Netheril: Age of Magic

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Irongron
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Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Irongron » Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:25 pm

Following on from our promotion of other NWN servers, the next one we're promoting is 'Netheril - Age of Magic'.

Taking Ravenloft's example they're running a 'Start a New Character Week' and I think are well deserving of some attention from the larger community, after all the health of NWN.

Please take time to give this a read, and consider if maybe you'd like to try them out.

https://netheril.net/forums/index.php?topic=3160.0

Personally I think what may appeal most to our players is the fact that, while not an 'adult/cyber' server, they're also not a PG13 environment, meaning that players can feel more comfortable conducting RP that would breach the rules of Arelith.

Arelith, of course, is wonderful, but I am aware that since the launch of EE we've taken on a lot of players who may not be fully aware of what else is offered by the NWN server community, and given the size of our own community at Arelith we're in a unique position to help them spread the word.

Orian_666
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Orian_666 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 9:01 pm

I checked the server out on launch, will likely give it a go again.
The areas are quite large which is something i'm not a fan of unless they're heavily cluttered and well designed, but over all they're actually not that bad.
The city you spawn in for example is really nicely done.
The custom content is great, sooo many clothing options and designs to choose from.
But my favorite part are the spells!! I only got to play with a few of the servers HaK added spells but they're soo much fun and really add to the flavor of playing a mage, it's something i'm most excited about possibly coming to Arelith in the future =D

ASuicideMissionForSure
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by ASuicideMissionForSure » Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:18 pm

Could be better if the level cap wasn't limited by DMs handing EXP manually.

Xerah
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Xerah » Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:00 am

I consider that a strong point of the PW.

It’s a bit odd that no classes have any balance changes and PrCs are very limited.
Katernin Bersk, Chancellor of Divination; Kerri Amblecrown, Paladin of Milil; Xull'kacha Auvry'rae, Redcap Fey-pacted; Sadia yr Thuravya el Bhirax, Priestess of Umberlee; Lissa Whitehorn, Archmage of Artifice

Halibutthead
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Halibutthead » Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:08 am

ASuicideMissionForSure wrote:
Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:18 pm
Could be better if the level cap wasn't limited by DMs handing EXP manually.
is that true?

i'll be treating that server like it's radioactive, then...

Xerah
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Xerah » Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:32 am

Soft cap of 15. Hard cap of 20. Kind of blowing it out of proportion. I would assume that the pw is balanced around that too.
Katernin Bersk, Chancellor of Divination; Kerri Amblecrown, Paladin of Milil; Xull'kacha Auvry'rae, Redcap Fey-pacted; Sadia yr Thuravya el Bhirax, Priestess of Umberlee; Lissa Whitehorn, Archmage of Artifice

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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Ebonstar » Tue Jan 22, 2019 1:04 am

This server is run by friends of mine from back in the day split off of City of Arabel. also related to the EfU server who split from Arabel as well.

These two came to be because Arabel is very heavy handed by the DM team and saying hardcore is not even close. Born from not liking the xp siphons set in place capping at what used to be level 12 for Arabel and full inventory drops in death,( yes you die you lose everyhint unless your bag is guarded from a clean script or looters)
Nethril has a looser set of reins and is nicely done for those who want the play in the past with Netheril being at its heyday

I helped beta test it and was well put together then and im sure EE has given them more toys to make it even better. Just not my cup of tea, but love people to check them out
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Ebonstar » Tue Jan 22, 2019 1:10 am

Xerah wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:00 am
I consider that a strong point of the PW.

It’s a bit odd that no classes have any balance changes and PrCs are very limited.
not surprised, as they use apps for approval of special races and class
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by SteelsSweets » Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:54 pm

I love the server and its creators.

Do keep in mind that the death penalty is xp loss vs stat drain. It is a bit more hardcore than Arelith in that regard.

One needs to play smart and careful there.
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Babylon System is the Vampire
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Babylon System is the Vampire » Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:40 pm

I have never logged in to nethril rising, but I know the people who put it together pretty well. They are good people, and knowing them its probably a cross between the hardcore of old coa and efu and the more relaxed feel of Arelith. Definitely worth a shot. And if any of you weirdos are reading this thread to see how Arelith is pumping up your server, the Captain says hello from the Fantastic.

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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Tarkus the dog » Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:13 pm

I've been playing there for a few days and here's a review for those who want to take a look for themselves. I've only reached level 4 so far so this is more of an initial feel of the server rather than the complete summary ( erm, obviously ), but it should give you a good idea if it's your piece of cake or not. Important things to note: 1. I'm anti-social as hell so I left out the part about the community itself. 2. No time collecting information was put into me typing this down ( as one should before writing anything remotely close to a review ), so if I type something that is inaccurate feel free to call me lazy and also an idiot. I'm also a Serb so expect grammar mistakes. Alright, so:

The server drops you in a character creation area with a few NPCs that tell you what the server is all about, the setting, the rules etc. This is your time to learn about the setting, buy your armor and weapons if you need them and get to know the tailoring/character tools that work for the most part ( I ran into an issue where I was unable to color individual body parts, but a team member responded quickly ). Once you're done and ready to go, the portal takes you to the town of Hadrian.

