Geistonomics: Why we should change XP and dungeon rewards for the better

[Dardonas]

Good to see ya!  I've had many a conversations with DMs where it's stated that group play and creating experiences for others should be put above all else.  That is the fundamental and spiritual philosophy of our module when it comes to things like RP events and DM events.  However, that is not the design philosophy of dungeons and dungeon rewards.

The Geist Phenomena

To start, I'll address what the "Geist Phenomena" is for those unaware.  Essentially, a single player character, which I am coining the term from, has done more to be inclusive on the server when it comes to dungeon content in the past few months than what has been "socially acceptable" in the norm of the server over the past year or two, due to how the dungeon mechanics work for experience and reward logistics.  Instead of a person soloing a dungeon with their friends or getting 3-5 players to do an entire dungeon amongst themselves, the player instead invites everyone to the dungeons they go to.

I think the Geist phenomena, and I say this unironically, has been great for the server.  There are many players experiencing content that they have never been able to experience before.  There have been people brought along on groups to Perfidus and Sithicus and everywhere in-between from there to Har'akir.  Ultimately, that should be what we as a community wants.  Being inclusive, sharing stories with other people.  I remember before the "Geist groups" existed, people would go off to dungeons in isolated 3-4 man groups, if not duoing or soloing dungeons.  Ultimately, that just isn't healthy or sustainable for a server that consistently hits 70-130 players during peak times.  We aren't getting any smaller as a community. 

Geistonomics

There is a mechanical downside to inviting more people than is "needed" for a dungeon.  Whether the developers will admit it or not, many players have noticed that experience in larger groups dwindles in comparison to smaller groups.  This means that if you have the large groups running through dungeon content that they will get less experience for being inclusive and inviting people along for content.  In addition to experience, loot rewards remain the same for people in a group of twenty versus a ninjalooter.  It is just logistically more efficient to have ninjalooters get items than it is for a group of 20 or so to go to a dungeon in hopes of item rewards.  You get the same amount of items and wealth rewards, but they have to be distributed across a group of 20 versus a single person. 

Solutions

I am offering two proposals for this that better reflects our server's design philosophy of creating RP and stories for others:

• Increase the shared amount of experience for larger groups rather than diminishing it
• Increase the amount of items and gold that spawn into chests or on enemies when large groups are detected in a dungeon

Now, these are some bold changes.  They may need tweaking and adjustments.  Maybe it'd be best to put a cap at how many players are "detected" for these bonuses. I don't think anyone is advocating for World of Warcraft style raids for 20-40 people in Thoth (I don't think that many people would even fit in there).  Perhaps we lower the experience for people who solo content and lower the item generation in chests for smaller groups (let's not make this a ninjalooting thread).  I am open to other proposals to this system.

Why solve a problem that doesn't exist?

I can assure you the problem does quite exist.  I do not think I am unique in experiencing that there is a sort of toxicity in certain parts of the playerbase around being in larger groups because of the XP and loot logistic problem; I have seen people quite ready to get into PvP conflict over dungeons instead of just joining up and doing the content together.  I think that soloing dungeons is fundamentally unhealthy when the server and the content on it is as limited as it is.   If 1-2 people do a dungeon, that means that the other groups aren't doing that dungeon.  If one ninjalooter is going around killing hags and destroying the spawn for groups, that's unhealthy for groups that want to experience that content as a group if they show up and see the entire place has been toasted.

[Revenant]

I see your point about getting people to experience content they wouldn't otherwise, but I don't think the answer is encouraging massive raid groups to run through and get a tour of the server. I think that's probably a bit of hyperbole, anyway, but I haven't been along on a "Geist group" myself. There's certainly a number of dungeons that I never/rarely see the inside of simply because they're not worth the trip, even to a hardened ninjalooter. Jezra's Ice Palace, The Lich Cutscene, a few others come to mind.

