To Address Common Issues

[peccavi]

To preface, allow me to say that this is not an attack upon the server, the DMs, or the admins. It is merely a critique of the server as a whole; a copy of this will be sent to the appropriate parties. I would not be spending my time or energy writing this if I did not legitimately care for the server. I have also decided to publicly post it on the forum as well, so opinions can be exchanged.

To those wondering who I am, I have played steadily on the server for upwards of eight years under a variety of accounts.


I. On Leveling & RP XP
Leveling is one of the largest issues encountered by new and veteran players alike. Running into a “hard cap” is a common occurrence on the server, which is often discouraging. It can take one to two months to hit level ten, which is acceptable. However, leveling hits a point of absurdity when it can take over a year to reach level twenty. For casual players, or players that do not have much time to commit to the server, the leveling process can take 3 – 6 months to hit a level of ten. This severely penalizes people for having outside commitments.

As the system currently stands, it encourages players to level until the point of hard cap, and then to set the character aside until the cap is gone due to the extremely low amount of RP XP that is currently handed out. When I first began on the server, RP XP was enough to hit level three within the span of one evening (roughly three to five hours) of nonstop roleplay. This is now impossible to achieve due to the RP XP nerf from some years ago. This implementation essentially punishes players for roleplaying, rather than dungeoning. To me, this is unacceptable. While I understand that dungeoning should be worth more XP than roleplaying, this is still a roleplaying server and RP XP should be more prominently rewarded. This is most damaging, again, to players with a limited play time, once more penalizing people for having outside commitments.

Another notable nerf of recent months is that of the delivery run XP nerfs. The XP on these has gone from reaching level three within the span of approximately six ‘Krofburg Mining Equipment’ runs, to that of thirteen or more. Considering the time and gold that goes into these, it should not have been nerfed.

II. On Loot
Another contentious topic is that of loot. Our loot tables have been bogged down by items for “RP flair,” or un-usable gear that is lovingly referred to as “vendor trash.” Let me begin by addressing the prominence of “RP flair” items. These seem to be the most often found items during dungeon runs currently. These are things such as random herbs, spices, useless gems/jewelry, foods, and so forth. Firstly, it is immersion breaking to find a fresh potato or a piece of woundwart within crypts that decades old. Secondly, the ratio of risk to reward is negligible. For these items, you’re likely to receive some XP (perhaps even the illustrious hard cap previously mentioned) and a one to three gp a piece for each of these “RP flair” items. While having “RP flair” items isn’t inherently a bad thing, the issue comes when most of the loot happens to be a 70/30 mix of these items and “vendor trash” items.

With that said, gear deemed as “good,” most notably that for rogues, has become increasingly hard to come by. On top of the issue of leveling is that of gearing a character up. “Good” items now have an outrageous price associated with them. There is also a huge divide in where and how gear is acquired for each class. For example, a cleric may become fully geared with all necessary items in Barovia alone, while a rogue is forced to travel to multiple domains to acquire a set of gear to achieve a decent (55+) Hide/MS.

As an aside, the mix of finding adequate loot and the difficulty leveling is likely why we’re seeing a dramatic reduction in antagonistic characters as well as the closuring of characters. Very few people want to spend the time and energy investing in a character only to see them permanently closured.

III. A Note on the Playerbase
Now onto a topic that is often sidestepped, if not outright ignored – that of the playerbase. While many people will say, “Well negativity/toxicity comes along with any NWN server,” it is unacceptable to turn a blind eye to some of what occurs on PotM. Before anyone points out my own behavior, the players themselves have bred an environment where hostility, gossip, and underhanded attacks are acceptable, if not outright applauded. I am unable to give direct examples of this without breaching trust or confidence.

PotM is also known as one of the most difficult servers to get involved in within the NWN community. Cliques and ostracism are common for new players, with veterans often ignoring new players and refusing to assist them. I often use multiple handles on PotM, and the difference is striking with how people treat me when they know who I am, and when they do not.

The amount of vitriol spewed between players is astounding. Unfortunately, a server culture is not easily changed, thus I have little recommendations for how this can be altered.
 
IV. On DMs, Plots, & Change
PotM has a distinct lack of active DMs. While many servers have a DM ratio of one to every fifteen players, PotM has much less than that. This leads to a lack of ongoing intrigue and lowers the number of things a player, especially a new player, can become involved with. This on top of the aforementioned lack of PC antagonists leads to player boredom and disinterest. It has also become essentially impossible for many people to become DMs. For example, I have personally been told to not bother applying to the DM team again even though I was once a DM on PotM. This has occurred to other players interested in becoming DMs as well. I would suggest the administration team allow a wider array of people to join the DM team, regardless of their own personal opinions on said players.

Regarding DM plots, while I am aware that PotM is not a PW and that many large changes can not take place in order for the team to retain the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. For example, in the previous Dementlieu revolution ran by former DM Dread, nothing the players could have done would have allowed for them to change the dark lord away from d’Honaire. In order to stymie the feeling of futility, I would suggest DMs work with custom NPCs or organizations instead where players are allowed to make an actual change. Change goes hand in hand with this. Currently, players are unable to change the setting. The creation of organizations, groups, and player goals are often sidelined in order to, once again, protect the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. Allowing groups to claim abandoned buildings (e.g., the abandoned fishing lodge) and letting them fix it up would add an extra level of commitment and excitement to the server, rather than the usual static areas and roleplay that dominates PotM. 

[APorg]

As the system currently stands, it encourages players to level until the point of hard cap, and then to set the character aside until the cap is gone due to the extremely low amount of RP XP that is currently handed out. When I first began on the server, RP XP was enough to hit level three within the span of one evening (roughly three to five hours) of nonstop roleplay. This is now impossible to achieve due to the RP XP nerf from some years ago. This implementation essentially punishes players for roleplaying, rather than dungeoning. To me, this is unacceptable. While I understand that dungeoning should be worth more XP than roleplaying, this is still a roleplaying server and RP XP should be more prominently rewarded. This is most damaging, again, to players with a limited play time, once more penalizing people for having outside commitments.

Another notable nerf of recent months is that of the delivery run XP nerfs. The XP on these has gone from reaching level three within the span of approximately six ‘Krofburg Mining Equipment’ runs, to that of thirteen or more. Considering the time and gold that goes into these, it should not have been nerfed.

Agreed. I also feel that there's a trick being missed. The server team wants to encourage high level behaviour to exit Vallaki, yet so far there's only been the "stick" of reduced RP XP. Not a whiff of a carrot. Yet if certain hotspots were to give people extra RP XP, this would encourage people to go there.

[Sinful Mystic]

I think a lot of people are stuck in a rut of getting characters to lvl 9 and 10 and then having nothing to do so making a new character, rinse and repeat.

I've been playing here a year and a bit, my highest character (my main) is low teens. Too high for Barovia but never able to find anything to do anywhere else. The Mist Camp is almost always empty, Port is too. Penetrating Port rp has eluded me time and time again.

The lack of DMs is a serious issue. Our player faction was over 10 people at one point and we could not get any kind of support or DM interest and have since kind of fizzled. We are trying to decide if we have a future. Half those players are now gone or rarely play. It would probably have taken an hour or two of DM time to give the faction some goals or purpose.

I'm also not a fan of the "Get out of Barovia" rp xp policy since my main is Degannwy based and most of my rp now gets little to no xp. Another factor that hurt our faction greatly. It also does not encourage high levels to stand in the outskirts and sell stuff, which takes us to my next point...

I also have to agree a little about the loot but on this I am not positive of the source of the problem. Is the lack of loot due to the shrinkage in people playing higher levels or is it some other kind of change? I know dodge AC is all but gone now. I've also seen first hand that monks are all but unplayable because getting ac gear is not an option in a couple slots.

