Midkemiaonline closing and a choice to make.

Assetlina

Needless to say, I have a lot of credits:


Is Imperian a good mud? I have no understanding of any of the IRE muds, and well what would bringing my MKO investment here mean to me as a player?

Iniar

@Assetlina,

Imperian fairly lopsided lately in terms of population distribution. Fairly segregated populations. Not much in way of active combat from as far as I can tell; some duels at the Spring. Roleplay I can't comment on.

Did not know that Midkemia was closing, thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Assetlina

Thanks for the comment. Yes, Midkemiaonline is closing it's gate on September 9th. Choices are going to be made for most of us as they're giving 100% retirement towards our new direction given the closing of the game.

Theophilus

Seems like most people are heading to Achaea/Aetolia these days.

There are a few events going on in Imperian right now, and an upcoming Tournament of the Champions, but our numbers and activity have dwindled in the past few months. It will pick up again, I'm sure, but right now we're not necessarily thriving.

Dimitri

I'd say the quiet is helpful, it'd allow you to adjust to a new game in your own time/speed/fashion instead of having an info/culture dump you have to slog through to get up to speed with more populated IRE branches. More one on one, less fourteen on one conversations, you know?

Jules

Imperian is my favorite IRE game by miles, but undeniably in a slump right now. That said, Dimitri describes the newbie experience very well, and that is what drew me in to begin with. And then, things just kept getting better.

Theophilus

Jules said:

Imperian is my favorite IRE game by miles, but undeniably in a slump right now. That said, Dimitri describes the newbie experience very well, and that is what drew me in to begin with. And then, things just kept getting better.

That's the best way to put it. By far the best game with the best community, but right now in a slump.

Lartus

I'm from Midkemia. I play for the North.

Dimitri

The quiet also means you can find a new niche, or put yourself in your familiar niche since there's unlikely to be someone occupying that niche right then and there. Also I like the word niche, its a 'niche' word to use. *baddumtish*

Jules

God. Dimitri is the liverwurst spoiler

Iluv

Theophilus said:

Seems like most people are heading to Achaea/Aetolia these days.

There are a few events going on in Imperian right now, and an upcoming Tournament of the Champions, but our numbers and activity have dwindled in the past few months. It will pick up again, I'm sure, but right now we're not necessarily thriving.

I can't speak for Achaea but I tried Aetolia and things seemed to be even more lopsided than Imperian and there was not much combat.

Jules

Aetolia seems to be in this super weird/awkward spot with combat. There are definitely some fights on a daily basis though.

This one guy gave me Aetolia History X, and also I am super nosy and talked to other people too...

From my perspective as Bloodloch newb, I kept going "wtf, every time we have a fight, all these guys from our sort of allied city (Spinesreach) come out of the woodwork" (often when our guys are winning already, because we have some very strong combatants).

But... apparently a lot of times when the enemy has their "real" team it is a different story (I assume this means they have a team that not only has numbers, but leadership and combat prowess). It's more even, and our guys certainly aren't guaranteed wins.

And, those guys we are "allied" with (Spinesreach)? Well, as irritating as it might be at times to have them show up in droves to fights our guys were already winning, it's probably better than a 3-way dogpile on Bloodloch - which was apparently the situation for a bit. And apparently Spinesreach still has occasional tendencies towards favoring Bloodloch's enemies (the other two cities).

I like Aetolia though. It's worth the try. Someone looking to relocate should really spend some time everywhere, if they can.

Achaea, as always, just seems like a hard pill to swallow if you aren't up for XP loss/being hunted (no thx, I love PK but ugh). For the player that is ready and willing to handle those stakes, it's almost certainly "the big show". As well, much to their credit, Achaea seems to have figured out whatever it takes to have multiple, distinct factions (things were definitely not always this way there), and that is absolutely huge, and worth trying to copy.

Khizan

So. Honest talk here.

