18 replies to this topic

[Troll]

Hey everyone, recently started playing again after managing to roll a decent fighter on 1-Alt. Managed to dig up this forum account to ask since I'm having a hard time finding any information. The discord link when you log-in is dead, I assume it's due to the nature of the game being kind of dead and I'm not sure if anyone even uses these forums anymore.

 

Is there any good leveling guides on where to go for certain zones and when? I've been in the swamps but it's starting to feel like I'm losing more exp than I'm gaining when I suicide my way there and start hitting things. I was able to find the exp per damage ratio on the wiki, but nothing for recommended leveling zones.

 

Thanks in advance!

[«Chão§phê®ê»]

It's kind of trial and error. I personally use potions and machete to kill the 4-5 vines near the entrance of the sawmp every 10 minutes when they spawn instead of staying logged in and grinding to stay alive.

The alternative is slower exp in like the large forest. Not too many options for areas after 20 years. Staff has always focused on grandiose stuff that doesn't get utilized instead.

Edited by «Chão§phê®ê», 11 May 2022 - 01:32 PM.

[ManStarr]

staff would rather spend time granting unfair boosts to their friends than come up with an idea to get new people into the game.   

 

it's strange to me that D&D has had a resurgence but MUDS are still "archaic"?

[Banishment]

staff would rather spend time granting unfair boosts to their friends than come up with an idea to get new people into the game.   
 
it's strange to me that D&D has had a resurgence but MUDS are still "archaic"?

post might get deleted for this one lmao. On the nose though.

But yeah, gnolls or vampire bats to 40 pretty much.

Edited by Banishment, 12 May 2022 - 07:04 AM.

[Hansol]

staff would rather spend time granting unfair boosts to their friends than come up with an idea to get new people into the game.   

 

it's strange to me that D&D has had a resurgence but MUDS are still "archaic"?

D&D is a medium used to explore the impossible where only your imagination is the limit

 

MuDs get outclassed by any standard mmorpg now days

[Stig]

Hey, I'm all for bringing new people into the game, but there's only so much one can do without additions to the engine.  If you have any suggestions that can be implemented within the game's current capabilities, I'm all ears.

[«Chão§phê®ê»]

Hey, I'm all for bringing new people into the game, but there's only so much one can do without additions to the engine.  If you have any suggestions that can be implemented within the game's current capabilities, I'm all ears.

 
I think the only saving is basic area development. Keyword: basic. Nothing special. Plenty of good ideas on the forum with only current mobs and/or dupes of current mobs.
 
Personally I think 10 areas dumped all at once (sourced from players/ex players..) would suffice to at least double the average players online. There are multiple ideas on the forum that only source current mobs and/or mobs that can be duplicate/renamed current mobs (i.e vultures/eagles vs scorpions/spiders).
 
In this I believe the major bosses should be duplicated. (GSW, CG, TK, AM, Cappy, DG, Ect.) The drops and droprates should reflect a similar value to what its counterpart drops. Again, this could all mostly be sourced and peer-created on the forum. It would allow for more drops that are fair and fun. Whereas some items being added without transparency can be extremely overpowered. I.E Barbarians braid.Drops could be what i believe were missed over the last decade (3ac stat ammys, 5 ac rings with negative stat modifiers, ect ect; the 3 ac stat ammys would probabably best be added as a craft that requires a boss dropped 3 ac ammy and a trade in of a shop bought ammy and maybe mana core, to stop an influx of shops old ammy gold
 
 
And it doesnt have to be a difficult endeavor. This could very much be duplications of many small areas (lf, barrax, misty path, ect; I recall the Hedge maze once being duplicated for a quest, so i would imagine this would save a drastic amount of time.).. The kicker, is that you could connect the map in a more realistic way. Create a chasm that goes south of resthaven that connects to a new city. To the east of the city is an overgrowth (duplicate of hedge maze with ktp maneaters sprinkled in). Further east, you make your way to the southern portion of the enchanted forest/dendeya. South from the new city is a duplicate of entangled overgrowth with some teleport squares to add a bit of confusion. West a troll camp with GE dupe that leads to Mt Fen. (just examples)
 
I like the idea of chasms because it opens the doors to multiple area additions with a relatively decent roleplaying element. Additionally, you could make the chasms relatively difficult to traverse so that players could hide from potential pkers... all off the top of my head, but basic nuts is what the game needs. Not elaborate additions.

Edited by «Chão§phê®ê», 20 May 2022 - 12:54 PM.

[Gaddy]

I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I like the idea, but it is A LOT of work to want a person to do.

Creating or duplicating areas it a lot of work for a staffer. I think you're wildly confused or downplaying how areas are created on Nightmist. Staff can basically do the same thing a player can do in Clan House. So, you create every square and directional connection, and then you've got 3 descriptions to set - before getting into any of the special stats, monster spawns, etc. That's also ignoring coming up with new descriptions for each location and monster, assuming you're not actually duplicating.

