So without getting ooc, I have noticed that since my return back to the game, that finding interaction is difficult, moreso than I seem to remember.
Now I totally get that there are potentially three or four "hubs" of RP for folks, depending on if you're based in Allanak, Luirs, Storm or Whatever Tuluk's village is called again.
So when you do the math of say 30-40 people on, that's pretty scarce chance of running into someone when there are a few folks that just won't have a reason to interact with you, say Templars and Nobles.
So I am curious if there is any more chance to get RP outta the game other than joining a clan or just randomly running across someone.
Also I wonder if it's been a little dead due to the fact there is a RPT coming up and people are squirreled away with clans and whatnot in non public areas.
So those observations being stated, are there any best practices for finding folks to spend the night with and RP?
My characters tend to be busy during the day, hunting, riding, shooting things with slingshots, getting nearly eaten, or beat to death by their clanmates, so I tend to wander the city at night, looking around and have yet to find much interaction at the normal spots in Allanak at least.
I could be totally wrong and just remembering wrong, but I used to always run into folks at one of the bars in Allanak daily at night, but seem to be coming up empty lately so I figured I'd ask if the dynamic has changed in the game of do stuff in the daytime, socialize in the night?
Any perspective would be appreciated.
It has been closer to ~25 (average) over the past month or so and spread out between too many locations.
40 is only about an hour a day (peak), and then its usually around 20 to 25 throughout the rest of the time, with the past couple weeks there has been a dramatic drop off for whatever reason (maybe the RPT).
If you consider 25 at a given moment spread across nearly as many "play areas", then you will have trouble finding people if you're not a part of them.
Right now, just considering groups that have active players there is:
The Big 2:
Allanak
| Byn
| Militia
| Rinth
| Nobles and their Ilk
| Templars and their ilk
| Magickers
| Minor Merchant Houses
| Other/Unaffiliated
Luirs
| Garrison
| Others
The Small 2:
Red Storm
Morins
Merchant Houses
| Kadius
| Kurac
| Salarr
Desert Elves
| Sun Runners
| Two Moons
Tribal Humans
| Arabet
| Al'Seik
And then anyone else in-between.
Your best bet for guaranteed interaction is a group, or some sort of traveler. You can sit in the Gaj for a long time, but there are just too many affiliated people out doing their own thing to get that same sorta old school "tavern sitting"/"random encouter" RP reliably (that many people equate with the old times, it seems).
Ive sat in both the Storm in Luirs and the Gaj in Allanak for long stretches of time with 30 people online and not seen another PC.
Few things:
Summer tends to have a dip in player count at peak. Especially this year with things finally opening up in North America with vaccines and such that could add to the relatively low numbers. A few months back it was busier. Oddly enough I've found US daytimes (so European players and those at work or weirdos like me playing late night in off time zones) still seem pretty healthy compared to the usual.
Tavern sitting is no longer all that common, particularly in Allanak. I'm sure there are a few reasons for this. I've always had better luck organizing meeting someone at a tavern and then people tend to show up as you invite them or they see it's busy. But this is definitely a hurdle before you've a list of people to contact.
Clans are a better way to find interaction in Allanak. Don't even necessarily need to join the clan, just get friendly with people in it as an independent and that might help.
Luir's tends to be better to find people easily because there is only one tavern and only two other locations people usually congregate in there (all of which are very close to each other). But Luir's goes through cycles of activity and right now it may be somewhat empty. I often see at least one person in the Storm's End if I tavern sit there on an IC evening. But again, Luir's population might be low right now.
The major RPT coming up might be leading to some people playing it safe or handling things irl so they'll have more time to play during the RPT.
These are mostly guesses but you're not wrong that peak has been slow of late and closer to 30ish than the sustained 40-50 we were at a few months ago.
Quote from: Fernandezj on June 15, 2021, 09:38:06 PM
Your best bet for guaranteed interaction is a group, or some sort of traveler. You can sit in the Gaj for a long time, but there are just too many affiliated people out doing their own thing to get that same sorta old school "tavern sitting"/"random encouter" RP reliably (that many people equate with the old times, it seems).
Ive sat in both the Storm in Luirs and the Gaj in Allanak for long stretches of time with 30 people online and not seen another PC.
I think this is important, because I fall into this all the time. I'm one of the "old school" people who remembers when you do your job in the IC morning, and you socialize/tavern hop in the evening, because its dangerous to be on the streets at night.
All other things aside, there are simply less people sitting at taverns, which used to be the social hubs. I used to sit, hidden, at the Pillar outside the Gaj to see if ANYONE was around, and it was rare to see people. Affiliated people are in their compounds, Bynners are AFK/Sleeping through the night until training, indies have their own apartments to sleep in, etc etc.
Unless you "be the change" and start sitting in taverns advertising decent-paying work that leads to interesting plots, I find few people want to 'socialize' unless it benefits them directly. It may be best to, if you want interaction, seek out the local clan leads, or just reach out to someone and say "Hey you got any work?"
Quote from: Riev on June 17, 2021, 08:59:25 AM
I'm one of the "old school" people who remembers when you do your job in the IC morning, and you socialize/tavern hop in the evening, because its dangerous to be on the streets at night.
Because it's dangerous to be on the streets at night, LMFAO.
Maybe tavern PKs are a factor? A year or two ago I was playing a leadership PC in a Gaj (as a leader of a clan where it was totally IC for me to be in the Gaj) and randomly got PKed. Chilling at a table one second, knife in the back the next. It was one of the most shocking and dumb things I had experienced on this game. The streets are safer? Big nope. I think I've heard of MORE people getting attacked and PKed in taverns than on the street recently.
I sort of "got my revenge" for the Guinness Book of World Records lamest PK by attacking someone in the Gaj as a different character later, with IC motivations of course. It was a test of sorts. I faced no repercussions. Taverns are just PvP zones y'all,
(similar to clubs in Las Vegas IRL).Quote from: Riev on June 17, 2021, 08:59:25 AM
Unless you "be the change" and start sitting in taverns.. "
Despite being backstabbed at a tavern in an epically tacky way, I recognize the utility of taverns and continue to "be the change" and allow my characters to sit at taverns even if I know it means willingly putting a huge target on your back.
Since coming back to the game in late February, my somewhat limited experience with taverns has been the same as it has been for me for years. If I sit in a tavern, people will join me, but if I fly by the taverns looking, there's no one in there. I don't think it's a player count issue, because players at any given time don't spread out around the known. People tend to play in areas where there are other people playing at the same time, whether that's Allanak being ideal or peak play, Red Storm being the it place at 2 am, or Luirs being where you'll get good interaction if you're a mid-day player < just examples.
I think it has less to do with player counts by area and more to to do with tavern culture and nostalgia glasses about how taverns used to be. The last time I had a character where I distinctly recall being able to swing by a tavern and have people in it was 2015. I noticed an even sharper dropoff in tavern-sitting during the Random Dwarf PK Year, aka 2018. In 2020, I had an experience with pickpockets where I closed my cloak multiple times while sitting an evening at the Gaj, and they'd just open it again, regardless of my emote that I had a hand over my pocket. Alas, it's hard to report someone you can't see for being a twink, and it gets really old, real fast.
I don't know that this is something that can be addressed by being the change. I used to be one of the people who was happy to sit alone in a tavern until people showed up. But if it's an OOC annoyance to hang out in taverns, then I'm probably not going to sit alone in a tavern waiting for chance interaction.
Should I let my OOC annoyance bleed over into my characters? Probably not. But this is supposed to be a game, something I do with my recreation time, so I'm not going to do something in it that isn't fun for me.
My previous two characters died because as it turns out, being in public means you are easily found. I am not going to sequester myself away the way some others seem to do, but I can see how being available in your local inn tends to lower your lifespan.
In allanak, a lot of it is because of changes in clan structure. Noble aides, elite house guards, and all those affiliated actually kind of did their job by being openly available and observant of public spaces. There's no longer any clan that really benefits that much from that. Even the Arm has a hard time with it. Nobles are rarely seen. Independents are not as dependent on clanned characters and will often sequester themselves to their apartments or the wilds to do their own mini-progression games. The Way was made fantastically easy to be more newbie-friendly, meaning that there's a lot less of a bonus for being face-to-face.
Then you have the kind of snarky replies here. I died once in a tavern and so I don't seek the interactions anymore. This isn't actually very true, because I'm 99% certain that if clan structure returned to the way it was, and social structures were played the way old players were used to, then the taverns would still be the place to go to either socialize or get invisible progress bars filled.
As is, there is little form or function to them. Those functions that led to busy taverns were collateral damage to other efforts in player consolidation and ease-of-management.
I can't speak to peaky peak, because I basically never see it. But I just do not seem to be having the same experience. Fairly regularly, across my last few characters, in various locales.. I see players in taverns and get plenty of interaction that way.
If you expect to just swing past once an IC day for someone else to be idling there just waiting for you to show up so they can give you a good time, perhaps not. But if you're bored and looking for interaction yourself.. then yeah, go and sit down. As for pickpockets, they are just looking for interaction too, do your duty to your fellow players and just leave your dang cloak open. :p
As someone else intimated, different parts of the world have different levels of activity at certain times of the day. The RPT stuff going on at the moment has shifted some of this around. The game is.. like.. HAPPENING.. there is.. STUFF going down.. but you may need to dig around a little bit more adventurously to find the stuff in your play hours.
I thought the tavern PK's/pickpocketing problem got solved, at least in Allanak.
It's the true that the meta did shift to more private sectors of the game world and it's in a way seems to be tied to the sneaky sneaks. At least to me.
I've given up on looking for RP in an RP game. It's too much of a chore.
