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What I like about EfU

I've realized, I frequently am very vocal about things I don't like about EfU, which could lead to the idea that I don't actually like much of anything. Contrary to that, let me explain what I do enjoy-what gets done very well here.

Non-canon: The setting here refuses to be cobbled together from canon, rather than the nearest drow city being known, it is an unknown city. The Dark Lake is canon, but presented in its own manner. Famous NPCs other than Halaster never seem to make an appearance. It corrects the handicap of having to stick to "what is known" and the problem some players introduce by knowing everything "in the source books".

Gritty Survivalism: While the sense that Sanctuary could be destroyed at any time is admittedly disappearing, there is at least still the sense that the city could face forces that it can't over come and has to live with from Etorix to Traensyr. It is pleasant to see how Sanctuary has to navigate between these forces just to hang on sometimes.

Extend-a-Quest: These optional continuations for quests are awesome and an idea I fully intend to steal for my own uses elsewhere. I enjoy the extra challenges on Hoar, Clowns, Gnolls and have enjoyed them even when my characters wound up horribly and permanently killed trying to finish these options.

Death: EfU's death system makes sense. Players don't respawn and say, "Hey, Frank killed me. Can you execute him?" Players have developed the good sense to stay dead when they should and move on. There are always some snags, but overall, the system prevents those characters that hang around forever without doing something. Plus the route of retirement allows you to end a character by making a fantastic attempt to reach the surface. This is a good way to see characters go out with a bang, before they turn into a joke by plodding on long after they cease being interesting. The tool of leaving small reminders of certain characters after death/retirement helps ease the separation anxiety some likely feel.

Loot: The random loot has somehow made the marvelous balance of being interesting, without having to be horribly powerful. Use/day items are very rare, but you can find one use items that are relatively powerful. If you look, you can generally find an item that helps you get really good and fighting one kind of monster-but nothing that makes you good against everything.

Fed-Ex-Randomness: Fed-ex quests get stale and dull sometimes, but the inclusion of optional rewards can make them more like hunting Easter Eggs than walking from point A to B to get 50 gold. I love going from point A to B and getting anything from a Potion of Stone Skin to a Urine Soaked Rag. It makes Fed-Ex more entertaining at those low levels where you need it to accumulate some basic gear.

NPC Reactions: Its a joy to watch as the NPCs react to the changes in the world. Sometimes, dynamism gets mistaken for just PCs changing the game world, sometimes it is good to be reminded that NPCs may wish to change the world such as the current mercantile conflicts with Donrick/Macasta/etc and seeing the growing unrest with the canal Watchmen makes the world seem more alive than not.

Excitement without Epicness: EfU can make the defeat of a cunning goblin commander, ala Spitfire, feel like it is a major accomplishment. You don't need to stop a dragon once a week to feel like the players are saving the day. Most plots stay well below the epic feel, and maintain that sense of desperation and survival in the Underdark rather than the general "high fantasy" you find in most game worlds that just gets out of hand. "Oh, we saved the world again? Didn't we do that last month?"

Bravo! Bravo! I'm loving EfU to bits already. Things I like:

Speed: You don't have to wait a week and a half for a simple yes or no question. The DMs are quick, and there are many. You guys are great!

Ambient Loot: This ties into Oro's, I know, but it's so cool! I love the feel of scavenging. Like, you take down an automaton, surviving by the skin of your teeth, and the you rips it's arm off and fend off a horde of rats with it! It just give this awesome feeling of survival and adrenaline. I love it!

There's more, but I've got work to do. In the meantime:

Keep up the great work!

Conflict: As a sucker who loves to stir the proverbial pot, EFU is rife with conflicting idealism, factions with conflicting history, and just plain dislike of some people. There's something for every character to hate, and making that hate boil over into fighting is an epic thing that i've rarely seen on servers of this magnitude. Spellguard vs. Ledskir, Ledskir vs. Nancy, Donrick vs. Macasta, Seekers vs. Spellguard, Watch vs. Criminals, Councilor against Councilor. These are but a few examples and the list doesn't even go into religious conflict and Upper vs. Lower. Its just epic the potential for causing trouble, and as a trouble makter, I love it

I like how hard it is to get everybody to get along. I like how you can be doing a quest you've done 10 times before and still get killed, with or without spice. I like how just stepping outside a couple of areas away you'll run into things that can kill you at level 10.

This is hard.

