Let me elaborate actually, at the moment the cosmic planes can be reached easily and you can avoid the guards to a fair extent, the ether glom/seren planes are easy to reach also but its imposiable to actually raid them without having to deal with a vast number of guards, which causes raids to fail.

Which, incidentally, is a problem that would be solved by removing archways. Etherwilde is easy enough to navigate once you actually get in.

Excuse me please leave your personal bias out of this, I felt the communes defences were to strong, if very buggy before I left glomdoring and I also felt that the communes passive power generation was to strong before I left glomdoring, if you care to do any research you will find me constantly saying that I feel commune power generation far outstrips city generation, if you want please feel free to look it up, but I would like it if you kept your personal and silly bias and assumptions out of this discussion please.



No removing the archways will not fix the problem, guards can and are placed all over ether wilde no matter where you go you will be met with a large number of guards, to many to handle.

Sheesh, why make things so complicated? Just get rid of the archways.

The only reason it's hard to raid EtherWilde and EtherGlom is because you have to enter the archway, hit a totem with paralysis, and survive the gaggle of guards there long enough to focus body. (If, however, you can invoke Serpent, you can stroll in pretty casually, from what I've seen.) If the archways weren't there, you could just waltz in through the trees, fly over or burrow under, snickering at the guards the whole way, no? Now, I've never tried raiding the Cosmic Planes, but that sounds much easier than transversing at a nexus full of guards. If that's still not balanced, you could get rid of the totems too. (I'm betting a whole five of them are bonded in each of EtherGlom and EtherWilde. There's a big disincentive to raiding.)

That area would be *so* difficult to defend without guards. I can tell you from watching Narsrim run around there many, many times: even now, if you can get past the archway, the rest is a breeze.

Moving things to an aetherbubble sounds like an unfortunate idea, unless every guild had a way of getting there that's as fast as transversing... in which case, what would be the difference? It's already boring enough sitting on Ethereal in case someone raids: at least you can make quick hops back to Prime, influence guards and fae, talk with people in tells... Sitting in an aetherbubble to defend sounds mindnumbing.

Er, if I went and got my secret stash of Etherwilde spores, I would come back with fae. 100% guaranteed. Heck, I've retrieved fae with Narsrim chasing me around Etherwilde.

No the reason why you can not raid ether wilde/glom is because there are guards all over, no matter where you go you will find many guards which will follow you. To many guards for a raid to handle.



As xenthos said previously. You are not able to raid ether seren and glom with a group, you can only do so solo and you can only do this because you constantly move and avoid the guards. You can not take a group raid to ether glom or seren.

No. No, that's false. There are not too many guards to handle. There are never too many guards to handle when you're mobile and don't need to stop to complete your objectives.

And if you take a group of unskilled people up to Cosmic, they're all going to die as well. What's your point?

xavius please re read the entire of this topic this has been explained numerous times by maby people xenthos inculded. It is imbalanced, admit it and help come up with an idea to make the communes defence balanced.

The only unbalanced part is getting in. Once you're in, its fine.

I have, Ferlas. Remove the archways.

Have you ever wondered why you were passed over for envoy when you were champion?

If you take a group of 10 people to ether seren/glom they are going to die, if you take a group of 10 people to the cosmic planes you have a pretty decent and tricky to shift raid going on.




Removing the archways will not remove the main problem which is the guards you understand?

Just a reminder to keep it civil. (I sense emotions rising in some posts.)

Getting in isnt really a problem, having to deal with 20 to 40 guards where ever you go is the problem.

I won't get involved in the rest of the discussion, but I have to say:

Even if the archways are removed, I am supposed to go raiding with 20 guards in tow, hacking at me occasionally? That seems a bit unlogical, seeing that I practically could just walk around all of Celestia or Nil without having to worry at the least.

Go in with more people, in seperate directions?
Fly?
Burrow?
Do any number of things?

So yeah, I am in.....what now?

Seeing that guards run as soon as you hit anything...

I can feel the urge to crush the poor girl's ego rising, so I'm just going to ignore Ferlas from here on out.

Again, restating the earlier issues:

Currently, the ethereal communes have the advantages of a heavily defended entrance (a la cosmic), unterrainable environment (a la elemental), and full guard placement (a la prime commune). There is no reason for us to have all three; that is imbalanced. I do not believe anyone will dispute that.

However, there are other issues to consider when approaching the balance. The fae are not slain, they are taken by a quest. Defenders can be observed without fear of retribution. The opposing commune has an unremovable freedom to flow around the territory. The fae do not automatically attack enemies. Blah blah, you know the drill. It's been covered.

Since raids on Ethereal are undetectable without someone physically squatting on the plane, watching for intruders (and in turn being watched by the would-be raiders), the somewhat bypassable burst defense of Celestia and Nil is not an equally passable defense. Instead, I suggest removing the advantages we have that puts us on the level of the cosmic planes--the archways. Thus, anyone who has a sliver of talent for raiding can gain access, and some resources can be obtained without ever risking contact with any guard or totem. Yes, it is true that it will still be a very different raiding dynamic than raiding cosmic, but it would make both equal in difficulty for the raider and defensibility for the defenders.

Bingo thats is exactly the problem, 20 guards will mess up almost any group pretty fast. Removing the guards from all over ether wilde/glom is the only way to get effective raids going and the only way to balance it out.