My Thoughts on LotC Magic

[winterblood 11181]

I'm not quite sure where I should've posted something like this, so I just put it in Off Topic.  Anyways, I'm just going to get right into it.  I think the magic on LotC is rather neat, but I don't really know what to think of it anymore.  I feel like the magic is too strict and just buried in rules for someone to follow, from what I've seen so far of it, and everyone must have an understanding of magic in order to use it.  Magic isn't something people are really supposed to have an understanding of.  That's why in real life when someone does something seemingly unexplainable they just say, "Magic."  Magic, to me, is supposed to be full of wonder and be mysterious.  I think RP would be interesting if a mage had a vague understanding of their limits of their magic, but slowly began to understand it over time and or grow powerful through out their years instead of great, you've mastered it, no more for you now, stay there.

I'd say more, but I'd most likely just write so much on something that won't change or matter since this is Minecraft role-playing server and I don't really feel like wasting time on it.  I just wanted to post this so see if anyone else had similar thoughts or even responses to this.  I also understand why magic may be like this, to keep it from being too OP or perhaps since it'd then be too vast for someone to understand OOCly to use it in RP, or could cause more circle-jerks w/e.

Spoiler

 

 

Edit: Also should mention, I don't know ALL of the magic on LotC, but I feel like I know enough to make a post relating to it like this.

[Ford 1996]

ur thots are dum

[Reckless Banzai Screamer 15456]

I wish magic used runes like in runescape for ammunition and was divided in tiers from strike, blast etc. to wave/surge.

 

i wish lotc was runescape

[dm420 186]

i feel you

[colovian fur 8360]

agreed

magic shouldn't be explainable, its outer worldly forces that we shouldn't understand as mortals

 

like the krabby patty secret formula

[BonesOfTheEarth 2252]

Take my rep

 

(Also, goes in the feedback section)

[Gladuos 869]

Yeah, it's all about trying to keep magic in check really. In old days, like in Aegis, magic was extremely uncharted territory that you could basically do whatever you want with inside the realms of imagination. Of course, just as the average RP skill of the users in the server increased, so did the things that were expected of them. Magic went through a LOT of change, a lot of definition, a lot of scraps and rewrites. Basically, what's happened now is the result of many years of writers attempting to hammer their differently-sized nails into the planks of mysticism. It's not perfect, and it's rather annoying sometimes, but once you get rather deep into it, it can start being fun again. I guess just like everything else on this server, people need to realize we're all here for fun and relax a bit more, and not always be such a stickler. But the base of everything should likely remain, as we don't want too much BS sprouting up. That's my two cents anyway.

[AGP 3169]

Magic is almost exclusively a tool used for combat, and occasional other advantageous things like shifting through a door or whatever. This is why rules had to be made around it, as mages early on basically just powergamed out of any fight. There's no way to balance this without making magic kind of boring. Magic used in non-combative ways can be a nice way to spice up rp (I do this frequently), and even with the restrictive rules there is room to be creative, but magic rp is spoiled by the competitiveness of the server.

 

The problem with something like magic is that it's appeal is in its mystery, and nothing can really be that mysterious when we control it oocly and actually understand it. I've always been partial to systems that take inspiration from real world mysticism rituals, which involve a lot more prep and actual RP than *twitches fingers* and *casts fireball.* 

[Stag 3234]

Idk I like being able to discuss the specifics. That's why magic is so specific. People enjoy delving and eventually you gotta keep delving and expanding the specifics. 

[zaezae 1098]

I think one partial solution would be for people to stop complaining about what people do with magic outside of combat. 

[ski_king3 0]

I've always felt this way. The problem is (in part) the fact that the LT and M(A?)T have always prided themselves on their magical knowledge, and generally been averse to defining rules for magic without defining the nitpicky details of how it works to avoid potential contradictions and such in the future. This isn't a criticism of the teams, but instead how members have been assessed and what they've been taught is important.

 

That being said, you're never going to see a freer or more flexible magic system to the degree you want it, as it's generally unpopular, particularly among veteran magic users and the appropriate staff members.

 

And that makes sense, as once you've invested a lot of time into a certain method for your specific magic RP, you tend to think those who RP it differently are less or worse off, as they're "doing it wrong," even if their varying performance doesn't actually have any explicit negative ramifications. Likewise, if you're accepted onto a staff team in part because you are knowledgeable on various subjects and are meant to resolve problems of ambiguity, you're bound to prefer a system which leads to as little of it as possible, and one that allows for as much to be known as possible.

[Aengoth 2890]

  My biggest issue with magic is it has always seemed to be used for the OOC purpose of being "stronger" then your peers which is consistently changing due to nonstop lore rewrites/additions to increase groups power. Further I think that there is often an air of entitlement to having access to as many magics as possible where you will see people have multiple characters banking magics from groups that they have minimal contact with (shamanism throughout the years has been a prime example).

  Idk for me magic is a miss from my experiences with it both as a non-magic user and a magic user (albeit mostly just dwarven ****). I just generally don't agree with how it is handled.

 

tl;dr its a saturated mess that seems often to be used as a OOC power level and/or a means of forcing players into being your underlings by handing them candy without actually gauging competency or interest in being involved.

[ski_king3 0]

12 hours ago, Teegah said:

what if there was a magic plugin

 

You'd need a number of staff members to be down to simplify magic for that purpose. We had that once, but then the plugin didn't get finished.

 

At least, I think so.

[Wendigo 786]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.