Were did our UnderDark Dms go?

[Eldebryn]

Eldebryn, might as well have not posted anything. Practically the repeat of the previous post.

ITT: Wasn't Mar3 working on Ched Nasad before he left?

I think so, there is post originally posted by him in the dev forum if I recall correctly. It includes a general plan of development for various current and new areas, inlcuding ched.

[Rasael]

(Doesn't belong in this dank place)

Did he leave anything behind? Prototype areas?

[Eldebryn]

*shrug* no idea, just noticed a document in the dev forum, which everyone can see as far as I can tell

http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=13798

It was posted on the time I was inactive, so when I saw the post I was pretty excited...until I saw the post time stamp

EDIT: there are also some screenshots on works that was done on the illithid mines which seemed to be almost finished in the 3rd page.

http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=13792

Now, I know that my RL Spot check is abyssal-low but I don't think there is anything like this implemented unfortunately :S

[DrowHowYouLikeMeNow]

Some of you already know this but just in case you didn't. I'm new and I would like more work done on the UD. Just adding my 2cents

[Eldebryn]

Some of you already know this but just in case you didn't. I'm new and I would like more work done on the UD. Just adding my 2cents

Feedback from new players is appreciated, I believe. Could you share your opinion on what aspects of the UD, in your opinion, need to be worked? Leveling, races, areas, monsters, DM events, are the most common examples. Offering your opinion along with details would be nice.

[DrowHowYouLikeMeNow]

Some of you already know this but just in case you didn't. I'm new and I would like more work done on the UD. Just adding my 2cents

Feedback from new players is appreciated, I believe. Could you share your opinion on what aspects of the UD, in your opinion, need to be worked? Leveling, races, areas, monsters, DM events, are the most common examples. Offering your opinion along with details would be nice.

Actually there wasn't anything really wrong with it at all, I was just a little depressed nobody was there. Really I'm just trying to show some support for the UD by just stating that I'm a new player with interest in it.

[The_Alchemyst]

I have been playing in the UD in BG since i joined the server. I enjoy playing in the UD setting because i like challenging enviroments. But the problem i think is not with the challenge but with the rewards you get along with the challenges it really shouldn't be more difficult to level in the UD than on the surface most of the races already have an ECL adjustment. It makes no sense to me why on top of having an ECL adjustment and diffucult challenges you also get horrible xp and loot. So i'll make a list for my suggestions

1. Increase XP and loot in every area of the UD, many of the areas simply are not worth the risk invovled to even go there. Like mist lake or driders all the high level areas are dangerous with little to no reward invovled. Most of the areas have saving throws invovled mainly will save or fort save. But even epic characters will fail a save on a 1 its silly to get horrible XP against something that can potentially kill you for rolling a 1. Getting 20xp a kill then loosing 2200 is horrible. That means i would have to kill another 110 mobs to get that XP back. Does that make sense to you? I hope not.

2.Netherese ruins should not be the only way to get to the surface. Sshamath is supposed to be a trade city, so your telling me the only way to get to the surface from a city concerened with trade is to go through the Netherese ruins? I mean shouldn't there be an actual trade route of some kind to a trade city? Even in epic level its extremely difficult to get through.

3.More quests, this would be nice and quests enhance the setting, i like the quest where the gaurds ask you to go and kill the escaped slaves.

4.More conflict, this has been brought up before and pretty much ignored. But a drow city is a CE society and everyone seems to be getting along pretty well which is odd. And if there is supposedly conflict we dont 'see' well thats like a tree falling in a forest with noone around to hear it.

5. More dm events. I have an epic level character in the UD and i have been in one event. Part of this is because of where i live. But really one event after 21 levels of playtime?

6. Players need to read up on the UD setting before making a UD character. The last time i played on BG i had a preistess of lolth ask my half-drow ranger if she was feeling okay with a big friendly smile....I wanted to punch myself in the face hard to end my misery. I know i try and help newbies with RP as much as possible and so should everyone else.

Thats all i can think of at the moment.

I agree with all of these, but ESPECIALLY 1, 3, 5.