On one hand, the player base is too small for the number of locations open. On the other hand, if someone's favorite location or clan gets closed, they might quit anyway. It's a death spiral in need of a reset. The limit on OOC communication means spies can be effective in game, and surprises can happen. It also means it can be difficult or impossible to talk to a particular player when you need to in order to advance a plot.
There are other factors pushing me away from playing -- the wide discrepancy between a skilled character and a new character is too punishing to risk-takers. The stat lottery means that a concept can be killed in the first 10 minutes of play by a bad roll. And many of the delay timers, be it crafting or regeneration, are set up for a slower style of play that can make brief appearances in the game seem pointless.
But the big thing is it shouldn't be difficult to find interaction in an RP game.
Quote from: number13 on June 19, 2021, 04:24:07 AM
The limit on OOC communication means spies can be effective in game, and surprises can happen. It also means it can be difficult or impossible to talk to a particular player when you need to in order to advance a plot.
This is exactly why I have been asking for a means to Way or send messages to people when they are offline. I know it would be a PITA to implement, but it would fully address this problem, which you are correct, is becoming more of a problem day by day.
And sadly, there are TONS of players who cheat and metagame constantly to "fix this problem themselves," and the disproportionate advantage they possess... again only drives more people to quit.
I would LOVE it if staff would try to implement this solution (offline way messages) to solve this problem (coordinating RP asynchronously in game). I would LOVE it if someone could propose even another solution to this besides the one I am proposing, but I haven't heard any other good ideas yet.
We can endlessly identify problems, and/or we can start to fix them.
Quote from: Barsook on June 17, 2021, 05:49:14 PM
I thought the tavern PK's/pickpocketing problem got solved, at least in Allanak.
It's the true that the meta did shift to more private sectors of the game world and it's in a way seems to be tied to the sneaky sneaks. At least to me.
It is a balancing act that works out over time. There was sort of an uproar about the NPC that would kill sneakers it saw in the Gaj at night, so apparently being safe isn't exactly what folks want.
Quote from: Brokkr on June 19, 2021, 11:12:11 AM
Quote from: Barsook on June 17, 2021, 05:49:14 PM
I thought the tavern PK's/pickpocketing problem got solved, at least in Allanak.
It's the true that the meta did shift to more private sectors of the game world and it's in a way seems to be tied to the sneaky sneaks. At least to me.
It is a balancing act that works out over time. There was sort of an uproar about the NPC that would kill sneakers it saw in the Gaj at night, so apparently being safe isn't exactly what folks want.
As an aside to this comment,
I believe the uproar was that an npc attacked and killed a player's character with
no warning, nor no attempt to give the player
a chance to understand that what they were doing was murder-worthy, or to react accordingly.
This NPC could totally exist and do it's job as long as it does:
a) gives a warning
b) responds accordingly so the player isn't immediately put into wanted-status and in combat, and allow further NPC soldiers to assist the npc and gank in 1 round of combat.
c) maybe "poke" the sneaky/hidden characters and force them out of hidden status?
d) any other thing that says to the players of these characters - there are NPCs and vNPCs in this area that are watching for these activities, and maybe you should be careful.
I believe everybody will say the
intent was good, wanted, and liked, but the literal
execution of the script was the problem.
Quote from: Brokkr on June 19, 2021, 11:12:11 AM
Quote from: Barsook on June 17, 2021, 05:49:14 PM
I thought the tavern PK's/pickpocketing problem got solved, at least in Allanak.
It's the true that the meta did shift to more private sectors of the game world and it's in a way seems to be tied to the sneaky sneaks. At least to me.
It is a balancing act that works out over time. There was sort of an uproar about the NPC that would kill sneakers it saw in the Gaj at night, so apparently being safe isn't exactly what folks want.
Did anyone tell you this, did you ask anyone, or are you basing this off other matters?
Quote from: triste on June 19, 2021, 08:50:03 AM
Quote from: number13 on June 19, 2021, 04:24:07 AM
The limit on OOC communication means spies can be effective in game, and surprises can happen. It also means it can be difficult or impossible to talk to a particular player when you need to in order to advance a plot.
This is exactly why I have been asking for a means to Way or send messages to people when they are offline. I know it would be a PITA to implement, but it would fully address this problem, which you are correct, is becoming more of a problem day by day.
And sadly, there are TONS of players who cheat and metagame constantly to "fix this problem themselves," and the disproportionate advantage they possess... again only drives more people to quit.
I would LOVE it if staff would try to implement this solution (offline way messages) to solve this problem (coordinating RP asynchronously in game). I would LOVE it if someone could propose even another solution to this besides the one I am proposing, but I haven't heard any other good ideas yet.
We can endlessly identify problems, and/or we can start to fix them.
Perhaps a type of ooc/ic mail system in the first login menu?
That way you could leave small messages for player of Amos and then when they log in they would see it?
That's the idea! And if you don't like it, logging off with barrier on can disable it.
I feel like we'd see so many clans and plots organically form with a feature like this! It'd help integrate off peakers into plots and all sorts of cool stuff.
I was thinking long and hard about the worst possible ramification of this, besides staff effort, and all I could think of is it would potentially make aides more useless, but weren't they already? (jk, <3)
I hedged my expectations to fit the current conditions.
I generally blunder around now doing my own thing until I happen upon someone and then I find some excuse to begin interacting with them. Unless I'm busy or they're busy, it tends to work more often than not. Maybe you won't see someone in the tavern every night, but if you don't expect anything than everything that comes your way is a pleasant surprise.
Personally I circumvent the conditions by just being around when I'm around. Seeking people out if necessary and otherwise occupying my idle time with things that only interest me unless someone else happens to take some interest. That's the secret Cap, the less people you have to unconditionally rely on (faction leaders and superiors, specific traders/crafters, w/e) the less your time is spent worrying about the presence or lack thereof of other people and just enjoying what actually is around.
A particularly zen and maybe even passive method of play? Maybe. I rarely fail to find something to do now though, and I usually enjoy whatever it is I've decided on. You be the judge on if that works for you or not. Not everyone has to patience to loaf around typing directions and emoting/thinking/feeling things to their self.
Make your own fun and people will find you.
Quote from: Delirium on June 19, 2021, 07:16:37 PM
Make your own fun and people will find you.
This. The interaction is out there. Might take longer to find with the change in tavern sitting culture but it's there. Also playing PCs who are easy to interact with (ie not a breed, elf or gick) helps.
The interaction is out there. I'm not going to work to find it.
I really, really miss Arm circa 2010, but it's probably time for me to understand that game is in the past, and not coming back.
Quote from: number13 on June 19, 2021, 11:30:59 PM
The interaction is out there. I'm not going to work to find it.
I really, really miss Arm circa 2010, but it's probably time for me to understand that game is in the past, and not coming back.
For what it's worth I took a break from 2012 to about a year ago. Things have changed. This year has been one of if not my favorite playing the game though. This is just my personal experience and perhaps I've been lucky. Take that for what it's worth and best to you. If Arm isn't fun for you anymore then it's not worth it to play for you, I get it.
Quote from: number13 on June 19, 2021, 11:30:59 PM
The interaction is out there. I'm not going to work to find it.
I really, really miss Arm circa 2010, but it's probably time for me to understand that game is in the past, and not coming back.
Welcome to being a Veteran with some time-investment under your belt. Every generation will always be under the impression that when they started, you know, when everything was fresh, new, interesting and nonstop surprises being revealed, was -the best- time to have played and cannot ever be touched again.
A lot of that harkening back to fond memories are because of that newness, so the challenge becomes finding new ways to spark your interest and reinvigorate that love. It sometimes requires taking time off, it sometimes requires breaking your play patterns and doing something you wouldn't normally do, or it can come from a random throwaway character that suddenly, for no real reason at all, is immersed and neck deep in plot and drama. You know the guy, the guy you threw a flat 4 line description on so you could try a guild/sub combo out, who rolled stats that made your eyeroll, who found a corpse in the sand....
It's always going to be what you make of it.
I've got to say that I have had a lot of fun this past year. I had been missing for a while myself, but the game is doing real well in certain areas. Yes it's a little smaller than it used to be, but I think things are happening, and we're definitely getting new players too, we just need to retain them. I really wouldn't worry about it a lot.
I think about the good old days to, but in the end I end up finding a million things to like about now. You at about 10 or 15 more players per hour to this game and it's better than it used to be. But of course, when players log in and don't see anybody in the game and then log out, the next person does the same thing and so does the next person and the next person oh, and we have this recurring theme of discouragement because nobody is willing to be the person who stays in who sits in the tavern Etc.
Ultimately, if you're not having fun, don't play. Or play something else. Don't expect everything to be the same, particularly as it used to be, but do realize there are some cool things in the game right now. Of course I want to see you old vets in the Sands again oh, but not if it means you're not having fun.
This is what I'm finding out about myself:
I LOVE talking about the game.
I LOVE reading about the game.
I LOVE learning about what's going on in the game.
I LOVE thinking about the game and what I could play next.
I just don't really enjoy playing it that much anymore, no matter how often I try to play it again or where I play it.
I think making a character that could go and read the IC boards is enough for me at the moment.
You aren't the only one! I seem to have that problem too.
Quote from: Furious George on June 20, 2021, 11:40:45 AM
Welcome to being a Veteran with some time-investment under your belt.
I made my account circa 1993. It's same account name that I was using on muds of the era, so that's likely when I started. (I didn't start really playing much until 2001, however.) It's possible I'm the oldest semi-active player, in terms of account age.
I never did get to play a psion or templar or anything fun like that. *welp*
Quote from: number13 on June 21, 2021, 12:22:27 AM
Quote from: Furious George on June 20, 2021, 11:40:45 AM
Welcome to being a Veteran with some time-investment under your belt.
