Heh, don't try to insert your specific agenda into the discussion. I was talking about in relation to making combat less complex (i.e., reducing the number of afflictions).

This logic needs applied in some other places...

Where do you think that would be, please share!

As a noob who came here about a year ago and learned everything from scratch, I have probably quit for a few months between now and then. I have already achieved level 100, held a domoth, been guild champion, and pretty much 'beat' the game. There is no end game, no concept of level 100 fighting only or any of that mess. Sure I could go to muud for 'end game' bashing with far more difficulity than sitting on an aethership wasting no cures and essentially no gold and gaining essence doing nothing but there is no reward to acquiring an obscene amount of essence anyway (Demigod store sounds nice).

I think one of the biggest problems with the game is this, you aren't encouraging noobs to get into combat through the current method and those fighters who are into combat and have reached 'end game' have nothing else to do save revolts, domoths, raids forever and ever and ever and ever till they burn out and quit. And that novice who didn't learn combat quit along time ago.

Create more end game combat for Demis only, and possibly some novice only PvP sections based on level and give more lasting consequences for people's actions. Nothing screams monotony like completing the same quest/revolts/domoths for no real effect continuously.

Another problem I would say with the game since I am playing my first alt, the cost to get involved due to credits and just the overall cliquishness of our fellow players really creates a barrier of people wanting to learn and play.

I still don't feel like a real person and I'm circle 78... I want to participate more in the city stuff, but when I ask questions, I get ignored. I want to know how to help the city through quests and things, but no one seems interested in giving me this knowledge when I ask, nor are there any scrolls on it. I participate in raids, but I still don't know exactly -what- is going on in them and again... get ignored when I ask what we're doing exactly. I don't understand how to set up maneuvers for combat, and influencing denizens makes no sense to me. I got lost after the begging part, though influencing seems extremely interesting... I just don't know how to do it or how to find out how to do it. So I suck at combat and I don't know how to influence. So most of my time is spent bashing and trying to participate as best I can, while still feeling overwhelmed and mostly unhelpful except when I'm in a big group.

Best advice I can give is find a good mentor. If there are any players in your guild who seem to like you, or at least listen to you, latch onto them and use them as your bridge into the "real" game.

Actually, really good mentors is a way to get people to stay.

Definitely. This and this again. Nariah was my mentor and got me into the RP ooc clans where I met other folks. And then Nariah introduced me to Thoros who took me into Jhagar. And for that I always took new players or new people into Jhagar to try and teach them and was incredibly open about keeping our combat clique open to new people.

However, most people aren't willing to open to noobs and that is why we lose them.

My impressions as an experienced MUD player who has dabbled with Lusternia but never really gotten into it for the following reasons:

1. The combat system is needlessly complicated. Personally I'd tear it up and start again, but if that's not an option consider reducing the numbers of afflictions. If affliction A is cured by cure X and affliction B is cured by cure Y, then adding afflictions C, D, E, F, G, H and cures Z, J, K, L, M, N is just more of the same and doesn't add any depth to the system. I'd like to participate in combat and I'd even be happy to purchase credits to do so, so I should be your ideal customer, but I don't feel that I'd be able to participate without a huge investment of time as well. Of course there should be differentiation at the top end of combatants, but I feel that the initial bar is set too high.

2. There's so much to learn: combat, hunting, questing, power quests, commodity quests, influencing, village revolts, planes, nexus worlds, constructs, culture, city government, karma, domoths, weakenings etc etc. It can be overwhelming and difficult to get into.

3. Gear requirements and item decay. This is a killer for me because if I come back on a character that I haven't played in ages it's going to cost a fortune to get re-equipped, not to mention the time it takes to gather everything together that I need. An item decay system based on character time played rather than total time would go a long way to making things easier on returning/casual players.

You're leaving?


Jk, I don't have to deal with you so I don't really care what you do.

If you don't think it's "broken" I would love to hear your rebuttal to my arguments and comments. Especially the part where the organizations trying to return to the status quo (after the "victor" has already gotten 10,000 power, and the only reward for the side trying to get status quo is... the status quo) has to raid constantly for hours and hours to make it not take three real-life days of extra time while your planar defenses are completely kaput.

Especially as the side that's getting 10,000 power for doing the exact same quest-chain doesn't even have to do the raiding... and further, if you don't do your side, you lose an additional 25,000 power. Also, if you don't do your side quickly enough, you have to raid to make the thing break before the 6-day timer runs out...

I mean, seriously. I was accused of griefing Nil/Magnagora because of this bloody counterquest.

It encourages kill-and-leave-when-defenders-show raiding simply because it's more important that you get out with the corpses. Hours and hours of people bashing angels and demons is not newbie-friendly, either. Just like constant raids the other way.

Your argument is that you believe the design of the quest should be changed for whatever reason. You are not telling us that something in the code is "broken". If someone throws out the word "broken", that means to us some sort of bug needs to be fixed which is not the case here. There were indeed some minor bugs that cropped up but they were immediately fixed; thus, as far as I am aware, everything is "fixed".

