Zephyr-

There are better ways of handling grinding than just applying a cap to everyone who plays. Players who aren't trying to abuse the system by grinding, are having this penalty handed out because players may grind it. The opposite is also the same. What if someone has the time or would like to play for 2 days straight. They are penalized for doing so because people are not allowed to grind, or really play too much, lol. So they'd end up playing all that time and getting nothing more for it because there is a cap on exp for play time. Why penalize everyone? Since it is a game there are some things that have to be balanced out so that people can play on at least somewhat even terms without having to dedicate all your time to games or a particular game. Which is quite possible with something like or similar to the suggestion I stated. That is fair for everyone. I don't see the difficulty in making it fair for everyone especially with this game and it's style of play. Grinding is effectively stopped because of diminishing returns (especially in a game where you won't just throw away supplies or waste time so you need more supplies for nearly nothing) but no one will feel like they are halted because they still can gain. Technically it would be possible to grind, but the cost far exceeds the gain. This also allows the players that actually have more time to play, to feel rewarded for it. Instead of penalized because you spend a lot of time playing. Outside of that people will still complain because that is what people do, at least the minority who use the forums anyway. But that is not the majority of people who play.

Based on time alive? That'd be impossible given the time frames in which people play. Not to mention it wouldn't matter if their is a cap per day. I could go on and grind for x minutes and get the cap and then just get off. While someone who is actually playing gets nothing because a cap applied for grinders. People would do it? (Example) So if in 24 real time hours you can gain 100 exp using a skill normally and getting full exp for it. Then in 24 hours you can gain 120 exp if you were to grind the entire 24 hours. You're telling me people are going to spend 24 hours for 20 exp? Less than 1 exp an hour. While on top of it all you could still get that extra exp playing normal. In-game time would be the opposite of stopping grinders. That means you could gain exp faster for staying on longer in a real day... aka grinding. Unless it stops when you got offline, which would hurt non grinders even more and allow the grinders to grind. Lol.

Give the soft skills diminishing returns so players cannot grind them, but also still gain when they do actions because they actually need to. A cap per day is harsh. Those diminishing returns could be a counter that wears off as time goes by, so the gain for doing the action increases. Players that are actually using it as intended and not grinding gain full exp for said skill. While players who intend to grind receive a penalty for it. Gain should not be halted for everyone because some might grind. Also on that note for diminishing returns, while you don't want players to grind out skills, they shouldn't be fully punished for wanting to practice said skill. The idea would be that players who are using the skills normally will usually gain full or high exp unless they end up doing it more based on their current situation. While those who are grinding (practicing) gain less and less as they continue. This way you can actually gain more exp if you'd like to, but if you want to just sit and grind it's going to be tedious, boring, and not earn you very much for doing so compared to someone just doing it normally. An example is someone who played for a full day gained 100 exp using the skill normal, while a player who grinded the entire day gained 120. Due to diminishing returns, grinding would be a huge waste of time. 20 points over 24 hours is hardly worth the grinding. Though with the right breaks and time spent it would be possible to earn that little extra.