Frustrated

[Caddies]

Never compare what you have to what others may have. You will always overestimate the differential and you'll become estranged and bitter. A reputation is more important than loot - be known for your schemes and dynamism, not your greed or hesitations.

Develop and rabidly pursue an agenda for your character. Do not betray your character's goals or persona for short term gains.

Study NWN. It's nuanced, but not difficult to learn. Once you learn the spells, the rest follows.

Ignore utterly people who attempt to establish a dichotomy between NWN familiarity and roleplaying; they are in fact symbiotic and not exclusive concepts on EFU.

Find and follow the dynamic people. Avoid the boring people, even if they are less mercurial.

Embrace conflict, master its forms subtle or otherwise. To outmanoeuvre your enemies, whether playing Good or Evil, is an essential skill.

Ask the veterans questions, soak up their knowledge and apply it to future concepts.

Take risks, don't be afraid to lose. Consider a character death an opportunity to make something new, not a disaster to be avoided at any cost. This is key - ignore posts like Pool's above, that mentality is cancerous.

[Frog Witch]

Take risks, don't be afraid to lose. Consider a character death an opportunity to make something new, not a disaster to be avoided at any cost.

This is very much how I believe that everyone should approach their characters, and the server as a whole. Death is a system that is crucial to successful roleplay and it is the essence of the knowledge of in game death that allows conflict and character goals to grow. Embrace the fact that Ymph is a harsh and unforgiving environment and enjoy the reality that the server presents and offers.

Your achievements are your own, regardless of how and when they are verified by others. Loot is not something to aim for, at least in my opinion, as it is the lasting memory of a successful, well interpreted character that leaves an impression on the players; not what armour or weaponry they're sporting.

[MirrorMask]

There is a lot of great advice here, but I will comment on DM attention.  Like success, I believe it is a formula to get the results you like.

Play times:  This isn't too big, but Dm's won't take notice if they aren't there to see it.

PvP:  Beating down other players for whatever reason will bring you to Dm attention.

Being loud:  If you do not post on the forums regularly, have a character note, and make sendings fairly frequently, you will fly under the radar, even if you have a good concept and rp well.

Your RP:  Even if you do all of the above, poor rp will turn any Dm off.

I am likely missing things that may add, and perhaps do to concept or RL some of those things are out of your control, but that appears to be how it works.

[Howlando]

I will merely link this thread, and say that players (particularly new players) who want some solid advice are welcome to speak with me on #efu some time. Unfortunately at this time I am not actively DM'ing so can't help in game.

[shadesofblack]

Hey Bastard. That quest, as Thomas says, is pretty much the hardest quest on here. We did pretty decently for a bit, but in the end we were crushed. I don't think anyone has completed it or even attempted it in a quite a long time.

Imagine if these higher level quests didn't have these difficulties, and they were relatively easier to complete. That would make for a server full of high level PCs, and no scripted quests that seem truly frightening and risky. The fact that it is so difficult is what makes it feel like a genuine accomplishment. It's the same way with most things in EfU.

Surviving isn't always easy. Being proactive may lead to situations which are not easy to overcome. Getting DM attention is not easy (though I agree with VanillaPudding that DM loot is not the best measurement of this). Ultimately, when you are able to accomplish something that is this difficult and risky, it is rewarding.

I think many of us have shared your frustrations at some point. I know I did. Yet I played on because the enjoyment outweighed the frustrations, and in the end, the things that were frustrating weren't really as important.

Also, you said "My reputation in  game grows, my levels grow, people respect me until... they realize my  character sucks." That's insane. Yesterday was the first time I have seen your character but he seemed damn strong. Surviving for most of that quest speaks to that fact. Play on player.

[Jayde Moon]

Easy to disagree with the straw man.  Anyway, a quick point:

PvP:  Beating down other players for whatever reason will bring you to Dm attention.

Be wary of the meaning of this statement.  Many people believe that mere PvP is a quick route to DM attention.  They are right, we WILL notice PvP.

We will notice everything about the PvP.  Was it tasteful, warranted, fair, interesting, etc.  That attention you've gained for yourself may not be positive if your PvP does not positively contribute.

PvP is far more than simply 'beating people down'.

[BASTARD!]

I really appreciate all of the responses and the thought put into them. I just wanted to clarify a couple of things.

