questions for the LA nominees

[Twin Axes]

Since one of the self nominating threads has been locked, and I want to hear each of the nominee's take on the following issues, I am starting a new thread.

Of late, certain questions regarding the gameplay experience of new characters have been brought up. These relate to survivability, level discrepancies, difficulties finding games, and having to go through a "grind" to reach a point of meaningful gameplay. I think these problems are central to the question of Alfa's ability to keep new players and retain old ones. Things were different in the old days when the Alfa population was plentiful. Today it's the buyers' (players') market. What issues affect players of newly rolled PCs negatively and what can be done about it?

The following points are relevant.

1) Survivability. When a new PC is rolled, it is created with long term development in terms both of build and story in mind. Considerabe mental effort goes into this elaborate contstruction with the idea that it should be able to provide entertainment and imaginative sustenance for years. The deadliness of the Alfa environment can put an often arbitrary end to these projects. I personally lost two interesting character concepts within a week to spawns on BG. First instance, a group of spawns appeared right next to the target of a static that by its description should have been manageable by a first level PC. Second instance, a mugger appeared on the street of BG and demanded money from my PC, who decided to fight and was killed in two swift blows. Each of these instances increased my sense of burn out and made me consider taking an extended break. My current degree of Alfa addiction proved stronger. However, if Alfa is concerned with keeping players, this kind of occurence is a problem. Maybe there should be clearer information, such as for example advisory level flags, for statics.

1b) Which brings up another point. With fewer and fewer players around, more of us are left with nothing but statics to do until an appropriate group becomes available. Who should statics be aimed at? Maybe they should be mainly be directed toward soloing level 1 PCs. Or at least scale to the PCs carrying them out. 'The horror', you say? How is this worse than running mail statics back and forth, people do that all the time, solo. Adventuring, not chores, is after all what adventurers are supposed to do. Which is a decent segue into point

2) RPXP. One of the major causes of level discrepancies has got to be the RPXP that keeps ticking in. You can potentially reach epic levels by farting endlessly in a pub. By this logic, every peasant should be level 20. "But adventurers are exceptional!" Adventurers should reach excellence by what they do, not by what they "are". "But RPXP is one of the ways a lone player can earn XP". Is this really the kind of gameplay we want? I have started emoting every now and then to make sure I get the RP check. That's retarded. Roleplaying is its own reward, and the reason we play in Alfa instead of in some farming powerleveling place. Remove RPXP, make static rewards higher.

3) Difficulties finding game. It has been discussed muchly. Maybe each server could have a dedicated low level time slot, on a weekend to accomodate all timezones, either with a dedicated DM or DMs rotating. On TSM, e.g., the Argent Legion could have weekly 'jobs' which levels 1-3 could sign up to.

4) The grind. It shouldn't feel like that. It should be high adventure right out of the box. What can be done to speed up level progression towards, say level 3? I am against a higher level start, but one should get to survivabilty pretty fast.

5) Level discrepancies. This is what makes it harder for different players to have meaningful gameplay together. Would you consider speeding up XP gains at low levels and slowing it down after mid level?

If these issues reflect more than a vocal minority view, would you consider ways to deal with them? I will vote for whoever gives the right answers.

[shad0wfax]

The bulk of your concerns and questions fall outside of the domain of the LA and instead lie within the domain of the DMA, regarding moderated wealth and level advancement, and to a lesser extent the DM teams of the individual servers and the players themselves.

I'll be happy to answer your questions, but I will do so via PM, in IRC, or in-game on the BG server in the OOC start area, as I think that these questions are best answered in a more personal manner, rather than handled in this forum.

If that is acceptable to you, I'd like to talk with you about this.

If you truly wish for a public answer, I will warn you ahead of time that many of these questions will result in debate, possible flaming, trolling, or long tangents and derailing of the thread, until it reaches ten pages and is locked, just like Xan's PC death thread was locked.

[Twin Axes]

Yes, the issues are contentious, which is why I am only asking for the input of the LA nominees. So don't answer point by point then, but can you make a general statement as to how conservative you are in regards to issues such as these? Everything works as intended, leave well enough alone, or some of this could and should be addressed?

