I can't influence the stuff there... tried forever with Mel chanting Laetitia.... nothing... And Celest has that whole "don't bash sentient stuff" (which makes a lot of sense considering the Light and all)

Went to Cankermore... eep. Dinosaurs are sca-ry!

Did they up the gold output of hte place again? last time I went it was the same or worse than tosha.

After they massively nerfed it, I don't find influence there worthwhile. Bashing it is VERY worthwhile though. And tasty.

I've only been there a couple of times, but the bashing was nice. It was my first aetherspace death! I might have been one of the first ones to die on Crumkidivia at all...that would be quite a title to hold.

Achea's kinda boring, spent three hours there and ONE person stopped to help me out, houses they ignore you, and cities? don't get me started, more than a little useless.

The one person who stopped, took note tha I hadn't learned anything yet, so a few mintues later and som lessos spent I sat in the forest as a slyph (or whatever) and finally found a spot for my "grove" and then trying to wander back out I got caught in someone elses grove and whats that, spent an hour waiting for one ofthe"many" idiots chatting about gamesto finally let me out.



You know what I like the small knowable population of lusternia, everyday I know who I'll meet how they'll act and who will, and won't, be out to kill me.

Achea, psh ,lets keep the Lusternian spirit!

My main complaints are smaller playerbase (terrible for a merchant, but I know it's out of our control), no "high level" influencing area, and the degrading into oocness, I'm seeing it more and more often.

Yeah, I had that problem with influencing when I came back for a short visit. The oocness is really bothersome too and if players could be trusted I'd recommend some sort of system where you can dock their character reputation for making such comments.

I'm not a part of the playerbase that believes coded systems or number of areas should be based on the playerbase though, except for the city aspect or something player-controlled (Like villages). If the world is going to grow then it ought to grow despite the population or at least be ready to support it, but as far as I know things seem to be going smoothly in that respect.

I believe there IS a system where you can dock their reputation for making many OOC comments.

Or even one comment if the Divine thinks it's worth it. I've only been OOC once on a public channel, I got caught and nailed

RP points can be docked now, but how much of an effect does that really have, other than showing up on your honors?

You lasted far longer then me.

I like lust the way she is, and yes some of the OOCness needs a good nipping.

Docked rolepoints slows experience gain for one. I would say I don't think that rolepoints are used enough but I wouldn't want to risk them being used like they are in Achaea where its just a standard punishment regardless of whether you were being out of character or not.

If this included OOC misaethers, Yuniko would be a shrub and we'd never see her again

Whereas in Lusternia, I am a newbie and then some. I am certainly no stranger to Achaea, but I have to disagree with your statements, Stan. I left Achaea due to the many problems plaguing it, which many people are blissfully unaware with the problems in it.

1.) Auto-class

I've always been a fan of Guilds, and coming here and seeing guilds brought tears to my eyes... well, not really. But.. Believe me. Auto-class takes any RP at all away from Achaea, and in a place like Lusternia.. You do NOT want to take that element away. For example, the Occultists in Achaea used to have the BEST when it came to roleplay.. Now that *grumble*House*grumble* is nothing due to the shanigans of Auto-class.

2.) The number of Artifacts

The number of artifacts in Achaea make it totally unfair. I know there are a few artifacts in Lusternia, and I know that in all IRE games.. Having credits will make you better. But there are those in Achaea who literally buy every single artifact on the catalog and thus get an unfair and cheap boost. Combat in Achaea used to be about skill and talent, now it's simply about who has the most artifacts.. Or whoever is Occultist.

3.) Exploration

I agree with Shorlen. Exploration in Achaea.. is flat-out boring, and truly has no dangers associated with it at all. I find joy exploring the Planes of Lusternia, and I know that someday the other planes will be implemented and it will only add the joy of exploring. I have a substantially greater time exploring Lusternia than I do Achaea.

4.) Skills

If no one has noticed.. Many skills in Achaea are either underpowered or overpowered. I know somethings in Lusternia are highly overpowered but I'm not going to point any fingers, as Power is good balance to them. But some things in Achaea such as Tekura, Kaido, Tarot, and Domination (just to name a few) are highly overpowered and are not being checked at all. It's way too easy for a group of monks to get together. Have one Mindlock and use Mind Batter, while the rest use Kai Choke and you die a painful and unavoidable death (for the most part). In Lusternia, thankfully, I was happy to see that the players play a hand in helping sort out the skills. Many of the skills in Achaea are talked about on the forums, but for most of Achaea's lifespan, there was no player involvement at all in the skills. It's only recently that the Combat Council was formed, but they've done nothing recently to check the imbalance of skills.

5.) Raiding, Events, etc.

