Endgame Discussion

[Dimetrius]

...do we actually have a custom enter string setup?

Did I miss this? :I

[Jaethor]

...do we actually have a custom enter string setup?

Did I miss this? :I

...Technically, yes, it's used by gods and guides. But I didn't refer to that at all to my knowledge.

[Silas]

There are dozens upon dozens of things you can do in the game, features players haven't discovered or features players haven't done in decades. You shouldn't fixate on what you cannot do and maybe search out for things you can. I understand the whole "grass is always greener on the other side", but I promise all of you that power crystals having uses is going to continue to be a thing, just as much as Jaethor adding non-power-crystal features into the game is.

To the bold portion: Out of curiosity, like what?

To the endgame discussion: A big problem is how easy it is to get to, level wise. You don't need to spend money. You don't need to be any form of specialized in certain areas IG or OOC(clients/scripting) to continue getting stronger. You could probably just bash the same 4-5 areas once or twice a day and stay logged on for a couple hours and have no problem getting the exp necessary, or the crystals.

To boot, there's really no point to getting to it, or even unsurping all of your skills - Getting to level 100 does..what? That extra 40 health is very rarely going to be the saving grace from dying. You are no different than you were a second before at level 99, character wise, afaik.

Unsurp awareness, lore, even weapons in some guilds, does not do much for you. If you got a bonus that gave you..+dodge chance for having unsurp agility and awareness, that would be awesome, and give a good reason to actually focus on awareness. Or be able to pacify certain mobs(that you couldn't normally with unsurp intelligence) once every minute if you have unsurp lore and intelligence.

[Pyrok]

Features people haven't done in decades:

Wrote a book.
Read a book for the sake of reading it.
Demanding more books be wrote, actually this gets done a lot.
Completing the city super quest. (Someone should really make a name for those three quests.)


I do recall Beluthra having different visions for each realm. Ysallyra's fortune's been told, Meldorno's back. (And the last time i recall hearing anything from Meldorno was to the effect of 'Leave me, I must think for a while') The Meldorno events were discontinued for... a few reasons that i won't get into because it's not knowledge I'm supposed to possess I think.

And before someone jumps all over me for suggesting something remotely towards an event as dusty as this, saying 'OMG THERES NOT ENOUGH PPL!!111!1 stop saying that kind of thing Pyrok!' Those events/quests can EASILY be done by one person. More people will just make for a larger pool of knowledge to figure out Beluthra's cryptic auguries (think i'm using that right.)


And as much as I hate to admit it. No one's bothered with a war for quite some time. In my experience that does tend to draw a few people out of the woodworks, for better or worse. And again, I realise i have rubbed salt into yet another raw wound for both admin and players, but really you can't expect a war to be akin to driving a steamroller through a crowd of zombies. There's always problems. Everytime i've ever broached the subject of warfare it's always the same 'We can't do this because...' So? what can we do in warfare? Throw legions of troops at a gate? Yes. Will there be significant casualties? Yes, because i'm pretty sure the people on the other side of that gate don't want you as a neighbour. That's what gates are for, to keep scoundrels out, so they're going to be difficult to take down. Borderline impossible? Probably, but not outside the realm of mortal control.

Are there things to do? Yes. Are people willing to do them? They could be. Should they be? Yes. Can it be done alone? You'd be surprised what one individual can do.

[Jaethor]

To the bold portion: Out of curiosity, like what?

Largely what I keep track of in that respects is quests. Looking at quests, of our X number of quests, just under 20% have either never been done or have been completed less than 10 times. This includes two novice quests that I just confirmed work, four in areas coded in last year and the remainder in either cities or very old areas. As of the end of this past year (IG year) 50% of the quests were not completed that year. I have excluded realm quests and anti-realm-quests from this count. The rest I don't keep as much track of. To be honest, ~20% of quests not being found out isn't a terrible thing if they were newer quests, but they're older and I'm caught somewhere between "Akanbar's quest system has enough depth to it to still hold a few mysteries" and "The players don't step outside their knowledge zone to search out new quests without it being shown to them"

[Dimetrius]

"The players don't step outside their knowledge zone to search out new quests without it being shown to them"

It's probably definitely this. I know that if I'm familiar with named mobs that have historically done absolutely nothing, I won't ever go back and check up on them again unless someone says, "Hey, so-and-so is talking". It's less mystery, and more assuming certain things don't change, because the changes are normally silent and people aren't really spurred into sniffing things out, you know? We have a lot of dead-ends already that are sort of discouraging on that note.

Anyways, we're getting WAY off-topic here.