I'm sure Dreads current efforts are going a long way to cleaning up the loot issue so I am not too concerned about that but the rp xp and DM issues I think are serious issues.

Maybe we could clone Dread and force them all to DM?

[Darkside of Heaven]

Levelling: yeap its very hard to level here with the cap but that is what makes the sever good. Getting to that 20 is a great achievement and takes time. Having alot of 20s running around would turn the server into a worse environment.

Loot: DMs are aware of loot issues and there have been many changes to rectify this. Including the ongoing thread on on forums.

Player base: i agree that this is a very cliquey server but best way to make new friends with old and new players is find a faction be it supported or not factions build friendships.

Lack of DMs: Potm does need more DMs but that comes down to people needing to apply.

All and all i believe that these issues raised arent the real issue. Its not about levels or loot its about building stories. Yes you need other players to do that and factions can help and you can build great stories without DM involvement. Some of my favourite moments playing Potm haven been during that level 10 - 14 era and it was never about finding loot its was simply having fun with other people exploring and getting into situations where you dont rely on game mechanics to get you out.

[Little Lotte]

To preface, allow me to say that this is not an attack upon the server, the DMs, or the admins. It is merely a critique of the server as a whole; a copy of this will be sent to the appropriate parties. I would not be spending my time or energy writing this if I did not legitimately care for the server. I have also decided to publicly post it on the forum as well, so opinions can be exchanged.

To those wondering who I am, I have played steadily on the server for upwards of eight years under a variety of accounts.


I. On Leveling & RP XP
Leveling is one of the largest issues encountered by new and veteran players alike. Running into a “hard cap” is a common occurrence on the server, which is often discouraging. It can take one to two months to hit level ten, which is acceptable. However, leveling hits a point of absurdity when it can take over a year to reach level twenty. For casual players, or players that do not have much time to commit to the server, the leveling process can take 3 – 6 months to hit a level of ten. This severely penalizes people for having outside commitments.

As the system currently stands, it encourages players to level until the point of hard cap, and then to set the character aside until the cap is gone due to the extremely low amount of RP XP that is currently handed out. When I first began on the server, RP XP was enough to hit level three within the span of one evening (roughly three to five hours) of nonstop roleplay. This is now impossible to achieve due to the RP XP nerf from some years ago. This implementation essentially punishes players for roleplaying, rather than dungeoning. To me, this is unacceptable. While I understand that dungeoning should be worth more XP than roleplaying, this is still a roleplaying server and RP XP should be more prominently rewarded. This is most damaging, again, to players with a limited play time, once more penalizing people for having outside commitments.

Another notable nerf of recent months is that of the delivery run XP nerfs. The XP on these has gone from reaching level three within the span of approximately six ‘Krofburg Mining Equipment’ runs, to that of thirteen or more. Considering the time and gold that goes into these, it should not have been nerfed.

II. On Loot
Another contentious topic is that of loot. Our loot tables have been bogged down by items for “RP flair,” or un-usable gear that is lovingly referred to as “vendor trash.” Let me begin by addressing the prominence of “RP flair” items. These seem to be the most often found items during dungeon runs currently. These are things such as random herbs, spices, useless gems/jewelry, foods, and so forth. Firstly, it is immersion breaking to find a fresh potato or a piece of woundwart within crypts that decades old. Secondly, the ratio of risk to reward is negligible. For these items, you’re likely to receive some XP (perhaps even the illustrious hard cap previously mentioned) and a one to three gp a piece for each of these “RP flair” items. While having “RP flair” items isn’t inherently a bad thing, the issue comes when most of the loot happens to be a 70/30 mix of these items and “vendor trash” items.

With that said, gear deemed as “good,” most notably that for rogues, has become increasingly hard to come by. On top of the issue of leveling is that of gearing a character up. “Good” items now have an outrageous price associated with them. There is also a huge divide in where and how gear is acquired for each class. For example, a cleric may become fully geared with all necessary items in Barovia alone, while a rogue is forced to travel to multiple domains to acquire a set of gear to achieve a decent (55+) Hide/MS.

As an aside, the mix of finding adequate loot and the difficulty leveling is likely why we’re seeing a dramatic reduction in antagonistic characters as well as the closuring of characters. Very few people want to spend the time and energy investing in a character only to see them permanently closured.

III. A Note on the Playerbase
Now onto a topic that is often sidestepped, if not outright ignored – that of the playerbase. While many people will say, “Well negativity/toxicity comes along with any NWN server,” it is unacceptable to turn a blind eye to some of what occurs on PotM. Before anyone points out my own behavior, the players themselves have bred an environment where hostility, gossip, and underhanded attacks are acceptable, if not outright applauded. I am unable to give direct examples of this without breaching trust or confidence.

PotM is also known as one of the most difficult servers to get involved in within the NWN community. Cliques and ostracism are common for new players, with veterans often ignoring new players and refusing to assist them. I often use multiple handles on PotM, and the difference is striking with how people treat me when they know who I am, and when they do not.

The amount of vitriol spewed between players is astounding. Unfortunately, a server culture is not easily changed, thus I have little recommendations for how this can be altered.
 
IV. On DMs, Plots, & Change
PotM has a distinct lack of active DMs. While many servers have a DM ratio of one to every fifteen players, PotM has much less than that. This leads to a lack of ongoing intrigue and lowers the number of things a player, especially a new player, can become involved with. This on top of the aforementioned lack of PC antagonists leads to player boredom and disinterest. It has also become essentially impossible for many people to become DMs. For example, I have personally been told to not bother applying to the DM team again even though I was once a DM on PotM. This has occurred to other players interested in becoming DMs as well. I would suggest the administration team allow a wider array of people to join the DM team, regardless of their own personal opinions on said players.

Regarding DM plots, while I am aware that PotM is not a PW and that many large changes can not take place in order for the team to retain the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. For example, in the previous Dementlieu revolution ran by former DM Dread, nothing the players could have done would have allowed for them to change the dark lord away from d’Honaire. In order to stymie the feeling of futility, I would suggest DMs work with custom NPCs or organizations instead where players are allowed to make an actual change. Change goes hand in hand with this. Currently, players are unable to change the setting. The creation of organizations, groups, and player goals are often sidelined in order to, once again, protect the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. Allowing groups to claim abandoned buildings (e.g., the abandoned fishing lodge) and letting them fix it up would add an extra level of commitment and excitement to the server, rather than the usual static areas and roleplay that dominates PotM.

There is nothing I can say to this other than that I agree with everything stated.

[peccavi]

Levelling: yeap its very hard to level here with the cap but that is what makes the sever good. Getting to that 20 is a great achievement and takes time. Having alot of 20s running around would turn the server into a worse environment.

Yes, but my point seems to have eluded you. Right now we are severely lacking antagonistic characters. Many of our "evil" characters, including (A)MPCs are red-deaded upon sight. The amount of time/work that goes into either gearing/leveling a character, or applying for an (A)MPC is a waste in comparison to what you receive. With an easier leveling/loot system, we would see more turnover, and better character arcs.

Loot: DMs are aware of loot issues and there have been many changes to rectify this. Including the ongoing thread on on forums.

I certainly hope to see this rectified. Doing crypts only to find potatoes and herbs is a) immersion breaking and b) insulting.

Player base: i agree that this is a very cliquey server but best way to make new friends with old and new players is find a faction be it supported or not factions build friendships.

While this is an excellent point and I strongly support faction play, it is not for everyone and not for every character. Players should be more accepting of incoming players. I recall when I first began roleplaying, I knew absolutely nothing. We should all be teaching and bettering each other continually.

Lack of DMs: Potm does need more DMs but that comes down to people needing to apply.

