The server loosing it's fun factor
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as of late the server is not fun and there are many reasons why. if you haven't noticed the decline in players from back in the day then It's because of all the players who just bailed from EFU. I ain't dishing on the players from other servers, hell half of them come up with interesting characters but I don't want them coming over here and thinking that this is another dark end of the world fantasy.
Arabel drew my attention when I heard the stories of Sir William the Fearless and the Great order called the Red Hearts. the stories told where Outstanding and made me want to play, but now I log in and all I see is some dark and twisted fantasy that is going to hell. there is no white knight on hill, no Gandalf the white with riders of Rohan to save us. instead it is replaced with a tyrant lord who may or may not be selling us down the river.
I checked and re checked for players who where around back then with Sir William and there is maybe five tops who actually get on and try to do stuff, none of them are able to do anything to save the server because at this rate it will turn into another Escape From Uncertainty. is this what we want? Are we truly satisfied watching the server favor player characters who choose evil or letting them get away with committing evil acts and getting rewarded?
please, save COA, Give a Dam, Fight, WIN! even if you have to defy what everyone else is doing.
p.s.
it isn't cool being evil, if everyone and there mother is evil as well.!
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The mass animosity towards Sir Mastian Tomblight seems to disappear overnight, as almost all who were vehemently against his appointment dies fighting the Dracolich. In an abominable move, the Arabel Council spits on their heroic sacrifices by appointing Sir Mastian Tomblight as Warden.
Word spreads that the Arabel Council has chosen Sir Mastian Tomblight as the new Warden to oversee the rebuilding of the Arabel militia and city watch. Some concur he was the best choice by far, but many complain that only time will tell and they feel he is merely one of Hardcastle's lackeys and that Salvy Scales should have been warden if only he'd survived.
Just saying. My rumor would be much more accurate.
//edited to tone down
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Firstly, plenty of people play goody two shoes characters. as a Thayan, who has characters I've never even met plotting against me I can confirm this.
Make a character, join the Militia, fight evil and corruption, the system is already there set up for you to fit right in. Not want to be a cop? That's fine, two of the four current DM factions are explicitly non evil, the other two both veer towards lawful neutral…...
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Its funny, because a huge chunk of people who were driving the city towards good is dead, and so many people making evil chars now, even as DMs are saying Arabel is now shifted towards justice and good etc. I myself am avoiding joining the militia and Purple Dragons because that is what my now-dead PC wanted to do/help.
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Strange, for the last couple of weeks I have actually noticed a lot fewer evil PCs and an overwhelming amount of good ones. It tends to go through cycles. One side gets strong, and then players making new characters think it would be interesting to oppose the strong side and they make the opposite.
I think it's pretty harsh to be bringing any single player into this. I don't think there was anything wrong with the Warden selection. On on side, you had a character that had done a lot, pushed many plots, involved a bunch of players, and obviously stirred up a lot of conflict. When pursuing the nomination he pushed more plots, involved more players, and stirred up more conflict. He was opposed by players making a post saying they signed their names to a piece of paper. The NPCs are unlikely to give too much weight to the opinion of a handful of adventurers in a city of hundreds or thousands. They're looking for someone with deeds to their name who's proven that he can accomplish things to make the city better. The DMs are going to be looking for the player who's doing the most.
As for the server losing it's fun factor. If everyone wants to play evil, doesn't that mean that evil is what everyone finds fun? Let everyone play what they want- so long as they are playing in a way that encourages fun for everyone.
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CoA already had its EFU moment in v5 imho; when it was the Citadel vs the Court which seemed very reminscent of Sanctuary vs Lower Sanctuary. Personally I am glad that period is over and the server is starting to return to its old roots with Cormyr being in the main picture now. If you want to roll a good character by all means do so and bring more justice and law to the city.
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@BlankStare5:
On on side, you had a character that had done a lot, pushed many plots, involved a bunch of players, and obviously stirred up a lot of conflict. When pursuing the nomination he pushed more plots, involved more players, and stirred up more conflict. He was opposed by players making a post saying they signed their names to a piece of paper. The NPCs are unlikely to give too much weight to the opinion of a handful of adventurers in a city of hundreds or thousands. They're looking for someone with deeds to their name who has proven he can accomplish things to make the city better.