[Ashrabia]

I have to agree with Dimetrius on this aspect. Why would you search for something when it didn't exist the first time. I mean... I searched the entire ocean. I mapped the darn thing and put it book form (Only for it to be lost by an unnamed divinity). My reason for searching... was simple. I wanted to be the first one to see and possibly kill the Kraken. I can honestly say that I have seen every part of the ocean.

Until one fateful slumber, I returned and found a new island. This island has no harbor, it can not be boarded in any sense of the word. At least not to my knowledge. Now, have I looked at this island multiple times to see if something changes. Yes. However, after doing so over and over again and still not seeing any way or any reason why this island popped out of no where, my interests falls off a cliff. Same with the Kraken. I asked every sailor I can find about it, no sailor has heard of the damned thing. My hasn't even so much as had its hull knocked on by a giant tentacle. Where does one start looking for a Kraken, when it doesn't exist? There is no Lore about said Kraken.

Now, don't assume that because I haven't found it, then I am saying it doesn't exist. I admit that the darn thing is probably moving underneath the ocean waters and there is a .00000000001% chance that anytime you sail you might be blessed to death by seeing this thing. However, I think that at this point in my quest for it... the chance of finding it at the right spot at the right time are slim to none.

There is a beaten path to every part of this land. When I was young and when I am first exploring something, I make sure I see everything I can. I explore to find the boundaries. I greet everyone and pursue any leads. Why would I subsequently do that the next year? 5 years later? 10? 100? They are the same people... They never move... why would I think they possibly came to new information?

Quests that haven't ever been done... There is a quest, A golden fruit or apple or something on Carmena. I asked about, tried to find information about it. Apparently it is a quest that can only be done once every century? Or something like that... Not to mention. There might be another reason why some quests aren't done. First of all, those beasts on Mount Ijicen don't pay enough for the resources spent. The time to get to them also means that there are countless other quests that could yield much more coin. Also, what is the incentive? Can't get Mount Ijicen to trade with your village... the Jenik Society is a... pointless venture. The item that is protected by the greatest and most feared beast of all Akanbar (to my knowledge) protects an item that isn't worth its weight in gold. Even the Blood Island... the select few who even know about it, or explored beyond the first 6 locations, those beasts don't pay out either. Still yet, why does those quests when it doesn't effect the world picture. Can Blood Island be traded with?

Xorhasta: A place that can be traded with, only heard of 2 people getting to this location, and from what I heard, it wasn't opened yet. I appreciate the fact that there are mysteries still left to Akanbar, but how many of these mysteries are only partially done? How many of them are glitchy and the divine don't know about it. I once thought there was a quest with the Shades!:

"Begone," the shade whispers, turning its hollow gaze on you. "You shall not have the Queen's Flower while I stand guard here."

To me, this was a NEW Quest. Something I could do and discover! Turned out it was from a quest that existed long before my time. Through all my searching, I could find no denizen that know of any 'Queen's Flower'. Hell, I'd love to find a quest that hasn't been done more than a few times.

This isn't a rant against the gods. I know that there are balance issues to take into consideration. The beasts I speak about could easily be killed by more than one person. If that be the case, then the gold pay out is certainly worth it then. I don't think we players are looking for you or the Divine to say, "Look! Something new in THAT direction". However, maybe a random note left on the ground by a traveling journeyman.

I love a good mystery, but how are we supposed to know a mystery is there? The bounty hunter was the only thing that confirms the existence of the Kraken. I mapped the whole sea. Hours, Days, Months, spent at sea. No profit to be made... only cost. The beasts of the sea damaging my ship, the arnica and health potions wasted as I slayed each one. Not even a body to search most of the time.

I am going to stop here. Should have stopped a while ago, but... tired crazy man leads to rambling without fear of consequence.

[Dimetrius]

A golden fruit or apple or something on Carmena.

Golden rose, yep! That immediately came to mind while I was thinking over this uncompleted quest stuff :S

"Begone," the shade whispers, turning its hollow gaze on you. "You shall not have the Queen's Flower while I stand guard here."

Golden...rose? Admittedly I never would've thought of greeting an aggressive and extremely rude monster, but I've not heard of this flower business.

I don't think we players are looking for you or the Divine to say, "Look! Something new in THAT direction". However, maybe a random note left on the ground by a traveling journeyman.

You really hit the nail on the head here. I'm very glad there new things have been tossed in the mix at a decent rate, especially lately. But it leaves me wondering if these things that haven't been explored or figured out are just going to sit there for another stretch of years, potential squandered. It makes me sad, and I very much -want- to find these things out...but I've already gone through three villages where most of the mobs either don't speak, or the quests aren't finished.

[Ashrabia]

Golden...rose? Admittedly I never would've thought of greeting an aggressive and extremely rude monster, but I've not heard of this flower business.