Edit: I guess if you want to give me a more detailed response in PMs, please go ahead.

[CloudDancing]

These are just my opinions as a player and DM. They don't really influence much of what I do as a LA, but I figure I might as well answer them for fun.

PS. Sorry we had to lock that thread, people got way out of hand.

1) Survivability. When a new PC is rolled, it is created with long term development in terms both of build and story in mind. Considerabe mental effort goes into this elaborate contstruction with the idea that it should be able to provide entertainment and imaginative sustenance for years. The deadliness of the Alfa environment can put an often arbitrary end to these projects. I personally lost two interesting character concepts within a week to spawns on BG. First instance, a group of spawns appeared right next to the target of a static that by its description should have been manageable by a first level PC. Second instance, a mugger appeared on the street of BG and demanded money from my PC, who decided to fight and was killed in two swift blows. Each of these instances increased my sense of burn out and made me consider taking an extended break. My current degree of Alfa addiction proved stronger. However, if Alfa is concerned with keeping players, this kind of occurence is a problem. Maybe there should be clearer information, such as for example advisory level flags, for statics.

I've been around awhile and I firmly believe that it is unwise to try to solo anything in Alfa's PW environments. Is it possible for you to reach level 2 or 3 on static content? Yes, but it is all a measure of class/race/build, previous knowledge of the quests, and your ability to mash buttons correctly. Should you strive to level solo? No. If you want your characters to survive in our worlds you have to build a party and go with that party. Sometimes that means redoing quests to help people and sometimes that means roleplaying around things a little bit, but survival in D&D is based classically on party play.

1b) Which brings up another point. With fewer and fewer players around, more of us are left with nothing but statics to do until an appropriate group becomes available. Who should statics be aimed at? Maybe they should be mainly be directed toward soloing level 1 PCs. Or at least scale to the PCs carrying them out. 'The horror', you say? How is this worse than running mail statics back and forth, people do that all the time, solo. Adventuring, not chores, is after all what adventurers are supposed to do. Which is a decent segue into point

Statics are aimed at bored people with nothing to do. There are a selection of statics aimed at level 1s and I think that is just fine. There is no reason for a level one to blow all the statics on every server in the first four levels of play. It is just something you do to pass the time and/or enjoy and bond with your adventuring buddies.

2) RPXP. One of the major causes of level discrepancies has got to be the RPXP that keeps ticking in. You can potentially reach epic levels by farting endlessly in a pub. By this logic, every peasant should be level 20. "But adventurers are exceptional!" Adventurers should reach excellence by what they do, not by what they "are". "But RPXP is one of the ways a lone player can earn XP". Is this really the kind of gameplay we want? I have started emoting every now and then to make sure I get the RP check. That's retarded. Roleplaying is its own reward, and the reason we play in Alfa instead of in some farming powerleveling place. Remove RPXP, make static rewards higher.

RPXP is a reward for going around independently with a party and roleplaying together. I don't think it was ever intended for anyone to sit about and emote now and then to keep getting in that miniscule tick of XP. I find the situation of feeling like you HAVE to do that to advance particularly depressing. Stuff should be happening! Players should be making it happen unless DMs are making it happen.

3) Difficulties finding game. It has been discussed muchly. Maybe each server could have a dedicated low level time slot, on a weekend to accomodate all timezones, either with a dedicated DM or DMs rotating. On TSM, e.g., the Argent Legion could have weekly 'jobs' which levels 1-3 could sign up to.

Yes, finding people can suck. It often happens that the shift of the planets and sun do not align perfectly for a DM and a Player or a Player and other Players to meet up with each other. We created time zone forums for people to connect in their particular time zone with other players and dms. I am not sure that is fully being utilized at this time, but it should be! I agree that having weekly set encounters is a good idea too and encourages party play and independant RP. We had it going on for the last five months pretty weel, but as of late people have just been super busy with real life from what they have communicated to me. Online gameplay is always unpredictable.