The server's designed around the 4-6 person adventuring group, generally, which is also where DnD is typically aimed at. I really don't think 3-4 person groups should be punished, nor should there be a punishment for ninjalooting. An XP reduction for solo clearing I consider something that might be healthy, maybe, but am still a bit wary of. I think my main idea here is that a party of 3-6 people is not an "isolated" group, and characterizing people that go to dungeons in those numbers as such feels almost like an attack.

As to an alternative solution - a large part of the "damage" that people soloing dungeons do is that you'll have a party show up to a dungeon only to find its spawn has been decimated to worthlessness. We have a finite amount of dungeons, even with the fantastic legwork that Cosmic and EO did over the not-too-distant past, and the spawn strength timers on many of them - while intended to encourage a focus on RP instead of grinding - often lead to wasted treks and bad feelings. Speeding up the timers would, I think, address a lot of the problem at the heart of this thread.

[Dardonas]

I think my main idea here is that a party of 3-6 people is not an "isolated" group, and characterizing people that go to dungeons in those numbers as such feels almost like an attack.

Just to clarify, I'm not intending to make it sound like I'm attacking people who dungeon in groups of 3-5.  That's my preferred group size, myself.  I have no hard feelings against people who go in groups of 3-6 people.  I think the issue comes in when people solo or duo content. That sort of thing is what harms the experience of others, such as hag killing where it decimates the spawn for the benefit of one player and the detriment of anyone else wanting to do that dungeon.

As to an alternative solution - a large part of the "damage" that people soloing dungeons do is that you'll have a party show up to a dungeon only to find its spawn has been decimated to worthlessness. We have a finite amount of dungeons, even with the fantastic legwork that Cosmic and EO did over the not-too-distant past, and the spawn strength timers on many of them - while intended to encourage a focus on RP instead of grinding - often lead to wasted treks and bad feelings. Speeding up the timers would, I think, address a lot of the problem at the heart of this thread.

I agree that spawn timers would alleviate that.  Also so would more dungeons, though I don't think we would notice any improvement with just one or two extra dungeons added, but we'd need a whole ten or so to really alleviate that problem of showing up somewhere and seeing a place is already cleared.  I know that's likely not too realistic, I am not faulting the dev team or anyone saying "where's my dungies, devs!" It takes time to design these things and I have the utmost respect for the developers.  That said, there is a bit of a dungeon shortage for the amount of players we currently have.

The problem with increasing spawn timers is that dungeons then become farmed.  If the shipwreck respawned every hour, it would be done on cooldown.  I have no doubt of that because it is already one of the most farmed dungeons.  Spawn timers being shorter also increases this hag-hunting issue, where places like the Swamp, the Reaver Cave, and the Forest Fane are seldom ever at a good spawn because ninjalooters come in and kill the hags that are tied to how fast the place respawns rather than be subject to the typical ninjalooting "cooldown."

[apeppertoo]

I'm of the opinion that reduced XP and no change to loot for oversized groups is an intended feature of good design. Bringing more bodies to throw at a problem vastly reduces its intended challenge, I'm not sure why the rewards should be increased unless there's a mechanism to also scale up the challenge and keep things fair. I think that'd be a very big project and hard to make in a way that can't be subverted or perverted.

[Bad_Bud]

As one who enjoys suckling XP from the teat of Geist, I'm not sure it's an ideal situation. His attitude is a great change for the server, but in my experience the ultra-large groups become so chaotic there is little room for gameplay or roleplay. A mob balls through a dungeon in one or two rest cycles, then moves on to the next. Repeat until an entire region is desolated. Would smaller groups desolate a region equally fast? I don't know. I agree we definitely need more dungeons, and that the larger groups are inevitable with the current player count.

[foxtale]

A solution would be to increase overall XP gain but harden the cap a little more. That way, there is only so much need to do dungeons and every single player would have to graze the fields less frequently.

It means there is less to do for players that enjoy dungeoning more than roleplay. I am personally fine with that, but aware of the fact that it is a server-philosophy consideration. It is simply the most elegant solution to the problem imo, since we can't expect devs to crank out enjoyable dungeons at a higher rate.


However, I am also fine as is. I have yet to play a character actively that struggles to reach blind drive.

