What do you think will help Akanbar?

[David]

Please feel free to add in whatever ideas you may have also in the other category if you vote for it.

Also if you vote for a category, please explain why you chose to do so over the others?

[David]

I voted for the decreasing of tower respawns and the minimums going back to 15 due to the fact that raiding helps the economy while giving players the chance to work with their guild skills and perfecting the idea of working together.

To explain a bit further, with the population(s) of cities it is nearly impossible for even the rare instance that a city can gather around 8-12 people to even attempt such a raid on a city. I am not sitting here saying that it should be an easy task because it shouldn't. A raid on a city shouldn't be possible every single rl day or even every single rl week, but there has to be the *chance* of it happening in a war situation. With the current setup, a city would need eight fully trained/unsurpassable people to even stand a chance at surviving. Going to run a little math for people in hopes that more will understand......

Let's just use if Elysium raided Golgonath's gate currently.

Guards max level is 42
Pyromancer level is 40

Their current gate setup is 16 guards and 4 pyromancers.

The 4 pyromancers against an Unsurpassable would most likely do 10% of their current health per 3 seconds.(resilience based)
the 16 guards against unsurpassable would most likely do around 9% of their current health per 3.5 seconds.(depends also on armour too) I have 70.

Now if we take these against the eight Elysians raiding assuming they're all max/level 100 characters.

Each character would have around 2 with some of the group having 3.

Heath potions heal around 17% of your max health every six seconds

Arnica heals around 8% of your max health every four seconds.

As many of you can see, this would be an extremely tough task for eight max characters(which most cities don't even have 2-3 max people anyways)......

This is just numbers I've been testing around with and aren't exact. Though, I do believe they're rather close. I just don't see why during a war that a gate raid is nearly impossible, when by nature the warring cities would try to raid one another as much as they can just based merely on the fact(s) they don't like one another.


Again, I don't think such a task should happen often, but if a bunch of people are on from an opposing fraction say 7-8 older players....the option should be at least possible to break the gate. Or it at least begs the question if Magical Npcs can't die off....why are they the better option?

[Ashrabia]

First Off, Hello! haha

Truthfully, I am glad to see that other people, infact a great many people are thinking about this. David, thank you so much for once again ( for like the 12th time it seems) brought up this question, proposed ideas that have great logic and value. In my honest opinion, I think all of those ideas would be great for the population of Akanbar. Something NEEDS to revitalize the population.

Many of you have probably played other games. I know for myself, I have. I used to play Firstage Avalon. If any of you have tried it, or if any of you care to try it, be my guest. It is a wasteland of its former glory. However, even in its 'former' glory, it still was plagued with a great many problems. After what was almost 2 years, I had spent money, submitted ideas, took an active part in trying to implement such ideas. Of course, these efforts came from more than just me. About 6 people who truly cared to estimate accurately. Still, the land continued to die to the point that there was no need for a new god, no justification for new ideas to be implemented. It was like the 'leaders' of this land had no foresight to see what was going on. For hours on end, the land was a wasteland with just myself present and all the while I was accumilating 'crystals' for what reason? I was bashing, for what reason?

Now, don't get me wrong, First Age and Akanbar are significantly different. In many aspects, they don't even deserve to be compared to one another. The only reason for comparison is because I see the same thing happening. When i first joined First Age, there was about 60-80 players who were active. Mind you, not all at the same time, about 25-30 players were on at any one time. When i first joined this land, the same was true.

I now consider Akanbar to be my true home. If any of you don't know what that means, it means that this is my commitment, it is my investment, and it is where I set the bar. I have played many more muds than just First Age and Akanbar, and Akanbar takes the cake by miles with First Age in a distant second. My concerns correlate with David's though.

To get back to task, I feel that Divine events would help greatly. More importantly though, Divine interaction on any level would be greatly appreciated and in my opinion is greatly needed. The land seemes so much more important when Goddess Illessa appears out of thin air to investigate the situation, or slap someone on the wrist for violating Divine law. This is all nice and what not, the land needs Gods to keep players in line.

However, Gods are also players are they not? So when I say that we need more divine interaction. What i am really asking for is Divine Roleplaying. Hell, when i was in Golgonath, i would have given anything to have some Divine roleplaying between Xyrath and Leanora/Laurisiel. I mean, let your imagination run wild with the possibilities!

Xyrath could posses the spirit of one of Elysium's great leaders and attack the city within. Elysium citizens then forced to either kill their great leader or find some way to break their friend free of Xyrath's grasp. The war between Elysium and Golgonath could be so much more, and should be! I mean History would state that mankid was made impure because of Bralnok's seeds of greed, lust, and cruelty. Aten then took those untarneshed and trained them up to fight back the 'demons'. Arguably the gods started all of this? Why shouldn't they be involved in this land more than just moderators?

Now, i know that my personal experience may not be the entire experience of the realm. Some of you may have experienced the Gods roleplaying with you, with each other, whatever. That is great. However, this land could be vastly different if there was a destination, direction, or goal to the roleplaying.