Magical Weaponry - I am not griping about not obtaining DM specific loot. I understand that I would really need to impress in order to be deserving of something like that. For example, those screenshots of Castor Erasmus The Fury are mind-blowing. Not the gear necessarily, but the amazing amazing roleplay that went behind that character. My complaint is more with the types of obtainable non-dm loot. As Musterman Bronn I have come across many fascinating items. Armor, weapons, and trinkets.

It feels like I see boatloads of amazing 5/2 armors. Great for barbarians, but I am a fighter. I would love to be a dex fighter, but going limp as soon as I'm flatfooted is the pits.

I also see very nice light armors as well, especially for casters (bonus spell slots!). These armors, like the medium armor, usually have several skill bonuses and are quite interesting.

It follows the same pattern with weaponry. I have come across fantastic maces, rapiers, spears, tridents, hammers, axes. As a fighter I feel like my focus is on my weapon. I have taken my weapon spec and become limited in my choices. Why should I not -gain- from my fighter feat?

Tons of cool custom loot exists out there to obtain without any DM help. Like I said before though, it pushes you to use specific weapons. Do I have to be a  spear wielder? Do I need to make a fighter who uses a staff or club?

This is my second death on Bronn Karthat. I am not upset about the dying. Even as I was alive and fighting, I was disappointed in the combat itself. Now knowing the full difficulty of this quest I am far less frustrated about that.

A day prior to this, while patrolling with Alura, we passed the quest in question. Alura then set-up the expedition which would occur the following day. When seeing the quest a day in advance, it is listed as 4-12. What level 4 could ever survive this quest? I understand that there are certain expensive potions that can negate certain damage types here. I used them. If this is known by so many to be The Hardest Quest, then for the love of the gods don't lull me into a false sense of ooc security when I see the 4.

I'm pretty much over this experience. It really was a difficult quest. Knowing of its reputation alleviates a lot of the anger that I had previously felt towards it. After respawning I parted on a bad note, and would like to apologize to the DMs who were overseeing things at the time. I was heavily frustrated and should have just alt+f4d instead of making a snide remark immediately before alt+f4ing.

[Divine Intervention]

You will generally find weaker weapons/less commonly used weapons or armours have better bonuses for obvious reasons.  If you use something like a bastard sword then it is already far superior to a dagger or a light hammer, thus finding improved versions is more difficult.  Finding powerful classes of weapons with +damage etc is rare, unless only applicable to a certain race.

[BASTARD!]

You will generally find weaker weapons/less commonly used weapons or armours have better bonuses for obvious reasons.  If you use something like a bastard sword then it is already far superior to a dagger or a light hammer, thus finding improved versions is more difficult.  Finding powerful classes of weapons with +damage etc is rare, unless only applicable to a certain race.

This, to me, is an issue. Why do I have to feel like a guilty min/maxer because I use a BASTARD! sword? I love hand and a half swords. It is such an ideal weapon in my mind, and a common one used throughout the ages by all sorts of badasses.

As far as I can tell I have to waste a feat in order to get 2 more points of damage. Is that really such a big deal? I think an enchanted longsword or spear with any type of elemental damage and enhanced crit quickly becomes a better tool on a server like this.

If I could wield my bastard sword with two-hands I would. I don't use it to couple it with a tower shield for max dmg/ac. If I could actually apply 2h str dmg I would throw my shield into the garbage. I guess these are just the prices I pay for making him with no knowledge of the server weaponry.

[Apocalypse Nigh]

What is stopping you from using your bastard sword with two hands? Aside from mechanical limitations, you could consistently  emote, "Wields the Bastad sword with two hands" and be a complete and utter badass doing so without a shield. A DM -will- take notice! Trust me, it's sweet shit.

I've done this with warhammers in the past when my PC was technically using a MAUL, I used a normal warhammer but used it with both hands, and I got a sexy, sexy 1d4 extra bludgeon dmg maul out of it.

Just saying, if you can tastefully gimp your PC into an interesting and notable design, people will applaud it. You see people with greatswords tanking quests, so you can feasibly do it without weakening your PC in the slightest.

