Evil too is special and with the heavier requirements. Lawful Evil and Neutral Evil require an active character for at least nine (9) months. There is no minimum level requirement for this active character. As with Chaotic Neutral, on the character submission the player is required to state in their own words that they accept the rules of the server. As well they must state that they accept that the alignment of Evil may put them at odds with the majority of the player community as well as the NPCs they interact with, and that they accept the consequences to their actions.
Acacea says good things.
Quote from: Dezza11/ I want to see characters holding ranks, titles, positions of honour etc throughout the world. It used to be like that but over time this has flopped and thats perhaps a symptom of GM's fearing to give anyone anything for fear of upsetting Lore but its not impossible to do and GM's need to realise that.This can be player initiated - we can make this happen through our guilds and common-goal/deity sub-communities but it really doesn't come alive until it is recognized and supported by GMs. I asked (here and here) GMs to please feel free to incorporate the Guild that Ark began into any plots or quest arcs they had brewing on 27th Feb 2008. In the 20 months since that request .... nada. Not a single PM.More support and encouragement and reward and recognition for player initiatives.Edit: Dezza - please note this!! Ggggrrrrrrr.
11/ I want to see characters holding ranks, titles, positions of honour etc throughout the world. It used to be like that but over time this has flopped and thats perhaps a symptom of GM's fearing to give anyone anything for fear of upsetting Lore but its not impossible to do and GM's need to realise that.
A problem with this however is also in my opinion the way this involvement has been handled for almost as long as I remember. Most of the time the positive player involvement comes from the player writing pm after pm to the DM's in hope of striking something which may be a walkable road for your character.In my opinion this removes focus from actually playing the game, as there are months where I have been playing where I thought that I could have spent my time better writing pm's to various dm's instead of actually being IG.
Honestly I didn't know how important it was to pm gm's with things your character wanted to do until just recently.
And now you understand one of the big reasons why you see WL's and high level characters less and less IG, or only on quests. World-changing projects take massive amounts of OOC and IC planning, which ultimately boils down to spending lots of time in conversation (either via PM or IRC) with GMs before you can even do anything IG.
So why even log in to play the game?
First and foremost, this is not a debate thread. It's not a place to argue and disagree with the points one person or other makes. If you have an opposing viewpoint, then state it, but do so as a stand-alone thing. Any debates will invariably spiral out of control and derail a thread that derailed another. I'd rather not have that.[
I would like it for one of my PC's to be able to become a god. I do believe at that point the character becomes a NPC. The whole idea that you created a god and made that god into what he/she is today is simply awesome!
"As you might have noticed I haven't been much online lately. The reason is simply that Layonara has lost its magic for me. I have tried in various ways to get the magic back, but, for the moment at least, it's gone. I shall therefore be taking a break from Layonara. I don't know if it will be a long break or a short break, but I will be back if I get the magic back. And I do hope I get it back.As it is now I am completely demoralised. I don't feel I have anything to look forward to with Galathea apart from becoming an even greater buff monkey. IF she survives, which I seriously doubt, I could likely keep her alive by playing her purely as a buff-monkey and behind-the-line "she-is-cheaper-than-a-potion" healer, but to me that would be living death. The new potions, heal kits and ever present raise dead scrolls have taken what little there was truly special about clerics away so she isn't needed anyway.I wish to thank you all for the time in Angels. I haven't always agreed with everything, but then who has! It shaped Galathea more than anything else in Layonara, and for that I am very grateful. Also if it hadn't been for the Angels guild I think this would come a lot sooner.I expect to log on to tie up a few loose ends and also to finish G'orks WLCDQ, so hopefully I shall see you then.See you all when the spark of magic is back!"