Couldn't put it better myself. NPCs don't see alignments and which God you follow. When you are in charge of anything your decisions need to be pragmatic and based on results or you are doomed to failure.
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you think the moment is over but it's getting worse, old arabel is the real representation of lower, and it still isn't under control. at the same time there is this mass political fight on who has a bigger Lord hard on, Dracohorn or Hardcastle. then we have to the north Shadowvar is massing, the Hulack is getting more Orc populous which only spells out Orc war path through Arabel, and then to put more icing on the cake there is no real good guys. there is a bunch of Neutral players doing stuff that good guys would do because there is gold involved.
these men are the same people who will turn around and help a litch burn down a city if they where payed and Armies weight in gold! yea money talks and all but that level of Neutral isn't true Neutral. I get it though, I have heard what is to come for the server and I am praying it is only rumor and not what the DM's are doing.I got word that we where to have a shadowvar war, and this time, where are going to be made to loose. with the orcs killing everyone who could defend the city, that would leave Shadowvar a big open gap that there Agents can make wider. the political arguments are going on to make us not focus or rally all under one banner.
now I don't know how much of this is true, but I think it's all BS if it is. I Positive as Hell don't want to play on a Server run and owned by Shadowvar! if Shadowvar takes over, player options get reduced. some classes become restricted to Applications only, such as Druids. the shadowvar never had druids and never agreed with the whole Neutral aspect. there might be a new class options for monks called shadow fists or something, but all other styles of monk (including basic) would be an out right defilement to the laws of Shadowvar. so on and so forth, my point is Shadowvar are strict, slave driven dickwads. I don't want to play on a server that is run like that! -
Honestly, I don't see any real changes thus far. Cassiel, Hardcastle, Venieth, Kresswell have always had an advantage over Lhal the powerless and that poor Truesilver guy who had the shortest tenure of all. On the PC side, the Horgar the Agent, Lional the Retainer, Graevan the Retainer, Mastian the Retainer, even Kraegus Thune. The PCs and NPCs with the longest lives, and the most power and control are all very similar to each other.
Nothing has really changed. Power is still in the hands of the exact same type of people, both NPCs and PCs, since at least late v3. Pragmatism is indeed in charge. Has been since for since at least 2010, with brief interruptions.
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Things are looking better for Arabel. The players have made the effort to get things rolling with the help of DMs. If people continue to do so IG, who knows- you might see Arabel becoming the prosperous city it was in early v3, or even better- without slums! It is possible if the players want to do it (I too, am sick of the doomsday feeling in the setting), our characters just have to work towards it.
Also, naming other player characters to support someones negative theories makes me a sad panda :(
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as of late the server is not fun and there are many reasons why.
The server is not fun "for you". Instead of complaining, do something about it IG and roll up a white knight or Gandalf yourself.
A mass of goodly characters just died so naturally we all are going to attempt the opposite spectrum for a bit. A mass of evil-ish guys who (hopefully) will be at each others throats and against the good guys.
The new "Warden" has his work cut out for him :P He could use some help!
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The rant
Henry, my man, you need to calm down a bit. DMs reward those who do well, not just the ones who do good. Alot of people worked behind the scenes, to make Arabel part of Cormyr once more. Law and order returning. But I can tell you this, there is nothing more dull, than being a good guy with no evil to oppose. Imagine playing a militia sergeant, who cannot arrest anyone, because the only evil is found on scripted quests. Its dull as shit.
War is fun to partake in. CoA is famous for its grand battles. A battle against the Shadovar, or the Zhents, is epic. Skirmishes, tactical battles, being brave or scared actually meaning the difference between victory and defeat. And no dm on coa, ever scripted a plot where you had jack influence in how it went. You want things to change, you cannot sit back and wait.
Also, why are you suddenly fearing not being able to play a druid, based om some imaginary result of some imaginary plot? That is never how coa worked.
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Funny, our player numbers are actually up and continuing to go up. I actually monitor those, sorry you are feeling bored, but that's you and not the entire community. Is there something we can do that you'ld like to see more of? Maybe, but are your feelings indicative of a systemic problem? No more likely than similar posts over the last 15 years have been (with the notable exception, as fewer people play NWN in general with the game aging, every server is slowly dying right now).
