Richørd's / Jabroni's / Sean Gorrick's Feedback Thread

[Richørd]

Hey y'all.


I intended to write up some proper feedback for this server ever since I joined.
Some of you know me, perhaps even most, but definitely not everyone.


Therefore a little explanation of my qualifications for giving feedback here aka. where I came from, where do I go? Hey, Cottoneye Joe.
[hide]My NWN experience started only relatively recently. I have never played NWN back when it first came out and only picked it up after the release of the Diamond Edition on GOG to then quickly loose interest in it after I was told to just skip the singleplayer content and head straight for a multiplayer server that was a pure PvE dungeon-grind esque nightmare. It was horrible to be rushed by a few experienced people through a server in a game that I barely understood at the time and had trouble making sense of, even as someone who'd describe themselves to be a very seasoned RPG player.
So I quit the game and left the Diamond Edition to rot in my GOG library.
Then came the release of the Enhanced Edition. This rekindled my interest for reasons such as DND being on the rise in the mainstream and rising to popularity all over YouTube at the time plus some people I considered friends at the time also getting super into it.
This time I was smarter. I actually slashed my way through all three main campaigns as a barbarian with permanent haste boots, thoroughly enjoyed it and then started out on Arelith.
Got myself banned there after about more than one and a half years, moved on to Ravenloft, spent some time there and then moved on to a bunch of different servers due to how I burned out on Mist McGuffin storylines.
Now I'm here and have been playing here for a relatively short while.[/hide]


Now that this is out of the way let's commence the actual feedback.
Remember. These are my opinions and in no way straight facts. Take that for what you want to, EfU staff. I can only repeat what's in my head.

This will be split up into multiple sections, each with pluses and minuses as positive and negative points I can bring up about those topics. The amount of positives or negatives also is not a major factor as it is just the arbitrary and amateurish way I will write my feedback.


CHARACTER FLAVORS AND CREATION
[hide]+ Most base classes. Holy damn, is there a lot of cool stuff going on! You got a dozen different ways to play so many classes here! And there I was, always thinking that you would need a high maximum level for a character's build to become spicy. Nonsense! EfU has shown me how one can bring variety with good and reasonable levelcaps in combination with damn good class restrictions and making certain pure classes stand out. The variety of ways one can play a fighter is amazing. And not just mechanically speaking. Seeing a fighter hang out with his little dog buddy is so cool and has great potential for buddy-co-op stories of sorts! I'm rambling but all in all this is just cool.

- Prestige classes. A bit of an iffy topic for me. My impressions so far are that Prestige Classes are in no way meta or extremely powerful (except the Shadowdancer but I don't even need to get into why that is). Therefore I find it a bit harsh on new players to basically lock every prestige class behind specific factors. One would be how experienced you are as a player and how well the DMs know you. Hey, you're a seasoned veteran of EfU and you know the lore in and out? Sure, buddy. We can trust you with properly displaying a class and it's lore, have at it right from the get-go. Oh, you are new? Well, we can't trust you with playing a specific character fantasy you got in mind. Here, find your own (seemingly convoluted) way to earn that class in the game while playing. On my character Sean Gorick I for example really wanted to earn the Knight PrC but was AFAIK blocked forever out of it after a bunch of drama with the Peerage. Sort of a real bummer after setting my mind on definitely being a Knight due to how well it fit that guy. More likely than not I ruined it myself with the player decisions I made, still somewhat of a bad experience as the first PrC I really wanted to get.
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GAMEPLAY
[hide]+ Questing and the pace of it. It is clear that a lot of thought went into offering a rewarding and stable quest curve that does not force you to grind hours just to get from level 2 to 3. It happens fast and it happens at the pace the players decide to take it at. I can go and powerlevel a character to six within a day or two after creation. Or I could take it slow, RP more or maybe not even log on for a few days and then hop on a quest train for multiple levels in a day. Is that bad because it makes leveling too easy? The answer is easy. I don't want to study the freaking quest layouts. I want to be relevant, at least somewhat. I want to be able to quickly regain levels if I had a few deaths in a dungeon. I don't want to be punished too hard for risking my ass during my quest and eating the consequences.

