10-28-2021, 09:12 AM
Alright, to organize my thoughts a little better...
I'll preface this with two things: One, I've not played the past couple months. So, the current state of the world? No idea, but I can probably guess at it. Even then, I know the issues are less about the topical state of the world of the game, and more the general feel of it. Secondly, I will maintain that the timeskip was probably the worst thing to have happened to the game and has set the precedent for the current state of it. It basically undid all the efforts of the players and killed whatever momentum was going for the Barsburg forces. Whatever the reason, I don't know and do not care.
Now, as I said earlier, momentum means nothing if nothing comes of it. There have been quite a few times that a group was on the cusp of winning, so to speak, only for it to fizzle out in a big way. But I've also noticed a lot of people that complained when a faction grew in power and became overwhelming, which I think has caused a lot of people to simply quit out of annoyance at being whined at. Though, that really isn't the fault of either side. This entire phase of the game has been one of... 'balanced' conflict. It feels like a lot of back and forth to no gain and no purpose. Which is a stark contrast from how it felt in E1 and from what I've read about E2 (Besides Jianghu popping back up again and again, but whatever). In E1, it was actually a common complaint that 'wars' were just really brutal and bloody skirmishes that often ended in a single battle or two. But the setting was also different. Each of the cities felt more like a city-state that was growing to be part of a larger kingdom, and did a few times. Unified Valmasia was interesting because it was different from different squabbling cities vying for power, now it was either the hegemony oppressing the losers and rebels forming, or families doing sneaky RP while evil brewed in the background.
But that was because the momentum went somewhere. Objectives were met and completed. Progress was made. Compare to this time skip. Did Osrona crush Achyon? Fuck no, it got wiped away by the edict of admins due to ic events within or so. Did Osrona body Asphodel? Fuck no, it imploded and the power players just quit all at once. And that's a constant trend of this phase. Nothing of purpose was accomplished. Nothing of note happened. Everything is mercurial and there is zero legacy. If anything, almost every aspect of note can be traced back to the previous timeskip and the overshadowing influence that Walter had on... well, everything. And I don't know why a faction wasn't allowed to just exert its will to seize power and take over to form an empire/kingdom/whatever, but here we are, basically at square one.
Honestly, I think it's best that, with Osrona being the powerhouse, they just use that power to completely dominate. That way, with the nth iteration of Barsburg attacking (not a bad thing, mind. It makes sense a force like that would attack a fractured and unstable land like Afghani- Esshar.), there can be a more focused drive. Maybe have the other settlements/cities be duchies or fiefs in vassalage to the crown of Osrona. Shift away from just "ETERNAL WAR" into Imperial Political Intrigue with border skirmishes, bandits and the like.
Then, you can have designated wilderlands where the nominal villains, anarchists, cultists and what have you can fuck off to and hide out. Let cities weather the brunt of Barsburg attacks, with shifting states pending the results and outcomes, and have a more 'PvE' focused arc than just "player war that goes no where, take fifteen". I know it's bad that my suggestion is basically "Let Osrona stomp the scrubs until victory" but
They kind of need to. It's all gone too long. The same over and over with no actual resolution. Otherwise, it's going to be the same for the next X months with the same issues cropping up. Let the faction that is dominating 'win' and let what follows happen. There will be salt but people will get over it, they always have.
I'll preface this with two things: One, I've not played the past couple months. So, the current state of the world? No idea, but I can probably guess at it. Even then, I know the issues are less about the topical state of the world of the game, and more the general feel of it. Secondly, I will maintain that the timeskip was probably the worst thing to have happened to the game and has set the precedent for the current state of it. It basically undid all the efforts of the players and killed whatever momentum was going for the Barsburg forces. Whatever the reason, I don't know and do not care.
Now, as I said earlier, momentum means nothing if nothing comes of it. There have been quite a few times that a group was on the cusp of winning, so to speak, only for it to fizzle out in a big way. But I've also noticed a lot of people that complained when a faction grew in power and became overwhelming, which I think has caused a lot of people to simply quit out of annoyance at being whined at. Though, that really isn't the fault of either side. This entire phase of the game has been one of... 'balanced' conflict. It feels like a lot of back and forth to no gain and no purpose. Which is a stark contrast from how it felt in E1 and from what I've read about E2 (Besides Jianghu popping back up again and again, but whatever). In E1, it was actually a common complaint that 'wars' were just really brutal and bloody skirmishes that often ended in a single battle or two. But the setting was also different. Each of the cities felt more like a city-state that was growing to be part of a larger kingdom, and did a few times. Unified Valmasia was interesting because it was different from different squabbling cities vying for power, now it was either the hegemony oppressing the losers and rebels forming, or families doing sneaky RP while evil brewed in the background.
But that was because the momentum went somewhere. Objectives were met and completed. Progress was made. Compare to this time skip. Did Osrona crush Achyon? Fuck no, it got wiped away by the edict of admins due to ic events within or so. Did Osrona body Asphodel? Fuck no, it imploded and the power players just quit all at once. And that's a constant trend of this phase. Nothing of purpose was accomplished. Nothing of note happened. Everything is mercurial and there is zero legacy. If anything, almost every aspect of note can be traced back to the previous timeskip and the overshadowing influence that Walter had on... well, everything. And I don't know why a faction wasn't allowed to just exert its will to seize power and take over to form an empire/kingdom/whatever, but here we are, basically at square one.
Honestly, I think it's best that, with Osrona being the powerhouse, they just use that power to completely dominate. That way, with the nth iteration of Barsburg attacking (not a bad thing, mind. It makes sense a force like that would attack a fractured and unstable land like Afghani- Esshar.), there can be a more focused drive. Maybe have the other settlements/cities be duchies or fiefs in vassalage to the crown of Osrona. Shift away from just "ETERNAL WAR" into Imperial Political Intrigue with border skirmishes, bandits and the like.
Then, you can have designated wilderlands where the nominal villains, anarchists, cultists and what have you can fuck off to and hide out. Let cities weather the brunt of Barsburg attacks, with shifting states pending the results and outcomes, and have a more 'PvE' focused arc than just "player war that goes no where, take fifteen". I know it's bad that my suggestion is basically "Let Osrona stomp the scrubs until victory" but
They kind of need to. It's all gone too long. The same over and over with no actual resolution. Otherwise, it's going to be the same for the next X months with the same issues cropping up. Let the faction that is dominating 'win' and let what follows happen. There will be salt but people will get over it, they always have.