Feedback And Suggestions For The Next Island

[Alan 1815]

Hey everyone :)

Let me start by apologizing for us taking so long to make this thread, we've all had our hands tied recently with various things.

Now for a bit of an explanation. The current island, Elysium, is meant to be the "hostile" island of the 2.5 island hopping RP. It was intended to be an island infested with mobs at night and the environment itself was meant to be dangerous, which would be the desert and the volcano. This was not originally mentioned because we had hoped that the players would have realized sooner or later that the hostility of the island was on purpose IC, but instead it turned into an OOC issue. I admit that this was due to disorganization on our part, and the lack of us following through with our own plans was a large factor as well. We had intended for the mobs to descend from the mountains only every so often, but instead they spawned everywhere all the time. The volcano was meant to be a... well... volcano, but instead we left it as just another mountain peak that happened to have a pool of lava at the top.

Obviously we want to prevent all this from happening again, which is why we have this thread here. Essentially, this thread is asking for feedback on the current 2.5 island, Elysium, and suggestions for the next island so that we can improve and make sure the next map fits your wants and needs as best as possible. We are accepting of all suggestions, so please feel free to make your opinions and suggest anything that you believe is needed. This can be anything from the shape and nature of the island to the region permissions to the method of actually getting there. Some current feedback we have already received from 1.5 and 2.5 alike:

"This island is almost exactly like 1.5, the only difference is that we have our current characters."

"The next island should be all snowy and stuff."

"There needs to be less GM intervention, just let us RP in peace and create our own events."

"Maybe a chain of island for the next 2.5 map instead of just one big one?"

"The transition to the island was fun, but it took too long and it was too chaotic. It could have gone a lot smoother."

For the record, we have not yet made any large decisions regarding the next 2.5 map, so this is your chance to tell us what you want to see. We will be taking into account every single suggestion, but keep in mind that the ultimate decision still rests with us. Please try to not suggest anything silly that only benefits a group of people such as "Make the island a giant mountain and have the Druids take over!", anything rule breaking such as "Allow us to No-RP kill anytime we want!", anything obscene, etc.

Also, do you all want an island antagonist present in the next map? If so, offer some ideas!

Thank you and we look forward to your input :)

[LaCabra (Soda) 1519]

A few more Easter Eggs for explorers would be awesome.

[ek_knight 21]

I personally think that part of the problem was that Elysium was designed (with the volcanoes and whatnot) as a location for an event. It seemed to me that the GMs had this idea that everyone would stay nearby to the boas and create temporary tents and the like (correc me if I am wrong, this is just my impression). However it seems to me the players used Elysium in a different way, and tried to really settle it. I personally think that for the next island a main decision has to be wether it will be a place that can be settled for a a while (ie settlements are created) or wether the island should be more temporary and event-based.

[ImpinAintEZ 442]

THis is just me but I think that we shouldn't even try for another island. Why not just use all the builders for the 3.0 map, so we can transition faster?

[Telanir 6975]

Hrmm, if we are to be doing all this island hopping, why hasn't it happened yet? We should've moved to the next island at least a week ago, as now people are beginning to sprout huge towns, large houses/farms and etc.

Of course, now I think it is too late, as people are now attached to their buildings. ;)

[leave me alone 995]

I think that we should not be able to build estates, towns and cities everywhere on the next island. Instead I think each race/faction should have their own area to set up a camp, a few mines, a huge forest to hunt in and other things to gather resources with. I honestly thought it was rather silly having people building estates cities and manors even though we all new IC that this Island was just for gathering resources.

And please have the next island less hostile, all the high mob spawn rate did was ruin fun RP.

[Hawkz 0]

I think that we should not be able to build estates, towns and cities everywhere on the next island. Instead I think each race/faction should have their own area to set up a camp, a few mines, a huge forest to hunt in and other things to gather resources with. I honestly thought it was rather silly having people building estates cities and manors even though we all new IC that this Island was just for gathering resources.

And please have the next island less hostile, all the high mob spawn rate did was ruin fun RP.

I like this idea. I think overcrowding could be a problem, but might make for some interesting roleplay.