Apologies, Darkside, but I don't think you read my entire post on this subject. Many players, myself included, are told not to bother applying at all until we hit "x" criteria, or otherwise. The DM team is notoriously selective with who they allow on the DM team, unfortunately. It is one of the most detrimental issues with the server and should be addressed and rectified by the team. We have some very talented and driven players on PotM that would be excellent DMs, but they are often denied based upon previous, misguided behavior. The DM team often sees one player misstep and uses it as an excuse to never allow a player upon the team. I say this as a former DM on the server, who has seen the DM applicant deliberation process.

All and all i believe that these issues raised arent the real issue. Its not about levels or loot its about building stories. Yes you need other players to do that and factions can help and you can build great stories without DM involvement. Some of my favourite moments playing Potm haven been during that level 10 - 14 era and it was never about finding loot its was simply having fun with other people exploring and getting into situations where you dont rely on game mechanics to get you out.

Excellent point, and thank you for bringing this up. These reasons alone aren't the sole issue with the general attitude on PotM currently. Many of the veteran players, who I am good friends with, are all vastly unhappy with the current state of affairs. This unhappiness is easily spread from player to player. Many players are upset by loot, levels, a general disinterest from lack of DMs, etc. To create stories and feel fully engaged, a DM or a PC antagonist is often needed. It is neigh impossible to carry on a good story without some semblance of an antagonist. As stated in my original post, these are both lacking currently. Many players who were willing to play antagonists have been driven from the server because the effort they put in outweighs the stories and responses they receive.

[bocian]

Many players, myself included, are told not to bother applying at all until we hit "x" criteria, or otherwise.

For example, I have personally been told to not bother applying to the DM team again even though I was once a DM on PotM.

The statement doesn't really say much if you don't provide a reason given for these negative answer. What are these "x" criteria in specific? What was the reason given? I doubt that these requirements are a well kept secret - and if they are, they shouldn't be. What is there to hide?

[peccavi]

Many players, myself included, are told not to bother applying at all until we hit "x" criteria, or otherwise.

For example, I have personally been told to not bother applying to the DM team again even though I was once a DM on PotM.

The statement doesn't really say much if you don't provide a reason given for these negative answer. What are these "x" criteria in specific? What was the reason given? I doubt that these requirements are a well kept secret - and if they are, they shouldn't be. What is there to hide?

Bocian, in my case it was "until you prove yourself as a faction leader." In my case, I have been a faction leader approximately five times on the server, though those times were roughly three to six years ago. I stepped away from faction leadership to give other players the opportunity to lead on the server. Due to my recent lack of leadership roles, it seems my chances of DMship are slim at best.

There have been other players, who I will not name for their own sake, who have been told "do not bother applying again," regardless of the fact that they have altered their behavior and are dedicated to the server.

So it would appear that having a clean record, excellent roleplay (which is subjective), alongside extensive and current faction leadership are the requirements.

[Knight of Rhodes]

I support the tactful way this subject has been approached.

I do not desire to see the leveling speed changed. I would support growth of spawn rates being accelerated though.

I have also witnessed, and been victim to all other statements.

Well done for speaking for many, respectfully.

I still dont forgive you for the thinking emoji, elsewhere.

[peccavi]

I still dont forgive you for the thinking emoji, elsewhere.

[bocian]

Bocian, in my case it was "until you prove yourself as a faction leader." In my case, I have been a faction leader approximately five times on the server, though those times were roughly three to six years ago. I stepped away from faction leadership to give other players the opportunity to lead on the server. Due to my recent lack of leadership roles, it seems my chances of DMship are slim at best.

There have been other players, who I will not name for their own sake, who have been told "do not bother applying again," regardless of the fact that they have altered their behavior and are dedicated to the server.

So it would appear that having a clean record, excellent roleplay (which is subjective), alongside extensive and current faction leadership are the requirements.

Acknowledged.
I do hope that the other players you mentioned will come forward and use the occasion to present their side of the story.

III. A Note on the Playerbase
Now onto a topic that is often sidestepped, if not outright ignored – that of the playerbase. While many people will say, “Well negativity/toxicity comes along with any NWN server,” it is unacceptable to turn a blind eye to some of what occurs on PotM. Before anyone points out my own behavior, the players themselves have bred an environment where hostility, gossip, and underhanded attacks are acceptable, if not outright applauded. I am unable to give direct examples of this without breaching trust or confidence.

PotM is also known as one of the most difficult servers to get involved in within the NWN community. Cliques and ostracism are common for new players, with veterans often ignoring new players and refusing to assist them. I often use multiple handles on PotM, and the difference is striking with how people treat me when they know who I am, and when they do not.

The amount of vitriol spewed between players is astounding. Unfortunately, a server culture is not easily changed, thus I have little recommendations for how this can be altered.

 
Your claim is that the community has „bred an environment where hostility, gossip, and underhanded attacks are acceptable, if not outright applauded”. Although I haven't met any circumstance where such things were „applauded” by anyone, I think you have a point and your concerns are reasonable. I have a theory why such behaviors might be appearing – thought I doubt the community will like it.
Per rules, any sort of „personal attacks” are forbidden. Any sort of criticism, even the slightest and most cultured form of disagreement between people (I mean, criticism towards players, not the server as a whole), is eventually culled and silenced by the moderation on the grounds of personal attack, quoting that community members should be „excellent to each other”. This is, putting the matter straightforwardly, generating a form of an echo chamber, where only positive and praising comments, sometimes getting dangerously close to inanity, are allowed and encouraged. Even if I partially understand the attempt of containing the negativity – even if I never endorse limiting the right of freedom of speech – I believe that in the long run it's doing more harm than good.

Why?

People have always fought each other verbally, they are fighting and will. Conflict will always be present, regardless of intellect of those involved, their education, background, or the grounds of an argument, from silliest to the most important ones. While we should strive to keep it on meritorical terms – completely banning personal arguments from public forums will only lead to such underhandedness and „gossiping” escalating even more. When the public discussion is removed and its continuation banned, the problem does not disappear, but instead it's taken to more secretive and remote medium, where it has much less chance of being actually resolved. In real life, people disagree with each other, argue, fight, but eventually resolve their problem - if they engage in a discussion. While the participants might not fully accept each others' beliefs, they can, and very often do find a consensus and come to a mutual understanding. That happens if the problem is allowed to be discussed and addressed properly. If an attempt to come to a middle ground was forbidden, the problem would never find its resolution, potentially leading to a long-term grudge. I believe in honesty as a virtue, and I see myself as a an honest man; if there is a grievance I deem worth addressing, I do so, though, when doing so is hindered, it loses its point.

I am aware that the moderators offer an opportunity to address the grievances by taking it to them in private. This is a completely different thing, though, very far away from how a discussion should look like. That is because it happens through reporting someone else's behavior - which is basically a form of delation. There is no contact, no words exchanged between the parties involved, and all actions are taken through the middleman. The presence of a middleman isn't always welcomed. Besides, such report is deemed valid only if a rulebreak has taken place; if not, the matter is dismissed - which once again, doesn't resolve the problem and doesn't make the grudge vanish. And in such case, involvement of a third party, perhaps sometimes undesirable, may or may not produce yet another form of negativity towards those that tried to assist and failed.

Ideal resolution would be to allow the players to sort out their problems in the open without constraints. It would require the moderation to achieve a certain degree of open-mindedness and respect for opinions and views of other people, which are often falsely viewed as offensive only due to a personal bias. I'm positive that in return, respecting such a burden of responsibility, the playerbase would use the given opportunity to solve their grievances engaging in a discussion in a cultured manner, just as they would in real life talk.

[peccavi]

Bocian - there have been plenty of times where I have witnessed (again leaving out names to protect identities) where someone has attacked another player and has been congratulated on it by multiple players. This has happened multiple times.

Regarding reporting, there is a stigma that goes with individuals who report other players to the CC or the DM team. I am not sure that what you're saying is feasible, and that is best left up to the team to decide.

