Richard's Big Bulk Baldur's Gate Suggestion Thread

[Richard]

BEFORE WE BEGIN...
From playing on this server intermittently over the past few years, I can say with certainty that- while genuinely impressed by, and extremely thankful for, the hard work put in by the staff- this server does have a number of what I believe to be glaring issues. Most of these are matters of balance, and while I'm certain a few have been brought up before, they've more often than not been sparsely discussed. What little discussion there has been seems to be at best, apprehension to the suggested changes. At worst, outright calling the person a fool for suggesting them. And I do understand that broad-stroke changes to the mechanics and ruleset planned out by the staff- especially ones that have been a staple of the server for years- might make a few nervous. But, I'd ask that you consider the points I bring up. If you agree, consider sharing my sentiment in the forums to give the ideas some semblance of traction. If not, please voice your disagreement, but please be civil! Alternative suggestions are also very welcome.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE or HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE NON-OPTIMAL BUILDS
I'll lead with what is probably the most multi-faceted (and, perhaps, controversial) complaint. The system for leveling and class-compositioning as it stands seems to be designed with the intention to prevent balance-issues from "powerbuilding", or otherwise abusing a meta-oriented class composition to gain stats, bonuses, and abilities that might otherwise be deemed unfair. This is all well and good- the sentiment is sound. However, there are a few problems in the current ruleset that I feel actually hinder that idea. I'll outline these issues one at a time, each presenting a potential solution.

To begin, the cornerstone rule of this server is (and has been as long as I've played, at least) that you must have at least three levels in every class you intend to take, and all of these classes must be taken before level twenty. I am of the mind that a three-level minimum is a good means to prevent silly nonsense like everyone taking one rank in bard. Ironically however, forcing players to take three levels in every class they intend to use before level twenty seems to encourage powerbuilding more than hinder it, as it seems min-maxing early on is the only means to achieve any sort of reliable playability out of builds with more than two classes when faced with the server's unique difficulty curve (which I'll discuss in a moment). It also means some otherwise good-natured builds that count on taking levels in classes later are completely unplayable.

The simplest fix I can imagine for this issue would be to maintain the three-level minimum for each class, but remove the restriction on taking new classes in epic levels. This will free up more opportunities for unique and fun class composition without people worrying about squeezing everything useful they can out of their classes before level twenty. If for whatever reason someone wants to take three levels of bard at twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and thirty, why not let them?

The second issue I'd like to address falls in line closely with the first, and that's the need to ensure a class build is viable before level 10, lest the player take a punishment in the form of experience loss for having to RCR their character as a means of correcting issues with their build. While I understand and agree that this is a good means to prevent people from endlessly tweaking their build to the point of being wildly overpowered, I also believe it is a little harsh for people that simply want to try something new or fix an issue without going up through the grind to make back those lost levels.

I'm not suggesting that every RCR should be 100%, I can see the potential abuse in that. However, more frequent RCR events would be a big help to the people that do actually need it. Ideally- in my opinion- one once a month or bi-monthly would be the best bet. Failing that, at the very least, an event to mark a few special occasions. Certain holidays, or the server's anniversary date perhaps.

As an aside, I'm very confused as to why there's no means for a character to return to the Nexus after leaving. It's packed with a number of very useful- some would say essential- tool for not only character creation, but character management and adjustment. Before, this could be accomplished by changing the case of one's username- while I believe that was more and of exploit and less of an intentional design, it was very useful. An NPC in some major population centers that can send someone back would be swell.

The aforementioned difficulty curve comes in large part from the fact that saves for NPCs are wildly inflated. This design change makes solo leveling (or even party leveling at low-levels without optimal builds) much, much more difficult. This, like mentioned before, encourages powerbuilding in my opinion. While I understand that the changes were made in the spirit of adventuring with a party, not everybody has the luxury of partying with at-level players at all hours. This leaves them with only a few choices:
1) Go it alone and risk dying with no means to return without losing a solid chunk of the experience they're working to gain.
2) Party with players that have a notable discrepancy in level and suffer loss of experience gains as a result.
3) Don't go at all.

Simply put, I think the save inflation for NPCs needs to be turned down a notch, if not removed altogether.

