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If You Were Producer For a Day
Elliot
Australia
Firstly, I know that there was a similar thread a few months back, but since I cannot find it, and since I am not an Indorani and think necromancy is abhorrent, I am making a new thread for it.
If you were producer for a day, what feature or content would you implement in the game? What do you think the game world could use?
If you were producer for a day, what feature or content would you implement in the game? What do you think the game world could use?
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Something I'm envious of is shadow tether's options in regard to being living, undead or a vampire. I appreciate the vampire system for what it is, something symbolic and eye-catching to those looking at a list of muds to try. For sure, my first character was a vampire, and I found the RP involved in it a large part of what motivated me to stay with Aetolia long-term. But there is also the fact that I could look around and see more things to do. I could play an undead, someone free from the bane of the sun but nonetheless a dedicant of shadow, casting off mortal ties in favour of the Earthen Lord's regeneration - or I could play someone who clung to their life and vitality, accepting the risks they took in harnessing a volatile power while not dedicating their mentality to it.
I was struck a little dumb when I thought about playing spirit for the first time, because they didn't have so much variety. They had a lot of archetypal stuff - the goody two-shoes templars, the mystical shamans, the balance-minded monks, and so on. The ascendril/sciomancer dichotomy was interesting in that it wasn't a repeated thing - no other two classes were counterparts like they were. But being so archetypal and easy to take for granted, I found it a lot harder to feel the spirit tether's presence in the game world. They were just two enemy cities that didn't really do anything. We corrupted things, but they didn't cleanse us in the same way.
They didn't have any polarity among their members, either; they were all just living people. You couldn't really dedicate yourself to spirit the way someone can throw themselves away in the pursuit of shadow. While I understood that, in-lore, it made sense because spirit doesn't seek to disrupt balance or consume like shadow does, I found the lack of symmetry a little disappointing - it felt like spirit was more an off-brand alternative than an opposing option.
That was a while ago, but it was definitely my first impression of the game, and I haven't been playing for too long, only a couple of years. At this point, I've definitely played more of spirit tether than I have of shadow - I was never really one for constant gloom and Bloodloch's edginess was a bit off putting after a while.
I can appreciate some of the differences between Enorianites and Duiran now, with more experience, but they definitely do still strike me as quite similar, with both envisioning themselves as protectors, whereas the enslaving, oppressive nature of Bloodloch and their elitism through undeath, and the meritocratic, experimental themes of Spinesreach each struck different chords with me.
So here's what I would implement: more variety and purpose for spirit (as an element as well as the tether)
The idea of a sub-race like undeath or vampirism appeals - spirit won't unbalance you on its own initiative, but if one were to somehow purge the shadow from their bodies, similar to how undeath is caused by shadow imbalancing over spirit, what could occur? Could you have people who lose some of their natural drives, becoming more naturally drawn to things like construction and repair? The undead lose their dreams, their emotions become subdued and blunted, and their senses cease to work as well - could their spirit equivalent parallel this by becoming more ephemeral? Possess less of a physical presence, but feel a greater connection to things on the empathic and sensory levels?
More importantly, though, I'd give more of a reason to support spirit. The majority of reasons that we're given to be part of the spirit tether is that shadow is dangerous and volatile, and morally reprehensible. We protect the world/wilds from corruption. We do not fall to temptation. But what about someone who doesn't care? Why would they not join shadow? More power, less limitations, less regulation. It's just more appealing.
It feels less like shadow is an element that destroys spirit, and more like spirit is an element created to constrain shadow.
I want to give an in-lore advantage to those who do not use shadow. It doesn't need to be mechanically represented, like the supposed dangers of using shadow don't really happen - sciomancers don't just suddenly become possessed by shadowlings, nor do archivists accidentally unweave themselves and their family into a gory mess through a surge of their reality-tampering powers. It doesn't need to be a strong advantage, but it would be nice to have, rather than two organisations with slightly differing versions of "protect what's ours from shadow", we have one organisation who focuses on protecting the world and removing the taint, and one organisation whose purpose is to capitalise upon this advantage - like perhaps we notice that we all have some dormant abilities which are suppressed when we embrace shadow - but through this discovery, those who stand on the spirit tether can now access this advantage, and have a reason to stay away from shadow other than simply finding it morally offensive.
Are you imagining our ideas to be actually achievable in one day as a producer, or would something like "build an entire new area, complete with XYZAMAZINGCOMPLEXCUSTOMCODINGFEATURE" be within the bounds of what you're looking for in people's ideas?
But reality I would like our bashing stuff to be less, spam queue your single bashing attack until a thing dies.
I really really really loved Battlerage in Achaea, it was enjoyable had multiple attacks to accompany your primary attack
I would want to develop much more bashing areas and map space so that we dont just grind the same stuff over and over...
Its why I liked Islands in Achaea and Bubbles in Lusternia, they were little areas you could go to that were personal and usually have honors lines.
We dont have many honors lines outside of events, or really hard mobs to bash, so honors quests, riddles, fun little things we can accomplish.
...I have alot of ideas but those would take alot of time as well.
I should never be producer.
I'd also think of some way to make Daru and Monk not share two skills, because that's a pet peeve of mine. I only trans'd Cabalist because I knew the rework was coming. Otherwise, I'd never have bothered (though Link was/is amazing).