This is not a flame (and apologies for its length), but a summary of my view which others may like or dislike. To explain my background, I first played this game over 6 years ago, dropping by on occasions to see it’s progress, and have played numerous (free) other games with varying levels of rp, some with some without game mechanics.

Since I’ve been playing this game the player base has always seen a small minority of hardcore rp’ers frustrated by the game mechanics or who don’t use it, some have left  , some remain  . There are others who balance their rp with the mechanics as far as is possible adjusting to the mechanics at the time. The remaining are casual rp’ers power levelling, questing, chasing mounts etc. While it could be argued some of the latter should be on ezpcusa, I have seen many progress from their interest in the game mechanics to become very good rp’ers. My view is that the game mechanics should not be dismissed too lightly as it has and can attract a good source of new rp’ers while maintaining the interest of many existing rp’ers in trying the new features as they are added. The big weakness for rp here at the moment is the acutely small player base hence why I think any newcomers should be encouraged as long as they have some interest in rp.

However we should also remember that the game is still in development (and we are testers). The team is not large, nor paid, and is unlikely to increase significantly to match other games where revenue is earned either by upfront fees or purchases in game. Thus comparative development will be slow and limited with more enthusiasm in developing and trialling new features (e.g. in recent times – mounts, shields, leather/armour working, moving npc’s etc.), rather than ‘minor’ bug fixing and constant rebalancing as each new feature adds further imbalance. For me the main imbalance is the level of skills some players have through years of levelling (or exploiting imbalances). However this is currently useful for the developers as it provides a more varied base of testers from weak to the uber strong, but unfortunately gives a distorted view of capabilities than if the players were reset  (or rebalanced) allowing other parameters better balanced.  While not suggesting a review or reset until the developers are happy they have reached an appropriate point I think many forget the weakness and difficulties faced during the 1st few weeks or months.

Considering the points from this view, and developments I have observed:-

Combat: Many of my alts, though partially levelled adequate to their rp needs,  are easily killed by most creatures so avoid them. Regarding being randomly attacked for being too close I’ve seen Ulbernauts and other creatures randomly attacking miners or other unsuspecting victims in the past (maybe as it often added to lag and the npc server crashing this has been put on hold recently?). In terms of spawning and moving mobs etc. perhaps the moving npc’s experiment currently underway will yield coding to enable this development in the future? The other features you suggest , I think, may require diverting development but, personally, as I can disable the messages or ignore them from an rp view I don’t think it to be too important.

Magic: Personally I think standing on a rock is an exploit and should be frowned upon as is standing on the wall of the arena, and perhaps one day mobs will learn to climb  . Again most of my alts are unable to perform magic as powerfully as you describe struggling with mana and fear of death when spells fail. For years many complained about the weakness of magic and and I think a couple of uber powerful spells have again distorted people’s views of it. These I think needs correcting. Also the current development trend seems to be to limit higher levels to one magic way, which may not make mana regeneration, as an example, so easy for most. Balancing magic progress to match weapon fighting progress may be another possibility to add to the list.

Death:  Yes, I recall the intent was for a larger realm with shifting exits. I also remember being randomly attacked and being killed again as I tried to escape or wandered into the library? areas there though clearly this was more detrimental to the weaker players who could take hours to escape. As regards perma death it’s always been easy to play this for rp’ers. I’ve done it many times. It’s before you go in game – simply delete character. Most of my alts avoid the DR as if it were real death from an rp point of view.

My own ideal for the rp world here is better balance all around so rp’ers can use the mechanics sensibly without being upset by the uber strong. Some making goods, other selling, some begging, some telling yarns or entertaining in the tavern after a long day’s work, others sharing jokes and gossip as they toil etc. intermingled with the deeper rp’s. I’ve seen all this here in the past and hope it flourishes again along with a growing player base.

While the idea of npc's moving around can make the game more interesting, having them disappear to go off to sleep leaves parts of Hydlaa and, in particular, the main area of Ojaveda seem almost deserted for long periods of time.  It can be annoying taking a long trip to visit an npc for a quest or training only to find they're not around for quite a while, particularly in Oja where the few remaining npc's don't respond to quest requests and there are often no players around rp'ing.

This is compounded when the npc engine isn't fully working as it seems some npc's don't return. For example, npcs such as Govell, Burdess, Darven, Taulim, Ervin plus a couple of others haven't been around at all today all of whom are key to quests. .. and I'm surprised the Hydlaa pterosaur didn't fly off as it has been left unattended most of the day 

Thanks for the replies, and it is interesting to see people justify their enjoyment of enamouring their physical descriptions.  Over the years I have seen numerous such descriptions, often very eloquent and well written. However after a while I observed that often they contributed little to the character’s role play if indeed they bothered to use it at all. During this same period I have seen a core of players become increasingly objectionable to characters backgrounds being included, insisting theirs is the only correct form of role play. The 20 question format may well be the style of role play they enjoy however it is not the only style of role play.

I did not disagree there are elements in physical descriptions that can assist role play. However, even these can contain flaws if we wish to be purist as per the following examples.

I think there are supermarkets in RL where armour would be useful , though none in Yliakum, unless you include the ‘market’ at Oja where the rogues may justify the wearing of armour. However equally unusual is finding people wearing the same clothes and adornments, day in and day out, no matter what their environment. I guess we should not always point at the nearest dwarf for the strange odours .

