All Stories End.

[ThatFunkyBunch 2818]

I'm joining the rep farming as people throw their complaints and opinions about on the forums. 

 

Beyond CRP, PvP, Nation Systems, and a clear disconnect between players and staff makes me realize why I came to this server from my old RP Medium of Swtor. 

 

All stories come to an end, beyond swtor having no regulations and the sort, Swtors writing for its main quests made me realize something. I wouldn't get the ending that made the most impact because Bioware wouldn't have closed down swtor once Revan carpet bombed Dromuund Kaas. They couldn't let their story end and it drags on. All MMOs do this. 

 

I think LoTC is teaching the same state, and we already had our "End of the story" in my opinion. Iblees gained control of time and that should have been the end of the Seventh Pulpis. But it wasn't, because. 

 

A) Tythus wants this place running because he wants others to have a space like he had. 

 

B) It would have meant either the end of the server or a hard reset. 

 

Since the dawn of the server the mortals have faced countless deities and other realms. Though it takes one elf RPer to tilt their head and go "that's neat but we've done this eight times already." But nothing will ever actually be a threat to mortal kind. This story has no stakes. 

 

Mortal kind can rest easy knowing that reality can never truly be at risk, and for the course of fifteen years we've only done this more and more. 

 

This story has no end. In my opinion the outbursts we see every two years like we see now is a symptom of the story never ending. 

 

A story coming to its finish is what makes that story great, but that doesn't mean ending LoTCs story is, going to end LoTC. LoTC is just the medium of RP we use to current roleplay in the lore made. (Which already has a built in reset mechanic that's wiiiiild). 

 

Much like the creator and the Pulpis. When cells refuse to perform their programmed suicide, they turn into zombies. Causing cancer and worst. 

 

A story in an MMO setting like this is that has lasted this long and existed over all these characters and gone through years of change from mechanics systems to more typing focused RP. 

 

But we see no end in sight, a never ending story sounds fun in theory. 

 

However LoTC has made a little niche for itself and it keeps this aspect of it above other RP mediums (Which is why you see people remaining here, it LoTC had proper competition outside Minecraft for a moderated RP setting, people would likely bounce around. You see if when people try to make their own but LoTCs got history in RP and Mineman community.  

 

A person may make new characters, but ultimately, and I credit a lot of this topic to my conversations with FactButt about older lore and events. 

 

"There is no risk, because the world can never actually end." 

 

No risk no reward, so people spend their times now chasing ET events, Slice of Life, Romance, PvP, and CRP. 

 

Political RP wise is just a mess cause OOC bullshit that thing just needs a hard reset or everyone needs their nation privileges revoked and forced to exist in the same 70x70 ruin for a map. 

 

I'm rambling now, but TDLR. 

 

If a story doesn't have an end it gets strung along until the horse is bones and dust.  There is no big risk for anyone on LoTC. The world can't ever be ended, etc etc. 

 

Sure you can get killed, go to hell, go to Divine realms, get items stolen from you. Your soul deleted. But that's just you, their is no bigger cosmic consequences that actually have an impact beyond (Personas Killed ---> Map transitioned.) 

 

Stories coming to an end is what makes the story special. 

[Venomous_Pup 2978]

Upvoted but didn't read lol.

[Agy 756]

14 minutes ago, ThatFunkyBunch said:

Iblees gained control of time and that should have been the end of the Seventh Pulpis.

He did what?

[kuebiko 684]

hi I started actively playing a little less than a year ago, the server is incredibly exciting towards fresh eyes. I've never experienced something as massive as a map change, and I've only seen a few event lines play out in full. Aspects of LOTCs stories do end, apotheosis was a story that came and went even if it has leftover plot threads. It had very real stakes as well. Roleplay in itself doesn't typically have a hard ending. It's in its nature to keep going, somewhere somehow. It's also okay to grow out of the server and move on. 

 

I find the server lore to be beautifully complex where I can track down various old heads and listen to their stories. but ummm I am biased I have not been roleplaying an elf for eons, and there's a bajillion parts of the server I haven't even touched. Id be really sad if the great LOTC story suddenly ended, because then I'd only be able to hear stories rather than experience any to tell myself. 

[Andustar 4143]

I think a lot of what you say is true @ThatFunkyBunch. All journeys must come to the end, else the cycle repeats itself and ultimately we encounter the same stagnant formula again and again. This is actually a theme we encounter in the Dark Souls series, with the climax of the third game revealing that the perpetuation of the cycle has done more harm than good. Everyone is condemned to repeat the same mistakes as their predecessors, save for a few who manage to escape the mold.

With LotC, one of the issues I have encountered is the lack of stakes revolving around the progression of the world itself. It has been a while since we had a continental antagonist that presented an existential threat to everyone, regardless of their race or allegience. We did have Xan and Azdromoth clash recently, but that event was more so limited to the Paladin and Azdrazi community, and their allies, respectively. What happened to antagonists on the scale of Setherian and his Black Scourge?

And yes, we still have major end of map events, like the recent Mori'quessir incursions. However, we never really could put a face to our enemy. I would argue that antagonist had little time to develop beyond a conquesting army. One day, we got attacked by giant insects, a hydra, and cannibal elves, and that was pretty much it in many respects.

In my view, a lot of the arguments we see in the server's politics are fated to stem from the same recurring issues. Worse still, it seems we just cannot agree to put an end to it and leave each other alone to our own devices. There are always old scores to settle between someone or another for a multitude of reasons. Some new players unwittingly get invested in these squabbles as well, and so the next generation strike each other with the same venom as their predecessors.

