Nature Characters

[Gippy]

Seeing 15 players that are strangely and tenuously allied because of a history of questing and a similar play schedule walking around the wilds killing fauna does not make me want to run a DM quest. That stuff's boring to me. I do not see myself ever rewarding it. Player run events should be fun on their own. Not some 'duty' that you do in the tenuous hope of getting DM attention.

Seeing five to six low level PCs with an agenda and concept that they both advertise and one which puts them in open conflict with other groups on the server -- sticking together, navigating the wilds, taking their time, RPing the difficulties, and generally enjoying themselves -- will, when I see it, totally get rewarded.

Play concepts that you enjoy. Do things that you enjoy. Enjoy DM attention as a treat, not the main course.

[Garem]

... Intrigue, politics, infiltration, combat, theft, claim land, fight over land, build, destroy, expand, refine.

The last four things will almost always require DMs. The first several don't of course, and they're great goals for an RP game like EfUA.

Anyways!

I've never played a full nature character, and likely never will because it's just not part of the server that I think would interest me. That being said, there's a lot that nature characters can do.

The Order screwed up your nice Tangled Woods habitat, called it their own. Reclaim it!

The Armada is in control of a starving colony. You guys manipulate NATURE. Take their farmland, bring in nasty natural critters to defend it, demand something from them for it to be left alone. If they play nice (doubtful) then you can offer to use your talents to regrow the devastated land. If they do, then maybe a DM can run a Stygian-Nature quest for rare super-wheat seeds (shit, I don't know...) as a reward for being bold and getting your way.

I'm not sure what the Docks or Stargazers have done to nature folks, but I'm sure there's something.

[Jayde Moon]

Reactive PCs in general are boring to DM for. It doesn't matter if you're a Nature PC or not.

So the best way to solicit DM attention as a Nature PC is of course to have a proactive concept. For example, if there's an elven druid messaging me in the DM channel that he's going around planting trees and would like some supervision... I'd rather have spent my time following a Talonite druid who believed the city to represent too great a threat to the Balance, and wanted to poison the Dominion water supply to incite a war that would ultimately destroy it. Or someone like Vlad, or Orgeribbit. These sort of PCs are proactive in the pursuit of their goals and generally bring a satisfying amount of conflict to the server (not just PvP, but generally a tense atmosphere and quite a bit of intrigue).

I totally understand this attitude, there is definitely nothing wrong with it and a DM has GOT to do what is near and dear to his heart, or else he'll burn out doing all the stuff that makes it feel like 'work'.

That said, I think this is definitely a place where EfU, as a community, has a weakness.  We get so into these sort of PvP dynamics and I think we lose sight of the fact that some people just aren't going to be as good at this sort of behavior that the DMs are really looking for.  Not everyone can NAGARAGE!

Seriously though, what does end up happening is that these people are feeling alienated and left out.  They can't 'hang' and as evidenced by the statements in this thread, the DMs see them as boring, when to a lot of the players, these individuals add depth to our server by playing PCs that may not be as dynamic, but certainly support our playerbase as a whole and also add a bit to immersion by adding the whole, "Not every important person is ZOMGWTFPWNROFLWINNAR".

I think we do EfU a disservice if the prevailing attitude causes these folks to leave, and I have personally seen a few walk away, individuals who are VERY creative in their character concepts but with no real ability to 'Win'.

This is on a larger scale than 'Team Nature' in some ways, but I see it a lot with this group.  'We' tend to get a lot of attention when one of the so called 'Big Dogs' makes a Nature Concept and then we tend to fizzle once they get PKed (which accounts for some people's experiences, as with anything ymmv).

You also have to remember that more than anything getting DM attention is just luck.

QFT

[BeteNoire]

We get so into these sort of PvP dynamics and I think we lose sight of the fact that some people just aren't going to be as good at this sort of behavior that the DMs are really looking for. Not everyone can NAGARAGE!

Seriously though, what does end up happening is that these people are feeling alienated and left out. They can't 'hang' and as evidenced by the statements in this thread, the DMs see them as boring...

This happens on both sides of the fence (meaning, pvp ability doesn't matter) and some people see little to no interaction / loot / npc possessions / plots. That argument has very little to do with Nature PCs.

[Jayde Moon]

This is on a larger scale than 'Team Nature' in some ways

OK.  Many ways. *shrug*

[Howlando]

First - I just want to make clear that Caddies has retired as a DM, so his advice should be considered as that of an ex-DM, experienced player and not that of an active DM.

