Revamp new character starting

[Damien]

Considering 1) its a high average level setting anyway, with average level probably 7-8, 2) most of the areas you initially visit you like never visit again, and 3) a lot of lore and setting, which intentionally set up this way, is either locked by secrets and lore checks or cost a lot of money which may not make sense for your char to buy, and by now most of the easy lore is probably already known by the hardcore players and just ooc given away to their friend's new chars, suggesting the following;

1) Everyone starts at level 5 with a starter pack of supplies
2) several books or npc give away  plot lite stuff and setting insights, like wtf all the diff cities are
3) maybe we can add gossip npcs?

Thoughts?

[Hierophant]

Honestly the lowbie circuits already give you everything you need to advance into the 6-8 territory and content. There's nothing wrong with the 2-6 level range and content, personally I found the loop of the 6-9 content very dull. Not that it's bad! It's good, and I like all the quests for the most part. I don't really think there's anything wrong with the content itself, but just the approach I guess? If we want to discuss what's really holding EFU back from being its most enjoyable, I'm going to finally cry this up the wall and say we need to get away from a focus on mechanics and start focusing more on story and narrative that isn't only propped up by a DM. It's honestly gotten to a point where it's just boring and nothing new. I see the same archetypes of PCs every time I start playing again, I see the same loop, the same sendings, the same everything. It's discouraging to be excited for an idea, a concept, a character or just anything you want to contribute in EFU- for it to just be so unreceptive that it makes you want to never hop in again or makes you feel like your time is being wasted and everyone just wants to do a bounty quest. I get it though. I recently tried a PC that literally just quested and henched for people and it was brainless fun, and it kind of worried me that it was the most fun I had on V6 so far when I just treated it like some light RP MMO.

I don't even know where to start and I really don't want to shit on EFU as a whole as I've always enjoyed this community the most over anything else NWN both EE and classic had to offer. The highlights would be conflict, permadeath, consequences, DM events/activity. But the rest? It's good, it's fun, but it's just tiring. It feels like there's so much left to the imagination which is strange for a server that has been so focused on mechanics since I joined in late V4. You would think that of these systems and additions, there would be less stuff touching on classes and builds, feats and spells- and more on providing a sandbox experience where people actually have things to do besides quest and open up merchant stalls, and do intrigue/politics that just go around in circles and have little meaning to them. EFU really just feels like serious RP and narrative is a side thought and cool (mostly PvE/PvP) feats, spells and new classes are what EFU is about now. The questing system is probably the most detrimental part of EFU's loop and what makes it feel the least like a sandbox and more like an MMO.

I've given V6 a solid year to win me over and I've had a lot of fun moments, and I'm thinking of hopping back in and giving it another go as I've done multiple times after refreshers, but I'm so weary of it now that I'd rather just do other stuff with my time despite RP being such a strong part of my hobbyist life growing up and into adulthood, and EFU is, afaik, the last vestige of the kind of RP environment I fell in love with even before I joined EFU. That's my rant over but yeah...suffice to say, suggestions like this are unlikely to get much gravity to them because it's a very small change in a bucket of things that need changing and majorly, like fundamentals and direction.

[Howlando]

"more on providing a sandbox experience where people actually have things to do besides quest and open up merchant stalls, and do intrigue/politics that just go around in circles and have little meaning to them"

EFU flourishes as a combination of action and intrigue, that's always been the case. Action is what keeps people logged in. Intrigue is what builds the memories and stories.

We have a fairly awesome new political system that at least attempts to give players new things to do, but if you have ideas for other systems or things that DMs can actually implement feel free to share. We don't mind criticism.

[Hierophant]

EFU definitely wouldn't be EFU without the action, although the kind of action that flourished before takes a different sort of pedestal in Sands of Intrigue. I think that's awesome, as conflict really feels much more grounded than it ever did before, and with the new political system it adds a ton of weight and reasoning behind player conflict. I've seen a lot of amazing stories and player initiated plots, and before I decided to give it a rest for a bit, everything happening at the time was really cool and entertaining to see unravel.