I should clarify: The Shade was never supposed to talk. It was from a quest from the beginning days, or some such oddity like that. The text got jumbled up and ... hell i don't know how it happened. Shade wasn't supposed to talk.

Golden...rose? Admittedly I never would've thought of greeting an aggressive and extremely rude monster, but I've not heard of this flower business.

Yes! That is exactly where my mind went to as well. Your right, Golden Rose. So long since I looked into it I forgot what was Golden, lol. I thought this text was making reference to it. That with all the time since the last time it was completed, the Shade knew where it was. Or, i thought that the Queen's Flower was a ship... oh well, all for not as this wasn't supposed to be here.

Another interesting quest/oddity: Hag talks about a necklace? Nothing can be done with any such necklace I have found. Another empty quest? I mean... you have to understand, many of us have tried to figure these things out. Why is the Hag there in the first place.... These questions have been asked.

[Jaethor]

It's probably definitely this. I know that if I'm familiar with named mobs that have historically done absolutely nothing, I won't ever go back and check up on them again unless someone says, "Hey, so-and-so is talking". It's less mystery, and more assuming certain things don't change, because the changes are normally silent and people aren't really spurred into sniffing things out, you know? We have a lot of dead-ends already that are sort of discouraging on that note.

and the remainder in either cities or very old areas.

I completely agree. I did, however, mean a quest that was added when the area was created, RL years ago.

[Ilessa]

There are things you can do on the mainland that people only think to do on Celestial Island. Have a ponder on that one.

[Ashrabia]

Respectfully, said features are probably hinted to on the Celestial Island. Or, some sort of direction was given. I know not what Feature you are specifically speaking of, but wouldn't it be an important question to ask as to why this feature didn't make the jump from Celestial Island to the Main land?

My guess is that no "Quest" has hinted to its use.

[Silas]

Looking at quests, of our X number of quests, just under 20% have either never been done or have been completed less than 10 times. This includes two novice quests that I just confirmed work, four in areas coded in last year and the remainder in either cities or very old areas. As of the end of this past year (IG year) 50% of the quests were not completed that year ... I'm caught somewhere between "Akanbar's quest system has enough depth to it to still hold a few mysteries" and "The players don't step outside their knowledge zone to search out new quests without it being shown to them"

You're probably going to say no, but could you give a rough number of how many quests we have active? I know I could probably name 40+ just off the top of my head, but I have a feeling there is about triple that. And I don't know many of the newer ones, which might bump my total up a few.

[Jaethor]

You're probably going to say no, but could you give a rough number of how many quests we have active? I know I could probably name 40+ just off the top of my head, but I have a feeling there is about triple that. And I don't know many of the newer ones, which might bump my total up a few.

There are a lot more than triple that. That is all I will say. I'll concede to getting back on the topic, though. Things to do.

[Ashrabia]

Alright. I was starring at a wall and I came upon this idea.

Lets imagine a person where we could exchange our knowledge crystals into Power Crystals (Wouldn't even have to be Power crystals, but some sort of 'special' crystal to keep true to the original crystal foundation). Maybe you can only do this 5 Times a year? The Cost would be 250 Crystals. (all of this could be changed).

Then Everyone would at least have a means of getting this Power Crystal. However, this power crystal would be used to grant you access to a... New World. Kind of like the Blood Scroll, you'd place your Power Crystal into something, and it would grant you and only you access to this special place. I mean only you, so that you can't bring in a party of people who haven't already done this. Those in your party would be denied access to traverse to this new plain.

I think this is where the interesting part comes in though. The quests of this new area... build up into the higher probability of you getting your Power Crystal Returned back to you at the end of the year. By questing in this area and doing so successfully, maybe you get 5 Power Crystals back for the original one.

I think this idea would garner interest in two ways. One, it would almost act as an "Elitest" zone. Similar to the Blood Island in difficulty. Two, It is a interesting way to solve the problem with players who have maxed out their crystal potential.

When I originally came up with this idea, I thought to myself: If Ashrabia could get 5 for 1. I'd automatically share those, so that other people could experience and possibly gain the same 5 for 1. Well, if I had 4 friends and we all got 5 for 1. The first year we'd amass 25 Crystals. If we kept doing this every subsequent year, my four friends and I could save up enough Knowledge crystals to purchase a Castle. Though, the likely hood of all 4 friends wishing to do this is... impossible to determine. Even still, if this didn't happen, It could be used as a reward system for feats of greatness to guild members and citizens.

I'd love to discuss this idea further, but I wish to see the initial response

-Waits for Jaethor's, "Oh my god, no."-