Death and damnation !

[KillerGL]

First of all, i am new to the game so i wanted to greet you all, so HI EVERYBODY.

Next, i wanted to talk about death. I know im certainly not here to critic anything on the server, as a newcomer, but i wa sjust wondering why death is so bad. I mean, this is cool to not necessarly lose xp the first time and all this, but the other part may suck. On the RP side, it is strange that everybody always ask for anyone to help them recover their "grave" (i personnaly use the term "belongings") because their stats are low. This is okay, for a certain amount of time. But like it is now, at end it is just waiting for the stats to get up, and that can be boring.

So, if someone could explain clearly the reason for those rules. Thanks to you and good game.

[Guardian 452]

The prior system you lost XP and coin. I don't recall the % someone else can say but it was a good sized chunk once you were up a few levels

Players were finding the ammount of XP loss to be devestating, loosing what took some a number of months of playing to earn.


At high enough level before you stood to loose hundreds of thousands in EXP.

This system was put in place instead.

I also agree that "going to your grave is odd" I even recall one of my characters warning people when they asked for help in "getting to their grave".  I told them to be carefull who they said that to for some one might just do that literally.


G-452

[NEXUS7]

I like this system as is mean you hand around town and chat which is good RP time as I can see

[Dorganath]

The graves, in my opinion, are symbolic and a side-effect of the bindstones...really a marker for the point where your body and soul were separated for  a time. This is a dangerous world, so death can sometimes not be avoided.  Single-shot permanent death would not be any fun at all, respawing in place is far too easy to exploit, and truly, one should be somewhat fearful of death.  So we have to have respawning, but penalty-free respawning is just a bad idea.
  As Guardian said, the old system was an automatic lost of 50% gold and some % of XP...I don't recall exactly what.  Under that system you could still go and pray at your grave to regain 50% of the XP you lost...though your spare change was already picked up by passing bandits or something.
  The new system imparts temporary stat penalties to simulate weakness and recovery from death.  The effects last for 10 minutes per character level, so as one gains levels, the effect is more pronounced. Basically, if you're injured enough to die, upon revival you're not going to just jump up and run around at full strength. Yeah, it's boring to wait for your stats to return, though it's also a great opportunity for RP, and my character did just that once, as he RPed for nearly 2 hours while weathering the effects of his death because the site of his death was too far away (and dangerous I'd add) to go back to...without the group he was with coming all the way back, risking their lives in the process of returning him to his stone, etc.
  Now, the reason for penalties is to fear death.  And the reason for escalating penalties if one dies many times within...20 minutes I think...is to fear death.  The bindstones are wonderous, but it's still a death, and each death bears a chance (1% per character level) of losing a part of your soul to the Soul Mother (10 strikes and you're out).  So really, the penalties...all of them...are to keep people from relying on the bindstones to save them without any ill effects. 

[ZeroVega]

 Yeah the old death system worked like this.
   You die and respawn. You lose 30% of your gold and 10% of your TOTAL XP.
   If you recover your grave you gain back half of the XP you lost.
   If Raise Dead is cast on you, you only lose 4% of your Total XP.
   And if Ressurection is cast on you, 2% is lost.

[miltonyorkcastle]

*EDIT*  I see that three or four people posted just before I did, and I started typing after reading G's submission, so if I've repeated anything someone else has said, please forgive me =P)


Like Guardian said, it was instated because on this server, experience points are hard to come by, so one death could literally put you back months of playtime as far as gaining a level goes (I know, I started under the old system and Cole would be two levels higher if I were to regain all the XP I lost during that time.  It was quite a lot.).  

But I beleive there is more to it than that.  Specifically, I think it satisfies both the seriousness of death and the miracle of the bindstones.  Really, the fact that you can be killed multiple times and remain on your "home" plane of existence is more than impressive.  And, for that matter, only those who have been "called"  by the Great Dragon are allowed the luxury.  I would think that there are plenty of NPC characters who know about bindstones, and, since they are not "called," are or should be jealous of those who have been arbitrarily chosen to have the death dodging ability (hmmmm, I sense a DM quest idea here ....).  

