Take a look here, it got pretty good marks.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Reviews.Detail&id=461

yeah I subscribe to a NWN newsletter and this was the feature article a few months back which is how I found the server.

Me too, actually. :wink:

heh I found it when it was on the website and they were talking about it (or is that what you are talking about?) they had an interview with howland that was very interesting and convinced me to check it out.

DM attention seemed lacking at times?? What does he want 24/7 DM availabiity? Lord I certinly have been able to get in touch with the DM's more here than on any other PW I played. I bet he didn't notice when all the DM's were around. (I also wonder when he played...Austrila times perhaps?) Otherwise it will do what we want I think keep the hack/slash roleplayers away and bring in more great roleplayers!

From my own experience, basically the ONLY time DMs arent regularly on is from around 4pm-2am Aussie time. Which makes it 6am-12noon GMT. Even then, Lado is around sometimes, as are a few other DMs within either side of said timeframe.

If another Aussie DM who plays evenings was taken onboard, then pretty much every hour of the day a DM would be on. And thats awesome. Still, its the best DM interaction I've ever found on a PW server and I think the given score doesn't represent properly.

Oh yeah, RD should hurry up and install NWN instead of studying. :wink:

Those are my normal playing times too right now MadCaddies. Not often a DM on during them, normally the rest of the time you'll see one or two---even three or four.

The trick is, even with four DMs and forty players, that's 1:10 as a ratio. One of the hardest parts about DMing a world is keeping that ration in an optimal setting.

I know ideally DMs should be 1:5 (assuming you want the average party to be five players). This is bloody tough and 1:10 is about the best anyone can ever hope to get. EfU's average DM to player ration is probably 1:15 or 1:20 somewhere in there through the course of a day.

The DM:PC ratio is fine I think. Of course, more DMs would always be great, but finding trustworthy, reliable people who know how to DM really well, and want to do that instead of play PCs all the time would be pretty hard, I'd say.

But yeah, that block of time I mentioned that we play in Oro is very lacking. I've had to languish in jail, break off PvP plans at opportune times and the like lots of times.

I just assume no DM is available in my normal play time, and am pleasantly surprised when proven wrong. :wink:

Any other time I can get IG has been fine, but I really haven't had to liaise with DMs much up till now.

NWN newsletter is how i found the server too. Easily the best @#$%ing PW server around! Not to kiss ass, but the best DM's too.

I thought it was an essentially fair and honest review, I just don't really agree with some of the final scores. However, it is clear that we need to do a better job of putting our best foot forward.

Fun Factor -- matter of preference, no real comment on this, obviously I think EfU is a ton of fun.

Originality -- I think the originality of the server, especially when you start to explore some of the custom history of the world/plots/mysteries, is really pretty exceptional.

Community -- Can't argue with a 10

Custom Content -- This is one where I really disagree. I am not a scripter, but I'm aware of the extent of the custom scripts that are in our module, and I have to say that I'm really proud of how incredibly efficient, well designed, and original a lot of our scripting is. I am aware of no other place where the corpses of players physically resemble the PC down to the equipment they're wearing. The flexibility in terms of the voice commands players and DMs have access to is just amazing. We have really nicely functional siege weapons, subraces, and all kinds of behind the scenes scripts that help keep EfU really efficient and fast.

DMs -- I'm really proud of the DM team and its efforts. It is a challenge to provide as much coverage as we'd like. We are always working on that, the nature of DM'ing is that it can be incredibly stressful and so it's really tough to maintain the team. Although this is an area we can definitely improve on, I still think our coverage is much better for most players than maybe he grants us credit for.

Roleplaying -- Given that we're a public, non-passworded server I think we do a very good job here. I don't argue with the 9 rating though.

Hack 'n Slash -- We're not an action server, but if this were a judgement of the excitement quality of the quests, general mechanical balance, as well as carefully designed and contrived class balance, I'd say we're really good at what we do. I think our quests are enjoyable and appropriately challenging in a way that isn't easy to do in NWN.