+ Consequences. GOD I LOVE HOW THESE ARE DESIGNED ON EFU WHYCAN'TEVERYSERVERBELIKETHIS. PvP is meaningful and has BIG impact. I hated nothing more on Arelith than to meticulously stalk a PC who was an ogre warchief and pirate captain into the player capital within the Underdark, wait for an opportune moment when there would be a lack of players around and then strike him down after a quick chit-chat in which I taunted the big, hairy bastard who has been a thorn in my character's side . . . just for him to send me a message five minutes later. FIVE MINUTES. THE HEAD I CUT OFF WOULD STILL BE WARM AND TWITCHING. ARGH, MY IMMERSION. But yeah, EfU does it right. And PvE deaths? You loose a a third of your total EXP and then are able to chill and relax while a third of the EXP you just lost slowly regenerates back. Or you get right back on the quest train! Meaningful but not too crippling.

- Rewards. I get it, if everything was as rewarding as the quest next door then there would be no real motivation to go anywhere else than the same two quests . . . but that is exactly what I am experiencing because of it. My character is not level 6 yet? Do quests around Ticker, Ponds and the Peerage. My character is 6? Grind the bandits and cultists of 97 and do morghouls in the Mongrelwoods. Those two levels, 6 and 7, are so damn rewarding for my characters that I feel almost no remorse dropping down to 7 from level 8 after getting my ass handed to me. Why would I? EXP is just temporary. But loot, gold and potion bags from an easy morghoul run? Now those are proper! Everything after 7 feels either very dangerous (I know there are some people that really think orcs of the Mongrelwoods is an easy quest but c'mon guys, that boss is a damn death machine) or unrewarding for the time invested. Especially seams offer a lot of quests that you can do at level 8 or 9, sure. But to just slog through monsters that you can beat with a party of level 5s and have your usual "first impression OOOHs and AAAHs" of RP for 15 minutes just to hand the quest in and then receive 83 EXP while you need thousands to get another level up that you are longing after because it finally gives your character Blind Fight at level 9 because you botched your build? *sigh*[/hide]

DMs
[hide]+ Availability. The most important thing. DMs are more often than not available and willing to help or to tell you who you should approach with a specific topic. Even if I contact several DMs at once to see who would reply first, I do not mind. In the end I find someone in 95% of all cases who can then help me out somehow. Very good!

+ Chill. I hated DMs on other servers, I will admit it. They either faked professionalism just to do the most ridiculous things right after, lacked transparency or were total douchebags about most things they did and behaves like vengeful children. But on this server? Fuck, I got a DM thinking now that I'm a dirty item skimmer and he acted like a damn adult with me! We parted ways with an agreement and he still shows up around me and people I quest with to start up little events and stuff! That is amazing, kudos to you. You know who you are. And then in Discord I actually had a DM be so straight with me that he actually told me to "shut the fuck up". That is amazing! And no, I am not being sarcastic. I mean it. I rather have DMs be real and give out some proper harsh words when necessary than be dirty weasels that gather up stuff behind the scenes just to greet you with a pile of "You are banned" at your doorstep. Yeah, there is some frustration from a server I played on here, one that I mentioned before. Go figure :)

- IC forums. I have been truly involved in only two factions so far that have NPCs at the top. House Velstra and House Nephezar. In both cases I wished more involvement from the DMs, more replies or even some initiative with giving their players more minor tasks. I get that most factions are supposed to be "player driven" and that the NPCs in power usually only chill all day until something , either very good or bad enough , happens that they come crawling out of the DM glovebox. I assume this is due to how certain DMs are assigned to certain factions so that the Non-player-characters would all have a specific way they act, a script that they follow that the DM figures out for each of them. But then again I did make attempts on my previous character to reach out to the Lord of House Velstra through IC correspondence just to recieve absolutely no answer. In such a case, if the NPC is truly supposed to ignore a letter, simply tell the player so. I would not have metagamed it, of course not, but at least I as a player would have gotten some sort of closure.[/hide]

MISCELLANEOUS
[hide]Ornate lockboxes in quests. They are weird and feel bad. It is strange to find a lockbox that is not locked (???) but instead has a lid so heavy that you need 5 to 6 PCs to gather around it? I have not found any clues if it depends on the total numbers of characters, their total strength, divided by the average STR modifier they have and so on ... they are just weird and I don't like them. Perhaps a relic from a time when the handy lootboxes and piles that await players at the end of morghouls, bandits and orcs were not a thing yet. Boxes that award large parties with extra loot and goodies. But if that is the case? Perhaps just make them easier to open or adjust the loot in dungeons like the Darkskull quest by removing and adding as needed and replacing the ornate lockboxes with a lootpile at the end.

