A travelling zone

[Letsplayforfun]

In regards to the 'lower difficulty thread', here's a thought.

What i enjoyed in UD was that lvl4/5 players could actually go to Mur, and from there visit a bit some awesome places (with proper cash, especially with large groups). It could be rough along the way if you got bad spawns, but it was easily doeable most of the time.

It encouraged parties of low levels to actually explore within some partially safe limits

On Ymph, there's the Zig, and that's it. If you want to go somewhere, there's the Stargazer village, but that's all within low level's reach.

Since this is an archipelago, i'd enjoy old port (or another outpost) being more acessible, and from there a few dead-end exotic destinations.

It's not like people are stuck on Ymph as we were stuck in UD: PCs certainly can't leave easily (but all it takes it coins), but people show up all the time, making the isolated feeling a bit meh...

It'd allow some minor exploration and travelling for PCs/player that don't feel confortable about the server's difficulty range, even if it wouldn't bring them close to the real interesting parts of the server.

[putrid_plum]

Last I checked there was a raft system...

[Letsplayforfun]

Last I checked there was a raft system...

That leads no where to exotic places such as Mur, Blue Mushroom, KuoTa Ilses, Undead City, Drow Bank, Kobold Camps, etc...

Most of Ymph and Archipelago are hostile nature zones or ruins. There's very little no "safe havens" apart from sleeping camps here and there, which gives little goals from travelling. And those "safe havens" that do exist are no accessible to low lvl pcs.

[ScottyB]

I see a problem, though:

It takes gold to use a raft/boat/ship
Low-levels don't have a lot of gold to indulge in exploration
Ergo, traveling to off-shore exotic locations is not possible for low-levels

I think, perhaps, some flavorful "warded" areas (as in, places where once you get to them you can stop expecting things to try killing you for a little while) in the ruins/in ruins outside the zig, might be nice. Chambers with puzzles or hard-to-read tablets that are cryptic even if you pass the checks. Not places that you can set your spawn point to, but places that are worth visiting, like all those areas we had in the Machine. Now you just need someone willing to design such areas and fit them in somewhere. (Easier said than done, though. And for all I know, maybe stuff like this is out there.)

[Wyric]

As a person who likes exploring the world, especially in small groups, I would welcome more meaningful "peaceful" destinations. I did enjoy travelling to places like Blue Mushroom, the Necromancer's hideout (whatever the bar's name was), Fort Mur, Shadow Tribe, countless small mysterious caverns that weren't about killing things.

Granted, I might not know of all the ones that exist, but few more common knowledge destinations would not hurt?

[Letsplayforfun]

Yes, gold might be an issue, but it's countered by making groups. A transport that cost 500 coins won't be taken alone, but with 6-7 people it's actually not that expensive. That way it would force group involvement, and make way for some flavorful trips. Great way to hook new players ;)

[putrid_plum]

You can go to many other islands around Ymph as well, if you took the time to maybe get a DM and ask the rafter?  I am just pointing out that there are alot of cool smaller islands around.

[sylvyrdragon]

Yes, there are some cool places to check out, but it would be nice to be able to get to them with OUT involving a DM.

[ScruffyMcSmirkalot]

Well... in general... exploring the wilds of Ymph has been a dangerous feat in itself... Especially if done at night
 
I hear at one point, that the mountains and the desert beyond used to be more accessible, and that there was a time when there weren't mist ogres and heavily dangerous creatures there.
 
But aside from all that... I've a feeling that this has been discussed by the DM team, and that part of what we see as a challenge is by design. Great, expansive landscapes and alternate cities are excellent to explore and have a change of scenary.... but in the twilight years of Neverwinter Nights, this also splits up the server population into different remote areas that aren't so easily accessible between eachother.... hence why (I'm guessing here) it seems like everything is so centralized on EFU:A.
 
However, a change of scenary would be nice... Might I suggest maybe adding a "rotating" boat schedule? Like, have some "infamous" sailing captain offer a ride to a specific island... and it can sort of be the flavor of the month. A new island would be available this month, and the old one from the previous month wouldn't. Perhaps it can ICly be justified by the mysterious mists. This would minimize splitting the server population, and also add variety that changes over time.
 