[BwpsychoName]

As to an alternative solution - a large part of the "damage" that people soloing dungeons do is that you'll have a party show up to a dungeon only to find its spawn has been decimated to worthlessness. We have a finite amount of dungeons, even with the fantastic legwork that Cosmic and EO did over the not-too-distant past, and the spawn strength timers on many of them - while intended to encourage a focus on RP instead of grinding - often lead to wasted treks and bad feelings. Speeding up the timers would, I think, address a lot of the problem at the heart of this thread.

+1

[Dardonas]

As one who enjoys suckling XP from the teat of Geist, I'm not sure it's an ideal situation. His attitude is a great change for the server, but in my experience the ultra-large groups become so chaotic there is little room for gameplay or roleplay. A mob balls through a dungeon in one or two rest cycles, then moves on to the next. Repeat until an entire region is desolated. Would smaller groups desolate a region equally fast? I don't know. I agree we definitely need more dungeons, and that the larger groups are inevitable with the current player count.

I can say that a group of 3-5 that is well-composed can take care of a dungeon as fast as a Geist-style group, if not a bit faster due to less logistics of having to figure out ward management or loot distribution.  I've been in the 3-5 sized groups that has one-rested Sithicus barrows, two-rested Perfidus.  Even in those 3-5 size groups RP is minimal.  I find myself communicating more and RPing more in the Geist-style groups personally, granted its generally to discuss wards or ask for things like bard song.

[Favee]

Would smaller groups desolate a region equally fast? I don't know.

I'll just chime in and say Yes, they do.  I've been part of, and seen some pretty regular dungeon groups that slam through Perfidus -> Sithicus -> Ghastria -> Aboleth in under 2.5 hours in total.  Then they split off to ninja loot / solo or duo content that is slightly easier.  Hags, Thoth temple, Trolls, Hazlan etc.

Though I think the biggest issue is something I'm completely and wholly guilty of doing.  Ninja looting mid-tier dungeons that you need to kill something to have a rare chance to drop something good.  This ruins the dungeon spawn for groups who actually want to clear the content.

Most ninja looting anymore isn't even with stealth.  Its just running the Tour de Hags, running past everything in the shipwreck, sprinting through Perfidus, or any of the high end dungeons.  The Mist dragon is killed solo very easily by most casters, or looted with Expertise / Mind blank and a good crowbar.

A lot of these ninja looting methods effectively ruin the spawn without actually clearing the content or dungeon.  Which can lead to groups showing up and feeling bad.

[Evendur]

Why solve a problem that doesn't exist?

I can assure you the problem does quite exist.  I do not think I am unique in experiencing that there is a sort of toxicity in certain parts of the playerbase around being in larger groups because of the XP and loot logistic problem;[...]

I think there is a significant misunderstanding here.
Going into a dungeon with a large group is very chaotic and takes a great toll on the players, especially those leading the groups and keeping them together. Running through the mists to Perfidius with 15 people is hell, literally!
And if you are suppose to effectively ward a group, perhaps having to coordinate with one or even two other casters, its even worse.

Most people who I have heard say they do not want more then 6 people in a group did not care about the XP at all, often leaving afterwards without asking for a share of the treasure as well.
Most of the dungeons are well designed for lets say 4-7 people.
Trolls are probably one of the exceptions and I have never had anyone say they dont want someone to join for that.

The assumption that some players prefer smaller groups for xp seems completely off to me.

tldr; Larger groups are hard to coordinate and ward, leading to a more relaxing experience if one is to go with a smaller group instead


Solution idea

The one issue that seems to be quite prominent is that once an effective group has found itself, they clear large parts of the servers dungeons in a short timespan. This is especially true for those who are looking forward to reaching a new lvl and probably quite relatable for most.

While there is a mechanism to slow down xp gain if a character is progressing too fast, it does not affect those groups, especially if they are already in blind drive.

What could help instead is an additional daily XP cap, that triggers after a character has completed 2 or 3 dungeons and that requires a cool down of several hours, which then leads to either RP activities or requires the player to look for a new group later. Both would solve the described issue.

