Areas for the UD

[Tekill]

A totally new epic area would be nice. I am not picky on what that would be. An alternative to Oghrann's for levels 25-30.

What ever happened to that Lolthite city that was supposed to be implemented?
Will it be added after server split?

There should be a base for each primary faction. There is not nearly as many churches and factions in the UD as there is on the surface, so it should be possible. This way the drow factions can organize better under their own banners.
This way houses and groups have a place to meet (and grow) before they can afford their own club houses.
A church for each drow god for example. Just look at the current church of Lolth! A smashed up alter on a hill. After all these years nothing has been done to spruce up that temple?!
C'MON!!

I think more important than new or different areas, I think the UD needs to be better organized for the smaller player base it has.
Why is there still so many wizard factions/schools?
One faction for each school- there are more factions than there are players!
All divided and separated from each other. Making it really hard to foster good conflicts.
And so now there are no wizards in the wizard city - aside from the odd necromancer.
Shameful.

Create one School of Magic faction that is then separated into various schools/departments within that school. The mages can then at least work together allied against the other primary factions/religions with lots of in-fighting opportunities.

You have to find ways for the UD players to take root. There is nothing in the UD to keep the players tethered to the UD.

The fact is, there has been enough interest by players to have a solid UD player base over the years. But it is so badly organized down there that nobody sticks around. The organizers of this server should either get rid of the UD entirely or actually make an attempt to change the status quo (even a little). It might be too late now, but some simple changes would have made a difference.

To do that, think smaller for the smaller segment of players that play in the UD.

Create a place for Lolthites to meet up. On shiny new Lolthite church/area for all the Lolthites to fight over!
A temple for the other gods as well - so players of other religions have a meet up spot. They did it on the surface- I do not understand why not in the UD. You can say the Conclave believes that secure in their supremacy, allowing the fools to have their faiths, will draw more business to the city.

As I said, unite the mage schools under one roof.

I would put this new Church of Lolth and the School of Mages on the main map as the market. Put the primary faction HQ's near Glour'a.

Also this is a bit off topic, but I think the UD'ers should be allowed a stronger foot hold in Soubar. Not take it over by any means. But be allowed to hang out in Soubar without an RP reason. Surface and UD RP should be restricted- as it is unlikely to happen very often. But you got Mindflayers hanging out in Soubar....it should be fine for the odd Svirf, Duergar and drow players to hang around there as well.

The City of Dark Weavings is known throughout the Planes as a go to spot for Magical Item Merchants. Its like the Walmart of magic item shopping. I would only make sense there would be attempts to market its wares to the cities/areas directly above it. It would be realistic to assume attempts would be made, simple as that.

[Isenheart]

I would like to see a high lvl area with crazy svirfneblins or some tribe of outcast grey orcs, CR 25+.

Also some kind of foothold/camp for duergar players I feel is lacking.

[RedMage]

I mean, you can add tons of new content to the UD. It'd be nice, but in the end it's not going to be a game changer, IMO. Some of the areas could simply be revamped. A lot of the really fancy looking UD areas are unused ATM, so an upgrade to most of them would be enough for me.

As for the temples, from what I've noticed, there's like 5+ Temples accessible to the UD: 1 Lolth (Sshamath), 1 Vhaerun (Masked Mage Temple in Darkwoods), 1 Deep Duerra (Duergar Temple in Darkspires), 1 Svirf Priest (Darkwoods home next to the Bar), 1 Priest of Mystra in Mist Lake (not a temple, but it's Mystra), and a make-shift temple in the cave in Darkwoods. Also a Svirf Priest in Rockrun, and Orcs have easy access to the Main Orc Surface camp through Gauth Grottoes.

[Shadowspinner70]

It would be nice to see arcane schools beyond the mage place in Southern S'shamath and School of Necromancy; I've seen conjurers, not so many enchanters, illusionists. They don't have a home all to themselves. Maybe to save on space, in the mage's area in Southern S'shamath, have each school have a section to themselves rather than an interior for each school (though necromancers would lose a lot of space most likely, I'd check with the School of Necromancy players if this were to be implemented). That would put all of the mages in the same place but separate to encourage RP against each other but also together. Basically, it's what TeKill suggested.

A proper church for Lolth (since let's face it, her faithful would invest a lot in it). Even something little.

As for gaining a foothold in Soubar, there is RP towards that end. Sorry for having a dip in activity after you expressed interest, TeKill, there was some serious burnout--but if you want to participate in that RP, feel free to! There's a lot I agree with you saying, except for the number of churches RedMage pointed out. However, they're simply not as well known save for the Tower and little shrine to Lolth.

Thank you for your super detailed responses to bounce ideas off of.

[Blackman D]

aside from the odd necromancer.

i am not odd... well, not that odd

[Blackman D]

They don't have a home all to themselves. Maybe to save on space, in the mage's area in Southern S'shamath, have each school have a section to themselves rather than an interior for each school (though necromancers would lose a lot of space most likely, I'd check with the School of Necromancy players if this were to be implemented). That would put all of the mages in the same place but separate to encourage RP against each other but also together.

there are other issues with that as to why it wouldnt work tho

rp is the big one, the different schools are still different factions and they have their own secrets you dont want to share and throwing everyone together ruins that, and there would be much less plotting to undermine others when they are right next door and can easily hear you

npcs is another, while you could cram the entire UD player population into one building, you cant do that when you account for how many npcs there are suppose to be so it just becomes awkward - but even as big as the school of necromancy looks it wouldnt actually fit all of the npcs either, but its not something that is questioned when its just one faction

but there were plans way back when for each specialty to have their own school house but all that was finished was necromancy and generalist buildings

not to mention an interior space is much easier to throw in somewhere than an exterior one... someone just has to build them up

[Shadowspinner70]

There are so many issues with both sides, BUT that should improve with the server split. We'd have more room to add the exterior, then interior areas for each of the schools. The exterior buildings could very well be divided into areas since some of the schools are loosely allied.

