Arelith impressions.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by MalKalz » Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:26 pm

Taerl wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:23 pm
On the point of rpr, maybe for dm's when the are logged in, each character has a different color hue to them according to rpr setting. Kinda like how it used to be for alignment when we're in the fugue. But just dms see it instead. New phone players or folks with zero rpr have no colored hue. Easy to spot who needs to be watched and all.
Hi Taerl,

DMs when in the client can see the difference in RPR based on colour as each are given a unique coding. As well, when joining, it does a listing of active players and their RPR.

We will continue to encourage them to monitor all players and promote RPR when they can! Thanks for the feedback.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Taerl » Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:59 pm

ah ok, had no idea how you guys had it set up. Right on then, thanks for the response wasn't expecting one,lol.

ps- perfectly happy with my 20 rpr. don't do anything to get any higher so..... yea,lol.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by ReverentBlade » Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:01 am

My problem with Arelith is the lack of overarching story. Amia died the moment the main plot stopped, and I've seen several other servers fall to the same fate. I've been away from the server for over a year (health issues), and coming back it feels like absolutely nothing has changed. No plot hooks or story to grab onto and generate motivation or growth for my character. Any time I ask a PC about what's going I I get a shrug and a "nothin' much". The same cycles of domestic RP or power changes in a static framework just don't generate enough interest for me. It feels like the only thing that changes is the names on the houses and shops.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Vrass » Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:18 am

This i agree with. I know Arelith prefers to focus solely on faction and player rp and conflict but having some kind of important plot that affects everyone and the whole server now and then and more open events tied to it would definitely make the server even more fun then it already is. Even better if this plot is designed to last a whole year as they do on my old server. Faction warfare is nice and all but having an actual story every year to go through and try to solve would draw a lot of additional people and generate tons of rp.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Aodh Lazuli » Thu Apr 18, 2019 5:38 am

Vrass wrote:
Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:18 am
an actual story every year to go through and try to solve
I'm not convinced a story is something one 'solves'.

Additionally, at any given time there are a number of ongoing dm-run events, plots, etc...
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by ReverentBlade » Thu Apr 18, 2019 5:42 am

Last time I was involved in a singular DM plot, the DM "took a break" and the plot was never resolved. Singular events in no way replace the vital functionality a world's overarching narrative serves in D&D to get players and characters invested and engaged. Stories need conflict, consequence, and and PCs need the ability to enact change on the world for it to feel alive. One-offs rarely do this.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Ebonstar » Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:39 am

satan wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 9:05 pm
Archnon wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2019 7:17 pm
This is a really awesome thread and I really like all the ideas kicked around. I too am a new player (couple of months) and a few of things that I have struggled with are:

Finding communities that play at specific times. I started in Brog as a svirf only to come to realize that PST does not line up with almost anyone in brog. You have to figure out how to RP without in person interactions which can get difficult. I also realized that a number of pirates do play at that time, so I have been trying to integrate with them on another toon. But that took time to figure out. Trying to find a community at your specific play time can be difficult.

The other issue I had was builds. I mean, there are a few specific build tricks that everyone takes (UMD dump comes to mind) that as a new player, i had no idea. I have made and deleted a lot of low level characters because once I got going, i realized the mechanics were trash. My first start was a pure monk, which in nwn vanilla single player is a seriously wrecking build. PVP though, it is trash. That is the truth of a lot of the build styles. What works on the private game vs the server is totally different. That took a lot of time with me combing these forums to figure stuff out and frankly my builds are still trash. A basics of pvp building or a how is this different might be interesting.

Finally, I honestly think the RPR thing is a bit of a joke at this point. I thought the key was to add to the community, so I made my apartment in the Grotto public, turned it into a real library, added art works around the area, talked to everyone I saw and nothing. It made me realize that it is sort of like the old comedy show "Who's Line Is It Anyway". The points don't really matter. It sucks if you want to build an assassin, but otherwise, the DM's are just too busy, especially given the current faction conflicts that are driving the server currently. (I think the assassin thing should honestly work just like the harper thing, just know that you are committed character is enough) As far as the recommendation system, I think people just assume that everyone has 20 RPR or more. I told a fellow player that I RP with consistently that I had 10 RPR the other day and he was shocked. He had never thought to recommend me for more because he assumed I was already up.
Hah, ya. Since my original post, my quest to become an assassin has died. Joke doesn't even begin to cover it.

Some of the DMs here are downright unfriendly to be honest. Ive had several interactions with different DMs now, and all of them have been negative experiences.

