Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

fun or injoy the server?

Snarfy wrote:
How all these mechanical changes benefit the overall roleplay value of the server? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Personally speaking, I've decided not to RcR. If my main character concept gets diluted and made impotent by mechanical changes to the server to the point where he becomes unplayable(and, let me tell you, the "usefulness" of all those wands my rogue has sure is a kick in the...) then, honestly, and no offence to anyone who chose to RcR-optimize, I'll probably just pack it in. And I doubt I'm alone in this line of thought.

I'm with Snarfy on this, 100%. I might RcR, though I haven't really felt motivated to do so and I don't know if I will. If I do, I will keep the same class breakdown on my characters, as they had before but seek to optimize their spell/feat selection. It does gall me, to see players completely changing the base class of their characters but maintaining the same RP. That tells me that their original class selection really hadn't been taken into consideration to begin with....

Again, in line with Snarfy, if I find my long time characters unplayable, continue to witness arbitrary RcRing of long time characters I had hoped to continue to RP with, I think I will just loose interest. I just don't feel motivated to learn yet another system, within an already complicated series of systems which I had only just begun to get the hang of. Probably just pack it in myself (lol, hold your applause please, it will only motivate me to stay ).

Thank you to everyone I have had the pleasure of RPing with and continue to RP with however and it is because of you and those whose RP remains truly IC unique that I will give my current fun score: +3/+4

My pinnacle of fun:
+9 during Amn-Gate War (Kudos DMs and Developers)
&
+10 during Undead Siege of Baldur's Gate (Kudos DMs, especially one in particular and Developers)

Bad Omens wrote:I just don't feel motivated to learn yet another system, within an already complicated series of systems which I had only just begun to get the hang of.

Man... after 4 - 5 years of playing I still wasn't really savvy on the pre-update mechanics(until I rolled up 8 alts). Now? Sheesh... fuggedaboudit.

My pinnacle of fun:
+9 during Amn-Gate War (Kudos DMs and Developers)
&
+10 during Undead Siege of Baldur's Gate (Kudos DMs, especially one in particular and Developers)

Oh hells yes. The Amn-Gate war was an 11 or 12 out of 10 for me. Even with the insane lag and repeated server crashes. The recent metaplot was right up there too, easily an 8 or 9 in my books.

Snarfy wrote: How all these mechanical changes benefit the overall roleplay value of the server? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Mechanics, are the core of 90% on this server. That's why people worry about XP and builds so much.

Am I having fun?

I don't have time to play much, so not really, but I haven't had time to play for months. I guess that makes up for that year I wasn't working and playing all the time.

Are you having fun?

Somewhat. I've been drifting away in playing time a bit with RL and interest elsewhere, but NWN2 is "my game". I always come back to it.

If so, how?

I like trying to immerse myself into the world. It's tough, in a way, since I find one doesn't meet the same characters often so continuity takes a hit. However, I've tried to design my latest character with that in mind.

If not, why not?

Sometimes, the world feels a bit stale. Personally, I thrive more on action, conflict and that kind of stuff, rather than social roleplay with festivals, campfires and theatre visits.

What do you like/dislike about the update?

Hierophant. The class is sorely needed, and does a lot for diversity. I only wish that the spell expansion of the domains comes live soon, as that will help even more in divine roleplay. Some spells are fun and imaginative too.

I don't dislike much. Some of these new things do need to change or be removed sooner or later, for balance or theme.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you currently rate things on the personal fun-o-meter?

6

Are you having fun?

I have always had fun on BG. This huge update and the ammount of testing/reporting needed, did drain my energy and lately I am/was not in the mood to RP my characters because of that. However it seems to stabilize now so that will go away

If so, how?
The most fun is when we are out, going places with a group which makes sense ( eg elven group with elves ) and is a party with all roles ( clerics, wizards, fighters, rogues ).

Trying to gather information IC about current matters

Looting and killing bosses using different tactics and builds.

If not, why not?
- Very long meetings. 1+ hours tend to tire me. The same things happens when standing in one place talking/arguing etc.
- Talking to the RCR bot, although that goes away quickly when I begin level the new char

What do you like/dislike about the update?

The new PRCs. Some of them were really needed and waited for a long time.
The spells, reorganising spellbooks with them and trying to make them fit my builds better. I really enjoyed when I could make Abyssal might improve my SA for example.
EDIT: Oh the new areas, even though i didnt get the chance to see them in game ( although i did test them )

I dislike that not all PRCs could go in. Some are still waiting to be realeased
The lack of content regarding meleers
The massive ammount of work that was needed to implement the update
A couple of things that I considered that they are not working correctly - the obstraction system for example.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you currently rate things on the personal fun-o-meter?

7

Are you having fun?
Yes, or I would not be playing here.

If so, how?
My fun-o-meter has gone up and down a lot for the last 1.5 year. Best thing I have done is to focus as much on IC interaction as I can and cut off unnecessary and unpleasant OOC.

