invest in a bonus passive in that skill line.

The implementation I've outlined here would allow a character to learn ALL the skills and become a master of all trades (a la Skyrim).  It also works regardless of player level but I'm not sure this is a problem.  If we leave the current xp system in (and just gut the bonuses it provides) characters will still level up.  And I think the KILL trigger condition requires you to kill an enemy near your level (something that awards xp).