4) The grind. It shouldn't feel like that. It should be high adventure right out of the box. What can be done to speed up level progression towards, say level 3? I am against a higher level start, but one should get to survivabilty pretty fast.

Well so far the only way to expedite the process is leveling is to join a dedicated campaign. There is no more consistent way to find both the fun experience of D&D play AND get consistent XP. The other scenario is rather simple. Find a buddy, start on TSM in Rivermoot, work your way over to High Hold, and do some side quests for Rauvenwatch and in Silverymoon. You can basically do the same in BG, but with mail statics, city watch statics (to a certain point, for then they get deadly), and "around town" sort of quests you get from random merchants and people.

5) Level discrepancies. This is what makes it harder for different players to have meaningful gameplay together. Would you consider speeding up XP gains at low levels and slowing it down after mid level?

I think it is totally possible to have meaningful cross-level experiences with or without a DM. The times with a DM are easier and it is up to a character to plan for their own survival or realize they are entirely dependant upon a PC to get them through an experience. There is a silent agreement every time you enter into a DM'd state that you may loose your character. So it is up to you if you decide to go with a level 17 and get caught in the crossfire. The thing is there is always a chance that a low level could easily do something amazingly creative and save the high-levels ass, even with a quickly dumped CLW.

If these issues reflect more than a vocal minority view, would you consider ways to deal with them? I will vote for whoever gives the right answers.

I say take it up with the DMA or the PA as a group. Focus on the most important issues and cite the areas you'd like to see changes in an organized manner and propose reasonable changes that can be implemented easily.

[shad0wfax]

Executive summary:

You've had a better opportunity for your level 1's than I ever had on my first few characters, even as recent as two years ago, and I feel that many of the changes on ALFA, which I believe are for the better, have gone unnoticed or have been taken for granted by you.

Change happens, but it happens a bit more slowly here than you might prefer. I advise patience as a player, patience with DMs, and patience with your character advancement.

• PC "survivability" is something best analyzed and addressed at the individual server level, and the HDM of said server has some leeway with this. Furthermore, PC advancement falls within the domain of the DMA, not the LA. Although your question is definitely a valid one, this is not something that is directly related to the LA.
  
  Where your specific instances are mentioned, your second PC was awarded a masterwork weapon as starting equipment from his regional background, according to BG house rules, and I personally awarded a rather significant armor upgrade to him in a DM quest. Your character had considerable wealth in terms of combat-effective gear when he died.
  
  Your character perished because you were soloing a static with him in the Cloakwood and doing so at night, no less. Your character got jumped by goblin shamans. The Cloakwood is known server-wide (ic and ooc) to be a dangerous place. Fighting enemies at night is known (ic and ooc) to be ill-advised, given a choice, as the spawns in the Cloakwood tend to be more dangerous at night. Lastly, soloing is known (ic and ooc) to be a bad idea ALFA wide.
  
