Eldebryn wrote:Unfortunately what Prism says is true. However there is one thing I was always curious about and I haven't been able to confirm due to the fact that I only play in UD.
Do similar situations occur in the surface? Is the surface a place where this sort of contrast manifests as well or is just Sshamath? And if it's the latter then why does this happen? UD has huge potential and it just feels sad watching the place rot and being unable to do much about it.
Most players like to play in environments that they are familiar with. The Underdark is not a module that many players have experience with and that would be my first assumption on why the setting has a low interest to the many new players.
The second cause, would be the "retention" of players who have played a UD Character. There are several factors that I have noted in my study and assessment of the UD that contribute to "low player retention". There are a few points that I have surmised from both my own experience combined with those of the players. The information gathered for this analysis was obtained through a series of polls we have hosted, in order to pinpoint the issues that contribute to the exodus. They are as follows though they are in no order of priority of signifigance:
1.
Excessively low lighting conditions: Cause irritation to many players. Though it is immersive it does not make a "comfortable" environment for the majority of players and it is also a foreign concept to many who play adventure type games.
2.
Small and confined maps: 99% of the maps are interior maps that are limited in space and cannot give the impression of "Expansiveness". Players gravitate to large seamless maps so it avoids breaking the immersions. It is also more functional to spread mobs around a larger open area map than a confined map that is limited to finite tiles.
3.
Lack of Epic level Content: It is well known that most of the content that gains rewards start waining towards epic levels versus the surface that has a variety of epic level areas that house level appropriate mobs, bosses, Quests and Loot. The average xp gained per epic creature kill at epic level for a drow is less than what can be gained in an epic level surface creature. I believe there is a CR cap on creatures in the UD which is around CR 20-25 while the surface has creatures that are CR 25+. The CR will determine the amount of relative XP a player character will receive per kill.
4.
Learning Curb for new players: We have seen numerous threads concerning the feasibility for magic users, medium to low AB classes to progress at low levels or at level 1. The XP curb for an ECL race +2 is 6000xp the CR level creatures appropriate for a level 1-3 UD PC gives about 24xp per kill and is halved when reaching the next level range up. The only adjacent creatures in a zone that can be safely traveled too from the starting area are beetles or kobolds that are very deadly to low to medium AB classes. I am not sure if the difficulty was intended as part of the setting which seems to suit the hardcore drow players rather than the casual player that is more frequent on the surface.
5.
Equipment and Gear available: Equipment and gear that is available in the UD is either equivalent to the items that can be found or purchased on the surface. There are no unique items, misc items, consumables, gear that is unique to the UD that would be required to be used by a surface character as well, thus the lack of surface traffic in a city "KNOWN FOR TRADE".
6.
DM Involvement: We have tried to designate DM's that were UD specific, the experiement failed. Not because of the DM's involved but because limiting staff members to one completely confined area or areas destroys a lot of the "creative freedom" that DM's need to be inspired to conjure up events. DM's are not completely UD enthusiasts either, most of us know FR lore and the setting through novels, playing guides, etc... that give us a VAST AMOUNT of source material to create entertaining events (for players and for the DM). To completely be cut-off from that and only focused on one fragment of the setting is limiting and leads to frustration and sometimes resentment. Also, the conditions above fail to retain player interest and when that begins to wane so does the DM's interests.
Again, this is my research and it is taken from the various threads from both the player forum and the DM forum from the past year that I have been monitoring. It is my opinion and it is not fact or absolute in any way, they are basically points that I beleive that unilaterally we have all mentioned in the past but have been consolidated in this post to the best of my knowledge.
I hope the points are broad enough so that any other "issues" would fall under one of those six that I have mentioned in the above. If not, and there is a fundamental problem that was not addressed by me, please feel free to PM me and I will add it to my post.
) in RL all the time...so it's nice to play a good guy now an then... 