Just putting this out here. If you have any thoughts, concerns, praises or suggestions regarding EFUM feel free to share it here (civilly). We've come far in these four months story-wise and a lot of new stuff have been implemented (with more to come). You may also send it in a private message if this is better.
I like it. I wish there were more explorations and attempts of the harder quests though. It is certainly more difficult in most ways than the last one. But this is a playerbase issue.
I think the Withering should be given some scripted ways to make progress and find clues on how to cure it. As it is now people need a willing DM to even start to try to learn anything about it, and so it is largely ignored. The only time someone pays attention to it is as a front for some evil scheme. No one has made progress that I know of, beyond the xp-sink method of occasionally dealing with it before going back to ignoring it.
I think quest xp has been tightened up too much as well. I recall doing one that was max level ten, on a level eight, and getting about fifty ending xp for it.
I think ghost summons and corpse animation needs a huge boost as well due to the utter lack of tolerance for it now.
I absolutely love EFUM at the moment. It has a great feel. The Muster has such an awesome underdog neighborhood-watch feel to it (from the outside looking in). Honestly EFUM is very likely the best iteration of EFU and I never thought I'd get over my love of the Underdark.
I've really enjoyed trying to influence the town in small ways. My only small critique might be to allow players to more easily gain access to doing something cool with the buildings/area of Mistlocke without having to bankroll it with an absurd amount of gold and a large PC backing. Not saying that IS required, but I haven't seen a lot in the way of PC evolution of the town geography/feel itself. But that may be fixed by having a new PC mayor players can try and influence things through.
I'd like to see the seemingly distant factions outside Mistlocke get involved in Mistlocke more somehow. Sometimes it feels (again inside looking out at those other factions that I have very little IC knowledge of) that they are foreign countries in themselves with large plots going on out there that aren't really heard about.
Same thing with the wilderness PC's. I get that they are supposed to be out in the woods being all woodsy, but it might help bring interaction between them and non-wilderness PC's more if there was a bit of a stronger "hub" of some kind that players could gravitate towards for some obvious reason(s). I'm not sure how desirable it would be, but maybe something of a more "hardcore neutral" area that allows monsters so monstrous PC's can interact with other players and hate on each other more readily without every confrontation with a monstrous PC having to end in PVP/FD. Some area where you just really don't mess around. I know there's murdertown....but frankly it's pretty out there and slanted more to the side of evil and doesn't really engender interaction between the spectrum of players much.
Something like the magically drugged inn the Ilithid ran in the underdark (forgot the names). I really enjoyed how you got to interact with people/creatures you would normally kill on sight there.
Just this noob's take.
Overall EFU:M has been a very cool upgrade and bunch of new plotlines. The associations, new DM factions and pretty much everything else is great. What I personally would love to see is more PC targets in regards to the undead of H'bala and perhaps the nightrisers. These are two huge villains of the EFU story and yet aside from a few quests and mostly DM events, very few people actively seem to fight them. That might be a misconception on my behalf, but I think if their were interesting events and placables out in the wilds that you could attack or defend then it would really encourage people to get involved with fighting the Lich.
An example might be a wounded band of watcher/aberdenn scouts out in the withered lands. When you initiate conversation with them they tell you about how they fought off an assault by the dead but they are returning and they need your help. After that undead spawn nearby and you can drive them off etc. Not a full length quest but more common random events that add ambience and a real feel on ongoing war to get pc's involved and people marching out to fight.
I love the new setting much more than EFU:A as there has been much more action with the entire server in the first four months rather than the EFU:A where the first couple months was complete anarchy and chaos.
I do not think that wilderness PCs and Mistlockians should not work together but ON OCCASION have conflicts where both will be forced together for a bigger goal. As for the Comital conflict, some wilderness PCs helped because they would rather have a Mistlocke devoid of slavery and tyrants and keep Mistlocke how it is. With the end of the Comital Conflict hopefully a new place shall become a hub for team nature closer to mistlocke after the decimation of gsaeric's camp.
One thing that concerned me with Mistlocke is that although it is a minor village, it is getting huge VERY fast. I enjoy that there are many refugees but there must be some progress being made by the village to have more buildings and expand. The expansion would not only help Mistlocke grow but with the huge rate of collection and activity it would get the eyes of the wilderness PCs and others. Leading to conflicts with sabotage, and assaults.
With my two cents in EFU:M, it feels like we reached the peak, but now extend above that peak with a jet pack.
I think that it is pretty solid, but a few things I personally think should be adjusted are -
1. H'Bala and the Withering are cool, but it's still not a tangible big "enemy" for people to fight against. I would guess that just about nothing has actually been accomplished in battle against her and I feel that she is too distant and closed off for players to actually reach. Perhaps it is a lack of effort, or perhaps a lack of interest from everyone, but I would hope that H'Bala and the Withering are meant to be more than cookie-cutter goal generators.