What is the goal of roleplaying as it stands now? In the grand scheme of things, the roleplaying is more character development. No character or city can advance the storyline without some sort of direction, some sort of plan. Who has the plan? Who knows the direction? Not I? How am i supposed to take the initiative?Rhyndar has stated that the 'players' need to take the initiative, take the next step, that things won't be done for us that we won't do ourselves. There is value in these words. The problem is this though, where do 'we' want to see this land go? How much change can be tolerated for both your characters? your cities? Akanbar as a whole?

I think we can agree, all three cities need to remain... so true and total occupation can't be an option. Could a forth city be created? Sure, but there isn't enough of a population for that. Could a new bashing area help? Yes, but how long until the shiny new thing becomes old and mundane. Vary up the skills would be interesting, but would only solve to alienate those who alread have the skills, love their guild and want nothing to do with the rest of the guilds.

If Gods are truly players, then I respectfully request that they get off their thrones in the heavens of the skies and take part in every players lives. You too can roleplay without losing the respect of your position. This should be more than talking to people in your orders. Have fun with it. I fear that sometimes the position of 'God' is taken too serious sometimes.

Hard not to be though. I mean, the 'players' are now expected to trust the infinite wisdom that comes from the words of a god, obey the slightest command even if it isn't a command in its own right. Being a God is surely a difficult thing. This in my opinion would help the lands greatly.

Thank you to all those that read this. It is my opinion, nothing more, nothing less

[Viridiana]

I chose the merchant option. Though I don't think removing the -actual- merchant guilds would be a good thing. Removing the merchant guilds would put a lot of players out of jobs. Players that have no interest in fighting and warfare but enjoy playing the trade game and dealing with the land's economics.

That being said, if the rest of us were able to pick up some kind of trade/job, not only would it stimulate the in game economy, but would also help our respective cities with supplies when their is a shortage of merchants. I mean lets face it, there are a lot of trades out there and having one or two dedicated and active merchants is rare. And if there are active merchants, that is quite a workload for them.

On top of that, it would give the rest of us something to do when we're not bashing and questing. A good bash and quest run can last maybe, I don't know 30 minutes? Depending on if others in the land are also doing the same. That leaves the lot of us loitering around our city centers. Personally I would love to be able to pick up a trade and keep myself occupied when I'm not bashing or questing. It's good for the city, good for the economy, and good for my sanity.

[Dimetrius]

Other.

By choosing 'Other', it doesn't mean that I have a suggestion on hand at the moment [though I'm sure I will at some point],
though I don't think that any one of these things will really 'help' Akanbar, per se. Sure, it might give us something nifty to
think about for a week or two, but after that...the game is still in its death throes.

What we shooould be doing...is drawing more players in, so one day we -can- manage twenty guards at a city's gate.

EDIT: Also, I'm thinking the TopMudSites listing could use some updating, and maybe a new review or ten, since there
hasn't been one since what, '06?

[Loren]

I have to side with Dimetrius for the most part, though Ashrabia's idea is interesting (Its worth saying that none of us have any idea how realistic it is). On the idea for the merchant guilds: I think the highest quality items should be reserved for the merchants guild (Mithril and Kryllian for miners, perhaps a limit on how high non-merchant alchemists can reach with their potions potency). Its an idea worth thought, though I don't think it would do much to solve the issues at hand.

[Bult]

I chose divine contests, but what I really was thinking was divine driven plotlines.
As David mentioned earlier, there is a lot of competition these days for peoples free time in the games world. I believe that the main draw card for text based muds like Akanbar is the freedom that the code allows the admin to create an evolving storyline. You can't log into Halo and find that a band of maruding trolls have burnt a village to the ground, but here by simply moving a few npc monsters, a few room emotes, and quick room description change, that can happen. From there a dropped parchment may be found that is a list of instructions for the trolls and its signed with a person's name. And thus a plotline is born. Who is this person, will they mastermind more attacks, what is their ultimate goal, are they preparing the lands for something bigger? Its the ease that which this can be done that gives text muds their strength and what keeps people coming back for more.
I know I say "ease that which this can be done" and I know from personal experience that its not completely easy for the god/guide who's actually doing the work. I've been a roleplaying god in a different game, and mortals will always find a way to catch you out, but I also know that it gets easier with practice.

I support what everyone has said above this post, I agree that the place needs a bit of tweaking to make the world more fun, and I also agree that without new players no mud can really thrive. I've just voted on topmudsites and we currently have 4 votes! I'll happily write a review, but I'd rather wait until I could honestly say that there are real changes and things are looking great for the future. So that leads onto my last point....

Rhyndar has laid before us a possibily, in fact a whole swath of possibilities. So I challenge you all to take advantage of this. If you have a dream, a desire, some roleplay itch that needs stratching, then put some effort into seeing it come to fruition. I know I will.

[David]

Other.

By choosing 'Other', it doesn't mean that I have a suggestion on hand at the moment [though I'm sure I will at some point],
though I don't think that any one of these things will really 'help' Akanbar, per se. Sure, it might give us something nifty to
think about for a week or two, but after that...the game is still in its death throes.

What we shooould be doing...is drawing more players in, so one day we -can- manage twenty guards at a city's gate.

