by All right; so, in lieu of some recent issues that have been coming up, I'm here to give everyone a brief run-down of what they can expect from Anphillia Ascension.
What you guys need to understand, is that every iteration of Anphillia has died, at some point or another; when I decided to begin hosting this server, there were no Anphillia servers up (to my knowledge). As I've heard, the most recent servers have been plagued by a lack of DMing, lack of updates, and a poisonous relationship between players, and of course the ever-dangerous lack of interest.
What I had to decide when I begun diddling around in the toolset, is whether or not I wanted to bring players the EXACT same Anphillia experience they've had for the last twelve years, or something that still takes place in the Anphillia realm; but is significantly different in some ways; since the former didn't seem to be keeping players interested, and was causing issues, I chose the latter option.
As such, there are some things I've shied purposefully away from; one of those is PVP; I know that PVP has a rich history in Anphillia, but it is also a very controversial part of the module, as it is pretty much anywhere that's not an Arena server; as many leaders have found out over centuries of warfare, the winning side in a fight is rarely a "victor"; they tend to expend significant amounts of commodities, including coin, food supplies, natural resources, human lives, etc. As such, war isn't always the answer; real-life history tells us this much.
War isn't always the answer in-game, either; there is nothing wrong with having a contentious relationship with other nearby factions; but open hostilities tend to get people nowhere, and cause a strain on all factions involved. From a more game-based standpoint, nobody likes dying; people like dying even less in PVP. PVP literally has ZERO positive effect, only neutral or negative outcomes exist. In addition, it has been shown, time and time again, to cause players to quit playing and cause lasting OOC issues between players.
Which leads me to the following point; the Anphillia community DOES NOT have enough active players currently to justify a full-scale PVP module; it just doesn't; with the discrepancies in timezone and faction counts added on top of that, along with the fact that what's available or not available in the module is constantly changing, on top of the fact that NWN is an imbalanced PVP environment to begin with, all led to me deciding to NOT ACTIVELY support PVP-balancing in this module.
Dungeons and Dragons has always been a fantastical setting; whether we're talking about the base game world, The Forgotten Realms, Kingdoms of Kalamar, Eberron, D20 Modern, or any of the many spin-off games that have been created as a result of the D20 engine, the core concept has remained the same; players roleplay their characters, they fight enemies, and then they get loot/XP.
Attempting to balance a module for PVP requires a vast amount of experience with current popular/powerful PVP builds. I don't have that; Eyesolated doesn't have that; in fact, I've asked several players, and nobody can give me a comprehensive list of what's balanced, and what's overpowered; some basic things, like Hide in Plain Sight, are always mentioned, but beyond some core builds, nobody seems to want to step forward with a core set of class/spell changes/bannings that need to happen. On top of that, balancing for PVP leads to another problem, namely...
D&D, at the end of the day, is a cooperative game; when you attempt to balance it for PVP, you're essentially locking DMs out from interacting with players in a meaningful way; no matter what type of item, or how much XP is gained by a player from an event, it can be perceived as favoritism. On 90% of NWN servers, this isn't an issue at all; PVP isn't prevalent, and the amount of XP/items/whatever else a player has received from roleplay or DM-related events isn't generally relevant.
What makes NWN different from any other game in the history of PC gaming is that people can host their own servers, featuring their own worlds, and interact with players directly and meaningfully from the DM Client; by making a server about PVP, we are throwing away the advantage that allows NWN to remain played today; meaningful DM interaction that equates closely with a Pen and Paper experience.
The original Anphillia concept was great; it worked in it's time, and for many years longer then it probably should have, to be honest; however, the last several revivals that have attempted to bring players the same Anphillia they've always had have died for one reason or another; a common complaint I've heard about them is a lack of DM interaction...
At the end of the day, this is NOT Anphillia circa 2004; it's not going to be; I'm not trying to make a balanced PVP server; if a player sticks around for a ten-hour event, I'm going to reward them as such; whether that's with items, experience, a special ability, or some combination thereof; if a player consistently roleplays well, they are going to to wind up doing better then the guy who grinds endlessly and doesn't wish to roleplay. That's just the way it's going to be.
Not everyone is going to like this; I know some players have already expressed discontent with the fact that this isn't a classic V3 revival, or another iteration of Continuum; guess what; those servers died; at some point, this one will as well, but as long as the ride is fun, I'm going to keep on driving, to the moon and back if it lasts that long. I simply want to bring something new and different to Anphillia; a server where meaningful plotlines exist; players feel like their characters can advance in more then just levels, or tradeskill points, or with an upgraded weapon; where they feel their character, as an entity, can grow, through fun and unique roleplay, storylines, and DM'd events.
That's the way it's going to be; no amount of complaining from nay-sayers is going to change that; if you don't like what I'm doing here, I'm sorry, but I'm trying something new and different; maybe it works, and maybe it doesn't, but I'm not going to change my vision for the small minority of players who don't want to evolve rather then perish; so, if you're not down with that, then don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out; the rest of us will be having fun doing something a bit different for a change.
Thanks again to the players that do support me; I know things don't always get done quick, but be assured that eyesolated and I are always working towards bringing you guys more exciting and interesting content from a game-play perspective, and immersive storylines and roleplay from a DM perspective. Thanks again for playing, and hope to see everyone in-game soon.
- Gunner -
Postscript: I have purposely posted in this forum so we don't have a debate degenerate in to flaming; if you have questions/concerns/comments about this post, please feel free to contact me directly in-game. Thanks!
