Rate of Advancement

[SlothfulCat]

Lets see, I started Aria out on december 4th, 06, its now the 16th of may 07. I believe that is... 12.. 1, 2, 3, 4... 5 and a half months.

She has respawned a total of... 3 times: XP loss to a total of 2500.

I tend to play, 4-5 hours a night.... and Aria is now level 17, about a third of the way to 18.

This is quicker than I'm use to, my first three RP servers having even slower advancement.

I still remember my first night here though.... I had the quest group for my DM plot not show up at 6PM (work and kids), a few did straggle in at 7PM and I got so fed up with their behavior from metagaming area names to not even being able to wait for me to give them descriptions ((I tend to DM PnP style, alot of stage setting text)) of what they were seeing after being asked repeatedly not to. By 8:30 I had enough and created a stoping point. I then logged in with my PC, who was level 16 when the others who started the same time as her were level 20, 21 and 27. RPed up yarn from a stray spawn I encountered on the road till about 9:30, then had my master plan for the night ((beating back the goblin menance)) shot down by "RPers" in OOC across the server in party chat... with 2 other DMs involved in this chatter... because 1.) The spawns were hard, 2.) the actual creatures were tough, and 3.) The XP and Loot was lousy.

At this point around 10pm, I logged off. I opened the internet tab... found FRC jumped to the forums, read through the rules... signed into the server via direct connect and roleld aria up a bit before 11PM. ((I'd already been tossing her concept around as an alt)). I got out of the starting area with a hin named Timon... bumped the absolute first thing she said was...

"All black is so 1369" to a walking inkblob who was shouting in the middle of town to rally a group to attack the Zents... one Arisa I think the name was... She got into it with Ranan who casted hold person on her... I then got to spend the next hour or so sitting at a table with Ranan, his son... Thalan?, and I believe Beladona just RPing.

Moral of the story? I'd like to think I RP more than the average player... but I play a PC with a need to achieve. The result for this is that most of her interactions tend to serve some goal; her merchanteering... study... information gathering etc. I'd like to think she is a unique personality... ((most of the concept is targeted at being a unique voice in the RP with room to change a bit)) however... I'm also willing to acknowledge that I /do/ like to go out and get medieval on things... but nothing is more annoying than getting out in a group and the RP shutting off.

My own personal pet peeve about everything is that a number of players/PCs seem to be willing to put up with anyone ((Banites with Tormites, Malarites with Edathians, Zents with Purple Dragons etc etc)) who being near works to their OOC benefit, in ways such as XP fallout. Its hard to see any depth in these PCs... and some of them are beyond Aria in level, getting there both slower and faster.

Guess the short of it all is: Developing character doesnt jsut mean furthering your characters's level etc... nor even their story... its developing their persona... their character... after all, people dont think of Aria first as a "really powerful wizard" or an "oddball wizard' or even a "War Wizard" they think of her first as... "that bitch". To me that means someone was Role Playing.

[TermaForever]

Don't get me started on Aria....

[SlothfulCat]

Since I seemed to get on my soapbox without making a point...

I tend to measure advancement more in development of personality and presence than levels... if youre level 9 and everyone knows you you are and what you are about... and can think about your PC as a real person... then you're alot more advanced than some level 27 yahoo that seems to think only of his sword and smacking things.

[TermaForever]

Unless of course that is what your character's personality is suppose to be...

"ME BONK YOUS!"

[EDM Entori]

I woke up this morning saw this thread but I've not had a chance to read through all the posts, cept for many as ones.. I'll leave my descritpton of my advancement here and then I'll get around to reading tonight.

Entori has been here since october maybe late september of 2006. basically its spent on the move, wandering the server, doing quests I run into or not depends on the day and the move. I've died and respawned horendous amounts of times, due to my creativity when I'm alone.

I find that Rp happens alot on the move, which is great, even better when a DM kicks in and spices it up. hes level 16 now soon to be 17. and hes been plateauing at his levels. RP xp is rare, I've had some great RP with no notice, and some AFK moments with xp. while cooking supper I know me and brin got xp one time. I don't go out and farm or fight fight fight.. it just depends how the wind blows. I spent 2 hours in shallybrooke with Isiolith, just talking. Frankly I find the Rate of Advancement to be great, each level.. especially to a wizard, means a great deal!. I found journying my..6-7 months its been a struggle to level, but its not the most important thing. I've gone out to places with characters way about my level for no exp and been useful. which is my goal, if I go somewhere to make a diffrence.