[Darkside of Heaven]

Yes, but my point seems to have eluded you. Right now we are severely lacking antagonistic characters. Many of our "evil" characters, including (A)MPCs are red-deaded upon sight. The amount of time/work that goes into either gearing/leveling a character, or applying for an (A)MPC is a waste in comparison to what you receive. With an easier leveling/loot system, we would see more turnover, and better character arcs.

I have been in the wayfarers and currently in a vanguard faction i can asure you there are plenty evil characters out there.

What needs to be noted is that playing those high antag PCs gets you hunted down and killed very quickly like you have said with red dead, (which i hate) they are out there in the shadows and big things will be being planned.

Red dead is a real issue and it doesnt add any fun to the game play which is why i hope that my RP with janak has been enjoyable for the player as i aim to RP before hand and sometimes even let him escape for future RP because its more fun to build up to a final showdown than just a one hit wonder.

[Arawn]

 

I am aware that the moderators offer an opportunity to address the grievances by taking it to them in private. This is a completely different thing, though, very far away from how a discussion should look like. That is because it happens through reporting someone else's behavior - which is basically a form of delation. There is no contact, no words exchanged between the parties involved, and all actions are taken through the middleman. The presence of a middleman isn't always welcomed. Besides, such report is deemed valid only if a rulebreak has taken place; if not, the matter is dismissed - which once again, doesn't resolve the problem and doesn't make the grudge vanish. And in such case, involvement of a third party, perhaps sometimes undesirable, may or may not produce yet another form of negativity towards those that tried to assist and failed.

As it turns out, there’s quite a lot we can do even if no rulebreak has taken place. One of the things we can and do try if the situation merits it is just to bring the parties together for an open conversation. Alternatively, we can broker compromises, offer the benefit of our larger awareness of server issues to which we are privy, give parties advice, and so on. Often, this sort of thing is handled by the CC in lieu of any formal DM intervention.

[Zero Darkon Thirty]

In regards to the leveling, I'm in agreement that there should be some changes. I can agree that getting to level 20 should take some time, but getting to level 8-12 should be easier. Around that level, players tend to be a lot more comfortable in regard to plot participation and pushing story. Builds tend to work at that level range, and you can hold your own against most other PCs. Simple antagonism is something that I think makes a server feel alive, and it's something we don't see unless it is NCE. By simple antagonism I mean something as simple as a group of PC bandits. It gives people things to talk about, but few people actually put in the effort to attempt it. Why? Because not only will you be instantly wiped out by a single high level, or a group of mid leveled characters, you have to put in 2-3 months of work to get to that point-- it's simple NOT worth it. At the very least, when if you do get wiped out, at least you'll have some motivations to do it again if you could get to a decent level within a few week's time. My suggestion would be changing the cap to where it only goes into effect once you reach X level (8-10). If the cap won't be changed, raise RP XP, or give offline XP until the character has enough XP to be 5 or 6.

I've also seen some putting suggesting join a faction for RP, but getting into a faction is not all that easy for new players, nor is it something that all players or characters should do. The only faction that I'd say is easy to join is the Kinship, which does not fit the objectives of -many- characters, and the faction itself is rather limited in what they can do.

Ravenloft is a great setting that I certainly feel goes unused due to the lack of DMs. I agree with all the points, but most importantly, at least in my case, is allowing more people on the DM team. I've never made a post, which I should have in retrospect, but the qualifications to become one essentially require you to push plots and story, and provide RP for players without actually having the very useful tools a DM has to do so. By the time someone -does- have the qualifications, it's not a surprise that they tend to get worn out and go inactive. All in all, qualifications need to be reduced, and more players should be given opportunity regardless of opinion by the staff. Several players have said the same thing to me, they were declined for X reason, or simply told not to apply again after a try or two- many of them being players I think would do a fine job.

With POTM's inevitable move to the EE, I can't urge enough to have more DMs. Leveling aside, it wouldn't be such a big deal if players weren't forced to push plots themselves every single time they wanted something to happen. Things -should- be happening without player initiative, especially in a setting like Ravenloft. Plenty of new players could be gained and retained when POTM makes the move based on DM interaction alone. I'd find it a lot easier to log into my level 3 fighter if I wasn't sitting in the outskirts waiting for the new dungeon for hours on end. Something doesn't need to happen everyday, but the world feels horribly stagnant and I imagine by the high player turnover many agree.

[RickDeckard]

+1 Peccavi, agree with everything you've written.

Especially in regards to levelling and loot, nothing frustrates me more than finally getting to do a dungeon but the spawns are terrible (I know the more a dungeon gets used, the worse the spawns are but I honestly dislike this mechanic so much) , so its not worth me doing, having zero loot and getting hardcapped with XP restrictions when I get a decent dungeon. I've had many cases of doing one dungeon and going from no cap to mentally exhausted and being stuck on nearly levelling for weeks at a low to mid level character.

And in regards to factions, especially with the Vallaki Garda we are not meant to go out and dungeon crawl , so we often rely on Roleplay/DM XP. Once you get to 10, you're capped in the areas that you're most likely to get RP XP which is frustrating , I'll never see another level unless I'm forced to go dungeon which would just not make sense for my character to do.

[Soulbourne]

To preface, allow me to say that this is not an attack upon the server, the DMs, or the admins. It is merely a critique of the server as a whole; a copy of this will be sent to the appropriate parties. I would not be spending my time or energy writing this if I did not legitimately care for the server. I have also decided to publicly post it on the forum as well, so opinions can be exchanged.

To those wondering who I am, I have played steadily on the server for upwards of eight years under a variety of accounts.


I. On Leveling & RP XP
Leveling is one of the largest issues encountered by new and veteran players alike. Running into a “hard cap” is a common occurrence on the server, which is often discouraging. It can take one to two months to hit level ten, which is acceptable. However, leveling hits a point of absurdity when it can take over a year to reach level twenty. For casual players, or players that do not have much time to commit to the server, the leveling process can take 3 – 6 months to hit a level of ten. This severely penalizes people for having outside commitments.

As the system currently stands, it encourages players to level until the point of hard cap, and then to set the character aside until the cap is gone due to the extremely low amount of RP XP that is currently handed out. When I first began on the server, RP XP was enough to hit level three within the span of one evening (roughly three to five hours) of nonstop roleplay. This is now impossible to achieve due to the RP XP nerf from some years ago. This implementation essentially punishes players for roleplaying, rather than dungeoning. To me, this is unacceptable. While I understand that dungeoning should be worth more XP than roleplaying, this is still a roleplaying server and RP XP should be more prominently rewarded. This is most damaging, again, to players with a limited play time, once more penalizing people for having outside commitments.

Another notable nerf of recent months is that of the delivery run XP nerfs. The XP on these has gone from reaching level three within the span of approximately six ‘Krofburg Mining Equipment’ runs, to that of thirteen or more. Considering the time and gold that goes into these, it should not have been nerfed.

II. On Loot
Another contentious topic is that of loot. Our loot tables have been bogged down by items for “RP flair,” or un-usable gear that is lovingly referred to as “vendor trash.” Let me begin by addressing the prominence of “RP flair” items. These seem to be the most often found items during dungeon runs currently. These are things such as random herbs, spices, useless gems/jewelry, foods, and so forth. Firstly, it is immersion breaking to find a fresh potato or a piece of woundwart within crypts that decades old. Secondly, the ratio of risk to reward is negligible. For these items, you’re likely to receive some XP (perhaps even the illustrious hard cap previously mentioned) and a one to three gp a piece for each of these “RP flair” items. While having “RP flair” items isn’t inherently a bad thing, the issue comes when most of the loot happens to be a 70/30 mix of these items and “vendor trash” items.

