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New player thoughts required
Topic Started: Jul 9 2012, 06:56 PM (902 Views)
Ravel's Heart
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Dungeon Master (Emeritus)
Derror,Jul 10 2012
08:50 PM
If you haven't been playing for awhile, how would you know about that?

You'd play a while.
"What can change the nature of a man?"
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Ravel's Heart
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Dungeon Master (Emeritus)
Vilanth Thistlewind,Jul 11 2012
01:22 PM
for example lvl 17-18 or so characters go to a  lvl 17-20 map zone should they expect to be trounced by five  hostiles Plus summoned pets and casters flinging spells... left and right? when the lvl 18 or so is capable of clearing the map on their own while soloing??
I'm a bit confused on how the math works to generate  something so very nearly impossible for a duo when it can be soloed by one of the characters...

This is something that in general is hard to convey.

My experience for the most part is that levels that can be soloed by a level X PC is far more challenging with a group of three PCs of the same level. It sounds like your experience has been the same.

Your mileage may vary.

And I am not certain about this, but I think that spawn difficulty is set by the highest PC in an area. So if you are hunting in an area and a high level PC rolls through, you can find yourself in trouble sometimes.
"What can change the nature of a man?"
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Ceremorph
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Dark Mistress of the Toolset
Admin
Not to give away all our secrets, but scaling of encounters is actually a combination of several things. When a spawn trigger is set off, it's going to look at the party of the character that spawned it. If this is a solo player, it will be based on his level; if a party, it's a complicated combination of the character levels, also taking into account if any character is beyond the "grouping" range for that area.

Each monster has three versions: low, medium, and high. The low fires if the "result level" determined by the equation is below a certain level, the medium if between two levels, and the high if it is above a certain level. In many cases, the high version has a considerable boost over the medium, usually by means of a new feat or higher casting levels (shadowdancer levels on the assassin devils in minauros, or the bigbying shator lords in carceri) for instance). In addition, larger parties generally mean larger spawn quantities, which usually makes for the whole "harder with a party" concept. Also remember that ECL counts in this spawn equation, so a 10th level drow character will actually count as a L12 character where spawns are concerned.
We rode on the winds of the rising storm,
We ran to the sounds of the thunder.
We danced among the lightning bolts,
and tore the world asunder.
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Agony_Aunt
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Get a Life
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
jukejointjezebel,Jul 11 2012
08:11 PM
Agony_Aunt,Jul 11 2012
06:02 PM
jukejointjezebel,Jul 11 2012
05:55 PM
5.  Just like you can get different prices on different items between player PCs, you can do the same for the NPC vendors.  700 gold for coins of life is very high.  Good on you for keeping a steady supply.  Explore the city some and you will find better prices.

Actually, if there are any differences in prices on the same item between different merchants, then i need to know about it, because it there shouldn't be.

Nothing sinister or exploitative. I just thought it was accepted knowledge that you can get cheaper coins from Mazzy instead of Leyla.

Bugger, ill fix that then.
Stepped down as admin, but still lurking.
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Vilanth Thistlewind
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Prime
[ *  * ]
Thank you for your explanation Ceremorph. I’m not trying to steal secrets just trying to understand the mechanic a bit more so I don’t end up murdering my friends when I’m trying to help them
In regard to the price differences between vendors, wouldn’t the appraisal skill influence the prices slightly? That’s how I understood it when reviewing the skill information.
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Agony_Aunt
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Get a Life
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Vilanth Thistlewind,Jul 12 2012
01:10 PM
In regard to the price differences between vendors, wouldn’t the appraisal skill influence the prices slightly? That’s how I understood it when reviewing the skill information.

Yes, Appraise affects slightly, but the same character should get the same prices regardless of merchant.

