Impressions and frustrations from a new player

[Yalta]

I would suggest playing for another two hours and see what you think after that.
 
I can honestly say I have never experienced PVP that fast, so as has been mentioned that is very unusual.
 
Generally the RP on the server is of a high order and as importantly the OOC behaviour is also always polite and considerate.
 
The settings *is* very dangerous and that is part of its attraction to many.
 
I (as well as many many others and of ouorse the DM's) would be happy to assist with any questions, hints or help when you next log on. My log on at the moment is Scar_EFU.

[SilentSouth]

It is actually frustrating that this has happened to you, my whole time on EFU:A i have only been randomly mugged once, and i have been around for about a year now.

As people have said, it is so rare for that to happen, and it sucks even more that it had to be to a new player. I think its wrong that you should give up so quickly though, as others have suggested, you should seriously stick around because EFU is not like any other server here, it is a form of art and i would hate to think someone is going to be missing out on the sheer awsomeness because of a simple miss understanding.

As the DMs said, its cool you took the time to share your first impressions, but i really don't think you are being fair, in a sense.

[Caddies]

Going to just be honest and say that IMO this server probably isn't for you. By the sounds of your posts you're looking for C.S Lewis, while EFU is more like G.R Martin.

Hopefully I'm wrong and you give it another shot, and come to accept and appreciate the many challenges of EFU. Either way, good luck.

[UnholyWon]

Going to just be honest and say that IMO this server probably isn't for you. ...good luck.

I agree with Caddies.

[Equinox]

It's good that you post your opinions, but I think you've just had an unfortunate series of events. Generally pvp doesn't find you on efu unless you go looking for it. If you play a prominent pc who ends up finding themselves with enemies, yes you may get subject to attack.

I think you should give EFU another whirl, most questing on the server isn't like you described. I've been playing here over three years myself and while the server life can be harsh. Its generally extremely rewarding.

[SilentSouth]

This can strike players coming from different PW cultures as "harsh" or "unwelcoming" but I would call it a feature without which the server's survivalist feel of constant danger and palpable intrigue would not be possible. When I want to visit exciting locations in real life, I have to consider the increased risk rate. Same applies to EfU.

Exactly, this being my first and only server on NWN i was just instantly sucked in to the experience. I can understand that people coming from other more laid back servers are going to have a hard time adjusting.
I think the people who stick with this server in the long run will find it just that more rewarding then any other due to the extreme risks involved.

I really hope you give it another shot.

[Aethereal]

That said, I do agree with the observation about grinding culture regarding scripted quests. I like to do a quest train from time to time but the ruthless gearing toward questing efficiency (hurrying up without waiting for AFK players, [COLOR="Red"]extorting specific buffs from spellcasters,[/COLOR] metagaming the enemies you are going to face) can get irksome. We could discuss the causes (I can certainly share my theory) but it is easily mitigable - you can have awesome extended roleplaying sessions and relaxed, slow-paced questing with a comparably large part of the playerbase, so you merely end up interacting with the characters that suit you / your character.

Note the part I have highlighted in red.

As a wizard and a player who primarily plays a wizard in almost every game I have ever played. This irks me, it irks me greatly. I hate it when people tell me as I join the party: "Go prepare X, Y, Z. Also make sure you memorise D we'll need it against ." I'm not even a transmuter, I'll provide some buffs, but I want to play my way - you know send out some offensive spells as well as react to situations as I deem fit. I am the wizard, not you!

(note that I haven't ever raised this issue in game, as I've mostly been adapting to the server so far so didn't see to challenge any norms.)

I've been sucked in to a standard role which seems to be: hey go invisible and heal the others and watch as they kill everything for you. Seems to me the only way for a wizard to be accepted into groups so far. I'm not fond of it.

With that said, I have reached a stage where I am not interested in simple quests anymore for my character. So it matters less and less.

[Porkolt]

There are definitely other ways to play your wizard that are quite acceptable when doing scripted quests.

[Wrexsoul]

That said, I do agree with the observation about grinding culture regarding scripted quests. I like to do a quest train from time to time but the ruthless gearing toward questing efficiency (hurrying up without waiting for AFK players, extorting specific buffs from spellcasters, metagaming the enemies you are going to face) can get irksome.