I didn't mean to make it sound like this chapter hasn't innovated from past chapters as it most definitely has and really is the most dense and jam-packed setting I've seen in a PW. It's not often that geopolitics get represented so well, and it really adds to the intrigue. The world isn't convoluted with tons of NPCs that no one cares about, a lot of agency is left to the player, and many of the prominent NPCs are more reactionary than they are imposing which is really nice (though they can be, given certain consequences well deserved). I'll put more thought into a pile of suggestions over the summer as it's hard to really put my finger on what I find off this chapter, and at the end of the day I think it's a matter of slow burning my way into a comfy PC I really click with.

[KaedweniKnight]

Honestly the lowbie circuits already give you everything you need to advance into the 6-8 territory and content. There's nothing wrong with the 2-6 level range and content, personally I found the loop of the 6-9 content very dull. Not that it's bad! It's good, and I like all the quests for the most part. I don't really think there's anything wrong with the content itself, but just the approach I guess? If we want to discuss what's really holding EFU back from being its most enjoyable, I'm going to finally cry this up the wall and say we need to get away from a focus on mechanics and start focusing more on story and narrative that isn't only propped up by a DM. It's honestly gotten to a point where it's just boring and nothing new. I see the same archetypes of PCs every time I start playing again, I see the same loop, the same sendings, the same everything. It's discouraging to be excited for an idea, a concept, a character or just anything you want to contribute in EFU- for it to just be so unreceptive that it makes you want to never hop in again or makes you feel like your time is being wasted and everyone just wants to do a bounty quest. I get it though. I recently tried a PC that literally just quested and henched for people and it was brainless fun, and it kind of worried me that it was the most fun I had on V6 so far when I just treated it like some light RP MMO.

I don't even know where to start and I really don't want to shit on EFU as a whole as I've always enjoyed this community the most over anything else NWN both EE and classic had to offer. The highlights would be conflict, permadeath, consequences, DM events/activity. But the rest? It's good, it's fun, but it's just tiring. It feels like there's so much left to the imagination which is strange for a server that has been so focused on mechanics since I joined in late V4. You would think that of these systems and additions, there would be less stuff touching on classes and builds, feats and spells- and more on providing a sandbox experience where people actually have things to do besides quest and open up merchant stalls, and do intrigue/politics that just go around in circles and have little meaning to them. EFU really just feels like serious RP and narrative is a side thought and cool (mostly PvE/PvP) feats, spells and new classes are what EFU is about now. The questing system is probably the most detrimental part of EFU's loop and what makes it feel the least like a sandbox and more like an MMO.

I've given V6 a solid year to win me over and I've had a lot of fun moments, and I'm thinking of hopping back in and giving it another go as I've done multiple times after refreshers, but I'm so weary of it now that I'd rather just do other stuff with my time despite RP being such a strong part of my hobbyist life growing up and into adulthood, and EFU is, afaik, the last vestige of the kind of RP environment I fell in love with even before I joined EFU. That's my rant over but yeah...suffice to say, suggestions like this are unlikely to get much gravity to them because it's a very small change in a bucket of things that need changing and majorly, like fundamentals and direction.

Spot on with all of this, ultimately I fall out with v6 as a lot of the action and slam of COR has felt done away with, the Dispensary, the Bridge. COR was very much a might makes right module, and v6 just feels opposite to it, I tried to play at start, and a few off times since, but I haven't played in over a year. Like he said, EFU for me is a callback and a last vestige of the RP servers I grew up and loved, without it's death (though CoR kind of overdid it sometimes) it kind of loses it's meaning, I mean sure, a few here and there but like it just doesn't feel the same for me, a story has purpose because it ends.  Patiently waiting in the backdrop, looking in sometimes, waiting to see if I get the old spark of a server that I played for four years back, I'll never leave here forever. EFU could use some different DMs, ones that highlight what Hier has said here, new way of thinking.

[9lives]

lol