HiPS DON'T LIE or HIDE N' SEEK: DANTE MUST DIE EDITION
Hide in plain sight as if functions now is horribly unbalanced- most notably in player-versus-player scenarios. With a stealth having a cooldown of only 5 seconds, any character with HiPS can- regardless of their opponents detection checks- automatically cause those targeting them to de-target. The check to detect someone that has used HiPS is also very hard (nearly mechanically impossible) to pass. From my experience on the server it seems that every character that has been around either:
1)Has taken shadowdancer or assassin solely to gain HiPS.
2)Has stacked their "use magic device" skills to counteract HiPS by utilizing scrolls and throwables.

This is coming from someone whose main is a HiPS build, so take that for what you will. To prevent invalidating a number of builds (like mine) that rely on HiPS, I think a reasonable fix would be to make the cooldown on stealth roughly thirty to fourty-five seconds rather than the standard five seconds, to prevent rapid utilization of HiPS to both force themselves to be de-targeted and stack an unreasonable amount of sneak attacks on opponents they're facing directly. The most extreme measure would be to remove HiPS completely, which in a way makes sense. While it functions mechanically, it doesn’t make much sense in the context of roleplay. Even the most skilled assassin can’t hide in an open field in broad daylight while being observed. Perhaps someone could argue a shadowdancer can, but that's another argument for another time I think.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
I'd just like offer my support for this build here, because I believe it would make for some fresh and interesting new class compositions. As an addition, with new types of whips on the server, I'd love to see new models for the whips as well outside of the blindingly orange one we're currently stuck using.

So, those are my gripes and suggested changes. Let's hear your thoughts on them! Anything you'd have a different idea of how to fix? Anything you think I'm mistaken in thinking needs fixed?

[Zeland]

As an aside, I'm very confused as to why there's no means for a character to return to the Nexus after leaving. It's packed with a number of very useful- some would say essential- tool for not only character creation, but character management and adjustment. Before, this could be accomplished by changing the case of one's username- while I believe that was more and of exploit and less of an intentional design, it was very useful. An NPC in some major population centers that can send someone back would be swell.

There is a npc in the Farmlands who allows to be transferred back to the nexus, on the condition that you can't return until the next reset I believe.

Hide in plain sight as if functions now is horribly unbalanced- most notably in player-versus-player scenarios. With a stealth having a cooldown of only 5 seconds, any character with HiPS can- regardless of their opponents detection checks- automatically cause those targeting them to de-target. The check to detect someone that has used HiPS is also very hard (nearly mechanically impossible) to pass.

I agree that HiPS is pretty unbalanced in pvp scenarios, however the server is not balanced around pvp and too extend the HiPS timer that long would cause more harm then gain imo.

I wouldn't be opposed to a change to HiPs that makes it so you cannot use potions, heal kits, wands and scrolls though. As that does not make much sense from a rp perspective and is one of the biggest advantages in pvp.

[Richard]

There is a npc in the Farmlands who allows to be transferred back to the nexus, on the condition that you can't return until the next reset I believe.

I didn't know this, actually. Thanks! Though, the limitation worries me a bit. Mostly because, following the server split, we'll see a lot more server stability. Which is a good thing! But it means that waiting for resets will be much more tedious and/or unreliable.

[Planehopper]

This is the holy trifecta of hot-button topics, actually. I am not sure how you haven't seen them fully debated ad nauseam.

That said, I dont have a lot to add. I think the 3b20 rule makes sense to prevent certain powerbuilds from being more common. It prevents stacking epic feats quite as easily, etc. I think Hips is mostly fine. RCR100 is talked about ALL THE TIME, so I wont even offer my opinion again here.

I will say, that since these are often hotly debated, I will keep an eye on this topic and hope the cooler heads prevail and we dont see full page, multi-quoted, insulting back and forths leading to a lock. Lets keep it civil.

[Stehl]

This is the holy trifecta of hot-button topics, actually. I am not sure how you haven't seen them fully debated ad nauseam.

That said, I dont have a lot to add. I think the 3b20 rule makes sense to prevent certain powerbuilds from being more common. It prevents stacking epic feats quite as easily, etc. I think Hips is mostly fine. RCR100 is talked about ALL THE TIME, so I wont even offer my opinion again here.

I will say, that since these are often hotly debated, I will keep an eye on this topic and hope the cooler heads prevail and we dont see full page, multi-quoted, insulting back and forths leading to a lock. Lets keep it civil.

Stay vigilant for the night is long and full of terrors.