I made my account circa 1993. It's same account name that I was using on muds of the era, so that's likely when I started. (I didn't start really playing much until 2001, however.) It's possible I'm the oldest semi-active player, in terms of account age.
I never did get to play a psion or templar or anything fun like that. *welp*
It's a general welcome. I started the same year, so I feel you.
Quote from: Delirium on June 19, 2021, 07:16:37 PM
Make your own fun and people will find you.
Usually to lurk around invisibly, but yeah they'll find you.
Quote from: Furious George on June 21, 2021, 12:27:56 AM
Quote from: number13 on June 21, 2021, 12:22:27 AM
Quote from: Furious George on June 20, 2021, 11:40:45 AM
Welcome to being a Veteran with some time-investment under your belt.
I made my account circa 1993. It's same account name that I was using on muds of the era, so that's likely when I started. (I didn't start really playing much until 2001, however.) It's possible I'm the oldest semi-active player, in terms of account age.
I never did get to play a psion or templar or anything fun like that. *welp*
It's a general welcome. I started the same year, so I feel you.
Another from around the same time. I tried a few ideas this past year but they just fell flat. Before, I always felt I could find a niche to fill and get a character going that way but now I don't think anyone actually needs other players.
I mean.. if anyone is struggling to find interaction right now... they only need to check out
https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,56900.0.html
For some pretty strong hints on where to find it....
Quote from: RavingTregils on June 21, 2021, 08:15:12 AM
Another from around the same time. I tried a few ideas this past year but they just fell flat. Before, I always felt I could find a niche to fill and get a character going that way but now I don't think anyone actually needs other players.
I think that when we had a larger and younger playerbase, it worked something like this:
75% of your time is RPing with clanmates, associates, etc.
25% of your time is doing your backup thing (doin' your crafting, rocking the text skyrim experience, etc.)
During a slump week, it becomes more like 50/50. And the Way blurs the lines somewhat.
Now it is reversed:
75% of your time is doing your solo fun routine.
25% is interacting with other folks.
During an active week, it becomes more like 50/50.
Interaction with other players is still what makes or breaks the game. People do generally want to interact. And, like, heavy combat guilds can't even skin their own kills, so, yes, characters
need other characters. But the baseline has changed, people are logging in much more with the primary expectation of
doing their routine in their space, and that's what's confusing you.
[YMMV. I made this shit up. Numbers exaggerated for dramatic effect.]
Quote from: Maso on June 21, 2021, 10:17:24 AM
I mean.. if anyone is struggling to find interaction right now... they only need to check out
https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,56900.0.html
For some pretty strong hints on where to find it....
I don't interact with future corpses!
Son, everybody is future corpses.
It does seems like a darn good week to roll a human tribal scout/house servant in Luirs.
Quote from: Brytta Léofa on June 21, 2021, 12:23:33 PM
It does seems like a darn good week to roll a human tribal scout/house servant in Luirs.
Or a southern/northern soldier!
Quote from: Malken on June 21, 2021, 12:05:44 PM
I don't interact with future corpses!
That's the spirit!
Quote from: Fawcett on June 21, 2021, 02:03:29 PM
Quote from: Brytta Léofa on June 21, 2021, 12:23:33 PM
It does seems like a darn good week to roll a human tribal scout/house servant in Luirs.
Or a southern/northern soldier!
To bad that the Sun Legions are closed! But I guess the Garrison is the closest.
Quote from: Barsook on June 21, 2021, 08:00:05 PM
Quote from: Fawcett on June 21, 2021, 02:03:29 PM
Quote from: Brytta Léofa on June 21, 2021, 12:23:33 PM
It does seems like a darn good week to roll a human tribal scout/house servant in Luirs.
Or a southern/northern soldier!
To bad that the Sun Legions are closed! But I guess the Garrison is the closest.
Find out IC? Or the Luir's/Morins IG boards?
Quote from: Brokkr on June 21, 2021, 08:15:29 PM
Quote from: Barsook on June 21, 2021, 08:00:05 PM
Quote from: Fawcett on June 21, 2021, 02:03:29 PM
Quote from: Brytta Léofa on June 21, 2021, 12:23:33 PM
It does seems like a darn good week to roll a human tribal scout/house servant in Luirs.
Or a southern/northern soldier!
To bad that the Sun Legions are closed! But I guess the Garrison is the closest.
Find out IC? Or the Luir's/Morins IG boards?
Good point. I got meself busted.
Biggest barrier for most players is time and cost/reward of time invested. Time invested is not worth the return - at least not in my experience in the past couple years.
Quote from: Is Friday on June 21, 2021, 09:22:33 PM
Biggest barrier for most players is time and cost/reward of time invested. Time invested is not worth the return - at least not in my experience in the past couple years.
Depends I think on what your goals are. If you're trying to be able to survive combat encounters with critters, it's doable and even easy if you pick a dwarf.
But if you're talking about the PVP game, there is so many layers and the skills progress so slowly that I don't think I'll ever really get it.
Crafting? Yeah I could be a master merchant, but my problem is I love the outdoors too much.
I think the new guilds help make up for the cost investment of the game in a lot of ways, to be honest. And this is from me, the guy who thinks You shouldn't talk to anyone for the first 5 days while you twink uh, something.
The new main combat guilds are so fucking good. Compared to a day 1 warrior, from what I saw of the old guild warrior, you can fight shit that I would never imagine fighting on a warrior. The light combat classes seem to be close to old warrior, tho I might be wrong, and you can level them rather safely. Anything below that and you probably aren't doing all that much combat or are properly training with friends like a normal person so it doesn't matter.
Now investment in terms of roleplaying with others and the like: I can't really speak on that, it depends on the people/where you are/too many variables.
Quote from: Is Friday on June 21, 2021, 09:22:33 PM
Biggest barrier for most players is time and cost/reward of time invested. Time invested is not worth the return - at least not in my experience in the past couple years.
the game is what you make it. always has been.
i really struggle with these ideas of whether or not its worth the energy that you put into it. i really believe that if it feels like a waste of time - that's on you. change shit up, try a different approach, take a break/stop playing.. literally anything to take responsibility for your relationship to the game. just shift your attitude about it because it's never going to be perfect, it's always going to be changing, and the
real waste of energy is playing spin the wheel of what do we rehash this month.
the game rules. there's dope shit going on. don't do boring shit if doing boring shit means you're bored and melancholic for another year.
i say all that with the full knowledge that i can and kinda frequently DO get into those sorts of ruts. at the end of the day it's still up to me to manage my relationship and level of fun with the game.
Quote from: Is Friday on June 21, 2021, 09:22:33 PM
Biggest barrier for most players ...
Where is this poll that all the players are responding to? Is it a special mailing list?
Its just a game, if you don't feel its worth it to play, then don't.
I think lots of people would welcome back returning players, but it shouldn't feel obligatory.
At the same time there's a frequent generalization of ones own reasons for not playing as part of a broader wave of discontent (this frequently happens on Discord and here).
Quote from: Fernandezj on June 21, 2021, 10:16:55 PM
Quote from: Is Friday on June 21, 2021, 09:22:33 PM
Biggest barrier for most players ...
Where is this poll that all the players are responding to? Is it a special mailing list?
I think they are reading into the general observations. Giving opinions about why and how things are the way they are. It's not a poll at all, just folks reading into the subtext of the observation. No need to try and poo poo them.
Don't you know? Negative opinions aren't allowed. Even if you have a suggestion on how to fix the disparity you see.
Armageddon, as a game, is Tuluk. Everything is fine. Nothing is wrong. All are infallible.
Slight derail, Masks are definitely the ed hardy shirt of Armageddon, that made me lol.
Yeah, even I will admit that the new classes are really good.
In barely an IC year with minimal play (like an hour here and there and skip some days), I pretty much got all of my useful skills to Master, except for weapon skills - with poor wisdom.
Agreed on the time investment, which is why offline way messages is the cure-all tonic I have for you!
Seriously, it would help move plots with less time invested, help off peakers, help busy people, fix this problem, fix that problem, fix yo momma's problems...
(It's no coincidence that I have an easier time holding on to hoes cuties IRL than IG, arranging booty calls is much easier asynchronously)
Quote from: Is Friday on June 21, 2021, 09:22:33 PM
Biggest barrier for most players is time and cost/reward of time invested. Time invested is not worth the return - at least not in my experience in the past couple years.
Right there with ya. I want to play and love the game like I used to when I was a kid but the time sink is real.
Much like people seem to keep suggesting when someone complains, I've just stopped playing. I do miss some of y'all though.
Quote from: Delirium on June 19, 2021, 07:16:37 PM
Make your own fun and people will find you.
This is true. Unfortunately the majority of fun people will try to find you with is to murder you and/or all the people you are enjoying playing with. Last time I played there were too many bored muls, defilers and other boosted sponsored roles with nothing better to do then find reasons to kill each other. :o
I am glad to see something more happening in the world now at least. Hopefully it will keep those overpowered roles busy and not engage in too many petty acts.
Putting effort in to making a interesting character is exhausting, and training a character not to get rolled over by a the first strong dwarf they see takes even more time and effort, especially if you want to role-play at the same time.
I think the game would benefit with a way to train skills in an OOC way at this point. It'll facilitate RP and risk (like sitting in taverns apparently) while lessen the feeling of starting again after losing a strong PC.
Quote from: Dresan on June 22, 2021, 01:51:59 PM
Quote from: Delirium on June 19, 2021, 07:16:37 PM
Make your own fun and people will find you.
