Crowfall Wiki | The Vidya

Crowfall uses a skill-based system to resolve in-game actions. Characters do not have discrete “levels” like most traditional MMOs. This means

that there are MANY potential ways to advance your character at any given time.

There are two ways that a character can increase his or her skills: passive training (in a method similar to “Eve Online”) and ~~active training (i.e. doing things in game). Active training can help you get a jumpstart on a new skill, but it can only get you basic competency~~. The primary method of increasing your skills is passive training.

Overview^[1]

Training Spheres

TRAINING SPHERES are major categories or branches of the Skill Tree system.

There are three major spheres: Class, Race and Profession.
Non-VIP accounts will get one training slot in each Sphere (1/1/1).
VIP will get an additional training slot in each Sphere (2/2/2), however each training slot must be used in a separate Skill Tree; you can’t train two skills in the same tree at the same time.
This means that VIP players will be given more activities that they can engage in, but not be better than non-VIP players at any given activity.
Child Skill Trees will be unlocked by prerequisite Parent Trees. This means players can’t jump directly into the deeper trees; however, full mastery is not required. Child Trees can be unlocked at some percentage less than 100% of completion of the Parent. The required percentage varies for each Skill Tree.
Remember: VIP Tickets are tradeable between players! So people who spend time in the game to provide valuable goods and services to other players can still participate in the VIP benefits, without paying any additional real-world money.
Race and Class Skill Trees have been restructured so that earlier (parent) Skill Trees grant benefits to all (or families of) related Classes. For example: you start with Combat Basics, then specialize in Fighters. Benefits of training the Fighter Tree will go to all Fighter avatars, and only later – after you have a chance to try them out – do you further specialize in the Skill Tree of a particular Class.

Time Banks

TIME BANKS are pools of accumulated unspent skill points for a specific Skill Tree.

A Time Bank icon (which resembles a clock) will be displayed at the base of each page of the Skill Tree.
Each Skill Tree will have a unique Time Bank; it is not a global pool. For example, there is a Combat Basics Time Bank and a Chivalry Time Bank; minutes accumulated in one bank cannot be used in the other.
Whenever you finish training a Skill while you are offline, minutes will start to accumulate in the Time Bank for that Skill Tree. This means that if your Skill Training reached 100% at an inconvenient time (such as 3am in the morning) you don’t have to worry that you are missing out on valuable training minutes – they will accumulate in your Time Bank, and you can spend them on another Skill in that tree the next time you log in.
Non-VIP players can accumulate up to 24 hours of minutes in any given Time Bank. VIP players can accumulate up to 30 days.
The minutes accumulated in each Time Bank are persistent. In other words, if you build up minutes in the Scoundrel Tree and you decide to jump over to Barbarians, you can’t spend your Scoundrel Time Bank minutes there – but you can always go back to the Scoundrel Tree and continue your training right where you left off!

Skill Tomes

SKILL TOMES can be used to transfer minutes of training collected on one player account to another.

SKILL TOMES will not be available at launch, but we are providing an overview of this system so that you guys will know what is coming post-launch.
These provide a type of ‘catch up mechanic” that will allow players to trade and transfer accumulated minutes between Time Banks of the same Skill Tree. For example, players can create (or use) a Tome or Combat Basics to increase training of any skill in the Combat Basics tree.
Using these is on a diminishing returns skill; the deeper you are into a Skill Tree, the less benefit you will get out of using a Training Tome for that tree.
Note that you still have to unlock access to a Skill Tree (i.e. unlock it via the pre-requisite trees) to either create or use a Skill Tome for that tree.

Examples

Example Use Case: Non-VIP

Player A is training Leather Amor skill in the Combat Basics tree, from Rank 2 to Rank 3.
This training completes naturally due to passage of time.
Player A has not logged in to adjust training.
The system automatically moves his Active Training for this slot to the Time Bank for the Combat Basics Skill Tree.
Player A logs in five hours later and has accumulated 300 minutes in the Time Bank.
Player A selects Leather Armor skill training, to go from Rank 3 to 4.
Player A is offered to apply the 300 minutes of accumulated time towards the training of Rank 4.

Example Use Case: VIP

Player B is training Leather Armor skill in the Combat Basics tree, from Rank 2 to Rank 3.
Player B decides to stop training Leather Armor and selects the Time Bank of the Combat Basics Skill Tree.
The system begins to accumulate minutes in this Time Bank.
Player B logs in four days later, having accumulated 4*24*60 = 5,760 minutes in this Time Bank.
Player B clicks on the Time Bank and elects to create a “Tome of Combat Basics”.
Three days’ worth of minutes (4,320) is removed from this Time Bank, leaving 1,440 minutes remaining in the Time Bank.
A Tome of Combat Basics is added to Player B’s account bank.

Example Use Case: Redemption of a Tome

Player C trades a crafted weapon to Player B for the Tome of Combat Basics.
Player C currently has completed 25% of the Combat Basics Skill Tree.
Player C currently has 40 minutes accumulated in the Combat Basics Time Bank.
Player C uses the Tome of Combat Basics by right-clicking it from her inventory.
Player C is informed that, if redeemed, the number of total minutes (4,320) stored in this Tome will be reduced by 25% (Player C’s completion percentage for this Skill Tree), resulting in 3,240 minutes being added to that Time Bank.
Player C agrees, and the Tome is destroyed