[TeufelHunden]

Bastard there is a simple way to get attention here and that is if your actions involve others and they have fun when being involved. All of RwG's plots involve others as well as Caddies who has had some of the most memerable and successful people on the server. Look on the legends post on the forum and you will see atleast a couple of their past characters there. Why? Because not only were they good at the game and successful they also made it a point to make sure that others were involved in their plots and had fun. With a combination of others having fun and you doing something cool you are in a sense "Winning EFU". When you're upset about not having custom loot that others have you have to sit there and ask yourself "What is that guy doing right?" Does he have forum posts all over telling others to join him? Does he actively seek others to have fun with him? You'll find that there are some with DM loot who were in the right place at the right time, which is a big part of getting -some- DM loot. However the guys like the Fury with his epic loot o' plenty was one of the best characters that ever graced our server and I for one went on a few of the events he was responsible for and I had a great time and could tell his character was well thought out, roleplayed and meant for others to enjoy themselves in his interactions.
 
Winning in pvp can get you attention, yes...but like JaydeMoon said it has to be tasteful or others will think you are griefing them. This is not WoW when you kill someone in pvp they are dead. Did the reason you killed them have merit? Was it necessary to kill that person or did you just completely stop interesting conflict that the entire server could enjoy? Are you strong enough to defeat them again or was this victory one in a million versus impossible odds? All these things are important to consider as it is pointless to crush a weaker PC simply because you had a disagreement, and if you let them live another day how big of a threat are they to you anyhow?
 
What DI means is that to find a +1 dmg longsword is the same as finding a -1 dmg bastard sword. The long sword is not superior to that bastard sword because it has +1 dmg because the bastard sword still out damages it. By picking a more powerful weapon you do not then need the enhancement that is brought by a magical longsword. The DM team evens this out by making less powerful weapons up to snuff on occasion. This does not mean they are way more powerful than your bastard sword, just that they are usually not equal to it with maybe one or two more useful features.

[Canzah]

The reason for the low minimum level caps are numerous, mainly to be inclusive for factions/other groups that have a reason to be questing together despite vast differences in levels. To determine a quest's difficulty you should rather look at the maximum cap.

If the limitation is 3-10 it is highly likely to be a very difficult quest, designed to prove a challange even for characters that have already obtained level 10. If you are a level 3 character you are similarly highly unlikely to progress very far in this quest without characters closer to the high end cap in your party.

As for the thread in general, I would simply take a step back, relax and give myself time to understand and be influenced by the gameworld before forming these sorts of definite opinions about it.

[SkillFocuspwn]

The reason there are fewer powerfully magical bastard swords IG isn't because the DMs don't want you to use them, it's because they want the weaker weapons to be on the same level as them. You won't be looked down on or considered a min/maxer, but equally it should be viable for someone to use a dagger / spear or whatever and so they're more commonly magical to put them on the same footing as the more powerful weapons!

[Ebok]

There are some very powerful bastard swords that randomly drop in a few places on efu. The issue is just that, they are random, so it is much more likely that someone else will happen across it before you. That's why the marketplace forum is a great way to advertise your own search.

When you have a weapon that is 1d10 your average is 5.5. If you have a longsword the average is 4.5. To account for this some long swords have a +1 bonus damage, and fewer short swords have a +2 bonus damage (still rare). This doesn't mean you wont eventually find something useful, however a two week old character is actually a rather short time to be playing a single PC.

Same with full plate, you'll be much more likely to find a magical cool half plate then full plate. That is because full plate itself -is- the reward. 9 total ac rather then 8.

Joining factions tends to help in this regard, as they are expressed as wealthy, influential, and powerful groups who will reward you for representing them correctly. Even the Houses Aberdenn and Caermyn tend to pull in tight nit groups of characters that look out for each other. Mostly however, DM loot is a rare treat that is rewarded for being at the right place at the right time or for going above and beyond the typical character. In other words, you'll eventually run across one of these events, so the longer a character has been alive the more chances they have to accumulate loot which commemorates their deeds.

