Let's give some feedback to staff.

For me i would like scion back to replace scarab.

I would like ways to get edge points for non cabled chars even twists ideas would be great.

I pretty much stopped playing when they went away as did many others.

Remove the auto-delete code.

I shouldn't have to start all over if I stop playing for a month. Asking me to dump 100+ hours into a new character every time I want to play is torture compared to every other game out there.

It serves an important purpose, though. Namely, making it more difficult for someone to level up a suite of different characters and then choose which to play based on tactical considerations.

To an extent people can still do this, but the auto-delete code forces one to devote some amount of time to each character or risk it vanishing.

I could maybe see something where, after a period of dormancy, a character is "deactivated" instead of deleted. To reactivate a character you have to endure a week-long waiting period. Limited gear would obviously be gone. That sounds like a pain to code, though.

Meaning that as originally envisions auto-deleting was there to prevent gear locker characters from locking up limited gear indefinitely. The new and improved anti-hoarding code take care of that issue in a much nicer/faster way, so why not make the auto-delete timer a lot longer? Say 3 months or even 6 months. Now people who play infrequently can still come back to a character, but they'll have lose all their shinies, which is punishing enough, but aren't forced to rank up a character again just because they got busy and forgot to log in for an hour this month.

While you could selectively log in various character (like the other person mentions) the code doesn't really prevent that now and people do it already. Why not be a little less punishing to the super casual person who is willing to get steamrolled in outfit gear, but doesn't want to sink another 50 hours into it for the same result?

To me, they both seem to serve a purpose. With a six month auto-deletion threshold I could have several different characters ranked to hero and practiced up to decent skill percentages, totally ignore the anti-hoarding code, then dust one off whenever it's tactically to my advantage.

This would be especially easy for classes with the potential to be deadly with only mediocre gear. Say assassins and 47-51 necromancers.

I honestly have no idea what the auto-delete threshold is right now. If it were up to me (it's not) then I might set it somewhere around 25 days. That's long enough that someone could take a 3 week vacation without logging in and not have to worry about it.

>To me, they both seem to serve a purpose. With a six month
>auto-deletion threshold I could have several different
>characters ranked to hero and practiced up to decent skill
>percentages, totally ignore the anti-hoarding code, then dust
>one off whenever it's tactically to my advantage.
>
>This would be especially easy for classes with the potential
>to be deadly with only mediocre gear. Say assassins and 47-51
>necromancers.

You could do that now. In fact there is almost nothing stopping you or I from doing so. Hell I could probably even find an out of the way place and auto login (since we're assuming gear is no consequence, neither is a random PK). But you don't, I don't, and frankly I don't see a change in the code causing a massive rash of people doing this. But if it keeps a couple of people from losing a hundred hours and giving up... maybe it is worth it.

I haven't given extending the auto-delete much thought, so I'm not endorsing it. But, extending it would only benefit the casual player. If someone is trying to build a suite of hero chars so they can decide which to play for tactical advantage, they sure as hell aren't going to let any auto-delete. They are implementing a plan and you'd have to be brain-dead to not log-in once a month with each.

On the other hand, someone who let's their char auto may have several chars but is not running some strategy and life got in the way of CF. It does create a high bar for someone who can't play often to come back.

Let me add, there have been periods of time when CF took a back burner and I had my char(s) auto by accident. But, when I got the CF bug again, I was willing to start over. But, I could see someone else deciding it's not worth the re-investment if they're not as motivated.

Don't make the decision to return to the fields one bit less appealing than it has to be.

I was juggling 3 hero characters back in 2016, noone ever cared. You seem to be making things up, really. If I care to juggle characters, you may be sure I'll find time to log in for an hour once a month.

There should be some workaround, like your name becomes available, but you can reclaim the character if you know the password.

I shouldn't have to start over if I sink in 700 hours in 3 months.

If I play sparingly and drag it out to a whole year then it's fine, but when I play actively my characters tend to age-die when I've just barely started.