I think the game would benefit with a way to train skills in an OOC way at this point. It'll facilitate RP and risk (like sitting in taverns apparently) while lessen the feeling of starting again after losing a strong PC.
i'm starting to warm up to this idea. i think if it were implemented well it could be great at doing the things you said.
might even make it based on clans to encourage people to play in these groups. byn aod garrison have martial training complexes. maybe gmh have warehouses for material goods and sparring yards for baby gains comparatively.
mostly i'm into giving people the option to feel like they can play the rp grind (an inordinate amount of time in contact via way) while still progressing their character in other areas. i think it would encourage people to spend more time with rp instead of thinking about shit like timers that can turn the game into a chore.
I personally feel like the grind got a lot better with the new changes to classes and skillcaps. I can truly say that with my last few roles getting a massive number of (master) and whatnot on the skill list wasnt really a chore at all, it just happened organically over the last few years of my PCs career. A good wisdom score helps!
There was a discussion about this on Discord, Shal or Hal or someone had good ideas on the concept.
Encourages more casual play... like you can be in the Byn for 2 IC years but if you only have limited play or no online-mates, you walk out a novice...
Would be encouraging, especially off-peak, if Byn or Militia had some passive combat gains while offline up to a certain point or with some other balances (insert codey magick).
Quote from: Fernandezj on June 22, 2021, 03:36:29 PM
There was a discussion about this on Discord, Shaloonsh has good ideas on the concept.
Encourages more casual play... like you can be in the Byn for 2 IC years but if you only have limited play or no online-mates, you walk out a novice...
Would be encouraging, especially off-peak, if Byn or Militia had some passive combat gains while offline up to a certain point or with some other balances (insert codey magick).
Yeah I unfortunately lost access to discord a few years ago. Wish I could still get in and see what was going on.
Quote from: Pariah on June 22, 2021, 05:20:31 PM
... Yeah I unfortunately lost access to discord a few years ago. Wish I could still get in and see what was going on.
You can always submit a request to have your discord ban revoked.
Would anyone like to provide a summary of what was discussed on Discord (Shaloonsh ideas for more casual play?) I honestly avoid it for any game I play, too many potential OOC pitfalls and not enough hours in the day to even stay halfway up to date.
(Also hi, still alive, looking for boog. Anyone seen boog?)
I agree, someone of don't read the scrollback.
Halaster mentioned something similar idea a couple weeks ago on discord.
The overall idea still needs a lot work in terms of detail but it would work a bit like this:
- Everyone would earn up to 10 points to allocate to any skill while offline.
- Clan members could allocate up to 15 points.
- You would need to log in to assign the points to boost any skill.
- How much points boosts a skill percentage wise would still need to be worked out but we are still talking about 9 months or so of RL time to master a weapon skill this way
The benefits of a system like this are many in a game where the population has been dwindling and will continue to dwindle and become more casual. For example, along with facilitating RP in general, this will help the game retain clan/location options with less people playing the game. After all there only being 1 or just 2 people in an active clan or remote location was a problem even when peak time was 70~ people. Ultimately, the low population isn't a temporary thing, its been happening for years and accelerating more as there are less people in the game to make things interesting, while at the same time bored people just often pile drive the interesting characters to the ground.
Do we ever get to vote on ideas? It feels like players often propose ideas, and then some idea comes from Staff that isn't necessarily what players wanted, and then we just say "Oh this [might be / is] a good change," or, "Oh no, this [might be / was] a bad change."
Yes I know I said "when do we get to pick and vote ideas as players," or similar in the Developer Request (or similar) thread, and in the discord, at which point I was told this isn't a Democracy, which I understand.
But it feels like we've had 2-3 major changes from staff recently where players don't like it and say "WTF was this?" Just from a practicality standpoint it would be more efficient to get people's feedback in advance and listen to that feedback.
[Personally I fear a point skill buy system might get players to play less. Why wait in a clan hall to spar if you don't have to spar anymore? And if you aren't actually logged in to wait for your clannies, how are you ever going to roleplay with them? My offline psionic message idea by definition solves the same problem and by definition will promote more roleplaying because the mechanism itself is roleplay. There are better ideas than what staff are proposing here, and those ideas can come from any of us. Seems like this non roleplay point buy system will kill roleplay and our player counts even more.]
Quote from: triste on June 23, 2021, 10:26:55 AM
Seems like this non roleplay point buy system will kill roleplay and our player counts even more.]
disagree 100%.
this
lessens the necessity of skill grind for gains, which is a 100% non-roleplay system that exists in place of a more organic system of gain over time. i might be a little more interested in something that is more like eve online, where you pick a skill to improve and it just goes over a period of time. maybe a primary, secondary, tertiary that train at different rates to reflect the less single-mindedness that the point buy could simulate.
this idea and the idea of offline communication serve exactly the same purpose in my mind. curious how they could be separated as good vs bad.
Deja vu. Anyone from the early 90's time will remember mudmail.
I don't see the skill grind as related to the lack of interaction. I like the auto grind idea but I've never had a maxxed out pc and when it gets to the point of watching my skills too closely, I'm past bored with that pc and usually store.
What I found was that nobody needs anyone else - the shops are so full of junk it's a pain in the ass just to scroll through the pages. The game is a crafter's paradise but a hunter/grebber, not so much. Maybe there's a market for something only a good hunter/grebber could get that I didn't see. I would even leave things around that I was sure other pcs could use...but only the reboot monster was interested.
I'm not saying it's good or bad. It's just very different. Since sid is plentiful and mats are plentiful, maybe information is the new currency?
Quote from: triste on June 23, 2021, 10:26:55 AM
[Personally I fear a point skill buy system might get players to play less. Why wait in a clan hall to spar if you don't have to spar anymore? And if you aren't actually logged in to wait for your clannies, how are you ever going to roleplay with them? My offline psionic message idea by definition solves the same problem and by definition will promote more roleplaying because the mechanism itself is roleplay. There are better ideas than what staff are proposing here, and those ideas can come from any of us. Seems like this non roleplay point buy system will kill roleplay and our player counts even more.]
The idea, as proposed, was NOT to make it so you could basically never login and still be on par with a player that plays actively, but that characters that can only play casually are not LEFT IN THE DUST by players that have unhealthy play schedules. This also, as someone mentioned, helps with clans with no population, and allows for RP opportunities and IC justifications for skill advancement, like a Kadian crafter that is actually learning tentmaking from a master without just spamming tent-craft. Etc.
The idea, in summary:
1. Reduces time investment for players because there is some passive development when offline.
2. Allows for spending more time ONLINE interacting vs. fail-chasing, since you will be generally improving.
3. Allows for players to try out clans that might be "dead" because they don't need an active population to sustain themselves.
4. Helps retain off-peak players.
etc.
Well, I guess I shouldn't argue with the idea since I am not on Discord and don't have all the context, by definition this is one sided and a losing battle. So carry on with this idea, it's whatever and hurts indies but have at it lads.
I do ARORE the post (https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,56932.msg1062123.html#msg1062123) and many others like it highlighting the OOC pitfalls of Discord. I wonder how one can stop OOC metagaming while still allowing people to communicate asynchronously and arrange roleplay... I swear someone has been posting about this idea that solves ten problems at once...
* thonk face *
I'm gonna concur that skill gains aren't as important as being able to arrange rp opportunities with players out of game.
Someone proposed the idea where you could basically send your OOC availability to another character via an automated message where all you get to fill in is the times and days you tend to be online. I think that or something like it would do ten times as much for rp as this skill gain idea.
the thing is that there a lot of widely varied styles of play when it comes to armageddon.
some people go hard on skills. some people go hard on rp. there's a whole giant spectrum in between that people will fall into.
giving players tools to be able to bridge the gaps between those styles of play strikes me as a fantastic idea. like maybe giving people on the heavy skills side of the spectrum a little extra oomph and the people on the rp side of the spectrum a little extra oomph will blur those extremes a bit, moving everyone toward a more productive center.
like in my case - give me some ability to communicate to offline characters so i don't feel like i'm wasting my time by doing some boring idling shit and waiting around for someone when i could go out and do something engaging like "bash braxat".
or in the case of the diehard clan crafter, give them some marginal martial gains so that their huge time investment doesn't get instantly nullified by a newb raider dwarf with ai strength and a two handed bludgeoning weapon.
i feel like these ideas can coexist and they benefit everyone that plays the game. i don't know how i feel about the idea that it would hurt indies. it would benefit them less if they received 10 pts vs 15 pts or whatever arbitrary value gets stated, but there's something to be said for having an entire gmh or noble house or military organization worth of resources at your disposal vs .. a warehouse.
Quote from: triste on June 23, 2021, 12:12:39 PM
Well, I guess I shouldn't argue with the idea since I am not on Discord and don't have all the context, by definition this is one sided and a losing battle. So carry on with this idea, it's whatever and hurts indies but have at it lads.
I myself am rarely on discord. That said before any major change its usually communicated here in some official manner, i think(?).
Secondly, the current game is very biased to supporting clanned characters. Indies (who are often the most interesting character IMO) especially those in remote locations are pretty much cut off from any meaningful training without borderline twinking in some cases. This idea would help ideas out the most since they find themselves isolated and alone more often then not, perhaps not as much as clanned character as like with all things but better than nothing at all.
Quote from: triste on June 23, 2021, 12:12:39 PM
Well, I guess I shouldn't argue with the idea since I am not on Discord and don't have all the context, by definition this is one sided and a losing battle. So carry on with this idea, it's whatever and hurts indies but have at it lads.
I do ARORE the post (https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,56932.msg1062123.html#msg1062123) and many others like it highlighting the OOC pitfalls of Discord. I wonder how one can stop OOC metagaming while still allowing people to communicate asynchronously and arrange roleplay... I swear someone has been posting about this idea that solves ten problems at once...