I know you want immediate answers to all your personal grievances, but sometimes that isn't going to happen. Suffice to say, the counter-quest was meant to take some time to prevent the opposing side from being able to immediately counter a quest that was meant to stay up for at least some time (i.e., quickly countering it would render the quest pointless). We've heard your arguments as to why you believe it should be changed but we haven't reached a verdict whether or not we necessarily agree that it should be changed or, if so, how it should be changed.

"Broken" to the playerbase does not necessarily mean "bugged." There are occasionally skills that are broken-- not because they don't work as intended, but because their intention is so severely over-powered / unbalanced that it is broken / breaks the game's balance / whatever. Broken has a much broader meaning than the literal "there is a bug" interpretation, and when it's being used by posters here... more often than not it's not the bug reference (since we aren't supposed to post bugs on the forums ).

Also: The counterquest (at least the Fae-side) already takes a lot of time on its own. There are a lot of steps, if any of the NPCs are killed it's stopped in its tracks... there are plenty of ways to halt the progress of the quest. It can't ever be done immediately... unless it's already been done in full, and for some reason it just was not used and was sitting there waiting for the person to go talk to Maeve. Given the 10,000 power reward (and personal honours), that's a pretty unlikely scenario.

(In this case, he was talking about my thread, and my thread on it contained no discussion of bugs. It was just balance and enjoyment issues, so that's the meaning of broken that poster was using.)

As a former GM, I was always torn between the much-needed guild RP and the immediate need to PvP. I don't even raid. It's the defending that's the issue. If there was no reason to defend EtherGlom then I (personally) would have invested more into guild RP, but I feel that as a guild leader, regardless if you are GM, GA, or GC, you must be the best example of your guild. If you don't defend then you are setting a bad example as a leader. Of course, people will say, "Oh, you don't HAVE to PvP," but yes, you do. It's the obligation you feel as a guild leader.

The obligation is a real problem. It doesn't matter how fun something is, as soon as you feel that obligation, it gets less fun, and you lose interest. And it's a BIG problem for the BT because holding a meld is a and I would rather do guild things than sit on EtherGlom for hours. But we have to do it. If we don't, who will?

I agree though that as the game gets bigger, the less people do things together. I wasn't around before bards and monks, but I've been told that guilds before their introduction had a lot more people on at a time, and you could always find someone to talk to. Now, I know Estarra's not going to delete bards and monks, or a whole org for that matter, but I think the thinner numbers contribute a lot to the lack of character interaction, and it's something I wish I had experienced. Bringing new people into the game would solve that, which brings us back to the reason for this thread.

What a vicious cycle.

I'm going to make the following suggestion, and I think it will help alot, and I'll explain afterwards how I think it will help.

I would like to suggest that building projects for cities/communes become more transparent/accessible to the players.

Either, have divine/ephemerals bug city/commune leadership more often to ask them if things can be built or create a system where people of certain ranks can access the latest "project" and build rooms / donate commodities/gold to the construction of those rooms. Or have this be a ministry postition etc.


Here is my 3 bullet points as to why I think it will help.

1. People like to make "long lasting" impression on a mud. If you helped build a new garden/musuem etc and your name is on a plaque on a exhibit, people like that.
2. It will help make commodities / gold more scarce.
3. It give those who are not combatants something to make them "famous"

I don't really understand what you're asking for here? A player system for adding to a city/commune? Personally, as I handle all of Celest's additions, I don't really see the need for it - I've never heard complaints from Celest about what they get, or the quality thereof. If they wanted to buy a plaque to go wherever to commemorate whomever helped build it (though generally it ends up being me), they can certainly buy one!

Oh, it might also be helpfull to just go across the board and reduce the amount of afflictions that are available. That is, look at the general categories of afflictions, and just stick to the commonly used ones and get rid of ones that nobody really uses. (like the poision that kills you after 30 seconds and the only cure is a a potion that only cures that one poision. who needs that?)

The problem is that Glomdoring, Magnagora, and Serenwilde don't have the same.

If the divine such as yourself can fulfill that role, and fulfill that role consistently than great. But I think if it was available even when the divine were not, it would be better.

But people also need reminders that city/commune resources can be used to build such things.

I never knew it was possible, and thought it was only available for specific things that the admin felt the commune needed. like the arena, or extra shops.

Find me IG!

/demigod store Yes.

Part of it is that it generally requires admin oversight (I know I keep a fairly tight eye on what Celest builds etcetera, as I like to ensure they have a premium level of quality), and also when they add stuff there's generally some scripting involved (rituals, ambient messages, etcetera), things players can't do. It's all stuff the patron does - it's why guilds have patrons, really! I think adding some means of mortals to do this without patrons will end up being more hassle than its worth - for you guys, and for us.