Listening Tour...

[Sankis]

Not to derail but you seem to misunderstand. Sune has been dead and may or may not (blah blah foig etc) have returned.

I don't entirely disagree with your sentiment though.

[Kinslayer988]

Efu is dark, and I like that. There is a great sense of despair and depravity found in the end of the world. If you are looking for good and uplifting parts of the storyline then make a suggestion to the DMs such as:

"Could we see some good aligned NPC heroes or villains? I would like some brighter characters around to cheer me up"

The thing with EFU is that it is up to the players and DMs of course to see this characterized uplifting. The way it sounds you are looking for beneficial nice things to happen to EFU. It comes with proactive players pushing plots and getting a DM behind you to push the plot engine. This thread is about claiming what you want IG and how it would help you and all else.
Edit: The good/nice things are taken for granted by the player base. It most often comes in the form of peace and grain plots which most players spit on.

My first priority before mechanics is role play and story. Mechanics matter little if there are no stories to use them in.

[Spiffy Has]

This comes from being a merchant character, and having played at least 3 of them in EFU's history, I think I have a good grasp of what loot there is.

In lieu of the 'grimdark' belief, the vast majority of decent loot can be used by everyone. However, there is a larger majority of /evil and vile loot/ than there is to /good only/ loot. I have seen several set pieces that have an evil/foul history, and only 1 piece that has a heroic background meant for pcs  to battle evil.

While this is easily explained that most quests involve PCs looting/plundering/decimating evil tribes of humanoids, I believe that it might be in the interest of the DM crew to look at something of an imbalance in what mechanics cater to evil aligned players (Diabolism, Infernalism, Necromancy...) and what mechanics and features, as well as items, cater to good aligned players.  

There is only one 'good' summon theme. There is 4, to my knowledge, evil ones. Infernalism, Diabolism, necromancy (spirits), Shadows....


Evil is easier to play. This has been made easier with a whole host of non-app features based around power-hungry, mad players who make deals w ith devils/demons animate/summon the dead and more. There is little support in terms of decent/quality loot (with the exception of one powerful set) only usable by good aligned players, decent summoning themes for good aligned players and more. I feel as if the features/benefits of this server cater to those who do villainy- and seem to thus punish characters who genuinely wish to play heroes.

TL;DR- more scripted stuff for good aligned players. More decent loot for good aligned players. Some of the best stuff I see is evil aligned. Very little of it is good only.

[Damien]

That was all nonsense Thomas, as shown by the massive amount of good PCs around at the moment. I'd also make a point to say that the sets really need a revamp or removal, they are a cool idea but it becomes so difficult to find any sets except maze masters and perhaps that goodly one that no one even bothers. The stats on most of the sets is hardly server breaking anyway.

Efur does need a revamp in risks reward though. There is currently no need nor reward in low level PCs exploring the world. You might as well not even bother getting further than the low roads until you are 7 and you will be more than fine. In fact you'll have more supplies and likely be higher level than those who didn't follow that approach. This saddens me greatly.

[PanamaLane]

This is more of just a straightforward suggestion: Increase the max lvl 7 quests in the underdark to max lvl 8. Make them a little tougher in the process (if you want to justify it).

Why? Because lvl 8 has always been considered the sweet spot imo. But the moment you hit it, you become regulated to a half dozen or so quests and often left out of groups who are patrolling around. Lvl 8 PCs should receive paltry xp on these quests, but it gives them something to do with other players.

There is something to be said about lvl 8's spending more time on "RP" but a lot of good RP comes out of patrolling around with other players.

edit: To add some specifics, I am thinking about Stone Temple, Duergar Mines, Rothe Herder, Ice Caves, maybe Mudmen...these kind of quests which are a bit of the beaten path. Kobold mines and Watcher In-between and the stuff generally near town are fine as is.

[VanillaPudding]

I think that some of the quests with optional content should somehow take into consideration whether you had done it or not (beyond a few more chests generated with said quest loot).

So if you head into Sahuagin and accomplish option one, great. If you do option 2, an elevated reward of gold / xp. If you do option 3, repeat. Maybe if you do all three there is a special bonus. (Coral cove had this kind of bonus optional loot built in with the slaves, for example)

Same thing for Seers (Sand Crypt these days I guess), or any others with the optional content.

On that note, quests with optional and stepping content are a really cool idea when balanced out. They allow for a range of time allotment and risk, though currently are rather static in terms of the reward portion.


The alternative option would be to make these "optional" aspects their own quest pleaceables with their own reward, etc.

[Vlaid]

Some of the stances for ascetics are really cool, visually interesting or just have plain interesting effects besides being powerful.

It would be nice if non-ascetic monks got some more interesting stances. Generally the only ones you see are things like [Takes on a beetle stance and gains some small passive +1-2 somewhere].

Why not throw some stances in that have more aesthetic appeal if not mechanical appeal? Maybe some could even be more about RP. Stances that aren't obvious passive comparisons to each other.

I would say the regular monk stances could use some work overall to make it more about finding a stance that fits your dogma/RP style of a monk and less about which passive +2 AC or whatever stance you can find.

