Your thoughts on death and the death realm.

[jacob747]

I think that if they really wanted the Death Realm to be scary, they would add more death guardians and ones that will actually go aggressive on you. And remove the broken lattices because i keep getting stuck in them


-Xaki Zhakai
Be sure to look at my topic: Very Weird Bugs

Bye!

[zanzibar]

I think that if they really wanted the Death Realm to be scary, they would add more death guardians and ones that will actually go aggressive on you. And remove the broken lattices because i keep getting stuck in them


-Xaki Zhakai
Be sure to look at my topic: Very Weird Bugs

Bye!

Some of the scariest videos games I've played have very little combat.

[Bguy]

The current death realm seems to me like a place where you try to get out asap and it tries to slow you down, plus the DW training and the citadel. This doesn't feel like a death realm to me. Like the Death Guardian says, "You are dead now, you have no more responsibilities." Why can't we take advantage of that? I think it would be nice if there is a small community off to the side of people who just don't want to go back to the responsibilities of life back. A few things like a gathering place, a temple to Dakkru, maybe even some houses and a few tiny businesses would encourage this. It would be nice if at almost any time, you could find two or three people in the death realm just to be there. Of course, it shouldn't be too big or good, or else, you might find people avoiding life a little too much .

[Zalera13]

Permenant Stat loss- NO

how about a temp stat loss when you exit the death realm? make the time spent there proportional to the length and severity of the stat loss

And you do know some people WANT to be in the death realm. If you were to do a permanent stat loss then that would make some people very unhappy
you would be punishing the wrong people you need to punish the ones that are using /die as a short cut permanent stat loss over time does very little to them because they just rush through. some people stay there for extended periods of time and they would get penalties

EDIT
spelling error

EDIT
i mispelled spelling error lol

[Maju]

To expand on the issue of new players needing an easier way out: What if the more you die, the deeper (meaning at a point that is further from an exit) you begin when you die.

Expanding on the maze concept: The maze could be a collection of large portions of maze with openings on each side which shift constantly, like a 15-number puzzle. Then the maze would be ever-changing and also make a sense of urgency. To avoid the monotony of always going throught the maze, the maze could be the way out only occasionally. Say there is a portal you must take from the deeper parts of the realm to the higher parts. The portal could send you to 1 of 3 locations randomly, one being the maze, another being a pit of dangerous monsters and the 3 being permadeath. Of course, these "deeper" reaches of the realm would only be visited by those who had died MANY times. For those dying for their first few times, the path would be similar to what it is now.

Almost my thoughts, except for permadeath (which I think it's beyond the game's scope).

I was thinking in a series of maces that would connect more or less shiftingly or randomly by portals. For first deaths the first portal would take you out and as you die more and more the chances of that happening decrease, so you have to travel for longer through the DR. Anyhow a reasonable chance of exit at some point must remain for all.

This (in addition to Dakkru's curse and maybe loss of belongings) would make going through the DR a challenging affair for all and something undesired except maybe for some dark beings who are willing to put up with that. But it won't be an impossible mace for newbies, unless they really die too often.

Alternatively the difficulty of the labyrinth would be derived of one's experience (all gained PPs or whatever) and not from mere number of deaths, so only experienced players (characters actually but well...) would have to confront the most daunting complexity levels of the DR maze.

[Gravemind]

I would like to see spells in the dark way that protect you from negative effects of death. Realm 5 spells would include things like avoiding stat penalty and being able to create small gates of your own for moving about the death realm, stuff like that.