The comital host was a close example of something that players could actually fight against often enough and I think that something like this needs to be brought in on a slightly larger scale.
2. Quest XP is extremely low beyond the starting low-risk things. With that, advancement seems to have slowed down and it is to the point where it feels like some sort of "grind" to advance. I believe it needs to slow down a little less and a little later, more in line with how EFU:A was. The high risk and high level quests should be rewarding in terms of advancement, and they simply are not by the time you can do them.
3. Less biased quest givers.I feel that too many quests are given out by faction NPCs, or NPCs at all in some cases. While people avoid it by standing ten feet away while their three friends grab the quest and add them, I think it might be more appealing if less of them were aligned with groups and if less of them were NPCs in the first place (to support wildlings, subraces, etc)
4. More to see, more to explore please. Being able to explore more, go further, and do some things beyond the normal might be nice. The setting feels a little claustrophobic at times. We can't raft anywhere, sail anywhere, or go too far down anymore. Maybe the Upperdark area can solve a few of the issues at once eventually ;)
I think it's been really awesome as of late, especially with the super-tough and fun spiced quests that have been shooting out and all the new regular content that makes it seem that much more immersive.
I think there's actually a fair amount of fighting against h'bala, myself, though. Nothing as extreme as the count, but one only needs to look a little to find fights with the undead around, and dm controlled events around them. =]
Like some people already mentioned, I am interested in the ambient sort of far away locations that you can gather a group for, make the dangerous journey there, then more or less bask in how cool the place is.
Like say, how the Forgotten Forest used to be back at EfU:A, or such locations in the Underdark etc.
There are a few of these around and there can of course be others that I haven't found, but as of now I haven't really found what I'm looking for.
Edit:
I do like the current server climate though, and the Comital plot was a blast.
Overall, I really like where the story is going. The work being put in is, as usual, top notch.
I do agree that, at times, H'bala and the withering do seem like a background sort of ambient presence that doesn't impact the PCs so much, unless they are an active group that works towards that aim. Maybe thinking of some way to work in some sort of 'incursion' of the Withering into areas considered 'safe'.
I personally think NPC quest givers are fine in most cases. It does make it tougher in some cases to grab quests, but only in a few rare cases does it make it truly immersion breaking.
Even having NPCs stand 10 feet away to 'overcome' the faction obstacle adds a bit of ambient flavor and forces individuals to make allies outside of their groups, interaction is not a bad thing.
I haven't personally noted a different trend of quest rewards from EfU:A to EfU:M. It felt like rewards were going down in general at the end of EfU:A and that this is matched/continued in EfU:M. But I agree with VP in that I feel it could maybe XP gains could slow down a little slower and a little later. But then I could also adjust my attitude towards when I feel like I need to grind XD
With the factions as clearly laid out so early in the new setting, I feel like things are a lot more dynamic. Factions came out slower over a longer period of time and it took a while to get to know what was up with each of them. In the new setting, only the Wyrm Watchers are new and we got them going almost right out the gate. Already knowing the general attitudes and goals of the factions and how they relate to eachother sets up a good amount of proper tension early and I like that.
Overall, I've been real excited, lately and looking forward to seeing how things progress/change.
Overall, I really like where the story is going. The work being put in is, as usual, top notch.
I do agree that, at times, H'bala and the withering do seem like a background sort of ambient presence that doesn't impact the PCs so much, unless they are an active group that works towards that aim. Maybe thinking of some way to work in some sort of 'incursion' of the Withering into areas considered 'safe'.
I personally think NPC quest givers are fine in most cases. It does make it tougher in some cases to grab quests, but only in a few rare cases does it make it truly immersion breaking.
Even having NPCs stand 10 feet away to 'overcome' the faction obstacle adds a bit of ambient flavor and forces individuals to make allies outside of their groups, interaction is not a bad thing.
I haven't personally noted a different trend of quest rewards from EfU:A to EfU:M. It felt like rewards were going down in general at the end of EfU:A and that this is matched/continued in EfU:M. But I agree with VP in that I feel maybe XP gains could slow down a little slower and a little later. But then I could also adjust my attitude towards when I feel like I need to grind XD
With the factions as clearly laid out so early in the new setting, I feel like things are a lot more dynamic. Factions came out slower over a longer period of time and it took a while to get to know what was up with each of them. In the new setting, only the Wyrm Watchers are new and we got them going almost right out the gate. Already knowing the general attitudes and goals of the factions and how they relate to eachother sets up a good amount of proper tension early and I like that.
So, yes, I've been real excited lately and looking forward to seeing how things progress/change.