What you guys need to understand, is that every iteration of Anphillia has died, at some point or another; when I decided to begin hosting this server, there were no Anphillia servers up (to my knowledge). As I've heard, the most recent servers have been plagued by a lack of DMing, lack of updates, and a poisonous relationship between players, and of course the ever-dangerous lack of interest.
What I had to decide when I begun diddling around in the toolset, is whether or not I wanted to bring players the EXACT same Anphillia experience they've had for the last twelve years, or something that still takes place in the Anphillia realm; but is significantly different in some ways; since the former didn't seem to be keeping players interested, and was causing issues, I chose the latter option.
As such, there are some things I've shied purposefully away from; one of those is PVP; I know that PVP has a rich history in Anphillia, but it is also a very controversial part of the module, as it is pretty much anywhere that's not an Arena server; as many leaders have found out over centuries of warfare, the winning side in a fight is rarely a "victor"; they tend to expend significant amounts of commodities, including coin, food supplies, natural resources, human lives, etc. As such, war isn't always the answer; real-life history tells us this much.
War isn't always the answer in-game, either; there is nothing wrong with having a contentious relationship with other nearby factions; but open hostilities tend to get people nowhere, and cause a strain on all factions involved. From a more game-based standpoint, nobody likes dying; people like dying even less in PVP. PVP literally has ZERO positive effect, only neutral or negative outcomes exist. In addition, it has been shown, time and time again, to cause players to quit playing and cause lasting OOC issues between players.
Which leads me to the following point; the Anphillia community DOES NOT have enough active players currently to justify a full-scale PVP module; it just doesn't; with the discrepancies in timezone and faction counts added on top of that, along with the fact that what's available or not available in the module is constantly changing, on top of the fact that NWN is an imbalanced PVP environment to begin with, all led to me deciding to NOT ACTIVELY support PVP-balancing in this module.
Dungeons and Dragons has always been a fantastical setting; whether we're talking about the base game world, The Forgotten Realms, Kingdoms of Kalamar, Eberron, D20 Modern, or any of the many spin-off games that have been created as a result of the D20 engine, the core concept has remained the same; players roleplay their characters, they fight enemies, and then they get loot/XP.
Attempting to balance a module for PVP requires a vast amount of experience with current popular/powerful PVP builds. I don't have that; Eyesolated doesn't have that; in fact, I've asked several players, and nobody can give me a comprehensive list of what's balanced, and what's overpowered; some basic things, like Hide in Plain Sight, are always mentioned, but beyond some core builds, nobody seems to want to step forward with a core set of class/spell changes/bannings that need to happen. On top of that, balancing for PVP leads to another problem, namely...
D&D, at the end of the day, is a cooperative game; when you attempt to balance it for PVP, you're essentially locking DMs out from interacting with players in a meaningful way; no matter what type of item, or how much XP is gained by a player from an event, it can be perceived as favoritism. On 90% of NWN servers, this isn't an issue at all; PVP isn't prevalent, and the amount of XP/items/whatever else a player has received from roleplay or DM-related events isn't generally relevant.
What makes NWN different from any other game in the history of PC gaming is that people can host their own servers, featuring their own worlds, and interact with players directly and meaningfully from the DM Client; by making a server about PVP, we are throwing away the advantage that allows NWN to remain played today; meaningful DM interaction that equates closely with a Pen and Paper experience.
The original Anphillia concept was great; it worked in it's time, and for many years longer then it probably should have, to be honest; however, the last several revivals that have attempted to bring players the same Anphillia they've always had have died for one reason or another; a common complaint I've heard about them is a lack of DM interaction...
At the end of the day, this is NOT Anphillia circa 2004; it's not going to be; I'm not trying to make a balanced PVP server; if a player sticks around for a ten-hour event, I'm going to reward them as such; whether that's with items, experience, a special ability, or some combination thereof; if a player consistently roleplays well, they are going to to wind up doing better then the guy who grinds endlessly and doesn't wish to roleplay. That's just the way it's going to be.
Not everyone is going to like this; I know some players have already expressed discontent with the fact that this isn't a classic V3 revival, or another iteration of Continuum; guess what; those servers died; at some point, this one will as well, but as long as the ride is fun, I'm going to keep on driving, to the moon and back if it lasts that long. I simply want to bring something new and different to Anphillia; a server where meaningful plotlines exist; players feel like their characters can advance in more then just levels, or tradeskill points, or with an upgraded weapon; where they feel their character, as an entity, can grow, through fun and unique roleplay, storylines, and DM'd events.
That's the way it's going to be; no amount of complaining from nay-sayers is going to change that; if you don't like what I'm doing here, I'm sorry, but I'm trying something new and different; maybe it works, and maybe it doesn't, but I'm not going to change my vision for the small minority of players who don't want to evolve rather then perish; so, if you're not down with that, then don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out; the rest of us will be having fun doing something a bit different for a change.
Thanks again to the players that do support me; I know things don't always get done quick, but be assured that eyesolated and I are always working towards bringing you guys more exciting and interesting content from a game-play perspective, and immersive storylines and roleplay from a DM perspective. Thanks again for playing, and hope to see everyone in-game soon.
- Gunner -
Postscript: I have purposely posted in this forum so we don't have a debate degenerate in to flaming; if you have questions/concerns/comments about this post, please feel free to contact me directly in-game. Thanks!