I'll probably expand on this later.. got work

But I'll be back to read all the posts
Don

[EDM Entori]

so its snowing/raning so work is slow
(go flying industry!)

and I caught up, I gave my perspective but I want to add something about RP. Greenhouse mentioned about creating your own plot in character wise. Sure I'd love to do magical resreach with ent or Rp making wands and all that and I've done it to some degree. but heres the catch...


.. you do something thats not in a source book you get hammered with a tell saying "how can he do that?"..
I don't know how many times I've rped making a magical light, or some kind of the weave that was not listed in a source book. and Got hammered.

I mean to my RP mind, source books can go fly out a window, entori is a wizard in a deep connection to the weave, hes got a bit of control there. there should be some things he can do. I just get hammered way to often for not having a source book so I give up.


I would love for him to be the wizard I want him to be, to be scribing and furthering his studies. I would love to have everyspell require a material components, that you can buy/find and have a bandolier to keep those things in. Really would, it would give entori something more to do as a wizard that blaber lore. A workshop in a tower is all he really longs for, a chance to learn "high magic" down the road.

Can't do that without a Dm for most parts. or not really you can pretend and go out exploring which has been done. but it would be nice to actuall get even a useless item in myinventory saying bandolier.. and spell components such as charcoal iron rods and such.

hey maybe its an idea, but FRC2 is on the edge, so I can see development of FRC slowing down..

just my humble two cents there.. gotta go later

[ManyAsOne]

entori said:

so its snowing/raning so work is slow
(go flying industry!)

and I caught up, I gave my perspective but I want to add something about RP. Greenhouse mentioned about creating your own plot in character wise. Sure I'd love to do magical resreach with ent or Rp making wands and all that and I've done it to some degree. but heres the catch...


.. you do something thats not in a source book you get hammered with a tell saying "how can he do that?"..
I don't know how many times I've rped making a magical light, or some kind of the weave that was not listed in a source book. and Got hammered.

I mean to my RP mind, source books can go fly out a window, entori is a wizard in a deep connection to the weave, hes got a bit of control there. there should be some things he can do. I just get hammered way to often for not having a source book so I give up.


I would love for him to be the wizard I want him to be, to be scribing and furthering his studies. I would love to have everyspell require a material components, that you can buy/find and have a bandolier to keep those things in. Really would, it would give entori something more to do as a wizard that blaber lore. A workshop in a tower is all he really longs for, a chance to learn "high magic" down the road.

Can't do that without a Dm for most parts. or not really you can pretend and go out exploring which has been done. but it would be nice to actuall get even a useless item in myinventory saying bandolier.. and spell components such as charcoal iron rods and such.

hey maybe its an idea, but FRC2 is on the edge, so I can see development of FRC slowing down..

just my humble two cents there.. gotta go later

There are a million other things you can do... Like interacting with other players and advancing plots there. Track down evil PCs if you're good guy. Seek out and convert or destroy good PCs if you're evil. Get involved in PC politics. Try to start a cult. Try to dismantle opposing PC factions. Start a PC mage fair or PC auction for rare goods. Hold a tournament. The list is endless. ;D

[EDM Entori]

*has had a mage fair*

but I won't hold it against you, and yes I do all those things too.. but I got hammered with evil points for taking down a evil guy ...*shifty eyes*

I get your point, maybe I'd just like to get involved with my characters class a bit more and maybe I'll start thinking of ways to do that.

but a note on plots... most dms who have plots running, if they don't see a characters actions in said plot.. its usually void, I know I've had actions that have been overlooked cause no one saw it, felt kind of like a wasted effort.. but off topic..

I think the level progression is great, its a very balanced server, and the fact theres not alot fo 40 level gods running around is nice.

[SlothfulCat]

Since you are lacking your own cult you can join Feathers, tribute to Feather can be directed to the Keeper of Feather for works furthing the spread of dashing fashion across the realms!

[TermaForever]

Gosh this almost makes me want to bring Darius back in so that I can slowly work at bringing down all decency in the world for a couple of months until being strong enough to cast Ranan down in the ashes of the Abyss and assume my mantle as the meanest s.o.b ever to walk the earth!!!

*mad cackle*

Unfortunately he is level 3...

THE END!

Ahem...anyway yeah I don't know much about playing a wizard anywhere let alone here so...

On the plus side I don't have a source book so I won't be yelling and screaming until you only do what the source book says.