About 1, its spot on. Im at lvl 10 and I need to get 12000xp for my next lvl. The only thing I can grind are goblins at 15xp a piece. Thats 800 goblins!!!! If I go to goblins2 I can only take on 1 fire goblin at a time or die at 20-30 xp but that takes longer than just running around gobs1 where there is only a minute chance of dieing. Seriously, its a 1000xp if i die, it takes me hours of boring mindless grinding to get that.

Today, all day I saw 1 person in UD, they were in the beetle cave. I did come across 3 corpses.

Heck make UD xp x2 for a month and see if the UD doesn't liven up. I dare you.

This game is supposed to be fun, enjoyable. And a persistent world is suppose to ENHANCE the fun and enjoyment.


About 5, I'm not mentioning any names because this is not to single anyone out but simply to reinforce number 5; I've been here for two weeks playing UD and today I had a DM not know how to find me in Goblins 1 area. Again, not picking on any one person, from what I hear that DM does good things on the surface, but I think this is a reflection of how much DM interaction the UD gets.

In fact UD xp SHOULD be higher than surface all the time to compensate for all the DM xp the surface gets.

*sits back down and takes a breath*

Again, I've been here 2 weeks,.. and I'm seriously thinking of leaving.

[Rasael]

http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1376&start=165

[Zlaayer]

I have been playing in the UD in BG since i joined the server. I enjoy playing in the UD setting because i like challenging enviroments. But the problem i think is not with the challenge but with the rewards you get along with the challenges it really shouldn't be more difficult to level in the UD than on the surface most of the races already have an ECL adjustment. It makes no sense to me why on top of having an ECL adjustment and diffucult challenges you also get horrible xp and loot. So i'll make a list for my suggestions

1. Increase XP and loot in every area of the UD, many of the areas simply are not worth the risk invovled to even go there. Like mist lake or driders all the high level areas are dangerous with little to no reward invovled. Most of the areas have saving throws invovled mainly will save or fort save. But even epic characters will fail a save on a 1 its silly to get horrible XP against something that can potentially kill you for rolling a 1. Getting 20xp a kill then loosing 2200 is horrible. That means i would have to kill another 110 mobs to get that XP back. Does that make sense to you? I hope not.

2.Netherese ruins should not be the only way to get to the surface. Sshamath is supposed to be a trade city, so your telling me the only way to get to the surface from a city concerened with trade is to go through the Netherese ruins? I mean shouldn't there be an actual trade route of some kind to a trade city? Even in epic level its extremely difficult to get through.

3.More quests, this would be nice and quests enhance the setting, i like the quest where the gaurds ask you to go and kill the escaped slaves.

4.More conflict, this has been brought up before and pretty much ignored. But a drow city is a CE society and everyone seems to be getting along pretty well which is odd. And if there is supposedly conflict we dont 'see' well thats like a tree falling in a forest with noone around to hear it.

5. More dm events. I have an epic level character in the UD and i have been in one event. Part of this is because of where i live. But really one event after 21 levels of playtime?

6. Players need to read up on the UD setting before making a UD character. The last time i played on BG i had a preistess of lolth ask my half-drow ranger if she was feeling okay with a big friendly smile....I wanted to punch myself in the face hard to end my misery. I know i try and help newbies with RP as much as possible and so should everyone else.

Thats all i can think of at the moment.

I agree with all of these, but ESPECIALLY 1, 3, 5.

About 1, its spot on. Im at lvl 10 and I need to get 12000xp for my next lvl. The only thing I can grind are goblins at 15xp a piece. Thats 800 goblins!!!! If I go to goblins2 I can only take on 1 fire goblin at a time or die at 20-30 xp but that takes longer than just running around gobs1 where there is only a minute chance of dieing. Seriously, its a 1000xp if i die, it takes me hours of boring mindless grinding to get that.

Today, all day I saw 1 person in UD, they were in the beetle cave. I did come across 3 corpses.

Heck make UD xp x2 for a month and see if the UD doesn't liven up. I dare you.