I get that most of them have been at it for years, and it's a thankless and unpaid job, but it's pretty obvious if you aren't part of a chosen group you are either an annoyance or might as well not exist. It's not a good look if you are trying to keep and hold new players.

Good thing the game and community are excellent.
I have played here for years and played an assassin in the past, however my current attempt after hindsight would not have been viable on the making the hunts fun aspect for the victim. So its not an easy path to take for anyone.

I have played with and dealt with players who have become DM's here, both as players and DMs. The entire reason the team is rotated every six months is to keep fresh eyes and limiting burnout and the just been doing this for years grind.

Sorry that you consider your experience negative, but you are totally wrong if you have to be a part of a chosen group to do anything.

a perfect analogy is how you would treat a police officer in the real world. If you treat them with respect due to their job, you get the same respect in return. Act like an asshat, be treated like one.

Our DM team in its many lineups are the best in the community and they often get the worst end of the stick. Perhaps you see everything as negative because they simply had to tell you no.

well getting told no happens, and its nothing personal. this is the big sandbox we play in, and they are tasked to keep it inside the boundaries given to them, and act upon them for free.

maybe try viewing things from an opposite perspective, and see it in their viewpoint.

Such will usually broaden the aspect and make you realize why you were given the initial decision, and then you can grow and just find another way that helps everyone to achieve their goals and you own.
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Vrass » Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:54 am

Not sure what you mean by singular. There would still be other plots and stories going on but there would also be some major issue each year that would need to be solved and would take a full year to do. Such a plot would not be just one dm, any dm who wishes could help move it along. As for dm plots and stuff already happening i have yet to see much of it, most events that come up are either not announced or are faction based and thus i either cant participate or dont find out there is an event until the event is over. The few events i have been in have been awesome which i why i would love to see many more at any one time and have at least a quarter of those announced so everyone who wishes can join instead of hearing about the great story going on but not having a chance to influence it.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Face » Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:58 am

In terms of announcing events...

It is often the case that as soon as it becomes clear that there's an event going on, a load of level 30 characters will come sprinting there at full speed to try and get involved. Can't blame them, events are very fun. But it does mean that multiple characters start shouting over each other and trying to get the spotlight, and charging through the event. The loudest voices tend to win out. It becomes less of a story and more of a moving riot.

I think it's good that events aren't announced because it keeps it possible for events to be small scale. I've been on events where, as they grow, you end up with half the characters there having no clue or interest what the storyline is beyond 'how can I make this about my character?'

The DMs actually recently tried an Arelith-wide event that still kept it small scale, with the Elementals and the Heartstone stuff. All the settlements were asked to provide a champion. So all the settlements were involved (kind of, tangentially) but the actual events were small-scale. And the original characters who were most involved in the storyline, the Grove people (?) still got to keep centre stage.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Zan » Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:41 am

Hey folks,

So been playing on Arelith now for probably a month or so, long time vet of NWN but took a break of 10 years, so was really excited to come back and see a thriving server after all this time.

First off, I love the depth of Arelith, its probably obvious after building a server for 10+ years, but its the little things that make the difference (i.e. Dreaming Tree, 'nuff said).

The player base can be a little frosty to begin with, but after a week or so and them realising you're not just some random new player that will disappear after a few days folks opened up, and now I've got a really solid group that I regularly RP with.

The one thing that I think would be an enormous quality of life for a new player though would be 1 Respecc for a char.

I trawled the wiki for ages and thought I understood enough to make a fair crack of it, but as a brand new player damned I was wrong. Not huge mistakes but little things that are really making me wish I had made my first character a trash char just to get used to things. Crafting system for example is fantastic, but really unforgiving if you don't know what you are doing, and there is only so much reading and theory that can be done before you need to actually start practicing it yourself.

But yeah, that would be a quality of life thing from a brand new players perspective, 1 char respecc for us new folks who take a few weeks to settle in then realise, wish I hadn't done XYZ.

See you all in game!

Zan, aka Rháel Silverwind
Current Char: Khael'dar

"Understanding is a Three-Edged Sword"

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by D4wN » Sat Apr 20, 2019 1:01 am

I'm the same as Zan. I absolutely love Arelith and it has drawn me back into NWN after 10 years. I have only ever had 2 player characters in my entire long NWN career because I DM'd for years. So getting back into things after so long and with no idea on how to build a viable character as well as the lack of information on what does a viable build looks like, the respecc thing would be an amazing quality of life thing. Not to take advantage of things of course, but if you're really bought into a character and there a few mistakes you made with ability points, feats etc. it can really impact your enjoyment of the game and your character. I will never be one to totally optimise a character as I love being flawed a bit too much, but there were just some decisions I made when picking abilities and feats I wish I could undo now that my story is also developed a bit more. I scoured the forums and wiki for viable build ideas when I started, but there weren't any around. So yeah, I'm with Zan.. one grace respecc for newbies would be great.