I really enjoy seeing my own character's growth into something I thought would never happen. Interactions with others IC are the highlight. New RP developments have meant new people to get to know and even some older characters who's stories I have only now began to explore. That is awesome.


What do you like about the update?
The fact there updates are certainly rolling in.

I have not played around with much of it but will when I have some time to do that.

The 100% RCR is a nice gesture. Some might not actually need it but it is good to be able to pick up new skills or whatever.


What do you dislike about the update?
I think many have forgot that this server has been running for over five years. People come back to it, likely due to its simplicity. To therefore change the mechanics so drastically is of course going to upset people. How can it not, when things have been a certain way for years and the whole server has been built around that way? A lot of the upset is likely due to the 'unknown' and uncertainty. I myself am not that upset, I am mostly just a small sigh. I am at loss for what to do with my character. Sure, I could increase CL but what is the cap for Dispels going to be...? I feel like I cannot really /plan/ without knowing that and I think I need to know what happens to Bardic Knowledge and Lore overall. Do I need to put qualification Lore all into Lore:Arcana or... urgh. I do not even know. I will just wait.

I think with things as they are now, an Assassin's and Blackguard's spellbook are entirely useless. Forget about relying on wands in the epics. I am not sure I can think of one epic area which does not have Dispels added..? UMD should be a viable option without getting 10 Dispels thrown when walking around a corner. Maybe not a "win" skill but it should be viable. Mixing classes should be possible without needing 27-28 CL. Many prestige classes are not so generous with spell progression.

Maybe too much focus on PnP. NWN2 is not PnP. It cannot be PnP.

This game is not made for mechanics such as the obstruction system. It is more frustrating than enjoyable.

I have no idea what Escape Artist skill does. Why has it been added? What purpose does it serve? No one knows!

Disguise system wrote over my character's original name...

Some people need to take a deep breath. Those who have not been around for +1 year, here is some history. Updates have only been going in very recently. They did not get added for a year or so, and some time prior to that they were quite slow. Duster47 has worked hard on getting updates running with some trial and error and Rasael has not thrown his hands up and walked away but been very patient, as have some builders. The worst thing for Devs and builders I think, is to create things and not see them added. It kills inspiration and might seem like a waste of time. This is why we are getting a big bulk of updates now, because it is the backlog of over a year worth of things. Maybe things could be smoother, staged and all that but if this is the easiest way to test things in a quick manner to be able to catch up, then so be it.

It annoys me that people complain that melee classes do not get any love. One step at a time. I think people should appreciate that there are any updates added at all instead of complaining about what is not added. The Devs will get there but they are people. Criticism is fine but I agree with that things have become a little toxic.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you currently rate things on the personal fun-o-meter?
*rolls a d10* 7

Nomster wrote:I have no idea what Escape Artist skill does. Why has it been added? What purpose does it serve? No one knows!

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/escapeArtist.htm

Rhifox wrote:

Nomster wrote:I have no idea what Escape Artist skill does. Why has it been added? What purpose does it serve? No one knows!

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/escapeArtist.htm

Thanks for a response with just a link to a PnP page?

We do not have Use Rope skill, or manacles and 'tight spaces' would need to be added to areas as characters have limitations on how they move about due to game design. Grapple checks, maybe? But why add a skill purely for grapple checks... not sure.

The first version of escape artist from the developer was using it to get out of bigby spells, vine mine, web and such spells. The final version is still being discussed, however.

Nomster wrote:

Rhifox wrote:

Nomster wrote:I have no idea what Escape Artist skill does. Why has it been added? What purpose does it serve? No one knows!

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/escapeArtist.htm

Thanks for a response with just a link to a PnP page?

We do not have Use Rope skill, or manacles and 'tight spaces' would need to be added to areas as characters have limitations on how they move about due to game design. Grapple checks, maybe? But why add a skill purely for grapple checks... not sure.

You've never tied up, shackled, or otherwise attempted to bind or restrain another character in RP? What about attempting to squeeze through a tight space? Escape Artist (and Use Rope, which I feel should have been also added) is an RP skill, as I see it.

Also, there is that tiny hole to the treasure room in FAI Deep Caves. IMO that should take an Escape Artist check to move through it when you aren't a small race.

Rhifox wrote:You've never tied up, shackled, or otherwise attempted to bind or restrain another character in RP? What about attempting to squeeze through a tight space? Escape Artist (and Use Rope, which I feel should have been also added) is an RP skill, as I see it.

