i miss the old days

[LynnJuniper]

2) Bring back the concept of the "Dragoncalled".  We are all here for a purpose, and while we make not like each other, we have some common ground.  PvP is still an option, but then works with the widget.  

I've come to this conclusion , or something like it in previous posts and I understand what you're saying and am In perfect agreement. However, I think it was an intentional thing that this happens.

Before it was Good guys Vs. Bad Guys , where no matter what you're alignment was (Mich or Rufus) You're still fighting Bloodstone because its your survival and the upholding of everything you care about at steak, so you all had a reason to fight.

What's our reason now?

How do we justify going on doing what we do?

That's something I think every player needs to think of for each of their characters. In a world without Bloodstone. What are your goals? Why are you out adventuring rather than being say, a town sentinel, or perhaps spending the rest of a quiet life studying your magic or working with your temple/church? Why are you out here?

Think of your goals, and you find people with similar ones. Sure, there will still be a split but hey, maybe some unity will come out of this? Maybe not.

Remember, The plot quest has just started. I'm sure once L gets further into it we'll have something defined to do again.

[Serissa]

I'd really, really like to see more reasons for more people to spend time at Stormcrest Crossing.  If the fish were there, instead of having a pond outside of Hempstead, that would help.  If there were apples, even one tree, that would help.  If one could get ale in the tavern, play darts at the target, that would help.
 
 I'd like to propose a fisherman NPC for that area.  He'd sell fishing equipment and bait, fire-making equipment, and maybe one kind of ale.  When asked about how to fish or fire-build, he'd give a spiel about..umm, an art that takes skill best taught by a good fisherman, but he's busy fishing right now.  Just ask around...
 
 I'd also like to propose an "Ozy" type NPC, who, for a small gift, will tell one of a selection of short tales meant to inform, instruct, and entertain beginners.

[LynnJuniper]

I'd really, really like to see more reasons for more people to spend time at Stormcrest Crossing.  If the fish were there, instead of having a pond outside of Hempstead, that would help.  If there were apples, even one tree, that would help.  If one could get ale in the tavern, play darts at the target, that would help.
 
 I'd like to propose a fisherman NPC for that area.  He'd sell fishing equipment and bait, fire-making equipment, and maybe one kind of ale.  When asked about how to fish or fire-build, he'd give a spiel about..umm, an art that takes skill best taught by a good fisherman, but he's busy fishing right now.  Just ask around...
 
 I'd also like to propose an "Ozy" type NPC, who, for a small gift, will tell one of a selection of short tales meant to inform, instruct, and entertain beginners.

I would rather not 'dehumanize' the world by making NPCs do something player characters are perfectly capable of. That said I can see where that's not practical. not all of us can be here all of the time.

[Pen N Popper]

Players travel to areas for a reason, as Serissa suggests.  From my experience if you want to artificially create a location that people congregate:
[LIST=1]

• Make the area visible to passing traffic as players go where players are. (ie. Hlint benches)
• Visible from the bank (ie. Hlint benches)
• Visible from CNR stations (Hlint benches was visible from the smithy and also visible to passerby on their way to the crafthall)
• Provide a bit of diversity to RP sitters (Hlint benches had, besides the benches, the platform, a tree to sit against, a pond to sit around)
• Provide an inherent excuse to be there (Hlint benches seemed OOC in this regard to me)

I think, though, that Layonara's project team is quite skilled at their craft and will tweak the setting over time to herd us in whatever direction works.

[Dorganath]

You can lead a horse to water, as the saying goes...

The fact is, the players pick the gathering locations, not the GM/Project Teams.  It's true that part of Hlint's popularity as a gathering spot was due to it being a starting location.  We don't have that now, but we have an area right between the starting areas that can service just as well.

Taverns and bars....we've had them forever...nobody gathers there really.  Why?  No idea.  Alright...some ideas, but then there would be just as many reasons for some people not wanting to congregate at the "usual" places. I know people, for example, who avoided the Hlint benches like the plague.

Let's also remember that the campaign in V2 had an underlying theme of  unity and purpose.  V3 begins in the Dark Ages, and  so there's no longer an assumption that people are "good" or at least here for a common reason.  There's no reason why there should be one, singular point of congregating.