Other than that I love some of the ideas that are coming out here. Having a buddy system, or an automated build guide or stuff like that makes all the difference. And even if there are big class changes being introduced for higher players maybe even allowing them to respecc (maybe get them to pay MUCHO gold for it or something). At the end of the day, we're all trying to have fun and the thing that brings most enjoyment is the characters you play. One tiny mistake can take away a lot of the enjoyment.

In addition, I think it's especially difficult for Aussie players. There doesn't seem to be that many of us around, so trying to find events or groups of people to RP with can be challenging. I've been playing for a few weeks now and still find myself often very lonely. And obviously I decided to play a not-so-normal character so finding help to get me into Arelith and into being a halfling druid has been incredibly challenging.

Anyways.. you guys have done AN AMAZING job on Arelith. Hoping for many more years of fun together

D4wN, aka Ember the Delightful (or Little Candle)

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Vrass » Sun Apr 21, 2019 7:46 am

I still maintain the server could use more major stories and over-arching plots. I mean i read the stories in the Arelith encyclopedia or whatever it is called. it mentioned all kinds of major stuff happening in previous years... everything from Auril plunging the entire server into an ice age, plagues, devils invading, destruction of major settlements, and a whole ton of other stuff. So far i have yet to see anything like that happening now. There is no real server story just inter-faction warfare and while that is fun we could use a return to the good old days imo.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Revelations » Sun Apr 21, 2019 11:14 am

Vrass wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 7:46 am
I still maintain the server could use more major stories and over-arching plots. I mean i read the stories in the Arelith encyclopedia or whatever it is called. it mentioned all kinds of major stuff happening in previous years... everything from Auril plunging the entire server into an ice age, plagues, devils invading, destruction of major settlements, and a whole ton of other stuff. So far i have yet to see anything like that happening now. There is no real server story just inter-faction warfare and while that is fun we could use a return to the good old days imo.
There have always been serverwide plots going on. They're happening right now. There has never been any singular "server story".

You have to get involved with people to know what's all going on. You'll find that it's often the same people and factions taking ownership and driving things forward.

Really public, macroscopic plots have (thankfully imo) never happened all too frequently. A good, recent example that's already finalised is the theft of the Heartstone, and the subsequent threatening collapse of the isle's ecosystem. But even that didn't involve the entire playerbase.

One of the reasons why Arelith is so successful at what it does is that it lets players take ownership. Players do something, DMs might pick it up. DMs drop a hint at a potential plot, players pick it up and drive things forward without them.
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by DM Atropos » Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:01 pm

Revelations wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 11:14 am
Vrass wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 7:46 am
I still maintain the server could use more major stories and over-arching plots. I mean i read the stories in the Arelith encyclopedia or whatever it is called. it mentioned all kinds of major stuff happening in previous years... everything from Auril plunging the entire server into an ice age, plagues, devils invading, destruction of major settlements, and a whole ton of other stuff. So far i have yet to see anything like that happening now. There is no real server story just inter-faction warfare and while that is fun we could use a return to the good old days imo.
There have always been serverwide plots going on. They're happening right now. There has never been any singular "server story".

You have to get involved with people to know what's all going on. You'll find that it's often the same people and factions taking ownership and driving things forward.

Really public, macroscopic plots have (thankfully imo) never happened all too frequently. A good, recent example that's already finalised is the theft of the Heartstone, and the subsequent threatening collapse of the isle's ecosystem. But even that didn't involve the entire playerbase.

One of the reasons why Arelith is so successful at what it does is that it lets players take ownership. Players do something, DMs might pick it up. DMs drop a hint at a potential plot, players pick it up and drive things forward without them.

