Listening Tour...

[Kinslayer988]

The Society is really cool, and will likely be what I am playing next/promoting with this in mind.

[Blue41]

From the conversations I've had with some Ordinant PC's, it seems to me that there is the huge potential for a lot of conflict between the members of the faction themselves and everyone around them that is unfortunately tied to their greatest secret as well as the Ritualist PRC.  The leading NPC members of the factions are split between being for and against this secret and while I don't think everything should come out into the open, I do think the Society would stand to benefit if the signs of this division were made a little more obvious to outsiders. I suspect it doesn't get played out often, or at all, by the PC's of this faction because it's spoiler territory and the benefits of supporting this strange and new thing are more palpable than being against it.

The Society became immensely more interesting to me as a faction when I was allowed a look on the inside and that seems like a problem to me. I feel a few nudges from the DM side could help on this because the natural inclination with any faction secret is to protect it. When these secrets are incredibly interesting and damn near concept creating in themselves, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

[Random_White_Guy]

That's a solid point Blue and one that both the Conclave and Numinous Order suffered from.

alternative advancement ideas, more setting lore / plot hooks / story stuff, adjustment of loot/gold/consumable balance, etc. etc. etc. Feel free to suggest what you feel would improve your experience most.

Since there was a fair bit of backlash on my raising the point on IRC I just wanted to voice that it was a suggestion.  In a Faction you can have PvE and non-intrigue and non-strife related PCs completely. The problem though raised is when DMs are also inactive this results in a lot of wheel turning for no gain. My suggestion was more a proposal for a DM effort not a slam on anyone playing a society PC or otherwise.

And yes Moon there were ordinants that aided in the Workmill but Lower is more than just the workmill. The lowersmen do not wish Thralls and the Dread around and there has been PC efforts in lower. There's one presently, as well as KOP's in the past and so on.

PVE as an entire basis of a DM faction is fine so long as a DM is present to facilitate it. When the Numinous Order went so ANTI H'BALA in EFU:M there was plots and efforts my DMs to make the populace of Mistlocke and otherwise get involved in affairs of the priory and etc.

It's rather damn annoying to be blasted by IRC PMs for "Badmouthing" current Society PCs or being told it isn't a DM issue it's a PC issue or otherwise. That wasn't my point at all.

If PCs aren't going to step up then DMs have to, which was the basis of my point. Be it moving them to Lower or more brazen NPC emphasis for pushing back against aberrant actions of Spellguard from current PCs or similar. Bringing Kingsley/Markem to the foreground in ways beyond beating up other faction PCs as has occured thus far in EFU:R.

Otherwise remove the requirement of applications and demote their presence in Upper Sanctuary to an association on par with the Watchers instead of calling it a "Major DM Faction" in Sanctuary.

[Knight Of Pentacles]

Ordinant PCs need to push to play a larger role in Sanctuary.  They need to find their niche in the bureaucracy and the intrigue. The reluctance of many Society PCs to participate in politics has been the single most detrimental thing in keeping the faction DM independent. While  DMs could bring up an opportunity for this to happen, PCs alone could push it themselves and see results.  Especially when you consider there's a pro-Society Red Directorate in office.

[VanillaPudding]

There is something massively ironic going on when numerous posts ask for a "higher level of role-play" or to maintain said high standards, and yet literally -most- interactions with the DM staff in this setting have been silent, painful, and drained away days/weeks of invested time without a single droplet of role-play or interaction.

If a single thing steers people towards  that whole "MMO" style of play most prominently, it is that alone.

[Pandip]

I know this is a widely contested topic, but I hate the opening grind with a new character. Going through the same train of fetch quests and pre-4 content was great fun when the transition to the new setting started, but after several months (a year or so?) it's gotten to the point where it's this droning process of spending two or three hours not interacting with the world so that you can get to level four or five and have some degree of relevance outside of Sanctuary.

Being the new guy and trying to get into a quest group is a similarly painful process when people see your rusty chain shirt and tell you "sorry, but the Underdark is dangerous, we need more experienced people to search this mine!" when that person just got quested from three to seven a couple days ago. And only in the rarest of circumstances have I felt that the interactions in low-level, pre-6 quests have been anything but flat and a means to an end. Silent runs through the ventilation shafts and psychic metagaming powers leading to a small tunnel filled with eyeballs are in no way conducive to good roleplaying, and especially not representative of a good time.

And while I'm often prone to exaggeration, these are all things that I've only experienced recently in my scattered endeavors to mess around on EFU.

Is there any situation in which the advancement experience can be increased, allowed up to level 5, and/or the starting quests reworked to give more immediate experience?

[SatelliteMind]

Character Advancement Bonus. Bump it to level 6 or level 8. For every PC. Having played a Myconid I cannot say how refreshing it was to be able to interact with EFU in such a capacity as allowing a gradual XP flow for time put into the server.

DMs can't be everywhere and this allows PCs who are pushing things to still be rewarded without the nessecity of direct DM intervention.

This means that PCs who are doing things would get RP XP for things such as:
[INDENT]Banditry
Political schemes and actions
Merchant dealings
Expoloration of the Wilds
Antagonistic workings
Scholarly pursuits
Spying for PCs on other PCs[/INDENT]And there's more. Gladiator type PCs who just fight in the arena and similar could flourish with an advancement of the CAB. DMs can't be everywhere and PCs throw a lot of time into this server.

Promoting non-traditional EXP gain would allow people to pursue other avenues of RP and enterprise without being leaps and bounds behind the rest of the game.

