What is important to you?

Hello community, Gunner here with another post trying to get some ideas from players.

Lately, I've kind of hit a dead end on what I should be doing with the module; I feel as if except for some minor script fixes and housekeeping type tasks that I handle as people bring them up, I've sort of hit a wall as to what to do in the toolset.

What is it that players are looking for? More variety in loot? New areas to adventure in? New systems for augmenting their forts? Better boss fights? Goals other then CNR or leveling up for their characters?

Just kinda feeling out what players might have seen and enjoyed either on past iterations of Anphillia, or other servers they've played on.

Give me some ideas guys, some of them have to be possible here in Anph. =p

- Gunner -

1.) easen up the difficulty
anphillia v2 and v3 were built when the module was striving with 70+ players concurrently online all the time. to that effect, lots of encounters had to be rebalanced from being a pushover to withstand the onslaught of 20+ characters at once.

things like the "no solo"-rule also came to effect in this era of the game. as it stands, i'd rebalance the mod to make it MORE solo and small-party friendly. and while working on that, increase the xp income slightly and reduce the death penalties.

2.) don't mess with the basic formula
the way the module is structured basically is how it should be. players even EXPECT some level of predictability (i.e. find things where they used to find them etc...). tune stuff slightly, refreshen encounters, maybe bring them down in difficulty (bandit chief would be a prime example).

3.) up the loot quality slightly
the way the module is setup, CnR is the way to go - no alternatives given. people like choice and multiple sources of their loot/money. different slots should have different "best in slot"-sources, example: maybe the best helmet is found through a drop, the best ring through CnR, and the best Belt (class-specific) through an end-game-quest or something.

these 3 are the prime problems with the game regarding today's standards i feel.

regards,
eyesolated

p.s. the server is down ^^ maybe change that as well

• Character description/bio editing
  
• Appearance (Armour/Helm/Cloak/Weapon/Shield) modifying system (Dye / no roll/gp etc.)
  
• Auto gold pickup (On kill GP)

Would be awesome.

[quote="eyesolated"]1.) easen up the difficulty
anphillia v2 and v3 were built when the module was striving with 70+ players concurrently online all the time. to that effect, lots of encounters had to be rebalanced from being a pushover to withstand the onslaught of 20+ characters at once.

things like the "no solo"-rule also came to effect in this era of the game. as it stands, i'd rebalance the mod to make it MORE solo and small-party friendly. and while working on that, increase the xp income slightly and reduce the death penalties.

2.) don't mess with the basic formula
the way the module is structured basically is how it should be. players even EXPECT some level of predictability (i.e. find things where they used to find them etc...). tune stuff slightly, refreshen encounters, maybe bring them down in difficulty (bandit chief would be a prime example).

3.) up the loot quality slightly
the way the module is setup, CnR is the way to go - no alternatives given. people like choice and multiple sources of their loot/money. different slots should have different "best in slot"-sources, example: maybe the best helmet is found through a drop, the best ring through CnR, and the best Belt (class-specific) through an end-game-quest or something.

these 3 are the prime problems with the game regarding today's standards i feel.






I agree with most of this , with proper exceptions

1. Staff/dm's: if you build it they will come, if you staff it they will stay.

Bring in a few DM's if the population stabilizes, anph just isnt anph without dm's adding life to the world, tap into some of the scripting talent we have here. Anph's community has its players who sometimes get carried away, i'd even go as far as saying there are some who go out of their way to stomp on other peoples fun, if the cats away, these mice will play.

2. Arcs, encounters, PC driven and influenced world

Use in-game roleplay and forum roleplay to evolve the module around the creative energy that not only the staff but the players put into the world, I'll throw out the overused phrase "emergent gameplay" a roleplay server should be less like the simpsons where everything goes back to the way it was after each little story (for the most part) and more like game of thrones where character choices and actions have an effect on the module/atmosphere/whatever

3. Balancing Anph pve/pvp 3.0 for post lvl 20

Anph in its current state can easily by abused by multiclassing mechanics, pve and especially PVP, this is something that can be put off as long as players havent reached those levels, but crunch time will eventually come and if there are no checks and balances in place by then it will all go to hell.

the latter 2 tie in directly to the first, you cannot accomplish one or two out of the 3 and have a successful mod, i think this is already known, and im mostly rehashing the sentiments most people do have, but I like to post about shit on forums occasionaly.

