14 DAY TRIAL // Eidos Montreal has confirmed that the XP system originally set to be included in the upcoming Thief reboot has been removed following feedback from fans, and replaced with a traditional gold-based upgrade system.
The new Thief title that's currently in development at Eidos Montreal brings a new version of protagonist Garrett and a series of other tweaks to the franchise's core mechanics.
One such change was an XP system that saw points attributed to certain actions of the player. Seeing as how Thief fans love to think of crazy solutions to challenges, this system might have forced them to just repeat the same actions that deliver the most XP.
As such, many complained to Eidos Montreal about the worrying mechanic.
"Fans might be surprised how often the devs go to the forum to see how things are perceived in the 'real world'," the studio's Daniel Windfeld Schmidt wrote on the official website. "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."
As such, the XP system has been replaced with a more standard gold-based upgrade system.
"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."
"The goal is to use gold to buy elements to progress, to encourage the player to steal," Game Director Nic Cantin added. "The player will be able to choose how to spend money, for more stealthy or more aggressive tools."
As such, Thief players who want to improve their arsenal need to keep on stealing things during their adventures.
Thief is set to debut in February 2014 for PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One.