It's an interesting challenge from Dorg, "what would you like from Layonara?". I think it's easiest to answer by "why do I play here" and "why I don't play here". I play here to unwind, have fun and be with friends. I don't have hours upon hours of free time and all three are aspects are vital to me. I am currently on break from Layonara and I summed up why in a post in the Angels guild forum:So why do(did) I play on a NWN persistent world? To me D&D (ultimately Layo) is about roleplaying, action, camaraderie and heroics. I don't play Second Unlife, WoW or an ordinary person likely to die the first times she sees a goblin. I don't play any of those because it's the combination that's important to me. Neither do I agree with the distinction, I sometimes come across, between "roleplaying" (i.e. sitting on a bench and talking or moping around) and "action" (i.e. the disreputable act of grinding or hack&slash). I grew up with AD&D and "dungeoneering"; and more than anything I still love the banter you get in a group characters when they work their way through a dungeon (where trees only come in their three basic forms: 10 feet pole, torch or weapon handle). In other words, I want and love roleplaying, especially in "dungeons".When it comes to online gaming some people are "committed" while others are "casual". I loathe those terms. As mentioned earlier I don't have hours upon hours of spare time now, but when I am in game I hardly consider myself a causal player; rather I consider myself a "time constrained" player. I feel Layonara is geared towards the players who are able to spend far more time online (both total and in a single setting) than I (and I venture the majority of players). The most exciting and challenging dungeons (areas) all take ages to get to and hours upon hours to complete. A 7 hour trek through the deep is simply out of the question for me on most nights. The net result for me was: even though Layonara is huge, I actually only went a few places. The current campaign feels as a placeholder. It's something that's there while we wait for the MMO. Too often it has felt as if the end has already been given (by this I mean the background etc for the MMO is already being prepared; and everything we do have to fit inside it). This marks the difference between an actor and a puppet to me. I know this might upset some, but it's simply a reflection of how I have felt; nothing more and nothing less. I would much prefer it if this campaign was considered freestanding/non-cannon/alternative history and then allowed to run free and wild. Let the MMO be a clean slate and let loose this campaign to be used and abused. So much as already changed from when Layo started in 2004 that a clean slate is a good thing anyway. So how does this come together with my three reasons for playing?Unwind: My current job is often stressful, sometimes absurd (ever seen Futurama where Hermes prints a stack of papers, stamps them, then shreds them before recycling? Well apart from recycling them I have done that) and often filled with internal politics and people whose egos are bigger than their offices. Yes, I am indeed a civil servant. So basically, in order to unwind I do not want any pointless tasks, needless nitpicking & bureaucracy or bickering egos. What I do want to hear is: "Relax man" (preferably with a Caribbean accent and a cool drink, though I am willing to forego the tiny umbrella). Have fun: I play here to have fun. It's so obvious I sometimes forget it and I doubt I am the only one. I don't mind a tough challenge, I don't mind a mind-bendingly frustrating challenge, but I do mind a mind-numbingly boring task or endless runs to get anywhere. Because I don't have hours upon hours of free time I also want to have fun fairly fast.Be with friends: At the end of the day I can unwind and have fun elsewhere, but there are some really nice people here I enjoy playing with. I want to be with friends, love old school dungeoneering and don't have endless amounts of time: hence it follows I do not want to spend half the time waiting for the group to gather and then the second half getting somewhere. This is one of the biggest issues I have with Layonara: it takes forever to get from A to B or gather a party (of spread out characters). I do know some of this can be avoided by using the calendar, but not all of us are able to plan all evenings ahead and I rather like the spontaneous parties.So what do I want?Dungeon exits: One thing that would make a big difference to me -- and should be fairly simple to implement -- are exits at the bottom of dungeons. A portal/gateway to the surface with a text message along the following lines "After killing/mining/skinning the vampires/golems/dark elves (in that order) you slowly make your way back to surface". This would often make the difference for me and allow me to do "dungeons" far more often. It would also avoid the idiot deaths when an invisible and hastened player runs ahead (because the player should have logged an hour ago) and some poor sod gets killed when a spawn triggers on top of him. I know the last part is player responsibility, but I have seen far more deaths running out of dungeons than fighting our way down and its usually due to someone having real life reasons and we need to return ASAP (i.e. player not character reasons). Portals and more boats: Anything that cuts down the travelling time getting "there" would be a big plus. Having more ferry services and "chartered boats" would do that.Lots of small dungeons: I would much prefer 3 smaller dungeons to one big. I know the big ones look fantastic the first time you play them, but how often do you play them again? More and smaller dungeons would give more variety, more options when you have 2-3 hours. If you do have a night to spend you can always do several of them. Too often when I had the time for a big trek, my group didn't. Too often when I logged on my friends were one or two hours into a big trek. Cutting the big ones into smaller ones would solve both problems. You could go for one or two or three and if you didn't make it for the first one, you could join up later in the second or third one. One of the biggest OOC advantages of wizards are they are able to catch up, but how many