I wouldn't mind seeing an 'evil' dm faction with more support than the Associations are capable of giving. The Stygians, Sons of Sabuth, and the Transcendent Conclave all gave evil, and open evil at that, plenty of opportunities.
I'd like to see a minor dm faction that has continuity, and it's own agenda, like a hidden Cabal under the tutelage of a certain Pale Master whose objectives are to oppose the Withering and find a way to halt the spread of H'bala's influence, and in order to do so embrace undeath to an extent to render themselves considerable immunity.
An evil faction with goals contributing to the overall server plotline.
It's something that could be worked on, who knows!
Having like 4 evil DM factions in EfU:A and only one good one was fine, let good have its time in the sun! Balance of opportunities only makes boring and there's plenty of support for evil PCs who're successful. I like the more fantastic, slightly more good setting than the super evil feudalism, anarchists and grim knights of EfU:A.
Old Stone's could use a few prostitute NPCs. The Gigolo was awesome in the docks.
Maybe an NPC that describe's a theory on the curse in Old Stones?
Veteran Mode with -2 ECL but no quest respawn, double the amount of candles of life needing to be used for revival, and permadeath in all PvP.
To elaborate, this is challenging and also requires LESS GRINDING.
I see absolutely no reason why this should not be implemented. It is easy to rig up and has no drawbacks.
You can put a cap on L10 if its desirable.
First off, I was very impressed with EfUM when I returned. I still am. I'm not sure exactly what it is but it feels even more alien and frightening than the old Underdark. It's very similar to when I first found EfU, and the surrounding environment was pretty scary and inhibiting.
I like how easy it is to get to level six, then much harder after that. I found out very quickly that if you get in with a good group you can advance pretty quickly (duh), but if not it's pretty harsh. I like it. It seems there are far less random quest groups around though, which is good and bad. Good in as there are stronger connections IC, but bad as it is harder to find your niche with your particular character.
Overall I am very pleased.
Me likey very much.
The following reflects conversation I've had with players new to the server:
The depth and time the DM team has put in is obvious, so kudos to that.
The depth and FOIG philosophy is very frustrating to new players with regard to some of the custom systems (alchemy for instance). I know I spent hours with a previous character investing time, charting the clues I gleaned from clues and trying to decipher them, and mostly got DEAD for my efforts after accidentally getting grey renders. I made a few components through the process as have the newbies I've talked to, but not anything useful. Being told FOIG and then not being able to hook up with anyone to teach just drives you away from even bothering with it.
The learning curve is steep (always has been). I remember in EFU being very "stuck" for a long time at 5th level until something clicked in my play and I shot to 9th ( for a brief time - never seen 9th since, and that was like four years ago now I think). The newbies have a very hard time getting used to the deathrate here and the spawn penalty, so they continue to need every encouragement that it does get better. But, we all know this already; I'm just reiterating it.
Quote from: Arch Rogue;263893Veteran Mode with -2 ECL but no quest respawn, double the amount of candles of life needing to be used for revival, and permadeath in all PvP.
I kinda think that is a good idea, actually. I also would like to see and evil faction, and I would like another option, to actually start out living in Mistlocke, Coming from the underdark, anything other than the portal every time, allows more concepts.
Otherwise I enjoy Mistlocke minus the constant grind, and extremely unsupported evils (mostly).
Quote from: The Gypsy Champion;263802I'd like to see a minor dm faction that has continuity, and it's own agenda, like a hidden Cabal under the tutelage of a certain Pale Master whose objectives are to oppose the Withering and find a way to halt the spread of H'bala's influence, and in order to do so embrace undeath to an extent to render themselves considerable immunity.
I would definitely want something like this around the server.
Quote from: Arch Rogue;263893Veteran Mode with -2 ECL but no quest respawn, double the amount of candles of life needing to be used for revival, and permadeath in all PvP.
I don't really like this idea personally. At least not as currently proposed, I might like it more if the balancing of the idea was different.
I can see it leading to some more elitist attitudes regarding questing/levels.....as well as widening the power gap between the usual powerhouses and everyone else further (by making getting to level 9/10 even easier/less time consuming).
It would likely make leveling/playing a monster easier also, if that's a good thing or not I have no idea.
If you want to see evil factions, I'm sure we pcs are welcome to send a proposal to the dm team. Or start a pc faction and hope it gets turned into a dm faction, maybe.
i've not played in a 'real' faction yet, just an association like the Muster. But from what I can tell, all the factions are alignment neutral. It's the players that make them good or evil. This is at least true for the Muster, where I play the goody two shoes amongst vary degree's of uncarring townguards, corrupt racist officials, extreme law proponents, etc. It makes the back end experiance, IE- thinking in the back of your head: How much can I trust this person ostensibly in the same faction as me? Could they really be working with that traitor we're trying to root out, or on the payroll of the X Criminal element?
Yep! This goes for all our factions...