People always say "YEAH BUT PEOPLE WOULD ABUSE IT" except people abuse every system. I'd rather have cool PCs getting levels to survive the ganksquad over the PCs who typically tend to acquire higher levels outright. There is such a culture of "Yeah that's a cool idea, we can talk about that later after we see to those Umberhulks" and similar in EFU because it is such an XP driven server.

I can tell you first hand trying to get people to explore the far ends of server is quickly overshadowed when someone mentions Spiders. "Oh, yeah that sounds cool but we should see to those Spiders first it sounds a far bigger threat".

An XP tick isn't that much and if people are online long enough for such to kick in then it's more likely than not they're up to something anyway. With the death rate on EFU it's not like we'd be inundated with 50,000 level 8 PCs and there is still the low level experience that so many people crave in a D&D environment.

This. All the way. Please

[el groso]

All my DM interactions on this setting, as in DM events, spices (which lately, I usually get my PC fugued, which FOR ME is no big deal) have been wonderful and full of RPing in it, also rewarding (in a way or the other, sometimes including just pure fun and challenge, other times plot advancement, rather then mere XP or loot, which I have seen and experienced much as well, but should not be seen as an exclusive way of reward). I have nothing but gratitude for all what the DMs have been doing, at least on my side.

...  silent, painful, and drained away days/weeks of invested time ...

Maybe all these "days/weeks of invested time" are MMO styled invested time. Not that I don't do my grinding, which I do it too, although I hate it, but I agree that it is necessary with the state the server finds itself currently.

My suggestion to DMs is somehow, just make it clear for players that this or that intervention is no punishment for something they don't like (DM attention should not be in manner of punishment, if a player deserves punishment for what he's been doing, a talk, feedback, a warning, PC total ignoring or retirement should be the resources IMO). It is just that I get the feeling some players feel they are being punished with DM intervention, which I think is an absurd concept.

[Calixto]

I would love to see more bonus xp given for ropeplaying. Second, dms possessing the npcs and doing whatever they feel like with them, such as asking adventurers for help, leading them to traps, chatting etc. It would encourage roleplaying, make the world more alive, involve new players, and imo wouldn't require a lot of work from the dms!

[Vlaid]

Deleted.

[Faux News]

Or sometimes, not so subtle ways.

[el groso]

I just see that as this: DMs are just putting more challenge for PCs who are probably very beefy and can handle it, otherwise everything would be a walk in the park, therefore no fear, therefore no fun. Players should be thankful for that. People seem to think that all those supplies they have and hoard so much is only for 'important stuff' (PvP, big DM events), where in fact, they are also there to survive this kind of thing.

[Letsplayforfun]

Don't derail SC's thread please. Make another one if you want to gossip about DMs - and it had probably best be in private Q&As.

If you have issues with DMs, bring it up with them. If you don't like DM events don't join them. We also usually warn you before spicing quests. Feel free to walk away if you think you won't have fun. This is a game and you're here to have fun. We won't think bad of you because you don't like spice.

But if you think DM spice to kill PCs you're wrong, and the distrust shown actually contributes to lack of DM activity. For each PC killed in spice there's about 10 we saved from pulling the punches,too.

If you spread that kind of gossip because you're raging on you're hurting all the community.

[Rutergin]

Rather than make an addendum to my original post, I'd like to bring up another point on a different topic: DM cohesiveness and teamwork.

Lately there have been a few solely ran DM Plots, off the top of my head there is Caster, Ladocicea, and D_I, who have created their own unique plot to the server, and all have added numerous roleplay possibilities and story lines, which leads to player interactivity with the server at large. This is a good thing. I like this very much.

But I do not like seeing it as solely their own invention, and limit other dms from using their plots to add their own little flair to it. For example, Lado's plot is a massive challenge to the server at large, but with him coming and going in waves, it essentially stagnates and deadlocks, leaving little for the players to do with their story and, overall, ignoring it until it picks back up again. If the Khaganate are so massive a threat, there is little being done to show this to the players, because of Lado's absence in the past days or week.

I would like to see the DMs improve on working together and creating their story lines to be more accessible to one another. For example, a DM can hop into Lado's  plot and do some warband activity, adding a more hostile environment, or other things that can be done while Lado is MIA, but never pushing the overall plot or controlling the leaders of the Khaganate. Something that can be done is whenever a DM decides to make a plot line for the server, they submit it to the DM staff, telling them what they will do with its goal, and creating a few guidelines that other DMs can follow should they wish to pick up and help him or her in their story telling. If a DM decides he wishes to give up the plot, for whatever reason, they can hand over the reins to another and let them pick up where they left off.

What I suggest is not a small thing; in fact it is probably the hardest thing to accomplish, because it requires proactivity, and a bit more effort DM side to work on it. But while difficult, it is not impossible or improbable, and the result leads to a more healthy server whenever a plot begins to pick up and multiple DMs are assisting one another with their creativity, and leads to more interaction between both players and DMs.

[Tala]

But I do not like seeing it as solely their own invention, and limit other dms from using their plots to add their own little flair to it. For example, Lado's plot is a massive challenge to the server at large, but with him coming and going in waves, it essentially stagnates and deadlocks, leaving little for the players to do with their story and, overall, ignoring it until it picks back up again. If the Khaganate are so massive a threat, there is little being done to show this to the players, because of Lado's absence in the past days or week.

Just wanted to point out that Wiggyboy, Derfo and maybe even more DMs threw in Khgaganate events.