Must they all die?

[Caster13]

Playing the same character for a long length of time is fairly uncommon for me. Playing one for other a month, I tend to consider a success (Clarice lasted a month and seven days).

Most of my characters I'll perma during a scripted quest or I'll just abandon all together. I've come to view death by PvP (which has never happened to me) or DM event (e.g. Clarice and Senestia) to be successes in that it's a sort of glorious, going out with a bang, kind of death.

[Wern8]

I typically play characters for about two weeks to a month, but the characters that I truly enjoy and would play for a long time always end up dead early. It is something I would like to change, but I do like playing characters who get themselves into trouble.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

How do people play PC's longer thana month and a half at most....o.o

[Nightshadow]

I typically play someone for three days, decide if I like where the character is going, then come up with goals and move on from there. It's all about being careful in PvP so that you don't die before your goals are met, and about keeping a fresh supply of goals so that you don't lose interest and quit playing the charcter.

[Pestilence]

It is possible Thomas. The reason why my PCs live for awhile is because I can't play 24/7 and I spend more time RPing than questing on EFU

[TheImpossibleDream]

A fun and interesting character for me is one that is always at risk of being killed by an opposing faction. Nothing more fun than having to watch your every move!

[Jasede]

What Dream just said is one of the reasons I've always loved monstrous PCs - but be aware this is merely because, on my own, I tend to be unable to piss off enough PCs to make them give me the thrill of the hunt.

Conflict, danger, short and furious, or longer and legendary lives - that is EfU.

[Luke Danger]

A lot of my chars (actually, almost any one I didn't abandon for one reason or another) lived a long time.

Luke Danger, my first, lasted about a year. Really fun to play, even though he had difficulty. Being a Paladin, who joins a Watch, when it was loaded with evil chars, and also being the arch-enemy (so to speak) of the greatest PC faction ever (Montezzi), and trying to breathe life into a faction long-since dead. (I honestly was just hangover).
My second real concept was Alexander Patton, and he lasted a good few months, and really enjoyed him. He wasn't an epic hero, but he was friends with them. He turned into a bit of a leader as the Exodus began, caring for the safety of others, and basically turning from TN to NG, a change I think suited him well.
Then Orik Ironhammar, only over a month, so short for me as a main, but he certainly made a mark, and I enjoyed him, even if he had the (in my honest oppinion), the suckiest deaths. Killed when I was just getting back from a quick AFK that I had to do. [I blame my dad, 'cause he was the reason]
AFter, I had James Byrdeye. Origonally intended as a dump-char so I could help make the Zig safer so there's a safe place for the playerbase, rather than the un-defended terretory as it was durring Orik Ironhammer. He was retired on my part, as I had acomplished what I had hoped for with the character, and it was time to get back to my Team Good works.
And finally, my most recent KIA, Rob Darkspell. Out of all my characters, I enjoyed him the most. Why? Because he was, while not a jack-of-all-trades, fairly versitile. Stealth, spells, herbs, and a fine archer. He also had, in my oppinion, the best backround story of my characters. But what really made him my favorite was getting to play with friends (and actually met new ones) as him. He was deep in a lot, but what I thought was his ability to walk from city to nature with relative ease, something I didn't exactly intend.


So for me, the common KIA rate isn't that high, as I tend to play more tenatively, not commiting before a month (if possible), playing it safe, being on the winning side most of the time ( :P )

But I won't deny it, chars die, but it does leave a bit of a hole in the player, especially for those who've grown with their characters. For me especially, this happens. Buyer's Remorse I guess.

[djspectre]

Beggar hit the nail on the head about why most PC's vanish: Boredom or frustration over monster kill. Lets add to that unavailability of the player also.

I know a lot of well received characters that vanished because the player just stopped playing altogether....a really, really long AFK session.

Personally, I don't give up on characters because they die on quests or whatever. and if the character seems stale, I create a nuance for that character to explore and see what happens.

As far as PC's becoming NPC's I like the idea, but I really don't know if it'll fly (or is appropriate) on this module. The simplest reason is because I feel players would feel slighted if their character wasn't selected to be 'promoted' to an NPC. It would just be another headache that the DM's would have to deal with. Aside from that, how do you determine the 'standards' for becoming an NPC? That's nearly impossible to define.

I enjoy long-lasting characters and I feel others enjoy them as well (I've had a few myself that I stuck with). Maybe we're just in the A.D.H.D  phase of the server right now. :-p

[Drakill Tannan]

I'm not sure what the answer is, but there are so many permadeath PVP kills, I honestly can't keep track of them.  As a result, I have become somewhat blase about what should be prominent characters being killed and disappearing from the server.

This is both a blessing and a curse, a blessing because it kinda feels pointless to kill a character in a well RPed PvP conflict knowing OOC he will resapaw, there is no way to ensure victoy.

A curse, because it gives the playerbase an excuse to engage mindless PvP: kill the guy, get the items.

 

Maybe that's just the nature of the beast, and that's fine too.  Just wondering what others think about this issue.

So keep up the good work, those of you that play visible and memorable characters that define this server and keep some semblance of an evolving saga rather than just a compendium of short stories and tall tales.

Oh there are some names that remain, but usallly they are rare, Juniper strides, Malachi kent come to mind. I think most however are "experiments" or ppl simply get bored of playing with them. I have lost most of my characters that way, one day i simply say: i want to play a wizard rather than a rogue.

[Howlando]

A curse, because it gives the playerbase an excuse to engage mindless PvP: kill the guy, get the items.

This statement has no bearing to reality. When does this happen?

Aside from the very occasional (once every 3-4 months) griefer with a level 2 half-orc that just logs on to cause trouble, I can't think of this occurring in at least a year or more.

[Drakill Tannan]

Never said a grifer, but it does seem like people enjoy PvP more than what i'm used to in other modules.

[TheImpossibleDream]

Never said a grifer, but it does seem like people enjoy PvP more than what i'm used to in other modules.

This is partially true but you have a seemingly warped view as to why this is the case!

[djspectre]

What the original poster said, was that just lately, it SEEMS like fewer people are sticking with their characters after an unfortunate incident; many have happened through Full Damage PvP.

But not ALL have done this.

The original post was a commentary on character turnover mostly, with  a side-topic mentioning that most pvp situations lately seem to be FD:Kills instead of a subdue with a taunt or a maiming or deadly deadline or something.

I agree with Howland that there's not been an outright griefer on the server in a really long time. Last one I was victim to was easily over a year and a half ago. Though I did have someone pull that stunt on my highest level character once, my auto attack subdued him in one hit. Imp Crit FTW!

[Caddies]

The great majority of PvP on EFU:A has in fact been non-lethal, I'd wager.