Achaea does host some very nice events, and I do wish there will be more Arena games implemented in the future in Lusternia.. But when it comes to raiding, I again have to give Lusternia the thumbs up over Achaea again. I've found raiding to be highly enjoyable (even though I've died to quite a few of you ) In any case, I enjoy the Supernal-Demon Lord system. I enjoy the Avatar system, and frankly everything else that Lusternia has implemented for competitive behaviour between organizations. The raiding itself isn't different in nature from Achaea, but I've found a lot more joy in Lusternia than Achaea. However! The fact that raiding on other planes has no consequences such as PK status and the worry of being hunted by some highly-artiewhoried character debilitates the raiding in Lusternia. While Lusternia usually has no direct consequences for that.

6.) The PK System in general

The Avenger System, in my experience, is ten times better than Achaea's. Six years ago, the file detailing PK status in Achaea was one page. Now it takes a freakin' law degree to understand it with all it's pages, and it has a lot of loopholes in it which allows many players to take advantage of those weaker than them, and pretty much create a lot of griefing. Also, I'd certainly say that Lusternia appeals more to the PK'er. You can freely kill on other planes as you can on Achaea without fear of cause or Suspect, but there is a regulated system on Prime that makes sure that there is no harassment and general griefing. Besides, I'm sure the issues that the admins get in Lusternia are CONSIDERABLY smaller than the ones the admins in Achaea get.

7.) The RP in Lusternia

When I look at Lusternia, I see a young Achaea. Muchly because RP was thriving so well in the semi-early days of Achaea that you had a lot of fun when you did it. Lusternia is very immersed when it comes to RP, especially with the beliefs of Magnagora, Celest, Serenwilde, etc. It's good. Now, I feel sad, because I feel a higher priority is on the playerbase of Achaea than it's traditonal RP setting.

I quit Achaea for many reasons, and after playing Lusternia, I'm not looking back or regretting my decision for moving here. However, comparing Lusternia to Achaea isn't truly fair as they are different games with different characteristics, but some elements remain the same between the two. In any case, I don't Lusternia to be like Achaea one day. I want Lusternia to be Lusternia forever.. so keep it the way it is, just delegate here and there to make it better.

I agree with most of this, except for the Autoclassing. I went through just about every guild in Achaea, and while the Occultists were very good at RP, they were also the most closed guild there. It was annoying that if the leadership if the guild didn't like you or you didn't perform tons of mostly senseless tasks, you could be a novice forever. I liked Autoclassing in that people didn't have to perform some insanely long/difficult set of tasks as a novice before they could truly learn any skills and begin to enjoy the other aspects of the game - I remember having level 50 Occultist novices who just hadn't passed their interview. That said, I do like the system in Lusternia much better, where people will graduate in a given amount of playing time, rather than having to complete some player-defined set of requirements.

I agree with Tael in everything he said. I'm probably one of the most well-known characters in Achaea, and I decided to retire and quit playing the game because it's degenerated into something that's just not fun or exciting any more. Lusternia has far more intrigue and everything anyone does in the game has a lasting impact on the world. I love Lusternia and I really don't see myself ever going back to Achaea.

Personally I'm a fan of auto-class. I see it as a way of thwarting tyrannical dictator-guildmasters.

What -is- Achaea's world history anyway? The way I remember Achaea from back when I was 13 (3 long years ago) is a 'decent' game where whoever has the fattest wallet or biggest credit card has most might. I still hate Ariettie for kicking me out of the Runewardens 'cause I bought a falconry glove before I passed novicehood... Ah, those were the days... Not! It's like Karnagan said; The places are exactly as how you treat them. The RP levels in Lusternia Could (and in my opinion Should) be a lot higher, but the scene that IRE has set for us in the Basin allows a LOT more role playing than Sapience ever can.

Go lusty!!

What is it anyway?

Autoclass is basically a way of getting guild skills without joining a guild. The implication is that you can get whichever skillset you want without having to adhere to a particular guild's RP requirements.

For example, Achaea is a game with autoclass. Over there, you just talk to particular denizen, tell them what class you want to be, and you become that class and get the class skills. They can never be forcibly taken away.

Imperian, as another example, a game with without autoclass. Upon joining a guild, you get two out of the three guild skills. When you complete a few novice quests, you gain the third guild skill. Upon reaching guild rank three, your skills become permanent and can never be forcibly taken away. Any time before that, they will be taken away if you quit the guild or get kicked out.

I'm sure you know how guild skills work in Lusternia. We don't have autoclass, but our system is a lot less strict than Imperian's.

As I mentioned, I'm a fan of autoclass. The problem I've found with non-autoclass games is that dictator-guildmasters can basically say "No, you don't get to choose your own RP, I'll choose it for you. If you have a problem with that, I'll kick you out and you'll lose your skills." Autoclass lets you circumvent such dictator-guildmasters.

The downside of autoclass is that you get some people with really silly RP, and no guild to slap some sense into them.