The original open store routine actually compared the appraise score of the merchant to the purchaser, but that just added an additional complication for builders, so i stripped that out in favour of a fixed modifier based on Appraise score of the purchaser.
Stepped down as admin, but still lurking.
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Vilanth Thistlewind
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Prime
[ *  * ]
Noted, thank you :)
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Theorum Of Neutrality
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What Makes A Man Go Neutral?
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I love the server! Don't change a thing. :D
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Agony_Aunt
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Get a Life
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Theorum Of Neutrality,Jul 13 2012
09:43 AM
I love the server! Don't change a thing. :D

Oh... ok. *scraps all current development plans, goes back to playing* ::troll::
Stepped down as admin, but still lurking.
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Kadim
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It must seem like all I do at work is post stuff on random forums.... and this time of year you'd probably be right. I just made a character last night and ran around for a little bit so I figured I'd post my answers to those questions and add more as I learn more.

Quote:
 
- What makes you choose a server which you attempt to try out?


Well I almost always go for rp servers, even if I don't intend to actually rp. The crowd tends to be nicer and more articulate. After that I look at players on a given server. A game line nwn2, I want the server to be active pretty much all the time.

Honestly for me it's the planescape setting. I adored the setting in 2nd ed, was gutted when it never really came into being in 3rd ed, and I still play Planescape: Torment on the bus on the way into work. There were other more active rp servers available but the setting did it for me.

Quote:
 
- What kind of questions do you currently have of SCoD, eiher mechanics, lore or other types questions you'd prefer to be clarified?


I find the whole method of faction exposition and selection really confusing. I would prefer to have a room with representatives from each faction you could speak to and quiz about the factions rather than a mimir that gives all of it once. A seperation of visual cues would make them more distinct, and you can make their dress and manerisms more like each individual faction which would allow a newer player (or just a player that's never really got too deep into Sigil's politics) a lot more at ease with them and perhaps more willing to try to be from somewhere other than the Prime.

Quote:
 
- Things you usually try to look for first time you hop in to a server?


A wiki or some other such quick reference guide on character creation, house rules that modify that process, and how my class influences my social standing with any in-game factions. I'm a big fan of casters so I also want to know what spells are new/modified/removed.

Quote:
 
- How do you prefer to learn things? (i.e. are you a quiet browser whom prefers to just study things alone, or generally speaking you first ask from people than study any information sources?)


I prefer to get my information through playing or from players, but a quick start guide on the peculiarities of the mod is helpful and avoids any embarassing build mistakes. It's not been unknown for me to log in one day and find myself delevelled because I broke a rule of some kind without realising it.
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Er_Nano_Infame
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EL NANO!!
Tester
Agony_Aunt,Jul 13 2012
11:08 AM
Theorum Of Neutrality,Jul 13 2012
09:43 AM
I love the server! Don't change a thing. :D

Oh... ok. *scraps all current development plans, goes back to playing* ::troll::

git back to work! :whip2:
Maewind:''That's still plant-hating! That makes you a plant racist!''

Lucelle Vand'hovar: ''Miss Maewind, i assure you, the plants started this conflict.''

Nienna: ''Razorvine is hardly a plant, in her defense.''

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coyotesage
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Greybeard
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I look for creativity, from the admin staff and players. I generally prefer unique settings, but alas those don't seem to be very popular. I can honestly say I am no fan of Forgotten Realms and heavily inspired Tolkien or "generic" fantasy as a whole.

I'd like to know how deep the roleplay and storylines go, between players and game events. I don't need intimate details, but some it would be nice to have some idea of what level the roleplay generally functions on. I come from a heavy roleplay background, so lots of drama and character interaction is preferable in my camp.

When I first log into a server I hope to see an easily accessible area where people can meet and interact. I also like to find lots of customization as far as character appearance goes, if possible. I've been primarily a NWN1 gamer until recently, and I don't know if the NWN2 community is up to the same level of custom content or not.


I like to learn by logging in and meeting the players up front, then going back and doing some homework on the setting via the forums or relevant game setting material.
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Kadim
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Prime
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Just got my toon to clvl 5 and the xp is screaming at me faster than I know what to do in spite of the many deaths, but I have my brother to group with so that helps.