[Gulnyr]

In what I'm about to say, I am not trying to make any sort of judgment on the nature and direction of the world.  The way things are now is not necessarily good or bad. Things are just different.

In a variety of posts in a variety of ways, it sounds to me like people feel that the real heart of a D&D-style fantasy roleplaying experience is the togetherness.  What I have always liked about D&D, and more specifically about Layonara during the war against Blood, was that our characters may all have had different opinions, but they were all on the same side in general.  When your character was in a party, the enemy was almost always someone else outside the party.  It's a game about cooperation instead of competition.

Now, in the dark age, the togetherness is gone.  The strangest part of quests to me now is trying to explain and understand why all these people who are increasingly opposed and have increasingly fewer reasons to trust each other continue to travel together.  Adventuring is a dangerous career, and an adventurer isn't likely to live long in groups where the enemy is behind him rather than in front of him.  The suspicion and distance makes sense for the times, but working together (or gathering in one place to chat) doesn't.

There are only so many events on the calendar, and only so many fit into a given player's schedule.  On, top of that, no one really wants to skip out on a quest if they don't really have to.  And a DM can only do so much, so everyone on a quest pretty much has to be a single party, or maybe two groups sometimes.   So it's understandable OOC that all sorts of characters end up together in one party.  IC, though, there isn't a backdrop of togetherness anymore, and it's harder and harder to explain why people with such completely differing views and ideas work together rather than breaking off into distinct groups like they would most likely do in a "real" situation.

I'm sure everyone prefers the togetherness and cooperation in different amounts.  Togetherness (and maybe even common cause) seems fairly important to a lot of players, though, and it's kinda MIA in the dark age.  Maybe that's part of why some people are feeling down and negative about Layonara right now.

[lonnarin]

I've never really missed V2 since the conversion.  The texture packs are just so bloody beatutiful and 3 dimensional that I much prefer the way these graphics look compared to NWN2.

A few things spring to mind on some other notes...

1) Hlint is still there.  It's a pretty short and safe walk from the two big cities and the benches, platform,bank and pond are all still there, along with the open portal that those Dwarven brothers were nice enough to give access to.  I've walked back and forth between the new cities and haven't been accosted by monsters yet; even the notorious griffons flew south for the winter!

2) A nice, larger tavern would be nice for congregation.  No swarms of halforc drunkard NPCs are needed though, they only made lag and annoyed people by sleeping on them randomly.  It would be good to have a large foyer gathering area with a few side rooms for smaller, more private congregations and such.

3) We could always help build a recreational area IC by saving our GP in joint projects and physically building them as characters.  Crafting a Gazebo is a far easier task than say, rebuilding Rodelm from afar.

4) the only qualms I have with "evil races" is that there is no place for them to go craft, bank and shop for equipment that I've found without having to sneak into the cities.  So until there's some kind of wilderness crafting options, like a few anvils and a forge by some tents, shamanic variants of alchemy stations and such, you will always have a conflict with races.   Plenty of them would gladly stay outside town, but there's no other option available to them.  So following a giant around in the city screaming "get out!" every time he tries to work a load of ore might be good RP for the person yelling at him this one time, but when the giant has 2-3 people do this every time, it just gets annoying.  Then the GM possessed townguards randomly fluctuate between "oh yeah! I remember when he did that quest for me, leave him alone" to "hey you!  I have a very bad memory and a chip on my shoulder, OUT! OUT!  I'm a gonna kill you!" since the same NPC gets played by 20 different people in their lifespan.  It just gets old for the monstrous player, more often than not.  Sure it's good RP, but when you only have 3 hours to play a night and have to RP pleading for your very existence with civilized PCs 40 minutes each time you want to smelt a load, it's just bloody tedious.  We need some kind of Azattan outpost of sorts where such players can go when others tell them to go; where when a dwarf yells at the giant or orc for crafting, a raging berzerker Grandite guard rushes out and decapitates them for their insolence.