Honestly loot is cool, but it is nothing compared to the RP stories. Lots of our veteran players have almost no inclination for questing anymore, they've found other ways to keep themselves entertained. ( not saying that quests don't happen, just that they are a secondary event if that )

[AKMatt]

Just going to contribute my two cents regarding a few of the issues brought up in this thread:

1) DM attention.  It's not uncommon at all for people to go through a phase where they believe the DM team isn't giving their character the recognition he or she deserves.  Truth be told, I had the same feeling several times as a player, but looking back I can see how my opinion was influenced by a limited perspective.  This server has a greater number of active players than I ever imagined when I was just playing PCs, and it takes longer than I suspected to set up anything beyond a very simple NPC encounter.  Add to that the fact that DMs have an avatar that can only be in one place at a time (despite the ability to teleport around and generally move much faster than PCs) and it's not at all unlikely for them to miss any given PCs moments of stellar roleplaying.  If they're online for two to three hours setting up an event that will probably only directly affect a quarter of the online characters, there's a pretty low potential for any given character to receive attention.  If they're not specifically setting something up, chances are they will be jumping around the server observing groups of PCs, looking for something to happen that they can build upon.  Speaking from experience, chances are very high that during this time, somebody will need help of some variety that is not story-related, but which would be massively inconvenient to them and detrimental to their game experience if unanswered.  There is nothing wrong with this, of course!  It's part of the DM team's job to make sure that things go smoothly for our fellow storytellers on the player side.  It's just another factor that contributes to it frequently seeming as though there's a disparity between a given player's DM interaction and the server's in general.

I've been inactive on the DM client for a few months, but prior to that there were many PCs I thoroughly enjoyed watching for whom I never ran an event or created loot.  If you're not receiving loot, events, NPC admiration (or hate), or private tell kudos from DMs, it does NOT mean you're doing something wrong, or that DMs don't enjoy the story you're telling/helping to drive.  It might just mean we think things are going along quite well without our meddling.

2. Combat difficulty.  This is a tricky one, because all sorts play here, and you're right that the difficulty of certain areas limits the ability of some players to play characters of a certain type (for example, the ineffable badass).  As somebody who was notoriously atrocious at NWN combat, I can definitely feel the pain of those who feel like they're running very fast at a brick wall when it comes to PVP or the higher-end quests.  All I can say is to persevere.  Take character deaths in stride, because they're bound to happen, especially at higher levels.  Other roleplaying games have experience caps that are overtly defined, EfU has the difficulty ramp.  The purpose, of course, is to keep story and character central to the EfU experience.  Chasing level progression forever would be fairly boring without a more dynamic combat system than NWN offers.  One of the ways NWN combat is made exciting is PVP, another is the "long odds" scenario some quests are designed to put players in.  Both are essential to a story-driven server, as every story needs conflict, and direct physical violence is a common enough manifestation of it.  However, it is far from the only possible manifestation, and some of the best conflicts have simmered for weeks without even a blow exchanged.  Occasionally, conflicts are even settled without resorting to rolling the dice of combat.  The fact that eventually every PC on EfU runs into an insurmountable challenge might seem like an imposed limit, but actually opens doors for a wider variety of stories.

3. Success.  On EfU, success means something entirely different than it means on other servers, and in other games.  There's no predefined list of achievements to unlock (thankfully), so the best course is to define your own goals on a per-character basis.  These can be as banal or as unattainable as you like.  A few of my own goals in the past have been:

*Earn a promotion in a faction.
*Recruit at least ten people to support my trading company.
*Get a significant bounty on my head.
*Defeat ever quest and create a sweet "action pose" collage of screenshots.
*Reach lvl 9.
*Commit spectacular public suicide via alchemy.
*Discover the secrets surrounding a particular prominent NPC.
*Commit destruction on a grand enough scale that toolset modification of an area is required.
*Bring about the downfall of a PC enemy without them ever knowing it was me.
*Bring about the downfall of a PC enemy by smearing them in the dirt.
*Bring about the downfall of my own PC by pissing off enough people that I can't possibly survive their wrath.
*Get my lore stat to 50.
*Earn a reputation as a "loose cannon" to the point that only other insane people or people confident enough in their own abilities would even consider including me in their dealings.
*Donate more than 50,000 gold to charity.
*Put myself in a situation where I get to swear revenge upon somebody, then later, enact said revenge.

Not all of those goals were accomplished.  Probably not even half of them, but having them definitely made my experience on EfU more fun, and allowed me to know success when I achieved it.  Some of them were mechanical, some were story-related, some were just off the wall.

In the end, it's about having fun more than anything, and the best advice I can give to anyone is to do what's fun for you.