Anyway, "duplicating" an existing area does not actually save staff almost any time. There is no large-scale copy-paste option for even a single grid, much less an area.

 

That said, what suggested areas are you talking about?

Please provide a few links to the forum ideas you are citing.

[Gaddy]

Hey everyone, recently started playing again after managing to roll a decent fighter on 1-Alt. Managed to dig up this forum account to ask since I'm having a hard time finding any information. The discord link when you log-in is dead, I assume it's due to the nature of the game being kind of dead and I'm not sure if anyone even uses these forums anymore.

 

Is there any good leveling guides on where to go for certain zones and when? I've been in the swamps but it's starting to feel like I'm losing more exp than I'm gaining when I suicide my way there and start hitting things. I was able to find the exp per damage ratio on the wiki, but nothing for recommended leveling zones.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Are you looking for the best training options on Main or 1-Alt?

The games end up being very different, and there are training areas and weapons that do not exist on both servers. So, the advice will be pretty different.

 

 

But regarding Main, I believe that you'll be best off starting a few clerics and getting them leveled alongside or ahead of your hitters.

Having a small party with healers makes Main far more playable. If you try to play it with a single character, it will go far slower and have quite a few limitations. Your clerics can enhance hitters to improve training rates, and most importantly, they can heal to keep your party alive and focused on gaining XP instead of running for potions or pubs.

 

Clerics go quickly to level 10 or so on Skeletons south of Nightmist. Then, I would typically go for level 18 or 24 via Demonic Soldiers or Vampire Bats depending on how many you're training.

It gets pretty slow and annoying to be honest. You can always try the Museum 2nd Floor or Elven Barrow Wights, but those can be rough for lower-level characters due to key/damage constraints.

 

On Main, you're probably doing it right with death-runs to the Swamp for a bit with hitters like thieves, fighters, or berserkers. Once that tapers off, it gets rough not to use clerics, in my opinion.

[Gnarkill]

I'm not sure if the POD has been messed with at all on them over the years but the Sentry Spiders in the Spider Lair under the meadow north of Nightmist used to be decent exp.. not great but decent enough. There is a spot in the area that exits back into the sewer(you'll be able to see it on the map on the wiki it's at the top left hand side) with a few of them that you can hit and run. It's slower than swamps and all that but it's pretty easy to stay alive and has a quick exit to run for pots/mana when it gets to be that time.. only downside is a couple KTP sentry spiders on the way down there(and a death trap.. also on the map marked with a red arrow be careful!) but it's pretty easy to survive for a while as long as you don't mess around in the areas with lots of spiders on the way too much and waste your inventory of pots getting there.

 

I'm also unsure if 1a has a different level cap or anything than multi does for this area.

[Stig]

On 1-alt, the Spider Lair is level 22 and under.  To compensate, the catacombs under the Gnoll Fortress are open to all levels, since it is a pretty tough area (not a place you really want to train though).

[Cadabra]

One of the major issues with this game is the grind to level. Newbies turn up and struggle to even hit level 3 since RNG is dog nuts.

Why not up the POD on everything and give new and old players a better playing experience?

 

Without spending 12 hours a day grinding on 1 mob not many people will hit level 40. Fact.

[Banishment]

One of the major issues with this game is the grind to level. Newbies turn up and struggle to even hit level 3 since RNG is dog nuts.
Why not up the POD on everything and give new and old players a better playing experience?
 
Without spending 12 hours a day grinding on 1 mob not many people will hit level 40. Fact.

mmm yep all of this right here, I'd love if base pod on most trash was 80-100. Also removing leveling cost.

Edited by Banishment, 24 May 2022 - 07:09 AM.

[Nerve]

 

One of the major issues with this game is the grind to level. Newbies turn up and struggle to even hit level 3 since RNG is dog nuts.
Why not up the POD on everything and give new and old players a better playing experience?
 
Without spending 12 hours a day grinding on 1 mob not many people will hit level 40. Fact.

mmm yep all of this right here, I'd love if base pod on most trash was 80-100. Also removing leveling cost.

 

 

Yeah, leveling costs alone make me take very long breaks, it's insanely boring and tedious. Spending hours and hours farming 1 mob for an item that doesnt drop very often (this doesnt apply to all leveling items but some are torture) and that's not even counting the hours of exp needed.

Edited by Nerve, 24 May 2022 - 11:26 AM.

[ManStarr]

Problem would be the remaining playerbase, being oldbies, complaining about how since they had to suffer through the grind, so should new/returning players.

[Hansol]

could always compensate each crit and leave a staff comment to confirm they received compensation

Edited by Hansol, 27 May 2022 - 04:33 AM.

[ice_cold]

The problem with developing for the game is that there are very few people and everyone kind of wants something different. On numerous occasions I had developed lower level areas for the game however normally the reply was "people won't really use it". It's kind of true though, most level restricted areas just aren't used, or if they aren't level restricted then higher level characters go and farm it instead of lower level characters. So then you have to balance how much players will use an area versus the time to implement it in to the game.