But I also like the DMs because they're cool and they only banned me the once which is also cool.

What I Like about efu is that most plots are player driven.

What I like about it is seeing the server actually change..

So many things I like...so many things that could go wrong!

I like the quality of the player base. Our players and their RP skills are of a consistently high caliber, and are one of the main things that make EfU as cool as it is. Kudos to all of you!

I like the DM's! They shape this world we play in and make the things we try to achieve or change happen (or not!). They bend over backwards to make this server fun for all of us and deserve a round of drinks ... err, applause!

I like the setting! It is dark (both physically and metaphysically) and brooding. It's dangerous, and fun. It's not huge compared to some servers that boast of hundreds or thousands of areas, but you don't need that. EfU is plenty big enough and has enough mysteries to keep us occupied for a long time to come.

I like that players have so much control in the shape and future of the setting. It can be a real motivation, knowing your actions can be recognised and have real repercussions when they are awesome enough.

I like the low magic feel. It makes the setting more real somehow, and feels like real, PnP DND as I remember it (when I played it).

And last of all (for now anyway) I like that you can actually WIN on this server. You can beat it, and Escape from the Underdark!

Great players!

Fantastic DMs!

Metro has a way answering questions/ comments with a song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrROiUNwgCM

Great forum posts =).

Second what Oroborous said and especially what Thomas did.

What I Like about efu is that most plots are player driven

What I like in EfU, it's U.

2 years and still going :P

The player base and the RP. It's something that's been sorely missing from my gaming life. You people are clever, inventive, varied, good humoured, great "actors", and really get into your characters.

Even when I've ended up taking a few steps back with Sev in terms of her mechanical capabilities, I simply can't stop playing her because of every thing else she's gotten involved with on such a personal level.

Losing 10,000 XP and two levels? That's nothing compared to the drama and strife of losing important people in Sev's life which is still so much more enjoyable from a third-person point of view.

I think the simplest thing that grabs me and holds me and forcibly yanked me from the realm of City of Heroes MMORPG is that in this world, you not only have a place you can truly have an impact in, but you can build a legacy, have your own empire, and immerse yourself in the realm.

The City of Heroes/Villains and World of Warcraft's out there are fine and wonderfully developed games, but NWN, and it's communities, in particular Escape from the Underdar, allow a level of interaction that you really can't find in any location, medium or game, short of virtual reality.

The module instills as much bravado as it does fear, as much enjoyment as it does sadness. Something rarely achieved in the gaming world.

For the folks who've spent countless hours milling over this module it's workings, the proof is evident immediately.

In short, I like the depth of play, not the breadth (like mmorpgs).

The Story its great lots of plots and Foigs. Its funny my first char accidently joined this evil group!

The Themes I get to torture beat and be a bandit! On most Rp servers I was pissed I couldnt IG Steal stuff.

The foigs- Its so fun to discover them.

The goals- It seems like the flow of things are controlled more by Pcs and Npcs and the plots and things have shifted more to Pcs! On most servers its just a bunch of Pcs Ass kissing all the Dm Controlled Npcs and im all get real!

The Pvp- When I pvp on this server its intense and crazy! Its all In just a few unlucky rolls months of hard work could be over! Making you paranoid during a pvp. I swear when I pvp most of the time its like a fight for my Life Quite Literarly!

The Location. I feel the location is great where a bunch of Ex Slaves in the middle of the UNderdark surounded by creatures.

The PRcs- Its Something Pcs actually Ig acomplish through Plots Ig activity rather than Xp. Most of the time Prcs will be approved if youve done Ig Shit to Earn it.

The Time- I swear Ive actually had a conversation go on for hours and im really addicted a few hours will go by prety quick

The Dms Its funny Most of the Dms have the Pc Perspective. Cause its funny Having Rped with a bunch of Dms When they where Pcs! I swear rofl. Most Dms online right now ive rped WITH.

The Irl Emotion When I play Efu I often laugh or get really pissed off cussing at a COMPUTER!

It keeps me warm at night. It never wants to let me go. You know it makes me feel alright.

Yeah.

I'm loving the frequent citizen NPC talking updates. It's awesome. Little things like this pwn.

The events that make you wonder what's going to hit the city next.

I like how realistic the world is compared with other servers. Characters actually die and are missed. Characters with high reputation (eg councilers) have the power of twisting truth's and holding control over commoners. Characters are also there to rebel this control. Nearly everything that naturally exsists in real life is covered in EfU. Of course it's not real enough to make it boring - I would much hate to play a character who had to go a full time job every morning and then had to deal with going to the toilet.