Quality -- We're really not perfect, but our quality is high and we make a real effort to constantly improve the module. The module has gone through 621 versions since it became a cooperative process. It is updated often daily to reflect additions and changes.

Reliability -- Well, we're not up at the moment (probably why I'm finding the time to make this lengthy post), but otherwise we're quite reliable. No argument with the 10 score.

Quests -- I think our quests, especially at the higher levels, are really enjoyable. The design is however admittedly mostly based around going through an area, killing monsters, and then killing a boss. However, the concepts (wererat cults, illusionary clowns, entire fortresses of creatures, etc.) are in general pretty novel.

I also don't really think our death penalties or resting systems are unduly difficult, it just takes some adjustment that ultimately makes for a better player and server IMO.

Anyway, just my response to his review. But I did find it very useful view as to what a fairly typical NWN player will feel if they try out EfU, and to that end I appreciated it as an indication of areas in which the server could use improvement.

While we're on the subject, I noticed that we're also being ranked on that site and actually fairly high on the list. I wouldn't mind some more votes though, although I think our biggest advertisement is the fact that throughout the day we're one of the top 5 in population servers on all of Gamespy I do think some people like to try the servers that are ranked in that list.

So if you'd like to communicate how you feel about EfU, feel free to visit this link and vote. Note: you need to actually vote, not just comment, to affect the standing of the server.

Nice idea Howland, posting the link to the voting like that. :wink: I just voted (should've done it ages ago). I only hope if it keeps catching on I can still keep up and not lose track of the players I love to play with. Congrats bro, and I hope the server is back up soon! (been out of town since Fri.)

A good review I'd say. Although I don't agree with all of the points. First of all, as said before too, I think the death system is good. It would lose it's meaning if it wasn't harsh.

I find it odd that he ranked the fun factor 7, when he describes the playing experience wonderful. I find the actual description on the fun factor to be on spot though.

The rank he gave for DMs is a bit off in my opinion, and I live on a time zone where the DM activity isn't that high. It's usually only through the mornings to the afternoon or so. It's usually relatively easy to catch a DM during the evenings, at IRC at least if not IG. I do have to agree that I wouldn't mind more Euro time DMs though.

Anyway, everyone has their personal point of view. Some comments the reviewer made point out that he didn't take a too close look at the website though. Most of the information he mentioned was lacking is quite easy to access through here.

I wondered where he disapeared to though. I was the orc who engaged in that roleplay sesion. Funny part is that I geuss he did'nt realise adm was overseeing that too XD.

Looking back at it, it's a mild point of annoyance that he's critical of the fact he didn't see DMs log online when we specifically made it so that it wouldn't show when DMs logged on/off. Just noticed that!

ah you may want to make that more common knowledge...I certinly didn't know that was the way it was set up.

Post a comment at the review site. Point out your views, it'll certainly help get a discussion going and that's good for attracting new players if that's your goal. Any press is good press.

A pretty positive review. I have the same comments that Howland has already made.

I left positive comments ages ago.

If someone wants to, they can always post comments about stuff like the DM logging thing... like Oro said, it provokes discussion, always a good thing.

That's a different thing. The first thing on the Vault is their actual player rating, this was a link to a review.

I thought it was interesting that he picked the Preludes as that one really great original aspect of EfU. I've only done one, and while it was fun, in my mind its a pretty minor aspect of the server. Sure its novel when you first start off, but it almost seemed like he picked the most gimmicky aspect of the server instead of delving into the nuances of EfU that truly make it unique and interesting. And he kept hammering at it again and again as if they truly defined the server...I guess that's what happens when you only have a small sampling of gameplay that includes a Prelude.

Also interesting was his complaint that most quests were in town, which doesnt promote exploration...the problem seemed to be in his lack of exploration as there are a plethora of quests in the wilds.

of course you have to get a group together and go out into the wilds..as he pointed out going out into the wilds alone is suicicide..

unless you're an infamously aggressive halfling rogue that always seems to make it back to the city :shock:

Heh, one of my character's is in the screenshot! But we were well and truly lost, I always seem to get lost in the Underdark no matter who I play.