[Tanlaus]

You almost don’t need to add exteriors. Some of the schools could technically be located in the stalagmites above the city, just need a portal below them to bring you up.

I think that’s the case with the private part of the school of necromancy no?

Not that we’re limited in adding exteriors but sshamath itself is packed fairly tight and pretty well designed as is.

Also, being up above the city would be very cool if a view could be added when looking down from it. Kind of like some of those views from exterior Durlag’s tower.

[Shadowspinner70]

That would be insanely cool, Tanlaus. It'd be that "wow" factor like when you go down the spiral into S'shamath.

[Tanlaus]

That would be insanely cool, Tanlaus. It'd be that "wow" factor like when you go down the spiral into S'shamath.

If I were king of the UD I’d do that with Bregan. Make the tavern area open to look out over the city.

[Shadowspinner70]

If I were king of the UD I’d do that with Bregan. Make the tavern area open to look out over the city.

*Gives the crown.* One thing that would be insanely cool is giving the Elixir a better vantage point (awesome setup, you're looking over a sea of purple though), or maybe like you said, making Gloura's an open area much like the Elfsong in BG. The inside would be the "storage" and the beetles dungeon. There's a possibility of it marginally helping with server space, even with the split coming, but idk. Aesthetically, it would be cool, especially if it wasn't all purple. Banovitsky did a BEAUTIFUL job adding greens, blues, and oranges alongside the typical purple.

Edit: Banovitsky, not whatever I wrote.

[Tekill]

and throwing everyone together ruins that

Huge assumption, with zero information to back it up.

Besides -Who the hell is everyone?!

Have you seen a lot of wizards in the Underdark, lately, that also happen to be at risk of being thrown together, lately?
To me, that is like saying, everyone, has to kept separated, because that is the only way the RP will work.

...I'd like to meet everyone as I can only assume they are all hiding from me. My wizard being all alone down there!

Based on the current UD population, the way things have been set up does not work.
When something does not work, I tend to also assume that it would be better if it was working.
Sometimes trying new things makes things work better.
Therefore it might be a good idea to try new things.

Maybe if everyone decided to show up (its feast or famine in the UD), and everyone decided to play wizards (which will never be the case), maybe then having a system in place that segregates a large wizard population would make sense. But none of this will ever happen, even in the most ideal situations.

Because there are so many other factions and unique player choices down there, segregating, the few existing wizards in a wizard city, only increases isolation.
Because it is a wizard city, casters should to be more united together then any other faction in the city.
And it wont ruin RP, it will actually create it!
Besides, they are drow, they will always at each others throats- but there needs to be a system that fosters it, not isolates.

It will create RP, because you need ways to draw or thrust players together in the first place before you can expect them to create secrets and schemes. If they are all separated then there are simply not enough reasons to create friction.

They can totally have their own schools, but they need to be part of the greater whole first!
Strength in numbers. Not divided and conquered.

I know we are supposed to RP it as thousands of wizards/casters all vying for attention and power. But the reality is that at best it is about a half a dozen players tops....actually as far as I know, I am the only one.

This leads me to the last important part of this weeks rant. We need to think smaller in terms of starting the process of stratifying or layering the way the setting of the UD is utilized. It is a very orderly and lawful city from my perspective. People should be able to log in and know what their designation is in order to exploit it or rail against it. Currently players have to work very hard to keep things going In Character and that is why it does not work.
And there are things we can do to better organized.

Or maybe I will continue to be the everyone you speak of.
I AM the conclave!

[Tanlaus]

If I were king of the UD I’d do that with Bregan. Make the tavern area open to look out over the city.

*Gives the crown.* One thing that would be insanely cool is giving the Elixir a better vantage point (awesome setup, you're looking over a sea of purple though), or maybe like you said, making Gloura's an open area much like the Elfsong in BG. The inside would be the "storage" and the beetles dungeon. There's a possibility of it marginally helping with server space, even with the split coming, but idk. Aesthetically, it would be cool, especially if it wasn't all purple. Banovitsky did a BEAUTIFUL job adding greens, blues, and oranges alongside the typical purple.

Edit: Banovitsky, not whatever I wrote.

There’s something about the monochrome purple of S’shamath that I really like. Feels like an underground city. And kind of alien. And also maybe a little disco 70s. Who doesn’t love disco?!

But I do love the new mist lake. I’m looking forwards to his rework of some of the other UD areas. I almost feel like outside of the city the wild thing could use an update.

[EasternCheesE]

I guess, it would be easier and more constructive if you actually make a sketch of an area you are planning to build so people can give their feedback. Or, some screenshots from toolset with area draft that shows major points about it.

[Shadowspinner70]

I guess, it would be easier and more constructive if you actually make a sketch of an area you are planning to build so people can give their feedback. Or, some screenshots from toolset with area draft that shows major points about it.

Yeah, making them available to a wider audience gets a variety of opinions to ensure many needs are met too. On top of a sketch.