Impressions and frustrations from a new player

[swimmingbird]

Hello all!

I heard so much good about this server from friends.  Words of elegant scripts and great RP enticed me to give the server a go.  I've been playing/building/DMing in NWN for years and with my previous servers long gone i decided to find some new servers and stopped by here first.

Creating a character and logging in were easy, i loved the loads of information available in the starting area.  It truly seemed a rich place that was carefully crafted.  The command system was a welcome sight to me, and i headed into game hopes high.  I even managed to talk a NWN n00b into playing with me and we set a date.  We were met towards the starting portal and had some fantastic RP about the dire situation on the island.  It really hit home the depth of the story.  After taking a brief look around and we called it a night.

Anxious to get into the guts of things, my friend and i set aside some time on friday to try a few quests out.  We started in the newcomers tower where we left off and read the board.  Thinking to start at the top, we decided upon the rat quest.  As we were heading out, another PC asked to join and after some brief discussion we agreed to the company.  This seems to have been my first mistake.

Upon reaching the granary the other PC charged in quickly, running off.  It seemed to be more of a "smash and grab" than an "RP a quest" and it was evident he'd done this one before.  Preferring to take my time and enjoy the story of the quest as i get a feel, i was somewhat irked about the behavior but eventually the PC managed to regroup with us and continue the quest.  Upon completion he ran towards the loot as fast as possible, handed some to us, then ran off quickly with little interaction.  I have no doubt he was off to the next XP farm, and my friend and i wondered if we were playing WOW or NWN.

Hoping this was just an outlier, my friend and i decided to try something else.  Just outside the granary was someone saying there were goblin problems.  We thought this was the granary again, but it wouldn't let us in so we headed west to an area labled as "goblin squatters".  Sounded like it might be the area.  We poked around a bit, going slowly and cautiously despite not seeing any living creature around.

Then things went crazy.  A huge spider with several buffs attacked us, subdueing us in just a few blows.  I thought perhaps it was a DM, as in the PVP rules it more or less implies that PVP is reserved for situations warranting it after some "build up" but i was wrong:

It was another player who jumped us.

They quickly realized we were new, and after knocking us down a few more times asked about us.  I suppose that they graciously left the few remaining supplies we had, but the damage was really done.

Having no HPs or abilities left after the brutal attack, the night was done early.  I had logged on to play and found only half-hearted RP and folks attacking us merely for walking an area away from the starting point, and then not had a chance to even play long.

I have to say that I'm greatly soured to the server and will likely look elsewhere.  To those that bid me check it out, i gave it a go and prefer a server that i actually get a chance to at least play a bit.

I hope this feedback is useful to the team.

TLDR: Server seems well built, but has a poor RP gaming culture and lack of respect for new players about it.

[RagingPurpleGiant]

It's unfortunite that one or two bad experiences would ruin the server for you. The setting as a whole is very interesting if you'd give it a chance.
 
The truth of the matter is that no matter what RP server you venture onto there's always going to be people who aren't commiting their full attention to meaningful and entertaining interactions at all hours of the day.
 
The community and playerbase are awesome on average. It's a shame you'd leave because one noob wasn't as experienced at role-playing as you seem to be.
 
'Hope you change your mind and give the server a chance.

[Nights Bane]

sorry

Some people are scared off by the Player versus player here. Other people relish the challenge.  

I GET KNOCKED DOWN. BUT I GET UP AGAIN.

[The Boom King]

I'm with RagingPurpleGiant here. I hope you give it another go. You can throw me a tell and I'll help you out. I play Charlie Larkamn.

[SanTelmo]

I hope you return at least to read the responses, as I am sure they are similar to mine and decide then whether to give the server another chance or not

You have clearly run into a very unique way of getting involved. PvP is indeed quite rare way to get started but some PCs are playing bandits and other lowlives who stalk PCs in the ruins. However it is not at all common it happens and the server rules are quite clear about full-looting and PvPing new players, however the problem comes when none can actually tell who is a new player. Especially if his/her roleplaying is good.

What I suggest you to do is to react to the robbing/beating as your character would. There are lawful and peacekeeping factions about and other good aligned persons who you should try to contact. Perhaps make a sending, explain your troubles and someone might come to help you. And might be willing to help your character get 'revenge' or whatever he wishes. This is where the intrigue comes.

Also, you should not worry about the supplies. It might be hard to gather supplies as a new player and being constatly low with them and low HP might be annoying. However, if you contact other players and explain to them you are new, even in a tell, they are ready to guide you to quests which are intended for new players/characters and will fill you with supplies quite nicely. Or maybe they will get you on a quest with them and aid you get those supplies.