* thonk face *
A) It was just an idea. Its not being implemented.
B) No one ever said it would just be for clanned people so your whole negativistic mentality that a non-existent feature is out to hurt independents, i.e. "So carry on with this idea, it's whatever and hurts indies but have at it lads." The idea was mainly meant to primarily help those who don't have training buddies in a clan. With some added notion that maybe being a clan with a reputation as being the best at something, would have a minor boost.
You and some other are convinced that OOC coordination of play times is the answer. Some other players would never do this and feel that instead the problem is the game takes too long to develop in the combat-realm, or negatively affects players that can't play at the high levels other people play.
Like Khorm said, there are different types of players. Some would likely like the ease of facilitating interactions, others would like to feel some sort of progression, even if they can only play a couple hours a week. Both are valid wants and solutions to both can exist without canceling the other.
I love the discussion going on, and I'll have probably a lengthy post to share some of my feelings when I'm not at work.
However, please do be cordial and not attack one another due to disagreement in stances.
I think this would be a waste of a productive forum post to be locked due to fighting one another. Assume positive intent of others and don't just assume they are out to harm you or your idea.
Just to add, in my mind there are really two regions of interaction in the game:
Allanak-Rinth-Redstorm (South)
Luirs-Morins-Pah(d-elves/human-tribes) (North)
I think further efforts should be done in the game to strengthen the ability to move and interact within the regions.
For example, the mantis should be a neutral bar not only between west and east but also with the south. The gangs from both sides of the rinth should ensure that path to this bar is clear for visitors from southside who are potentially looking to do some shady business and thus finding people from southside at the mantis should be more common. This small change would increase the interaction between the two areas.
Another example, is that playing around Redstorm or traveling from Redstorm to allanak should not require direction sense. The majority of the game rooms is wilderness where this skill is vital already. Frankly, I've always wished the locations of redstorm/alanak would get switch with luirs/tuluk because the weather script and just general area around redstorm feels so outdated and clunky sometimes. I wish this would get high magicked or just reconned into being better. At the very least there should be more interesting alternatives to getting from one place to the other.
That said the influence one area (for example templars) has on the other needs to continue to be very limited. That way people can still feel like they can fuck up in one place and still go make a living in another.
Luirs-morins is currently in a special transitional situation at the moment it seems so I won't comment on it. (though imo its definitely seems to be gearing up to potentially go into a very interesting direction that players have been wanting to see again...we'll see. :-X)
Quote from: Narf on June 23, 2021, 01:08:34 PM
I'm gonna concur that skill gains aren't as important as being able to arrange rp opportunities with players out of game.
Someone proposed the idea where you could basically send your OOC availability to another character via an automated message where all you get to fill in is the times and days you tend to be online. I think that or something like it would do ten times as much for rp as this skill gain idea.
This, and also a very limited (and not spyproof) messaging system to reach players who are offline. Back in the day I had SO many plots stopped dead in the water because I could never reach any of the people I needed to reach to advance my plot. Offpeaker with weird random times ftl.
Quote from: Dresan on June 23, 2021, 04:21:26 PM
Just to add, in my mind there are really two regions of interaction in the game:
Allanak-Rinth-Redstorm (South)
Luirs-Morins-Pah(d-elves/human-tribes) (North)
I think further efforts should be done in the game to strengthen the ability to move and interact within the regions.
For example, the mantis should be a neutral bar not only between west and east but also with the south. The gangs from both sides of the rinth should ensure that path to this bar is clear for visitors from southside who are potentially looking to do some shady business and thus finding people from southside at the mantis should be more common. This small change would increase the interaction between the two areas.
Another example, is that playing around Redstorm or traveling from Redstorm to allanak should not require direction sense. The majority of the game rooms is wilderness where this skill is vital already. Frankly, I've always wished the locations of redstorm/alanak would get switch with luirs/tuluk because the weather script and just general area around redstorm feels so outdated and clunky sometimes. I wish this would get high magicked or just reconned into being better. At the very least there should be more interesting alternatives to getting from one place to the other.
That said the influence one area (for example templars) has on the other needs to continue to be very limited. That way people can still feel like they can fuck up in one place and still go make a living in another.
Luirs-morins is currently in a special transitional situation at the moment it seems so I won't comment on it. (though imo its definitely seems to be gearing up to potentially go into a very interesting direction that players have been wanting to see again...we'll see. :-X)
i'm heavy into making the game hard. i also want it to be accessible for people who don't fuck with desert survival or combat elements.
the harshness or the desert and difficulty of travel seem like central thematic elements. kurac exists ic'ly as a means to address this.
it would be cool if there were caravans or some shit that would have departures and arrivals and dates and means to join or leave them. couple npc guards, npc guide, maybe a cart. pay a fee and join, pray you don't get raided. maybe create a system where players can replace the npcs as caravan guards if they're up to snuff. work out details of what happens on either end and if it gets btfo.
or make a player clan that does this. that could be cool?
I am cool with making parts of the game hard and challenging but not at the expense of promoting RP and interaction.
However, there is an entire wilderness to explore (grey forest, pah, sea of eternal dust,etc) there for those that want that want harsh/isolated desert survival.
There is already an element of risk the moment you decide to go to different regerion. For example, stepping into the rinth and heading to the mantis, even if the way was cleared from NPC threats will always have an element of danger since its a lawless zone. Same with preventing clunky weather code from impeding travel to and from Redstorm or having alternative routes, there will still be beetles,raiders and lawless area in between.
You can still hire byn or get a friend to travel with you for safety from beetles and raiders, but even preventing the attempt travel due to clunky weather code is just bad in my opinion. There are plenty of ways of making the game hard, without also making it frustrating and boring.
sure the storm around rsv is obnoxious as fuck and so is direction sense in its entirety.
but why remove it and leave a blank where you previously had theme when you could come up with an interesting solution or alternative.
placing high threat out exclusively on the periphery feels like a solution that could make travel and rp easier, but it's a solution that is removing contrast; making the experience more flat. it would be awesome if we could figure out a way to add depth instead of taking it away.
To clarify the thing we are talking about here is specifically the ability for players to travel from Allanak to Redstorm in a way that allows more regular interaction between these two areas. Not really looking to make any other area or activity easier or less challenging
I do like the fact that classes can't do everything, or require to work together but in this particular case I think it hurts the game more then it helps. Additionally, I really believe the storm code in the area is clunky and I would like to see it touched up to better represent an area that historically should have regular travel/trade. That said my preferred solution would be alternative routes to the place, for example longer route around the stormy (but more direct) areas which would require more rest(more danger) but happens to less windy thus less need less need of a single skill, or my favorite idea which is an underground route with its own dangers and challenges.
But regardless of the solution, easing some of the travel restrictions between the areas, and promoting more interaction and RP between the characters that live there should be further encouraged especially with a smaller playerbase.
I'm going to be paraphrasing quotes because I don't want to jump around copy and pasting, plus am slightly lazy.QuoteThe weather system and direction sense don't work well
I personally play almost exclusively some type of "ranger" type character, Stalker etc and I've noticed that after a lot of days played, say 10+ (Yes I'm aware that's nothing, just saying it's a lot for me.) that my direction sense still sucks and the extreme weather still sends me going in wrong directions all the time.
I personally think this stems from a couple things:
1. There are cheap pieces of equipment that boost this, and make it so that weather that might normally send you in the wrong direction and if I'm correct in assuming, teach you a tick of direction sense make it almost never happen, in this instance I think those pieces of equipment are TOO good.
2. When you're in weather that's so bad that even with boosted equipment for direction sense you're turned around, it's normally so bad, and the way that there are timers and limits on learning you end up having to either idle for long periods of time to wait out the storm, or camp and hope when you log back in it's not a blinding sandstorm you can't walk or ride out of.
So by Armageddon being a learn via failure mud, and each skill being the potential to fall on the insanely hard to raise level (think weapon skills) to super easy (Think certain crafting skills) it's hard to tell without being able to see the numbers if it could use some tweaking, but I feel that it definitely could.
Or possibly look at direction sense for Ranger types (stalker/scout) to possibly start off super high or maxed like contact to further enforce that you're a guy who lives in this world before your character pops outta Chargen and you're not some newb who gets turned around easily. If I'm correct, that's why Contact was maxed, because in a world where psionics exists, everyone would be practicing contacting folks for their whole life, why would they need to train it? I think it's fair to assume navigating harsh weather would be in the same bucket. But as stated, this isn't a democracy so just putting that thought into the world and hoping maybe someone with the juice agrees.
QuoteThe rinth is too dangerous and doesn't get enough use for what it is, a seedy lowlife, lawless area where back alley dealings would be done by both "Proper" southerners and Rinthers.
I don't think I've stepped foot in the Rinth in years, literally RL years, but I seem to remember that when I tried last time, I had some NPCs knock me unconscious and steal all my shit, and another time backstab me to near death and finish me. I could be wrong, but I think these were NPCs, not players so I didn't really have anything to do but rely on code to flee which didn't really work and boom dead/pennyless.
Now, I am not saying make the Rinth easy, but maybe as someone stated, put a rinth gathering point in a more accessible, less gauntlet of death area so that folks who want to do and hire illicit acts don't have to risk life and limb to get there.
This may have changed since last time I was there, and if so awesome, but I know those were my frustrations and why I've never tried to join the guild or play an "official" criminal character. Because between not knowing how to efficiently and realistically train criminal shit without ending up in a Templar Cell, dead or get called a twink was always my challenge there.
QuoteTypes of players are different, some like combat, some like crafting, some like emoting and RP. How do we make a system that's open and inclusive to all?