Whilst it is correct that I should not see you brandishing your weapon in public, the only people who will know your favoured weapon are people who already know you or have seen you fight. Unless I am put into a situation or intend seeing your weapon in action I have no real interest in knowing about it in any detail. This can be easily catered for with a simple shortcut whenever you brandish the weapon, rather than in the description.

The expected reaction to scars is interesting but I feel a little unnatural. In RL the reaction will vary from wariness of a potential troublemaker through to to sympathy, with most people being discrete to ascertain the cause usually from a 3rd party. Few would enquire of the recipient directly. In Yliakum the scar may be less interesting (most seem to have one or two) as plenty use the arena where such scarring could probably be considered an everyday occurrence.

However it is not my intention to criticise anyone in particular for employing such descriptions though be aware that any long and over-elaborate description can be equally as tedious and irrelevant to read for others as you may find character backgrounds. In particular I do find Lhaa to be one of the better rpers around, so though I have used some of her examples the criticisms are necessarily directed at her usage and I hope haven’t been taken personally.

Personally it is not my preference to play 20 questions to find out about your character through enquiries about your scars or adornments, particularly if I then find out yours is not the type of character mine would hang out with. I wouldn’t do this in RL so why do it here? It is more natural to start a conversation with someone you are familiar with, a friend of a friend or if you have something in common (i.e. a common background) than someone carrying weapons and covered in scars who many of my characters would shy away from. You recognise these people because you grew up in the same area or village, went to the same school or college, worked or socialised in the same areas, belonged to the same club or guild etc. If there is no commonality then a good rper would ignore the information. However this more natural aspect of role play is conspicuously absent from PS if not even frowned upon in some quarters. It is not my intention to advocate people writing elaborate background histories, but feel that no background introduces many weaknesses into the roleplay envronment.

I don't normally reply after makng a point, since I believe that only adds fire to the oil, However to be misquoted or misnterpreted requires some attention and I certainly did not say nor agree with the following as being in any way representative of my views

@Ceraline: You apparently didn't read.

it's not about "we don't want to use any mechanics" at all.

To clarify, I am in support of the RPers case though I don't believe everyone has presented themselves too well in their criticism in this thread. Yes, the high price of the houses is not condusive nor aligned to good RP but it is up to the RPers to assist or encourage the PS team to provide good reasons or opportunities to provide houses.

Congratulations to UtM for havng done this already, which I admit I hadn't realised before. My sole purpose in posting here was to encourage people to pursue, support and encourage such actions rather than lose themselves in the criticism of the current situation.

The PS team has my sympathies to some extent, having taken time to bring more guildhouses on-line and receiving little or no recognition for it. Personally I thank you for again for expanding the PS world. I am also concerned if this has caused some any disharmony within the team, and trust it is not too serious.

However I also have sympathy for the RPers, but like UtM, would have preferred to see a more constructive approach to offering alternatives rather than the repeated and laboured criticisms offered.

Personally I lean toward RPers who utilise at least some of the game mechanics so my ideas wll tend to be based around those, but feel free to offer alternative ideas.

One possibility is to reward a guildhouse for the winner of a tournament. This could possibly be based on teams of 4 representing the parties interested (perhaps a mix including a mage), with last person standing winning. The winner's leader would nominate the guild (to the GMs only if it is secret) to which they donate the guildhouse (it would not necessarily have to be their own, but couldn't be an existing house owner).

Another possibilty is to run a quest/ series of quests where first past the post wins a guildhouse for a nominated guild. This could be a combination of using existing (simple) quests with quest hosts stationed nearby to add additional quest requirements. For example the quest host would ask a question relating to the quest just performed, which would need to be answered correctly before pointing to the next stage of the quest. Possibly, or alternatively, questions would be related to the settings/ books hence favouring those who know them best (the quest host could be positioned close to the books to ensure people don't merely read their own on-line guild libraries?).

Another possibility is to run a series of simple RPs similar to quests, but where the questions, answers and/or directions ar hidden within the RP. Dependant on how well the RP is played would be the amount of information learnt. At the end the entrants would need to answer a series of questions and possibly provide artefacts identified in the RPs. The winner would be to one with the most correct answers, with any draw being decide by a tiebreaker.

These ideas clearly need a lot more work, but hopefully provide some nuggets for possible ideas?

Thanks UtM. I just realised my error - I overlooked the period "many generations of the Lemur had passed" that Laanx roamed the Stone Labyrinth before finding the great cave. Glad to hear the rest is already being addressed. I wont ask when... I can guess the answer 

According to the settings the Lemurs were created by Laanx (in her image) which is re-iterated in world by the Song of the Lemur. However apparently contradicting this the Race description indicates their origins can be traced to humans albeit only if "we look at a very distant past" with their pigment being pale due to living in dark and subterranean places. The npcs, in game, seem to re-confirm this latter evolution view continuing "Lemurs evolved the way they have due to a past of living in deep subterranean villages."

According to my estimates the Lemur race is around 500 years old, a little over 100 years before the rest of the races appeared. Of the original race some stayed in Yliakum with Talad after the disfiguration (to comfort him and watch his new people), others followed Laanx to Kadaikos and stayed while some followed Laanx back out of Kadaikos around 100 years later. From the Song of the Lemur they sound far from being a subterranean race leaving only those who stayed in Kadaikos as being possibly subterranean, though these have been cut off from Ylaikum for some time now?