𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖚𝖘𝖍

Most Renowned Characters: 𝔇𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔫 ℑ𝔯𝔢𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔘𝔯𝔤𝔲𝔞𝔫 ℌ𝔦𝔤𝔥 𝔎𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔇𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔞𝔫 ℜ𝔲𝔯𝔦𝔠 𝔬𝔣 𝔑𝔬𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 [ᴘᴀʀᴀɢᴏɴ] 𝔉𝔞𝔩𝔲𝔪'𝔏𝔲𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔎𝔯𝔲𝔤𝔪𝔞𝔯

IGN: Stargush Screenshots from Axios:

Hudson scribbles the nomination of Filibert and places into the box "Filibert es mah sherriff!"

I'd like to start off by saying the balance of PVP and RP was one of the major reasons why I enjoyed the server. Since the bar fell more towards slice of life rather than playing your role made it very dull. Playing a role since the start was one of the major foundations of the server so it's not like that will ever change. Most people who actually complain about getting raided and causing a role-play to be ruined also have all the liberty to take their role-play elsewhere to avoid it and let the guard respond. Villainy has always been a very broad definition for conflicting interests. There are some nations with cultures that are darker in worship than others, yet stand as a main race. Usually the offender is always stuck as the 'villain', but the conflict of interest is the cause. A Human army raiding an Elf city would cause the Humans to be considered attacking villains even if they were doing it to provide for their own people. Minor Villainy would fall around things such as raids and such, but there is always a means to an action. A /true/ villain would be those that cause grief beyond measure. This would be an example of the Undead, who attempt to cause complete ruin yet have no place on the server as a community anymore. Most communities are often formed as cliques but I have always seen banditry as a smaller group of friends taking up a small role rather than taking up power as a Lord. As for raiding, when I first joined the server during Vailor the appeal of a raid was similar to that of a Guild Monster Hunt. Instead though, it was a PvP clash between cities and very popular activity that allowed people to rally through Skype. The moment a ping was sent into chat about an incoming battle would cause almost everyone to hop online immediately to defend. It wasn't seen as something majorly important but rather as a rallying activity, because the only thing gained through victory are items and most of the time they weren't moderated because groups could dynamically rally and fight it out on their own. One of my main issues with the raid rules currently is that peacetime raids are discouraged greatly allowing merely a family of 5 as a max cap. Yet regardless of a win or a loss for the 5 man peacetime raiding party allows the defending city to be on cooldown for 2.5 days (12 hours per player) or nearly half a week. The cooldown gives the city a few days to recover, but is intended to suppress any further raiding even though realistically you could do the server vote for a single day and obtain nearly a full set of armor back through the Auction House. War Raids are almost just as a bad because instead of being a minor raid where loot is simply the outcome, instead they added a way to encroach upon enemy territory by establishing a war camp through victory. I'm not sure war-zones would even come back as an alternate to war raiding. These days though unfortunately the rules suppress a lot of dynamic conflicts from occurring, which includes mods pushing OOC chat delaying a raid in progress for hours. Frankly, it is quite depressing because these kind of activities create high energy for player activity and participation. I think it is very deteriorative to suppress small conflicts like these not only because it is a very fun activity but what is the point of having Monks if people don't die? They are there for a reason to practice making sure that regardless of what actions you take to progress your character doesn't mean the end due to Monk Revival, because that it solely up to your own story and decision.

I'm over seeing this same topic map in and map out just to get the same answer every time. Where are the good priorities? Where is actual progress? No player community seems to be on the same page about LoTC historical concepts, but the hysteria of IRL Humanity Histories only surrounds the community of Orenia mostly. Staff barely re-established the server's ability to wage war-claims, yet can't seem to connect a healthy competition between opposing nations. In medieval ages blood by the sword is the most challenging and competitive skill, but staff also just re-implemented 1.9 for the second time since Axios which changed up the combat dynamic; there doesn't need to be another thing to fix combat in a different direction whether in CRP or PVP. Yet crossbows are also relatively new so I don't see a point in trying to modify that just to serve a specific community's desire to be more of a modern era. This would only serve a specific community that has been wanting such a thing for years on end now. Humanity Expectations of the 2nd Age: End of LoTR 2nd Age:

IGN: Stargush RP NAME: Duren Ireheart AGE: 125 ACTIVITY REQUIREMENT: Clan Ireheart CANDIDATE: Levian'Tol Grandaxe