The major problem I have with Imperian right now is that conflict between the organizations is almost completely dead. There is one set of conflict objectives, but those are so irritating to deal with that they have been stuck in stasis for years now since nobody wants to deal with them and they're not really very important anymore anyways; it's possible to effectively buy the perks of the system and avoid fighting over them. There is no war system. There is no city raiding. The shrine war system is a miserable grueling ordeal that requires you to log on every 5 hours when attack windows open up. There's a system where shards fall from the sky and people go fight over them, which was fantastic but which is rather lackluster lately due to the fact that everybody has more shards than they can use and so nobody cares about getting shards anymore. Our latest event specifically forbade people from using PvP as a primary tactic. If you're interested in PvP and combat, the game is sort of slow right now.

For some people, this kind of thing is a dealbreaker. For others, it's a selling point. Regardless, I think it's something that you should know when you're making a decision.

Tyden

Well that is unfortunate to hear. I am also in the same boat with the mko closing and have a decent supply of credits to spend on an IRE game

Lartus

If anyone from Sar-Sargoth reads this topic post. We have at least 10 interested in heading over to stavenn the bad guy city. So you don't have to feel alone and out of sorts.

Eldreth

I can foresee a Lartus-led militia in Stavenn getting the pot stirred (and subsequently, the city razed in perpetuity). That and cleave deaths will go up 1300%.

Eldreth

Tyden said:

Well that is unfortunate to hear. I am also in the same boat with the mko closing and have a decent supply of credits to spend on an IRE game

Khizan tends to be one of Imperian's more prominent wet blankets, though some of what he says isn't too far off. One of the nice things about hitting the game at a valley (versus a peak) is that it allows development in all aspects of the game. The road is littered with PK-centric transfers who get caught up immediately in existing conflict, are constantly one-shotted in their level 60 self, and get a bit frustrated because they aren't immediately able to get back to a level they are accustomed to. Being able to hit Aspect (plenty of available hunting), get a lay of the land, get individualized combat advice (each circle has people on happy to help), and get your feet wet on a small scale is better preparation for when/if things head back north.

Jules

I will be honest. I am actually wondering if admin is trying to take the game in a VERY different direction. Like, an emphatically less PK-oriented direction. I doubt they'd answer anyway though (or, I mean, you aren't going to get a straight answer on something like that), but I have been wondering that for awhile - just because so many things have been very clearly anti-PK. I mean, I hope not. Jules basically exists, and has her crap ton of arties (and just bought even more toys because artifact cart) specifically to PK. But it feels more and more like that is just not the emphasis of the game at all.

Jeremy Saunders

I would like more PK generating stuff in Imperian. The problem is doing so in such a way that does not alienate the people who do not want to PK all the time.

Edit: This is probably a discussion for another thread though. Not trying to derail.

Iluv

The lack of PK events is probably due to the upcoming ToC. We wouldn't want to burn out on fighting before our once in a year major PK event.

Elokia

Clearly I just need to run infestation once a month!

Jules

Infestation was a HUGE hit, if it is the thing I am thinking of (pretty sure it is). You almost couldn't go wrong doing that, no.

Ridire

Coming from MKO and having played Imperian over 10 years ago. If you want PK to be more popular, get rid of any penalty upon death from PK.

Jules

They did. It's great. Sometimes we have lots and lots of great PK.

Some of us are still basically wusses. When you strip away the real penalties, it absolutely gives people who would otherwise never participate the chance to do so. And it can be amazing. But a lot of people are still going to hit a bit of a wall at some point, certainly in single combat, and even in group stuff. You can only get your **** handed to you so many times before you think "I uh, need to figure out something different that works more gooder".

That said, that is not the biggest problem right now. I honestly wouldn't even necessarily lay it all at admin's feet, although they are almost definitely the only ones who can nudge the game out of it, and the distinctly "no PK" bent of several recent events has definitely left a bad taste.

We're in a big slump. I disagree that we absolutely need carrots and sticks to get people on the field, but a big problem is that all of the people who would literally fight over a stick of gum are in a single circle right now. Well. Not all of them. But too many of them. And some key people also sort of left for a little bit.