To be honest, what you describe here is probably my biggest gripe with this server, and the main reason I don't often join random scripted quest runs. For a server with such an extremely high quality of roleplaying in every other aspect (and it really is awesome), the dips of roleplaying quality during random, run of the mill quests continues to baffle me. I know that it is hard to maintain RP during combat, but the biggest issue is probably the rushing and the nearly palpable air of "I've done this quest a million times, let me get my loot and experience as quick as possible so I can continue roleplaying afterwards". There is very little conversation, nearly no discussion of tactics, and even less actual execution the same. Further, there is hardly no interaction with or discussion of the quest environments, placeables, story or intrigue, and any attempt to start such basically leaves you standing alone in an empty room with everyone ahead charging the next group of monsters, before you even have time to complete your first "hey, look at this, guys!". Add to this the general level of (often subconscious but still noticeable) metagaming, and I can easily see how ending up in quest runs like these turn off people who came here hearing about the server's exceptional level of roleplay.

I hope I do not come off as too harsh writing this; Scripted quests are a very tricky ball to juggle by their very nature, and obviously not all runs are like this. But I really think there is room for quite a lot of improvement from players in this regard, and it is an issue that even puts many "veterans" off, not to mention new players with high expectations.

Considering I am both a veteran (of the server), and a newcomer (to the Archipelago), I can say that it's equally off-putting in both regards. The quests themselves are awesome, but World of Warcrafting through them is not.

 - Wrex

[Egon the Monkey]

I'd like to drop a couple of hints for people who are new to playing mages here, since it took me about 2 years to get away from the whole "hide/buff" thing.  All PCs really *need* for most quests is mind wards if you think you're facing Chaotic/Lawful/Evil stuff, and magic weapon. Flame weapon also helps a lot, as do specific defence buffs for hard points. The rest though, it's no big deal. The trick is to find the most effective or enjoyable loadout, and those aren't mutually exclusive. The most fun I've had on wizards has usually been on those who responded to "got any more spells for me?" with "Not unless you'd *like* me to set you on fire..." or when I've known that a situation calls for Numerous Fireballs. Someone who will call in a sorcerous airstrike on command can be worth his weight in gold.

Take Blur and just hang back. Load up colour spray and save someone from a big group of attackers by stunning them all. Grease a bunch of enemy ranged troops to keep them knocked over. Hold back a Combust and flambe the boss or a Scint Sphere for a big group of mobs. Buff the hell out of yourself, pick up a spear and run around stabbing wizard mobs while yelling "MAGE DUEL!". Even pick up a crossbow just to snipe weak enemies. The real trick to playing a wizard offensively though is to get people to agree that if you say wait, they wait, unless they like running into Ground Zero. Also, to remember you need potions too, not just frontliners. Brew yourself up haste, blur, etc for emergencies.

My last PC was a ranger 1/Wizard 7 who fought as a skirmisher with his spear and longbow. The wizard before that was an insane gnome who would begrudgingly offer people very basic buffs, enhance himself, then run in screaming with a waraxe and kill everything. He got to L9. It's easily doable to not invis buff.

[Aethereal]

[COLOR="Green"]The most fun I've had on wizards has usually been on those who responded to "got any more spells for me?" with "Not unless you'd *like* me to set you on fire..." or when I've known that a situation calls for Numerous Fireballs. Someone who will call in a sorcerous airstrike on command can be worth his weight in gold.[/COLOR]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Take Blur and just hang back. Load up colour spray and save someone from a big group of attackers by stunning them all. Grease a bunch of enemy ranged troops to keep them knocked over. Hold back a Combust and flambe the boss or a Scint Sphere for a big group of mobs. Buff the hell out of yourself, pick up a spear and run around stabbing wizard mobs while yelling "MAGE DUEL!". Even pick up a crossbow just to snipe weak enemies. The real trick to playing a wizard offensively though is to get people to agree that if you say wait, they wait, unless they like running into Ground Zero. Also, to remember you need potions too, not just frontliners. Brew yourself up haste, blur, etc for emergencies.[/COLOR]

My last PC was a ranger 1/Wizard 7 who fought as a skirmisher with his spear and longbow. The wizard before that was an insane gnome who would begrudgingly offer people very basic buffs, enhance himself, then run in screaming with a waraxe and kill everything. He got to L9. It's easily doable to not invis buff.

