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

Hey guys, I'm a LONG time player and previous BG area designer and DM (maybe ) and I'm really digging all the new areas that have been incorporated. Even the old areas that got MAJOR upgrades ( Kudos to the designers for real! It's BEAUTIFUL!)

However...(isn't there always a BUT?)

Exploring these areas (while breath taking) have been kinda....boring.
Sorry! I know I don't have any say, I'm not currently helping with ANYTHING here. But everyone I HAVE interacted with is still running the same "quests" as a couple years ago....
I know its an RP server but what about the peeps that haven't made friends\partys\groups?
I spent an hour in different areas and didn't have any meaningful content besides grinding critters. The players I run into are still running weapons for Maltz. I spent 20 minutes the other day just BS'ing with a toon and got more experience with absolutely NO RISK.
Again, I get that it's an RP server and I've always loved that about BGTSCC, (for years, BTW!) but all these pretty new areas need something.
I actually just spent 20 minutes trying to fight my way to an area with a map bullet that looked cool only to have it say "There's nothing unusual about this"
What?
Another cave door that did absolutely nothing when clicked. Led to nowhere.
What?
It's a free server. No one gets paid outside of the minuscule donations (shame on long timers that have never donated!).
I know people play here for free and for love. (which is what always brings me back, after years) but honestly after only a couple hours of running around, over a few days, I was thinking of all the great things that could be attached to areas when player/DMs aren't present to liven things up for solo play.
Not that I think it's worth much, but that would be my suggestion for future development. You've done wonders on expanding character development and world building. Make areas more....interactive and exciting. You've done the hard parts. Quests and hooks are so easy to write in.
On a side note, making areas harder to navigate DOES NOT necessarily make them more exciting. SOME players will ALWAYS want to grind. This was an on-going argument when I was a member of staff and I still believe that small rewards for bigger risk is less fun than big rewards for sitting around the camp fire talking. I'm really kinda surprised this is still the norm, even for an EXTREMELY long lasting RP server.
Big congrats to everyone involved over the years for keeping it all fresh! I really don't mean to harsh on anyone. It's easy for someone who isn't staff anymore to point out stuff that they think needs work. But I hope that someone maybe listens to a lowly player who has always wanted this server to shine.
Long Live NWN2 and long live BGTSCC!

I'm ready to receive the hateful responses now

Surface sucks move to UD.

Hallo oldie.

tooley1chris wrote: I know its an RP server but what about the peeps that haven't made friends\partys\groups?

A very interesting question, with many answers...

But irrelevant to you: you do have friends, chrissy <3.

And yeah, make an UD character. Like...now.

tooley1chris wrote:I'm ready to receive the hateful responses now

I think I recall you.

Invoker wrote:And yeah, make an UD character. Like...now.

Yeah, Underdark is now the easy mode of the server as far as the content goes.

Hi tooley1chris, I'm glad you've returned to check out the server!

We actually just hired a bunch of new area developers, and one of their charges is to do just the things you're asking for: Making existing areas better, more interactive, and more interesting. New areas are a part of continued server growth (rotating dungeons, DM maps, maps changed to reflect big DM events, etc.), but improving existing areas and breathing new life into them is probably our highest priority right now.

Our devs have developed a number of things to try and help with that, including, just to name a handful:

- Lore nodes (where triggers on maps secretly check skill ranks and grant additional information if you pass the check)
- Random events (where you can get involved in an adventure anywhere, DM or no DM)
- Boss monsters and mini-bosses (because who doesn't like a boss fight?)

And though it takes some learning to figure out how to best use some of these in maps, I have full confidence that our area designers will be pros at it in no time.

That being said, I'm sure if you have ideas for making maps more engaging or immersive, we'd love to hear them. That goes for all players, really. After all, the world itself is sometimes the only DM that players (especially players in off-DM Team time zones) interact with on a regular basis.

Maecius, those are absolutely brilliant plans! I remember trying to do the secret lore roll for an UD area I made for this server but couldn't get the dang thing to quit firing every time a PC walked by a trigger. It got annoying when I was testing it so I dumped it. Can't wait to see this version in action! This server has always had some great talent supporting it, when their heads didn't get too big.

And, yes, I haven't visited the UD in quite awhile. Perhaps it is time.

Oh dear, Tooley is back (maybe)!!,