I've been here about a month now and so far I've not seen a single "DM Event" which I've felt comfortable taking part in - There've been a couple, to say nothing of it, but all of them I've noted to be either in late American times or set in Lucine. This is not a criticism on the DM team - I realise you guys have full plates. We've all got lives to be leading outside the server, and there's been a noticable drive to try and get people to migrate to the Port.
What I have noticed from some DMs, and for which I am rather grateful, they have a habit of popping in where there is interesting RP going on and seeking to further enhance it with atmospheric descriptions and peculiarities that emerge, for example, during Drake's many attempts to seek the path of the Blackguard, there have been some bizarre goings on such as the "squidface" entity. So when not holding social functions in Port Lucine, or blowing up the market in the wee hours of the morning, I have seen some top stuff from the team ^.-
A lot of it is though, what you're prepared to put in, and this is part of why I make antagonistic characters - They have goals of their own to work towards, and on achieving power they can become substantial foes for other PCs in the server to attempt to foil the plans of, though the issue of PVP is somewhat uncomfortable I find with the absence of the ability to permakill - just make it rather difficult for the individual to return. As I'm sure this has been endlessly debated I'm not going to give the issue any push. Though I do have a thought if anyone wishes to discuss it more privately.
I'm a firm supporter of the notion of diffusion however. I maybe hate Lucine as an area - It's hyper french, hyper flouncy, and not suited to my gritty Englishness
- but that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of other areas to play with, from the Village of Barovia to other domains (Village looks fantastic by the way. The road there being murderous does it no favours.) I think that part of what discourages diffusion is that it's so difficult for new characters to actually get anywhere or explore without a high level escort. Been murdered more than once by a Worg because I got 2-3 areas away from Vallaki, and couldn't outrun it.
On that notion, perhaps day-only "fast travel" Caravans between areas within a domain, or the use of Horses, to facilitate that movement? Would help ease the pain of some low levels feeling unable to relocate.
I don't feel that I've really been here long enough to pass rightful comment on stagnation, but I will endeavour to make the attempt;
Gundarak rebels could do with more of a DM driven impetus or a mob of players getting together to raise hell. Only seen the aftermath of one rebel instance and nothing more. It could just be I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time but I can only comment on what I've seen. Besides the Garda & the Rebels, I have seen no factions, which is slightly disheartening on the one hand because I have no idea where to turn to to evaluate them much less join them. I know they exist, but unless they actually make themselves apparent, PCs will be unable to do anything toward them without Metagaming. Again, all of these could perhaps use reinvigoration through either DM or PC-Accord initiatives.
On Cliqueism; It's an inevitable fact of life in high population servers. That's why before now, I've elected to avoid them. All that can be done is either have DM events to encourage disparate cliques to "gel" to overcome common threats and problems, or for we as individuals and groups to undertake a personal commitment to interacting more with the various others around us. This cliqueism is an issue that can threaten to alienate new players if not kept in check, and it's up to us as players to do that.
High level characters idling and bullying low level characters? Very much alive and kicking, but that's part of the privileges of being a high level character, and you can bet your butt that if all the double digit characters died off tomorrow, then a new generation would simply step in to take their place. Another issue that is down to individuals to take on a personal commitment to address, or allow to continue - Though the premise of an organised "New Character Week" is an ingenious way to take the pressure off on this front.
Lastly, the "Fear of the Night". You cannot rightly force a player to roleplay the emotion of fear - Some people don't know how or when to portray it for one - and every character is different. All you can do is give them something to fear in the Night. But I don't think that Lycan Waves (An instance I was involved with) is the best way to handle it. Either a greater atmospheric horror element to it, or more worrisome individual monsters. I think the server's A/MPC system could really be made use of here to provide that, with individuals or groups forming either a Lycan pack of smaller size but far greater atmosphere, or Vampires and Ghouls loose in the night. Many suggestions to the improvement of these A/MPCs has already been made in other threads that could further improve this.
But yes, at the end of the day, I've not been here long and I can only comment on what I've seen - but I'm enjoying my time here so far, and hope to continue to do so. Part of what I like doing is trying to feed back into the community on my experience and help produce improvements. ^.-
An observation that I have personally made that I've not seen noted prior is that the DM team seems to be understaffed. Perhaps it would be a notion to hold a recruitment drive to help keep the server dynamic & take some strain off of the existing team? I know I personally would be willing to give up my admittedly somewhat limited time to help the team in whatever ways I could - Though I fear my Toolset skills are rusty after a long time of inactivity on the building side of things. I'm sure there're other people in the playerbase which would heartily echo such sentiments. But at the end of the day, it's just a suggestion with the intent to help.
*Wipes brow* Phew that was frenetic thought and typistry post 3-hour sleep. Hope I didn't bore anyone to death =P