  As sad as it was to see your character die at the feet of a guard who was trying to help you, (and who was at 1 hit point when it killed the last of the two goblin shamans that did you in) there was literally nothing I could have done about it. Your character died because you, the player, chose to take very high risks for your character's level, and the random nature of the spawns and dice rolls did you in. This really is not a LA issue. This is not even a DMA, HDM, or DM issue; this is a player issue. ALFA has a generous death-floor system, that prevents characters from instantly dying to massive damage, but stabilizing and surviving any fight is rare without help from other PC's nearby; this is by design, and reflects ALFA's pillars of perma-death, while still offering some forgiveness for random death. Even "Save or Die" spells and effects follow the death-floor bleeding out rule. The only effect in ALFA that I know of which will end your game without a death floor script or DM involvement is being turned to stone.
• The mugger initiating dialogue with your PC at the area transition is entirely a BG issue, not a LA issue. (By the way you could have paid him and lived.) The mugger conversation (as in module conversation dialogue) is one that I am actively working to correct in the toolset. Had you waited before rolling a new character, I would have offered a Tech Rez for the mugger death, as HEEGZ had implemented that policy as HDM before he stepped down. You had already created and were playing your new character by the time I caught up with you. Again, these are not really within the domain of the LA at all, but more an HDM, and to a lesser extent, DMA (in terms of PC advancement moderation) issue. Most importantly, this was a case where a small amount of patience on the player's part would have resulted in a ret-con of the incident and a tech rez, no questions asked. I did discuss that with you, but you stated that you had already began to play your newest character and that you were happy with this one. (I enjoyed the biography, by the way.)
• Regarding player population, I think that it's safe to say that any LA candidate wishes to see ALFA grow; I certainly do. That is within the domain of the LA, to some degree. However, when you bring up the statics, and speak of soloing and grinding to gain levels, you're right back into the DMA, and to a lesser extent HDM domains. BG is currently being revised on at the very least a semi-weekly basis, and I've been pushing frequent updates. We have plans to make it more attractive to new players, as it is an open server, but there are fewer builders for ALFA than there are requests for changes to ALFA, and these changes take time, and in some cases, approval. Again, this is digressing from the LA domain. I can only suggest that you be patient, and allow builders the time to have their content quality checked and updated in the modules. Zelknolf, for example, just implemented a level one quest on BG that has had some positive feedback.
• The RPXP debate has been endless on ALFA. I'm not inclined to change RPXP at this time.
• Difficulties finding game is again, a player/DM issue, and to a lesser extent an HDM issue. Other than player population/retention, I don't see how this falls into the LA domain directly. You're playing on BG, where there are active builders, active players, and active DMs. You've had more DM time at level one than I had on either of my first two characters that made it past level 5. Again, I can only urge patience on the part of the player, as I personally try to provide DM time for everyone that I can.
• The level progression is again, directly a DMA issue, as DMA domain controls player advancement, and HDMs can implement a slightly faster progression with DMA oversight on their servers. The level progression on BG, with active DM help, is swift, but within standards. Furthermore, BG has more lucrative "gather" quests and statics than most of the other servers do. You're already playing on one of the "faster leveling" servers out there, with TSM being comparable at the lower levels, depending on class and choices.
• Level discrepancies: Again, this is something that is best solved at the DM level. I have personally ran adventures where level 20s were with level 5-6's and all of them felt that it was an enjoyable adventure. The level 20 also commented that it was appropriately balanced, as she had used up nearly all of her high-end spells, and managed to (barely) keep the lower levels alive. And both lower levels contributed to the success of the mission.
  
  I realize that I'm patting myself on the back a bit here, but there's a point to it. The last time I DM'd you, you were vocally upset that your character was not able to accomplish as much as the level 5-6's in the group, and you were annoyed with the entire experience. Despite a generous XP reward for the entire group, you logged off in a huff the instant you reached a safe area, and then made a point of refusing to group with anyone outside of your level range again. Again, this is not a LA issue. This is not a DMA issue. This is not even an HDM issue. This is, in truth, something that has to be addressed between you, the player, and any other player who you wish to group with, as well as any DM who would like to run an encounter or event for you.

I'm honestly at my wit's end here, as I like your characters, like their biographies, enjoy DMing for everyone, and try to include everyone. Your characters have enjoyed benefits that my first two main characters never had. The ability to start with a masterwork weapon... I didn't even get a masterwork weapon on my first character until she was level 3 or 4, and it was her most valuable item. Your level one dwarf had better armor than my first character had when she died at level 5. You're also allowed to run statics to your heart's content now, thanks to diminishing returns, whereas when I was leveling my characters, such behavior would have resulted in a strike. You're able to kill monsters in the Cloakwood (again, dangerous, solo bad, night bad), to your heart's content, whereas when I was leveling my second character, such behavior would have resulted in a strike.

My point is that ALFA has changed a great deal in the last two years, and shifting toward the ideas that you are asking for, from a far more conservative stance. And BG, as a server, is more generous than other servers. The amount of time I have been DMing on BG exceeds the DM time of other servers combined. You have it better now than ever before, and you're on the ideal server to grow. I simply can't make it better for you as a DM without running up against a DMA domain of moderated wealth/advancement.

