State of the Server (9/24/15)

[Elusa]

Pickpocket: please get rid of that, met a person who played here six years ago and only for a day due to some jerk stealing her weapons and she could not afford new ones.

Seconding this. It's too easy to abuse. You can still RP sleight of hand plenty well.

[Requiem]

The goal is to have epilogues for characters and possibly fold their swan songs into the lore for the next chapter of the server's story. Lotus mentioned previously (and I believe in another thread) that the specifics of this are currently being determined. Obviously characters that were active for a long time and partook in many events/were deeply involved with their factions will be more likely to have something interesting happen in the interim. And while we are all special snowflakes, it will most likely be impossible to give everyone some form of epic closure given the parameters set by the current story and our goals with the next step.

My suggestion is that you pick your favorite character and how you want his/her story to end. We will hammer out the submission process and let you know how to put those chocolatey story nuggets forward for our storymancers to try and fold into the tasty dough we have already crafted for overarching server plot.

[Memnoch1962]

I'm wondering.... what will happen to all the Characters that we all played recently. I don't mean the Vault Characters, I mean the people that we played that were a part of Sundren. Will they just fade away and be forgotten or will Sundren History have some sort of record of them?

[Sparkie]

Actually, Manu, Torgar is one of the last vampire players, with Iskaroth. While on the topic of vampire pc's, I think it's best to do away with them. They are insanely powerful, not just in terms of stats, but abilities. I mean, just a look at their wiki entry reveals how strong they are. And it's due to this sheer strength that I think they should be done away with. They'd work best in an npc position, if for no other reason than it keeps one player or group of players from becoming a bit too powerful in an non-roleplay specific way. And when one team's got all the cards or powerful players, people will start flocking to that team, which destroys any conflict and makes things boring.

And actually, as a bit of a personal rant: Yeah, sure vampire PC's make for an interesting rp environment where people are grouping together to travel the roads at night because a powerful big bad vamp just logged in, but to be honest? That should've been happening regardless, since the threats in Sundren are many, with some prime examples being bandits, goblins, gnolls, and run-of-the-mill orcs. And while there are some pretty powerful people wandering the valley, let's not forget that there's also soem very powerful threats in the Valley as well. Enter lycanthropes, the Bloodmaim, and yes, Vampires. Really, travelling in the Forgotten Realms is dangerous, even more so at night when certain things can come out, not to mention your visibility's considerable lower, and lighting up a torch to see can also make you a target. *turns off waffle iron on this particular topic*

In any case, I really do look forward to seeing the changes that get made, and seeing this server really up and going again.

[ManUtd4Ever]

We won't have vampire PCs again for the forseeable future. They'll exist as an NPC influence.

NPC influence? Intriguing.

[ManUtd4Ever]

As an owner of one of the last vampires around...

Magnus and Allan were the last two active Vamps that I remember.

[Lotus]

We won't have vampire PCs again for the forseeable future. They'll exist as an NPC influence.

[ManUtd4Ever]

I remember being in game and seeing the likes of Clive or Ruby log into and getting excited about the impending conflict. The fear on the server was thick. Back when Clive would hunt near 2nd Wind... Characters traveled in groups for fear of meeting a vampire alone on a dark road. Ruby would confront groups at a time and most would recoil in fear. IMO, this made the server special and exciting. I too would like to see them return in some form.

[Torgar]

As an owner of one of the last vampires around, I think it's fine if they are gone. Especially if the cap gets moved back, a level 15 vampire against level 15 people is just too powerful from a PVP standpoint, and unfortunately it has been proven many a time to be extremely difficult to get RP other than a fight from those not in the same faction. I personally prefer the idea of the vampires being scary NPC's that the players face, not 1-3 players who together could wipe the server if they wanted too. But, that's just my opinion on it.

[Kaybrie]

Curious to the fate of Vampires? Will Colibrus and his family be purged from the server?

Would be nice to see vampires return in some form or another, it is a flavor that is unique to Sundren among servers. Though they don't lend themselves immediately well to a city-based faction systems, unless they exist as a sort of cult between cities post-wipe?

[Redjack]

Curious to the fate of Vampires? Will Colibrus and his family be purged from the server?