[edit]
The idea behind this solution is that clearing a dungeon or two will satisfy most players and leave them content for the day, leading to more RP as well. The described solution may lead to the existing dungeons being /split/ among the player base if the characters do not gain any XP after clearing the third dungeon in a day. Having cleared two dungeons in a row will probably leave most players in a state of satisfaction and slight exhaustion and everything beyond this often feels more like grinding anyway, so why not mechanically remove any XP related reward for that "grind"

[Dardonas]

The one issue that seems to be quite prominent is that once an effective group has found itself, they clear large parts of the servers dungeons in a short timespan. This is especially true for those who are looking forward to reaching a new lvl and probably quite relatable for most.

While there is a mechanism to slow down xp gain if a character is progressing too fast, it does not affect those groups, especially if they are already in blind drive.

What could help instead is an additional daily XP cap, that triggers after a character has completed 2 or 3 dungeons and that requires a cool down of several hours, which then leads to either RP activities or requires the player to look for a new group later. Both would solve the described issue.

You're missing the point.  Dungeons are already cleared out of entire regions by small groups.  Those small groups do it because you get more experience and more loot per person in comparison to a larger group. 

My point is this: we should be incentivize people to not feel like they have to exclude people from groups, but rather be inclusive and promote having larger dungeon groups.  That does not mean you have to bring 50 people to Perfidus or Sithicus.  Some dungeons are just better with smaller numbers from a strategic point of view with the amount of space you have to fight in.  Not all of them, however.

Right now, conventional wisdom for dungeons is that "more people = less loot and experience for me."  That design principle, in my opinion, shouldn't stick when the bulk of the story on this server is how we are supposed to create bonds and connections and relationships with other people through storytelling.  I know that going to kill hags isn't exactly compelling storytelling for some people, but it doesn't mean that it isn't an IC thing and it isn't something some people enjoy.

[Evendur]

[...]  Dungeons are already cleared out of entire regions by small groups.  Those small groups do it because you get more experience and more loot per person in comparison to a larger group. 
[...]

Not sure how to say this but that assumption seems simply wrong to me.
I didnt even know there was a relation between group size and xp and from what I have heard many thought it was just a rumor as well.
Maybe there are groups/players who decide to go with a smaller group for XP but I have not met a single one within the year I have been here.

So at the very least I would say that this is, if at all, only a small part of the issue, while coordination issues is probably a lot more often a reason to leave someone behind.

If the XP is actually related to group size just remove that, I dont mind. But I dont think it will have any significant impact at all. Keeping a group from clearing dungeons one after another by capping the daily xp or something like that, will likely have a bigger effect.

Not to mention if a "Geist-Group" runs through the server to clear everything, the ones logging afterwards will still have a problem. If you dont get more XP after clearing a few dungeons in a day, there will be enough for everyone, whether groups are comprised of 3 or 20 people.

[PrimetheGrime]

More dungeons aren't the answer here. It's like having a road get congested and so you build another one that also gets congested. If anything were to change, it'd be the spawn timers. Changing the xp gain on groups larger than 6 for the dungeons would incentivize that larger group play which is frankly, not the size of group for just about any dungeon in the server. The work required to rebalance that is lot. I'd be looking for less time intensive solutions on this

[SwordChucks]

Could we add a  “Looking for group” channel as well?
How about end game raids?  Set pieces for armor would be awesome! While we’re at it how about instanced dungeons you can queue up for, as it seems you want to turn this into Neverwinter Adventures.

Geist is great, he is inclusive and yes without him players would never see much of this content.  However I think Geist is a bandaid to a bigger issue that once your done with Barovia, for many it becomes a gear/xp grind.  MC is not a RP hub lol he way vallaki is, and no one really seems to care.

But I don’t think incentivizing 30 man raids to molten core for my paladin pauldrons should be a focus on an rp server… instead I think MC needs to be replaced or tweaked to encourage rp the way Vallaki does, perhaps have vistani hire players as guards ie like Garda etc and access to later stage dungeons shouldn’t be so  nefarious ….