Not to make a direct comparison... but to pull from an example... World of Warcraft has many beautiful, rolling landscapes... but after the first 3-6 months, the players eventually see these large expansive landscapes as annoyances rather than beauty, due to the length of time it takes to get anywhere. Just a thought.
 
Thoughts?

[Howlando]

There is merit to this suggestion!

[Egon the Monkey]

I'd agree it's less rewarding and more difficult to explore up here. My ranger in the UD used to be quite happy roaming about under stealth most places, since the big killers like Deep Lurkers and Umber Hulks were usually stuff you could see coming and turn back from. Here, there's definitely more of a tendency to have something jump out of stealth with KD or paralysis and tear your face off. There are realatively safe camps, hideouts etc, even with spawn points, but they are mostly empty and boring.

My suggestion then. Put some quests and traders in Castle Blackhearth and the Dwarven Hold, so that people go there. Make some of the traders sell certain items cheaper than the Ziggurat, or unavailable there. For example shoploot Dwarven Waraxes. Put some fedex quests to both locations, and turn down the Smashometer on the wilderness spawns in the tangled woods. Or, leave them as they are and have random spawns of Black Company Patrolmen of Dwarven Hold Guards that fight them, like the Stargazers in the Wooded Ruin fight the hostile spawns. I find a fair few Shargaas Disciples in the Tangled Woods for example. Do that, and we'll see people actually travelling as these areas become "civilised" by the presence of the PC activity and NPC patrols.

[Semli]

However, a change of scenary would be nice... Might I suggest maybe adding a "rotating" boat schedule? Like, once a month or so, have some "infamous" sailing captain offer a ride to a specific island... and it can sort of be the flavor of the month. A new island would be available, and the old one wouldn't. Perhaps it can ICly be justified by the mysterious mists. This would minimize splitting the server population, and also add variety that changes over time.

^This. Pull out your tampons and make this happen DM team.

[Capricious]

Personally, I think anything that gets people from loitering in the Colony and waiting on quest sendings is bound to be a good thing.

[ScruffyMcSmirkalot]

Gah, went back and edited... as I noticed I wasn't in the most coherent thought at the time.
 
Anyhow, yeah. Being able to travel to a new island every month. Just come up with twelve islands (prolly already some on the server), and now you have a rotating island schedule. Assuming that NWN stands the test of time for even longer, you can throw in a different island here and there as development permits!
 
And woot, we got Howland to comment.

[Nufferz]

two cents

I know there is a lot of discussion about the difficulty of the server and  the greater frequency of deaths. One thing people should keep in mind is when you enter a quest, you are taking a chance at loot and experience at the possible expense of death. Honestly, I think the frequency of death on mid to high level quests is actually spot on with EFU.

Now for what letsplayforfun mentioned, I completely, wholeheartedly agree. A shargass disciple can three hit-kill almost anyone that walks around with less than 24 AC and low fortitude. Now I don't care how big or buff your group is, when that thing pops out for the kill, you shit your pants and just hope it rolls poorly. Now I ask, what is the point? Do we want people just hiding out in the Ziggurat only going out when the chime comes for a scripted or DM quest? The disciple spawns in probably some of the most low level travel areas on the server. You can find them out in wyldwater between farms and the foothills, and you can find them in the tangled woods between the exiled camp and the ziggurat.

Let us move on to the island jaguar/leopard. Tone these down please, or perhaps make different levels of difficulty for these type of creatures- the further you travel from the zig, the harder the jaguar. Perhaps make the foothills jaguar on par with the cave prowler from back in the day.

I think one thing that helped in EFU was certain areas of the underdark were toned down to allow high PC traffic where as other areas were known to spawn much more difficult creatures. A good implementation of this would be keeping the Bogs quite dangerous while making the foothills more of a minor inconvenience. Though this is not perhaps explainable from a sense of immersion, it sure as hell made exploring a bit more encouraged and enjoyable. It could, however, be explained by the Black Company holding patrols through that route or the dwarves going to their stronghold.

Summary: Non-PvP death should mainly result from high risk areas and quests. If DMs set out to have someone kicking themselves asking, "Why the hell did I leave the Zig in the first place?", when they leave those gates to travel to the exiled camp, mission accomplished then. Otherwise, some change would not be so bad with the arrival of these new players.