something worth redoing

[Erik K]

My first expierence on Layo, was when we had the old Dragon called intro for new characters.  From the start,  there was a feeling, to me anyway, like I was entering into something that would be both momentus and challenging.  I was not dissapointed, the game was and still is fantastic and  according to my wife, you can add addictive as well.  But the way we start characters, now is by comparasion, unexciting, there is no sence of something epic that is about to begin.  So, what I guess the point of this is, is this, can we restore the old Dragon called player entry, updating it for the current world or create something equally as exciting.  It would give starting players a feel that they are getting into special, as opposed to just another online community

[Pen N Popper]

Very valid point

[Chazzler]

I really like the sound of that, I myself have not thought of it earlier, but when I created Tar Wolfheart and Chakar Acrabadabra-etc I had a somewhat vague feeling when entering the realms once again with a new character.
Thanks for bringing this up!

[Eight-Bit]

Im sure there will be something epic in the future near the MMOs release, or at least when the MMO goes live.

[Leanthar]

Valid point and something I have thought about a few times over the last couple of years.
 
 We went to the multiple starting locations, for a couple of reasons. One which is no longer true and the other that has not turned out the way I desired/thought.
 
 1) At the time we were creating V3 we had a fairly consistent number of players between 45 - 65 at any given time; with spikes to over 100. Sure timezones did make a major difference, point is we had 2x - 3x more players than we have now. We don't need to go in to why as it is all sorts of reasons and it is not up for discussion in this threasd.
 2) At the time I wanted an "evil" and a "good" starting area because I wanted to try and help with the lag that so very many were complaining about every day. So since we clearly needed muliple starting zones and people were also complaing about seeing "chaos/law" and "evil/good" characters in the same "starting" town it made sense to split things up. But I wanted them close by so people could join up.
 
 I too liked the "epic" sort of feel one had when logging in up until v3, but that area would not fit right now. We could perhaps come up with something else but it is not on the plate at this time.

[Acacea]

Really, it's not a matter of needing a summoning or another Ozlo, or even a set campaign and purpose in the world, I think. Sure, we look at those things and think "that at least made you feel part of it," but it's not the only way to do it, just the only one Layo has encountered. The road I think worked about as well, or really anything that adds an "intro" with some current events information with a touch of flair/drama. It doesn't matter if its totally non-linear with no plot, you can still make people think "Yeah! I'm going to do stuff! And stuff! DOWN WITH RAEL!" or whatever is appropriate. An introduction/challenge, I guess.

As for evil/good starting towns, I don't think we ended up with that, hehe...since there is no "Detect Alignment" spell and there is good and order in Vehl just like there is Chaos and Evil in Hempstead... We have a Rofireinite temple in Vehl and a Shadonite temple in Hempstead It's more like "dark" and "light" more often... Rulers largely benevolent  vs rulers largely apathetic and greedy... setting more dirty, setting more taken care of... people protected from hostile monster invasions, or guards bribed to not care about horns and tusks as long as he gets paid...

Even with multiple locations you could do it...you'd just need either one big one before the selection area, or different ones for different cities... which would, if nothing else, set the atmosphere for the two places and their relation to current events.

Not a request or ...not sure if it's even a suggestion, just that I don't think it needs to be done the same way in order to pull off the same thing. Thinking of what angles to hit it at could be fun.