Character Retirement

[Kangleton]

A quick search of the forums shows that you can retire a level 20+ character in exchange for:

1) A free signus on a new character.

OR!

2) The unlocking of a locked PRC.

I'd like to suggest that (if encouraging character retirement is desired) the benefits be, uh, improved. Unlocking a PRC can be done through RP and DM interaction, which, IMO, is actually preferable to having it unlocked for free (boring). That pretty much rules out #2 for presumably a lot of people. And #1 doesn't seem worth it. One free respawn? That'll save a few hundred/thousand XP, but you're giving up 20 levels worth of XP to get it.

I'd suggest transferring some XP from the old character to the new one. How much, I don't know. But people like me don't make new characters because we're sick of grinding and refuse to do it all over again. But if we could skip the early, boring stages of it... maybe that'd be encouraging.

Thoughts?

[Raksha]

*Like.*

I've kept a character or two past their time, simply because the thought of grinding up a new one at that particular moment made me sick to my stomach.

[Doubtful]

There's also the option to have your character recreated as a permanent npc with a conversation of your choosing.

As for xp rewards for retirement, it's not the kind of thing that would ever be a set value, but the kind of thing that would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

[Shedboy]

*like* esp the npc bit. i see that as value adding. esp if there is a bio on the npc that dms can refer to, though i suspect that the dm's would know a level 20 char well enough.

[Seheren]

I retired one of my chars as an NPC, and despite anyone knowing his attitude, as far as I know, in over a year since he has only been used once. Though its fun to see him standing around all the time. I think it would be different if it was for a Faction like the Triumvirate/Black Hand where they can stand in the Faction area and look imposing and impart wisdom upon newbies.

[Chipmunk]

I retired one of my chars as an NPC, and despite anyone knowing his attitude, as far as I know, in over a year since he has only been used once. Though its fun to see him standing around all the time. I think it would be different if it was for a Faction like the Triumvirate/Black Hand where they can stand in the Faction area and look imposing and impart wisdom upon newbies.

I would be exceptionally hesitant to play another player's PC for them. A few times, I've seen other DM's try and imitate speech patterns of my own or other players' characters, and a few times I've been in the unfortunate position where I had to do similar.

The truth is that, to me, it's always painfully obvious it's not the actual player, but the DM. It also limits our creativity immensely, because we can't go:

Plot twist!

I respect other players immensely, and their PC is their most prized possession. I don't think I'll ever have the gutzpah to touch PC's-turned-NPC.

...which is why I personally encourage the player retiring the PC to write a conversation script and maybe come up with a quest they could be giving to players. That way, your PC won't be forgotten, for sure.

On topic: I don't think we need specific rules detailing exactly what can be given upon retirement. A long-time character would warrant, to me, a much bigger retirement-award than someone that was L20 for a week and found it boring.

That said, I'm all in favor of giving XP, but there's one caveat: One of the reasons we stimulate retiring old characters is to keep a fresh flow of youngblood PC's. If we start handing out, say, ten levels for retiring a character, we're sort of shooting ourselves in the foot.

I personally think that retirement should allow for a character request to be filed with a background that is more 'tied in' to the server. Examples could include: "I'd like to play a cousin of NPC X" or "I think it would be cool if I could be researching Y, under watchful eye of NPC Z".

Or maybe simply starting off at higher rep within a faction: "I'd like to play a recruit that was famous in the Tormish temple he was trained at for being such a promising young lad!" and start off at a higher rank within the AA.

[Seheren]

I fully understand that hesitation, there are so many things you feel restricted by when using another players EX-char. Though as far as rewards go, I never thought of XP as something you would get. Actually, its not a terrible idea, as long as it is a minimal amount. Say start at 5, but honestly that's hardly worth it. Now, rep and/or a special background, that I like. Maybe even one build related item. Something like, for a fighter, A +1 weapon with +1 damage, or something small like that for a kick start. Though, I think that retirement is so rare that its hardly a problem. I know I retired one, has anyone else formally retired?

PS: TO DM's! You can use Will Stormheart for all your dastardly destructive plots, I give full consent as long as he continues to be a bloodthirsty shameless Talassan.

