What is Arabel about, compared to other servers?
-
What are these core values of Arabel that I keep hearing about? What makes us be here and not in a bigger server like (as an example) Arelith? We stay because CoA is better, despite the numbers. Let's discuss why. What makes you stay?
-
I agree with most of what you've written, both here and in the Thread Unnamed.
Lately I remain because of the roleplay, the connection with characters both PC and DMNPC, and the feeling of writing a story collaboratively. A large part of why I left in the post-Phoenix Legion days, when everything was Apocalypse-a-Week, was that it felt like much of that collaboration was lost. The history that came of it came to feel more written by hand of god than roleplayed by the efforts of players. It came to feel less like the story of an organic city, lifelike and unpredictable, and more like a cartoon or action movie where everything's got to be exciting all the time. I may well be completely off base with that, but I'm talking of feeling rather than fact.
The roleplay informs everything, for me. The characters I play with, the quests I take on, the things that I do in game. Celina regularly spars with Thirianna, for example, but the mechanics behind it are tired and aged. It's the story behind their duels and what it means to the characters that makes it as fun as it is.
At any rate, none of this is meant to be judgmental of DMs past present or future. You guys really do a fantastic job here. Please don't take the desire some players have been showing, to improve and progress, as an attack on what you've already achieved. You've done amazing, fun, engrossing things and it's truly appreciated. I just wonder, as Sophia does above, why the mindset of (some of) the players and (some of?*) the DMs are so different.
*I can't really proclaim that with any sort of authority, not being able to see behind the DM/PC curtain nor possessed of mind-reading.
-
Viva la revolution!
Seriously, I locked the thread because it was way off topic. I should have done it sooner. You can stomp your feet all you want, but its not going to effect my decision to do that. If Arileth is calling you, tell the people I'm friends with currently playing there I said hello.
-
I think we shouldn't be telling people to go play on another server. But that's just me. There's been a lot said over the past few days. However, we won't really know the result of it until we are told. There have been some hints of discussions in the DM forums, meetings, and there have been polls being made, and hints of coding being done. I am happy that changes are being attempted, and that there is a tacit non-admission that some things have to change.
I like that there has been a "We Hear You" and a "We are Making Changes". In years past, suggestions was often like talking to the wall, where we would be told "The Team is Discussing Things" and then most of the time, we would never hear any more of it, ever. Hence, every year or so we trot out the same old tired horse to be shot and beaten to death, rehashing the same issues with a partially-new slate of DMs.
I have some hope that this year will be different, and I hope to hear a "We heard you, we discussed things, here are the changes we are hoping to make"
-
I think I understand why CF is frustrated at what happened in the thread.
All he wanted to know what people's opinion on the idea presented. All he wanted was to know if you liked the idea or not. But then the thread got derailed to what you would all want to see change. All he wanted was your opinion on a simple question. To see if you would like to go back to canon then move from there, or if you prefered to keep CoA's current rich history, even if it was now far from canon.
Just that. Nothing else. Why highjack the thread to something else?
You guys know to stay on topic. If you have something to say that was brought to mind by the topic, but it not directly related to the topic, you know you can start a new thread to discuss it. Everyone will be happy to chime in on it and not derail the other thread. I'm sure you hate it when someone changes the topic of your threads, so please, don't do it to others. It is as simple as that.
And please, lets not hurt each other's feelings. The thread went completely off topic and the original poster got frustrated because he could not get the opinions he was asking for about his subject. What he got was opinions on something else and that did not help him get answers about his question(s)/topic.
tl;dr =
He asked if you liked the idea of going back to the 1370s years and to canon Cormyr.
Not what you would change on the server to change the dynamic/interaction/imvolvement of people/etc.Thank you for your time.
-
(…)If Arileth is calling you,(...)
Never said that. Only mentioned Arelith because of the numbers they have on us.
-
I think we shouldn't be telling people to go play on another server."
Never said that! Wow I'm a horrible communicator. D: Again, I only mentioned it Arelith as… We're a smaller server, there's obviously something here that is superior despite the numbers - that is what I meant and that is what I want to pin down and enhance.
-
I play here for the excellent RPer's that make up the vast majority of the playerbase.
The fact that if you work hard on it you can change the setting in a way, for an example players brought Cormyr back in V4 or caused the Red Scarf rebellion at the start of V5, The fact you can sucseed greatly or fail horribly.
-
The minion of arabel has got it spot on.
The thread was locked as it wasn't being used to discuss how people felt about a change in the setting, it was being used to say people didn't think the setting was "the problem" and offer suggestions (probably valid ones!) for entirely other elements of the server.
It's impossible to have valid and useful discussions, and hone in on specific elements that can be enhanced, changed, deleted, created, if every discussion turns into every other discussion and has no focus.
Feel entirely free to discuss things about the server, but if a thread has a specific topic, stick to it so we can get somewhere with the discussion and try to improve things.
I've stuck to just one of the (three?) topics being discussed here, the topic of the thread that was locked in this case.
-
Back to the main point, for me I have always felt Arabel to be the richest environment for telling and creating stories, which is why I have always chosen it.
DMs are a lot more active than many servers and I find there is always a lot that can be accomplished, despite it feeling hopeless at times.
-
I like CoA because of the people that play here. The DM team, the players, all of them.
Except Dobby.
-
I like the fact that there is RISK. Your character can make a mistake and pay for it with his/her life. That for me is by far the biggest part. I also dislike EfU because it revolves a lot more around solving everything with PvP, i like my mix of story as well. So, i love CoA. I love that if i mouth off to the wrong person, i MIGHT, jsut might, get murdered for it. That's awesome.