Ringrunning. I know this is a living, breathing world and that there is a real time and player element involved that makes you want to hurry to the center of the city to find out what big story plottwist awaits there. But for the love of god, I hope you make some adjustments there in connection to the "no alts" policy that is present on the server. I myself was a rather shitty examplary case for this issue but what I am talking about here is more the case of when characters get REAL deep. Like Ring 40ish or 30ish deep. I see no way for a player to then willingly return all the way to 99 unless they unlock some sort of shortcut at those deeper Rings. But what if there is no such shortcut and they want to play there, in 99? Well, as I have experienced it from messages exchanged with DMs and players alike they should not get their hopes up. They are stuck with their main characters whereever they are and should not expect to be able to join a faction on their second character, be involved in any meaningful plotlines and so on ... I get why this sentiment exists. I just don't agree with it. And this is my feedback thread so I can voice my opinion. Hah! So perhaps consider showing mercy, perhaps having a 1 alt policy if that alt is not in an opposing faction? I don't know, something at least. Because burn out is a real thing and it happens.
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[Bio]

I started playing this chap and I've had a prc already. it's not as inaccessible as you're imaging.


ornate lockboxes are to push group play instead of 2-3 man crush groups.

[Random_White_Guy]

As far as first characters go Gorick was definitely a job well done considering some of the embarassments we've all had on the server especially in the fledgling days. My own first EFU Chapter 1 PC was a member of a drow's thieves guild in the underdark who after getting beaten up broke the code of secrecy and swore BRUTAL REVENGE TO COME FROM THE NPCS ON EVERYONE INVOLVED and other way unflattering angles lol.

Watching your conflict with House Velstra, while I can imagine it was frustrating, was actually really heartwarming to see as an old vet. You went from being semi-atop the world  as a Veteran to have it all crash around you in a shakespearean tragedy. But you stuck IC with it through most of the encounters that I saw and heard of which is a great notch in learning the ebb and flow of the server. Not everything will go your way, sometimes Character's legacy is that more of the fall than of the triumph, etc.

A common saying I like to toss around is -

"Sometimes your story takes exciting and winding turns as you climb to the top of the mountain-
Sometimes you step off the curb into the street and get hit by a bus."

Sean definitely got hit by the bus but the great thing about EFU is you handled it with a degree of decorum and IC responses (Joining the Stonebuilders, still conflicting with PCs, etc) which will help you a lot as you grow as a player.

To the matter of PRCs there's a lot of context in the gameworld surrounding them. Some of them are absolutely easier than others to achieve, some of them are harder, but more importantly some of them come with some very severe strings attached in terms of both reptuation and IC actions. Some PRCs, like say Assassin are more just matters of doing the dirty work IC. Others though?

A Blackguard is someone who is leading a dark faction of miscreants that has PCs chomping at the bit to kill them or wetting themselves to avoid. NPCs read off of this and respond in kind which is a HUGE thing in EFU to have NPCs either trying to kill you or offering you fearful tribute/etc.

A Shifter is someone who has mastered the most forbidden magic of the King's absolute hatred of anything in all the known world. Changelings are reviled and terrified, turnskins and morghouls are kill on sight, but a true Shifter who sheds their skin as they please is a very large threat to consider they can just walk up to any servant of the king and learn of dark secrets.

A Knight in the Peerage is a leader of an Association who has achieved a great many deeds for their Lord, so much so they're gifted status as a minor-noble and their word is law because their honor and prestige is so hard fought and won in a land of prestige. (And they get a neato Sir letoing to their name)

So while it may be a bit unfair that it is locked behind some content there's also some very big IC shoes to fill and responsibility required. A degree of expectation to keep things fun and interesting for PCs, to be a leader of a PC Faction/association, or otherwise. Which for some newer PCs is a difficult thing to get a handle on so there's some hurdles to overcome.

As an outsider who wasn't wholly involved in Sean's stories there's definitely some areas where things will improve with time. Overall though it was a fair push of an Association PC, and a very fine push for a first PC. Looking forward to see what comes of the next, and the one after, and in 6 PCs where you've developed towards!

[Axioein]

I liked your character. EfU can take a while to get used to. My suggestion is keep playing and keep working on making each character more fun for yourself and others.

[granny]

I can't believe this was your first year here! I had a blast interacting with Sean. I cannot wait to have more!