Old Udos Droxun

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Ork
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Ork » Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:32 pm

Traitor wrote:i remember being killed repeatedly for not bowing every 5 minutes
ah the good ol days

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by cptcuddlepants » Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:36 pm

Ork wrote:
Traitor wrote:i remember being killed repeatedly for not bowing every 5 minutes
ah the good ol days
What do you mean, "good old days"? That generally implies it happened a long time ago... :D
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Black Wendigo » Sat Oct 14, 2017 9:22 pm

Sepends on who you are. Nowadats if you play a gnoll you don't have to bow. Because, you know, you/re a gnoll :)

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Cortex » Sat Oct 14, 2017 9:35 pm

Gnolls are in a constant state of bowing with their hunchbacks.
:)

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by SwampFoot » Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:02 pm

My UD play is pretty much limited to Andunor times. Until then I played only surface characters. Back then only a few of the drow I encountered seemed to be in it for the RP and specifically conflict RP. The vast majority that came up to the surface always seemed to drop a one-liner and attack.

I'm not saying this was the norm for Udos players, but it felt the norm for the ones that made regular trips to the surface.

"I strongly disagree with people claiming that it used to be empty, as Udos at its lowest would dwarf Myon at its peak when it comes to PC activity."

The days of Trintiren, Daedin, Shalafil, and Gwen saw a huge number of elves constantly in Myon. Some of the best RP I've experienced on this server. It was rare to not find someone in Myon during those days. And even the surrounding woods saw a lot of activity from the other races to be a part of the RP happening there.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Invader_Nym » Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:53 pm

ActionReplay wrote:
Norfildor wrote:I do really miss the Vault. That place felt very underdarky,
I disagree. The Vault was kind of boring. It had nothing going on for it other than Illithids and Beholders (Who were too close to eachother anyway) and drow. Just from a aesthetical viewpoint the Vault was kind of bland, poorly dressed up and with a portal down there too, taking away that feeling of a scary Underdark environment.

To me at least the Vault felt generic and compared to other areas it did not feel polished enough.
Now that I think of it, that's sort of one thing our Underdark is missing. NPC drow... ! There's /one/ tiny little area I can think of with npc drow, which is kind of unusual given that when you think underdark you kinda think drow!

I really liked the vault too to be honest with you. It was actually totally goofy to have the beholder and mindflayer dens so close to eachother, but it did feel right, and it did lend that underdarky vibe to the place. It was like this singular pinnacle of underdark horrors all converging on this one point, which was kind of neat.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by ActionReplay » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:27 pm

Invader_Nym wrote: Now that I think of it, that's sort of one thing our Underdark is missing. NPC drow... ! There's /one/ tiny little area I can think of with npc drow, which is kind of unusual given that when you think underdark you kinda think drow!
There is plenty of NPC drow in the UD. Freth and Claddath are right there in Andunor. If you mean dungeons for hostile drow, which is another thing entirely, it makes sense from the history of Arelith's UD the reasoning of this considering the two major houses are now neutral in Andunor.

I disagree with the that line of thought: Underdark = Drow. To me its all the caves and tunnels and hostile environments with nasty creatures hiding deep below. Underdark is so much more than just Drow and frankly that would get tiring after a while. Though drow are a force the be reckoned with I find them to be pretty boring as a NPC dungeon crawl, you're so used to them by now so fighting a dungeon filled with drow gets stale (Just my opinion on them; same could be said for any UD monster race. Its a matter of taste.). Also having a drow house pop out from nowehere without the Andunor drow noticing seems odd to me I feel they have a pretty good idea on what's going on in their UD. That being said its not like we are closing the door on a drow meance popping up, it's actually a pretty good idea to throw in there as we have pretty much else covered.
Invader_Nym wrote: I really liked the vault too to be honest with you. It was actually totally goofy to have the beholder and mindflayer dens so close to eachother, but it did feel right, and it did lend that underdarky vibe to the place. It was like this singular pinnacle of underdark horrors all converging on this one point, which was kind of neat.
It was totally goofy but felt right? Okay. An Underdark vibe is anything but that. The current concept with Irongron's Lowerdark expansion with its huge tunnel system connecting several dungeons (Including Mind Flayers) and The Depths is a much more suitable approach and gives a better Underdark feeling of that vastness.