[canuckkane]

Well... all I can go by is my own experience with my oldest character (Vrulo Myskada) I've been playing him solidly for oh, somewhere around 7 or 8 months now I think. Now, I often am up late, have a lot of time, etc. so I tend to get into a lot of parties and go out killing things, but that doesn't negate the possibility for RP, actually it's caused some very cool RP, however I have also spent countless hours standing around in Isinhold role-playing with others or merely standing around looking scary... (I hope). The problem is that simply standing around doing nothing gets boring after a while... I try to get as even a mix of RP and adventure as I can and Vrulo is now level 18. I don't think I've been a "more action oriented than RP oriented player" though perhaps a few dm's that have watched Vrulo for some time might have a different opinion. I'm always open for CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

[DM Grizwald]

I've been playing on this server for 2+ years now. I'll admit when i first started, i've never played any online RPG before or even herd of role playing. It took a while to get used to. For a while I did alot of the hack and slash thing until I got used to the game mechanics and such. I'd say i didnt get the hang of rp'ing until i hit about lvl 5. From then on, i'd start spending more and more time playing. I got to the point (about when I hit lvl 11 a few months later) that i started playing at least 12 hours a day. When you play that much, you advance in levels fairly quickly. You get involved in a lot of plots with that many hours logged into the game and theres plent of time also spent sitting around rp on your own. Now that i dont spend that much time playing, i've noticed a serious halt to both rp xp and adventuring. Also when your not playing all that much anymore, I tend to find less of a reason to go out and "Adventure".

As MaO said, theres so much more a player can do then just go out and "adventure" around. I've some of the newer players here spend 2-6 months here and sky rocket in lvls, most of the new players barely making town for more then a dozen minutes before heading out again. I've noticed a serious difference in the amount of "adventuring" going on from when i first started to now. It seems alot of the player base now is going out to "adventure".

I'd think I'd better stop before i start repeating myself, but i think i got my opinion across.

[moulinous]

some quick stats i have seen, ranan...3 years, 23rd i think...sharitia, 3 plus years and maybe four,lol, 27th?...vind, 3 years, 21....guldar, 2 years, 17th,....hroth, 3 years, 24th....padrin, 3 years, 23rd....kam, 3years, 19th....there are others i am sure that i missed. it took us this long to get there....just food for thought....*grins*and all of us were before it was hardcore.
does rate mean you are a good rper? no. does accelerated mean you are a bad one? no. but neither does it mean you are,lol...
best line i have read in this whole post.
If you are ninth level and everyone knows who you are, you are doing a good job.

[Savage]

I started here in October of 2006. I have played 3-4 hours every weeknight and 10+ most weekends. I have really only 1 PC and he has just barely made level 15 and that is only because lately I have been RPing a change in him that has made him alot more adventureous and reckless and thus getting alot more XP from hack n slash. What do I think about his advancement rate? I think its way too fast and I think he is sadly under powered.

DM Many as one said they have been here two years and have no PC's over level 15. I am jealous. That means you have alot of people to RP with when you are on. That also means you had a lot of things worth role playing. I try to RP before I do anything else, because beating down mindless NWN AI monsters is just boring. However, lately, its the only thing worth doing. I can't explain that last comment without this degrading into a ranting which I simply don't feel like doing.

[mastersenge]

I have one more thing about the lvling up kinda fast. I do RP and sometimes i go an entire day and get no exp at all or may go do something where all the kills get me 1xp just because its something he should be doing to develope a relationship with someone. But, playing an evil character gives you a bit of motivation to try to lvl because almost all the times im logged on im toggled hostile by at least 3 people at a time and all between lvl 18 and 20 or higher. I never get toggled by people my own lvl or lower or even just a few lvls higher. So when you are alwasy being toggled hostile by people you know can kill you so easy it kind of motivates you to move a bit faster. Its all ooc info and I do my best not to use that in the decisions that my character makes and if he gets in a situation where he should fight one of these people then i wont back down just because of ooc knowledge. But, I do have to say it is a bit ... i dont know.. wierd that nobody his own lvl ever does it but only the really higher lvls toggle hostile. Not complaining about them doing that really it makes me feel like I must be playing him right to have that happen but just saying it is a bit of a motivation to lvl up and i do wish more around his own lvl would try to confront him. Even if its a few lvls higher. But, a lvl 13 character doesnt stand a chance when multiple lvl 20s are ready to kill him. Just thought id throw that in there because the playing evil characters seems to be overlooked sometimes here. Let me know if I made anything sound wrong about that but I think I said it right. I sitll RP ALOT and stay IC all the time but I do actually try to lvl.

