Isengard

[Kitriana]

I think its really sad this area is not frequented. I know from speaking to Alto that he spent a lot of time coding this area to make it challenging for people to hunt there. He said... big players were always complaining about not having challenging hunting grounds so he created something for that request. But due to the fact that the xp gain isn't worth the effort... there is no real gear/coins worth gathering.. and there is no special item there to find... people go there to quest.. and then never go back .

Some of the ideas he implemented there are quite nice in terms of challenges.. in terms of nets and blocking.. the non standard ways of manuevering around is great.

I'd love to see a reason to go there.....

[Ilrahil]

Agreed Kitriana,

Currently its just not worth the reward though. Fighting a mob there can easily result in death from the archers raining down mass amounts of arrows on top o 6-7 large blocking orcs.

I always liked the layout and the elaborateness of the City, it just lacks appeal. It has one piece of equipment available for one specific guild that is only mediocre at best, only 2 quests (neither of which are large), no other magic items, and offers poor xp. Topped with that the shops there sell gear for insane amounts of money but give very small amounts to people selling in those shops. With all those combined its just similar to Khalakhor. A great area but lack of development/player appeal has made it a ghost town.

[gorboth]

So, would some sort of "boss npc" who had great loot be the answer? Or ... random cool drops? What do you recommend, Ilrahil and others?

G.

[Ilrahil]

Well my opinion could be skewed on the matter as compared to other peoples but you need a combination of the following for an Area to be travelled to:

A: Good coding, not buggy, good descriptions.
B: Some combination of 2-3 of the following incentives.
1) Decent experience
2) Monetary compensation for killing
3) A challenge but not a deathtrap
4) Good equipment
-I do not mean just magical equipment. Good equipment could be something that is not overly magical but offers a rarely seen skill increase
-It could be non-magical or no apparent magical properties like Midnight black platemail but just be damn good gear.
5) Some easy to do Quests and 1-2 Not so easy but rewarding quests.

A well designed area will be highly travelled by people. Take places such as Gont and Barrow Downs for example. Neither are amazing experience, but they offer steady experience, and good money. A draw to them. Barrow Downs also offers someone the rare ability to increase their alignment relatively quickly and without a giant hassle.

Qualinost and Mithas and Terel and Icewall are high experience areas, with other NPC's within distance of not taking any boats that offer fairly good magical equipment, or in the case of Qualinost, interaction with enemy guilds while you wait for resets while conquering plains.

Kalaman is a great example of a very nicely coded area. It does not have much to offer (though before I left the guards were giving more experience than they used to,) but whoever the coder was either by sheer happenstance or good knowledge of gameplay made the area small. However it offers 4-5 NPC's that are heavily sought after and probably some of the top killed NPC's in game per armageddon. Kalaman used to be one of the most heavily travelled areas when I played because of those NPC's, not to mention for evil's it was a great way to do a quick adjust to alignment by killing Calof and Baxter.

In the case of Isengard, a boss would be a good advantage, but that only gets people to Isengard. What is going to keep them there?
A boss is not going to make an area pop instantly. Take Emerald for example. A domain that has 2 quests, one being huge. Most people finish that quest and then never go back other than to kill Akugla. It is nice to have a boss that will give good equipment, but that doesn't make the area popular.

All in All in my opinion an Area has to have a combination of at least 2 things that people enjoy or its not going to succeed.

[Bromen]

It makes you wonder why the areas that are challenging to navigate and fight in give a low amount of exp. If Kitriana's descriptions are correct, I believe it should be one of the highest rewarded exp spots in the game. The problem is, as a myth you're still trying to get as big as possible as fast as possible so an areas like this that would be a fun challenge is just avoided. A boss character would be awesome. Make him trigger when certain challenges (smaller bosses) are beaten.

-B

[Mersereau]

Frankly, after I heard it was certain death to attack things in there I never explored it after the recode.

Of course, the administration wants people to die.

[Alorrana]

**

[Ilrahil]

I always thought it was odd the palantiri of Isengard was not able to be obtained. Could make a great quest in Middle Earth of obtaining all of the lost seeing stones.

[Rhynox]

Frankly, after I heard it was certain death to attack things in there I never explored it after the recode.

Of course, the administration wants people to die.

Plus the fact that mages are near, and we know you love them.

I entered, dropped all my orc clothes, wore my best armours and weapons, and tried to enter.

Code: Select all

push gate
A voice from above shouts at you: Enemy of Isengard, flee whilst you can!
A cloud of arrows erupts from the wall above you. Many of them skitter off the
stones of the street, but several of them find their mark. Ouch!
You push on the massive iron doors with both hands. Much to your surprise, they
swing easily upon their hinges. You quickly slip inside as the doors close
behind you.