The Vault's design was circle grind, that's what it was. Too many dungeons cramped around 1 center area. To say that gives an Underdark vibe I just strongly disagree with. Its really hard to justify Beholders, Illithids and two big Drow houses being next door neighbours with eachother.

It's not like the current Lowerdark is perfect, there is a bunch of things I would like to change there but I'd say its a huge improvement of what it used to be before the Flood. And I understand people might have different ideas of what a dangerous Lowerdark should be and look like but I promise you if we brought back the Vault (I have all the areas) it would be a downgrade.

If there is anything the UD lacks atm that is more areas between the layers; it needs more climbing and exploring options and more connections to other areas. Like what if your character climbs down a steep chasm, where would he end up? And where does that area go from there. Should just be one big scary maze.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Borin Drakkmurl » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:33 pm

ActionReplay wrote:If there is anything the UD lacks atm that is more areas between the layers; it needs more climbing and exploring options and more connections to other areas. Like what if your character climbs down a steep chasm, where would he end up? And where does that area go from there. Should just be one big scary maze.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Cuchilla » Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:55 pm

One of a very few things I miss about the "old" Underdark, was the map at the well to the Vault, with a diary of some surface adventurers. That book should give any surfacer the creeps, it at least did to me when I read it the first time. Luckily, it was saved as an ingame book, I think in Andunor Library, for anyone to read.

But apart from that, I am very much pleased with the present Andunor and maps, and I think that despite the problems there might be (there always will be), it works much better than any other setting we've got. Many of the issues which constantly poisonned the fun before Andunor, are now gone. And the issues we got now, is almost nothing compared to what it was before.

I think that all in all, we should be happy about that.

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-XXX-
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by -XXX- » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:10 pm

Please no more climbing spots! I personally percieve that mechanic as something prohibitive and cancerous without actually adding anything positive in return.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Cortex » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:15 pm

More climbing spots with shortcuts and secrets would be great.
:)

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by -XXX- » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:20 pm

Cortex wrote:More climbing spots with shortcuts and secrets would be great.
Yeah, that's true give nice cookies to the ones who can make the climb, jut don't make climbing mandatory.

Prohibitive passages like the one in the Dark Spires that essentially say "you either have a good climbing stat or a hired muscle with you or you're outta' here" don't feel fun or right IMO.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Ironfoot » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:46 pm

Make secret svirfneblin hideout in the lower underdark, why? The best traders in the underdark should have one. :lol:

But aye, long walks, ropes, illusions, hidden ranger-druid paths only(with their group), diety/faction related secrets.

If staff miss suggestions they can send tasks to "patreon group" and see their feedback on this matter.
But even this so far is great, and I never imagined Underdark turn into something glorious as this is now, so KUDOS!

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Dunshine » Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:23 pm

Just a heads up, there are at least 25 lasso locations out there on the server atm. I'm more then willing to add more when I find time to get to it. But just so you know, you (probably) haven't found them all yet! ;-)

Also, on topic, I never set foot in old Udos, but have been playing the UD for a long time during it's existince, I can only say I've enjoyed it a lot back then. Grond rp and Drow rp. I'll probably never get that immerged in my characters again, simple because of the lack of time. Good times.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Norfildor » Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:43 pm

ActionReplay wrote:
Norfildor wrote:I do really miss the Vault. That place felt very underdarky,


I disagree. The Vault was kind of boring. It had nothing going on for it other than Illithids and Beholders (Who were too close to eachother anyway) and drow. Just from a aesthetical viewpoint the Vault was kind of bland, poorly dressed up and with a portal down there too, taking away that feeling of a scary Underdark environment.

