First Impressions

[Brendan]

Hi,

Just a note - we have no levels in PlaneShift, but a skill-based system instead. I guess the overall problem can be summarized with:

• It's too easy to die
• It's too hard to come back to life

I assume my "running down stairs" incident is just an alpha stage thing that would be sorted out sooner or later. A few barriers/fences in the starter town might help too.

IMHO the overall problem is that there is no death, or at least nothing that is recognizable as death. If you told people that they owe their life to some evil force and that immediately before death the evil force would rescue them and magically transport them to DR and heal them, then it would seem much more realistic - something like a curse of immortality.

If you populate DR with dark characters and lifeforms, then death will actually be harder for new players than it is for high level players (i.e. trying to avoid being killed by these dark characters when you've got no skills or equipment).

The DR is not going to be an open PvP zone.

I meant attacking or being attacked by these dark characters and lifeforms (NPCs).

The dark characters I mentioned will be impervious NPCs for quests, merchants, DR "citizens," etc. People may need to sacrifice items in the future, or do a task for an NPC. It's not going to remain a "find-the-exit" exit.

It just seems to me that the project developers decided that immediate relocation was an easy way to implement "death" and so they've built a story/excuse around it without actually thinking about what death should be and without implementing any "death like" state. If this is the case, then I'd consider it a mistake (which is totally acceptable for an alpha release) that needs to be fixed eventually rather than expanded and built into the final release. The DR should be considered a temporary "non-death" (the curse of immortality perhaps, where the developers could add a way to remove the curse when people can die in a "death like" manner).

The DR is still in infant stage, as is death itself. I don't really see why a relocation to another realm can't be enough in itself (no rituals needed) however. Right now everyone takes it very lightly, but work on the DR is far from complete.

Of course, but will the remaining work take the game in an (IMHO) completely wrong direction? I guess the entire idea of turning death into some form of holiday resort where people go to buy/sell, do quests and train seems completely inappropriate to me.

Everything you did while dead shouldn't effect your character after resurrection, therefore everything you do while dead should be mostly irrelevant after resurrection - buying/selling while dead should be pointless, and improving your skills and earning XP while dead should be impossible. This means that the only sane/worthwile reward for doing any quest in DR is being rewarded with life.


Cheers,

Brendan

[Karyuu]

IMHO the overall problem is that there is no death, or at least nothing that is recognizable as death. If you told people that they owe their life to some evil force and that immediately before death the evil force would rescue them and magically transport them to DR and heal them, then it would seem much more realistic - something like a curse of immortality.

Death isn't "grave" enough at the moment - we know this :} We also need to make more information on the DR public, but it's coming.

I meant attacking or being attacked by these dark characters and lifeforms (NPCs).

Oops, I should've included PvE along with PvP in my previous response then. Weaker characters aren't going to be overwhelmed and bombarded with tough creatures - we definitely don't want that happening.

It just seems to me that the project developers decided that immediate relocation was an easy way to implement "death" and so they've built a story/excuse around it without actually thinking about what death should be and without implementing any "death like" state.

Not the case. There is only so much we can do - the team is smaller than you'd think - so we needed to build the very beginning of the concept just to advance the game and create that first step. Setting comes first, and building works around it.

The DR should be considered a temporary "non-death" (the curse of immortality perhaps, where the developers could add a way to remove the curse when people can die in a "death like" manner).

Right now it's a temporary non-death, but as it grows and expands, I certainly don't see it remain that way.

I guess the entire idea of turning death into some form of holiday resort where people go to buy/sell, do quests and train seems completely inappropriate to me.

Consider it a spirit world - a separate realm that will influence only the bare minimum of the character when he or she returns back to the living. Knowledge can be gained afterall. Why cannot souls or spirits find themselves in a spirit plane, that in a way mirrors the living but barely touches?

Everything you did while dead shouldn't effect your character after resurrection, therefore everything you do while dead should be mostly irrelevant after resurrection - buying/selling while dead should be pointless, and improving your skills and earning XP while dead should be impossible. This means that the only sane/worthwile reward for doing any quest in DR is being rewarded with life.

May I direct you to this post for now?