With that said, gear deemed as “good,” most notably that for rogues, has become increasingly hard to come by. On top of the issue of leveling is that of gearing a character up. “Good” items now have an outrageous price associated with them. There is also a huge divide in where and how gear is acquired for each class. For example, a cleric may become fully geared with all necessary items in Barovia alone, while a rogue is forced to travel to multiple domains to acquire a set of gear to achieve a decent (55+) Hide/MS.

As an aside, the mix of finding adequate loot and the difficulty leveling is likely why we’re seeing a dramatic reduction in antagonistic characters as well as the closuring of characters. Very few people want to spend the time and energy investing in a character only to see them permanently closured.

III. A Note on the Playerbase
Now onto a topic that is often sidestepped, if not outright ignored – that of the playerbase. While many people will say, “Well negativity/toxicity comes along with any NWN server,” it is unacceptable to turn a blind eye to some of what occurs on PotM. Before anyone points out my own behavior, the players themselves have bred an environment where hostility, gossip, and underhanded attacks are acceptable, if not outright applauded. I am unable to give direct examples of this without breaching trust or confidence.

PotM is also known as one of the most difficult servers to get involved in within the NWN community. Cliques and ostracism are common for new players, with veterans often ignoring new players and refusing to assist them. I often use multiple handles on PotM, and the difference is striking with how people treat me when they know who I am, and when they do not.

The amount of vitriol spewed between players is astounding. Unfortunately, a server culture is not easily changed, thus I have little recommendations for how this can be altered.
 
IV. On DMs, Plots, & Change
PotM has a distinct lack of active DMs. While many servers have a DM ratio of one to every fifteen players, PotM has much less than that. This leads to a lack of ongoing intrigue and lowers the number of things a player, especially a new player, can become involved with. This on top of the aforementioned lack of PC antagonists leads to player boredom and disinterest. It has also become essentially impossible for many people to become DMs. For example, I have personally been told to not bother applying to the DM team again even though I was once a DM on PotM. This has occurred to other players interested in becoming DMs as well. I would suggest the administration team allow a wider array of people to join the DM team, regardless of their own personal opinions on said players.

Regarding DM plots, while I am aware that PotM is not a PW and that many large changes can not take place in order for the team to retain the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. For example, in the previous Dementlieu revolution ran by former DM Dread, nothing the players could have done would have allowed for them to change the dark lord away from d’Honaire. In order to stymie the feeling of futility, I would suggest DMs work with custom NPCs or organizations instead where players are allowed to make an actual change. Change goes hand in hand with this. Currently, players are unable to change the setting. The creation of organizations, groups, and player goals are often sidelined in order to, once again, protect the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. Allowing groups to claim abandoned buildings (e.g., the abandoned fishing lodge) and letting them fix it up would add an extra level of commitment and excitement to the server, rather than the usual static areas and roleplay that dominates PotM.

There is nothing I can say to this other than that I agree with everything stated.

Seconded. Especially Part IV. While I agree certain elements of the realms need to remain the same, making them unchangeable and static also means players can't do a big part of DnD, which is influence the world by their actions.  If there are serious concerns about changing the very face of the game, then we could have a system where the server rolls back change every 3-5 years or other designation of time in areas the DM Team feel have diverged too completely. And Dark-Lords in the Ravenloft Setting can change, lose their domains to others just as bad, or in different ways. When players have opportunities to shape the world, they can become a lot more invested in story lines rather than replaying the same tragedies over and over. Player X died against spawned hordes of guards because they lost faith in the world around them. Wouldn't it mean so much more if there was a /chance/ for success?

[peccavi]

Seconded. Especially Part IV. While I agree certain elements of the realms need to remain the same, making them unchangeable and static also means players can't do a big part of DnD, which is influence the world by their actions.  If there are serious concerns about changing the very face of the game, then we could have a system where the server rolls back change every 3-5 years or other designation of time in areas the DM Team feel have diverged too completely. And Dark-Lords in the Ravenloft Setting can change, lose their domains to others just as bad, or in different ways. When players have opportunities to shape the world, they can become a lot more invested in story lines rather than replaying the same tragedies over and over. Player X died against spawned hordes of guards because they lost faith in the world around them. Wouldn't it mean so much more if there was a /chance/ for success?

Very nicely put. Your post illustrates precisely what I was getting at, thank you.

However, most players are very adverse to doing regular vault wipes. To go back to a previous point, though, I think people would be more willing to do so if gear and leveling were less of a chore that took literal months to achieve an adequate standing in.

[derkotushka]

I do not think what current speed of leveling is issue at all.
In my opinion other mentioned issues forces players focus on leveling.
Not many DMs/plots around your timezone? -> Go to dungeon.
Not got item what you need? -> To dungeon.
You have  XP-cap from system after many dungeons but there is no going much in mist camp and dementlieu? -> Go do dungeon. Because in Barovia your character will have reduced RP xp.


Dungeons made well in POTM, even despite times when server have many players and good dungeons cleared because there is not many good dungeons at all.
POTM is good on low and mid levels but because characters have nothing to do but only do dungeons - there is comes issue about leveling.
If you -truly- wishes get 20th level, you can do it in 6-8 months. But xp system and leveling made well currently.
Reduced RP xp issues was already discussed I belive and I do not think what there will be changes.

[Ehver]

III. A Note on the Playerbase
Now onto a topic that is often sidestepped, if not outright ignored – that of the playerbase. While many people will say, “Well negativity/toxicity comes along with any NWN server,” it is unacceptable to turn a blind eye to some of what occurs on PotM. Before anyone points out my own behavior, the players themselves have bred an environment where hostility, gossip, and underhanded attacks are acceptable, if not outright applauded. I am unable to give direct examples of this without breaching trust or confidence.

PotM is also known as one of the most difficult servers to get involved in within the NWN community. Cliques and ostracism are common for new players, with veterans often ignoring new players and refusing to assist them. I often use multiple handles on PotM, and the difference is striking with how people treat me when they know who I am, and when they do not.

The amount of vitriol spewed between players is astounding. Unfortunately, a server culture is not easily changed, thus I have little recommendations for how this can be altered.

I’m glad that someone was able to express this in such a calm fashion, and I’ll be using it as a springboard for my own thoughts.

Playing on Ravenloft is a largely OOC endeavor. This may sound counterintuitive, and there will be those who are quick to disagree and dissent. But playing on Ravenloft is a largely OOC endeavor. The server is huge and the playerbase is far flung across various lands and dungeons, all of which are both difficult and time-consuming to reach, especially if you haven’t a plethora of magic at your character’s fingertips. It has become an amalgamation of:

“Hey, we’re off to do xxx, do you want to come?”

“Hey, where are you? Want to RP?”

“OMG you wouldn’t believe what just happened, get your butt over to xxx now!”

This in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Making OOC connections with other members of the community will never be a bad thing. Unfortunately, it has become necessary to a degree that is almost laughable in nature, and has become one of my largest frustrations with this game.

Why? Because people are SO. DARN. NEGATIVE. Almost everyone. Almost all the time. About everything. The amount of misinformation, rumour-mongering,and downright sh*t-spewing that goes on in recent days is utterly jaw dropping. I can’t talk to a single person without hearing conspiracy theories about this or that, about how who-and-who is a whiny meta-gamer, how so-and-so is the pet of a DM and gets special treatment, how such-and-such is a powergaming stomper out to ruin everyone’s fun. So much of it is so short-sighted and obviously biased that all it would take is reaching a hand out to your fellow player or DM to clear up the misunderstanding. But people are quick to grab their pitch-forks and make a devil out of anyone who isn’t in their “in” group.

In many cases I have endeavored to be a voice of reason, to point out the one-sidedness of these complaints, to defend the integrity of the server, its staff, and its players, and most of the time these things fall on deaf ears. Most people just want to gossip and complain. I’ve even gone so far as to be the mediator in some cases – sniffing out the truth, presenting the facts, explaining alternative viewpoints – all to be laughed at or ignored as being “naïve”. And I’m sick of it.