Anyway yeah this is all the usual every day debate stuff we usually have. RCR is staying as it is, HIPS is broken in PvP but we don't balance the server for PvP, and the 3b20 rule stops folks from going nuts with builds that exploit an old game even more than they already do.

That being said maybe this will concentrate all that discussion into one mega thread instead of a new RCR thread every 3 days.

HIPS is completely broken because of the fact that you mechanically stop existing because all you have to do is back up, hit the button, and then you're fine. In all content, PvE and PvP. If you're a range build with HIPS you don't have to fight at all, just do Skyrim styled prodding and waiting only at a much faster rate. It's essentially a justifiable version of abusing a zone transition in order to cheat out a fight. Unless a NPC has a massively inflated save in order to notice stealth, it's not doing it with the overabundance of epic stealth items that also give full AC.

[Richard]

RCR is staying as it is,

That's a pretty hardline statement. I've honestly not contributed much to the conversation on the forums thus far, so I may be missing some points here. Any particular reason as to why one would think more frequent RCR events would be a bad idea?

HIPS is broken in PvP but we don't balance the server for PvP,

Why is PvP allowed on the server if the server isn't balanced for PvP? One could argue it's entirely optional but, in many situations and under many factors, is most certainly is not. I hear more about PvP conflict lately than anything being driven by the server narratively- not that I'm blaming anyone for that, I understand the server is in quite the transitional period at the moment. I just think it's a bit silly for the server to have specific rules and guidelines for PvP- instead of disabling it entirely- if there's no interest in balancing that aspect of the server whatsoever.

the 3b20 rule stops folks from going nuts with builds that exploit an old game even more than they already do

I might get raked over the coals for drawing comparasons, but the Arelith server on NWN:EE is 3b30 and generally seems to be doing fine. Bearing in mind that that game's even older, I don't really get that defense. I could understand given the rushed nature of NWN2's development that it might be a bit more buggy, but as far as class balancing goes- considering it's running off of 3.5e and not 3.0e like the first game- shouldn't it be more equipped to mitigate exploits?

[Rakosi]

I would ask, in the interest of having a discussion about this, that people who violate the rules of posting on this topic get posting suspensions rather than the whole topic locked. It's often in the interests of people who disagree with the idea of something even being discussed to devolve the conversation and get the discussion locked; please don't give into that.

Not balancing for PvP on an RP server has always been a weird take from my perspective. The whole game is based on player interaction, and whether that interaction happens in a PvE situation with a party of adventurers or a PvP situation between two guilds, the same amount of care should be given to each kind of interaction. HiPS is completely broken in PvE, and my main character uses it a lot. It's got more obvious problems in PvP only because Frost Giants don't come to the forums to post when you tear them apart without them having much of a chance. A lot of the strongest melee characters on the server seem to be running similar kinds of dual-wield epic precision sneak attack builds with loads of attacks and HiPS, from what I've seen so far.

100% RCR is a bit of a sticking point for me, because NWN2 is an old game and new games are always coming out that will threaten the stability of the playerbase of any PW. The spell swapper Djinn has always been my biggest gripe, though. You can swap one spell as a Sorcerer once per IRL month. I almost quit the server the first time I read that. It is disrespectful to the time that players invest into the game and I honestly was kinda insulted by it. This is not a triple A MMO that can afford to timegate stuff like this because the playerbase is never going to go anywhere, and I think the lack of 100% RCR and the spellswapper Djinn don't respect the time that I, as a player, put into the game. I could get behind a once a month 100% RCR, for sure.

[Steve]

1. HiPS cooldown changed to 12 seconds. Why can’t this at least be tried out between one upcoming Server Update? If it caused absolute insanity and broke the gameplay, then just turn it back.
2. 3b20 does limit a certain amount of powerbuilding. I, for one, have about 5 builds in my NWN2db vault that can only work as 3b30, and they are pretty awesome, mechanically superior builds. But at the end of the day, would it really matter? The Server has grown to be solo-able in 80% of Areas, but easily with a non-powerbuilt group of 3-5 PCs, you can “take on” the whole of Server Areas. There are much more efficient ways to limit power building than change the 3b20 rule.
3. We should all remember these 2 things: the RCR Tool is a gift, in that for a long time, at least half the Servers life, it didn’t exist!; the paradigm of Leveling on BGTSCC has always been to encourage a slower pace of a Leveling, and not make Level 30 the pinnacle of development (and negatively affecting RP below 30 through mechanical advantage). As a note, also remember that D&D was designed to be played in 3-4 Levels of all PCs in the campaign. That BGTSCC is a 30 Level spread sandbox COMPLETELY skews the original design...and not really for the best imho.

