Joe_Blackman

-Reserved 'cus broke-

Joseph signs the document.

what this man said, please staff for the love of allah don't make undead be utterly distinctive because it's just gonna raise asinine expectations

This is reasonably sound tbh, I believe this can work, but for an Antagonist to really shine like how you described, it will seriously need better staff and players who will take up the role of an Antagonist. Given how the past two Antags performed, the potential Antag won't be surviving as good as the rest if it follows the same formula (I hope the staff will consider this greatly). Along with uniting players, it would be nice if the new Antagonist gained some sort of development along the way. I hope that the staff knows that, even if the Antag efficiently acted as a force to unite players alone, there's a chance that a considerable amount of players may end up dissatisfied if the upcoming Antagonist doesn't have intriguing elements to it; they oughta make sure it doesn't act as generic as Iblees did. If Iblees does come back, I'm seriously hoping the staff change up his chemistry for the greater good of his already trash reputation.

Achieving a fear-factor (especially an OOC fear-factor) with antagonists is virtually impossible, no one wants to feel any sort of fear these days. Most want to feel empowered and be able to brag about their fictional character's achievements, only a select few will actually have their character cower in fear upon seeing something that can easily defeat them, be it literally or even figuratively. Most players will want to fight the big bad spook so that they can brag to their friends, be it IC or OC, about how large their junk is. What gives us a feeling of despair and fear, is something that we do not know of, but is only known as something too powerful for us to handle. To achieve this in LoTC would be completely wonderful, but sadly, as implied and stated before, it's virtually impossible. It will likely take less than a day or so for us to realise what this threat is, and how to defeat it, this in turn will remove the entirety of the 'fear-factor' since we will no longer be trepidatious of the unknown. Unfortunately, if we merely make it far too strong to defeat, we will be met with upset players because the fear-factor is nonexistent on an OOC level and the only emotion left for them to gain from something that's present, awfully powerful and not in their control, is anger. Most do not like losing, and evidently, not many see the development that can come from failure. Though it's not always their fault, sometimes they straight up die and lose all potential development they gained because of shitty antagonist antics. We can no longer emulate the feeling of discovery Aegis had, and most of the regulars are (jaded) vets now. Only a rare handful of newcomers might enjoy basic Antagonist RP. Random attacks won't work either, treat it like the 'natural disaster' stuff. It's arbitrary, can be seen as unfair to some, and others will feel as if they have been singled out and as a reuslt, they will complain with indignation. However, if these "100% random attacks" have something that can be built upon, then that is fine, great even. Indirectly speaking now, this 'we need to ensure players are scared' aim is flawed and broken at this point. We need an intrigue-factor, whatever new antagonist is being designed at the moment, must have depth this time instead of being a one-dimensional entity that only exists to say something along the lines of 'BOO! COWER MORTALS'.

The quantity of spooks in LoTC has been brought up before, but only in regards to the quantity and nothing else. Yeah, it can appear bad if there's that much, but who is truly being affected? Most of those spooks don't really do much anyway, even if there is that much, I don't think it's affecting the server in any particular way. That, combined with the actual lack of spook activity, can give room for fitting in the first faction of spooks who actually have a deity this time. Yeah, you're right, it'll add more to the spook list, but at least there will be a unique spook this time around unlike the freelance spooks. Hell, I wouldn't even mind a few new anti-spooks either.

Maybe if he was applying for a GM, FM or anything of the like, then yeah your post would be more viable for criticism. However, a LM can still be able to evaluate and judge lore efficiently, even if they're momentarily sassy. That one temporarily heated matter between you and Tentoa happened a long time ago, I'm sure of it. That screenshot shouldn't exactly determine his ability to serve as an LM. Maybe if Tentoa was applying for GM or anything similar then it'd be more understandable for you to post something like that. As an LM, he wouldn't interact with the playerbase as much, he'd only be there to judge proposals for the server and see if said proposals are good enough to implemented within the server. edit: never mind i'm a mong

This is a bit of a poorly thought out proposal, but I think we shouldn't label any of these as 'antagonists'. Bring back Iblees and his squad, but don't provide them with the burden of 'Antagonist'. If I recall correctly, the Ascended were once dubbed as 'Protagonists' and as a result, they received a whole lot of flak right? But now that they're no longer referred to as such, their presence and expected performance are no longer being heavily criticised unlike before when they were labelled as 'Protagonists'. Do the same with Iblees and the Undead this time, don't put them on the pedestal of 'Antagonist', because then virtually everyone will be looking at them with harsh, judging eyes (as usual, as we've seen in the past). Just let Iblees low-key slide in, as just another evil dude but this time as a standard deity, not a grandiose special-snowflake deity. I seriously think it'll ease a lot of, if not, some of the tension and reputation already attached to Iblees. As said before, look at the Ascended. Make Iblees and the Undead weaker even as to not encourage the generic boom-boom ****, perhaps adjust the Undead to the same level as Ascended. Don't let the nu-nu-Undead have a short-lived lifespan like most antagonists back then, try something different this time and allow Iblees to function as something a lot more distinctive than before. Bring them down to a level which allows more standard players to interact with them. Obviously, as we've seen numerous times, no one likes being BTFO'd by the Undead's retard-strong spells. So if Iblees and co. do return, please make sure senseless destruction and death just because is no longer the core objective.