I have played here, playerside, for 10+ years, and Revelations is quite correct. In the last year we have had *multiple* large plots, but it is our way to let the players drive the overall narrative. Will Cordor be taken over by Cyricists and turned into a lawless wasteland? Will Guldorand birth a new Triadic Knight order? Will Burrowhome accidentally summon a demon lord? Who knows! Maybe! But that's something we want the players to decide. But there are always ongoing plots. Just look, and listen. You'll find them. Or maybe they'll find you.
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by ReverentBlade » Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:05 pm

My issue is that Cyricists taking over Cordor and turning it into a lawless wasteland doesn't -mean- anything. PCs avoid it for a while because the RP's annoying. Come next election cycle, People filter back and its as though it never happened. Cordor continues on in exactly the same form it was in beforehand.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Marsi » Sun Apr 21, 2019 11:40 pm

ReverentBlade wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:05 pm
My issue is that Cyricists taking over Cordor and turning it into a lawless wasteland doesn't -mean- anything. PCs avoid it for a while because the RP's annoying. Come next election cycle, People filter back and its as though it never happened. Cordor continues on in exactly the same form it was in beforehand.
If you just avoid any dynamic player RP because it's "annoying", yeah, it's not going to mean anything to you. But the world of Arelith is now what the last PC generation made it to be. Even the most ahistorical player who participates in large scale RP is uniquely influenced by their predecessors in some small way even if they don't choose to consciously acknowledge it. Wharftown is no longer a settlement because of the actions of players, but there are smaller and less momentous examples everywhere, everything from department names, to mannerisms and peculiarities, to government sign-offs -- the origins of these are forgot, but at some point, somewhere, some player created them. It's amazing, and there's no other online space I've managed to find quite like it (not with graphics or decent pop, anyhow). If you want big, explosive, rail-roaded DM plots, you've come to what is quite possibly the only place anywhere that doesn't cater to that style of play.

It's funny that you think NPC-driven narratives carry more meaning, because I think the exact opposite. It's jarring to follow the historical record and see the player goings-on interrupted by End of the World Mk 180, only for things to resume their original course a week later. All over the server are scattered debris from this or that event that hasn't meant anything to anyone since the passing of those characters most intimately involved. This isn't to say that I think there shouldn't DM events, rather that I think they're more powerful when amplifying the choices of players rather than creating fiat conflicts. The fall of Benwick, while DM-supported, was highly player-driven in nature, and the story of how it happened continues to be told today. It has taken on a mythological character -- an apocalyptic Fall of Gondolin wrought in the vice and corruption of its people -- in a way that the other End of the Worlds have not, and cannot. It's absolutely surreal to hear characters recount the events you participated and see how time has twisted them! The destruction of Wharftown, for example, remains highly controversial and in a way I don't think it would were it determined by NPCs. We don't have to look to these big examples to prove the wonders of player driven RP; you mention Cordor as unchanging, and yet it is entirely different in structure and culture to the Cordor of three years ago. That's all cause and effect amongst players.

What's important is that if you want things to *matter*, then you need to start letting them matter. If you want the actions of your PC to be acknowledged by your successors, start by acknowledging that of your predecessors. Even if you know old fluff is just old fluff, if you subconsciously value player works as less real than DM works, you ensure nothing you do will matter either. Stop using your meta-knowledge of what is and isn't DM-certified in determining your source of truth, you'll only bore yourself and devalue your own RP. It's a cycle that can end with you.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by ReverentBlade » Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:21 am

Railroaded, repetitive, or events that aren't player-centric is bad DMing, and has nothing to do with my point. Assume I'm talking about competent GMcraft. A good narrative (and who says they have to be apocalyptic) is irreplaceable for driving character development in a way that the usual election bickering and bulletin-board shitposting never will.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Ork » Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:00 am

I agree with Marsi. Arelith has survived on player-driven roleplay since as far back as I recall. DM plots flavor our world, but it is the players that make those plots meaningful and provide them longevity well after the event is over. If you're looking for a DM-run event, there's plenty of roll20 and other online D&D sources to accommodate you. This PW is fueled by players.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Ebonstar » Mon Apr 22, 2019 4:41 am

D4wN wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 1:01 am
I'm the same as Zan. I absolutely love Arelith and it has drawn me back into NWN after 10 years. I have only ever had 2 player characters in my entire long NWN career because I DM'd for years. So getting back into things after so long and with no idea on how to build a viable character as well as the lack of information on what does a viable build looks like, the respecc thing would be an amazing quality of life thing. Not to take advantage of things of course, but if you're really bought into a character and there a few mistakes you made with ability points, feats etc. it can really impact your enjoyment of the game and your character. I will never be one to totally optimise a character as I love being flawed a bit too much, but there were just some decisions I made when picking abilities and feats I wish I could undo now that my story is also developed a bit more. I scoured the forums and wiki for viable build ideas when I started, but there weren't any around. So yeah, I'm with Zan.. one grace respecc for newbies would be great.