I can't see logs, thinks or any of that personal shit that staff sees, so I can't really judge others too harshly in the area of if they are playing the game to theme or correctly.
However, I do know what I like doing, and I'm a mixture of combat against critters (due to my playing always a ranger character). Magick (when I spec app something) and crafter type player.
I have sometimes got stuck for full day cycles or more in interesting bar/apartment/clanhall RP too, so I'm not against it. But I tend to be more of a "Hey man let's interact so we can help one another, or do something together." type of RPer more than a "Oh you draw for House Fale, tell me about your mother and your child." type RPer. There has to be some end game for me to interact with you on a regular scale. Whether that's necessity (Byn Training, you're my spice dealer, you're my animal part buyer or you're my guy who I go hunting with).
I know I struggle just giving a shit about aide fancy silks Tressy Tress who works for House Oash but has no reason to really talk to or interact with Amos the Ranger. Now I'm not saying that they aren't important to the game and don't fill a role, but like real life, I might know 100s of people, but only a select few are actually my friends or someone I care if they were to get hit by a car tomorrow (Harsh example but hopefully you get what I'm saying.)
I would be totally fine with some type of idle tick or passive skill gain idea, but what I have always felt is missed is RP'd development on a character level. Now I'm not talking about I start as a Runner and become Sergeant of the shitcloaks type of advancement, I would deem that more skill/relationship advancement.
What I mean is how things are set via your class/subclass to the point that you literally will never learn anything outside X number of skills/crafts no matter if you live for one month RL or 6 Years RL. I've always felt that there should be a way to unlock certain skills through RP and striving for something in game. I don't think it should be easy, but it should be possible to say be Amos the Ranger, who finds out his buddy Tektolnes the salter is really moonlighting as a defiler, but because I've known Tektolnes for so long and built a relationship, I'm not turning in my boy.
Now I feel, that in that scenario, if my boy wants to teach me to suck some life outta a tree and cast a fireball of doom, it should be something I can eventually become. But in the current system that can't happen, at least it's been my experience.
However, it appears that staff is open to oddball shit via Special Application and giving folks ability to do things sorta custom. I personally years ago played a Burglar for like a day with slight Psionicist abilities, and of course since I didn't know what I was doing, he died like instantly due to murder the mindworm, but I could do it and it was fun.
Now again, I'm not speaking from a position of any ACTUAL knowledge that these things don't happen, and maybe it's due to my horrible past with staff that I've never seen it, but I think that it would be cool if characters could grow beyond the mold skill/stat wise.
QuoteI can't play because I can't sink the time into it anymore. / I have ideas of characters all the time but can't bring myself to play due to not wanting to commit the time.
Preach to the choir man! I get it, I work about 45 hours a week on a normal week, have a kid, have four dogs and a steam library of over 1000 games, trust me I got a lot of shit that can take up my time.
This is why I think that the ability to coordinate with folks on an OOC ability beyond Clan Boards would be beneficial. Say I have four hours to play, I don't want to spend two of it trying to find Fancy Pants Lord Fale. I want to be actually doing things. I mentioned about how if you read some off the OOC boards around the world right now, you'll see awesome idea, awesome plan, awesome grouping up opportunity and etc ALL OVER THE DAMN place, but they are now either dead or gone.
I feel that if I could advertise things and get IG interest to look up my homeboy in game via OOC means that it would provide folks with a reason to build Crafter Bob to help Hunter Amos or build Hunter Amos II so that he could team up with the original.
Right now to actually team up with people outside of clans I feel like you sorta gotta deal with them like little kids do. "Hey my name is Billy, see my beetle? His name is Diza. You look cool and your inix is pretty sweet, would you like to come out and play with me and Diza?"
Then assuming they are free to go play, I gotta either coordinate with them via OOC Hey I play normally from 8pm-1am EST, what about you? Or I have to try and vaguely express that like, "Hey me and Diza normally go riding later in the week, what about you?" Where it would benefit me to be able to mudmail or something the player of and be like, "Hey I got a few hours to play today, interested in logging and going hunting?".
So I feel like some type of staff viewable messaging would be a benefit to actually getting folks on and logged in DOING SOMETHING. I recently was in the Byn as a player and there is even a roleplay guide in there that says something along the lines of, "Don't log in, see nobody is at training and then log off." And yes while I get why, and I do support the sentiment of being someone that others can look for versus the give up and try later that perpetuates nobody in the game actively. I also don't wanna be the dude sitting on a bench waiting to see if you log in to smack me with bone sticks.
There are way too many clans open to be logged on idling in the hope that the 2-3 people you're looking for will decided to join the 30 that are logged in and spread throughout the world.
Summary:
I'm all for people getting what they like out the game, if you wanna chop mutha fuckas up with bone swords, do it. If you wanna craft jewelry for four hours a day, you do you boo. If you wanna go down that hole in the ground and die to some big bug/monster that you didn't know was there, I'm definitely here for that and cheering you on as well.
But I feel we need more ways to interact, more avenues to do things and more plots and plans to run to fruition or defeat and to do that, I think we need a way to coordinate that's outside of clan boards. But I totally get that this isn't an easy thing to do and will take trust involved for people not twink it up.
Here's to hoping?
My two (2) cents on a long thoughtful* post.
Cent 1
Quote
I've always felt that there should be a way to unlock certain skills through RP and striving for something in game.
Ye old skill point buy argument. We'd all love it! I only opposed it after looking at an [allegedly leaked] version of the Arma codebase [for a second before pretending I never downloaded it] and saw guilds were largely based on static files. It's a PITA to move from something like static class/guild definitions to a skill point buy. But possible! People have asked for it for years. I opposed it, "knowing" what I "know." But seeing as staff themselves
just proposed a skill point allocation system...
Let's fuckin' do it.. And let's go
all the way.
Cent 2
Quote
This is why I think that the ability to coordinate with folks on an OOC ability beyond Clan Boards would be beneficial
Oh so you mean a way to "Way" people psionically when they are logged out? Something I've posted about for more than a year, after noticing metagamers were reaping an unfair advantage over honest players? It's fine, I know no one can publicly back up my ideas because I am a freak like Adina Howard.
The utility of such a feature is
obvious, but I also agree with another poster that "mudmail" is cringeworthy. I just hope Staff invest time in thinking about the need that needs to be fulfilled here (AKA, people do NOT want to metagame and cheat but want to be able to coordinate RP asynchronously), and come up with a good solution, if they do not like mine.
*
I know Pariah looks like a shill account of mine because this b!t-h was also permabanned from discord like me and we share a lot of opinions, but I don't know who this fool is and Staff can validate that, I guarantee we have share no IP addresses, only logical opinions.
My first account was banned years ago for something I probably deserved but can't remember due to it being years ago.
Me and Triste are definitely not the same person.
If I shared my original account name, I think you find that we went at it back and forth and did not like each other at all.
I had a habit of flaming and being a general douche canoe and that is what caused my current issues with senior staff.
Hopefully through consistent non-twinky play and posting on the board that's not douche'y it will change.
Note: Barring people accidentally dragging, or baiting, npcs to different areas there are ways to get to the 'hub' areas of the Rinth without coming across muggers. I can think of a few with various ways of doing so (Outright running, different paths to take, climbing, sneaking/hiding, could always fight your way through)
I suggest excel mapping if you /really/ don't like memorizing geography cause its kinda a 'labyrinth' in there *laugh track*
Even then there are easy as hell ways around them. I don't think the muggers should be changed and I think making it safer to get into any part of the 'Rinth, as an outsider, devalues the 'Rinth as a slum and criminal underground where outsiders shouldn't be having fun in.
That being said despite playing in the 'Rinth I'm never really 100% on what the 'Rinth should be, but somewhere in my heart it is 'A place to hide after fucking up that steal check'. Silks begone.
Despite this little spiel I do think it would be nicer to have some way of coordinating play OOC more. Does this mean a Rinthi specific method? Probably not, rumor board does most of the work and once you know people you can kinda get in the know, but if OOC methods are added or less poo poo'd on it would extend to the 'Rinth as a way to help it without rolling out the red carpet for people to walk to the mantis with their fancy clothes on so they can frolic with elves.
I guess I should comment on the specific quote/the kinda quote used
"The rinth is too dangerous and doesn't get enough use for what it is, a seedy lowlife, lawless area where back alley dealings would be done by both "Proper" southerners and Rinthers."
I don't think the 'Rinth is too dangerous, the amount of npcs that will attempt to mug you are rather low and it's based on being worth mugging. So a disguise fixes 100% of this.
I don't think 'Proper' Southeners would want to use the 'Rinth as a place to do deals. It's absolutely filthy in there and littered with corpses. If they did do business there I think the disguise part should be required.
When I was playing a Noble's aid I actively did deals with the Guild. They'd go southside, we'd meet in a certain spot, then do a hand off. I would never meet them near the Rinth and it would be silly to assume I would. Maybe a non-aide might be asked, or go up there, but that's to be expected and they should be ready to have to deal with that. If they can't deal with some alley muggers, they shouldn't be able to deal with the big boys. And if they are dealing with small fries the small ones can come to you.
I did deal with the 'Rinth on a character who had valuable things on him once, hasn't been a year so no specifics, but I circumvented the need of a disguise with Hiding and sneaking. This character HAD a disguise back at the apartment, but I didn't need to use it because I was a chad that could hide in the alleys better than they could.
Breaking my heart. The 'rinth is perfect. It has... everything we need it to have, and if you don't know how to utilise that, then you haven't played there enough or you're just not ready for the heat.
The idea of a safe zone to meet southies is just.. so.. unthematic. Shady northside/southside deals should require risk. Otherwise, they're not shady. They're just boring.
