We're approaching four weeks into Open Beta and there are a number of impressions I've gotten of ways that Lusternia both succeeds wonderfully and has room for improvement. I've spoken with a number of people to try to get a general consensus of opinion on some of these things, but I think it'd be constructive to hear from as many people as possible, particularly so that those of the Divine can hear everyone's feelings on how things are working out so far.

First off, what was at first a very large thorn in my side, the Avenger system seems to be getting better as more of the initial bugs are processed and abuses are straightened out. Some things still need to be changed to better accomodate both group combat and RP verifiable kills, but it is well on its way. I'm not sure on specific suggestions on ways to help the group combat situation, but as far as helping RP kills, we could go a long way towards this by making it so that those who enter enemy villages do not have the Avenger protection for several minutes after they leave the village. Also, whenever there are large events planned out by the Divine, such as things involving the Emperor's ship and the conflict between the sea wolves and dolphins, there needs to be some protection built in to allow people to act to effectively protect their causes without fear of the Avenger. Finally, I think it would be prudent to give some sort of warning before an Avenger appears. Far too many times I've arrived in the realm to find three or four Avatars instantly upon me. Alternatively, it could be made so that the Avatar has to be called when the individual is in the realm. Then at least they aren't entirely defenseless when the Avatar shows up. They'll likely die anyways, but I at least would like something of a fighting chance, which Avatars arriving upon login simply does not provide.

The skills from a number of archetypes need some tweaking here and there. My greatest experience comes from the Aquamancers, obviously, but it seems to be the general trend throughout all skillsets to make abilities cost a lot more power than they seem to actually be worth. Also, some of the skillsets don't seem particularly well designed. There are a lot of nice skills that would fit well into a variety of skillsets, but simply don't work all that well together. There are a number of skills in Aquamancy, for example, which don't seem to lend anything to the efficacy of the Aquamancer in any way. The analogues in Geomancy don't seem to be any better. If there is a specific aim each guild is meant to be going towards in terms of how they fight (The Geomancer = Offensive, Aquamancer = Defensive comparison seems to come up a lot in our discussions), the skills need to actually reflect that. As far as I have seen thus far, they don't.

The village system is lovely, I really have to say. It's basically the type of thing I've been seeking to advocate in IRE games for the past five years or so. Some of the commodity costs for certain items seem rather high (Great robes, crowns) but considering their worth I think that's justifiable. I'd like to see the ability for cities to govern different villages in different ways though. As it stands, your government style is the same for all the villages you control. I don't see any reason why the government would need to act the same way to all the villages under its influence, and it would certainly be helpful in some situations where certain villages produce specific commodities that you need large quantities of, while others you'd rather get more power from if they aren't particularly helpful as far as commodities go.

About 95% of the combat situations I've been involved in have been group combat situations. This is good in that it helps get people who aren't very good at combat involved, since basically all they need to be helpful is a web enchanted item or a skill to do straight damage. Anything else is basically just icing on the cake. But that sort of causes those who are individually strong combatants to just act as group leaders, rather than being able to actually get into one on one combat scenarios, which, I feel, are what the bulk of our skills are actually designed around, and is far more intricate and challenging than large scale group combat. To that end, I think there needs to be more done to mold the culture so that these situations arise more readily. I don't have a good idea of how to do this though, so hopefully someone else does.

To me, and perhaps this is just me, the world feels really small. I'm certainly no Planeswalker, but we certainly have enough of them to make it feel as though such a great feat of exploration is really no big deal. Obviously world expansion takes time, but other than the long walks along the highways it can often feel pretty crowded. There certainly aren't enough places to hunt, and while influencing is a great alternative for those of us who can afford it, not a lot of people actually -can- afford it. I suggest it to all of the novices in my guild, as I used it extensively up to level 50 (at which point it became a bit too slow) but it's not always the most attractive option.