Other than that I love some of the ideas that are coming out here. Having a buddy system, or an automated build guide or stuff like that makes all the difference. And even if there are big class changes being introduced for higher players maybe even allowing them to respecc (maybe get them to pay MUCHO gold for it or something). At the end of the day, we're all trying to have fun and the thing that brings most enjoyment is the characters you play. One tiny mistake can take away a lot of the enjoyment.

In addition, I think it's especially difficult for Aussie players. There doesn't seem to be that many of us around, so trying to find events or groups of people to RP with can be challenging. I've been playing for a few weeks now and still find myself often very lonely. And obviously I decided to play a not-so-normal character so finding help to get me into Arelith and into being a halfling druid has been incredibly challenging.

Anyways.. you guys have done AN AMAZING job on Arelith. Hoping for many more years of fun together

D4wN, aka Ember the Delightful (or Little Candle)
come to bendir the current mayor is a hin druid
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Aodh Lazuli » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:33 am

ReverentBlade wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:21 am
Railroaded, repetitive, or events that aren't player-centric is bad DMing, and has nothing to do with my point. Assume I'm talking about competent GMcraft. A good narrative (and who says they have to be apocalyptic) is irreplaceable for driving character development in a way that the usual election bickering and bulletin-board shitposting never will.
And much as you are saying bad DMing has nothing to do with your point, Marsi and Co. seem to be saying that you are underestimating the importance and impact of player choice, and that you should look to what already exists for your overarching metaplot... Because it is not all bickering and shitposting on messageboards, but contains far more than that when the players engage on a deeper level. And that engagement is on us, not the DMs.
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Nobs » Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:02 pm

I would like to see DM's do little stuff more to make the world feel more alive.
Like play a begger in the streets for 5 min , just little stuff

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Preytoria » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:17 pm

There's a lot to say! First off, Arelith is awesome. It has the friendliest community I've seen in any game ever, and NWN is, in my opinion, is a solid skeleton. That being said, it's definitely a tough sell for new players. I feel that Arelith is uniquely tailored to specific kinds of players -- but perhaps that's what makes it as good as it is now. Potential new players -must- have patience. 3.5 D&D is complicated if you've never experienced it. The NWN ruleset is complicated EVEN IF you've played with it before. Now add the layer Arelith brings with its unique systems and rules changes.

It's not enough to just look at the Neverwinter Nights wiki and pray the article you read makes sense to you. You also have to contrast it with the changes in the Arelith wiki. This is a lot of work to have fun, isn't it? But there's the snag: I can safely say I don't think any of us want the complexities taken away. Most of the server, from what I gather, is full of vets who have been playing for multiple years. I imagine it is quite rewarding for them.

I thought I had a pretty good handle on NWN in general, and even I've run into plenty of snags. It's inevitable. I'm sharing a server with people who have been chewing on this game for years. It's great, but it takes patience! There's just so many small things that you pick up over time. For me it would be things like how APR is factored, the importance of wands, how status effects interact with different immunities, the entire crafting system -- it just goes on and on. There's a certain pleasure in that, sure. It can be fun to learn -- but it is incredibly frustrating to not know at times or to look back and realize you've been making a huge mistake for multiple hours. There isn't a perfect net that is going to catch all these problems I and others have ran into -- there never will be. Resources such as the Discord go a long way, but even then you are more or less at the patience of other players. I've asked plenty of questions that went unanswered. I'm not complaining. I'm essentially asking someone else to give me their time of day to answers questions.

Personally I think a video series made by serious veterans would be the best tool. It may sound a little much, but Arelith/NWN is a game you have to roll with and stumble around clumsily for a bit. To other new players, I recommend using all the resources we have available to us. Find someone willing to be patient with all our dumb questions. One-on-One or small-knit discords/communities work best in this regard. It's kind of easy to get lost in how massive the Arelith general discord is. Also, it would be nice to see some of the 'cookie-cutter' builds that are pointed to cleaned up a bit. Where the heck do I put my skill points? Why did I not take spellcraft!?

I haven't had an issue with RPR. I was raised to 20 pretty quickly, and I didn't know -anyone-. However, I also played a lot when I first joined compared to now. DMs, too, have been pretty fair with me. I have, admittedly, been told 'tough luck' more or less, but that's just how it goes. It wouldn't be Neverwinter Nights if there weren't regrets in regards to chargen.