I got some systems that I can install into the mod, for player ran events, and a few more static things.
I've been working on a few dungeons so far but I haven't been having luck coming up with puzzles for them so far. Also I'd like to know a bit of what is wanted before I work on some stuff. I haven't got a lot of you on Skype, so that isn't a good way to talk. But also my hours of game-devotion have been cut on with holidays, increased work, and our recent loss of child, so I have been majorly distracted.

But here is a few ideas I have in the works so far, and progress.

1) Player Owned Houses : Needs implementing  
I have a good system done that allows players to buy sell and trade houses without the need for a DM. It's run off of item strings and database, so It carries over no problem. With the only one I have is where to put it.

2) Modified HotU crafting : Finalizing  
Being able to change armor, weapons is fairly easy, and mimicking the system I got helmets working somewhat, but shields are being a bother... Also I made it so potions, scrolls, and wands will soon cost about 125% what they do now, but will also become stronger as you to (which is in jumps while we're not using a HAK pack.

3) Territory Battles : Persistance, and Standards  
I've been working since Gunner said he was hosting on a system to claim and capture different areas around Anphillia. With will be done by activating a flag like object, which starts a countdown timer, and warns the opposing faction of a contest. After 5 minets passes, the flag burns down and another 5 minets before a new one could be posted. This will partly cut into CNR as far as rewards, as holding an area will auto spawn some rescorces from that area into a special box in the fort.

4) Outposts : Conception and Approval  
I haven't talked to Gunner about this yet, but I was going to start on an outpost system, that adds small keeps around anphillia, as well as some siege craft objects and items that allow you own and assult these areas. An example would be a small walled in area with some defense siege equipment on the walls. Ballista's and Oil Pots.

The assaulting team can then hire from a special show troops and gear to eather reinforce the outpost, or besiege it and try to starve out or topple the defense. With would have a similar flag system as the territories I wrote above, but the point would only be to encourage group PVP fights in a new way. (also working on ship and ship to ship fights)  

If anybody has an ideas just post them and I'll look into it. Even if it's something from another game you play, or an old game you used to.

Dear Players;

I know I'm not as active here on the forums as I probably should be, however, posting seems to come and go in bursts, so I'm not always as attentive to what's getting posted here as i should be.

There are a lot of ideas being tossed around behind the scenes right now; I am most definitely attempting to evaluate what players are looking to see, and implementing the ideas that make sense.

In direct reference to multiclassing, this something I've been looking closely at, and would appreciate players' input on what is simply strong and what may be grossly overpowered.

I think in a level 20 environment as low magic as anph is, a single classed sorc / wiz / druid or cleric is going be better than about 95% of multiclassed builds. I would take all restrictions off (prestige classes too) and let people be creative. The only build I can think of that might be flat out better than a single classed caster is sorc / paladin or sorc / paladin / cleric, and even then I don't know that it'd be better, it'd just be a different playstyle.

1.)Be able to modify helmets OR Add tailor models, so that way no one needs to have to D/L patches. To be able to customize armor/clothes/helms etc. I was told to make it 0 DC and free in the craft menu, it would take a CEP patch or something.

2.) Eventually upgrade some of the crafting stuff <- Definitely

3.) Make mighty rations & magic nuts do something.

4.) Make some chests that are pick-able or bash-able.

- That way items that used to drop in chests only that -do not- spawn now due to the new loot script, IE: Wand of missile, Various potions, oil & acid flasks. And a slue of other various items. Through vigorous testing, I am saying this with certainty.

- Adding some special shops to other areas, giving more of a motivation to go out and explore to find such shops.


5.) Add the dyes to a shopkeeper in ranzington, it makes life easier on DM's And players...at least if we cant "Craft Customize" our gear we can color it.




There is more but i don't want to overwhelm....

On the topic of chests with their locks - It would be nice to have the trapped chests/containers so the traps can be removed by being triggered, rather than the trap just retriggering every time you click them.
So if you have the skill to disarm a trap, you can get rid of the trap safely.
Otherwise you hurt yourself when triggering the trap, but you can still take the blow in order to get past it and open the chest.

I just dug out the armor customization stuff from one of the previous versions of anph. If you want the erf let me know. Free customization, accessed from the right click crafting menu.

That would probably be something I'd at least take a look at.

Shoot me an email or Skype.

Email: xxdeadstarxx@live.com
Skype: xxslaughterhousexx

InFliCtSuiCidE wrote:That would probably be something I'd at least take a look at.

Shoot me an email or Skype.