Two - It is entirely false to say that the way to get DM attention is to become some kind of PvP champion. It is this frustrating and enduring notion that some players have that the better you are at PvP the more positive DM attention you get. This is just completely wrong, as I'm sure some of our server's best PvPers can attest to.

Playing at the right times, playing enough, having an interesting character, approaching DMs with ideas, having a good OOC attitude, being enthusiastic and appreciative about the server, involving others - these are all much more important things.

Promoting conflict is good too, and PvP even has a place in that, but I think the facts and evidence are pretty clear that there's lot more to things than that.

For example, when I think about the players who I have more recently showered with attention - cmenden and AKMatt for example - both almost always lose PvP but because of some of the reasons mentioned above but when I have time in the client I will often be glad to run stuff involving them.



Now, back on to topic, I do know for a fact in the past that I've made a point to run nature-specific stuff more than I have any other group. Admittedly I haven't been DM'ing much recently, which I hope to rectify soon. But in the meantime, I would encourage some creativity among the nature PCs in terms of coming up with new ways to entertain yourselves rather than expect a DM to drop out of the blue to do it for you. I'd also encourage you to send casual, non-demanding dm messages about patrols you're up to, run little events of your own that are advertised/made aware to DMs, collar DMs on IRC to respond to any forum letters you need responded to, and coordinate with Johannes about opposing some of the anti-nature plots he happens to be running nowadays.

[Caddies]

Indeed, I made sure to use past tense so people didn't get confused!

Also the last thing I wanted to infer was that you have to be PvP focused to garner DM attention (in fact I mentioned other forms of conflict such as intrigue being important). In fact, I would posit that pretty much every DM vastly prefers interesting schemers and plotters over boring crushbots.

The emphasis was on dynamism more than PvP.

[Howlando]

Yes, I was more responding to -

We get so into these sort of PvP dynamics and I think we lose sight of the fact that some people just aren't going to be as good at this sort of behavior that the DMs are really looking for. Not everyone can NAGARAGE!

Seriously though, what does end up happening is that these people are feeling alienated and left out. They can't 'hang' and as evidenced by the statements in this thread, the DMs see them as boring, when to a lot of the players, these individuals add depth to our server by playing PCs that may not be as dynamic, but certainly support our playerbase as a whole and also add a bit to immersion by adding the whole, "Not every important person is ZOMGWTFPWNROFLWINNAR".

- which I just completely disagree with!


It probably is worth noting though that if you're going to play a Stargazer, you probably should be prepared to on average face more PvP than most other concepts.

[Caddies]

I was also responding to that. :o

[FishyBusiness]

Thank you for all the attention lately, guys.

It is truly, truly amazing!

[Twelve]

Throwing a different perspective out there - I prefer nature PCs.  
 
Truthfully, I feel trapped when I play a ziggurat / docks based PC.  You can only go a few screens unless you go with a competent group, or butt-loads of invis potions.  Even then Invisibility is easier to defeat than stealth.
 
The bad part was I started with a nature PC and most my PCs (minus my current) have been nature based PCs.  That does result in a feeling of being on the DMs bad-boy list or ignored.  
 
But I think the pros of not feeling confined or trapped far outweigh the cons.  It's truely amazing what you see out in the wilds when prowling around in stealth.  Though its hard to interact with other PCs when you rarely see someone and then when you do they zoomspast you running to someplace safe.  
 
Anyhow my $.02 from my viewpoint anyhow.

[AllMYBudgies]

I am in the same boat at Twelve. I love nature characters and the wilds is simply fantastic. I struggle to play a Colony based PC, and usually end up playing nature in the end.

I believe that if you are going to start playing a nature concept it is wise not only have far advancing, and conflict based goals but also to have 'something to do' goals than can be achieved without the aid of a DM.
This can often be research in to specific animals, exploration of dangerous areas, growing a decent array of plants, herbalism research etc. and although they will likely not get a DM's attention, they do give you a purpose to play.

I think that in the wilds, purpose can sometimes be a driving force to stop a player retiring a character and allows for the times when you might struggle to find other players and are slightly isolated.
Being on your own is something that I know some players struggle with, I have been asked before how to cope with this and I suppose I can only really offer the above advice. Do something!
Emoting to yourself can make things seem a little more lively :P

[xXCrystal_Rose]

Although it does get very lonely in the wilds sometimes, nature PCs are my favorite, and I find myself taking a sanity break once in a while on my druid still. It helps make it less empty if you develop nature buddies and go on patrol and such. We used to do that a lot with Kashyapi, a small group of regulars always out on patrol searching for signs of H'bala and any other trouble we could get into hehe.