I'll donate a bunch of money. I mean, what's the point in being a shapeshifter with a water focus? Can't you all make some changes to this that would make a water focus person not have to sit around like the Loch Ness Monster? I mean, use your imagination guys...water should be as viable a choice as water.

So don't roll one...its like anything else, there are times when they're useful and times when they are not. If I don't particularly like PK'ing, and want 'a base of operations' I may choose water. Most water forms, due to their limited use, are great forms in and of themselves. Some have camoflage, others just fight extremely well, etc. Some things are meant to be popular, and other things are meant to be unpopular. If water forms were extremely useful, that would make them powerful compared to other forms which have less use. If water covered a vast portion of thera, for instance, why would you want a utility form when you could instead have an octopus or dolphin? I'll take my camo with swimto and a fierce fighting ability thank you.

If you all make water foci useful, I'll donate a bunch of money.

I hope you're kidding if you think we're going to make game balance decisions based on cash donations.

A lot of games choose to pollute their IC environment with OOC advantages. On some MUDs, the best gear is sold through their website, or you can buy "double XP days", privileged access to IC shops, etc.

We want and need donations, but you won't see us compromise the game's integrity like that to get them. I think it's part of why we're as good as we are. If you're happy with the free game and level playing field Carrion Fields provides, even a small donation helps.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Woah buddy, that was just a joke. Next time I'll use a smiley face or something.

In all sincerity, this was something I was musing about on another site that shall remain nameless and it was the view by many that water focus is pretty much useless, besides being able to be unique. Which is why I brought this up in the first place, because I'd like to see some ideas that would make it viable as a focus for shapeshifters.

>Woah buddy, that was just a joke. Next time I'll use a
>smiley face or something.
>
>In all sincerity, this was something I was musing about on
>another site that shall remain nameless and it was the view by
>many that water focus is pretty much useless, besides being
>able to be unique. Which is why I brought this up in the
>first place, because I'd like to see some ideas that would
>make it viable as a focus for shapeshifters.

While I agree that water shifters need some adjustments, one of the biggest reasons they aren't viable is there aren't lots of water areas.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

>While I agree that water shifters need some adjustments, one of the biggest reasons they aren't viable is there aren't lots of water areas.

The biggest problem now is that there really is no reason for anybody to stay a significant amount of time on water. Nexus and Warlock both had their cabals leading up to and/or on water which gave an incentive for shifters to pick a water form. As of now there really isn't a lot of point in doing so unless you want to explore the five or so areas.

go to the head of the ernin and look north, then wonder about cabals and water.

>The biggest problem now is that there really is no reason for
>anybody to stay a significant amount of time on water. Nexus
>and Warlock both had their cabals leading up to and/or on
>water which gave an incentive for shifters to pick a water
>form. As of now there really isn't a lot of point in doing so
>unless you want to explore the five or so areas.

A good incentive to picking water forms would be to have a relatively large lake/inland sea area somewhere in central Thera that would allow access between some of the existing, much frequented areas (i.e. it would be mainly a road area). Dot it with small islets here and there (to have some safe havens from the prowling water forms) and put a larger island in the middle with a mage cabal hq (the now homeless neutral/goodie mages?).

Someone also mentioned that many underwater mobs are currently immune to the blunt attacks of (most?) water forms, making them useless in their own element. This should be quite easily fixed by tweaking their attack type.

A sudden shift in weather can cause the erinin to begin to overflow with water, causing problems in the Ruined City and Galadon. To deal with the problems, Galadon builds a dam to control the flooding. This causes a great deal of water to accumulate northeast of Galadon as well as diplomatic problems between the Ruined City and Galadon.

The Ruined City adjusts to the floods by building a series of canals. This scenic change could help the city via tourism as people visit for a casual gondola ride along the picturesque canals of the Ruined City. The overflow also affects the Osendrelle fields, causing a large lake to be formed on the fields with a narrow strip of land along the eastern outskirts to be used as a means of crossing the Osendrelle for people on foot.

Now this is a fab idea. Or, cause the earth to resettle some more (because of the White Tower crash) and the whole city sinks further into the ground and the Erinin floods the entire city.

Hutto, the Sleepy Nitpicker

P.S. Instead of your standard boat merchant, could have a bunch of boats (gondola ride, ferry, etc of varying prices) that will slowly carry people room by room from one side to the other in case someone doesn't have a boat, or just wants a ride. Would have to figure out some way of handling fighting Is the rider pulled overboard and no longer in the boat? Pulled to the next room by the boat breaking up the fight (I like this one the best, kinda like you're fighting off people trying to keep up with the boat)? Are they both driven into the next room even if one is just flying/floating alongside?)

One aspect of the octopus form is a great step in the right direction. Tone down the forms somewhat and allow them to shift on land but not be able to move.

Zulg said:
>
>While I agree that water shifters need some adjustments, one
>of the biggest reasons they aren't viable is there aren't lots
>of water areas.

This might seem off-topic, but it has relevancy to this argument. For years, people have debated about which Justice League member (in the comic books) has the best powers. Is it Superman with his near-invulnerability and strength? Wonder Woman with the powers of an Amazon goddess? Batman with his ability to solve any problem and fight his way with the specter of his parents' death hanging over him?

Or is it Aquaman, king of the seas?

Aquaman has always presented a problem for DC comics. He's only useful in an aquatic environment (JLA in the ocean! JLA at the aquarium! JLA vs. the sewer monsters!), so writers are constrained to work out stories involving Aquaman with an artificial limitation of making him useful. This in turn limits how interesting Aquaman's stories can be - you stick Batman underwater, and you've got an interesting story about a character coping in an unfamiliar environment, but his powers (his mind and physical fitness/gadgets) are still intact. You stick Aquaman in a cave, and he's pretty much useless.

Because of the Aquaman problem, writers have regularly written him out of JLA. Most Aquaman solo series have very short runs, because there's a strict limit on how you can make the character interesting. It'd be like having a necromancer (see, I'm tying this all together!) who could only cast spells in cursed (no-recall) rooms, or having a Warrior who could only fight (or fight back) between 2am and 6am game time. While there are certain spells and supplications which are restricted in these ways (see Druids and Rangers for examples), a shapeshifter is in the end only as interesting as his forms. A Druid or Ranger in a city is leagues more powerful than a major form Water shifter on land.

- BB

LOL, that is a great post!

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

I don't know what you're all talking about, but we should definitely have some double xp days.


Cheers.
Jhyrb.