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I'm hoping that it's possible to manage a middle ground, with buffing potions being rare enough that even minor ones are saved for tougher fights, with standard buffs and blasts being provided by mages, something like a standard 3.5 game.

Buffs, in my opinion, should make people more powerful, like they do, and everyone should have one or two for when their backs are against the wall. But it shouldn't be at the point where the biggest issue is organizing the oodles of potions you have so that you can get them off first.

First off, the lowbie quests are nice. I'd like to see some soloable stuff higher, but that's no big deal. 2-4 quests get characters into the survivable levels fairly quick and painless. Unless you're a mage/rogue, I guess. Most things on the server itself default to 'pretty sweet', too.

That said, few bits I don't think are viable projects, but could use attention. One being 'Friking Death Wildlife'. Really, how did the guy with the cart even get his ox and wagon this far, when I can't sneak out for tripping over animals that devour my fresh lvl6 outside the gate zones? For that matter, what path did he take? There are kobolds all over that one, orcs all over this one, spiders down that one, and death cats and dogs on all of them. I know it's an unforgiving wilderness out there, but can we get some roads or something? Just because ruthless carnivores could be there doesn't really mean they should be.

Also, just a check, but could we make sure PCs and NPCs are on even footing, at least? Just taking a level of a PC class in normal PnP 3.X indicates you're beyond most people, but I could settle for that being in potential rather than ability. Sure, they've had long lives before you came along, but chances are, so did you before you were zapped/crashed/spawned into Ymph.

Tag on the potions. I'd like to see fights revolve more around fighting than buffs. The fights I've seen that haven't been magic-restricted duels mostly center on who uses the right consumable at the right time, with occasional deference to Knockdown. Regardless of if they should, or if they have to, most I've seen do. Potions are absurdly common. I have a backpack full of the things myself, to the point that I can whip out more spells in a single encounter than a mage can cast for an entire adventure, healing aside.

Seriously. It's as though someone along the design process was scared that PCs couldn't handle quests without buffs, and couldn't wrangle a mage or two half the time. A matter of opinion I happen to disagree with, but in the end not too bad for PvE. And then it carried over to PvP, and hoarding potions by the truckload, and it all went screwy.

So I guess that carries over to my own request. Less reliance on consumable organization/collection, more on your character's build, your party's strengths and weaknesses, and general tactics. This would seem to require many, many less consumables. Slow and steady non-combat healing items combined with a few low-use 'Emergency Heal' type items, maybe. Not sure, but it would need a real overhaul.

tl; dr: Potions are OD'd, PCs aren't OP, tanks have high AC, but can't take spell DCs.

Caddies' rumor post about PCs chugging a bunch of potions and attacking Stygian NPCs conveyed a stong sense of "guys, don't do this anymore".

I did actually get something of the same vibe from that post, and was thinking about mentioning it. The mentions of excessive potion use and 'opportunistic and unimaginative murder spree's bring it a bit close to the line between characters and players for me. Still, if anything, I'd rather just hear Caddies' word on it.

And, of course, the darker side of 'do awesome things to get recognized' is that when you've only got a few DMs, you have to be not only awesome, but more awesome than the rest of the server, so you end up fighting the other players for DM recognition. Not really ideal. At the same time, though, you can't lay blame to anything but the lack of DMs, as player competition is inevitable in this case, and our DMs are trying their best to keep the server alive.

Isn't there a big infodump about EFUSS in the character creation area? I know I learned about the system well before I entered the actual world.

Hm... I actually quit my archer due to being the load on whatever team I joined. I'll take that worst-mechanical-knowledge title, unless you can tell me how to make a decent one...

I guess I could always go Arcane Archer... Clawing (or leeching) your way to level 7 as a weakling gives you permanent +1 arrows, and the level after gives a 10d6 fireball.

Damage Reduction is a real pain, though... Might be nice to have Magic Weapon work on arrows or something.

Timed XP could be interesting. Make it a toggle between time-based and quest-based XP, and have the total quest XP of any given level be greater than the timed XP. Throw in enough detection to make it require about as much activity as a quest would anyhow, and it might work out to be interesting, at least.

I'd like to see some sort of XP gain beyond the scripts and DM grants, but it's not a big deal to me, really.

