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

Well, a prior announcement would reduce the time period that those questions being asked because people can refer to that, hence less annoyance if that is the concern.

We weren't previously planning to have a 100% RCR period this month. We expected our next one to be when we released crafting.

There were several on staff who didn't feel the mechanical changes made with the last update warranted a 100% RCR period. Nobody (except Hierophant builds, which would have been handled on a case by case basis) would have been broken by the announced changes.

That being said, some felt it did warrant a 100% RCR period, because it was known that not everyone would love the changes, and some people would want to change their builds as a result of them.

I decided to allow the 100% RCR period, despite my personally disliking them, as a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.

TL;DR: We weren't going to do a 100% RCR period, and then we were. You got about as much notice as we did.

You got about as much notice as we did.

Thanks for the reply, that means a lot. I had the impression as well, that 100% RCR would very rarely appear. I'm lucky I can redo my voiceset fault XP-loss free!

Farmboy2003 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 03, 2019 2:06 pm

You got about as much notice as we did.

Thanks for the reply, that means a lot. I had the impression as well, that 100% RCR would very rarely appear. I'm lucky I can redo my voiceset fault XP-loss free!

I feel very fortunate. Been gone a while and now i can try all the fun stuff that was added over the years!

Is there any plan for another 100% RCR in the future? Or was the last one in effect a one time deal with it unlikely to happen without a really serious overhaul in mechanics?

Thank you

At the moment there is no immediate plan for another 100% RCR period.

The next one will hopefully be when we introduce crafting, if the crafting system we go with warrants RCRs. Though at this point I can't say for sure when the next one will be.

Is there a plan about allowing build testing on the server ,through an ooc room or so?

Calen wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:16 pm Is there a plan about allowing build testing on the server ,through an ooc room or so?

No. There is a JEGS module that emulates character building for our server but it's out of date and our remaining development staff probably won't be updating it as there are simply higher priority things for them to work on. This is a roleplaying server first and foremost and "Build testing" is not something we plan to support on the live server.

From an admin perspective I don't like 100% RCR periods because it creates a lot of extra work for us. From a player perspective I don't like 100% RCR periods because they're bad for RP (players focus on tweaking their builds for a month and RP stalls).

My stance on these is simply that they will not happen often. Even once a year is too much from my personal perspective. Sorry!

If it truly were only about RP than there would be no need to balance classes through buffs and nerfs as game mechanics would be just an after thought.
From that perspective it really shouldn't matter if a Barbarian has 2 AC more or less for example nor should things such as the 3/20 rule exist as they are opposing free RP builds.
However since the server balances classes, adds new feats and adds new classes isn't it a plausible idea to allow people to at least test what you're introducing with out suffering from an xp penalty?

As you say, Jegs is hardly working these days.

If someone wants to produce a new JEGS or builder website, we'd be fine with that. But we're not putting development into it right this second. We don't have anyone on staff with the skills and interest in doing it right now.

Endelyon wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 1:10 pm

Calen wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:16 pm Is there a plan about allowing build testing on the server ,through an ooc room or so?

No. There is a JEGS module that emulates character building for our server but it's out of date and our remaining development staff probably won't be updating it as there are simply higher priority things for them to work on. This is a roleplaying server first and foremost and "Build testing" is not something we plan to support on the live server.

From an admin perspective I don't like 100% RCR periods because it creates a lot of extra work for us. From a player perspective I don't like 100% RCR periods because they're bad for RP (players focus on tweaking their builds for a month and RP stalls).

My stance on these is simply that they will not happen often. Even once a year is too much from my personal perspective. Sorry!

Areas are built to challenge PvE powerbuilds rather than to allow some form of smooth leveling path even for RP builds, and DM event participation is often based on the PCs' ability to survive against strong mobs, which are both strong motivators to find an at least semi-optimal build rather than just follow along with the RP. I think there's an inconsistency between the server's philosophy and its design; various forms of XP grind already stall RP more than monthly RCR would. 100% RCR isn't as pretty as redesigning a lot of systems, but it's less time consuming and more reasonable to achieve, and tackles some of the same problems.

Dumb Suggestion by Steve #1259:

Would it be possible to script the RCR NPC System to allow for 1/year 100% RCR per CD Key?

I suggest this with the idea that because JEGs will likely never be updated nor even can utilize BGTSCCs custom server scripts that affect quite a lot of content, if a Player would attempt to RP & Level to experience some form of Character/mechanical power, but then realize once attaining that Lebel that the Feat/spell/class doesn’t perform as advertised, at least once per year, the wouldn’t also have to pay the general RCR percentage task?

Just 1/year???

For me personally, it doesn’t matter cause I’m a masochist and continually level up from 1, but other Players, those who are willing to essentially “do the work” to prove a concept Character-Build, don’t get turned off from the Server because their goal can’t be achieved.

Basically, the RCR in general is a huge gift to us Players, but it could also be an even kinder gift!!!

On the one hand, I definitely see the problem with too liberal RCR policies. And I don't mind leveling new characters so, it's not a huge deal to me.

On the other, I've got a level 19 character I'd build slightly differently had I known certain server specific things (feats, items, skills, etc) before I started. The penalty is a little too big at that point, and it doesn't seem very fun to re-level almost the exact same character again so... it's a bit of a conundrum.

I see why some leeway would be valuable and too much would be problematic. I suppose there never will be a perfect solution.

MadSeer wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:23 pm

Endelyon wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 1:10 pm

Calen wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:16 pm Is there a plan about allowing build testing on the server ,through an ooc room or so?

No. There is a JEGS module that emulates character building for our server but it's out of date and our remaining development staff probably won't be updating it as there are simply higher priority things for them to work on. This is a roleplaying server first and foremost and "Build testing" is not something we plan to support on the live server.

From an admin perspective I don't like 100% RCR periods because it creates a lot of extra work for us. From a player perspective I don't like 100% RCR periods because they're bad for RP (players focus on tweaking their builds for a month and RP stalls).

My stance on these is simply that they will not happen often. Even once a year is too much from my personal perspective. Sorry!

Areas are built to challenge PvE powerbuilds rather than to allow some form of smooth leveling path even for RP builds, and DM event participation is often based on the PCs' ability to survive against strong mobs, which are both strong motivators to find an at least semi-optimal build rather than just follow along with the RP. I think there's an inconsistency between the server's philosophy and its design; various forms of XP grind already stall RP more than monthly RCR would. 100% RCR isn't as pretty as redesigning a lot of systems, but it's less time consuming and more reasonable to achieve, and tackles some of the same problems.

The truth has been spoken! Rejoyce!

Every 6 months or every quarter would be really nice for those of us who dont get to play that often.