he's going to murder my man iblees but sure let him have it

In response the people who want a 'morally grey' and sympathetic antagonist, I understand where you're coming from, but that can only get you so far. With Antagonists, we shouldn't be gaining the urge to pat their backs, we should instead be looking to bring them down (or in some cases, side with them). We shouldn't formulate an Antagonist whose only goals and aims are ' ooga booga im evil just because', we should be creating an antagonist whose goals and aims are understandable, hard to criticise, and are overall intriguing. If we're bringing back Iblees, make Iblees more than just a two-dimensional entity hellbent on destruction. Give him some interesting depth that can keep the players engaged rather than threatened/fearful. Giving an antagonist a 'fear factor' will eventually grow stale to the point where this 'fear' will morph into hatred. When something is no longer able to be feared, it either ends up a bother or an eyesore. The Antagonists shouldn't be aiming to be scary or dreadful, they must aim to be engaging, they must be able to open room for character development. Killing and destruction without proper reason is a waste of time and does nothing, especially since people can just come back to life in LoTC. Antagonists should avoid being nothing but an obstacle to players, they should instead function as a stepping stone for the growth of characters and for the enjoyment of players. The staff need to select a potent leader who can comprehend player psychology and be able to appropriately select the players who are fit for the role of 'Antagonist'. During my time as an Undead, some of us didn't receive information about who was going to be Undead. Said Undead, as far as I knew, only carried out generic 'boom-boom' antics and generated a lot of player salt. Like how the others have voted, there was a severe lack of communication and leadership.

I don't think we should have an unforeseen entity messing with the players and the world. If I recall correctly, this has taken place before and as a result (e.g. The Plague we had some few maps ago), we were left with a ton of salt from the players. The Plague hardly contributed to anything and merely functioned as an obstacle to the enjoyment the players wanted to gain. Plagues, natural disasters and the like hold no room for character development themselves, nor will it actually develop our characters in ways which we will desire. I can see some enjoying an antagonist which isn't ran by players, but I also see that a vast majority will end up disliking it over some time. The characters which they have dedicated a lot of time towards are only having their growth and development hindered by some plague which cannot be swayed with intriguing interaction, at best we will only be seeing a few Flavour-Of-The-Month-tier plague doctors who likely won't be as interesting as the other options that are available to function as antagonists. Let's not do this again. I really don't know who else remembers it, but the Plague which was utilised before generated a whole lotta rage. Again, I can see why others will adore plagues and natural disasters. They both serve as reminders of our characters' mortality and our mortality. It also shows how much the universe cares little for our circumstances, therefore this justifies that we must work together in order to combat this blight, this common enemy. Or alternatively, it may open up room for unexpected developments such as those in high power abruptly falling ill from the Plague (and perhaps dying, allowing for others to take advantage of that), or their settlement's fortifications may be affected greatly by natural disasters, allowing for more activities such as raids and ruination. It may actually instil fear within players and keep us constantly alert. However, if this truly is the case, then I believe not many will enjoy it as much as they think they will. We, as players engaging in this means of this fantasy-fulfillment, are selfish. Myself included. We will likely not want our growths put on hold due to some forgettable unfortunate circumstance which is dubbed as an 'Antagonist'. To expand, plagues and natural disasters have no mouth to speak, they don't have bodies which can be simply attacked, they cannot sway us in interesting ways, nor will they be able to sway us interesting ways. They lack emotion. They cannot form pacts, they cannot mentally manipulate, they cannot organise raids, they cannot create further developments among others or themselves. If it does breed further development, it will only worsen to the point where we, like I said similarly, will get salty as ****. Akin to theists who believe that anything unforeseen such as plagues, natural disasters and the like are the work of 'God', we as players will shift blame to the staff and ET if we feel as though we and/or others have been singled out by this unforeseen 'Antagonist'. They are ultimately not interesting, only threatening. The only thing that can be interesting is the mystery behind it, and even then that will die down, as a considerable chunk of people will realise that they may not have the power to defeat the menace that is an earthquake, or a flesh-eating virus without the help of some very experienced alchemist who can only be found in some distant location, whose player might not be on when you want them to. I only write this as a bit of an analysis and a forewarning to those who want things such as the world turning against them. From my experience, I've seen it happen before, it's not fun. I'm also a biased piece of ****, so I'll say go with Iblees and Undead as that's currently tied as of now as I type. However, they weren't so perfect either. They had their major flaws. Certain players kept being obnoxious, especially those associated with the 'Destruction sect'. They were just as bad as what I described in my previous paragraphs, they only existed to actually bring ruination and nothing else but that. There was no development from them, they only brought destruction to what others were working so hard towards. Iblees isn't ****, it's the one who holds the puppet strings attached to him. What we instead should be doing, is at least trying to mimic the endeavours of the 'Corruption sect'. They were fairly weak Undead who lacked the ability to curbstomp as hard as the rest, what they did do, however, was act behind the scenes and try to manipulate unsuspecting individuals. I operated as one of the Undead under the Corruption sect. By being a more verbal Undead who sought to share elaborated perspectives, encourage mild pacifist attitudes, and provide false hopes, I had managed to (somehow) form a pact of neutrality with the Druids and convince others that Iblees was actually a good Spook. In addition, others within the Corruption sect (if I recall correctly) had managed to take over a settlement with their limited abilities in destruction alone, without using boom-boom powers to bring ruination. These developments allowed for minimal player salt. Again, the Undead and Iblees' themselves aren't ****, it's the one who is leading them and playing as them. Next time, staff, try to locate those who are more fit for the job of playing an Antagonist whose reputation has hit the shitter lately.