But playing on Ravenloft is a largely OOC endeavor. I’m not on in peak hours. I’m on when the server hits about 20 people, and those 20 people are peppered between areas in Vallaki, the Mist Camp, Dementilieu, or whatever dungeon is the fancy of the moment. As such, I am required to maintain OOC relationships with people or risk being stranded, with nothing to do and no idea of what is occurring in other far-off places in the server.

I avoid certain members of the community now. Not because I hate them, not because I think they’re bad people, but because I am tired. I want to play a game and have fun. I don’t want to spend hours discussing how terrible everything and everyone is. I don’t want to be tricked and bamboozled into jumping at every shadow and seeing the worst in every comment.

Large portions of the community have become increasingly toxic, and a common theme I see running between them is misinformation and lack of communication. Lack of communication between players on “opposing” sides. Lack of communication between players and staff members. A general lack of information across the board, in which hearsay whispers are allowed to fester and grow until nothing you say or do will ever trim them back again. So much of the server has become “US” against “THEM”.

There is no us against them. There is only us.

IV. On DMs, Plots, & Change
PotM has a distinct lack of active DMs. While many servers have a DM ratio of one to every fifteen players, PotM has much less than that. This leads to a lack of ongoing intrigue and lowers the number of things a player, especially a new player, can become involved with. This on top of the aforementioned lack of PC antagonists leads to player boredom and disinterest. It has also become essentially impossible for many people to become DMs. For example, I have personally been told to not bother applying to the DM team again even though I was once a DM on PotM. This has occurred to other players interested in becoming DMs as well. I would suggest the administration team allow a wider array of people to join the DM team, regardless of their own personal opinions on said players.

Regarding DM plots, while I am aware that PotM is not a PW and that many large changes can not take place in order for the team to retain the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. For example, in the previous Dementlieu revolution ran by former DM Dread, nothing the players could have done would have allowed for them to change the dark lord away from d’Honaire. In order to stymie the feeling of futility, I would suggest DMs work with custom NPCs or organizations instead where players are allowed to make an actual change. Change goes hand in hand with this. Currently, players are unable to change the setting. The creation of organizations, groups, and player goals are often sidelined in order to, once again, protect the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. Allowing groups to claim abandoned buildings (e.g., the abandoned fishing lodge) and letting them fix it up would add an extra level of commitment and excitement to the server, rather than the usual static areas and roleplay that dominates PotM.

I don't think there's much to add to this, so I'll echo your point as one I agree with. We need more DMs. Period. The ratio of player-to-DMs is absurdly skewed, and it creates a lot of frustration for those who are incapable of accomplishing what they want to accomplish (such as player factions) despite doing their utmost to create new RP opportunities and enrich the community. It also creates animosity towards those that do regularly receive DM attention and further increases the gap between those who are seen as being "favored" and those that are not. I don't necessarily agree with this point of view, but it isn't an uncommon one.

That being said, I understand just how much damage a bad DM with a wagging tongue can do to a server, and with the community being in SUCH a storm of negativity, I can see how it can be difficult to pick out the right person amidst the angry mob of waving pitch-forks. The DMs do need to be very careful about who they allow to take a leading position - but they also need to allow more people to take the position. Finding the middle ground is treacherous business.

I don't know who has applied nor why they have been denied, so I cannot speak on that account. I once suggested that a new tier of DM-ship be made... one with fewer permissions, less access to possibly "sensitive" information, but still the ability to run small events and help people out IG. I've seen it done on other servers, and I am not convinced that it's a bad idea, though I don't know what the logistics would be of implementing such a system.

One way or another, and especially with EE and the possibility of an influx of new players, I think everyone agrees that we need more people topside.

[RickDeckard]

I do not think what current speed of leveling is issue at all.
In my opinion other mentioned issues forces players focus on leveling.
Not many DMs/plots around your timezone? -> Go to dungeon.
Not got item what you need? -> To dungeon.

Dungeons made well in POTM, even despite times when server have many players and good dungeons cleared because there is not many good dungeons at all.
POTM is good on low and mid levels but because characters have nothing to do but only do dungeons - there is comes issue about leveling.
If you -truly- wishes get 20th level, you can do it in 6-8 months. But xp system and leveling made well currently.
Reduced RP xp issues was already discussed I belive and I do not think what there will be changes.

See:

Especially in regards to levelling and loot, nothing frustrates me more than finally getting to do a dungeon but the spawns are terrible (I know the more a dungeon gets used, the worse the spawns are but I honestly dislike this mechanic so much) , so its not worth me doing, having zero loot and getting hardcapped with XP restrictions when I get a decent dungeon. I've had many cases of doing one dungeon and going from no cap to mentally exhausted and being stuck on nearly levelling for weeks at a low to mid level character.

And in regards to factions, especially with the Vallaki Garda we are not meant to go out and dungeon crawl , so we often rely on Roleplay/DM XP. Once you get to 10, you're capped in the areas that you're most likely to get RP XP which is frustrating , I'll never see another level unless I'm forced to go dungeon which would just not make sense for my character to do.

[BraveSirRobin]

+1

[Pav]

I have a few short thoughts to express on the matter, specifically in regards to community toxicity and cliques.

To make them simple, this is human behavior in practice. Things that would be more eloquently termed as 'reactionary behavior' and 'tribalism'.

People are prone to congregate with others that they find like-minded or agreeable, and when two people match in that certain way, they would usually come together. We see this in everyday life, rather commonly.

To speak from experience, when I first entered the community on this server, I was pretty much alone - the only two people that wanted to guide me and befriend me soon left the server. It took me a bit of time to wiggle around and put myself out there, and eventually I got into a 'clique'. I transitioned from different group to different group, until, now, I have few friends left from each such group that I speak to regularly, though different groupings of those don't necessarily speak to each other. It's an awkward situation, to not be part of a clique, but still have very good friends in what some people consider to be those. And, hey, you know? That fits me just fine. It took time, it took effort, but I got there, being a rather socially stunted individual, and I see no reason others cannot accomplish the same if they wish to. The point being, that cliques and their existence are impossible to avoid, but in this community, as in every community and in real life, you can do your best to make the most out of it.

As for toxicity, and the "Us vs. Them" mentalities, as I already mentioned, this is a part of human nature. We all react to how we are treated, and none of us are perfect. I am certainly at fault for being extremely hurtful in the past (even though I myself did not realize as much, or tried to force my own sense of humor on others who do not view the world as I do), and for that, I have had people say mean things about me in turn, or say mean things to me. It is a vicious cycle, and none of us can be fully clean of not doing something like this. I will, however, say that it takes a mature individual to do some reflection and come to the conclusion that they may have started it with another, or that, simply, they were wrong to do so. This behavior, combined with the aforementioned review of cliques, is just the same mentality transitioning to the collective of the 'tribe'.

To conclude, I do not believe it is a problem just with our server or community, but a problem within humanity's psyche that is not readily solved, and it takes an aware individual to make steps to amend that in himself, and thus make his environment better for everyone else that shares it.

[Nemesis 24]

Going to throw my hat in the ring here on this one, going over the points that have already been made.  I'm going to second Peccavi's statement that none of this is an attack on the server or of the DM's, but instead based on observations, that are admittedly like most of the players in this thread based on limited perspective and lack of behind the scenes knowledge.  That said, we can only act on what we see, and thus perhaps though that perspective is limited it 'is' valid because its what is observed - and all that 'can' be observed.