It is not that odd that people grab the loot swiftly from the chests but if your character feels like you have been ill-treated, someone is stealing from you etc, feel free to react it in a way you feel proper. Call the guards, spread about the guys untrustworthiness or whatever feels proper.


I am quite sure that if you give yourself and your friend a new attempt in this server, you will be satisfied with the fruits. Send a tell to those with whom you travel, explaining you are new and would like to get known better with the server and it's RP they are often willing to aid. It is impossible to know who are new players unless they express it, many use secret accounts for their own reasons. And we do not get new players that often so- Mostly expected they are known with the server.

New players are very exciting and valuable to this server, I take it everyone wants to aid you get started here. This is an old game and we cannot expect the player rate to raise up tremendously and old players tend to leave. Hopefully you decide to stay!

-Elmo2

[Mort]

I dont think you're giving a fair review by judging our entire gaming roleplay culture in a two hour session. You'll find there are plenty of people who likes to dungeon crawl slowly through an event, scenario, quest just like you, here... and that most of us do despise people who rush them just to get the XP and the loot. It's a shame you do not wish to meet them as I'm sure there are plenty who are looking for good roleplayers to bring along for all their adventures.

As for the spider incident, an unfortunate situation, as random attacks with no roleplay beforehand, while possible, are quite rare.

Seems you were unlucky with your draw for the day, I'd urge you to try again as I'm pretty confident that you would get along with a lot of our players. There are many of our higher level/more settled players who would have been glad to show you a tour if you'd asked them In-character.

But if you are not, good luck finding a server that you enjoy.

[9lives]

CULTURE

[Lenthis]

Hello all!
 
I heard so much good about this server from friends. Words of elegant scripts and great RP enticed me to give the server a go. I've been playing/building/DMing in NWN for years and with my previous servers long gone i decided to find some new servers and stopped by here first.
 
Creating a character and logging in were easy, i loved the loads of information available in the starting area. It truly seemed a rich place that was carefully crafted. The command system was a welcome sight to me, and i headed into game hopes high. I even managed to talk a NWN n00b into playing with me and we set a date. We were met towards the starting portal and had some fantastic RP about the dire situation on the island. It really hit home the depth of the story. After taking a brief look around and we called it a night.
 
Anxious to get into the guts of things, my friend and i set aside some time on friday to try a few quests out. We started in the newcomers tower where we left off and read the board. Thinking to start at the top, we decided upon the rat quest. As we were heading out, another PC asked to join and after some brief discussion we agreed to the company. This seems to have been my first mistake.
 
Upon reaching the granary the other PC charged in quickly, running off. It seemed to be more of a "smash and grab" than an "RP a quest" and it was evident he'd done this one before. Preferring to take my time and enjoy the story of the quest as i get a feel, i was somewhat irked about the behavior but eventually the PC managed to regroup with us and continue the quest. Upon completion he ran towards the loot as fast as possible, handed some to us, then ran off quickly with little interaction. I have no doubt he was off to the next XP farm, and my friend and i wondered if we were playing WOW or NWN.
 
Hoping this was just an outlier, my friend and i decided to try something else. Just outside the granary was someone saying there were goblin problems. We thought this was the granary again, but it wouldn't let us in so we headed west to an area labled as "goblin squatters". Sounded like it might be the area. We poked around a bit, going slowly and cautiously despite not seeing any living creature around.
 
Then things went crazy. A huge spider with several buffs attacked us, subdueing us in just a few blows. I thought perhaps it was a DM, as in the PVP rules it more or less implies that PVP is reserved for situations warranting it after some "build up" but i was wrong:
 
It was another player who jumped us.
 
They quickly realized we were new, and after knocking us down a few more times asked about us. I suppose that they graciously left the few remaining supplies we had, but the damage was really done.
 
Having no HPs or abilities left after the brutal attack, the night was done early. I had logged on to play and found only half-hearted RP and folks attacking us merely for walking an area away from the starting point, and then not had a chance to even play long.
 
I have to say that I'm greatly soured to the server and will likely look elsewhere. To those that bid me check it out, i gave it a go and prefer a server that i actually get a chance to at least play a bit.
 
I hope this feedback is useful to the team.
 
TLDR: Server seems well built, but has a poor RP gaming culture and lack of respect for new players about it.

Agh im so sorry, the player that your speaking about was me x,x In the frist part. Well the reason I did it as a smash and grab was beacuse I had to log right after, and it was a emergancy.. Im very sorry!

[Pup]

Really sounds like bad timing and bad luck.  These sort of things are not the norm, particularly for new players.

The vast majority of the playerbase will be happy to answer your questions and guide you in the right direction of the low-level quests and such.  If you see me on, I play a dwarf named "Manus Bellringer", account "PupEfUA".