[Nemni]

The spell swapper Djinn has always been my biggest gripe, though. You can swap one spell as a Sorcerer once per IRL month. I almost quit the server the first time I read that. It is disrespectful to the time that players invest into the game and I honestly was kinda insulted by it.

Wow. There used to be no way to swap sorcerer spells. I spent many many difficult hours creating that function. Glad you appreciate it

Anyway, if people were limited to just swapping a feat, some skill points or a spell on RCR, I would support regular 100% too. But when people can basically swap their whole build several times it becomes a bit silly on a RP server.

As for cooldown on hips, if the primary concern was PvP I wouldn't mind raising it either. But PvE is a much more important consideration and there some classes really need it.

[Druchii]

The spell swapper Djinn has always been my biggest gripe, though. You can swap one spell as a Sorcerer once per IRL month. I almost quit the server the first time I read that. It is disrespectful to the time that players invest into the game and I honestly was kinda insulted by it.

Wow. There used to be no way to swap sorcerer spells. I spent many many difficult hours creating that function. Glad you appreciate it

Anyway, if people were limited to just swapping a feat, some skill points or a spell on RCR, I would support regular 100% too. But when people can basically swap their whole build several times it becomes a bit silly on a RP server.

As for cooldown on hips, if the primary concern was PvP I wouldn't mind raising it either. But PvE is a much more important consideration and there some classes really need it.

Frankly I think it captures the mutability of the class better than the mechanics in play. Sorcerers control magic innately but are less flexible. This lends them a sense of slow ever present change, or not if players do not use it.

Also if players spent hours optimising a good build of spells then it served them well. I think you might have felt you wasted your time and got upset rather than thinking through it and realising it is a nice surprise. Also it's on My once a month.

Keep the spellswapper, it's a fine addition.

Also Hips is a super powerful feat and PVP should always be a concern on a server that is RP focused , XP generous and allows unsupervised RCR. PvE sure happens a lot but I already see many people mentioning powerbuilding and I admit I've felt bad for a DM who ran us an event and their starting spawns were obliterated because we all were quite optimised builds even if not perfect. Take away the cool down and it'll cause immense frustration in PvP. There is a non exploitive way to render the cool down inert anyway if someone wants to build for PvP.

And yes..my only character relies on this to survive. I am not saying this because I have something against Hipsters. I will also say 12 second cool down and I'd RCR immediately to the above build and consider mine useless. 6 seconds is a lot of exposure time to enemy mobs or lords etc. Obviously if it's just a try out I would give it a go but I foresee needless frustration when there's alternatives.

[Rakosi]

The spell swapper Djinn has always been my biggest gripe, though. You can swap one spell as a Sorcerer once per IRL month. I almost quit the server the first time I read that. It is disrespectful to the time that players invest into the game and I honestly was kinda insulted by it.

Wow. There used to be no way to swap sorcerer spells. I spent many many difficult hours creating that function. Glad you appreciate it

Anyway, if people were limited to just swapping a feat, some skill points or a spell on RCR, I would support regular 100% too. But when people can basically swap their whole build several times it becomes a bit silly on a RP server.

As for cooldown on hips, if the primary concern was PvP I wouldn't mind raising it either. But PvE is a much more important consideration and there some classes really need it.

No, I totally appreciate the feature but it is clear that when leveling a Sorc through levels 1-30, there are many, many, many spells that you use on the way and are important for the levelling process that are utterly useless at level 20. I had a Sorc with the Summon Creature spells because I needed those at a low levels to do content, and it fit my RP. When I reached level 18 I guess I effectively just had 1 less spell choice than any other Sorc that RCR'd and just ignored those growing pain spells. I actually had to RCR that character and relevel from something like 14 without casting anything fun because I knew that it would punish me in the long term. In this case it is the once per month spellswapper Djinn compounding the unforgiving RCR for certain builds. I does feel like being spit in the mouth by Gordon Ramsay and being told how amazing it should taste (and hyperbole excluded, I am very appreciative of the devs that have got some player friendly features in, you included). Spellswapper Djinn is a great idea and great execution in isolation of the other systems.