[MAB77]

Could we add a  “Looking for group” channel as well?

There is the ingame "Looking for Roleplay" (LFRP) feature precisely for the purpose of bringing players together. You can otherwise schedule events through the forum.

[Dardonas]

Could we add a  “Looking for group” channel as well?
How about end game raids?  Set pieces for armor would be awesome! While we’re at it how about instanced dungeons you can queue up for, as it seems you want to turn this into Neverwinter Adventures.

Geist is great, he is inclusive and yes without him players would never see much of this content.  However I think Geist is a bandaid to a bigger issue that once your done with Barovia, for many it becomes a gear/xp grind.  MC is not a RP hub lol he way vallaki is, and no one really seems to care.

But I don’t think incentivizing 30 man raids to molten core for my paladin pauldrons should be a focus on an rp server… instead I think MC needs to be replaced or tweaked to encourage rp the way Vallaki does, perhaps have vistani hire players as guards ie like Garda etc and access to later stage dungeons shouldn’t be so  nefarious ….

I feel this isn't a fair criticism and is needlessly condescending, not very constructive and also demonstrates you really haven't read my suggestion. 

Something I specifically stated was that we should probably cap the number of people that can actually increase experience; I'd suggest that number is 10.  I'm not advocating massive groups, I'm stating that we should not be punitive (in both experience and rewards) to people who want to have larger groups and that we should decentivize the solo/duo groups that happen on the server.

Unfortunately, whether the playerbase likes it or not, these "Geist-style groups" are probably going to be more common given the amount of content there is and the vast number of players there are.  Love it or hate it, our community is growing and some of the past design philosophies clash a bit with having a larger playerbase.

[EO]

It's a matter of balance; considering dungeons are built with a party of 4-6 in mind, it makes sense to reward people less if they are in larger groups. After all, larger groups should let most people in those groups tackle challenges they wouldn't normally be able to beat and thus get more XP than they would if they were in level-appropriate dungeons in smaller groups. As such, it makes sense to decrease XP gains since there's less challenge.

If anything, we should continue the process of rebalancing existing dungeons so people aren't incentivized to complete the same 6-7 dungeons over and over again, both by toning down overly generous dungeons and bumping up less rewarding ones. Obviously that's easier said than done but it's the most efficient way to tackle this. Of course, there's the matter of adding more dungeons, and perhaps tightening the XP cap penalties (a state of blind drive where you reach 0 XP gains rather than close to 0 would help).

[Abear]

See? Yall never listen. Stop asking for more xp or you're gonna get less xp.

[SoggyBiscuit]

See? Yall never listen. Stop asking for more xp or you're gonna get less xp.

+1

[Hallvor Hadiya]

See? Yall never listen. Stop asking for more xp or you're gonna get less xp.

God, you make the community sound like a battered house wife, whose afraid of her drunk husband coming home from a tough day at the digital mines.

But more seriously we're a growing community that has only limited content, it's simply the population count is different from what it once was and these threads suggest or try to address them. There are really only two options more dungeons or fundamental changes to the system. I'm no fan of what EO said as it seems to punish players for playing the game, but its something that should be eventually addressed. If the server is meant to be something in the eyes of the DEV team so be it, but I don't think we should be afraid to suggest changes or examine the system.

Otherwise, why have a Module Feedback and Suggestions.

[EO]

But more seriously we're a growing community that has only limited content, it's simply the population count is different from what it once was and these threads suggest or try to address them. There are really only two options more dungeons or fundamental changes to the system. I'm no fan of what EO said as it seems to punish players for playing the game, but its something that should be eventually addressed. If the server is meant to be something in the eyes of the DEV team so be it, but I don't think we should be afraid to suggest changes or examine the system.

The reason I'd consider giving 0 XP past some point is that right now when someone's in a very deep state of blind drive, their XP gains are very close to 0; I think they can even be under 1 XP per monster eventually. At that point, that person is clearing content and "ruining" spawns for others for little to no gains but still sees see the "Experience gained" message, so keeps trucking on. It'd be best then to just give 0 XP so the person knows where they stand and perhaps takes a pause from dungeoning.