Also there's like infinite lore. Great if you're into that stuff. I find it fun, but I don't know jack about D&D lore. I also knew that and thus play a fighter/rogue. But I can imagine it being a big stumbling block for people who -want- to play a Paladin or a Cleric. We're asking for a lot from our new players. You should totally toss them a bone and offer a one-time respec. I doubt any veterans would cry foul if it meant having more people to play with. And it's not like it's a free ride: they're putting in a lot of work. Meet them half way.

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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Flashish » Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:43 pm

I think the level of DM involvement is fine and I disagree with the idea that everything should be player driven. Setting up a temporary BBEG or having enemies seige Brog doesn't hurt the player created stories at all and might lead to interesting situations where old hatreds must be set aside to achieve... whatever it is we're achieving here.

It's also important that the DMs are having fun as well and likely that means being somewhat active, plus a lot of the player created content is inherently political in nature. I'm not sure when or why it would be appropriate for them to get involved in the medieval politics simulator side of the game, but spawning enemies, creating one off quests, RPing ordinarily static NPCs, and adding some tasteful randomness to a mostly predictable world seems like it's a good portion of their job description. And probably the fun part. I had Axis unlock a bugged gate once and he or she was happy to do so, but I can't imagine that person took on the role exclusively to provide tech support. Plus the player created plots often affect a relatively small portion of the player base and usually, but not always, the epic level and deeply entrenched ones. And that makes it hard for some random person with two jobs, three kids, and four more important things they probably should be doing to become part of the server wide story.

What I'm saying is that spawning an ancient red dragon in downtown Cordor for no good reason shouldn't happen often, but it shouldn't happen never either.

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Disciprine Come From Within
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Disciprine Come From Within » Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:56 pm

Maybe my own personal tastes have changed in the years since I started playing, but the only aspect of current Arelith culture I don't like is the hoarding of quarters, shops, and factions. It's been a problem since the start really but something I don't really have much of an answer for.

PvP roleplay interactions from my observation have also taken a dive in general. I used to never see people ICly mention attempts to get someone to stop playing their character by murder over and over again and I get the vibe sometimes that the conflict goes that way because you don't have collaborative storytelling with competitive battles, but instead have two sides (or more) that OOCly don't like want another and just want the other to go away. It's a bit sad since I enjoy conflict but I do want to see it go somewhere. Stagnant conflict or conflict that is unrecognized, or has the smell of OOC hate is something I don't want a part of.

I'm not sure what the solution to either of those problems are. Interaction between players could always do with a little more positive direction OOCly towards fun collaborative conflicts, but I know people don't like to "lose" even if it can be fun and productive for the environment of storytelling. In a world where characters level up to 30 even faster than ever, it's a surprise that the issues seem to be just as strong as when characters struggled to reach level 20.

I probably have my most fun playing characters that either test mechanics now while seeing everything the server has to offer, or playing something very fluid that can also be molded by the interactions around what I'm playing. Keep things simple but let the world change the character rather than have the character remain static for all time.

Chair
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Re: Arelith impressions.

Post by Chair » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:51 pm

Well, that's what is kinda supported by our current state. There is no real avenue of change for the majority of areas. If a faction wants to displace a well entrenched Clique from a town and set up their own agenda, there really isn't a method of doing so. As with settlement elections, you wont beat out the amount of alts or players that don't normally play that only log on to vote for their preferred group. Which leaves the faction with a problem, they can't get into power through the election system and if they cannot get into power with the election system there is no other method of getting into power. Assassination is toothless as an option without significant preparation to the point its basically meta-game due to the notification systems encouraging the player to never put themselves into a position where it might be a problem. Despite this, it still leads directly back into the first problem even if the Assassination is successful. Furthermore, the last option was removed entirely, which despite all the problems the War system had it at least allowed an avenue of change that was placed solely in the hands of players who put forth the effort to commit to it.

So what does that leave us, slowly gathering super-masses of RP cliques that entrench themselves into their individual little RP circles that have little to no reason to even attempt to go outside their territory for anything besides mindless grinding. There is no incentive to even attempt to go out and interact with the other RP circles as there will never be anything that will be able to come of it. Lets say that the two circles actually agree and slowly team up, whats next, they cannot go and work toward their desires against others as their power will only ever be applied to their small territories, and they have no method of expanding that territory if the RP circle their up against decides to say screw that. Which only leaves mindless PvP attacks and counterattacks that in the long run actually provide nothing but simple satisfaction to the side who is more experienced with PvP. Leading to the current mentality, as there is no method of providing a mechanical 'end' to conflict. The only method left is to cause problems and PvP each other until eventually one side is so fed up with it that they quit the characters in question.

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