How about giving every newly created character ONE 100% RCR token that they can use when and however the player sees fit, with any others only granted by a DM for longstanding class-change RP? That would already be a huge improvement on people building classes that are heavily weighted to max level, or allowing them to make 'mistakes' without feeling like they need to give up their character the first time through.

On the subject of HiPS, coming from someone who has played and DMed PW's since NWN1 first came out; if you leave your PvP maximally open to unfairness your community will get more and more toxic on the issue. There will be people who will start asking OOC in Discord or Nexus about what other player's characters are built like. There is just more salt in general. NWN is an unfair game in general that favours certain classes over others, but outside of HiPS or being a spellcaster, I don't think you can realistically win a PvP outside of niche builds like epic smite Paladins, maybe. Admittedly, I only heavily played PvP arena severs on NWN1. The nature of d20 games is in general luck, but there are plenty class, statistic and gear choices to make luck fairly irrelevant especially in PvP.

My main is a HiPSer and PvE feels like cheating the game engine tbh. I enjoy because the numbers are big and stupid and I'm basically immune to most damage but it makes me feel bad for the players I'm playing with, who have great RP, with better character gravitas and much better gear and they have to spend 2 minutes after each encounter healing up from 2HP as if it was a close thing while I'm able to run around like a toddler on meth smacking anything dead before it can reach me. It's just weird. We all play games. We all know this ability wouldn't be accepted as balanced in any other game.

The only intellectually honest defence I have for HiPS on my character is "Everyone has it so I want it too". It's not a good defence, but it's the only one I've got really.

[Rhifox]

The spell swapper Djinn has always been my biggest gripe, though. You can swap one spell as a Sorcerer once per IRL month. I almost quit the server the first time I read that. It is disrespectful to the time that players invest into the game and I honestly was kinda insulted by it.

Wow. There used to be no way to swap sorcerer spells. I spent many many difficult hours creating that function. Glad you appreciate it

Anyway, if people were limited to just swapping a feat, some skill points or a spell on RCR, I would support regular 100% too. But when people can basically swap their whole build several times it becomes a bit silly on a RP server.

As for cooldown on hips, if the primary concern was PvP I wouldn't mind raising it either. But PvE is a much more important consideration and there some classes really need it.

Spellwapper NPC is one of the best additions on the server IMO. I used to RCR just to change my spells around. The cooldown is a bit annoying (especially on SS, a class that can swap all spells after every rest in pnp ) but having the function at all is more than worth the wait. So thank you very much for adding it!

A similar way to swap feats or skills (though skills sounds hard) would honestly be cool, too (with a similar once-per-month cooldown), and I think would reduce the amount of people needing to do RCRs. There will always be those who want to swap their classes, but I think a lot of RCRs are just to fix little things like feat choices. It's also well in line with pnp as retraining is a thing.

RCR itself is still good to have for class changes because while a lot of that is for powerbuilding/optimization there's also plenty of times where people do it for character development or for better fitting a character's classes to that character (as someone who does RP builds, it still takes me awhile of play before I figure out what fits the character the most). No need for 100% in this case (though the occasional 100% periods as we already have is always nice), as it makes sense that if a character is changing their classes that they'd not be as powerful as they were before and need to train themselves back up.

[Rakosi]

I mean I wouldn't rake you over the coals for it, it's a fair comparison, but you have to remember Arelith also has the extremely good benefit of being on NWN:EE which is currently raking in the benefit of steam servers too. There's no jumping through hoops and they're using a game that's a lot more moldable and something they can go crazy on. It's not quite the same because NWN2 is a bit more rigid in that regard. To my knowledge we can't do something like making procedural dungeons or maps. So the game being older doesn't have as much to do with it to me as the fact that they have more advantages stacked in their favor.

That being said, we're also just a different server altogether. We have different classes, mechanics, feats, features, etc that make up an entirely different experience altogether, on top of just being a different game wholesale. What works for Arelith, or even a server like Haven, isn't going to necessarily work for us because under the hood is all different. NWN1 is held together by like...industrial car parts, NWN2 is held together by chewing gum, shoelaces, and blind luck.

None of this is meant to invalidate your suggestions either, they're all fair suggestions and stuff we get frequently, I just don't see these being changed any time soon.

