Messages

Could you add that edit to the top of the original post? There is a lot of excitement and buzz around v5 (and right so). I would hate for new players to see this post and think it was directed at the current state of the server.

I am in love with v5 so far.  Sure there a few bugs that are being worked through, that is part of a massive new project like v5.

Some of the key good points for me are as follows.

- A setting this is supportive of a wide range of concepts. A lot of v4, Sanctuary was under direct threat of the Empire of the Dread and as such I had difficulty finding a good fit for my less survival / war minded concepts. v5 by what I have seen so far could support a very wide range of concepts.

- A setting that is a massive area to explore. It looks like it will take a long / long time to explore the majority of it. This is great as it gives your character a default 'quest' to pursue when other things are slow for them.

- A setting where the factions aren't over-powering. Sanctuary needed the Spellguard (IMO), but after a time the Spellguard always dominating a large part of Sanctuary started to get stale. The new factions seem to be relatively balanced power wise (based on the first week weeks) and the new Faction Application rules will be a very good thing but limiting the number of players in any given faction.

Same, I got all the options when doing the 'stick' variant.

The option for the quest is not always in the dialogue.

Even when it is present the quest giver will not allow to take the quest. Receiving the OOC message 'Maximum Party Size Not Respected' even when trying to take the quest as a singleton or with a small party of the appropriate levels.

I wonder if its an area issue. There are a lot of people in that area right now. Is the NPC thinking they are all trying to take the quest?

[- Good]

While Alec died relatively early into this plot line, I wanted to touch on what I saw.

- Good
Watching the stream and seeing EfU - City of Rings come about has me thinking back over the last several years. I played EfU since launch and the only word I can come up with to describe the end to v4 is 'right'. Yes it was insanely frustrating at times. I am very guilty of complaining far more than I should have. However, putting it all together resulted in a story telling experience I have never seen equaled.

I especially love that true to EfU roots, not everything was fully explained. There are still multiple plot threads out there that are not tied up. No idea how EfU City of Rings will play out, but I can only hope that some of those v4 threads will continue into v5 in some form or format.

- Bad
Some of the actions on the epic events seemed geared to produce PC deaths. I am a bit of two minds on this. Looking back after the chapter change, I get the DM point of view. How do you make an event really stick in regards to the gravity of what you have done? IE taking down the Tower of the Spellguard or a main city of the Illithid? Player deaths seem to be the answer to that. If no one dies, the player base and their PCs start going ..... yeah no big lets just crush this and the setting loses a great deal of its edge feeling (v4 specifically).

On the flip side, its really frustrating as a player to lose a character you spent a lot of time on to something you dont feel you could survive given the level ranges. I am not sure if there is a good answer to this. Increasing the number of hostile NPCs causes lag. Making the NPC abilities more powerful to simulate a larger number of NPCs causes the 'unfair' argument above.

Maybe the answer is the new direction in City of Rings. Having a setting that is less 'oh shit our backs our to a wall' will not cause the DMs to need to pull out that stuff on the epic events.

Please dont take any of this the wrong way. EfU has given me more entertainment than any book or game. Its far more than a game, it is more of a hobby or even a work of art.

As some of you know, RL is a little crazy for me at the moment. Right now EfU is even more awesome than its normal greatness, as such I needed to leave Alec dead so I could get some things buttoned up in RL before diving back in. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I will be back with a new character.

In the mean time ... keep kicking ass and I will be watching from the Streaming / Forum Post / Screenshot sidelines.

The quests are fine. The player base has just played a LONG time in a lot circumstances. As such we have figured out how to get good at NWN. Besides, the quests are a bit of fun to help you move forward as a character. EfU is still very dangerous and has plenty of chances to die.

If you personally want more of a challenge, play a less optimal build to your character and go have fun. I did that once or twice. It can be a lot of fun.

Great job!

Eirikr has been perma-deathed. Unfortunatly I never did get any screenshots of note or DM Equipment to show off. The Exile Collective is a lot of fun. See you next time.

Lemur, can you PM the tactics you used to keep them alive? As a player I am very curious. Every run I have been on with that quest (including the ones with full buffed / high level / well geared characters) ended badly. If it involved FOIG stuff, then no worries. But as a player I am wondering how to keep the more squishy characters alive when you drop in.


If the AI used to be different that would make a huge difference. Roaming packs are not so bad. Its the inability to move due to number of NPCs / mass swarm that causes the above. Maybe a drop in room / choke point or something as suggested.

I will be honest, the smart ass side of me wants to respond with 'so we need to meta-game the quest in order to not have a half+ party kill on the drop in'? There is no indication of what your about to enter when you drop into the pit.  ;)

On the more constructive side, we did prepare before dropping in actually. We had a solid group of level 9s and 10s. We all entered together. We landed right on top of the spawn. The more squishy ones died before they could even finish loading. The rest of us were surrounded / blocked by the sheer number of NPCs to make positioning & moving extremely difficult. Combine that with what with the fear auras, poison attacks, and webs those NPCs are using and you get the situation I described.

Can someone take a look at the pit drop for the Deep in the Rotlands quest? You are dropped right on top of the spawn. Given the abilities / attacks / auras used, its very prone to TPK. We had three die before they even loaded on the most recent run. Then most of the rest of the party went down. It seems excessive.

Got it. No worries, thanks for the response.

EE changed the stun duration of Stun Fist from three rounds to one round. Given the levels that EfU is played at, I dont think this needs to happen. Suggest changing the effect back to three rounds if possible.

I really enjoyed the limited number of times Eirikr got to interact with her. Looking forward to your next one.