At First Sight

[DivineCr]

Hello EftU:A cast and crew! I'm totally new here (recommended by some people who used to play here) and I must say I am very excited to get started on this server. From what I've heard (and read in-game) this is quickly shaping up to be love at first sight.

The seeming inevitability of character death is somewhat off-putting, it's something I'm sure I can learn to deal with for a server like this one.

That being said: anyone that would be so inclined to give me an idea of how long they've been playing and how many characters they've gone through as a result, I'd be very much appreciative!

[The Crimson Magician]

Welcome to the neighborhood.

[Daemonic Daz]

Welcome to the Archipelago.

Don't let the character death possibility put you off, theres very few instances where theres a chance you'll forced to end your PC but these situations often hold immense rewards if you come out the otherside alive and often have some of the best RP this server has to offer.

[Canzah]

It's very possible to keep a character alive for a long time, if you learn the tricks of the trade and play by them so to speak. I believe there's been high profile characters that have been around for a year and even moreso.

That said, it's also a deadly world we play in. Some people may choose to abandon characters when they die on scripted quests or to some random spawn, others are ended in PvP och perhaps through some DM led event or quest.

Still, in the end, it's all about cause and effect. My tip is to learn your way around the place and feel what kind of a character would fit you to play. Sometimes, death can be important to the story we're trying to tell.

[Letsplayforfun]

Welcome aboard.

[N/A]

Welcome! Just don't die to unbuffed kobolds like Kotenku!

[Andreas Falk]

Welcome, I fell in love at first site also, careful, it is highly addicting!

[DivineCr]

Thanks for your warm welcomes and words of encouragement. I'll try to keep my chin up through the roughness of the server's loving! See you server-side!

[Talir]

I've had characters lasting a few weeks, and I've had one character last for nine months. It really depends on who you play and what you do, and when you choose to end the character yourself. Most of the times my characters have died, I've known they would perish before it happened or enjoyed their death as a part of the game.

Welcome to Escaped from the Underdark: Archipelago, DivineCr.

[derfo]

Weclome! Feel free to visit our IRC channel, or ask around if you have any questions.

[Luke Danger]

Hey, trust me DivineCr, I've lost chars I've loved playing, but I can still play, even if I need a break to think of another.

The main problem is adjusting between characters, and, I won't deny it, try as I might, I just can't ditch my personal inclinations towards good-alignment, maybe a bit more 'smack evil hard' than resucing cats in a tree, but still towards good. This is why I wind up playing bastards (evil or no) [Actually, I don't think I've ever played a properly evil character before...] for a short time only, because it's against my nature to play evil or just bastardly for a long time. Still, find what works for you, and do it. There's many angles of good. You have the Paladin (not recomended for new person, but I managed to... abliet in a bit of a mucking my way through best I can manner), you then have the Ranger who's low-key resistance to evil, and then you have your CG Robin Hood and Little John type who shank the baddies in ways that make the Witch-King[of Angmar]'s shanking by Merry look like sparring with paper swords.

The same thing with evil, you have honorable bastards (like Rinaldo Montezzi, very honorable, but still evil), you got the occasional 'True Evil' villian (usually a merc), and rarely, the Gargosian 'me smash you haha' that makes people piss in their pants when they hear it.

Thing is, it's difficult to play characters that are solo, you get bored fast. But RPing with people you know makes it so much more fun. I think that for the longest time, I spent most of my time RPing with my favorite char (see below), and I had a friggen blast. While I may feel personally the cause of him getting perma'd (permenantly-dead) was cheap, but I'm not complaining, am I?


Ah, I rant, as usual it seems.


Welcome to EfU:A, and trust me, it may be a pain in the ass at times, but seriously, it's fun in the end.

[PS: No, I am -not- complaining subtly or in any hinting or insinuating method]

[Sandstorm]

My current character has lasted over 6 months.

[djspectre]

Hello EftU:A cast and crew! I'm totally new here (recommended by some people who used to play here) and I must say I am very excited to get started on this server. From what I've heard (and read in-game) this is quickly shaping up to be love at first sight.

The seeming inevitability of character death is somewhat off-putting, it's something I'm sure I can learn to deal with for a server like this one.

That being said: anyone that would be so inclined to give me an idea of how long they've been playing and how many characters they've gone through as a result, I'd be very much appreciative!

I'll admit that I'm not quite the standard in player here. However, I've been here for a little over 3 years, two of which were on the Underdark version of this server.

I've had about a half dozen characters that were more memorable and maybe a  half dozen or so that weren't at all. I tend to stick with my characters and concepts longer than the average person, but in the end, they all ended up dying terrible deaths.

All in all, the character's mortality rate on this server is really based on a quartet of things:

1.) game mechanics knowledge
2.) willingness to use your consumables and wisdom in knowing WHEN
3.) understanding when a Fugue trip was caused by just plain bad luck and not some DM or 'god-hates-me' situation.
4.) keeping cool about pvp, unless you're obviously being griefed.
 
Usually, players who are new to Neverwinter Nights as a whole and try to come to EFU:A get frustrated because they are still learning the game engine and how its different from MMO's and pen-n-paper D&D.

If you don't use consumables (potions, items, wands) you're just increasing your odds of getting an eventual massive critical hit or of making things more difficult. Use consumables.

Sometimes, well, we just get unlucky. We'll have that 1-in-1000 chance of getting nailed with an x4 Scythe wielding 24-strength half-orc twice in a row. Or failing our Fortitude save and being paralyzed as the party is overrun, leaving you surrounded by god knows what. It happens. Don't get mad, instead, pray that your party can regroup and get to your body.

#4....well, yeah, i can't say I handled this too well when I first joined the server. Nothing worse feeling then working so hard on your first character, getting that really big self sense of accomplishment, some good DM-loot as well......and then getting jumped while exploring and being robbed blind or killed by another player. Sometimes, thats just how stuff goes. But try and keep cool about it, send friendly tells to the assailing player and see if they meant to kill/rob you (sometimes its an accident) or just wanted to subdue you for other reasons. Maybe even ask the why behind the attack, if its not ICly obvious. Most players will at least respond in some fashion.

Welcome to the server though, enjoy and realize that there is always another character you can roll up, another DM quest to go on, and more custom loot than Bioware has in their attic.

[DivineCr]

Still appreciating getting input from all of you ;) and hoping to get a little more with the server specifics.. Maybe your starting stories?


And just for the record: I'm not new to NwN or RPing (started RPing on NwN in 2002 with Sam's Server: Menzoberranzan and have been hopping between Myth Drannor, Cormyr Dalelands, and Prisoners of The Mist XD ... oh, and a small stint on Daggerford) so I think I'll only have to worry about the "this server is harder than all of those (with the exception of maybe Daggerford) evar" factor! Which your input should help with.

Edit: By starting stories I mean how you found the server and got into it all snuggly-like.

[Caddies]

Welcome to EFU:A.

Its really rather easy to play a character here for as long as you want. In my opinion however, playing 'carefully' like this means you'll miss out on all the best bits EFU has to offer, in particular inter-PC conflict (and not necessarily PvP, either). And of course, if your PC dies, it just means its another chance for you to sample another 'section' of EFU:A; if your gallant knight dies, you can make a criminal or druid, and enjoy another element of the server completely.