The goal of the XP cap in the first place was to encourage people to not grind endlessly; if people still grind endlessly even when they're at the extreme end of the XP cap that system isn't working fully as intended.

[SwordChucks]

Could we add a  “Looking for group” channel as well?
How about end game raids?  Set pieces for armor would be awesome! While we’re at it how about instanced dungeons you can queue up for, as it seems you want to turn this into Neverwinter Adventures.

Geist is great, he is inclusive and yes without him players would never see much of this content.  However I think Geist is a bandaid to a bigger issue that once your done with Barovia, for many it becomes a gear/xp grind.  MC is not a RP hub lol he way vallaki is, and no one really seems to care.

But I don’t think incentivizing 30 man raids to molten core for my paladin pauldrons should be a focus on an rp server… instead I think MC needs to be replaced or tweaked to encourage rp the way Vallaki does, perhaps have vistani hire players as guards ie like Garda etc and access to later stage dungeons shouldn’t be so  nefarious ….

I feel this isn't a fair criticism and is needlessly condescending, not very constructive and also demonstrates you really haven't read my suggestion. 

Something I specifically stated was that we should probably cap the number of people that can actually increase experience; I'd suggest that number is 10.  I'm not advocating massive groups, I'm stating that we should not be punitive (in both experience and rewards) to people who want to have larger groups and that we should decentivize the solo/duo groups that happen on the server.

Unfortunately, whether the playerbase likes it or not, these "Geist-style groups" are probably going to be more common given the amount of content there is and the vast number of players there are.  Love it or hate it, our community is growing and some of the past design philosophies clash a bit with having a larger playerbase.

I’m sorry if I came off condescending but the suggestions your providing don’t seem in line with what is supposed to be a role play server and would work better on an action style server or for mmo raids  instead. 

Whatever magic was created in Barovia / Vallaki should be replicated in mist camp so you don’t need 10+ raids In order to earn xp/loot - 4-6 should be the cap for most dungeons and at heart the focus should be on the RP not powering thru a dungeon as quickly as possible and calling 2 minutes of chat about it  back at MC a good “rp” session ..

[Revenant]

Could we add a  “Looking for group” channel as well?
How about end game raids?  Set pieces for armor would be awesome! While we’re at it how about instanced dungeons you can queue up for, as it seems you want to turn this into Neverwinter Adventures.

Geist is great, he is inclusive and yes without him players would never see much of this content.  However I think Geist is a bandaid to a bigger issue that once your done with Barovia, for many it becomes a gear/xp grind.  MC is not a RP hub lol he way vallaki is, and no one really seems to care.

But I don’t think incentivizing 30 man raids to molten core for my paladin pauldrons should be a focus on an rp server… instead I think MC needs to be replaced or tweaked to encourage rp the way Vallaki does, perhaps have vistani hire players as guards ie like Garda etc and access to later stage dungeons shouldn’t be so  nefarious ….

I feel this isn't a fair criticism and is needlessly condescending, not very constructive and also demonstrates you really haven't read my suggestion. 

Something I specifically stated was that we should probably cap the number of people that can actually increase experience; I'd suggest that number is 10.  I'm not advocating massive groups, I'm stating that we should not be punitive (in both experience and rewards) to people who want to have larger groups and that we should decentivize the solo/duo groups that happen on the server.

Unfortunately, whether the playerbase likes it or not, these "Geist-style groups" are probably going to be more common given the amount of content there is and the vast number of players there are.  Love it or hate it, our community is growing and some of the past design philosophies clash a bit with having a larger playerbase.

I’m sorry if I came off condescending but the suggestions your providing don’t seem in line with what is supposed to be a role play server and would work better on an action style server or for mmo raids  instead. 

Whatever magic was created in Barovia / Vallaki should be replicated in mist camp so you don’t need 10+ raids In order to earn xp/loot - 4-6 should be the cap for most dungeons and at heart the focus should be on the RP not powering thru a dungeon as quickly as possible and calling 2 minutes of chat about it  back at MC a good “rp” session ..