EDIT: if you want to be REALLY technical, we have something called PK XP that you can lose, but even I don't worry about that, and believe me, I worry about EVERYTHING.

Ridire

Ahh that's good! Have they lessened on the rules of pk some since there is no real downside?

Jules

I mean, I feel it is mostly pretty loose? But you obviously can't just jump random people because rawr that guy is from Stavenn. Most people (including me) don't want to be hunted 24/7 by super awesome PK-er guy.

But like, as some examples, if I go help out at these things we call "monoliths", and another team comes to try to take us out, we ALL have PK on each other if we REALLY want it. So like, if AM (anti-magick) brings a big team, or demonic brings a big team (the kind of team that is basically meant as a "don't even bother"), someone like Iluv can come die bravely to said team, and then kill them all later (provided they don't simply idle on guards, which makes things trickier). Chasing extra peekays after monoliths is usually reserved for times when you kind of felt the other side was being a bit lame about it though. Also, the guy who "holds" a monolith after a successful fight is open PK.

And like, if I am a bad guy who tries to cause trouble for Stavenn from time to time, and I am loitering even a little bit in the area outside their city, they can definitely come hunt me.

If I actually do something or look at them funny or kill an NPC near their city, they can kill me AND bounty me (bounties are neat).

If someone talks smack, or looks at you funny, or cracks a joke you don't like, you can kill them (so don't crack jokes in front of good PK-ers unless you are up for that - if you are, great, but know what you're getting into).

We have the shard fall things. Often they are great and there is much death. Lately, maybe not as much. We have ongoing issues with VERY lopsided teams. And what I mean by that is, one side will have guys who seriously know what the hell they are doing, and the other side is derps who are having a good day if they can be good followers.

Obelisk system kind of dead right now and I am tired so maybe cover later (or someone else will).

EDIT: oh, and there is the Champion system where people sign up to be be open PK 24/7. Kind of underutilized (most people not wanting to be 24/7 open PK)

And lastly, we apparently might have more Infestations, which are like CTFs (Capture the Flags, big city vs. city fake war things) but MORE AMAZING.

Sarthan

Game is so group focused it completely alienates the solo player. The spotlight USED to be on the person. You could dream about being a big bad guy or whatever.

Now? It's literally nothing but Massive group A meets massive group B and all spam their damage combos and you get instagibbed in 0.02 seconds.

The game is a shadow of its former self, I don't care what people like Khizan and the rest say as they're the ones Jeremy listened to and molded the game for, so thank them for the current situation.

As it is, I would not recommend Imperian to anyone. Achaea is much better.

Iluv

Almost none of the recent team fights have been determined by big damage.

Jules

I've now seen firsthand what super fancy group affliction stuff looks like, and where that road goes (it goes to Aetolia).

And it is kind of like I thought.

Instead of making my own horrible, Sanford and Son "system", I realized pretty quickly I needed to download and install admittedly impressive out of the box system if I wanted to show up at all. Because that was what everyone was doing, and that is what works. And if you're the only guy going who isn't doing the totally optimized coordinated aff tracker thing, welp.

So I install, set up, carefully read README. Try out on friend. Go to fight later. Turn system on. Beep Boop. Spam, some people died I think... It was devastatingly effective. I didn't totally trust it, and wasn't even sure if I was turning it on and off correctly despite that being a simple toggle. End up making (very) small tweak or two based on what our guys can do that amazing out of box system doesn't do already.

And I mean, it is not BAD, but it is also just not nearly as exciting - and obviously not at all mine.

So, it is just... I think both "damage" and "affs" have the potential to be culprits in making combat a bit stale, basically, if they are the extreme focus, I guess.

Khizan

Jules, Aetolia tracking is super easy to code and you could have done it yourself if you weren't utterly terrified of the idea of tracking.

Jules

>.> Maybe. At least I would have a sense of ownership, sure (and that does help)...

But I feel like it would still be a super beep boopy combat environment, which was my main point.