What is perhaps the greatest concern I have for Lusternia is the trend of the Divine to want us to always have to be doing something. This sounds like a great thing in theory, as it basically prevents atrophy within the cities so long as they want to survive. However, I've heard more complaints about this aspect of the realm than anything else, and I've experienced it myself and have often found myself exasperated by the end of the day because of it. My typical day consists of trying to do a huge number of quests while constantly fending off attacks from other people trying to do the reverse side of the quests. Whether it be defending miners, saving undead miners, attacking Nil, defending Celestia, restoring Supernals, strengthening the Dome, gathering squid, protecting dolphins, etc, etc, there is always something everyone has to be doing if the city is going to survive and feel the least bit safe. There is also a feeling of helplessness that often comes when a specific task (such as gathering essence) needs to be done, and there are plenty of people to do it, but simply no way to do so because they've yet to repop. So in the meantime we do a bunch of other things, because actually stopping to enjoy life seems to be secondary to the never ending struggle. Now, I've got absolutely nothing to complain about. I took on the role I currently fill completely willingly and enjoy acting in a leadership role, through thick or thin. But I don't play simply to do quests and fight. I enjoy the social aspects, I enjoy the RP potential. I've been looking forward to sitting down with my Council and writing laws for quite some time, and I've got more planar theories in my head waiting to get written than there are grains of sand on the Isle of Light. But I simply can't do these things, as much as they would help add to the atmosphere of the realm. It's deconstructive not to present the opportunity to individuals to actually do things other than the rigorous schedule of quests laid out for us to do. But that's the situation we find ourselves in currently. The only thing I can really compare the situation to is the early landmarking days in Achaea when the system was first put in place. At least with the Shrine system, it was just one thing, and you didn't feel as though all was lost if you didn't continually construct shrines everywhere you looked. There was plenty of opportunity for conflict without forcing everyone into being involved in it lest their entire livelihood within the realm be threatened. Personally, I think everything needs to be slowed down by several orders of magnitude. Lusternia is, without a doubt, the most intense IRE world. But we all need some time now and then to sit back and enjoy other aspects of the world.

Finally, props to the Divine for the great work they've done with the extensive storyline development. It's been a lot of fun when there's been a good amount of involvement directly by the Divine or through possessed mobiles. Hopefully this can continue without the need to supplement every new event with a quest everyone has to do constantly to survive.

Thanks in advance for everyone's comments.


Rhysus Saros

I don't really get the avenger complaint, wether you die with or without a warning doesn't seem to matter to me, if people have vengeance, it's gonna get used.

The skills do need tweaking probably, but the general lines and purposes seem to fit quite well, I've mad alts for every archetype, and the only thing I found a reason to complain about were knights.

As to villages, once Bob takes his leave, the economics are gonna look way different, think we'll have to wait for that before judging too harsh.

Lusternia is a world where the focus lies on team and group work, you can be strong on your own, but the idea is to strive for a goal in group, since you're much more powerful then. Unlike in achaea, many skills here are designed to use in groups, -point moondancers-. There is just much more accomplishable in teams working together well.

The world will grow pretty large if I believe the rumours, room for up to 4 more cities/communes, various historically mentioned places like Shallach, and endless geographical room past the Skarch Desert.

If you have a function as leader in any of the city-states or commune, you'll have a lot of work to do, and not much time left for yourself. If ya get tired of it, which'll most likely happen to ever leadership position after a while, it's time to step down and let someone else work .

I agree with most of your points, except the "too many things going on at once". Believe me, it's a good change of pace from Aetolia.

I like the amount of activity as well and while the shields are frustrating because they require constant attention...once some of the other things slow down a bit, they will be easier to go about.

Especially once the population of the cities grow, it'll be easier finding people to keep at it.

I agree entirely that the way things are now will work wonderfully once the city populations expand a bit. And my concern isn't really for myself. I can handle all the work on my plate. It's the people coming to me saying they don't even want to be in the realm anymore because they never get a chance to do anything but fight and run the same quests over and over again or else they are berated by everyone around them for not contributing. I think that's a reasonable concern, really. Yes, once the city populations expand to the point where there are always enough people around to actively keep things in shape, it will be lovely. I just don't consider the realm to be at that point yet. And when its causing people to not be logged in when they otherwise would be, its as much a problem as grief players who kill someone until they aren't even having fun playing anymore.

I actually prefer hanging out in Estelbar doing quests, with some bashing and the occasional battle. There's always something to do, that means something. In Achaea, I harvested, bashed a bit, and did forest patrols (and I've not once turned up and overharvest or other violation in a patrol). That can quickly get boring. It adds a bit of excitement to know that saving furrikin helps out Serenwilde, and the edge of danger that comes from the possibility of being attacked. It's refreshing.

Well you got a point there, in Magnagora there's been people completely worn out doing the spikes quests of the necromantate, has to be annoying to know the fact that when you stop spiking, they will all decay, cause no one will continue it, and all the work you've done till then will be for naught, so they keep going at it, hoping someone takes over, and get frustrated more and more.