*isn't sure what the rest of the thread is about but can't abide suggestions to soften up the rinth*
I think the 'paraphrasing' turned this thread into a broken telephone.
The idea was about making one location at the edge of the rinth a little safer for people without high combat/sneak/hide skills to get to in order to promote some more interesting interaction between these southside/northside players.
Considering some people are avoiding going to the Gaj for fear of being killed and no one mentioned changing any other part of the rinth, I think the danger level will remain quite fine.
The ideas mentioned are really about allowing players to be proactive when it comes to finding RP with different sort of people without having too many skill/class requirements.
Come for the murder, stay cause you are murdered.
Quote from: Dresan on June 24, 2021, 08:06:15 AM
I think the 'paraphrasing' turned this thread into a broken telephone.
The idea was about making one location at the edge of the rinth a little safer for people without high combat/sneak/hide skills to get to in order to promote some more interesting interaction between these southside/northside players.
Considering some people are avoiding going to the Gaj for fear of being killed and no one mentioned changing any other part of the rinth, I think the danger level will remain quite fine.
The ideas mentioned are really about allowing players to be proactive when it comes to finding RP with different sort of people without having too many skill/class requirements.
This seems a strange suggestion to me. I've found that for players that play along with the culture of the alleys, it's one of the safest areas in the game. If I tally up character deaths northside versus southside for myself, it's not even comparable. And all of my deaths northside, without exception, were because my character was starting shit they couldn't finish.
As far as I can tell there is no danger whatsoever from NPCs for walking to a rinthi gathering spot if you follow the culture of the alleys during travel. Am I wrong here? Did I miss something?
I have long considered the idea of the Screaming Mantis in the 'Rinth to be the 'seedy alley bar' that people go to for first-contact. Geographically, the T'zai Byn could set and control access to an alley that leads directly to it. For a price, you can use their "safe" way to get to the bar.
Especially considering "back in the day" all the 'rinthi guards WERE Byn Mercs.
Bring back the Dirk
You guys are making me want to roll a criminal. But I think he would survive up until the first time I typed steal dude and mantis head. So I probably won't.
Quote from: Pariah on June 24, 2021, 03:11:00 PM
You guys are making me want to roll a criminal. But I think he would survive up until the first time I typed steal dude and mantis head. So I probably won't.
(not kidding)
Quote from: slipshod on June 24, 2021, 02:46:08 PM
Bring back the Dirk
The Dirk is back.
See -> https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,56934.0.html
similarities in location aside, it's not the same
... if you can't think of an in-game, player-driven, established area near the rinth where you could probably go to meet criminal-types in a seedy environment in relative safety as opposed to wandering the rinth itself, then I don't believe you're actively playing in Allanak.
If you want to go inside the rinth to make deals, then you'd need to make friends beforehand, or risk it. That's kinda the whole point.
Quote from: LindseyBalboa on June 24, 2021, 05:20:51 PM
... if you can't think of an in-game, player-driven, established area near the rinth where you could probably go to meet criminal-types in a seedy environment in relative safety as opposed to wandering the rinth itself, then I don't believe you're actively playing in Allanak.
If you want to go inside the rinth to make deals, then you'd need to make friends beforehand, or risk it. That's kinda the whole point.
Riiigggggght? ::)
Remove the muggers, except in the deepest parts of the rinth.
The danger of the rinth should come from Rinthi PCs, not wtfpwn NPCs. Savvy players just walk right past the muggers anyway. Nowadays they really only serve as an excuse to get some combat training for armored dwarves and other bored Byn/ex-Byn.
Nah.
To be more proactive:
Make the NPC Muggers just as dangerous, and obviously at the territory of the 'rinth. Just as with soldier patrols in Allanak, have roving bands of NPC Marauders that are visible from a distance patrol the 'rinth. Those capable of enough to pass detection, can search the Old Merchant Estates that have Booty and Treasures galore (Forage Artifact). They might uncover...Bags of obsidian coins. Old treasures. Artifacts. But it takes some danger to get there.
Fuck the idea of having the 'rinth be a cakewalk. It should be difficult. There should also be some risk vs reward behind delving deep into its past and history.
Add more muggers, if anything.
But don't add MORE wealth to the rinth. It's already covered in a hundred thousand sid worth of 3 sid cloaks and 5 sid obsidian daggers at any given time.
As much as I love the idea of dangerous places having potentially valuable rewards for exploration, the rinth isn't a treasure hunt in a cave. People shouldn't be coming in there at all, that's the whole point. Why would you want to?
The only thing that unites an Eastside elf and a Westside human is, after all, complete lack of trust in southies/outsiders.
The rinth isn't the wild ruthless desert. It lawless yes, but people still live there, they have shops, families and jobs. They just happen to be poor. They also have protection from the gangs and organizations there.
Not to derail but I would love to see more stuff added to the Rinth to make it more of a place people live rather than just hang out or come to have dangerous adventures. One thing that is missing is gang run and protected apartments. If you fuck up now, the only place it feels like you can run to in order to start a new life is Redstorm(hope your character has direction sense skill) or Morins. West and Eastside should be their own mini towns, and to be fair it has been getting there with new unique shops and such but still needs a bit more love.
There are protected and semi-protected spaces in the rinth for PCs already. In fact, even the semi-protected spaces are "safer" than any southside apartment you can rent.
I imagine players who have not figured out the rinthi muggers and think it's too dangerous there are just overestimating what they'll find.
The problem with the rinth or rinth-southside mingling has never been danger. The issue has always been that these areas are huge and far-flung, and it takes a real time investment to even go looking for other characters, and when things are not particularly active it all feels very sterile and empty.
I haven't played in the rinth recently so I can't speak to the current situation, but the way it worked previously in my experience was pretty reliant on tavern sitters hanging out and being somewhat reliably at a particular hangout. If someone cool was reliably at one of the taverns, you'd get more and more PCs showing up to play there until there was enough activity that you didn't need dedicated tavern sitters anymore. But if no one is there at all, people who stop by don't hang around and will come by less often. That's why the rinth has always had a serious ebb and flow to its activity levels.
If literally no one is tavern sitting at any of the rinthi taverns or the Gaj, what is a rinthi independent PC gonna do finding no interaction? They're gonna join the Byn, learn the Southern accent, blend in, and be played exactly like a Southside PC.
As a player from way back, I admit to flirting with a few characters over the last decade (or several) but rarely finding one I could sink my teeth into. So very glad to have seemingly found one now. Also happy to see a few familiar names on the GDB.
I just wanted to post to say that I'm glad that RP isn't dead, for certain, despite rumors. Power gamers and OOC knowledge leaking has always been a problem, so in that sense the game nor the player base has changed much. To me it seems that putting oneself in the place to allow RP to happen is important, to expect it and provide it oneself is important.
While there have been many changes to the mechanics of the game over the years, I have always had an imperfect understanding of How Things Work which is fortunate for both me and my characters as we fumble forward and try to make sense of our experience. Wonderfully, the game is still as honest and amazing at its core. Your character will die. If you are fortunate, it will be heartbreaking.
I'm old enough now to be grandfather to the fellow who first escaped Holy Mission for the beauty of the Known World and still find that this is where the best stories are found. And every step my new character takes in this world echoes the memories of eons past, of those who have trod these sands whose names have been lost in the endless wastes of sand and time.
Finally, I want to say that I attribute to Armageddon my inability to enjoy any game without a permadeath feature - mudding, Subnautica, No Man's Sky, Skyrim. If there isn't that ultimate risk, why are we here?
Also, I hope the use of "Longneck," and "Longnecker," as well as "'necker," has vanished from the Known world. It always makes me think of cheap beer. Elves deserve better - but not by much.
Quote from: DustMight on July 10, 2021, 07:26:36 AM
Also, I hope the use of "Longneck," and "Longnecker," as well as "'necker," has vanished from the Known world. It always makes me think of cheap beer. Elves deserve better - but not by much.
It was banned quite a number of years ago. I can't remember exactly which year, but it's use was outright banned.
Quote from: Hauwke on July 10, 2021, 09:17:27 AM
Quote from: DustMight on July 10, 2021, 07:26:36 AM
Also, I hope the use of "Longneck," and "Longnecker," as well as "'necker," has vanished from the Known world. It always makes me think of cheap beer. Elves deserve better - but not by much.
It was banned quite a number of years ago. I can't remember exactly which year, but it's use was outright banned.
Longneck is the only one out of these that's technically still allowed, but I haven't seen it used IG.
Quote from: DustMight on July 10, 2021, 07:26:36 AM
So very glad to have seemingly found one now.
This almost makes me wanna come back.
OMG.
Quote from: DustMight on July 12, 2021, 07:40:33 PM
OMG.
Quote from: Narf on July 12, 2021, 09:31:50 PM
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on July 12, 2021, 08:18:28 PM
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 12, 2021, 02:11:00 PM
Quote from: DustMight on July 10, 2021, 07:26:36 AM
So very glad to have seemingly found one now.
This almost makes me wanna come back.
Do it.
Probably sometime in the next five days.
Get back evil temptor! 😈 Get BACK!
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 12, 2021, 10:12:30 PM
Quote from: DustMight on July 12, 2021, 07:40:33 PM
OMG.
Quote from: Narf on July 12, 2021, 09:31:50 PM
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on July 12, 2021, 08:18:28 PM
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 12, 2021, 02:11:00 PM
Quote from: DustMight on July 10, 2021, 07:26:36 AM
So very glad to have seemingly found one now.
This almost makes me wanna come back.
Do it.
Probably sometime in the next five days.
Get back evil temptor! 😈 Get BACK!
