Thief XP System Removed in Response to Fan Feedback
Eidos Montreal has ditched Thief’s XP levelling system, in response to fan feedback.
Speaking during a community Q&A, Eidos Montreal level designer Daniel Windfeld said, "Fans might be surprised how often the devs go to the forum to see how things are perceived in the 'real world.'"
"This feedback is extremely valuable to us, so as you can imagine, the consistent reaction to the XP system was something that indicated we needed to revisit some design decisions."
At the heart of the issue are kills, with fans responding negatively to the E3 2013 gameplay demo, in which protagonist Garret takes out an enemy with a headshot and is rewarded with an XP pop up.
The thing is, fans want thief to be about thieving, not killing. And as it stood, the XP system rewarded kills. Now, however, Eidos Montreal has seen the error of its ways.
"We wanted to put emphasis on stealing things, and put the rewards on the stealing aspect. We want to allow the player to decide the 'how to' - we shouldn't judge how the player wants to achieve their goal, only reward them for achieving it," said Windfield.
In the absence of XP, players will now have to steal or otherwise acquire cash in order to purchase upgrades.
"The goal is to use gold to buy elements to progress, to encourage the player to steal," wrote Game Director Nic Cantin. "The player will be able to choose how to spend money, for more stealthy or more aggressive tools."
Thief hits current and next-gen consoles on February 25th, 2014 in North America and February 28 in Europe and Australia.