Email: xxdeadstarxx@live.com
Skype: xxslaughterhousexx

1) Take out the fireball earthquakes in caves. They were a dumb idea when they came in, and only served the purpose of slaughtering level 3 players as a result of unsanctioned house rules.

2) Lower the cost of healing equipment due to low player numbers... or turn up the gold drops.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Earthquakes are removed shortly.

Gold drops have been increased.

Today I would have liked to have better emote wand. Roshnak had to assure Donnia that he totally understood Donnia's point but there was no Bluff roll available to assist roleplay. Also, if you're familiar with the take 10 rule, it would be nice to combine that into skills too when performing certain tasks.
I also found some good info on How to handle [Bluff, Intimidate, and Persuade] checks, but I would rather not link it directly here for obvious reasons. It suggests using modifiers on the opposing WIS roll based on the believability/possible repercussions for believing said bluff/persuasion. Such modifiers need not (naturally) be scripted.

To put it short: I would like to see enhanced roleplaying aids.

While i can see the usefulness of added skill checks, the decision on following a skill roll always lies with the player's discretion in a Player-on-Player encounter of these sorts. I am no fan of the idea of forcing your character's will (and by extension your will) on another player. That's what DMs are there for

No idea how other people view this topic ^^

+1 to Eyesolated's point.

I think there are other emotes that exist outside of CEP that we don't currently have on the wand; eyesolated and I have discussed replacing the emote wand with an updated version on several occasions; my thoughts are that it'll happen; though eyesolated seems to have been busy with work most of this week.

On the flip side, I'm an all or nothing type of guy; if I were to add .hacks, it probably wouldn't only be CEP, but whatever .hak files are required for Sinfar, as I know they have a lot of neat stuff there, and there are other servers that currently use their .haks as a standard, so I wouldn't feel bad doing so myself.

But, you're right, players being able to log in without excessive downloads is a huge deal for me, so currently nothing will change.

DeathWarding wrote:Correct me if i'm wrong but to add more emotes to the wand or in general;  it would take CEP, or some patches i believe.   There's a lot of of things that we miss,  for example the crafting armor appearances & helmet/hoods.  But to me personally its a huge bonus to the server populous to not have to download anything in order to play on the server.

None of the things you listed require CEP. CEP is mostly just more options as far as placeables, creatures, and armor / weapon models. I was pretty sure that this mod used CEP because I swear I've seen CEP shield models in game. Unless for 1.69 Bioware added some CEP stuff to the base game.

For what it's worth, I think people coming to the game at this point almost expect to have to download a few haks before they can play. Every other server I've played on in the past few years have required you download something extra, and it's not much of a barrier to entry as long as you make it easy for them (a download link on the forums, or whatever.) I don't really care either way, though it would be kind of nice if everyone could see my little dude's head.

Bioware added some new stuff in 1.69.

This module (at least the version I have) doesn't use CEP. =p

I love the fact you're an all or nothing sort of builder. CEP 2.4 at least is pretty much a requirement for almost all servers with a semi active player base these days (I can think of only one other that doesn't have it as a requirement) to the point it's pretty much counted as a necessary update to anybody installing the game.

CEP and Hak's offer up so much customization not just as a builder but also as a player in terms of how your character appears. I would make one suggestion though if you do include haks, also offer an all in one download link (all haks outside of CEP in one .7z file or some such)

I'm only a new player here though and spend what time I can online (generally 10-30 minute spots here and there due to RL commitments leaving me with very little time to play) What I'd love to see though is a list of class/feat/spell changes alongside a note of if the IG hours is changed from 2 minutes to something possibly longer. (I've noticed there are at least some spell changes, minor though they might be in the duration of summon spells which leaves me wondering what else might be changed.)

Cheers
Elor.

Yeah; I mean, in theory CEP is cool, as are other haks; I'm just not a big fan of requiring massive downloads.

The other issue is, that adding CEP stuff to existing areas would be a nightmare, and a very time consuming task.

If I thought that maybe this server had a possibility of being as big as it once was, I'd feel differently about it, but putting in a ridiculous amount of time and effort to something that's only moderately popular, and where a lot of players don't have much time... just doesn't seem like a winning concept. =p

starscream wrote:I was pretty sure that this mod used CEP because I swear I've seen CEP shield models in game. Unless for 1.69 Bioware added some CEP stuff to the base game.

1.69 Added mount support and purple dragon knight (and a couple others) shield models for the last "premium module" that was released, "Wyvren Crown of Cormyr".