Now I've had my brain surgery I have an application in for a flavour character ;)
Quote from: Bushranger on July 12, 2021, 11:10:11 PM
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 12, 2021, 10:12:30 PM
Quote from: DustMight on July 12, 2021, 07:40:33 PM
OMG.
Quote from: Narf on July 12, 2021, 09:31:50 PM
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on July 12, 2021, 08:18:28 PM
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 12, 2021, 02:11:00 PM
Quote from: DustMight on July 10, 2021, 07:26:36 AM
So very glad to have seemingly found one now.
This almost makes me wanna come back.
Do it.
Probably sometime in the next five days.
Get back evil temptor! 😈 Get BACK!
Now I've had my brain surgery I have an application in for a flavour character ;)
The struggle is real.. maybe, Temptors... maybe.
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 13, 2021, 07:03:12 AM
Quote from: Bushranger on July 12, 2021, 11:10:11 PM
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 12, 2021, 10:12:30 PM
Quote from: DustMight on July 12, 2021, 07:40:33 PM
OMG.
Quote from: Narf on July 12, 2021, 09:31:50 PM
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on July 12, 2021, 08:18:28 PM
Quote from: ShaLeah on July 12, 2021, 02:11:00 PM
Quote from: DustMight on July 10, 2021, 07:26:36 AM
So very glad to have seemingly found one now.
This almost makes me wanna come back.
Do it.
Probably sometime in the next five days.
Get back evil temptor! 😈 Get BACK!
Now I've had my brain surgery I have an application in for a flavour character ;)
The struggle is real.. maybe, Temptors... maybe.
:)
Get a room already..
.. You know, in-character, with those PCs you're making.
Quote from: Patuk on July 13, 2021, 06:19:12 PM
Get a room already..
.. You know, in-character, with those PCs you're making.
All five of them?!
Quote from: Maso on July 14, 2021, 07:46:06 AM
Quote from: Patuk on July 13, 2021, 06:19:12 PM
Get a room already..
.. You know, in-character, with those PCs you're making.
All five of them?!
Yes.
Quote from: Patuk on July 14, 2021, 08:29:12 AM
Quote from: Maso on July 14, 2021, 07:46:06 AM
Quote from: Patuk on July 13, 2021, 06:19:12 PM
Get a room already..
.. You know, in-character, with those PCs you're making.
All five of them?!
Yes.
I mean.. come on... it's ME. Of course all five.
https://youtu.be/0i0IlSKn0sE (https://youtu.be/0i0IlSKn0sE)
You know, sad part, done that...not with Shal I do not think...and 5 is too many.
So says the expansion division.
Quote from: X-D on July 16, 2021, 09:47:54 AM
You know, sad part, done that...not with Shal I do not think...and 5 is too many.
Strangely enough, none of my characters have. Not even the whores. Or the triibals.
Or the Sun Runners.
#vanilla
Quote from: Pariah on June 19, 2021, 02:15:55 PM
Quote from: triste on June 19, 2021, 08:50:03 AM
Quote from: number13 on June 19, 2021, 04:24:07 AM
The limit on OOC communication means spies can be effective in game, and surprises can happen. It also means it can be difficult or impossible to talk to a particular player when you need to in order to advance a plot.
This is exactly why I have been asking for a means to Way or send messages to people when they are offline. I know it would be a PITA to implement, but it would fully address this problem, which you are correct, is becoming more of a problem day by day.
And sadly, there are TONS of players who cheat and metagame constantly to "fix this problem themselves," and the disproportionate advantage they possess... again only drives more people to quit.
I would LOVE it if staff would try to implement this solution (offline way messages) to solve this problem (coordinating RP asynchronously in game). I would LOVE it if someone could propose even another solution to this besides the one I am proposing, but I haven't heard any other good ideas yet.
We can endlessly identify problems, and/or we can start to fix them.
Perhaps a type of ooc/ic mail system in the first login menu?
That way you could leave small messages for player of Amos and then when they log in they would see it?
.
HELLS BELLS YES.
Is there a technical limitation preventing this?
Quote from: oggotale on July 27, 2021, 05:09:16 AM
Quote from: Pariah on June 19, 2021, 02:15:55 PM
Quote from: triste on June 19, 2021, 08:50:03 AM
Quote from: number13 on June 19, 2021, 04:24:07 AM
The limit on OOC communication means spies can be effective in game, and surprises can happen. It also means it can be difficult or impossible to talk to a particular player when you need to in order to advance a plot.
This is exactly why I have been asking for a means to Way or send messages to people when they are offline. I know it would be a PITA to implement, but it would fully address this problem, which you are correct, is becoming more of a problem day by day.
And sadly, there are TONS of players who cheat and metagame constantly to "fix this problem themselves," and the disproportionate advantage they possess... again only drives more people to quit.
I would LOVE it if staff would try to implement this solution (offline way messages) to solve this problem (coordinating RP asynchronously in game). I would LOVE it if someone could propose even another solution to this besides the one I am proposing, but I haven't heard any other good ideas yet.
We can endlessly identify problems, and/or we can start to fix them.
Perhaps a type of ooc/ic mail system in the first login menu?
That way you could leave small messages for player of Amos and then when they log in they would see it?
.
HELLS BELLS YES.
Is there a technical limitation preventing this?
The technical limitation preventing this is triste is "icky" and therefore has "bad" ideas.
JK. Snark only present because (1) there probably is no technical limitations, I know of probably five muds with this feature, including a major RPI (2) I've asked for this feature for about three years and cool busy people like you will periodically say "YES" in agreement but nothing happens.
IDK I should shut up so (1) someone less "icky" asks for this and it happens (2) a staff role call opens up and I can get a slot and code it my damn self.
(This idea has a lot of intrinsic merits for busy people KRATH DAMNIT).
As an offpeaker that feature would definitely be a godsend :(
It's not even that intrusive, dareisay it's almosta quality of life.
Atleast I can't think of anyways it can be abused?
Being able to receive way messages when logged off and a log of them when you log in would be epic.
The worst possible exploit I could think of is if it becomes suddenly hard to way someone offline, people might be able to assume they died. But it's really no different than what we have today, it is common to hear, "I don't know, I haven't been able to way Talia in weeks, maybe she died." And if you want to disappear/fake your own death, people would be able to opt out of this feature by logging off with a barrier or similar (just the same way people avoid "Are you dead?" sniffing now).
Similarly the worst pain point I can think of when using this is name collisions and having to fish around for the right Amos to way when there are multiple, but just like the point above, this is an existing problem people are used to navigating.
And lastly, this mechanic is 100% preferable to people metagaming and cheating with Discord, etc.
I love busy ppl like Krath and off peakers like oggotale and would love to play w ppl like this more!
As the idea that is being discussed here does hold some sway into what the OP is having troubles with, I would have to say that I would also love to have a way to leave messages in more of an IC way and would prove more realistic in some fashions. It also makes it easier in many ways and also means I we don't have to always try and pass on GDB handles or something just to try and get a playtime to pass a message.
Quote from: lairos on July 27, 2021, 10:45:52 AM
As the idea that is being discussed here does hold some sway into what the OP is having troubles with, I would have to say that I would also love to have a way to leave messages in more of an IC way and would prove more realistic in some fashions. It also makes it easier in many ways and also means I we don't have to always try and pass on GDB handles or something just to try and get a playtime to pass a message.
What about an IC messenger NPC that can be scripted to accept messages of limited length that will report to PCs of a certain rank, making it more of a clan perk (which, let's be honest, is 90% of the need for these sorts of things). Anything that keeps IC information IG and off the GDB is a good thing, to my mind. The syntax could allow you to specify by name (or keyworded name). This also means they could be overheard! It would automatically tag on your rank and their rank, and use whatever keywords/names you gave him.
I imagine it working something like this:
>message Hardnose Malik I have hired a new recruit, Amosa. Lady Fluffybottom Winrothol wishes to speak with you regarding the kryl assault. There was a major theft from the noble's quarter and the main suspect is Sharpy, the elf.A fat, balding messenger says, in northern-accented sirihish:
"Okay, I have your message. I'll relay it to Faithful Lord Hardnose when I see him next.">check messages
A fat, balding messenger says to you, in northern-accented sirihish:
"Faithful Lord Hardnose, Captain Malik had the following report on Dzeda, 77th day of Low Sun, year 77."
A fat, balding messenger says to you, in northern-accented sirihish:
"He said: I have hired a new recruit, Amosa. Lady Fluffybottom Winrothol wishes to speak with you regarding the kryl assault. There was a major theft from the noble's quarter and the main suspect is Sharpy, the elf."You could be limited in characters to each message and to x amount of messages per RL day, to prevent over-usage or spam.
I would be in favor if (1) this is a service unclanned PCs can use too (2) it is not more difficult to implement than a Way based solution.
Whatever works for staff to implement, there is a lot of interest and need.
> What about an IC messenger NPC that can be scripted to accept messages of limited length that will report to PCs of a certain rank, making it more of a clan perk.
Yeah not in favor. I am unapologetically pro indie, I would also wager a Way based solution would be easier to implement (key word wager). It would also be easier to use it if the interface were familiar rather than entirely different. The interface you propose is similar to posting on a board and look how often people mess that up. TLDR I considered your idea but would love for my well supported idea to get traction rather than be lost in some churn. It's been years of me proposing this, and handful of folks saying "Yeah that's a good idea," and nothing.
[playful taunt]just hire me staff lolzz now that I am a backend engineer for one of the biggest tech companies in the world I know C languages a lot better, also proof has been in the pudding (https://tristearmageddon.github.io/arma-guild-picker/) (yes thats a frontend app but point is I know how software works and build FOR THIS GAME) for years, if you ain't gonna build it, let me lol[/playful taunt]