Per Line, though? Purple prose to the max.

Hmmm... So, if I'm understanding the issue correctly, it's not so much that the DMs don't want to give the quiet ones a chance, so much as the DMing staff is already up to its ears in work? It would seem to be the root of many issues here, that the DM staff is simply too overworked, and is thus forced to drop the less promising ideas, or else risk all their time spent on something that didn't work out.

I don't suppose a recruiting drive would be in order?

Kind of a tangent, but...

I don't think anybody aside from DMs who have tried it understand how outrageously difficult, time consuming, demoralizing, and frustrating it is to blatantly "give a boring* player a nudge in the right direction." (That being communicating with the player directly, in most cases.)  I don't think there has ever, EVER been a single success story or happy story when any of us have proactively tried to steer a player towards a better direction.

Even passively trying to do it by paving the way in front of a boring* player is ridiculously difficult, time consuming, demoralizing, and frustrating.  (This being crafting plots, quests, dialogs, etc., that "lead" a player.)  However, sometimes this method actually works, but hooooleeeey-shit is it a lot of work.  But, like I said, sometimes that is rewarding for us.

*Let "boring" encompass Caddies' players for the time being

Sorry to interrupt, but I've got a question related to this.

What exactly does it take to pull these off? My experiences in similar games to this (hard RP games with many more players than DMs) paint a somewhat simple picture, and as I haven't got a bit of experience DMing NWN, I'd like to know more. For example, the case of Jeffery the Botanist. From what I can tell, this is how it would go:

First, a DM goes through the various character/faction notes, trying to link a handful together to maximize the return on his/her time. In this case the DM settles on Jeffery the Botanist as a decent story force, adding in the new merc outfit on the scene. The DM sends a letter via forum to Jeffery, from a scholar, perhaps from the Conclave, or some foreign party. The letter details a rare herb only found deep in the wood, that possesses an extract with unknown magical qualities. It closes with an offer: If Jeffery will agree to use his specialized knowledge to harvest the plant and bring it back for research, perhaps the scholar's organization will provide protection, as well as recompense for his time and skills.

If Jeffery declines, the offer can be brought to other groups, if any are available. But, let's say he accepts. The DM then sends a similar letter tailored to the merc group, promising pay for transporting Jeffery safely. If they decline for some reason, and the DM can't get another group, NPC stand-ins could be substituted. If they accept, a time is arranged for everyone to be on and embark on the wonderful trip. An average sort of map could be created (the editor seems to be even easier than the TESCS/GECK, but I can't be sure), with various menaces, and perhaps plant-based obstacles for Jeffery to have a bit of fun with. At the end, the herb, perhaps cultivated in a long-lost outpost's garden, valued for it's magic nature, and surrounded by suitably-leveled forgotten supplies and armaments. The group can return to meet with the scholar, who will then take the plant back for research, either removing it from play entirely, or else planting it in a suitable research area, introducing a new reagent and allowing the group to feel that they've made a mark on the server as a whole. Perhaps the plot could carry on, with the implications of the plant's powers making for a small, but present subplot for many.

Such things, I suppose, could stretch or shrink depending on the will behind them. Maybe the nature factions catch wind, and have reason to want to stop the herb from being retrieved. Maybe a shady fellow knows the true nature of the plant, and goes about hiring less scrupulous sorts to get it for himself. Maybe the DMs just aren't feeling it, and simply engineer a short map with two or three programmed plant puzzles, opened at the appropriate time, for Jeffery to go through and enjoy while they attend to other matters.

So... Have I got this right? It does seem like more than a casual undertaking, but I'd imagine that any single player would feel well enough getting perhaps one of these a month, and, server population and group inclusion permitting, it might even happen more often. I can see a few points where I may be underestimating things, in between coordinating events with other DMs, how hard/easy it is to actually make a simple map, and so on. Still, I would very much like to know exactly how it's done.

Newegg. Ten bucks. Free shipping.

I'm not sure if this is a typo, or if some enchantment is supposed to be on it, or what... But I thought I'd report it just in case.

This would be nice... I just bought a room to stuff the things in, not knowing the limits on stored containers and item counts. Now, it seems I must purchase many bags to store it all in, or else deal with a lot of inventory clutter.