Also, players have the power to change certain aspects in EfU's world.

The way that much of power is influence and character, not your stats. How a handful of people can cause widely felt results, create permanent changes in the setting. Most of all though, I enjoy just seeing the different stories unfold, like a living storybook.

As I mentioned before, the rich history and a sense that the world has changed and evolved.

You can log in, hunt around a bit and find little snippets and clues of things that have happened, characters that have lived and died in Sanctuary and beyond..

It's one big Underdarky type adventure!

Like I said before, I love how things can go -wrong- in this setting. Yes, you are planning to destroy sanctuary, but how do you achieve it...get explosives? Cause a flood? Get a Army of deep lizards and spiders? Destroy The Sewers and kill sanctuary via pestilence and plague...

So many things to go wrong, and yet we succeed by smashing the faces of our enemies...WTF is with that?!

Thomas_Not_very_wise Like I said before, I love how things can go -wrong- in this setting. Yes, you are planning to destroy sanctuary, but how do you achieve it...get explosives? Cause a flood? Get a Army of deep lizards and spiders? Destroy The Sewers and kill sanctuary via pestilence and plague...

So many things to go wrong, and yet we succeed by smashing the faces of our enemies...WTF is with that?!

Run a army of Deep Lizards and spiders through the sewers ,then flood them before blowing it up with explosives.

Also, ^_^ I like EFU, because it is suspenseful(simple and sweet)!

Cake wrote

As I mentioned before, the rich history and a sense that the world has changed and evolved.

You can log in, hunt around a bit and find little snippets and clues of things that have happened, characters that have lived and died in Sanctuary and beyond..

* This rich and detailed non-canonical history drew me deep into this server immediately. I've been a book nerd all my life, so I made a bee-line for the bookshop when I found out there was one in Upper. I used the knowledge outlined in the books to ask questions and explore the Underdark world of EfU.

* I remember the second night I joined EFU, I picked up a Fed-Ex delivery to the Blue Mushroom, then simply asked someone how to get there. A haughty elf with the longest of long elf names, ended up taking me personally through the Mines, huffing and puffing about the inconvenience of it all. We were soon confronted by a wily, stuttering, self-appointed svirfneblin guard at the door to the Mushroom. PvP ensued and I didnt know what to make of it. I fired a few bolts thinking I might kill another player - OMG! I felt guilty for five minutes, then watched a brutal interrogation take place. All stuff that just convinced me to stay.

From there I set about FOIG about certain people and places outlined in the rare bookshop. I then thought I could find out easily enough about all these notable people and places by asking the 'right' people, much like you can when you walk-through any new RP game you might buy; or do the single-player NWNs mods. Much to my surprise and delight, I am still searching for answers to simple things like "What happened to the Founders of Sanctuary?". I'm sure there may be clues accessible through all the various factions, so don't spoiler me! I've only been a member of one faction here :D Let me FOIG ;)

So EfU has certainly changed my whole conception of the potential of gaming, and gaming communities: * The whole level of respect players and DMs have for the integrity of EfU as a whole- represented by the commitment of all to make game immersion consistently spectacular- impresses me.

* The tolerance and support for those players who may be burned out from the power-levelling one-upmanship of PvP servers, and those burned by general FeD-Ex, linear gaming lethargy, who may not quite understand the 'etiquette' of online-almost-anything-goes-RP ( me, for one) impresses me too.

*The ability for players and DMs to voice their opinions, yell and scream a bit if necessary; or quietly talk things through, with the search for a solution to any problems here impresses me too. Forgiveness is a beautiful thing. Some get banned - cool down - and come back a totally different player. That is awesome. Some players, of course, do not come back - but that is their choice.

And yeah - you guys are great actors in-game. :)..

Atmosphere and immersion, also drew me into EfU immediately.

Somniis has pretty much summed up all the things I love about this server, but, I would just like to stress on his last--Or second last!--point.

Somniis

And yeah - you guys are great actors in-game. :)

The playerbase of EfU are probably some of the best role-players I've ever had the pleasure of running into on a PW. (Not that I've been on too many other PWs, but that is besides the point!)

The various player made plots and sub-plots I've seen unravel during my time on this server have been nothing short of breathtaking.

Keep up the good work folks! :D