And yet a guy recently posted about making quarterstaves dual weapons and in the same post referenced a couple NWNVault mods that already enable that feature and have done for a very long time. I think for my part I'm less concerned with what can or can't be done than I am with what can or can't be bothered to be done. There are tons of ready made solutions for little quality of life changes that have been publicly available for literal years. I think the majority of what people request is absolutely fixable in NWN2; and any indication that it might not be is concerning. The discussion so far in this thread is not about nebulous features that might not be approachable because of hardcoding, but things that are mechanically approachable if there was the will to do it.

I want to spend my time on this game but I want that time spent to be reflected in the care taken in the server. That's the unwritten agreement between player and server; you get players if you serve them. What may be at the top of the DMs or Devs list of changes to the server may not be what is actually best for the server, from a playerbase development point of view, for example. Having a character is not the same as ONLY having a character, no matter how much they try. I've played on this server on and off for many years, and every time I've always felt like there were players who, upon achieving the highest of levels of power, had an invested interest in pulling the proverbial ladder up behind them, to protect their positions. This is probably unfair because I cannot know every players situation, but it is my actual feeling playing here, and it's why these discussions should never be muted or shut down.

[zhazz]

On the topic of HiPS, and stealth in general
There is no doubt that HiPS is stupidly over-powered. Although that doesn't necessarily stem from the feat, but rather ties into the absurdly high ranks that can be achieved in the Hide and Move Silently skills. I have seen characters with over 90 in both skills, which is a cause for concern, since getting Spot and Listen to equivalent levels isn't nearly as easy.

One way to "fix" HiPS abuse could be to have each use of the feat apply a stacking debuff to Hide and Move Silently for 30 seconds. This would essentially simulate an opponent figuring out a pattern of attack, and eventually be able to predict the movements of the HiPS user.

As for Stealth itself, I believe the following should break Stealth: Using an item, casting a spell (metamagic can override), talking, bumping into someone, emoting touching someone (this can be hard to code). A lot of players treat Stealth as if it was Greater Invisibility, which it is not. In RP that can be frustrating.

On the topic of 100% RCR
I don't really care either way. I think it would be fair to have a way to swap Skills, maybe up to a maximum of 5 skill points per RL week. That would at least simulate a character making progress in one area, at the expense of another.

I treat RCR as something based on RP, but I might be in the minority there. I don't just do a RCR. I let the RP dictate how and when the RCR happens, and the temporary loss in levels simulates the struggles the character goes through when adapting to their new situation.

On the topic of 3by20
The only place where I really find a hinderance with this rule is for Fighters that have more than one other class in their build. Ideally you want to get to Fighter 12 as soon as possible, to pick up Greater Weapon Specilization and unlock the Epic variant; alongside Melee Weapon Mastery. For many builds, due to the rule, Fighter 12 isn't reached before level 27 or even 29.

Does it need to be fixed? I don't think so. But if someone were to change it, then rather than remove the rule, simply change it to 2by20 or 1by20.

[Snarfy]

Oh, Richard... look what you've done.

First off, thanks for pointing out that you've been playing here "intermittently". That, coupled with this topic being your 6th post in two years, helps put things a little more into perspective. I mean, it's one thing to speak on glaring server issues, but can you honestly say that you've played here, or conversed with other players/devs on the forums enough to truly say so "with certainty"? Somehow, I'm skeptical that you have, otherwise... why oh why would you invoke the aforementioned unholy trifecta of hot-button(DEAD HORSE) topics? But! I digress... suggestions, right.

You actually make numerous points I agree with, such as...

... I am of the mind that a three-level minimum is a good means to prevent silly nonsense like everyone taking one rank in bard...

... it seems min-maxing early on is the only means to achieve any sort of reliable playability out of builds with more than two classes when faced with the server's unique difficulty curve...

Ok, well, two at least. Unfortunately, I'm going to need to hear a more compelling assessment as to how allowing players to "take three levels of X at twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and thirty" is compatible with preventing silly nonsense. Maybe I'm a cynic, but I can imagine a multitude of ways this could go silly willy bananas to the Nth degree.