[Loreq 70]

This is my person feeling, if anyone agrees...good for you,

I find the islands to really decrease my drive for the roleplay experience, There is no real stable ground to really build up relations with and the high amount of OOC going on, with these small little islands, makes the roleplay no fun. If someone wants to live on a remote mountain in the middle of nowhere, it is impossible because the landmass is soo small you get taken over by some Red roses...anyways I think LotC should be putting all of it's great and fantastic builders on the 3.0 ONLY and just get things done! (Hope I Don't Sounds Like A Complainer :<)

[George of House Glover 372]

No regions, and no mobs

[THUNDER37 162]

I would simply like to see more GM intervention. However, not in the shape of large scale events like it has been.

Possibly, have GM's etc... go to small towns and settlements and unleash a torrent of mobs on them. Or even an earthquake.

Secondly.. I'd like to see the island have set "Stereotypical" areas for each race.

Dwarfs: A massive mountain, sorta like the volcano's size but a little wider and longer. (Not much bigger)

Orcs: A desert, with a few small caverns etc...

Elves: A deep forest with a range of hills nearby.

Humans: A cardbord box. Or a large area of land with various tree'd areas and a few hills nearby.

Everyone else, e.g. Kha' and the halflings can find their own area between these main races.

Or possibly, if the GM team if feeling creative: Have numerous small islands outside of the main one and have each race land on a seperate on with the exception of maybe two who land together on the largest of the islands. Meaning each can create boats between but they can also have their own area without creating walls to box themselves in.

[Danny 2232]

THis is just me but I think that we shouldn't even try for another island. Why not just use all the builders for the 3.0 map, so we can transition faster?

3.0 isn't just the map itself - we have plugins to be created, systems to be designed, etc - we also don't want to rush the map.

[Dr. Eggnog 74]

Howabout.. Some few minor changes.

Less mob spawn rates,

perhaps a giant chasm in the center of the next island for the dwarves?

a deep jungle for Kha and elves.

A large expansive plain for the humans.

REDSTONE!

perhaps a smaller island too?

Just my thoughts.

[Arkelos 1027]

Section off land for the races to use, Region it and give perms to the leaders, this will get rid of the useless clutter.

Red - Orcs

Blue - Humans

Green - Elves

Brown - Dwarves

Purple - No man's land

The no man's land, would have a ton of rare desirable resources, and is the only piece of wilds on the map. Building houses there would be a silly thing to do, because large roaming monsters continue to ravage the land. This place would be a desirable point to control.

There will be no prebuilt areas, everyone will need to work to create a settlement for themselves.

I forgot Kha .-.

[Hiebe 2493]

No more islands. Please start getting 3.0 done

[Wretched 2075]

I'd like to see a massive island without any life whatsoever. There'd be no grass and in its place would lie one large blanket of Mycelium that covers over everything from flatlands to mountains. It'd be a true wasteland. The only reason we'd want to stop at this island was due to our lacking survival supplies, such as food 'n' water and the like. We'd dock at this wasteland only to be greeted by completely nothing as far as the eye can see, no trees, no crops, no fresh water, just nothing. And what's more, it'd be littered with nasty mobs of all shapes and sizes, it'd basically be a living hell.

And to those who know me well "Why the mobs, Benbo?" well the simple answer would be to drive the roleplay into a certain location, "But what location?" you ask? Well underground of course. The underside of this wasteland would be quite the opposite, under the island would lie massive caverns filled with everything you could possibly need, including forests bristling with both food and life. There would be rivers flowing everywhere to act as the plant's water supply, and the caverns ceilings would be riddled with small clusters of glowstone to provide the plants light.

The wasteland above would be forgotten, where only the fool travels to die, yet this paradise below will never show anything but kindness towards the weary traveller, and the dreaded PvE'ing mobs from above shall never intrude onto this underground sanctuary, they much prefer the dark, dull terrain of the surface. And on this island, would be several active volcanoes releasing large black plumes of smoke into the sky, completely blocking out all of the sun's rays, eliminating all chance of survival on the surface.

The playerbase would still have the fearfactor of the mobs, while being able to freely roleplay below without any threat of being randomly ambushed by zombols with the sickly desire to "Kill, kill, kill..." Each cavern would lead into more caverns, providing enough room for all the races to live quite happily amongst each other within their own kingdoms. This 'unique' environment will certainly bring with it no end of fresh roleplay never to of been seen before on LoTC.

So that's my suggestion. I have found that all maps on LoTC so far haven't really brought us anything that simply makes us go "Wow".