Aye. That cycle is pretty much the major problem I was trying to get at but couldn't quite put my finger on in the long paragraph in my original post. People get so involved only to see the huge amount of work they do basically go for naught when they go to sleep for 3 hours after spending the last 10 doing all in their power to help. So then they just try even harder, and the same thing ends up happening. I hear the same stories with different scenarios from people in both cities and the commune, so I'm sure it's not just an issue central to the conditions around me.

I've bounced around Achaea for quite some time, and I have to say that Lusternia is most definitely a game that catches my eye even more. (Though, I'll admit that the Wiccan archetype irks m a bit, but that's just because I'm an IRL Witch and most certainly not the fae-snuggling type, but that's just me. *romps about in crazy geomancer land*)

I agree that constant running about might be draining to some... but, the question is, what else would they be doing? Sitting around being all snuggly? This isn't Achaea, and I'd prefer it didn't become that. Once the cities expand, I think the quests will run perfectly, especially because, once the other cities get more people, you're more likely to be opposed in running your own quests, making it all spifftacular.

Hmmm, the only solution to it right now, is to have the city regularly reward those who work for it, in credits, gold, herbs, commodities or cityfavours, so even if the work they did goes poof, they'll still have reason to keep working, cause they get shown grattitude for it.

But you have to give it to them, they got a good majority of the Wiccan Archetype down pat....Maiden, Mother and Crone and the Moon and the like....it does pretty well to run abreast of real Wicca.

Eh. I don't know. Personally, I would have prefered that less be derived directly from OOC systems already in place. I mean, basically everything is some sort of OOC derivative by necessity, but did they need to make it so direct a parallel? I mean, High Magic is kabbalah to a T. The same thing could have been accomplished without using the traditional Hebrew nomenclature. No big deal in the long run, I just don't find it on par with the spectacular creativity shown throughout the rest of the work.

All I say is keep up the good work. I'm off to grub now.

Going to jump on the 'too much to do' train as well. I have to will myself to log on lately, because I know I don't have the energy to do 8 quests and kill 30 people every time. It's getting very hard to think of myself as Eldril the character and not Eldril the collection of skills and equipment to be used. I'm not against having things to do, but when they're taking the place of developing a role-play environment, it's too much.

Actually, Achaea was highly taken from Ancient Periods (Greek, Rome, Egypt, ect.) Sartan as God of Evil? Come on. Thoth was the Egyptian God of Death and Wisdom, Prospero, Aegis... most of the Divine names are from history. All of the games are based in reality, so I wasn't suprised to see this one.

And yeah, the rest of Wicca is pretty well done... but the Fae thing is off because Fae magick is a completely independent form... it really should have been one of the optional secondary skills.

That brings up another thing.. the classes need more options as far as skills go. I love the fact that the Wiccans can choose between healing and hexes, and that knights can choose their style... this needs to be continued so that people can be unique to some extent even within their own guild...

Oh.. and I want a rogue archetype!!!(With Illusions!) :-P

EDIT:
And by the way, Magnagora DOES have a reward policy for those who help out - Usually, in Magnagora, people are limited to how much Power they can link for at a time, those who are known to help get this ration boosted. So, as far as Magnagora is concerned, there is a positive to working.

And what are you Celestians talking about being over worked? Every time i'm at the Pool of Stars I see like 10 of you (most highranking, btw) sitting around chit-chatting.

My favorite way "real world" things creeps into Lusternia in a classy way is the four-humors school of healing reflected in the purgatives and in what they cure. It's plain there are adaptations (the afflictions available aren't exactly what people would suffer in the Middle Ages, after all) but they're charmingly in keeping with the historical theory.

Yeah, they let all the peons do all the work

But, I do agree with the too much at once... couple that with the fact that all the quests going on being thrown at us are given this huge gravity that... if you fail the entire pool will fall, you will lose an entire skillset (it sucks logging in to find almost an entire skillset gone let me tell you...), your entire city will crushed into dust.

I'm all for conflict, but it really should be toned down alittle....

That's another part of the problem, Fallen. It isn't that we don't want to be doing anything. It's that, regardless of the fact that we have a good amount of people that want to be doing stuff, we often have to just sit there and wait while things repop. Can't really help that, other than to say that sometimes its intended to be that way, and others, there might be a minor balance issue to look into.

I think Lusternia is a horrible game.

Until the Gods fix some things, it will remain so.