In regards to posts made about difficulties in levelling, and change - Going to second this, and actually combine Derkot's statement and this one.  This will in fact tie into something I'm going to touch on later that I've observed, but for now - in regards to levelling, some people enjoy it, but not everyone.  I can say after doing it since this game was released, I am not that enamoured of it.  In fact, I have only two characters, and I doubt that I'll ever make any more after they are gone, because the effort it took to get them to a place of relevancy took actual years to achieve.  I enjoyed the ride, but starting from scratch doesn't appeal for a null reward - something that was also touched upon.  People complain about my character failing to take on Dark Lords, but its very firmly established that the only time that would be allowed to happen is when that character is going to be closured.  A foregone conclusion of failure isn't appealing, regardless of the story reaching a conclusion at all.  It may be a great story, and I 'do' trust the DM's to make it a great story, but the fact that it is an absolutely certainty to fail and end in not just the death but the utter destruction of the PC involved just isn't appealing, and I fail to see why that should be held against any player. 

I say this understanding that closure is an important part of the server system, that such is the nature of Gothic Horror, but a Gothic Horror story 'can' end in ways other than the character dying.  And getting into conflict with a Dark Lord should not absolutely mean closure, just as much as it shouldn't mean defeat or victory.  That conflict could roll on for quite some time, one side striving against the other openly and in secret without securing a final victory.  A Dark Lord is designed around that sort of conflict, not around simply losing against.  Conflict could exist and go on for some time, even years, with skirmishes resulting in small victories and crushing defeats on the part of the PC's, and the Dark Lord retaining their grip on power the entire time as they well should, while being simultaneously frustrated from some of their goals while achieving others.

This is brought up in counter to the point about the static setting.  I completely understand why the setting is static - time being 1 to 1, developer constraints, no new lore material to draw from, familiarity needs for new players (something that is already being complained about in another thread with what's changed from lore regarding things like Lyssa and Port) but it can actually remain static while giving the appearance of motion.  For example in Barovia, Strahd doesn't have to be defeated, but what about his minions, his vampire families, his agents?  Why can the players not strive against their designs, meet them in the field and defeat them or be defeated by them?  Maybe it is because of player reluctance to lose based on the establishment that to do so 'would' be to lose and nothing more?   Maybe it is because of the exact sentiment above on the slow rate of levelling and the inevitable attachment that such a chore creates? 

I don't answer those questions because I don't 'have' a complete answer, only speculation.  But it 'is' a shared sentiment, a shared frustration, that one cannot have even an interaction or conflict with powerful characters of the setting except to see their character die, because their own deaths are absolutely not on the table - but this ignores the fact that they do not have to be.  I recognise however this may be a mistake in player sentiment, but if it is, it is player sentiment based off player observation, and if that is the case then there needs to be observed material to counter this perception.  As it is, the Dark Lords and their minions are all too often frankly mollycoddled behind plot armour and kept precious and inviolate.  This might make them scary, but it would be more accurate to paint hem instead as simply frustrating, because there is a perception that there is nothing to be done about them or to them.  Again, this might be incorrect, it quite possibly is incorrect, but if it is then it needs to be observed to be incorrect, rather than having players hear stories of it happening years and years ago without seeing it for themselves - which is generally what seems to be happening, and the response I get when I tell these sorts of very stories is one of envy and regret that they will never see it (rightly, or wrongly).


With regards to loot - we've already seen a fantastic shift in things with what Dread put in.  I think its an encouraging first step towards such things, and we'll see more changes to come.  It encouraged a lot of dungeoning when it first came out, and will likely continue to do so, which 'does' make up for the shortfall in alternatives which Derkot mentioned - but also as they mentioned, that sort of stopgap doesn't cover things forever.  There needs to be more alternatives than dungeoning.


With regards to the playerbase - that is something we all need to work on.  Negativity and toxicity is a slippery slope and all too damnably hard to slip into.  We've all gotten angry about each other, about players and characters and DM's, all of us.  Sometimes that can fester, but we have the means to get past that.  Discord is one of our big ones, and frankly I believe that the community 'is' getting better for it.  There are moments of nastiness, but one of the most encouraging things I've seen is folks reaching out to help people on the Discord channel when there are questions being asked.  It's not hard to make friends with players by getting over what made you upset or angry, and frankly holding on to that dislike is doing you no favours whatsoever - holding on to dislike of a player does nothing to make your own playing experience better.  If someone is genuinely toxic, they'll eventually be removed for it.  We all have to make a choice not to stoop to that level, even if that can be really hard some times.


Going on to the point about DM's.  First I'm going to put it out there that I'm the player that's been talked about in regards to being asked not to apply again.  Second, as I've stated to those who I've told about that and I'm also going to say here, that its something I've admitted is completely understandable.  The team had legit issues with me being part of the DM team that they couldn't overlook.  It's no secret to a big part of the player base that I have had outbursts in the past, and I probably will again despite my best efforts, and this sort of thing is just not viewed as suitable.  So I'm not putting this here in some hamfisted way to be allowed to reapply again.  I am and shall be respecting the teams wishes, and won't waste their time in the future, and will continue running the factions I maintain and doing what I can that way to contribute to the server and the playerbase.

But we 'do' need more DM's.  We're going to EE soon, and we can and should expect an influx of players.  We have at present several active DM's but they are extremely overworked and doing a damn good job despite of it, but they have strong priority in Port, and in Hazlan, and outside of that things are rather quiet.  They need support, and not just that but the server needs more stories.

We have had, as of late, a huge focus towards mechanics.  We have more feats, more spells, more PRC's, more dungeons, more loot.  I want to pause right here and say I absolutely love all this stuff, the effort to get it in game has been astronomical and there has been vigorous discussion about it, continued reworking, balancing, and tireless efforts on behalf of EO, MAB, Arawn and other members of the Dev team, and I will in no way say something disparaging towards that effort.  Its fantastic and I don't want any of them to feel for the slightest moment that its not appreciated, and I think everyone else should keep it in mind as well - its an enormous amount of work and its all volunteer work.

However, while there has been remarkable work in this direction, I don't think anyone can honestly say they play NWN for the mechanics and the mechanics alone, or the dungeoning.  What brings people to NWN and to this server (or any other) are the stories.  And while players can tell stories, and many of us do (or try to) there is a reason why the DM mechanic exists in the game, and particularly here on this server.  And it is the 'one' thing that seperates NWN from all other games.

I'm saying this as one of the lucky ones, and I 'am' one.  I am under no illusions that I've had some fantastic luck with the DM experiences I've had over the years.  When I first came here I was a bit inflated in the head department and was a bit of a twerp (probably still am to some!), but as time has gone on I've realised just how lucky I was to be around players who were great enough to get DM attention.  I've had a blast and really enjoyed myself.  But there are players here who have never experienced what I got to enjoy, and not a few of them feel like they never will, and don't know how to change that. 

This game is great but its not going to compete with the latest AAA title RPG.  What keeps players here on this game is two fold.  The players around them, and the DM's that work with them.  We have a tool that no other game has anything close to having in the same capability and power, and we all know that.  DM's interacting with players by possessing NPC's, bringing the world to life and running stories - one shots or long involved plots, spontaneous and planned out with a few players, this is the sort of thing that brings the server completely to life, and to do that we need DM's - and frankly, it feels like we need more.

Something that needs to be made clear is that I don't doubt our DM's do what they can with what they have.  It's a volunteer job, its not paid, it takes up an enormous amount of free time and energy, and our DM's have lives to live, jobs to work, and extracurricular pursuits as well.  Sometimes things might not be up to the standard a player wishes to impose, but at the same time, its not exactly one that they 'can' impose, and such a thing reeks of entitlement.  To resent them of that is not just unfair, its rude as well.  But the workload is such that there needs to be more people contributing.  If members of the team don't feel like doing that any more aside from behind the scenes, that's fine, but they shouldn't be preventing new people to come in and do things in game for the playerbase at large.  We have players who are dedicated, driven, inspired, passionate and brilliant, who could contribute enormously to the server, who deserve more of a chance than they've been getting, not just in having the chance to be a DM but also in terms of being exposed to a DM run plot, story, or even simple day to day interactions.