Now this is where those 8Gbs of hak you just downloaded start to kick in ( everything is done with NWNSync, you are given the option to download everything needed when joining the server ). The loading time for Hadrian is 20ish seconds on the PC I got two days ago, and double that on the PC I've been using for the last 8 years. This means that every time you enter a general store to buy some healing kits or sell stuff, once you exit you need to wait another 15-35 seconds for everything to load again. If this isn't an issue for you, then you can strike out most of the cons I've encountered off of the list right away. If it is, however, I really don't recommend the place. Somehow I managed to find another place which takes, miraculously, even more time to load than Hadrian ( there's a city with four districts, the one you use to access it loads forever ). I got pretty bummed by this because I was enjoying the server so far, and I learned not to mind those 20ish seconds that I need to wait every time I exit the inn in Hadrian( the server has an unique resting system, you need to find a place to sleep and you can rest every 6 hours. One of the options is staying at the inn ).

Wait, what's that? Your friends from NASA let you borrow one of their computers for science reasons, or you just happen not to mind the loading times? Well, that's great, because the server seems pretty fun. It's filled with haks and a lot of work was put into making everything look pretty well. Which is great, I guess, I don't mind things looking abysmal since, otherwise, I wouldn't be playing an almost two decade year old video game in the first place. Hadrian has an aesthetic look of your average late medieval town. There's the poor, there's the rich and there are the few who are managing to find a place in between. On top of that there's also magic ( probably brought over by the city casually flying nearby, admittedly I'm not really sure, I haven't spent enough time reading the lore ). There are magical flying lanterns illuminating the streets at night, flying ships which can take you elsewhere for a price ( there's no way this isn't a gnome's design), there's a magic store and also there's a really-not-Gandalf guy who's looking for nearby adventurers to help him clear out a tower that's filled with malfunction magic chairs and tables. That's how most of the leveling ( I think ) works on the server, by doing little ( or larger ) tasks for NPCs scattered around the server ( their names are in purple so that you can recognize them easily ). Examining them lets you know if it's for your level or not. You can also do it with other people, in a way where only one person in the party needs to talk to the NPC and you're good to go. The quests are fun, and some of them are more than beat-up X and return to me for gp and xp ( most of them are, though ). Some guy asked my character to deliver a not-shady-package to a totally-legitimate-inn casually chilling in a nearby swamp. I didn't read a single thing he said, I took the thing and went in pursuit of the supposed inn in the swamps, only to run into something that looks like a murder house from a Friday the 13th movie. I knocked on the door and some guy asked for a password. Wait, what? There's a password? I didn't realize I was supposed to know a password. I ran back to the guy who gave me the package, informing him that I couldn't find the inn in hope of being given the chance to re-take the task and read which lovely password he told me to use in the first place. He then promptly called me useless and unable and said something about my mother, probably. Which was fine by me, because I was about to take his quest again. But then I couldn't. He dragged my dog into the conversation as well, which wasn't very nice of him. Anyway long story short, I failed the quest. And I got kind of mad at first, but then I realized that it's my fault for not paying attention. There's also a chance that the murder house is not the 'inn' that I was supposed to find. But hey, whatever. Point being: You can fail certain quests, so pay attention and be mindful of what you agree to do. There are some quests that are bugged but the team is working on them ( more accurately, that you can bug. But some are just, bugged. I've encountered two in total if I'm to be less vague ). Dying is also a thing. It's an xp loss on death, ( there's a similar system to Arelith's where your toon dies after ticking down to -10hp, with a small chance to restabilize on each tick ) I'm not sure how large is the loss, but it starts once you ( or after, I'm not sure ) hit level 4. Before that you don't get penalized for dying, you just are made fun of for dying to bees and rats.

That's my experience so far and I felt the need to share it here for the few of you who might be interested in checking the place out. I haven't talked about 'mechanics' or whatever because it's too early to tell, but my cleric had no issue succeeding in the tasks so far. Because this post turned out to be larger than I expected, here's a:

TL:DR. Starting town has a huge loading time, and that's probably the only thing that's been keeping me from playing more so far. If you can stomach that then I definitely recommend to at least check it out for yourself.

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Irongron
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Re: Netheril: Age of Magic

Post by Irongron » Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:41 pm

Thanks Tarkus, I'm sure our players will find that helpful.

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