To me at least the Vault felt generic and compared to other areas it did not feel polished enough.
I meant more the upper Vault area in particular... or rather the entire notion of a gateway leading to the horrors below. Collecting the keys for the first time on a fresh character and then ceremonially walking through the Vault added certain pathos to the entire thing. Also, I am strangely fond of the dome area transition tile :)

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Invader_Nym » Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:58 pm

Dunshine wrote:Just a heads up, there are at least 25 lasso locations out there on the server atm. I'm more then willing to add more when I find time to get to it. But just so you know, you (probably) haven't found them all yet! ;-)

Also, on topic, I never set foot in old Udos, but have been playing the UD for a long time during it's existince, I can only say I've enjoyed it a lot back then. Grond rp and Drow rp. I'll probably never get that immerged in my characters again, simple because of the lack of time. Good times.
There's a chasm between Andunor and the area leading into the ruins that I'd looooove to see have a lasso area. I actually noticed that 2 of the lasso areas my epic ranger used to be able to find are gone! I've been observing a decrease in lasso points! Ahh!

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by JediMindTrix » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:18 pm

Last time I was in Old Udos, about a year ago, I was disappointed at how little of the area of interactable. It's an area of server history and I just feel like it should be fleshed out more! I don't recall a single interactable placeable with any kind of purpose

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Invader_Nym » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:28 pm

There is plenty of NPC drow in the UD. Freth and Claddath are right there in Andunor. If you mean dungeons for hostile drow, which is another thing entirely, it makes sense from the history of Arelith's UD the reasoning of this considering the two major houses are now neutral in Andunor.

I disagree with the that line of thought: Underdark = Drow.
It's odd that we encourage the idea that drow are universally renowned for being dangerous and monsterous underdark-dwelling creatures, yet we have more driders in our underdark than drow.

Invader_Nym wrote: I really liked the vault too to be honest with you. It was actually totally goofy to have the beholder and mindflayer dens so close to eachother, but it did feel right, and it did lend that underdarky vibe to the place. It was like this singular pinnacle of underdark horrors all converging on this one point, which was kind of neat.
It was totally goofy but felt right? Okay. An Underdark vibe is anything but that. The current concept with Irongron's Lowerdark expansion with its huge tunnel system connecting several dungeons (Including Mind Flayers) and The Depths is a much more suitable approach and gives a better Underdark feeling of that vastness.
The vault had atmosphere, is what it had. That's what felt right about it. There's no point in making everything as IC as possible if we sacrifice atmosphere in the process. In my mind the old Underdark had more atmosphere.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by LichBait » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:54 pm

The new lowerdark is pretty boss, and has the extremely dangerous underdark feel. There are a couple of areas that are a bit too wide open, but it has the eerie quality.. and the passing dangers make it far superior to the old vault in my opinion.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Borin Drakkmurl » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:28 am

I think a lot of the issue with "wide open" areas in the UD is not really something we can pin on the Dev Team, but should rather atribute to the way isometric graphis are handled in Nwn, specialy interior ones.

We have no real sense of vertical depth or height of the areas we're in,while in the UD. We can not see the cave ceiling, so it is hard to tell that we're in actual tunnels and cavernous systems and our brains just treat it as if it was black sky. Featurles and empty and without borders.

So, we end up imagining a lot of it like this:

Image

Image

When really, most of it, if we saw the stalactie-covered ceilings, would look like this:

Image

Image

Image
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Invader_Nym » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:36 am

Oh my god, I feel claustrophobic just looking at that last image.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Sab1 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:43 am

I would like to see a drow dungeon. I liked the vault but it basicly became the epic farming area to make a fortune, just run from one drow house to the other.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Astral » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:12 am

I liked the lore behind the Vault and I liked the way you need to go to get there. Two drow houses constantly fighting one another, each of them holds a key to the Vault (where the most dangerous of the drow are found). The Vault itself was indeed boring in my opinion as well but I do miss the theme around these two drow houses. One of them is actually now an NPC drow house inside Andunor
so I guess the other drow house came to extinct? .... Good times.
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Lorkas » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:31 am

Both houses are in Andunor--one in Sharps, one in DT.

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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Astral » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:37 am

Lorkas wrote:Both houses are in Andunor--one in Sharps, one in DT.
Now they live in harmony... that's just disappointing.
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