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

What if your 6th level and everyone knows who you are?
*throws up the rock and roll sign*

[moulinous]

*makes note to toggle maston with 1st through 17th level to make him feel better*

[mastersenge]

// misclick and double posted oops

[mastersenge]

LOL cant imagine anyone wanting to kill darkharp just yet. at least from what any of my characters knows of him. And thanks so much for your concern moulinous LOL.

[SlothfulCat]

Maston... Most people ((read me)) took gettign repetively set to hostile as a low level as a reason to find someone to hide behind.. ((read as "a dwarf")).

Perhaps food for thought for anyone out there and being "Evil" who are gettign the feeling they /have/ to level up... maybe youre just being too obvious? I mean... if I made an evil PC I think the last thing I'd do at level 3 is walk around Isinhold with a whip, protected from good with those red floaty dots in pure black and silver armor with a hood on 24/7 buhahahing and refusing to even lie about who my god is...

and thanks moulinous, glad you liked my line.

[Grimnir Gurnison]

Well since everybody else is chiming in on this thread I figure I might as well too. ;D I haven't been playing Grimnir that long, just a mere four months. The plan I had for him was to be a simple dwarf slayer. (Pat yourself on the back Warhammer fans) However, I was conversing with Helgrin one day and he was complaining about the rarity of mithral and adantite ore. I figured somebody has to mine it so it might as well be me. This started me off on my rp quest to dig for ore. I've had some dm's drop all sorts of things on me from rock crystal to getting ambushed by duergar while mining. At times it's tough to keep mining and other times it's fun to try to figure out a new way to say "picks at rock".
Anyways I've found that old Grimnir has become noticed for his mining. Of course it helps when someone asks Helgrin about who could look into collapsing/excavating a tunnel or sapping Redmist's walls and he suggests me. All this makes mining even more fun and makes me want to do it more. So I've adopted the policy of screw leveling as I'll get up there sooner or later. All I really need to be is tough enough to hack into some rock walls and sniff out some ore/gems. Now I haven't had the time to be on alot due to school but when I'm done and have some free time you can bet I'll be in the mine.

[Nevajas]

*Digs two coppers out of his pocket, tosses them into the growing pot.*

I personally don't mind the slow rate of advancement at all. I like how the EXP scales to favor traveling in a group. I like the low to mid-level magic items. I don't even mind how expensive magic/masterwork weapons and armor cost, because it means even every one you find is significant.

The only problem that I have is that the EXP penalty for re-spawning is 100 EXP per level rather than the default 50. I rarely explore the server because I only play 2-3 hours every other night, at most, and re-spawing costs me about two nights worth of EXP. Given that my PC relies heavily on stealth but sneaking past spawns adds up lag on the server... yeah, I'm kinda stuck to just a few territories.

But I still likes it a lot! ;D

[ManyAsOne]

Getting off topic. This isn't about the server exp system. Its about telling us how you spend your time. Do you spend most of your time adventuring, advancing in levels quickly, or do you spend it RPing and moving somewhat slow through the levels?

[EDM Entori]

getting back on topic then.

I'd say its half and half, when I don't have time to devote to wander I'm Rping, and when I can wander I do, but not necessarily all the time. if I want to meet up with a certain PC or in some cases NPC, I'll travel, to spend hours sitting in a glade talking. But most of my time is spent on the move but not going through areas, just going through the server its towns and such, finding people and things to do.

*hopes thats a better answer*
Don

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

I would say with Feanorre..about 80% of my exp was gained through monster killing, and the rest came after I decided to give up adventuring and become a merchant. With Darkharp..probably over 90% of experience has come from roleplay, when I do get with a group and go out anywhere..they are usually too high level for me to gasin exp with anyways. I had fun with Fea..but I have to honestly say I have -alot- more fun playing Darkharp.

[moulinous]

felgrave said:

Getting off topic. This isn't about the server exp system. Its about telling us how you spend your time. Do you spend most of your time adventuring, advancing in levels quickly, or do you spend it RPing and moving somewhat slow through the levels?

For Wolf it seems mixed...sometimes i spend most of the night just sitting in a tavern. Then the next i am out and about for hours on end. With Guldie...most of my time is spent merchanting and seeing who has what for sale and just walking around and being Guldie. I think Gond has moved pretty fast, about 4 months or so? and we are at mostly 7th through 11th in our group. and we are even playing with the big boys and winning and losing.