I have. The thing here is though, that you speak of using this skill against another character. Capture moments can be quite tricky already. Who would set the DCs? What should Escape Artist be rolled against..? A DM would need to supervise every capture moment against another PC but most capture moments are spontaneous. The right circumstances just kind of happen.

lol look at these entitled dweebs, thinking bg is intended for fun. check ur privilege

Are you having fun?
No not really. Hopefully that will change in the future. Or maybe I am? idk, certainly not fun in the "intended" way.
If so, how?
Nexus RP is best RP. Also, 100% RCR is awesome. Also looting in the new system is fun.
If not, why not?
Well let's see. In the last week I have spent maybe ~15 hours on BG. ~5 of those went to 2x quests, ~4 went to looting (little to no RP involved), 2 went into RPing Brunhilda the Grey Orc bootylicious paladin of Siamorphe in the nexus while helping various people mule, and about ~4 went into walking around the server/standing around Darkhold while trying to find RP without much luck (a special thank you to a certain halfling who took the invitation from scry and poked his nose in Darkhold to provide me with some RP!). So overall, I've spent about half an hour of those ~15 actually RPing. Finding RP aside from standing around FAI (which is something I refuse to do without a reason, luckily a certain elf who tries to mouth his way into an early grave gives me a reason to show up from time to time) is quite difficult these days. Since you mentioned metaplot, I might as well chime in on that one as well. It's March 11th, ~90% of the 1352 campaign subforum is kindergarten RP. We need to step it up, both player side and DM side. Using those few dedicated RPers and DM Arakeen as a crutch to maintain an illusion that things are actually happening in our world is not a good thing. At the moment I'm actually scared to scratch below the surface, because I'm fairly certain that without the curtain the entire idea of a busy, living world will crumble hard. I'm sure things in regard to this will change soon, but at the moment it is how it is. I also feel as if we have a genuine lack of characters vying for GREATNESS on the server. I like being modest and mundane with my characters, but I never shy away from the desire for eventual GREATNESS. It's come to a point where it feels like the server has turned into a social network more than an emulation of a D&D game. I swear at this point people just roll their eyes and say "oh look, that guy wants to become a demigod some day. What a nerd.", making any sort of idea of GREATNESS in this kind of environment seem unattractive. People seem to have stopped playing challenging, willful and overall interesting characters, or they do so very rarely. This kind of ruins immersion for me.

What do you like/dislike about the update?:

Likes:
uhhhhhh more ghost steps? Dispel working finally? The potential of Disguise... 100% RCR is the best thing ever. I fully intend to take advantage of that as soon as I get some free time. Adding new domains and the overhaul of old ones is also cool.

Dislikes:
The other side of potential of Disguise :S The state of the environment after the dispel fix and the idea that we will wait for a long time before that's handled, Master Spy thingy... idk I haven't really digested the entire update properly yet to judge it. It doesn't really affect my fun much. Also my angst is cheap, even if I was very upset about something the 100% RCR option would have HEALED MY WOUNDS.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you currently rate things on the personal fun-o-meter?
Ingame fun? idk, around 3 maybe? It's not affected much by the update though, and I'm not frustrated by the state of things seeing as I don't focus on bg as much as I used to. On the other side, Nexus fun is 10/10 best game, as always.

I think part of the problem with the campaign subforum is that it's pretty reliant on people actually posting their activities. The orphanage thing is not the only thing that's going on, but it appears like it is because it's the only thing that seems to get posted. Only a few DMs actually report their events on the DM forum, as well. I know there's a ton of Ebon Blade stuff happening, there was the Crow archer thing, there was Toecutters, and there's a spider thing going on in Sharptooth. But none of that except Toecutters has really gotten posted about here.

I will agree that I'd like to see some adventure. But I'm still new to the server and still getting ICly and OOCly established so I don't want to presume anything. I would imagine though that the DMs are still kind of taking a breather after last year's metaplot, which seems like it was pretty huge.

Thids wrote: I like being modest and mundane with my characters, but I never shy away from the desire for eventual GREATNESS. It's come to a point where it feels like the server has turned into a social network more than an emulation of a D&D game. I swear at this point people just roll their eyes and say "oh look, that guy wants to become a demigod some day. What a nerd.", making any sort of idea of GREATNESS in this kind of environment seem unattractive. People seem to have stopped playing challenging, willful and overall interesting characters, or they do so very rarely. This kind of ruins immersion for me.

I have been playing my rather infamous character for more than two years now, and I am sorry to say "what a nerd" is what I get when I'm lucky (some refuse to even RP at all). People began to play "shy amateur 3" and "dirty peasant 2", caring to show everyone how utterly unremarkable they are, lest the "Holier-Than-Thou" RP elitists come tell them IC and OOC how disrespectful of the setting they are, and subsequently hiding behind OOC etiquette and PvP rules to get away with the stuff they say IG.

I've got a rather thick skin so I have no trouble keeping at it, but I certainly don't blame anyone for not wanting to deal with that crap on a daily basis, when the game should be fun for every RP archetype. Only a couple of dozens of active old timers (like you) are mature enough to handle that kind of conflict, or even relish it (as it should be).

But don't worry: plenty of people will come here, and cry because there's "lack of conflict"...RRROFL!!