Eh. The focus being on RP and having a healthy PvE environment aren't mutually exclusive. I'm generally in favor of dungeons not dragging on since, at least in my experience, most substantive RP happens outside of areas beset with spawn timers and loot containers. Talking isn't a free action in NWN, and the dungeons demand enough of your attention that typing out lengthy emotes can and will get you killed in the frontline from time to time. That, and there's only really so many ways to skin a cat after the nth run of a dungeon.

[mappinger]

Also it is worth pointing out the primary reason that "Geist Groups" exist (and I celebrate Geist's inclusive spirit on the server, which helps so that a great number of players aren't always left out of action content).

By the time that a rare visit comes to a gathering area by a level-appropriate mage warder and/or rogue/beguiler, the amount of time has passed for 8-10-12-15 others to arrive who can't do the locks/traps and mage armor/stoneskins.

So without a "Geist Group," if group size was held at the normal 4-7, you'd have a lot of people that struggle to get into dungeon content with too few warders/trappers to go around.

[SwordChucks]

Could we add a  “Looking for group” channel as well?
How about end game raids?  Set pieces for armor would be awesome! While we’re at it how about instanced dungeons you can queue up for, as it seems you want to turn this into Neverwinter Adventures.

Geist is great, he is inclusive and yes without him players would never see much of this content.  However I think Geist is a bandaid to a bigger issue that once your done with Barovia, for many it becomes a gear/xp grind.  MC is not a RP hub lol he way vallaki is, and no one really seems to care.

But I don’t think incentivizing 30 man raids to molten core for my paladin pauldrons should be a focus on an rp server… instead I think MC needs to be replaced or tweaked to encourage rp the way Vallaki does, perhaps have vistani hire players as guards ie like Garda etc and access to later stage dungeons shouldn’t be so  nefarious ….

I feel this isn't a fair criticism and is needlessly condescending, not very constructive and also demonstrates you really haven't read my suggestion. 

Something I specifically stated was that we should probably cap the number of people that can actually increase experience; I'd suggest that number is 10.  I'm not advocating massive groups, I'm stating that we should not be punitive (in both experience and rewards) to people who want to have larger groups and that we should decentivize the solo/duo groups that happen on the server.

Unfortunately, whether the playerbase likes it or not, these "Geist-style groups" are probably going to be more common given the amount of content there is and the vast number of players there are.  Love it or hate it, our community is growing and some of the past design philosophies clash a bit with having a larger playerbase.

I’m sorry if I came off condescending but the suggestions your providing don’t seem in line with what is supposed to be a role play server and would work better on an action style server or for mmo raids  instead. 

Whatever magic was created in Barovia / Vallaki should be replicated in mist camp so you don’t need 10+ raids In order to earn xp/loot - 4-6 should be the cap for most dungeons and at heart the focus should be on the RP not powering thru a dungeon as quickly as possible and calling 2 minutes of chat about it  back at MC a good “rp” session ..

Eh. The focus being on RP and having a healthy PvE environment aren't mutually exclusive. I'm generally in favor of dungeons not dragging on since, at least in my experience, most substantive RP happens outside of areas beset with spawn timers and loot containers. Talking isn't a free action in NWN, and the dungeons demand enough of your attention that typing out lengthy emotes can and will get you killed in the frontline from time to time. That, and there's only really so many ways to skin a cat after the nth run of a dungeon.

Fair, but I don’t think the solution is to incentivize large mercenary companies to power raid dungeons … I wonder if an ambient quest reward system would serve the purpose better?

For example on Arelith, you can certainly go dungeon delving - but you can get quests from an npc - that when you achieve the prerequisites you earn gold and xp….

As POtM isn’t Arelith maybe that could be tweaked a bit to suit the server and limit blind drive xp grinding … limited number of quests per day… maybe come is only earned through those quests?  Not sure this is the answer either, but massive raid parties just don’t seem to be the vibe of the server either ..