Casual Metagaming

[Cruzel]

This has been harshing my mellow a lot, lately.

Guys, FFS! It's not hard to not metagame. (Except disguises, those can be a nightmare, and everybody slips up on those)

I am more than happy to burn a CSW potion after stepping on that trap that I OOCly know is on the bridge, but couldn't spot with my PC this time. Why? Instead of laming the entire quest and charging through the parts where the party KNOWS there is traps, you could start RPing and maybe send a scout? Even if you know there is only that ONE trap in the entire quest, it still makes sense to check, ICly. While the scout is checking, Bam. RP opportunities. Isn't that way more fun than running through a quest with nary a word other than "Shit, trap! Run around it!"?

Prebuffing, there is nothing wrong with it. But knowing exactly WHERE to prebuff can be a little iffy. OOCly knowing the corner where there is goblins just around, so you should start buffing before you ICly know that you are even remotely close to a goblin, is not cool tbh.

One of the worst and most common ones I see, and I see it all the time on Vradzn runs; (Before we even get to the towers, usually.)

"We'll run around back and sneak in from there"

Now, this may seem like no big deal, I've even had people get pissed off at me for pointing this out, as if going around back was completely common sense. Sure, it might be, if there was any obvious indication that there was a way around. (Which there isn't, btw, Most fortresses don't have a crumbling wall in the back you can climb up, food for thought!) Most fortresses, you either need a ladder or a giantass battering ram to breach.  Now, once you see the bridge is up, then you can be like "Shit we need to find another way!" But saying "Sneak around back" before you get to that point, is 100% uncool.


Another bad one is these completely OOC hookups in the middle of nowhere so you can get in on a quest train, despite having like, no reason whatsoever for being out there, other than "Er.. I was exploring?" Chance meetups are great, and can be a lot of fun with the usual "Lol, wtf are you doing out here guys?" But just running out to some obscure location with no real explanation of why you are sprinting through the jungle hasted, is pretty lame TBH.

Missing a quest train can suck, but it's not the end of the world. I am all for including players, but if they miss out they miss out, you can't win all the time. It's not like there is nothing to do alone on the server.


Please stop doing this guys, it is really harshing my mellow. I have left at least three parties in the last week or so when they started to metagame quests. It's pretty annoying, and takes all the fun out of a quest, because once you do this, quests become so much more easier. (Easy is not always fun) 90% of the fun of questing is reinventing how you do it and how you interact with the people WHILE you do it, not how easily you can crush it using OOC knowledge with nary a word or emote the entire quest.

[/endrant]

[derfo]

lol

[Letsplayforfun]

It's not like there is nothing to do alone on the server.
[/endrant]

...

At sucky timezones, when there's 5 people on, all heading out to quest, and another guy logs on, i'll always shoot him a tell saying "we're all heading out to quest, do you want to come?".

I'm sorry (really) if it causes sometimes weird IC justifications, but i've yet to see someone say "no, i've lots of things to do alone on the server".

As for the rest of your post, yes, i concur. metagaming is inevitable, but please do it in a not so showing way it becomes embarrassing.

[Caddies]

Cruzel, patron saint of roleplay purists.

[Velve]

While there are some occasions as mentioned above me (EDIT: Make that 2 posts above me), where I'd say it is okay to do the slightest bit of metagaming (Afterall, it surely does suck wandering around finding no one, so as long as thats where it ends its all good imo), I definitely agree. Metagaming mid quest breaks immersion like little else.

[I can has fun?]

I agree with just about everything you said, but I will raise one complaint.

Now, this may seem like no big deal, I've even had people get pissed off at me for pointing this out, as if going around back was completely common sense.

The first time I ever did that quest we went around the back. Half the time, the drawbridge is up! Going around the back is not only common sense, but as far as I know it is sometimes the only way to complete the quest.

[Gwydion]

The thing that makes me cringe, is frontliners RUNNING from encounter to encounter to plow through the enemy as quick as possible.  While I can see barbarians or some IC rationale to do this, it makes little sense other than smashing a quest in the smallest time possible.

Saying, "These blessings won't last forever" then sprinting around the dungeon to get to the next fight, but for some unknown reason - slowing down just before THE BIG ONE drives me nuts.  

Particularly when the 72 hp tank hesitates at a doorway because he/she knows that multiple magic missles are his reward for going first, although they ran into every other room.

Several encounters in the Observatory quest come to mind.

AT LEAST, have some RP where "Seth the Demon Slayer" tells  his compatriots that "it's best to rush these foul demons, lest they overwhelm you with blasts from afar."

*** To add something positive and random - I just completed all stages of the wolves quest this weekend for the first time, and loved it.  Great fun for low level characters IMO!  It seemed very well balanced.

[meow-mix]

I like that quest too ^_^

My two cents!
Meow-mix

[I can has fun?]

You know, I do have a bit of a rant to add to this: healing herbs and traps.

Healing herbs are the most efficient way to heal another player, but in order for them to work effectively, everyone in the party needs to be out of combat. This means that you need to actually pause for a few moments and maybe even do a little role-play between each battle.

There are players who simply never disengage from combat, ever. Not only does this mean that healing herbs are always wasted if they get used at all, it also means that the trap your rogue is trying to disarm is likely to blow up in their face.

Folks, if you actually take your time and let your teammates do their share of the work, not only will you save an incredible amount of consumables, but I promise that you will have more fun. The same people who complain the quests are too hard and don't give enough potions are the very ones who would rather chug a 50 gold buff potion than wait thirty seconds for a 9 gold heal that they don't even have to pay for.

To the players who do this: you are the reason I almost never quest anymore. You've removed the two main ways my character can contribute to a battle, and you've done so in a way that adds to your own material costs. It doesn't make any sense!

Please slow down!

[Cruzel]

I agree with just about everything you said, but I will raise one complaint.The first time I ever did that quest we went around the back. Half the time, the drawbridge is up! Going around the back is not only common sense, but as far as I know it is sometimes the only way to complete the quest.

One of the worst and most common ones I see, and I see it all the time on Vradzn runs; (Before we even get to the towers, usually.)

"We'll run around back and sneak in from there"

Now, once you see the bridge is up, then you can be like "Shit we need to find another way!" But saying "Sneak around back" before you get to that point, is 100% uncool.

[Cruzel]

Another minor one which kind of annoys me, is spotting someone's  health bar in your party bar, seeing it brown and going "Shit you look diseased!"

Diseases are deadly (and scary) because you don't know they are there, at first. A note to prospective healers - There is a "/c diagnose playername"   for a reason. I would like to see this used more often, tbh. It's a pretty cool RP tool.

A poison you might be able to see the initial effects right away, but for most diseases, you probably shouldn't know without diagnosing them!

[PanamaLane]

I'm going to prescribe a heavy dosage of chill pill.

:-)