Estralis Seborian wrote:
When exactly was the time when Illarion became so much about skills? When did standing around in a chamber in Galmair, doing nothing, not interacting with anyone, become the way of playing Illarion? What would players encourage to actively seek others to interact with?
You literally can't make people want to interact with other people. You can code a lot of things. You can set up a lot of situations. But at the end of the day, you can't actually force people to want to interact with other people.
I'll be honest: MC when the ability to check it was removed, I was pretty angry. And then, we went to a system where you are always learning atleast a little bit. And now, I honestly don't think of MC at all.
It does cross my mind when dealing with high level crafting, because materials for them are somewhat scarce (see: pure elements).
As for why skills are so in focus: it is because to feel relevant to the game on some level, most people/characters feel a need to be able to prove their value.
The impression that it feels like in a wide section of the game:
To be relevant in Cadomyr, you have to be strong. You have to be an adequate warrior. That means you need to be able to fight, and to be able to fight well. Which at this point in the game has evolved to mastering every piece of armor and weapon type. Why? Because we are now mixing and matching armors to optimize our styles of fighting, because there is so little variance in the rock/paper/scissors game of fighting that people try to gain any edge they can. It is actually sub optimal to be specialized. Gems only compound this issue.
To be relevant in Galmair, you need money. Which is literally just powergaming. There are very few ways to gain money in Illarion that do not require you to grind. And I mean a meaningful amount of money. And the higher your skills, in theory, the faster you can make that money you need to be relevant. Gems don't matter as much in this rat race, but they can be sold for profit.
Runewick doesn't rely on skill, it relies on influence. This is a pretty tricky thing to do, because it means you need to connect, and impress, the right people. So far, since I have been playing for 2 years now, I don't recall ever seeing anyone manage to do that.
Beyond that, have you noticed the game lore? It actively insights for the factions to be against each other. Almost every npc in Cadomyr talks about killing Galmairians. I'm all for conflict, but realize in that environment, characters/players are going to start focusing on honing their skills in order to be the best and overcome one another, than sit around talking about... the weather?
Which brings us to another point: Aside from using skills, what is there to actually do in Illarion? What grand events take place? We have Letma, and currently we have Jefferson, both of which have breathed some life into the game. It gives a purpose to some of the actions. But beyond that, what is there really to talk about? What is there for our characters to really strive to become, besides the best?
One of the things that /desperately/ frustrates me is how static Illarion is, and we do it in the name of balance. "Every town has their special thing!" Ok, great, but what you are effectively saying is that the towns cannot ever grow beyond what they already are. We can't explore or develop towns further than what already exists.
So then it gets pushed on to the GM team to liven things up. And the real thing that they can do, is only cause hamstrings to characters. Creating opportunities for town development can't occur, because it might disrupt the balance of the game.
An overly balanced game, in which there is no movement, only creates stagnation. Long term players have no incentive to build wide, so instead they build up, on a singular character.
I see literally players and characters, ig and ooc, upset that things are happening IG. Whenever someone breaks from the codified normative play (as in, don't disrupt what I want to do, at all), the answer is to complain to the gm's, and beg to shove them into a permanent jail sentence away from other players. And to be perfectly honest, I have done that before, and believe there is a time and place for that exact thing.
There is this weird, false hierarchy IG, that players give other players. Chancellors, nobles, deans, are all just regular characters. They also have access to a one day ban from town ability, and can make keys.
OTHER THAN THAT, everyone's characters are in essence on the same playing ground, and that is a /very/ good thing. It means characters and players should have enough personal agency to do what they want. Yet half the time, there is this feeling that if they /really/ did that, they are going to get punished. A player should not feel threatened to do something, because they are nervous about offending and stepping on another character's ego. There is a place for being mindful and polite. We play /with/ each other. However, that concept should not be used to stifle the efforts and desires of other players. Again, pot calling the kettle black, I know.
If you want roleplay, if you want things to change, you have to allow a step away from 'easy' and 'direct'. You have to step away from 'balancing all resources'. You have to allow players to go away from the beaten path, because roleplay is in and of itself, the act of going away from that beaten path. Our characters are designed not to be just like all the other npc's of Illarion. That would be boring as hell. They are dynamic firestorms, full of growth and potential, of mistakes and victories, of intellect and emotion.
But Illarion doesn't care about that. Illarion cares that the long-term player has a reason to stick around, and stay in their spot. That the only way to balance is through complete statistical unity. (Fun fact, there is no difference afaik from a drow bow to the crafted one. So why bother with a 15 piece quest when you can just buy it?) That conflict be decades old feuds and alliances, that won't truly resolve, so three towns live in a weird allied tension.
Edit: An old game I used to play would have incentives for holding events and participating in them. Basically a ticket, and those tickets yielded various rewards: special character races unlocked, different kinds of objects, etc.
besteht die Überlegung so einen NPC im Spiel einzuführen um seinen MC Wert herauszufinden ?