5) A smithy in Prantz would be nice.  I have to portal every time I want to recycle an ingot or make a weapon/armor, which causes log lag as my bloated crafter's inventory ping-pongs back and forth.

But overall, I like the new changes immensely.

[Laldiien]

I'm sure everyone prefers the togetherness and cooperation in different amounts.  Togetherness (and maybe even common cause) seems fairly important to a lot of players, though, and it's kinda MIA in the dark age.  Maybe that's part of why some people are feeling down and negative about Layonara right now.

Bulls eye.

[jan]

5) A smithy in Prantz would be nice. I have to portal every time I want to recycle an ingot or make a weapon/armor, which causes log lag as my bloated crafter's inventory ping-pongs back and forth.

Isnt there a smithy?
I thought it was on the square if you go towards Lor.
Halfway the square in the middle.

[lonnarin]

I must keep missing it.  Argh.  Hroth and I searched all over that place for almost an hour this wwekend, heheh.

[Nyralotep]

There is a Smithy in Prantz jan, you've probably walked by it without realizing it.

[hawklen]

5) A smithy in Prantz would be nice. I have to portal every time I want to recycle an ingot or make a weapon/armor, which causes log lag as my bloated crafter's inventory ping-pongs back and forth.

Isnt there a smithy?
I thought it was on the square if you go towards Lor.
Halfway the square in the middle.

There is a blacksmieth in Prantz, just look

[merlin34baseball]

Random thought on why tavern are not used as gathering places:

Could it be that you are inside and cannot see who is going by?

Solution:

Add a patio.  A door in the tavern that exits out onto the main drag where there were tables and chairs to enjoy your ale.  Dining Al Fresco!

[Tanman]

I'm confused. On the one hand, people want a location where we all can go and tell stories and sing songs and make nice. Sounds good, sign me up.
 
On the other hand, people want to make sure those terrible monstrous races stay right where they belong and they better not dare encroach on the good guys turf.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. What I see currently at the moment is that when people are online..they are off doing their own thing. They are off adventuring looking at V3 battling encounters. That is the problem that I see.

I still maintain that there should be a division in that regard. I feel that up to now there is enough monstrous/evil races for them to congregate on their own. And they could meet at Fort Vehl. I am still waiting for the Stormcrest equivalent for the evil folks *winks*.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Stormcrest IS the equivalent for the evil folks.

It's for both. It's a neutral place.

Though, I mean, there's always the temple of the Hound in Prantz, if you can find it.

[Tanman]

It's for both. It's a neutral place.

I suppose I mean a darker feel to it. *grins slightly*

[Acacea]

Though, I mean, there's always the temple of the Hound in Prantz, if you can find it.

*Loves the new temple.*

It's a little harder for Acacea to visit now, though, being that she gets lost in her own house half the time.

I imagine her absentmindedly taking a wrong turn, pausing with a foot hovering over a trap trigger and yelling something like "HIRUM! I SWEAR TO LUCINDA I'M BRINGING BROEGAR HIMSELF DOWN HERE IF YOU DON'T PUT UP SOME SIGNS!"

Or something. Anyway...

[jrizz]

Stormcrest! it is the crossroads but it is lacking something. Some reason to stop there even when there is no one around.
Hlint was not the hub just because it was the starting point. It had just about all the needed crafthalls, a bank, portals right out the gate, 3 to 4 very close encounter areas, close CNR, a tavern, shops, the fire!, the pond, houses that people lived in, and Ozy . All of those things were within one or two TAs. Those are the reasons that it was the gathering place.
So what is my point? I really think stormcrest can be a good hub (not the only one) but it needs a few more thing to keep people there or reasons to go there.
Although I have been having some of the best RP sessions in stormcrest and that is due to it being a place that you go looking for RP and nothing else.
So how do you balance it out?

[hawklen]

Although I have been having some of the best RP sessions in stormcrest and that is due to it being a place that you go looking for RP and nothing else.
So how do you balance it out?

Hmm, WWE style ring, royal rumble of midgets fighting be fun. But strong sneak attacjing midgets! And everyone can have a chance at the SC Championship belt!

*coughs* coffee..yeah

[Shadowblade225]

*wonders if anyone remembers V1*