Your actions speak volumes...

[jarlexel]

I checked it today,Triad rep not working and for some reason Syris is Kos with the Blackhand . . .Blinks

[Memnoch1962]

Rep is not working now... so something happened since reset when Sparkie said it was good.

[Sparkie]

Okay, I'll be posting my findings here, and edit this post as things go on: (Times mentioned are in Atlantic Time Zone)

Sunday, August 30th: Rep Down
Monday, August 31st: Rep Down (checked 9 pm)
Tuesday, September 1st: Rep Working (checked at 3:40 am [hour and 40 minutes after reset]) Still working at 6:48 pm.
Wednesday, September 2nd:
Thursday, September 3rd:
Friday, September 4th:
Saturday, September 5th:

I'll try checking after each reset, see if things are up, and again in the evening.

I'll continue posting updates on the reputation systems status until the server either goes down, or a solution is found.

[Kaybrie]

Server was a better place when the soft cap was 15, I'd even say a soft cap of 12 would be pretty cool, make players who actually achieve high levels into something amazing... rather then everyone and their dogs being level 20+

[Doubtful]

What would be ideal is a low level spread mid-range server, with a few modifications to keep things interesting. That way people across the board can party up, face the same foes and get something out of it without the super imbalance of very high level crap. It also makes DM events much more inclusive.

As for tone, again it's a balance. To bright and fluffy is just plain annoying, but so's too dark. If things are just miserable for the sake of being miserable then it just gets boring, like EastEnders, Warhammer or the later Game of Thrones stuff.

What we do need to get away from is the whole 'Sundren has a thousand soldiers who do nothing, the BH have in undead horde that does nothing' vibe and get it on with the angle of folk just trying to be folk.

[jarlexel]

Something that would also be kinda neat. Instead of starting at low level with the same low level content as all the other servers why not start out at higher level with higher level content, that way you can actually solo with the hard classes, like a wizzie.

Also, maybe have the valley in darkness, Sundren taken by the Blackhand, and port avanthyr being the last stand for the good guys. Seems like most people enjoy playing evils.

[Sparkie]

Okay, I'll be posting my findings here, and edit this post as things go on: (Times mentioned are in Atlantic Time Zone)

Sunday, August 30th: Rep Down
Monday, August 31st: Rep Down (checked 9 pm)
Tuesday, September 1st: Rep Working (checked 3:40 am [hour and 40 minutes after reset])
Wednesday, September 2nd:
Thursday, September 3rd:
Friday, September 4th:
Saturday, September 5th:

Well, the rep system's up after reset, as normal. If someone could check on it later, during the day, and say whether it's working or not and what time they checked at, that'd be great. In any case, I'll check it again this evening.

[Torgar]

I find the idea of a vault wipe refreshing, personally. I've already personally done it once when I erased all my old alts, and it lets you concentrate on a single character's arc. Also, there are a LOT of characters from the probably hundreds of accounts that have gone through sundren that no longer play here, that need to go to free up space. I'll miss Clan and Zachart, but honestly, I think it's time to shake things up and free people up from this "Team good/ Team evil" dynamic and get into the city vs. city dynamic. Seeing people working together to advance their city, despite not agreeing on ideology, is more interesting to me than "I'm a triad/banite, you're my enemy blargh!"

Also gives other people a chance to play the center piece to some faction/group. It's nice to let other people get to be the star, pull back to play a more supporting role. Freshen's up the RP, IMO. A server/vault wipe lets that happen.

[Kaybrie]

Life does that, and it does come first before anything else.

[roguethree]

Sundren - Sestra - Aquor - Port Avanthyr

Bam, factions, each with its own unique flavor/theme but not some domineering or entrapping ropes wrapped around your character, so people who are for said cities, can generally be for the well being of said cities.

I had begun this conversion, and then life told me to stop.

[Kaybrie]

Im cool with having my guys walk off into the sunset to start fresh. Would be nice to get the player base resettled into maybe 2-3 groups so it isn't split into 10 diff small groups who cant play together.

Sundren - Sestra - Aquor - Port Avanthyr

Bam, factions, each with its own unique flavor/theme but not some domineering or entrapping ropes wrapped around your character, so people who are for said cities, can generally be for the well being of said cities.

[gamestarmike]

Im cool with having my guys walk off into the sunset to start fresh. Would be nice to get the player base resettled into maybe 2-3 groups so it isn't split into 10 diff small groups who cant play together.

[Requiem]

still though, that is not the issue, server would still be dead, twenty years into the future, keep your old toons but they all would be senior citizens . . . wait vampires don't age, nevermind.

Server is only dead because people are playing other games or other servers. Don't think I haven't seen you on Engines of Ascension you traitor!

Seriously though, the rep issue has scared off players, there is no denying that. Much of the gear and role-play was centered around the factions our PC's are in. When you log in and your faithful companions/terrified slaves suddenly decided to murder you, it creates problems both mechanical and narrative. Still, the server has bounced back from low/no population before, usually when fixes were implemented. That is the rationale behind even considering a vault wipe: thus far, nothing else has fixed the problem so big guns and what not.

It would also do a fair amount of tidying up the narrative, as some of you pointed out. We have a fairly tangled snarl of plots and characters and politics, so burning it all down would certainly unfetter the story a bit.

The hope in discussing this at all is that we want players to come back and enjoy themselves again or even snag the errant RP enthusiastic who bought NWN2 on GoG summer sale. If we had to purge the vault, I would miss my old characters but I would hope to find ways to see them (and all of your's, this isn't favoritism) woven into the new story. Maybe we could even NPC some as antagonists, with player permission and input.

As an aside, I agree with the comments about going back in time possibly being more fun and interesting, but also with the comments about how impractical that would be given our staff and available manhours. I really liked rogue3's idea of slapping together some flashback adventures, though I get wary of time travel hooks as I was deeply wounded by WoW and Warlords of Draenor. Still, the idea of sending adventurers back in time has a certain charm, and would be fun to run...especially because the end result of the adventure is fixed in time so you pesky players can't undo all our wonderful prep!

[Memnoch1962]

doing a server/vault wipe and keeping our characters wouldn't work. I suggested keeping one. Write all the stats down and get with a DM after the wipeout and remake that character back to its level prior to the wipe. Some of us had some good storylines going with Dm's and would like to continue them. However, if it was decided to move in time one way or the other, then it wouldn't be practical to continue with old storylines.

I've always left the storyline up to the staff and played along with my main as best as possible. I've made a few suggestions over time. So if its decided to wipe the server and we all start over 20 years in the future, thats cool with me.

I know some may not agree with that. So in their interests it may be good to back up the vault. Then if its found that wasn't the problem, the old toons still exist somewhere.

[jarlexel]

still though, that is not the issue, server would still be dead, twenty years into the future, keep your old toons but they all would be senior citizens . . . wait vampires don't age, nevermind.