Restructuring of Arabel.
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I didnt see another topic about this, so forgive me if there is one. I'd just like to congratulate the DM team on the new look of Arabel, it looks amazing and is a fantastic idea that I had intended on bringing up for awhile. Before there was too many "pointless" and empty areas of the town and not enough in each section to make them interesting. Now thats all changed, this is a great change and I think it will increase RP and the ease of doing some quests people never did before now that the city is streamlined. It looks and feels much more like a busy city now and is structured more like I would imagine. Anyone else as in love with it as I am!?
But, I did have a question about it all, are our characters to assume that the city has always been this way? I didnt see anything IG to indicate otherwise?
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Something IG happened to explain the changes–but honestly--they were all done for an OOG reason, to help streamline. Its not "entirely" done, and due to the IG reason (Gilmore doing something crazy with space-time) little touch-ups may still happen here and there.
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It, was, epic.
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Absolutely awesome!!!
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I do like the re-emergance of an emphasis on the Nobility. That always seemed to me to be core to a mediaeval theme fantasy land that Cormyr is. When Thond and others took a back seat or left, I felt something akin to a loss. The Phoenix era and the after affects always seemed to me to be an interim position. A good think to pass through but I'm delighted to see Nobility back.
All Praise the DMs for this move.
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I happened to like the new turn it took during the PL days, but I certainly like the state of the city as it is now.
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I do like the re-emergance of an emphasis on the Nobility. That always seemed to me to be core to a mediaeval theme fantasy land that Cormyr is. When Thond and others took a back seat or left, I felt something akin to a loss. The Phoenix era and the after affects always seemed to me to be an interim position. A good think to pass through but I'm delighted to see Nobility back.
All Praise the DMs for this move.
Heh, strong nobility might not survive too long tho ;).
Also - Slums kick ass! Way to go!
As for the changes of the city's architecture - they are very nicely done, and actually made city easier to be navigated by players, thanks a lot. -
I don't like it, personally. I mean, I do enjoy it in the sense that everything has been streamlined I suppose. I liked the big openness of the areas though, it gave the players that actually took the care to use them, use them.
But then again, I'm just not used to it yet. Give my rage some time to settle.
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Was this the wipe? Let me know.
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Getting to jump in and throughly explore the city today made me realize its even better then I perviously thought! There is so much more in each area of the city that makes it feel so much more alive, its awesome being able to go to any part of the city now and bump into people! As someone else said, the slums are extra awesome they feel very claustraphobic, messy and poor. Central Arabel as well as a huge improvment. Its all just enough to make me giddy!
I have a few things to point out though, that could probley go in the suggestions thread, but sence I started this thread I will just pop them in here.
Lorkans Forge, I assume was to be moved to the building infront of it with the large iron clad wooden doors and you can enter this building and it will still take you to Lorkans Forge, as well as the building that the sign is in front of.
The Broken Bottle does not have a sign, which I think it needs because I initially thought it didnt exsist anymore and explored around till I seen someone else had opened the door.
The Toy Makers sign isnt there, there is a discription of his shop where I sign should be, but no sign.
The door, to what I assume is the temple of Illmater does not work as well, I cant transfer into the temple.
Also, this one is a very small thing and maybe not even worth mentioning but Nanooks tower is no longer a tower. Maybe it should just read "Nanooks home" or some?
Anyways just a few things I noticed, trying to help out. Its all very awesome as is though!
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Getting to jump in and throughly explore the city today made me realize its even better then I perviously thought! There is so much more in each area of the city that makes it feel so much more alive, its awesome being able to go to any part of the city now and bump into people! As someone else said, the slums are extra awesome they feel very claustraphobic, messy and poor. Central Arabel as well as a huge improvment. Its all just enough to make me giddy!
I have a few things to point out though, that could probley go in the suggestions thread, but sence I started this thread I will just pop them in here.
Lorkans Forge, I assume was to be moved to the building infront of it with the large iron clad wooden doors and you can enter this building and it will still take you to Lorkans Forge, as well as the building that the sign is in front of.
The Broken Bottle does not have a sign, which I think it needs because I initially thought it didnt exsist anymore and explored around till I seen someone else had opened the door.
The Toy Makers sign isnt there, there is a discription of his shop where I sign should be, but no sign.
The door, to what I assume is the temple of Illmater does not work as well, I cant transfer into the temple.
Also, this one is a very small thing and maybe not even worth mentioning but Nanooks tower is no longer a tower. Maybe it should just read "Nanooks home" or some?
Anyways just a few things I noticed, trying to help out. Its all very awesome as is though!
Fine the bug thread and post some of those in the topic that Moloch started about new bugs.
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Didnt notice that thread, will post there right away, many thanks.
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I like the Southeast and Slums combination, as many players have noted it has a real gritty feel to it which is perfect. The dock inclusion is also fantastic; I foresee that adding a lot of fun to the server as future plots and character make use of it. Likewise the West is great – admittedly it’s the docks which caught my eye, personally I see a lot of potential for them.
That said, I’m not a big fan of either the Central or the East districts. I think a lot of the more prominent buildings, such as the Tymoran Temple, that give Arabel its character and identity are downplayed which detracts from the server in my view. I do like the streamlined change, but I think enlarging the areas just a tad to cater for the more grand spectacles and sites of the City would improve it tenfold.
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I've remade the Lady's House for the next reset, should appear much bigger now even though most of the building is "off screen" to conserve space in the area
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The South looks great. Central seemed too large to me, and too open still with not enough NPCs walking around.
That said, I was a bit confused walking around everywhere. I've yet to have the time to properly explore.
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@Bolthor:
The South looks great. Central seemed too large to me, and too open still with not enough NPCs walking around.
That said, I was a bit confused walking around everywhere. I've yet to have the time to properly explore.
Yeah, Central seems to have a lot of gulfing empty space to it. A few placeables or something to break it up a little even.
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Central really should seem large and open, its a very rich area. Hence the title Gilded.
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Forgetting that Central is meant to be wide and open, in comparison to the rest of the city, it feels lifeless.
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Forgetting that it's like a 37 year old game with very little tileset options, and forgetting about adding 100's of annoying laggy nobles and common NPC's, and forgetting simply stating a negative comment..
.. what would you do to fix the lifelessness?
I would add sexy parties, but that's not really fitting. :(
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Actually, in canon–there are plenty of sexy parties in central Arabel, especially at the Baths.
I'd like to see central myself with more statues and plaques, and decorations. But I do like the wide open feel. Plus, you simply can't do nice looking alleys in the toolset unless you want slum alleys--which is why I was able to make the slum alleys look exactly how I wanted.