[Twin Axes]

Thanks for taking the time to answer guys, despite the subject seemingly making you uncomfortable. I'm sorry if this was the wrong context to bring this up. I guess it's some kind of general frustration with Alfa bubbling up. It does so from time to time. Thanks and goodluck to both of you!

[shad0wfax]

Thanks for taking the time to answer guys, despite the subject seemingly making you uncomfortable. I'm sorry if this was the wrong context to bring this up. I guess it's some kind of general frustration with Alfa bubbling up. It does so from time to time. Thanks and goodluck to both of you!

You are welcome. I understand your frustration. Since CD elected to answer in-depth here, I decided that I would as well.

I'll do my best to provide you with a fun experience on BG, within the framework that we have here with our Pillars, Charter, and Rules if you wish to play on BG. I also encourage you to explore other servers and DMs, perhaps getting involved in orangetree's treasure hunt campaign or Adanu's low-level WHL campaign. TSM is also a great server, even if the paint is a bit old. Ronan has a campaign there but it is likely a bit higher level than would be best for you.

Try each of ALFA's servers as they currently are built, try a variety of DMs, and then choose which one fits you and your character best.

I hope that you feel more encouraged about ALFA; it has changed in the last two years. I know that character death can take the wind out of your sails, and I'd like to see you bounce back.

[Twin Axes]

Thanks. I was in Ronan's campaign until my PC was lost a few weeks ago. I've got a really good start on BG the last week or so with my new PC and have already been planning to join Adanu's campaign on WHL. Moonshaes is a little too far off but I love TSM, my PC hails from there and I hope to spend time there as well. I was not complaining about my current situation as much as I was raising issues I have with the structure of Alfa as a whole. In the past couple of years though I have been blessed with amazing DM:age, taking part in both Rumple's and Ronan's campaigns. I've had a really good time, I realise I have been lucky and that not everyone gets those kinds of opportunities. Rather I was thinking back to the last time I quit, and looking at the reasons why that happened.

[CloudDancing]

I know Xan was equally frustrated with loosing Gwylla as you were with Golinar. It is so hard to go from "hero to zero" in one game. Those two PCs had the privilege of being leveled up via a campaign and equipped via a campaign. I am sure going back to solo play without a dedicated DM sucks. No one likes to get left behind.

[Twin Axes]

Yes, but it's not just about me. I was using myself as an example but it's really about everyone who has a low level PC and not finding a lot of DM love. It's about new players coming here without the connections that we veterans have built up that make it easier for us to get into the flow of things. Or people who live in a time zone without much overlap with the majority of DMs. That's what my post was about, I want that to be clear. I wasn't just whining about losing a PC and starting over per se. It can be painful but it's part of the game. It's part of what makes it meaningful. Hell, I've already had plenty of DM:ing with my new PC.

[Xanthea]

I think the broader point is that ALFA is bad at being a PW and campaigns are the only way to have fun.

[HEEGZ]

This has been a great discussion, thanks. I agree that ALFA is more suited to campaign style play, but more people logging in to RP would increase the PW style offerings for folks. We all seem to be rather busy this time of year, and there was quite a bit more PW style grouping happening in January.

[shad0wfax]

Completely off-topic from LA election cycles, but I'm more of a PW DM than I am a campaign DM. That's not to say that I don't run mini events that branch out into bigger events, campaign style, but I tend to be more ad-hoc with groups than say your traditional once per week campaign play.

[Rumple C]

I was in Ronan's campaign until my PC was lost a few weeks ago.

Noooooooooooo! Not Golinar. Why does the sweet moment of Gwylla dying have to be tinged with such sadness?

RIP, Dwarfern Paragon.

[Twin Axes]

I was in Ronan's campaign until my PC was lost a few weeks ago.

Noooooooooooo! Not Golinar. Why does the sweet moment of Gwylla dying have to be tinged with such sadness?

RIP, Dwarfern Paragon.

It was like a bad marriage, Golinar's only escape from Gwylla's baleful presence was death (or, presumably, illithid brain surgery).