EDIT: Also, I'm thinking the TopMudSites listing could use some updating, and maybe a new review or ten, since there
hasn't been one since what, '06?

Bringing new people into a place that people are not motivated in? Seems like before we go and recruit people we should be working on our own characters first? It's not a shot at you or anyone else....just trying to understand why we would want to bring new people to a place that the older generation are not motivated. If you have an answer, please do share for me. I like the next person would love for novices to come, but don't think at this current time it'd be good for them.

[Cherise]

Bringing new people into a place that people are not motivated in? Seems like before we go and recruit people we should be working on our own characters first? It's not a shot at you or anyone else....just trying to understand why we would want to bring new people to a place that the older generation are not motivated. If you have an answer, please do share for me. I like the next person would love for novices to come, but don't think at this current time it'd be good for them.

I'm not necessarily agreeing/disagreeing here, but I must say, I see where David is going with this. I have only managed to work a small amount of give a damn to log in for a few minutes every couple days, find that I have no reason to be in the land, and log out. I'm certainly, clearly, no help to any novices that might be on.

I realize this isn't much help, I don't have any answers here. I do support David's efforts though and want to at least acknowledge that.

[Ashrabia]

I too agree. Ideally, who doesn't want more novices to come to this land, enjoy it the way that all of us once enjoyed it. This land has great potential, it is just sad to see it in this state/condition.

I also think we can agree that we all want to help see it reach old heights or even higher heights as far as substance and true reason for being apart of Akanbar. I will go to the website and vote, hopefully this helps on some level. To write a review right now, would prove unfruitful. Either it would be filled with half lies and empty promises, or would describe the discontent that many of the players are already expressing on these forums. Either way, it would prove to be a let down.

[David]

Ran more numbers in my head after we raided this afternoon. This is based on a level 99 warden with unsurp Resilience/Agility.

I understand that mages aren't a tank guild, but these are what I came up with. I also wish to point out that Pyromancers due hold a slight advantage over the Shaman/Warden NPCS as they are able to make their opponents burn with no offense being cut. Warden does the same exact damage as a Pyromancer.

*Updated slightly due to if a guard/magic NPC miss they now go on a delay for 6 seconds without attacking. Also adding in the new magical resistance*

Two NPCS

Expected life for a Warden with 70 armour is around 106 seconds. Though through more testing and guards missing, it seems that can be expanded to much further. I don't think death is an option here with a wisp,health, arnica.

Three NPCS

Expected life for a Warden with 70 armour is around 21 seconds. Though through more testing and guards missing, it could be expanded to much further, my guess here is 8-10 more seconds.

-------

This is based on Pyromancers doing 8.4% and guards doing 9.4% damage.
373 damage-Guard
332-Pyromancer

316-Warden(player) - 8%

This is the max a Warden can live, so let's for a second look at it like this:

7.5%- per 20 seconds from a wisp
16.6%- per 6 seconds with health
7.14%- per 4 seconds with arnica.

These are exact numbers assuming each is consumed exactly when it can and should be.
297- wisp at level 99
666- health at level 99
283- arnica at level 99

10 guards/10 pyromancers versus eight wardens fully maxed.

4 Wardens would have 3 NPCS
4 Wardens would have 2 NPCS

From what I am seeing, a guard usually expires at a pace of 30-40 seconds. I am guessing with a group of eight Wardens, that it would be dropped to around 20 seconds.

After 20 seconds, assuming the wardens are taking down the Wardens with 3 guard or pyromancers first. We have now reached 18.8% of the max life of all the remaining Wardens with 2 guard or pyromancers on them, the others that had 3 are one second from doom.

Now we have:

19 NPCS left with 4 Wardens about to die, the others then will get 19/4 which puts roughly 4.75 on the remaining Wardens.

Recruiting people isn't ever going to get a gate raid to happen, I am sending out a promise that a clean gate raid will never happen again as long as the numbers are like the above mentioned. Some people may argue with me over this matter that Templars will be thrown into the mix and this and that. So just for all you doubters and haters of number the following is for Templars.....at max against guards.

Aggressive-8.8%
Defensive- 7.22%

Pyros still at 8.3%


Still it isn't that *BIG* of a difference when you run the numbers. If they go into their defend skill they won't be contributing to the team as they all go down.

Again, I am sitting here saying that even if you have a group of 8 or even 10 fully maxed players which truly will never happen at the same time given time zones....etc...etc. This is/won't be possible unless each and every one of those players and people involved are willing to die five plus times each attempt. Then on top of that, you get forward to another group of 20 NPCS after the gate. Then you must ask yourself, I have this group of seasoned veterans here, but they are all going to die 10 times in order for us to even get into the city we are at war with? That will never ever happen, run the numbers yourselves. It needs fixed......I am not trying to flame the current setup or suggest it to be impossible, because through a lot of deaths it can be achieved, I just wish to know why it's like this? I don't think a gate raid should be possible every other month or even every other year. Perhaps cut back the guards allowed in one room back to fifteen and make them gain a few levels to at least make it feasible?

[David]

*updated ^*