Maybe we have reached the end point on LotC in some respects. Though I will say that perhaps our discontent with the state of things stems more from the perspective of having been around for a long time. There are still opportunities and stories to be had in this world, as old as it may be. Every once and a while, someone comes along with fresh ideas and injects something new into the formula, and so people continue to have fun and return for new experiences. Unlike MMOs such as World of Warcraft, LotC is very much crafted by its dynamic playerbase, who continue to add their own contributions atop of those that were set in stone years ago.

Granted, the stone itself might be running out of room for new etchings. Perhaps starting fresh would allow new things to step out of the shadow of what came before. The question, however, is would you really be content with throwing out what was once there, where it can no longer be looked upon or revisited? Warhammer AoS made that mistake, and it took years for them to find their own niche. What's more, even when it did, people kept asking for the Old World's return. Whatever the solution may be, careful consideration needs to be taken in how we respect the server's past and ensure it has a legacy.

[ThatFunkyBunch 2818]

19 minutes ago, Andustar said:

I think a lot of what you say is true @ThatFunkyBunch. All journeys must come to the end, else the cycle repeats itself and ultimately we encounter the same stagnant formula again and again. This is actually a theme we encounter in the Dark Souls series, with the climax of the third game revealing that the perpetuation of the cycle has done more harm than good. Everyone is condemned to repeat the same mistakes as their predecessors, save for a few who manage to escape the mold.

With LotC, one of the issues I have encountered is the lack of stakes revolving around the progression of the world itself. It has been a while since we had a continental antagonist that presented an existential threat to everyone, regardless of their race or allegience. We did have Xan and Azdromoth clash recently, but that event was more so limited to the Paladin and Azdrazi community, and their allies, respectively. What happened to antagonists on the scale of Setherian and his Black Scourge?

And yes, we still have major end of map events, like the recent Mori'quessir incursions. However, we never really could put a face to our enemy. I would argue that antagonist had little time to develop beyond a conquesting army. One day, we got attacked by giant insects, a hydra, and cannibal elves, and that was pretty much it in many respects.

In my view, a lot of the arguments we see in the server's politics are fated to stem from the same recurring issues. Worse still, it seems we just cannot agree to put an end to it and leave each other alone to our own devices. There are always old scores to settle between someone or another for a multitude of reasons. Some new players unwittingly get invested in these squabbles as well, and so the next generation strike each other with the same venom as their predecessors.

Maybe we have reached the end point on LotC in some respects. Though I will say that perhaps our discontent with the state of things stems more from the perspective of having been around for a long time. There are still opportunities and stories to be had in this world, as old as it may be. Every once and a while, someone comes along with fresh ideas and injects something new into the formula, and so people continue to have fun and return for new experiences. Unlike MMOs such as World of Warcraft, LotC is very much crafted by its dynamic playerbase, who continue to add their own contributions atop of those that were set in stone years ago.

Granted, the stone itself might be running out of room for new etchings. Perhaps starting fresh would allow new things to step out of the shadow of what came before. The question, however, is would you really be content with throwing out what was once there, where it can no longer be looked upon or revisited? Warhammer AoS made that mistake, and it took years for them to find their own niche. What's more, even when it did, people kept asking for the Old World's return. Whatever the solution may be, careful consideration needs to be taken in how we respect the server's past and ensure it has a legacy.

 

This is notely for the last section. In lore we have timelines already where the same Aenguls and daemons exist just differently this time around. Any implications towards this notion must be careful because I agree. Theirs already so much here in the server. Though I'm only five years on the server or so myself. 

[Xarkly 17299]

The world is just a setting, though.

 

Yeah it has lore and does it have an episodic story of its own, but we're not really here to follow the story of the 'world', we're here to tell the stories of the characters that inhabit it.

 

To me, it doesn't make a lot of sense to say that there's no risk in that context. Our characters experience risk all the time, whether that's from largescale warfare, scheming darkspawn, or common bandits. There's no end of conflict to go with a character's story and provide struggle and hardship. 

 

I think looking at the server's stories from the point of view of the setting and not the characters within the setting is probably the wrong approach.

[colovian fur 8360]

6 minutes ago, Xarkly said:

we're here to tell the stories of the characters that inhabit it.

this is why human RP circles have been so well at self-sustaining their own narrative compared to the server “””story””” or lack-there of at large IMO

[TomFunks 756]

There's a lot of history to the server and new players, or at least those I've interacted with, enjoy participating and becoming a part of it. Also not hard at all to find oldheads who like to talk about stuff they did years ago too. People play within the context and setting of the world, characters grow and change. Even if the world can't end, your characters will still have personal stakes, achievements, and opportunities that will matter to them. An overarching, larger narrative would be interesting but I'm still having fun without one.

If you feel like you've done or seen everything that there is to do or see, maybe a break would be helpful. I can definitely see how having no end to a wider story can feel stagnating but I think it might just be a case of not trying to force it if you're not enjoying it anymore.
 

If I've misunderstood what the point of this post was whoops.

[Turbo_Dog 3567]

@ThatFunkyBunchwhat does SWTOR Star Wars The Old Republic gotta do with this? 

[Asutto 2452]

i don't really understand what you're proposing we do about this here but +1 for swtor name drop

[Samler 1564]

6 hours ago, Agy said:

He did what?

2 maps ago the Daemon of Time were slain and her essence taken by Iblees the Arch Daemon.

Yes, the daemon gave time magic to it's followers.

[Rig 17580]

This is a sandbox server where thousands of people have written things. 90% of the content made on LoTC is very personal. There is no overarching narrative, at best all lore is varying degrees of canon based on the interpretations of player groups or specific staff endorsements, and the list goes on.

 

People who feel their story has ended are free to move on. Newer people are free to create stories.

 

That is the beauty of LoTC.

[satin 7600]

I don't think anyone save the small minority who know about deeplore really care about that sort of thing. People deal with what's in front of them.