Please feel free to send me a tell with any questions, and I will also be happy to give you insights into the server's rather difficult learning curve.

-The Pup.

[The Beggar]

Welcome to EfU. EfU is tough.

Like an end of season chicken cooked too fast and let out to dry before being plopped on the table, shriveled and blackened.

It's also not for everyone. But it is for me, and everyone else who posted.

[Divine Intervention]

Also, with a look around you'll discover atleast three separate NPCs who heal you, the priest near the Market place does it for free.

[AllMYBudgies]

I'm sorry that you've had such a bad experience, but I would like to point out that in all the time I've played here I have only had a few.
I would urge you to give it another go, you'll find a high quality of RP and some wonderful, creative players that will no doubt surprise you with their innovative ideas.
Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

[swimmingbird]

I would like to thank everyone for their replies, and i have read them all carefully.  While the offers for help are greatly appreciated, i believe they miss the mark.  It was not my intent to demand a hand-out, but instead to just point out i wasn't given much of an opportunity to play to begin with.  That is, the damage done was to the time i set aside to play a game.  As far as i could tell in the time i invested reading the rules/backstory before playing, this should not have happened.  I suppose the problems could be summarised thusly:

1) PvP guidelines are apparently not really followed as advertised.

The PVP section of the rules is the very first thing i, and many read when picking out a server.  I went here and saw:

- It is not acceptable to target level 2-3 characters with muggings,  ritual sacrifices, random beatings, or other PvP. If conflict occurs, it  is acceptable to engage in PvP if they have done something to earn it.  The exception to this is monstrous and app'ed characters.

I can only assume that i ran into a "monstrous" or "app'ed" character, whom in talking to after the fact lead me to believe this is quite a common thing on the server.  All well and good for those looking for a challenge, but for my friend in particular who was just learning the client it is devastating.  I strongly recommend changing the wording of the PvP guidelines to indicate the reality that a thorough beatdown is likely to be received without any warning or buildup.  

Again, nothing wrong with the server being that way, but it really isn't the type of atmosphere for beginners to the game client and at very least you should strive to be honest with the way you advertise the server.

2) I was prevented from doing what I came here to do: Play a game.

All the free healing in the game doesn't help much when you've expended  all your abilities and potions in a brutal beating you received while  trying to walk around and learn the server.

I take my time pretty seriously, as I haven't much to spare.  I only have a few hours at a time i can hope to spend in playing a game, and i can't hope to compete in some "grind" situation to level and make war on other players.  Moreover i haven't the stomach for such chest-beatings.  I think this really touches on the heart of the issue, in that "Grinding" the quests is thereby encouraged and RP diminished.  Many of you suggested this route, and i would tell you that way lies the death of a good (RP) server.  A "rat race" situation should be avoided at all costs, and i would caution you that people are getting to the starting line, and getting ready for the gun.

Again i apologise if i have offended.  This is just intended as some feedback from someone who has now spent much of his adult life playing, building, and DMing NWN servers.  I hope that it is useful to you.

[Letsplayforfun]

It's a good thing you post your first impressions of our server here. There's nothing offending about your post, and it's valuable for everyone here.

Obviously two hours of play are not enough to evaluate the place properly, but i certainly understand that 2 hours 'wasted' is more than enough for anyone to just go look somewhere else. And we don't want that to happen.

Answers saying 'we're a tough server so suck it up' are pointless: EfU being "tough" is no excuse for what happened. We aim to be a challenging yet fair play and fun server, and it can include various styles of play.

Sadly you just ran into bad luck and again. Try again, meet other people, and you'll see it's worth it.

People, if you want to run and grab xp and loot for lack of time or whatever, solo the lowbye quests.

It's harder for pvp as players don't know who's lvl2-3. Random muggings are very rare though: most of the time people pvp pcs they've had history with. If you're a lvl3 getting mugged, just send a tell to your aggressor. I'd wager they'll just run off when they realize their mistake. You will get pvped at some point though, and if that' something you don't like, well, EfUA's not a place for you. But you can certainly go a long way without pvp too.

Anyways, try again. People here are friendly. Can't be worst than your first time, now, can it? ;)

[Mort]

I strongly recommend changing the wording of the PvP guidelines to indicate the reality that a thorough beatdown is likely to be received without any warning or buildup.

Well, as many pointed out here. This is extremely rare + looking through the logs, the player who did this felt quite bad, he knew he made a mistake, and apologized in tells, as well as tried to guide / help you.

Again, nothing wrong with the server being that way, but it really isn't the type of atmosphere for beginners to the game client and at very least you should strive to be honest with the way you advertise the server.

Not sure what this means or where it's getting at. If it's directed at the guidelines, again, the player made a mistake for which he apologized.