Down to somewhat hurt and haven't yet fought anything. Disguise myself, push gate, then wear my best clothes and start killing everything on sight. No challenge at all, and was pretty boring until I went up and the archers appeared. Madness. If we ever get to choose guild guards, please drop all the boars and dwarves and get me two or three of those archers. The dudes hunt you all over the place (and I mean all over, up and down, through gates, everywhere). They sometimes get confused and forget to run to the next room with you, or sometimes walk past you, but if you meet them in the same room, they are not challenging, they are fucked. Three arrows and I was feeling rather hurt. I had lost my map, so was mapping again, and once I could not lose them in the areas I had mapped, I started entering random rooms until I lost them. No herbs and no booze, so I decided to go back to another level. Great, another pair. Draw my weapon, and prepare to face them.

Code: Select all

You draw the dwarven war-mace.
You grasp the dwarven war-mace confidently. It fits your hand perfectly.
You tighten your grip on the dwarven war-mace and make a few quick swings with
it. It is extremely well balanced and was obviously designed for someone like
you!
> You are physically feeling rather hurt and mentally in full vigour.
The wicked huge male archer is feeling very well.
The cruel sleepy male archer is feeling very well.
slam
> 
You are preparing a shield slam already!
> 
An arrow tears into your leg!
You hurt the wicked huge male archer badly with a wicked blow of your dwarven
war-mace, tearing bloody trails along his head with its spikes.
You feel calm again.
The wicked huge archer screws up his fist and punches nothing but air. He
overbalances and almost falls down!
> exa archer
A wicked huge human who looks as if he would rather be someplace else. He is
not as tall nor as fair of skin and hair as the men of Rohan, and yet there is
something about him of lost nobility and honour. His people fell under the sway
of Saruman long ago, but serve more out of fear than loyalty. This man still
looks ready to stick a few arrows into any intruder, however, so beware.
He looks like the image of perfection.
He is fighting you.
He seems to be slightly hurt.
He is wearing a dusky white chainmail, a pair of white bracers and a white
  iron helmet.
He is wielding a sturdy ash longbow in both hands.
> The wicked huge male archer says: Good, I was itching for a fight. If I
wasn't going to kill you, I'd probably buy you a beer.
With a roar, you charge into the wicked huge male archer, slamming him with
your white iron shield.
The wicked huge male archer struggles to keep his footing.
ha
You are physically in a bad shape and mentally in full vigour.
The wicked huge male archer is somewhat hurt.
The cruel sleepy male archer is feeling very well.

Arrow, and down to bad shape. Fortunately the other missed. Again a myth running away from an expert (he is probably smaller than expert, but you can't stay in the same room because he fires and always hits). So, I forced him to bounce me: I prepared specials, moved one room way, get him to follow me and slam him to stun him. Nice, he is stunned, can't fire arrows now. I hit him a couple of times, but can't kill him. Miss my slam, and running again. I get a good hit on the one who is in bad shape, and he wimps out. Now it is a one-one battle, just need to stun him.

Code: Select all

You are physically in a bad shape and mentally in full vigour.
The dangerous cross-eyed male archer is slightly hurt.
> 
The dangerous cross-eyed archer cocks his arm back and taps you lightly on
the shoulder with his knuckles.
An arrow tears into your chest!
You hurt the dangerous cross-eyed male archer badly with a wicked blow of your
dwarven war-mace, tearing bloody trails along his body with its spikes.
You feel calm again.
You slam down mightily upon the dangerous cross-eyed male archer's legs with
your dwarven war-mace, striking a painful blow.
ha
You feel yourself relax from your fiercely defensive posture.
You are physically terribly hurt and mentally in full vigour.
The dangerous cross-eyed male archer is feeling rather hurt.

No sense in continuing. Just ran away until I lost them, then left. I like the place, but it has two problems: the orcs inside are so small they can't attack me, and the archers do huge damage. If I recall correctly, Ydred was the first to die there because of the archers. He told me he complained but he wasn't restored because the archers were working correctly. I think any attack that doesn't take into account your armour protection is not working correctly. I may go push the gates for fun again, but won't be fighting inside. Not worth when there are archers that do more damage than the biggest npc in Genesis.

[Bromen]

Can the Krynn archer guild get a copy paste of the skills and damage of those Orc archers? Pretty please?

I think the honest truth is that the game is in definite need of a priest class that can effectively heal. The end game, so to speak, needs to require a team. The team should be made of a tank, healer, damage dealer (rogue or caster) and specialty classes (necro, minstrel, etc.) There is too much soloing. I really enjoy how the Calian guild promotes teaming so much. In my first gladiator tourney, I was also amazed at how the AA fought as a team. We have so many guilds and such, its hard to find an effective combination that could team and make progress in a place like this.

btw, I believe arrows shouldn't have to account for armour unless you're wearing a shield.

-B