[Gohra]

I don't like mot of the ideas. The Death Realm is for dead people, good, bad, ugly. Nothing important there, scary and dark, yes but make it a s/m torture room with punishment everywhere like hell?
On one side, you don't want that people use it as travel system through yliakum, but on other side punishment for bein there too long?
Some ideas from me:
1) make it bigger. The temple idea is good and the dark citadel is ome kind of Dakkru temple where people like Londris live as priests. But there are just 2 rooms. With moore levels and rooms for meditation, living or libraries we could establish a DR community also with only-DR quests, or example...
2)... a dungeon in the DR. Maybe the cursed catacombs of the dark citadel where Dakkru prisoned the very evil souls and monsters to keep them away from the normal dead. That could be a labyrinth to fight, loot and doing some quests for Londris.
3) To keep "quick travellers" away, variate the respawn point like somebody said before. If i don't know where i come out i won't use the DR. E.G. I'm at bronze doors and think: "Hey, kill myself and back to Hydlaa" and then "...upps, Ojaveda, also long way, uff" The curse can stay, too.
4) Aside different ways out (think this is still planned), it shouldn't become too diffiult. It's hard for many newbies now. So, a giant labrinth won't crate more fun, it would sent more new players away early. Or, if a labyrinth, than one, that isn't that dark and unseen than than actual way. Means clearly paths, nothidden under a bridge or floor. Than it coul be also a labyrinth of bidges, portal or stone tunnels.

[kiou]

I definitely dont like many ideas here, they are well thought out and all though.
I think it would be best if there was just the curse, and monsters being much more of a threat. It would promote people to go in groups, aswell as make people be much more wary of it. Permanent loss is a HUGE no no, i dont want to lose a year long character cause i died a few times and now can barely carry an ore...
as far as i can tell mmorpgs in general let people come back to life with no permanent loss, or a loss of something like money, which can be earned back...

[Xanthan]

I like the idea of Dark Way spells that in some way insulate you from the effects of the death realm.  DW is not all that different from other ways so far, with the excellent exception of the weakness spell.  Spells that connected it to the death realm in more than name would be interesting and perhaps would lead to some nice role-playing.  How about

1) a spell to lessen Dakkru's curse (as was suggested)
2) a spell to let you change where you end up when you are "reborn"
3) a spell to draw upon the power of the black crystal.  I don't know what that would mean, but it would allow some RP.

[Under the moon]

All dark way magic draws on the power of the Dark Crystal.

[Kempeth]

I think it's sad that once you've escaped the death realm once it's no longer a challenge. I'd wish it be much larger and more complex featuring a lot of different paths, some puzzles / mechanisms you have to solve in order to get out. It could be build like a tree with many many branches and every time you die you start on a random branch. Branches could merge via trapdoor like transitions (like you have to jump down somewhere) so you don't accidentally go back out towards the leaves but always closer to the stem. Not to say that there shouldn't be dead ends but at the size I'm imagining the death realm it would be very very difficult to find the right way otherwise.

I also like the idea of a changing maze. It could be designed in a similar style as the stalagmite itself. Kinda like a parallel realm (which wouldn't be far from the truth). The different levels in the DR stalagmite could be rotating independently so a branch on the top level on would lead to a different branch on the lower level every time.

Further advanced players could be placed in higher level of the DR so that they have a further way out than newer less advanced players.

[Rigwyn]

I dont think the dr should be about punishing the player or character ... punishment sucks and doesnt exactly do much to encourage one to play.

It would be nice if one could delve deeper into this realm - perhaps if some of those doors led somewhere .. more passages, perhaps if one deliberately venture farther down into the dr they might find some savage creatures - perhaps those that have died from within the stone labyrinth or other unknown planes.

One would need some basic accomodations in order to spend more time down there - like access to mana potions and weapon/armor repair kits or else creatures that drop needed supplies when defeated.

[Keldrena]

The death realm *is* going to be expanded.

[Giraut Mawhrin]

Here's what I think would work well: the DR sector should be expanded in size and complexity, but work in a different way according to the character's stats, or the number of times they visit DR. The reasoning stems from the fact that newbies who die can spend a long time finding the exit unassisted, but it quickly becomes trivially easy to get out quickly after a while, and Dakkru's curse isn't really much of a problem if your character stats are high and you keep the load you're carrying under 1/2 of your allowable limit.