You got word there is to be a Shadovar War too? That's funny, cause I don't even know about that and I DM.
You have a very badly conceived idea of where the setting is frankly. Right now is the time for heroes to really shine and turn back the darkness. I assume you're very unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms setting in general, it is a very dark setting with evil empires abounding, rotten nobles plotting against the forces of good everywhere, evil secrets lurking under every rock. The job of the good guys is to turn it back.
If we turn the setting into everyone is good land, what exactly do the heroes strive against? Even with the Knights, there was evil all over and the server is no darker now than it was. I admit the beginning of v5 was pretty bleak, but right now the main themes of the server are quite the opposite. So come help rebuild the glory and grandeur of Cormyr, one of the few bastions against the darkness of Toril.
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Many of these seem like IC problems to be honest. In my experience, the DM's aren't rail-roading any of this. I created a character, with the express desire to replace the mercenaries with a militia, put it in my app. Tried to stir interest… and sadly... had to drop the character because it was too time intensive to my schedule. Luckily, many other characters also had similar goals and were able to do what I could not. Players with dreams and ingenuity brought the militia back. Back in the day, Players brought Cormyr back to Arabel, Players put Kresswell in Power and so on and so forth. The DM's only control the outside forces, the players decide how to handle those outside forces. (Which in turn defines the outcome). The two best things you can do to make Arabel fun for you (Know this from personal experience and screwing up my fair share of times as I used to be a negative nancy) are:
1. Don't take things too seriously. It's a game with many players all pushing their own goals. If something bad happens, no one actually means anything malicious towards you. (On the flip side, also remember that players are behind all of these characters not mindless AI. Everyone should show some consideration to how their actions effect other players time and effort they put in as well)
2. Get a group together and MAKE STUFF HAPPEN. There were plenty of times I wanted to do Group Concept X but everyone else was interested in Group Concept Y. Play what you want but sometimes if you want to truly get involved and make a difference, you have to tailor your characters to what's relevant and popular at the time.
Overall, don't give up hope! If there is something IG your character wants, he CAN get it. It just won't be easy and you'll have to involve tons of others to make it happen.
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Huh… Coa is way more slanted toward good now than it has been since v5 began, we also have the defining institutions of cormyr a lot more in the foreground.
The new warden thing didn't turn out how you wanted, so don't just give up, work to have them removed and replaced with a new candidate
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Honestly? Bandwagoning is the biggest reason the server ever loses its "fun factor". Players come up with a rumor, spread it around, people start believing it whether or not it actually is true or not.
Shadovar war? That got over 3 years ago. I wasn't aware that was happening now, and I DM here. The server will always have conflict, which implies it has to have people who oppose each other. Which means sometimes you might (gasp) actually lose (WTF! Sacrilege.)
I get people may not like that. That's fine, different strokes and all that. Why not simply find a server that does cater to your tastes? The DMs try their best to make things fun for everyone, and if that's not your cup of tea, find some place that does. Hell, you could even play both if you like aspects of both. No law against splitting your time either.
Also, singling out a player to make your point is seriously uncool. He got stuff because he did stuff. If you can't handle that simple fact, then too bad.
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Hi I'm new, I don't think everyone's evil. I play alot of quests with "good guys". Maybe it's just the evil do-ers that have the power now. You can easily counter that by grouping up together.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ;).
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Mastians player did cool stuff and got perks for it. His rivals for the warden job also happened to die.
if you don't like the Warden work to unseat them through politics or other means.
Whining on the forum with stuff you don't actually know about just burns out DMs and is rude to players who worked to earn these perks
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Be the change you wanna see, if you're not enjoying the server then make the server different. If you aren't enjoying your concept, put it on ice and play something you can enjoy. Beating a dead horse never gets you far.
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I like Coa. Maybe that's because I view it in a way that what's important to my character is not important to me, because its just a game. I feel like you are just suffering from burnout, and need a break. We have all been there before. Relax, chill out, and try and remember there are other people who may be just as sensitive as you are before you go bashing anyone in a post that you are going to regret in a month.