My major issues with Orcs has always been something out of their control which should honestly be cultural to Orcs. I'm sure a big complaint for most people will be PVP goonery and bad behavior, but being a honorable warrior is one of the main cultural aspects of both Shamanism and Orcs. People will tell Orcs not to be so combative or act like PVP goons and yet expect Orcs to share their cultural design of Krug Shamanism with other races, which appropriating that leaves them less unique culturally and only to act on their bloodlust. Shamanism though is probably the most important part of the Orc's cultural design, but unfortunately has had a lack of maintenance due to other races adapting Shamanism and Spirits as their own lore and definitions. This spun out many ideas of what the Spirits actually represent, and left it to mostly words of worship but with a lack of action. This also has to do with a clash between old lore of Krug creating the Spirits, and modern lore with a Daemon residing over the Spirit Realm. To put it simply: Krug the almighty Oldfather was unbreakable as he contended with Aengudaemons and the Elements. Upon discovery of Spirits approaching Krug, the Spirit Realm was completed through Krug's spirit. The Immortal Realm were skills & practices (compared to concepts) created through the traits of Krug passed onto his kin, and meant to design a mortal culture and a way to provide for a clan/greater society A clansmen who performs the events or action to a greater degree achieves a greater ancestral seat after they die. (Ex: Lurs must prove to be great hunters, Gorkil must prove to be greater warriors.) The Ancestral Realm is the Krug afterlife, a Valhalla of sorts, where lesser spirits go upon death to preside with the ancient greater spirits of Krug & his kin. Though many will easily disagree with me due to Shamanism being re-written, god knows how many times. This is must definition of the cultural design for Orcs with a balance between the Daemon and Krug, but in my opinion sharing Shamanism outside of Krug lands makes Orcs far less unique despite being a main race. One thing I have always loved about the Orc Community both IRP/OOC, is that despite how much people demonize them just for 'playing a role' they will always stand together and contend against adversity. People can only do so much to sustain the orcish concepts without elder guidance, yet many communities and staff in many occasions attempt to step all over the efforts of Orcs and in many times very shadily. Orcs need more events to regain reputation with their Clan based Ancestral/Immortal practices. It would also help regain retention for activity if Clans can start interacting between themselves again by competing through their inherited traits. It would also be very useful if PvE events could be used much more commonly with Orcs so others wouldn't complain so much they got attacked by Orcs, despite a Clan being represented as having traits of a Warrior.

I was just thinking about this post the other day and wondered if any of this had activated any motivation for staff to do better because frankly as a server I once seen much potential in is agreeably a shadow of what it once was. I remember joining in Vailor witnessing constant player interactions, not only at the Cloud Temple which was a major RP hub and market but one of my favorite memories was about a week in when a Dread knight (Undead) attempted to murder somebody along the road so a bunch of traveler's ended up jumping the dread knight and killing it to save the victim. Another thing that kept my interest were common events performed by Event Team that i'd simply run into crossing the road, or asked to participate in from Cloud Temple. Applications are definitely one of the biggest hurdle as many external MC players do get very interested in LoTC and what it might have to offer, but many who see how lengthy and delayed the application process is quickly lose the morale to even try and complete it. Could be interesting to see an automated whitelist application with alternating questions so nobody can simply auto-fill. This is something that has always grabbed my attention whilst playing. I don't understand why staff consistently create big maps built "specifically for roleplay atmosphere" yet most of the wilds are never navigated while players are forced to stay in nation tiles to not fail activity checks. It kills many of the player/nation interactions and de-centralizes the communities to be isolated. Free build can be very efficient in acquiring vassal states, but I do think on some level aside from "roleplayifying maps" that free builds should at least have a decent build for display. Small maps are useful especially to centralize interactions in a role-play server. I'm not saying it always has to be small but it definitely should be relative to the server activity. Almaris feels like a map that would be meant for fitting 1000+ active players, yet a lot of it is simply unused. My main issue when it comes to lore is simply that there are bad priorities when managing such, but that could stand for many staff teams as well. I was once LT in Axios-Atlas, but it wasn't something I was very fond of due to having consistent annual re-writes for lores and magics. After that experience I realized there should rather be a solid designed magic/lore with canon practices and information that aren't in constant flux like it was something experimental like Devs tend to do when they tweak their plugins after being implemented as if it was complete. Personally, I think rewrites are very deteriorative to LoTC's design and lore/magic canon especially when any player can submit lore that may possibly alter what ancient lore already stated as the standard. What needs the most focus is the creation and progression about the story-line of the present map, instead of what was already documented since Aegis. A major or racial storyline could be established at the start of the map and simply follow a schedule through the months with smaller events between. Though it doesn't always need to have pressure on story staff, because most of each maps history is detailed by the constant struggles/feuds between main races or nations which makes things complicated and stagnant when conflict tends to be suppressed, demonized, or deflected so often.