On your other point, and IMHO, min-maxing early on isn't necessarily the only way to achieve playability, as the difficulty curve doesn't really rear it's ugly head until a certain level(s). For the record, I do not min-max, I do not powerbuild, and I do not choose ridiculous class combos so I can PWN. Do I optimize? Absolutely, at least in some cases. And in some cases, I make truly horrific RP inclined builds, and they STILL manage to get by just fine VS content(have you ever tried playing a cleric sneak archetype? It's a special kind of torture, let me tell you)... and the reason for that is: I'm old I've played here too friggin' long a while. Easing restrictions on 3b20, again imho, isn't going to solve anything, and will likely just induce an epic wave of face-palm'y player behavior. And that's about it.

As for the difficulty curve... honestly, I'm fairly certain that the over-inflated stats of mobs absolutely does contribute to the inclination of powerbuilding/min-maxing/etc, and I've been grumbling about it for ages. So,

Simply put, I think the save inflation for NPCs needs to be turned down a notch, if not removed altogether

... yeah, me too.

More frequent 100% rcr's? Meh, don't care... I just rcr'd a level 30 back down to 20. Would I have liked to be back at 30? Sorta, but not really, because it gives me a chance to RP out the rcr. I also have 4 other level 30's, and ten other characters between level 8 and level 28, and I've rcr'd THREE level 30's in the last 4 months to fix them, and none at 100% xp refund. Getting XP is ridiculously easy on this server, and 100% refund time usually just makes for headaches.

HiPS.... I'll be short and sweet with my responses here:

I think a reasonable fix would be to make the cooldown on stealth roughly thirty to fourty-five seconds rather than the standard five seconds

Really? Hmm... alright, how about this: You go roll up a rogue and play it until you qualify for SD(level 8). Now that you have your HiPS, attack something. At this point, choose to either run for your life, or stand there and watch your low AC rogue get mangled by over-inflated mobs for 30 - 45 seconds. After all that, come back to us and tell us all how reasonable your fix seems.

While it functions mechanically, it doesn’t make much sense in the context of roleplay. Even the most skilled assassin can’t hide in an open field in broad daylight while being observed.

I disagree... HiPS can make sense in the context of roleplay, just not in the one you've used. The problem isn't with HiPS so much as how players use it. Although, more than anything, I think it's used as a means of not getting fugue'd. Like I said, go play a 30 - 36 AC hips'ing rogue, then run up against a strong monster/DM event, and see how inclined you are to HiPS.

HIPS is completely broken because of the fact that you mechanically stop existing because all you have to do is back up, hit the button, and then you're fine.

Umm... no. You do not stop mechanically existing. Don't believe me? Go roll up a HiPS toon and try to stop mechanically existing in front of the Gullykin Necrolord.

Honestly people, if you don't know about stealth mechanics, please try and learn. HiPS is so easy to shut down it's not even funny. And if you can't figure it out, GO ACTUALLY PLAY A SNEAK for a month, and you will.

A lot of the strongest melee characters on the server seem to be running similar kinds of dual-wield epic precision sneak attack builds with loads of attacks and HiPS, from what I've seen so far.

... ... uhh, hrmm. Well, wait, huh?

HiPS is completely broken in PvE, and my main character uses it a lot. It's got more obvious problems in PvP only because Frost Giants don't come to the forums to post when you tear them apart without them having much of a chance.

While I could list the ways to shut down these dreaded uber-HiPS toons(rrrrofl), I'm not going to. Mostly because my main is one, and I don't want to give anyone ideas(also, meta is a poison).

1. HiPS cooldown changed to 12 seconds. Why can’t this at least be tried out between one upcoming Server Update? If it caused absolute insanity and broke the gameplay, then just turn it back.

Oooo!! Oh, oh! I know what's going to happen! *WAVES HAND EXCITEDLY* if this gets tried: Instead of HiPS'ers sticking and fighting until 6 seconds is up, they will run around in circles like stink waves around poop, causing all their group buddies to smash into each other for 12 seconds while the uber-HiPS'er flees for their life. Assuming that super-duper-HiPS-PWNstar is even in a group, otherwise it's back to fleeing to find cover, like the good ol' days before they even had HiPS.

... if we took out HIPS or otherwise tweaked it it'd probably just gimp it to death and leave sneak-type characters basically SOL because they'd get one solid burst of damage and then be hitting like wet noodles throughout the rest of the fight fugue-bound with their uber-PvP-PvE selves.

My issue is more with it being abused in RP, personally, but it's a point of contention in pretty much all aspects for some folks.

Fixed that for you