While this would only be a draw for maybe 1-2% of players who actually age die characters instead of deleting (and don't con die), I do agree. The age system punishes the players that like to stay logged in when not much is going on while not really impacting PK focused players at all, who are far more likely to con die or delete anyway.

A PK focused player playing an arial that logs in once a week for a few hours can last a year, but a general player doing an elf that plays a few hours a day lasts only a few months. I would say the elf is better for the CF environment because he is far more readily around to engage in all facets of CF, while the arial is far more likely to have short log ins if the PK environment seems dull.

Arial needs some age love since stat nerf btw.

nt

I am having trouble rolling something and sticking with it, because I can't seem to be able to come up with a fun+workable role.

It would be cool if the website had a "fun role" generator. Where a bunch of imms wrote a few punchlines for a role that they think would be fun, and it gives you a random one everytime you click on a button. Maybe update it every couple of months with a survey amongst the imms (each imm contributes 10 fun role idea entries)

Aka. Amaranthe on demand.

Invent a fun role for powercombo. It'll be fun, I assure you.

>Invent a fun role for powercombo. It'll be fun, I assure
>you.

Tried the dark-elf STSF combo in tribunal. It felt cheap and hollow. I could actually kick some people's ass that you could tell were far more prepared and experienced than me without doing any basic preparations myself.

Deleted it after I got the second legacy if I remember well. I am unsure how much of an impact was my personal tribunal curse (I don't usually get a tribunal char very far beyond 100 hours). But I do remember it feeling cheap and hollow.

-J

I tried elf STSF, and it just felt like I was playing on easy mode. I need more of a challenge than that.

NT

Creativity, integrity and character-investment issues aside, this would be incredibly frustrating for the imms. Let's say you take a role, get to level 16, mobdie and rage delete. This happens all the time. There goes 30-60 minutes of my time conceiving of and writing a role for you to use.

My advice: Keep it short and sweet.

So, without further ado, here's my poor man's role generator. Just start writing and it will flow.

Rahsael's Role Generator:

If you're totally stuck, try this out for a writing prompt: http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/backstory-idea.htm

Once you have an idea you like, answer each of the following questions in 50 words or less:

1. Why Sphere _____?

2. How did your character end up a (class)?

3. Why does your character follow/not follow a god?

4. Why does your character seek/not seek a cabal?

5. Has your character's race/gender ever caused major positive or negative things to happen to him or her?

6. What other personal goals, habits or quirks does your character have?

Sample:

1. Why Sphere Courage?
Joe is a walking mass of phobias, so literally everything takes Courage for him to do. He's determined to live an adventurous life because his only girlfriend left him for a man who wasn't afraid of anything.

2. How did Joe end up a thief?
Joe's courage has its limits. Joe grew up as a scaredy cat and hiding has always come naturally to him. His mother and father bought him toys, and he tinkered with them a lot in his bedroom as a child, shut-in that he was. The trapper's guild always appealed to him for this reason. Setting traps allows him to have his adventures and wars -- from a safe distance.

3. Why does your character follow/not follow a god?
Joe follows Ishuli because he wants to write about his adventures and get a big book published in hopes that his ex-girlfriend will read it and realize that he was the one all along. Also, he feels safe in libraries.

4. Why does your character seek/not seek a cabal?
Joe doesn't want anything to do with cabals. They all frighten him. The Heralds are all right, though, and he might be open to joining them one day, if he gets over his fears of booze and making out.

5. Has your character's race/gender ever caused major positive or negative things to happen to him or her?
Being half-drow has been hard for Joe. Few people accept him, and mithril really stings. Also, he's a men's rights activist.

6. What other personal goals, habits or quirks does your character have?
Though he's terrified of it, Joe has always wanted to see the Tower of Trothon. A fictional novel about it was his favorite book as a child. He's allergic to dogs and is absolutely terrified of shapeshifters, above all else. He goes into hysterics upon seeing one shapeshift or revert. Even the undead don't provoke such a visceral response from Joe.