[COLOR="Green"]Good idea, I might make a wizard with that kind of personality some time, not anytime soon though. It could happen to my current character if he is really, really ticked off, but unlikely; he's fairly patient.[/COLOR]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Some excellent suggestions there. I was thinking about a few things like that myself. Now that I am at a decent level, with a fairly good arsenal of spells, I am becoming more capable of this kind of flexibility. With that said, I dislike huge groups where my buffs are spread thin. I'll be taking active measures against such groups forming I think. Either that or no buffs for you! Except my character and I as a player generally don't like leaving people out so it is unlikely to go that way.[/COLOR]

Thanks for sharing those interesting character experiences! *chuckles*

[gab1]

To be honest, what you describe here is probably my biggest gripe with this server, and the main reason I don't often join random scripted quest runs. For a server with such an extremely high quality of roleplaying in every other aspect (and it really is awesome), the dips of roleplaying quality during random, run of the mill quests continues to baffle me. I know that it is hard to maintain RP during combat, but the biggest issue is probably the rushing and the nearly palpable air of "I've done this quest a million times, let me get my loot and experience as quick as possible so I can continue roleplaying afterwards". There is very little conversation, nearly no discussion of tactics, and even less actual execution the same. Further, there is hardly no interaction with or discussion of the quest environments, placeables, story or intrigue, and any attempt to start such basically leaves you standing alone in an empty room with everyone ahead charging the next group of monsters, before you even have time to complete your first "hey, look at this, guys!". Add to this the general level of (often subconscious but still noticeable) metagaming, and I can easily see how ending up in quest runs like these turn off people who came here hearing about the server's exceptional level of roleplay.

I hope I do not come off as too harsh writing this; Scripted quests are a very tricky ball to juggle by their very nature, and obviously not all runs are like this. But I really think there is room for quite a lot of improvement from players in this regard, and it is an issue that even puts many "veterans" off, not to mention new players with high expectations.

Considering I am both a veteran (of the server), and a newcomer (to the Archipelago), I can say that it's equally off-putting in both regards. The quests themselves are awesome, but World of Warcrafting through them is not.

 - Wrex

 I think the feeling of that could be lessened by the DM's by changing up the quests every so often, changing the enemies, cutting off paths and putting in new ones, secret areas, etc.  We'd all really appreciate the work.  On a similar not, City of Arabel, has a really neat system for one of it's quest, the carpenter quest. You've all probably done it if you've played over there, the enemy types are random or something and it switches between three different types.  I think just manually changing the most common quests every couple of resets would be even better.  Good luck.

[Serial Numbers]

There is already a quest on EfU that has random spawns integrated. Creating and changing spawns through entire quests, areas, etc. is more complicated and harder to do than just snapping your fingers.

As for secret areas, there is a system of random areas already in-game, which encourages exploration! Try it out, it's really fun.

[Semli]

Swimmingbird-

Sorry you had a poor time. The EFUA experience has been increasingly catered towards heavily D&D/NwN experienced gamers due to the fact that these are really the only people who play anymore (NwN 1 isn't exactly flying off the shelves these days). What this means is that, in a world where the amount of time a DMs can create new content is naturally limited, we're left to find entertainment in each other. Since we're basically the same group of d-bags who have been kicking the crap out of each other for the last couple of years and a couple of people who showed up late only stuck around cause they were grooving on the competitive aspect of the server, we can seem like a pretty cold group of bastards.

Due to the fact people can change their alias (and often do), we just assume whenever we meet a new character that its someone who knows this old song and dance. Like in playing a game of Halo, you will go onto a new server and someone will shoot you in the face without explanation or apology - its assumed you understand how the game works and would just do the same if given the opportunity.

People who stick with it tend to find EFUA rewarding and fun, but if the competitive aspect isn't your thing, I wish you well in your server search.

[tddbrprncss]

Well, a lot of people have replied..but I'mma stick my two cents in since I'm also pretty new.  I have had good days and bad days on here, not to mention the server I DM on came back up.  So I've also been splitting my time between the two.  

That being said, I have hit lvl 5 once.  I have deleveled back down to 2 so many times I've lost count...and been ignored by several groups of elitists that don't know me yet.  

I have also met some great roleplayers that I wish I could kidnap for my own server, lol.  I, as a player, HATE PvP.  I do, oddly enough, enjoy the server so far.  It is nice to know that my characters actions have consequences that could get her killed by another character.  

So, on the rare times I'm logged in, look me up--if you decide to give it another chance.  Sometimes its hard to group up just because you miss a gathering of your level range going out to massacre poor, defenseless monsters. XD  I cannot tell you how many times I have sat in the Kingsman, roleplaying with myself while waiting for people to get back in from a quest.