 

Then, you have players who want new gear, people who want bigger challenges, people who want stuff for a party, areas for different classes. On 1-alt we had a problem with the leveling system and a lot of effort went in to adding many areas so we could try to round out the leveling system. These areas also were geared towards higher level characters and bigger bosses because it filled numerous niches. You could have stuff for training (specifically higher level), stuff for groups, stuff for specific classes. 

 

A huge problem is that quest items along with spawns for certain monsters tend to bring us to certain areas, i.e. vampire stake brings us to 1 area where there are 21 bats. I had tried to solve that problem by creating multiple different weapons that could have modifiars on them to change where we can train. Not all the items ended up being exactly how I designed them however it definitely went from only a couple to approximately 20 or so in about a 6 month period.

 

There was also the quest I designed for bandits in the royal forest. They drop items you can turn in at harabec which gives you 1 million exp or something like that, maybe it was 100,000. i don't remember, it's not the best but it gives a significant bump to them.

 

There's only so many things the game can have done to it because of how the game is coded. 

 

For reference; I was the person who pushed hard for undead monsters on 1a to have their exp boosted. I went and got all the exp data for them and recommended the changes, I've had my hand heavily in both leveling systems, in pictures that have been added to the game, I have multiple areas which have been added to the game, people were bored with bosses so I figured out a way to get old bosses to become more interesting, I've recommended numerous changes, I pushed hard for equipment to be able to be single equip and legendary equip, along with many other things.

However I have never been staff. There is only so much people can do when they sit on the sidelines trying to do as much as they can to change a game they love when you constantly have to work through other people. They have things they want to do as well, there isn't enough time for 1 person to do the changes multiple people are asking for. I could sit here all day and add in new areas, new items, tweeks to fix current problems however not everyone has that ability, which means they need to balance the time to figure out what will best help the biggest problems over the ones that are rarer. Most people aren't leveling lower level characters and as such is going to more often go to the wayside then say, leveling for 35+ level characters so it isn't a multiple year grind.

[ManStarr]

class-and-level restricted areas could breathe new life, at least in 1-alt.

 

Of course character lending leads to it's own swathe of problems, I'm just fantasizing really, but it might be cool to encourage folks to roll and twink out a specific class at a specific level to let people use if there are enough players online to complete a challenging dungeon.

[Gaddy]

The problem with developing for the game is that there are very few people and everyone kind of wants something different. On numerous occasions I had developed lower level areas for the game however normally the reply was "people won't really use it". It's kind of true though, most level restricted areas just aren't used, or if they aren't level restricted then higher level characters go and farm it instead of lower level characters. So then you have to balance how much players will use an area versus the time to implement it in to the game.
 
Then, you have players who want new gear, people who want bigger challenges, people who want stuff for a party, areas for different classes. On 1-alt we had a problem with the leveling system and a lot of effort went in to adding many areas so we could try to round out the leveling system. These areas also were geared towards higher level characters and bigger bosses because it filled numerous niches. You could have stuff for training (specifically higher level), stuff for groups, stuff for specific classes. 
 
A huge problem is that quest items along with spawns for certain monsters tend to bring us to certain areas, i.e. vampire stake brings us to 1 area where there are 21 bats. I had tried to solve that problem by creating multiple different weapons that could have modifiars on them to change where we can train. Not all the items ended up being exactly how I designed them however it definitely went from only a couple to approximately 20 or so in about a 6 month period.
 
There was also the quest I designed for bandits in the royal forest. They drop items you can turn in at harabec which gives you 1 million exp or something like that, maybe it was 100,000. i don't remember, it's not the best but it gives a significant bump to them.
 
There's only so many things the game can have done to it because of how the game is coded. 
 
For reference; I was the person who pushed hard for undead monsters on 1a to have their exp boosted. I went and got all the exp data for them and recommended the changes, I've had my hand heavily in both leveling systems, in pictures that have been added to the game, I have multiple areas which have been added to the game, people were bored with bosses so I figured out a way to get old bosses to become more interesting, I've recommended numerous changes, I pushed hard for equipment to be able to be single equip and legendary equip, along with many other things.

However I have never been staff. There is only so much people can do when they sit on the sidelines trying to do as much as they can to change a game they love when you constantly have to work through other people. They have things they want to do as well, there isn't enough time for 1 person to do the changes multiple people are asking for. I could sit here all day and add in new areas, new items, tweeks to fix current problems however not everyone has that ability, which means they need to balance the time to figure out what will best help the biggest problems over the ones that are rarer. Most people aren't leveling lower level characters and as such is going to more often go to the wayside then say, leveling for 35+ level characters so it isn't a multiple year grind.

This feels like a great, comprehensive response about ideas vs. implementation. Ideas are easy, but good development and implementation takes tons of work.