I'm going to put this here to the player base now however.  I don't care how many times you've told yourself you'd never get in, I don't care what excuses you've made believing that for whatever reason you'd not succeed in your application, go and find the application form, and write up a DM application, right now.  I know there's some of you out there who want to contribute but think that you can't, but its not up to you if you can, so you won't know unless you apply, and frankly, the server needs you.  We need more DM's to help spread the workload around, to help make things easier, to bring the place to life and to tell stories. 

Here, I'll even make it easier and link the application post!  http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=21486.msg256647#msg256647

Seriously, apply.  We can't do this without you guys.

If I'm going to open up to the players to apply however, I'm going to plead with the DM team as well - please, please give some of those that apply a genuine chance.  Let them surprise you.  Don't base it off personal likes and dislikes, don't base it off the fact that they're a friend or not, base it off the fact that they can do the job and most of all contribute to the server, and that if need be you can remove them from the position.  Frankly I think some of them are all but certain to become great friends and supporters of you and the rest of your fellows, its just that they need the chance.  I can't think of a single person who doesn't want more DM's, I can't think of a single person who isn't desperate for DM plot and storylines, I can't think of any greater reason that people play here than the interaction that only a DM can provide.  Its what we are all here for, to work with and be a part of a running story, and for some of us, to tell it.  And frankly, we need more people doing that.  So please, let us have a motivated group who -want- to do it.

[Exordium]

I. On Leveling & RP XP
Leveling is one of the largest issues encountered by new and veteran players alike. Running into a “hard cap” is a common occurrence on the server, which is often discouraging. It can take one to two months to hit level ten, which is acceptable. However, leveling hits a point of absurdity when it can take over a year to reach level twenty. For casual players, or players that do not have much time to commit to the server, the leveling process can take 3 – 6 months to hit a level of ten.

It's not really a race to level 20. A year is a very decent time. Anecdotally, I can say that I've played here +10 years now, and I've never had a character to level 20. Currently I play a character who is level 17 and whom has been actively played for around 3 years.

This isn't really a problem though, since level 20 isn't a reward nor are there things only a level 20 can do.

This severely penalizes people for having outside commitments.

I see it as the opposite. If we allowed people to level up as fast as they can dungeon, then the gap between levels between those with lots of time to play vs those with little time to play would be even more massive. If there was no cap, you couldn't hope to keep up with someone who plays 30 hours a week if you only play 6 hours yourself.

This implementation essentially punishes players for roleplaying, rather than dungeoning. To me, this is unacceptable.

I don't necessarily disagree with that RP XP could be slightly higher, but most servers don't even have such a system. There's no punishment involved.

While I understand that dungeoning should be worth more XP than roleplaying, this is still a roleplaying server and RP XP should be more prominently rewarded. This is most damaging, again, to players with a limited play time, once more penalizing people for having outside commitments.

RP XP doesn't take the cap into account, so if you got many hours to play, you'd actually level comparatively faster over someone who got only a few hours to play if RP XP was higher.

II. On Loot
Another contentious topic is that of loot. Our loot tables have been bogged down by items for “RP flair,” or un-usable gear that is lovingly referred to as “vendor trash.”

The loot treasuries are being worked on as is.

It's just not very quick to do.

With that said, gear deemed as “good,” most notably that for rogues, has become increasingly hard to come by. On top of the issue of leveling is that of gearing a character up. “Good” items now have an outrageous price associated with them. There is also a huge divide in where and how gear is acquired for each class. For example, a cleric may become fully geared with all necessary items in Barovia alone, while a rogue is forced to travel to multiple domains to acquire a set of gear to achieve a decent (55+) Hide/MS.

A lot of central cleric items actually only drop in Har'Akir, while the most powerful cleric items appear only in the few of the highest tier dungeons.

Also "forced" is really the wrong word in my view, it's more that you're "excused" to travel the domains. Traveling them is a good thing.

III. A Note on the Playerbase
Now onto a topic that is often sidestepped, if not outright ignored – that of the playerbase. While many people will say, “Well negativity/toxicity comes along with any NWN server,” it is unacceptable to turn a blind eye to some of what occurs on PotM. Before anyone points out my own behavior, the players themselves have bred an environment where hostility, gossip, and underhanded attacks are acceptable, if not outright applauded. I am unable to give direct examples of this without breaching trust or confidence.

Please report such occurrences or at least ask the involved people to directly contact each other.

In my view, considering my lifelong career as a gamer, my involvement in various open source game projects, and my NWN years, PoTM is, compared, in a remarkably good place. Of course I admit that there's a possibility that my view is skewed by being a developer and an ex-DM, but for my behalf, I'm totally open to talking directly with people about any possible distrust they may have towards say, the developers, or myself.

PotM is also known as one of the most difficult servers to get involved in within the NWN community. Cliques and ostracism are common for new players, with veterans often ignoring new players and refusing to assist them. I often use multiple handles on PotM, and the difference is striking with how people treat me when they know who I am, and when they do not.

Well, it's true that there's a part of the playerbase that occasionally mistakes IC exclusiveness as OOC exclusiveness, or simply do not know how to be both exclusive IC but inclusive OOC. I'd like to say that it's not the majority, however.

Personally I also run multiple incognito accounts, and I've actually found RP pretty easily in recent years for low level characters. Rather it feels tougher for my high levels, who are already established and somewhat set in their ways.

The amount of vitriol spewed between players is astounding. Unfortunately, a server culture is not easily changed, thus I have little recommendations for how this can be altered.

Screenshot, report. There's many CC and DM (and even Dev when appropriate) members who are totally open to acting as middlemen in bringing people together or helping to fix misunderstandings in situations where there's no clear rulebreak.
 

Regarding DM plots, while I am aware that PotM is not a PW and that many large changes can not take place in order for the team to retain the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. For example, in the previous Dementlieu revolution ran by former DM Dread, nothing the players could have done would have allowed for them to change the dark lord away from d’Honaire. In order to stymie the feeling of futility, I would suggest DMs work with custom NPCs or organizations instead where players are allowed to make an actual change. Change goes hand in hand with this. Currently, players are unable to change the setting. The creation of organizations, groups, and player goals are often sidelined in order to, once again, protect the integrity of the Ravenloft canon. Allowing groups to claim abandoned buildings (e.g., the abandoned fishing lodge) and letting them fix it up would add an extra level of commitment and excitement to the server, rather than the usual static areas and roleplay that dominates PotM.

It's not necessarily just about sticking to the Ravenloft canon, but also that these world-changing events are very difficult and time-consuming to coordinate while in the end, they only involve a handful of players.

Let's say, hypothetically, that we allowed Strahd to be killed. A DM runs a quest to attain the required artifacts for an appropriate group of players, which is likely to be around 4-5 players, at most. They can never really involve anyone outside their group, since any risk of being found out is immediate death. So those 4 players are all who know about this operation.

So they get the artifacts, go to castle Ravenloft and bam, off with Strahd's head.

Now the developers have to change several hundred dialogues, modify texts and placeables in dozens of areas, rewrite loading area hints (which requires hak update), modify Castle Ravenloft to fit its new ruler, create a new Dark Lord NPC fit with its curse, write a background for it, modify enough many forum resources to make sure that everyone knows what happened, make sure that the whole developer and DM team is aware of this change, ...

All for what, essentially, involved only 4 players with the rest of the server being mere observers.

For smaller things, we have had persistent change happen. For example, the whole Zeklos affair, renovation of Ezra's church, Kroftburg deal, the Company of the Fox, so forth, all featured changes to the module, some more permanent than others. It's just very worksome to do. Modifying the module is not a quick task; the toolset is not very modern software and it's pretty slow to use. Also every change needs to be merged in by Soren. It's a lot of work to introduce persistent change, so DMs have to very carefully balance what they would want to pursue in that regard.