Here's how I think it should go:

- Newbie dies: he follows the path to the citadel, eventually finds the jump hole and *poof* he's out.

- Newbie trains a little, has new abilities and dies: this time, the jump hole doesn't lead him out. He has to go to the regular portal. Just like DR today.

- Character gets even more powerful and dies: the regular portal doesn't send him to his race's spawn point anymore, but to an "extended-DR" sector, with hard-to-negociate narrow ledges for instance, arrives at a new portal and exits to the normal world. At this point, you can be fairly sure he's not a newbie anymore, so this makes sense. Also, he's not able to /tell anybody anymore, but he still can talk to players around him.

- Character is very powerful and dies: the first portal in "extended-DR" doesn't work anymore. Instead, the player has to traverse a maze, perhaps with big items spawning randomly here and there at regular intervals, to block the path of the player. Character finds new portal eventually and exits to the normal world.

- Character's stats are maxed out, or nearly so: Now the player also has to complete quests to pass from one portal to the next, or to remove objects hopelessly blocking the path in the maze. At first, one simple quest. Then two, then three, involving decrypting things that are always different, or showing some knowledge of certain books in the library (at which point the character, if he hasn't cared to read any of them until now, is in a right pickle to get out of DR), or retrieving items that may spawn at random, infrequently, anywhere in the two DR and "extended-DR" sectors. For repeat visitors of DR, some of these quests if answered wrong, might also remove some tria out of the character's pockets. At this level, the player also isn't able to communicate with anybody. No /tell, no /say, just /tellnpc to solve the quests. This should be a kind of purgatory after all.

The above scheme has several advantages:

- From the developers' standpoint: there's only one extra map, or extension to add to the current DR, which I understand is something that is going to happen eventually anyway, and there would be a bit of work to make items spawn randomly in the maze and for fetch-this quests, and to craft several extra quests.

- From a player's standpoint: the difficulty is gradual, so there's no frustration. Currently, newbies have a hard time getting out, and seasoned players find it a mere annoyance if they don't go to DR on purpose. With this system, newbies and old-timers have challenges according to their respective levels.

- Players will want to improve their character to visit the new sections of DR. Only maxed-out characters will be truly penalized, because they would have seen it all, but they'll have to complete more and more frustrating quests. But even them will always be able to get out. This should also please those who like to do quests, even if they are pointless and give no reward.

- The darned Dakkru curse, which is really just a hack to prevent players using DR as a shortcut route back home, can be done away with: players who exit DR, at any level, will have earned the privilege of living again. No point in hurting them any further.

In any case, I'm viscerally opposed to permanent death or stats cutting for any reason. I want the many hours I put into improving my character to be a definitive investment. Planeshift is a game, and if I want to be permanently hurt or frustrated, real life provides plenty of opportunities for that. Games are supposed to allow you to escape reality for a moment, so I don't want my character to suffer permanently from unfortunate things that may happen in the game. I have no problem with having to spend hours to get out of DR because my character's stats are maxed out, so long as (1) I'm guaranteed to be able to get out eventually and (2) I'm good as new when I'm out. But if it takes me that long and I can't talk to my in-game friends during that time, I'll think twice before doing reckless things again, which supposedly is the point of DR.

Just my $0.02...

[Mordraugion]

Some interesting and well thought out ideas there Giraut.

an addendum to my post about stats cutting, it wasnt about cutting per se but mals and bonuses for staying extended periods within the DR i.e you may loose some physical strength but gain far more mental strength than possible outside the DR.
So those that visit the DR and immediately follow the path to the exit (current or as per Giraut's proposal) would notice no difference while those that choose to stay would gain enhanced levels of INT/CHA/WIL in excess of anything possible in Living World while loosing STR/END/AGI these changes would also slowly revert on exiting the DR  unless an amout of time (to be ascertained) in DR had been exceeded.