[shimmerxxx]

I'm happy with the rate of advancerment as it is. I used to get frustrated when some new player overtakes my characters within a couple month of starting, but now I'm used to it. I dont have as much time to play as other people on here and I have four characters to divide my time between, so it only makes sense that someone with one PC who puts in the hours will overtake me.

As to whether it's better RP to to sit around talking rather than staying IC whilst adventuring in a group, well that depend on the drives and ambitions of the characters doesn't it? To use a couple of my characters as examples:

Lacuna is on a quest for personal power, so she adventures when possible in order to hone her skills and will only really bother talking in depth to her allies, or those she believes that she can gain more personal power from befriending.

Finbarr came to Cormyr to escape trouble at home, he's here to have fun, he is happy to talk to just about anyone and would rather organise a game of Hide and Seek in Isinhold than go explore a scary old catacomb. When he does go monster-bashing there's usually a reason for it, perhaps to find a nice place to have a picnic, or because he want to see his friend Reyvan cast a new spell on some meanies.

[kaltorac]

I think Moulinous summed it up best when he said "if you 9th level and everyone knows who you are". I rarely pay attention to the classes and levels of the other PC's when logging in .... matter of fact .. I get tells from others all the time asking "you see I got my new level?" ... I usually just skim the PC's names to see who I know is on and try too choose one of my PC's that is most likely to be with them. It is disconcerting though when you notice a name of a PC who is now 12 - 17th level and you've not even met them with one of your own PC's yet. This is a high fantasy setting we play in each day ... we are all adventurers ... heroes ... villans. If your PC doesn't somehow stand out from the crowd way before getting to near and epic status ... are you really playing your part? I can name two dozen PC's that where well known before even hitting 3rd or 4th level and not for their deeds so much as the fact that their characters "breathed". When you saw them or heard their names mentioned ... for good or ill a vivid picture of them sprang into your mind.

In closing ... I don't want to exclude all the great RPers out there ... but ... come on ... even at first level ... "Milly" creeped us all out and left a lasting impression ... uhm ... even a few nightmares.

[Helgrin Granitesoul]

I know Helgrin shot up in levels pretty quickly. This was my very first online RPG experience and it took awhile to really understand what things were all about. Part of that is I would go out, do an area, get back, sell, and then it would be off again to the next with out much in between.. part of it also is i play this darn game WAY TO MUCH, and lastly - unlike many others. Helgrin was the only PC i ever played so any time I was on.. it was with him. Does that mean we didnt talk or RP while we were travelling.. no. But he didnt get involved in a lot of things. Part of that was that he liked to travel with certain people and certian people only. Many times he was asked to go out with groups and I looked at them and becuase of a certain person that might have been involved also he decided he wasnt comfortable with it and declined. heck.. I know I even walked away from a couple DM quests that came up because of the people that were already involved. So I always felt I was playing him true to the character I started him out as to be. Towards the end though, Helgrin spent almost all of his time in rp mode unless he got asked to do something for someone that he couldnt refuse. He spent his time travelling the caravans, taking to people, setting up deals, getting comissions, and working away in his shop on new armor designs for his customers. I dont think he has gained a level in awhile now and probably has reached his peak. He has led a good life.. retirement will treat him well I think. I do know though.. I was always happy when people came up to me in Isinhold and said... Hey.. arent you the dwarf that is the armourer.. Made me feel all fuzzy inside because he was recognized for what I had in mind for him from the start. A stout that loved his trade.

Compared to Helgrin.. Raven has been a snail in leveling. Of course part of that is the fact that Raven cant seem to solo without getting killed so he has to wait for people to travel with and that isnt easy for one that is a open member of the Redmist Gaurd. Not like he is going to go to isinhold to find people.. He would like to keep his fingers thank you... So he will continue to level at a snails pace and that is just fine. If that means he is going to continue to get the smack down *Coughs phelzaron* so be it. I like the fact higher level people want to get him for one reason or another.. Makes life interesting. I made him paranoid to start with.. this just proves he was right..

[Grozer]

felgrave said:

Getting off topic. This isn't about the server exp system. Its about telling us how you spend your time. Do you spend most of your time adventuring, advancing in levels quickly, or do you spend it RPing and moving somewhat slow through the levels?

Based on that question, I believe I move slowly through the levels and spend the majority of my time sitting around RPing or waiting for people to show up.

I will say I have started a new character or two in recent months and its definitely quicker/easier to move up in levels (as compared to when I started Ranan almost 3 yrs ago) as there is alot more to do around the server and there are so many more players to do things with.