I think it'd be nice to have a wider array of quest material. The quests are cool 'cause they're quick and encourage you to wander around getting to know the place. I know it's probably a nightmare to code but some means of randomizing some of the quests from one server reset to the next would be interesting.

Another idea would be to expand the wine cellar? The wine crate objects around the room give the impression that there's more to that cellar than what's on the face of it but I couldn't figure out any means to get into a zone or room past the one. Making that a clvl 1-3 explorable area that connected to undersigil would be cool.
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cryptc
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Advisor
Admin
Kadim,Jul 18 2012
08:05 AM
Just got my toon to clvl 5 and the xp is screaming at me faster than I know what to do in spite of the many deaths, but I have my brother to group with so that helps.

I think it'd be nice to have a wider array of quest material. The quests are cool 'cause they're quick and encourage you to wander around getting to know the place. I know it's probably a nightmare to code but some means of randomizing some of the quests from one server reset to the next would be interesting.

Another idea would be to expand the wine cellar? The wine crate objects around the room give the impression that there's more to that cellar than what's on the face of it but I couldn't figure out any means to get into a zone or room past the one. Making that a clvl 1-3 explorable area that connected to undersigil would be cool.

Actually in the previous inn we had (before it burned down), the cellar had an entrance to under sigil (the main one back then), and there was rats instead of bats (with cranium rat boss)... the torches handed out in basement is also throwback from then, letting people easier see down in under sigil...
"One of the most curious statements I've seen on this list is that PlaneScape is a logical world. I must have erred. I was trying to create a world that defied logic." - David 'Zeb' Cook
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Inlaa
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Prime
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Mr_Otyugh,Jul 9 2012
06:56 PM
So here are the couple questions I currently have:
  • - What makes you choose a server which you attempt to try out?
    - What kind of questions do you currently have of SCoD, eiher mechanics, lore or other types questions you'd prefer to be clarified?
    - Things you usually try to look for first time you hop in to a server?
    - How do you prefer to learn things? (i.e. are you a quiet browser whom prefers to just study things alone, or generally speaking you first ask from people than study any information sources?)


Well, since I'm a new player (and only started playing on the server a few days ago), I figure I might as well answer these questions. Also, howdy, folks.

1) Choosing a server to try out is largely based on population, as sad as that may sound. I don't want to play on a server with only 5 people on max in a day, so I generally first look to see if a server at least gets up to 10 people at any point in time over the course of a few days. So, yes - I spend a few days watching the server before making a decision.

I also look to see if there's something about the background of the server that I recognize. For both the Baldur's Gate server and this server, I partially chose them because I knew a little bit of the lore behind them as published D&D worlds. Planescape is a very unique module for D&D, and just knowing this was based on Planescape was enough to catch my attention.

2) Questions, questions... well, since I've been playing longer than I've been on these forums, they've generally been answered. I'll find my answers as I need them.

3) Things I look for! Well, firstly, I'm always interested in the options available at the character creation screen. While the server didn't have many extra prestige classes available, it did do numerous things I liked. Monstrous races being available and the Dwarven Defender being playable by any race were especially attractive to me. Then, I go onto the server itself with a test character, roleplay a little, then see what the combat is like (is it overbearingly difficult, forcing me to optimize my character?). From there, it varies depending on the results.

4) As for how I prefer to learn things, I just throw myself into the fire and learn as time goes on. I'll quietly browse here and there, yes, and I'm also not ashamed of my ignorance, so I'll ask people for help if I'm absolutely stumped. (By the way, thanks to those of you who've already given me some answers. I hope I wasn't too annoying.) I... Well, I guess there's not much more to say, is there?

Anyway, thanks for having this server, and here's to --

...

:beatdeadhorse:

The fact that this emoticon exists has brought me great and sudden pleasure.
An exercise in lack of restraint:

http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2012/3/1...24e693c9cf5.jpg
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