[Root]

Allow unlocking of ECL races and the Warlock class, maybe?

[ThePaganKing]

I like unlocking PRC classes, but also think that maybe we could get a one time equipment switch. If we had a plausible backstory, e.g. My father was a grea warrior and bequethed his enchanged sword, armor, you pick the items or items.

Maybe some stags also?

I do like the bit about starting at a higher rank, but I would say start at least at the third level or higher, that way they at least have some rank and can get some nice faction gear.

Just my thoughts.

[Torgar]

They won't let retirement unlock the races or warlock because that would cheapen the servers popularity contest....er I mean the always taken seriously Role-Player of the Month award.

I'll be honest, the only reason Tigen never got retired despite the fact he's been 20 for the last, like, eight months, is because there's no reward for it at all. I've got about 58 days of play time on him, which is about 37 more then I had ever planned to give him, but with there being absolutely no incentive TO retire him, I just kept playing him. Personally, I'd love to retire him, and play a level adjustment race that isn't an orc, actually play a character that's interesting.

I asked a DM about retiring Tigen back when he was at 40 days and seeing if I could play one of the +1 races, and was told flat out that was never going to happen ever. Those races are for the popularity contest winners and that was final.

I know a lot of this sounds rather bitter, and I mostly blame the fact that it's hot and humid out in the desert where I live, and for some reason I'm always in a bad mood on my B-day.

Retirement of characters is a joke, RPoTM is a pointless popularity contest that is rarely, if ever, about who actually RP's the best, and I'm not sure why people want to play warlock so much, it's not an interesting class at all. It's WotC pet class for whatever reason, and it's a crappy class. Flame me for these opinions or don't, I really don't care. And if this post came off as rude and uncivil to the staff, I really don't care either. I've seen people write out a rape scene on the server and get a slap on the wrist, so I seriously doubt this will really warrant any severe action, and if it does, again, I really don't care.

[roguethree]

I think the idea behind limiting ECL races and Warlocks to RPotM winners isn't to reward those people for exceptional roleplay (we're all agreed at this point that not all RPotM winners have been exceptional, but many have been, so less hate), but rather to control the number of extra powerful/ridiculous characters on the server. Nothing turns my stomach like a campfire where the ECL races outnumber the non-ECL races.

That said, I think when a player has been around for a substantial length of time and has shown an ability to play well with others, that player should be considered for those forbidden-fruit races/classes. The infinitely more powerful, more server-altering vampire template was awarded in such a fashion and with greater frequency than RPotM resulted in ECL characters. If the DM staff thinks it would be too much work to review such applications, perhaps a panel of dedicated players could be assembled to review said applications and then funnel them upward to the staff.

[Doubtful]

It does sound bitter and uncivil, you're right on that.

For the sake of everyone who does care to whatever degree, that you attempt to introduce some measure of politeness to your posts.

On the subject of retiring characters, it is awkward to set concrete rules on the subject due to the variable nature of characters being retired. I would prefer people bring up retirement topics as character request threads, with a notion of how they'd like to move on. That way the team as a whole has the opportunity to discuss and decide, rather than a single individual.

[Thief Of Navarre]

It does sound bitter and uncivil, you're right on that.

For the sake of everyone who does care to whatever degree, that you attempt to introduce some measure of politeness to your posts.

On the subject of retiring characters, it is awkward to set concrete rules on the subject due to the variable nature of characters being retired. I would prefer people bring up retirement topics as character request threads, with a notion of how they'd like to move on. That way the team as a whole has the opportunity to discuss and decide, rather than a single individual.

That seems reasonable. I've seen people level to 20 in a matter of days with little to no RP and yet I've never seen past mid levels in my three years here (16th being my eldest and highest character). Its all relative when discussing things like this!

[Kaizen]

I would retire Kaizen for xp.
Who do I talk to for this sweet gig?

[Seheren]

Kaizen should just be killed, for no reward, traitor.

I dont feel that Retirement should beget great rewards, if you need to be 'paid' to do it, then don't. You'll just feel like a whore later.