>
>If you're totally stuck, try this out for a writing prompt:
>http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/backstory-idea.htm

That is actually exactly what I was looking for, it will help a lot.

And the rest of your information seems very useful as well, thank you.

-J

NT

n/t

Is there a common change that people want to see?

And don't say edges because we all know Umiron was right in removing them. You should be grateful you are allowed the pathetic stipend you are afforded already.

P.S. Has he deleted again yet?

Bring in a flat rate every 10 levels to replace the lost ones in PK.

I'd would like to see something akin to 100% exp and 100% learning bonus as baseline all the time, with some additional bonuses on top of those levels from time to time. It's still require plenty of time invested to rank up to hero and master skills, but this means solo ranking is not nearly so horrible. Simultaneously, throw in some bonus edge incentives designed to keep people invested in long-term characters.

My theory is that this would really encourage more mages and support build that are simply brutal to play right now because there's practically nobody to group with, especially with any RP restrictions.

More magi means more Villagers, more pk and more action in general across the board. Also faster learning means more low-dex dumb races running around that tend to play more aggressively and mix things up (and will still die plenty to the dexy builds). Also this encourages vets to come back and test the waters, everyone to try experimental builds and RP options without demanding 80 hours to get up and running.

Reduce the grind, give edges for those that stick it out and take more risks. PK edges are fine, just do away with the level caps on them.

Seems to be the least popular change in recent memory, or perhaps even the last decade.

Nt

Don't go back to the old ones. Come up with new ones to give people what they seem to want without having it become a detriment to gameplay.

Obs/Exp led to scripts and forced things because people don't want to miss out. PK ones led to the occasional poor behavior by some players.

I think the Imms need to develop a new system to award edges without it being one driven as much by actions that players can farm.

There have been lots of interesting ideas put out there by players, though I guess implementation is the real problem. Some of the few I liked that people suggested:
- Old school wand system for EPS (certain tough mobs award EP for first kill, randomized at player location)
- Class based edge focuses
- hours age level related EP accrual
- PK related to AP charge system

But I would bring back the edge system to right before they removed edges for pk.

I hate it because I also like the idea behind them being scarce to making deciding on them that much more involved and really try to add differentiation between 100+ hour chars.

The other side is that the whole system with more helped engage me in the game by giving me more built in challenges to try and solve. It gave me something to try and achieve both with lots of people in pk as well as when I was basically alone.

Yeah.

replying out of post range

For Observation and Explorer and all the rest that got nerfed into the eight level of the inferno.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

.

i had to quit earlier this year.

time
i couldn't invest the time to rank, rp, grind, gather prep, look for a pk amidst a huge world, or explore. it was just too rare to have more than 45 minutes to spare for gaming

carrots
i'd like more 'do x get y' type quests and rewards and edges. i like old edge system, it gave something to play for, whether that was x pks or y explore points. i'd like it even more opened up, as in, able to pick or stack picks for an edge at 11, 21, 31, 41, and 51. sort the edges so that the super powerful ones aren't too low, but, give me carrots

culture
griefing isn't too bad any longer but cautiousness is. i don't want to play chess fields, i want carrion fields


best to you all though

Come up with a set number of edges earned, either based on levels or levels + playing time with a cap at some point so undead, elves and other long-lived races don’t have too great an advantage. Or alternatively, shorter-lived races earn them sooner based on hours played in relation to total lifespan potential. Obviously, there should be some sort of benefit to those who write impressive roles, rp exceptionally well, lend an air of excitement to the world via cabals/Pk and so forth. But the goal is diversity and individuality as opposed to becoming nigh-unkillable or a pk war-machine.

I’ve seen lots of complete silliness about CF being too big so it kills PK, which I think is tripe. If PK is your thing, join one of the more combative cabals or sit on the eastern road you’ll get to PK. Otherwise, an Imm or rotating Imms (like how role contests are done, and of course assuming time is available) could orchestrate or generate more events. From longer-ranging plots to straightforward X, Y or Z is in need of this or must be stopped, etc. It doesn’t have to be commonplace, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt interest if it happened more often. I’ve run into both caballed and non-caballed people who run out of things to do. No new/remaining areas to visit or explore, and so the character they’re playing becomes boring. From a story/involvement perspective things like adventure and more variety in terms of each character being unique is a plus.