Now, the time spent apart from your site of death, the time of reflection allows for two things:  Reflection how or why you died so as to avoid the circumstance in the future, as the name suggests, and, secondly, for the chance to stop thinking about quests and XP and simply sit down and talk, so as to develop your character through relationship as well as combat.

Also, the stat reduction and long wait to recovery maintains the PC's fear and/or respect for death.  I mean, think about it- you get dozens of chances to be resurrected.  If there was not a steep penalty for death, we would all trudge on through, pushing ourselves to death with hardly a glance, knowing that we'll just come back ready repeat our previous venture.  So the time of reflection exists as much to balance the mechanics of the game as well as to maintain the RL element that all creatures avoid death.

Of course, good things don't last forever, and even with the power of the bindstones, there is always that chance you lose a piece of yourself.  Lose too much, and you're gone for good.  And we come to Death Tokens and the blessed (or cursed as some say)  Soul Mother.  It's another way to remind you that you are mortal, even if you are one of the "called."  It's the ultimate way, really, and it is one of the things that makes RP on this server so great for me.  The knowledge that, like a true mortal, my character can really die, makes any accomplishment that much greater, that much more keen to my senses.  Like in this life, knowing that my time is short pushes me to accomplish as much as I can before I'm snuffed out.

Anyway, I've rambled long enough, but there is good reason this system exists, and I encourage you to take advantage of it.  It's common knowledge among the people of Layonara; dying and coming back is normal among the "called," and is even expected.  In fact, your character (not you, since you know all PC's are "called") can always determine who else is "called" by whether or not they return after your character witnesses their death.

Well, that's all, folks.  See you in game!

[KillerGL]

I dont mean to change the system. It is ok like it is. Just putting the stats malus down a little bit. Not in term of quanity but in term of time. It's really boring to wait 1 hour just to get the stats back. This is not really necessary. 10 min. would be way enough to prevent exploit.

[EdTheKet]

Nicely put miltonyorkcastle

[Vyris]

KillerGL - 9/26/2005  12:15 PM

I dont mean to change the system. It is ok like it is. Just putting the stats malus down a little bit. Not in term of quanity but in term of time. It's really boring to wait 1 hour just to get the stats back. This is not really necessary. 10 min. would be way enough to prevent exploit.

It's not exploit that prompted the stat penalties really, the system takes care of those foolish or brave enough to run back and die repeatedly. The reason the stat penalties are so harsh is because death sucks. It's entirely avoidable in most instances, and definately inconvenient.

Death is a harsh teacher, and if you could shrug off it's effects in 10 minutes it would be far less harsh.
Just wait, it gets worse as you get higher level. I reccomend investing in som RP with a cleric, never travel alone in an area where you are unsure of your ability, and pick companions that are braver, dumber, or slower than you are.

But most of all, spending a half hour or so hanging out in Hlint and getting to know someone you haven't talked with, or firming up a relationship you've begun earlier isn't such a bad way to pass the reflection time.


Vyris

[KillerGL]

Yeah i suppose youre right. It's just that sometimes death isint avoidable and that become boring to just try getting his grave. And moreover Hlint is oten epmty at the time i play. But ill try to pass over this and have fun

[Force_of_Will_]

Im sorry but with the new system many dont fear death like the old days.
I miss the old system but to many thought it was to harsh.

[Destropterammer]

The old system worked. But was harsh. At the higher lvl's you really fealt when you died, going anywhere without a cleric was not very wise (a somewhat known char lost 1.5 mill EXP in one session...i'll leave names out of this heh). I liked the old system, and i like the new one. Its different and can hardly be compared. The new system makes sure you always rise in XP, though the XP rewards for killing was lowered a bit i think when it was integrated onto Layo. If you manage to lose EXP in the new system its because you act foolish or youre just plain unlucky. The old one was relentless. If you died you felt it instantly, 10% penalty is fealt if you have say one million exp. Making it hard to gain lvl's(if you die!).

That said i think the new system is great. It works. Might be annoying to have to wait for an hour or two when you wanted to kill those monsters. But keeping a 10% penalty in mind as an alternative to waiting for an hour, i think the waiting will be prefered by most.