[Lotus]

Yeah, it's probably about time for this. I would hope/presume this means no re-creating old characters. I'd like to see a truly fresh start.

There will be no re-creating of old characters, no descendants of old characters.

Please remember to remove all the junk items from the loot tables. Those chain gloves.

Yeah, loot tables are being changed to get rid of junk items.

I'll personally be keeping an eye on MoMF. It's one of the few PrCs unique to Sundren and I really, really enjoy the RP chances it gives, but it suffers in combat, especially if you lower the level cap.

Yes, this class will be getting some love, probably in the form of our evaluating its forms and buffing as necessary.

I'm mostly hoping this doesn't create excessive PvP, but I consider this a really delicate change, because players shouldn't be discouraged from joining underplayed factions or feel forced to join a particular faction for the opposite reason.

It's to be determined, but many points will probably be held on a timer and won't be assailable when held by a PC faction. After so much time goes by, the outpost will revert to NPC hostile control to be conquered by a different faction.

Again biased by previous characters I've made, but I'm hoping druids and rangers still have a faction and ideally a store.

Still under discussion. The "natural" types don't lend themselves well to a faction in the context of server plot and DM resources. However, we're looking at retaining the organization of nature PCs as an RP device with incentives (RP hub, themed store).

I much prefer the idea of druids and rangers filtering into the various other factions as each PC tries to discern which entity best suits his or her interests.

On the matter at hand, will Faction Control Points have a hook into GBX' Faction Wealth system?

Not likely. It's hard to retain that data from reset to reset. We'll probably disable that system unless something more interesting than "You are in a faction. Here are GPs" manifests.

Does this mean Sundren will be a low magic server or is that yet to be determined?

"Low magic" is such a misleading term. The magic level of a server, truly, is whatever level of spells the magic users can cast. Gear for a level 15 PC will be in the +2/+3 range. A PC at level 20 can expect to be using mostly +3/+4 equipment, which will be attainable through crafting.

[jarlexel]

4. Competitive faction control points. We're developing a system that will allow factions to dynamically compete for control of certain areas. Capturing these areas will be a means to increase faction reputation and will provide access to special stores, crafting resource nodes, and even dungeons. I'm mostly hoping this doesn't create excessive PvP, but I consider this a really delicate change, because players shouldn't be discouraged from joining underplayed factions or feel forced to join a particular faction for the opposite reason.

I been meeting some old old Sundren players throughout all the active servers that are around. They wear the faction armor and get Pvped and more so after they are outed. I really like the Competitive faction control system, that sounds like lots of fun, but it would be really really cool if the Pvp can be kept on the battlefield even if it's a little bit cheesy having public places that are not open pvp.

Pickpocket: please get rid of that, met a person who played here six years ago and only for a day due to some jerk stealing her weapons and she could not afford new ones.

This is a really nice server, the amount of work that was put into it is just nuts, was talking to a mapper for Dalelands and she said she could never make things as beautiful they are here. My Bottom line is: lets do things that will bring people back and keep them from leaving.

[Fuzziebunny]

Or buffing everyone and taking a non-spell-caster role. GMW and IMA contribute much more to a delve than any blast spell I have observed (short of maximized IGMS in very particular scenarios), due to the matter of duration and reliability.
.

You don't need a fireball to the face to help a party. There is sleep, hold monster, slophsism, illusionary wall, that one spell that lets you move party members, flesh to stone. These are just the ones right off the top of my head too. The sky is the limit with mages. There are tons of other things mages can do other than buff.


But, you are correct about being on topic. I'm sorry! I am pretty excited about the new faction set up. I and interested to see if there will be alignment associated with cities or how all that will play out.

I am really excited to see item rebalancing too. Does this mean Sundren will be a low magic server or is that yet to be determined?

[Kitsunestume]

My gripe with magic is that it isn't very useful in a party except for buffing then following along invisibly.

Or buffing everyone and taking a non-spell-caster role. GMW and IMA contribute much more to a delve than any blast spell I have observed (short of maximized IGMS in very particular scenarios), due to the matter of duration and reliability.


On the matter at hand, will Faction Control Points have a hook into GBX' Faction Wealth system? I remember that being implemented with the intent that it could fluctuate depending on politics, but I never saw that happen.