Quest land

[Wintersheart]

Quests attract many players, often take place at times when most players are online (for obvious reasons) and they also often take place on the west server (for other obvious reasons). The problem is that many players online makes for lag and crashes. If those taking part in a quest where for most of the time not on the west server both they and the other players would benefit.

So what I suggest is a place called "quest land" placed on the east server. Quest land would be empty landscapes only the DM could port the players to with generic castles, dungeons, deserts, forests etc. No spawns in these areas and no resources. I suggest the east server since it seems the least busy and hence I presume most stable and less used.

Getting stable quests with less lag would save both DMs and players a lot of grief.
Another added advantage would be that DMs wouldn't have to empty areas or worry about random spawns.

I am aware this is a big project and I don’t expect it to happen soon, but I would be most willing to help make the areas and at least now I have tossed the ball into the air.

[Rhizome]

This is an excellent suggestion.  It is so excellent, that our brilliant content team has thought of it already and implemented it to a degree.  In fact, we do have several areas on each server which are just as you describe.  Using the ones on east for a quest which may be on Mistone, however, is something I don't think many of us do.  That's a good idea, particularly during peak player times when the lag can seriously hamper an event.
  So, thanks for your suggestion.  I'm sure many GMs out there will read it and get a few ideas of ways to incorporate what you've suggested.
  Respect,
  Rhizome

[Leanthar]

*nods* Yes good suggestion, and yes due to an already heavy load for the servers the quests that are run due tend to cause problems since they tend to cause more lag.  Sadly I know of no way around this and it is a catch 22--have lots of players so that people can interact and have fun with and also have lots of quests so that people can become involved; both of which cause large player loads.  And then we have all of that weighing on the fact that NWN can not really support 64 players per server without a boat load of lag; of course I am running Windows servers which doesn't help matters really.
  I am definetly open for suggestions on how to solve this catch 22, if it is even solvable.
  This Sunday's quest is going to present a problem I am afraid, if for no other reason that it has to be run on the West server due to a few Plot areas.  I hope to ease some of the lag but I don't know if it will work or not.