This game is supposed to be fun, enjoyable. And a persistent world is suppose to ENHANCE the fun and enjoyment.


About 5, I'm not mentioning any names because this is not to single anyone out but simply to reinforce number 5; I've been here for two weeks playing UD and today I had a DM not know how to find me in Goblins 1 area. Again, not picking on any one person, from what I hear that DM does good things on the surface, but I think this is a reflection of how much DM interaction the UD gets.

In fact UD xp SHOULD be higher than surface all the time to compensate for all the DM xp the surface gets.

*sits back down and takes a breath*

Again, I've been here 2 weeks,.. and I'm seriously thinking of leaving.

Where's the "like" button? Haha. Well said. I agree with all of the above statements. I appreciate that the DM's and designers are making an effort to "fix" the UD.

[c2k]

2.Netherese ruins should not be the only way to get to the surface. Sshamath is supposed to be a trade city, so your telling me the only way to get to the surface from a city concerened with trade is to go through the Netherese ruins? I mean shouldn't there be an actual trade route of some kind to a trade city? Even in epic level its extremely difficult to get through.

1. This was done to avoid scores of drow on the surface... because they don't belong there.

2. Sshamath trades with other Underdark trade entities. Illithid towns, Duergar camps, Orog Metalworkers, etc. The problem is: None of these exist.

I think one of the Underdarks major failings is the lack of settlements. They are there, as Sshamath is not the only city in the UD. If you ever played through HotU for NWN1, you had to go to the Illithid town to do some trading, then go find the Svirfneblin city that was hidden in the UD, etc. There is none of that in BG's UD.

[Eldebryn]

2.Netherese ruins should not be the only way to get to the surface. Sshamath is supposed to be a trade city, so your telling me the only way to get to the surface from a city concerened with trade is to go through the Netherese ruins? I mean shouldn't there be an actual trade route of some kind to a trade city? Even in epic level its extremely difficult to get through.

1. This was done to avoid scores of drow on the surface... because they don't belong there.

2. Sshamath trades with other Underdark trade entities. Illithid towns, Duergar camps, Orog Metalworkers, etc. The problem is: None of these exist.

I think one of the Underdarks major failings is the lack of settlements. They are there, as Sshamath is not the only city in the UD. If you ever played through HotU for NWN1, you had to go to the Illithid town to do some trading, then go find the Svirfneblin city that was hidden in the UD, etc. There is none of that in BG's UD.

I strongly disagree, adding other cities/spawn locations in UD like the surface has Nashkel, Roaringshore etc that will mess up the UD with the population it has.

If on the other hand you are referring to things like merchant camps and small settlements between the caverns, then yes I agree with that and I think it could help.

[Mammothtruk]

I strongly agree with C2K on that point. There are suppose to be other small towns throughout that section of the underdark. various lesser races should have small tribal villages on top of that. The scope of the current UD areas is seriously lacking.

Also the Netherese ruins are terribly imbalanced. They are extremely hard in every monsters, navigation, length, traps, ect. They arent even near what the lore says they should be. And how exactly would the middle dark city of Sshamath be trading with upper dark settlements if the only way there was through that terrible maze? They wouldnt. Out of control power trip to make an artificial rift between the surface population and the UD population. And with 5 times the players on the surface they have a huge advantage meeting the challenge of the maze... as evident they were the first to breach it legit and consistently there after.

[Blackman D]

yea first group to make it thru the maze took a surface group like 3-4 hours after it was added in

omg i hated that was funny to see cerwyn put on his ass tho

but yea more towns would be awesome, be it small trading camps just to start that turn into large/small towns down the road like nashkel was developed or just the towns to being with, tho slowly building them up like nashkel would give people somewhere to RP at while it continues to get developed, it would also give UDers the option to be able to set a home location thats not right next to the normal spawn point...

[Mammothtruk]

hey I think tonight Im going to put up a vent server for the UD if there is anyone else at all that wants to get on a bullshit while we game.

[Mammothtruk]

I saw a DM last night and his name was DM Sword. He totally did stuff with the group that was in the UD and it was fun.