fighters have you heard go: "Oh you are in the deep, that's ok I will haste, invis and catch you up"? NO DT's at all: NWN is a fantastic game, but lag, bugs crashes etc do exist and happen. Most of my deaths and DT's have been due to these factors and often a combo. I know it's the same for all and I do not want to enter a discussion on known bugs etc. I think it was Ionnarin who stated "dying due to lag was the online equivalent of the GM spilling his drink over your character sheet and declaring the character dead". I couldn't agree more, and at the end of the day -- three gracious pleas or not (think of those as spare character sheets) -- when Galathea perms I will remember those bugs, moments of lag and crashes. I think we should draw the following conclusion: a permanent death based on a bugged system is a bugged system of permanent death. Three gracious pleas do not change it, they only postpone it. Character approval: The character approvers do a lot of work, and it's likely underappreciated. However, they also impose very strict standards with regards to characters. I can't help wonder if they create most of the work themselves and whether many potential players take a look at the process and go elsewhere. Rather than having a character stable of simple characters and an approval process for the rest, I would suggest a fast track approval for all and a guided approval process for those who want help to flesh out their characters on paper. I love Layonara, but it also frustrates me no ends. I drew the conclusion that as long as it kept frustrating me I shouldn't play, but I truly hope those frustrations (I doubt I am the only one with them) could be alleviated. I do so want to play! Xiaobeibi/Galathea
So what do I want?Dungeon exits: One thing that would make a big difference to me -- and should be fairly simple to implement -- are exits at the bottom of dungeons. A portal/gateway to the surface with a text message along the following lines "After killing/mining/skinning the vampires/golems/dark elves (in that order) you slowly make your way back to surface". This would often make the difference for me and allow me to do "dungeons" far more often. It would also avoid the idiot deaths when an invisible and hastened player runs ahead (because the player should have logged an hour ago) and some poor sod gets killed when a spawn triggers on top of him. I know the last part is player responsibility, but I have seen far more deaths running out of dungeons than fighting our way down and its usually due to someone having real life reasons and we need to return ASAP (i.e. player not character reasons). Portals and more boats: Anything that cuts down the travelling time getting "there" would be a big plus. Having more ferry services and "chartered boats" would do that.Lots of small dungeons: I would much prefer 3 smaller dungeons to one big. I know the big ones look fantastic the first time you play them, but how often do you play them again? More and smaller dungeons would give more variety, more options when you have 2-3 hours. If you do have a night to spend you can always do several of them. Too often when I had the time for a big trek, my group didn't. Too often when I logged on my friends were one or two hours into a big trek. Cutting the big ones into smaller ones would solve both problems. You could go for one or two or three and if you didn't make it for the first one, you could join up later in the second or third one. One of the biggest OOC advantages of wizards are they are able to catch up, but how many fighters have you heard go: "Oh you are in the deep, that's ok I will haste, invis and catch you up"? NO DT's at all: NWN is a fantastic game, but lag, bugs crashes etc do exist and happen. Most of my deaths and DT's have been due to these factors and often a combo. I know it's the same for all and I do not want to enter a discussion on known bugs etc. I think it was Ionnarin who stated "dying due to lag was the online equivalent of the GM spilling his drink over your character sheet and declaring the character dead". I couldn't agree more, and at the end of the day -- three gracious pleas or not (think of those as spare character sheets) -- when Galathea perms I will remember those bugs, moments of lag and crashes. I think we should draw the following conclusion: a permanent death based on a bugged system is a bugged system of permanent death. Three gracious pleas do not change it, they only postpone it. Character approval: The character approvers do a lot of work, and it's likely underappreciated. However, they also impose very strict standards with regards to characters. I can't help wonder if they create most of the work themselves and whether many potential players take a look at the process and go elsewhere. Rather than having a character stable of simple characters and an approval process for the rest, I would suggest a fast track approval for all and a guided approval process for those who want help to flesh out their characters on paper.
After reading chowbaby's post, I have to agree strongly with one thing: Layo discourages soloing, very much so. And while I understand the mentality (I did play a lot of EQ, after all), I can't agree with it anymore. Back in the day the prevailing wisdom was: groups form friendships, and friendships sell subscriptions. It became the model for most of the MMOs and games of the time, everything balanced for groups with soloing done at reduced benefit and great mortality. I think we have to take a step back from that. Without pasting on player labels, a lot of us have reduced playtime due to families, jobs, other obligations of adulthood or school. And sometimes, you just want to log in and kill something. Or be able to complete a quest without having to send tells begging for help. So, adding to the quest request (har!) I would add that soloable content would be a good addition to any future Layos, whether it be NWN or the MMO. It doesn't have to be everything, but there is nothing wrong with being able to pick off a few (insert mob of choice here) out of the pack for food/resources/the h-e-doublehockysticks of it.
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Topic: What do you want from Layonara? (Read 2480 times)