Maybe with more powerful, identical versions available and ready to be handed out to Monks in lieu of DM loot.

[Colin609]

Hey sc! Welcome back, Im not sure if this has been mentioned or anything but, Is it possible to add a mechanic for making weapons and armor (not sure if this is already there or not) out of materials like wood, iron, or anything else that could be mined or such, and if you want/have time to

[Mass Transit]

On the topic of sets, allow the singular pieces to be worn without the rest, but when you wear an entire set give some sort of additional bonus.

[Damien]

We need more placeable/lore ig tbh, basically a reason to revisit areas. I spend numerous hours in the forgotten forest and sunken enclave trying to figure what it was all about. Now I go to shroomstalk and all I see are mushrooms and not even a quest so I've very little/no reason to even enter the area.

Adding tidbits everywhere would be great, be it placeable randomly spawning placeables or areas.

Maybe add some sort of camp to shroom stalk with a quest of sorts, to make it less barren.

[xxWhisperingWindsxx]

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet.

One of the things that bring that extra "something" to the server, brings it to life more, are often times the little things.  It may not be immediately noticeable or even quickly forgotten by DMs/players ... but it does make the server seem to "breathe".

As an example ...

It left a rather indelible impression on me (silly as it may be to most), but a DM possessed one of the deer and had it briefly interact with Rani.  It was just a brief few moment thing.  But it fit not just her as a PC, but the area we were in, and the story in general.  

Often times it's those little things that give the server more life.

For a time, some of the NPCs had randomly scripted things they would say or do.  You never knew if it was the script firing, or if a DM was about peering in on what was going on.

It would be nice to see more of that.

[granny]

Often times it's those little things that give the server more life.

For a time, some of the NPCs had randomly scripted things they would say or do.  You never knew if it was the script firing, or if a DM was about peering in on what was going on.

It would be nice to see more of that.

Me too... it remembers you that the server is alive and inspires you into helping it to stay so.

There was this time that a beggar came to speak with Biterips briefly, asking for coins to do something. She had no coins with her and in the end was humiliated by the brat, who ran away yelling about how he was richer than her.

[Random_White_Guy]

Widespread PC Thralldom.

Let's stop beating around the bush and make it a real thing. Even more awesome if it can be scripted without a DM input similar to how Lycanthropy could be spread to other PCs.

EFU:M was so tainted by the fact that no PCs survived long enough or even attempted to become Undead, mostly because often times DMs were said to have discouraged it. It severely diminished the threat of the withering as it was still such a matter of "Fighting H'bala = Fighting NPCs". There were two instances where that wasn't the case and in both situations it mostly turned into "GANK EVERYONE AND RAID HQ".

PC Thralls of as a DM faction or Association with the means to infect others once captured, then they either have the option to retire (Since thralls aren't fun for everyone to play) or continue playing their PC as a thrall.

The risk is how many can you infect vs. what happens when people are discovered and the witch hunt begins vs. how much can you learn of Sanctuary and influence its governance and so on.

[Heavyfog]

I haven't been around much the last 8 months or so but I'm back an  enjoying EFU as always.  After reading this thread, there are many good  ideas.  One that stood out to me was the discussions on 'quest grinding'  vs RP and permanent XP.  After witnessing a fellow EFU player start the  RL day at level 8 and having said player reduced to level 4 that night  something occurred to me:  

5-10% of ALL XP gained in a PC's life should be PERMANENT XP.  

It  is a double edged sword of course because on eventually it will not  allow a player's PC to 'die to regain supplies/gold on lowbie quests'  because it is feasible that a PC may never drop below level 6 with  enough accumulated XP, however I think the pros of PC continuity  outweigh the risks of somehow someone accumulating so much permanent XP  that their PC is always at level 8+ (even if that DID happen, the PC in  question is still vulnerable to DM and PC FD permadeath).    

I  will always be reminded of a time I saw a VERY powerful and prominent  paladin prefect in the worm tunnels killing rockworms in her fancy  armor, between her other duties as prefect and I think things like this  just shouldn't happen.

No PC should really be leading raids  against all enemies of Sanctuary one day, then be delivering pies and  killing rockworms the next, it just doesn't make sense for continuity of  a character imo.  Its hard to be the boss for a couple weeks then have  to go scrub toilets and work back up to your previous bossdom by  grinding.  

This idea/suggestion is not 100% fully thought out  but on the surface it might help alleviate the 'grind' a bit and allow  player's to continue their characters stories more simply.

[Diz-e]

This is more of just a straightforward suggestion: Increase the max lvl 7 quests in the underdark to max lvl 8. Make them a little tougher in the process (if you want to justify it).

Ehh, I might agree that a couple of them would be legit for that.. Duergar Mine certainly comes to mind.

A better solution would be adding more new quests. I know that's asking for a lot, and I'm not sure how bulky the module is getting at this point or if that's even a current concern, but a few new quests in Middledark which are max8-9 (that are reasonably difficult but not total deathtraps) would be perfect.

EDIT: Actually, there's no reason they have to all be within Middledark at all, come to think of it.