Likewise the turnover rate is so high with characters in general it lends itself to a static sense of general malaise or meh-itous, which implies players have less interest in any given character instead of more. To an extent this can’t be addressed, some people just don’t stick or lose their focus with a specific character, but a high turnover rate in general is a sign that involvement is only middling at best.

We have only one or two coders presently (to my limited knowledge) so ideally, the emphasis should be on interactions and immersion that don’t require new coding, and can be enacted via the present toolset.

All of this being said, players should know and be responsible for doing what they can to facilitate things as well. RP RP RP RP. (That’s as much to me as to anyone else.) If you’re just a jerk, there’s really no net gain for you or the game. Coming up with ideas, (like what Herald is supposed to be all about) that encourage interaction and involvement as a player and any given character are worthwhile and pay benefits for all. In most cases players try to support these attempts. This also gives players who tend to expect the moon and stars from the Imms some small iota of understanding about how thankless and sometimes disappointing genuine effort volunteered can end up turning out to be. Not the goal mind you, but understanding rarely hinders a situation and the bottom-line is or at least should be, developing positive results for a game that we all obviously enjoy playing or investing into to one extent or another.


Some generally specific issues from my perspective: (I’ll preface this with saying I am not the know all be all by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not great at PK, I don’t know all the nooks and crannies of the game world, and like many of us, can’t play from work and sadly can’t devote as much time as I’d like to, to the game itself. Likewise I haven’t tried every variation out there, so my comments are limited to those I have or are quantified as a result.)

Outlander: Only being able to barter sucks. (Can you barter if you’re blind? I don’t know honestly, but it’s a huge handicap. Sans knowledge of the game, for specific classes especially it becomes a frustrating and often fruitless chore. For some classes it’s completely not an issue for the most part.)

Entropy: Not so great for shifters at all. Mirror is still broken to my knowledge. Not sure how well the Probability power works, maybe it’s great. Limitations on garble are understandable, but don’t lend themselves to the miasma of chaos. Essentially it is a very wimpy ghost of its former self, but maybe that’s by design. If so, I’d recommend either letting it go and maybe taking the cabal back to the drawing board and dump all old powers in favor of new ones. Or going with a new version of Masters or some variant thereof. Coming up with ideas would be pretty easy but there’s the coding aspect so…

Herald: Maybe allow Heralds to be jacks of more than one trade as they put in hours? In general Heralds and the Inn feels kind of one note and that could be on the player’s to be fair, but Heralds in general should come off as anything but that. Also, maybe give them a bump while in the Inn, defensively speaking or just set bouncers to auto-rescue anyone attacked in the Inn and call in help.

Battle: Clearly something is wrong, it’s one of the least populated cabals around these days. More Scarabs, Entropists and Heralds than there are villagers. That’s just off. I’m not sure what might fix this or if there is anything to be fixed, but it’s disappointing.

Too damn -many- guards everywhere even outside cities: Guards should be mostly neutral instead of good. Granted, in specific cities if they lean more heavily towards good than evil or neutral it would make sense. But Galadon guards should be orderly/neutral. Arkham guards should likely be orderly/evil. And so on…

Rangers: In general are pretty limited and it takes one thing to completely rock a ranger into near uselessness. Archers are an okay wildcard, the rest seem very lackluster and neglected. (Granted, I haven’t played them all but after 4 or so it feels a little like masochism beyond a certain point.

And generally more reward for actual risk (and failure) instead of just pretend risk (where you somehow always succeed/escape).

nt

nt

The current system for edges is simply unacceptable.

n/t

Decreasing customization options is hardly ever a good idea in a game as this.

.

NT

Thank you.

Twist's idea was a solid + for me, though I don't think that would increase numbers in the long run.