Where are the Niggets hiding?

[Tarax the Terrible]

Now this is just my own perception from over the last few weeks, and maybe there are people I don't know about.
But I am not seeing many Niggets on during normal US playing hours.
As for the War plains I only ever seem to see DA's or Neidar holding them.

I do see a decent amount of Rangers, Calians and Stunties.
It seems that number of good players is about equal with evil at this time of day.
But the Knights are poorly represented.

I checked my memory and used last for all the Knights I had in there.
Two at least seem to be about, just not when I was about or paying attention.

I know for a time they were beset by stronger enemies, which can be a bummer.
(Unless you enjoy that sort of thing, make alliances, new allies etc against the common foe)
But is that the problem now?

I also heard some rumour of a nerf, but not sure how much truth there is there.

Or are there issues with guild structure, hard to join, hard to advance?
If some Knights did feel that was an issue.
Should they be made free to join as a squire?
With automatic promotion to higher ranks in no-one else active similar to some other Krynnish guilds?

They do seem to be a guild holding to the old ways for joining procedures.
Which is hard on the existing playerbase (guild recruitment selection starts to feel like a job) and those who are stuck in limbo waiting.

I have noticed a recent surge in the number of gladiators and there are a fair amount of mercs about as well.
Perhaps a few of them might feel a Knight urge if the option was open to them.

Curious what other's think.

[Tarax the Terrible]

PS Bromen should apply.

He would look good on a warhorse.

[Amberlee]

I think the problem for knights is more of a lack of active knights combined with a lack of interest to become a knight.

[Makfly]

I know you're asking about the Knights because you want some opponents in-game, but isn't it a more systemic problem?
I mean, are not all guilds in need of more members, and not just the Knights of Solamnia?

Also the increase in gladiators are coming from the the AA in general isn't it?
The few people I've seen switch to the Gladiator guild is from the evil side atleast, so perhaps the Knights are their obvious choice if they want to move on from the Gladiators.
I don't know, they can only answer this themselves of course.

[Uther]

From what I have heard the last "nerf" of the knights was what killed the knights
That is what 2-3 knights say
They say it is more fun to play in other guilds.

[Creed]

I cannot say what the reason is for others, but my own reason for not playing is that I got tired with Genesis, again. It comes and goes, the interest, as you all know. And right now its totally dead.

I check in here once or twice a week, but I got no interest in playing. Although I do log in about once a week, to see if anything interesting happened, which hasn't happened yet.

I stopped playing quite a while ago, so I am not sure about any nerfs. I never paid much attention to the finer details of power or whatever, so I am not sure if I would have noticed anyways, unless it was stated on our board.
A reason for me to have lost interest, is that my apparent friends and people I hung with became less active themselves, and then it reflected on me. We all played less and less, and now it seems none of us are.
I play some Skyrim instead, have started reading some more and have just found other things to do.

I guess another main problem is that as a knight you're the prime target for any evils looking for a fight. I stand out clearly on my warhorse, and its no news that I don't like to pfight.
So with a lot of evils returning to the game (i have seen more than a few familiar names) it felt more and more unsafe for me to travel alone, which in itself is boring aswell.
Then in the end it was just easier to stop.

Another problem is that the knight guild is most fun to be in when there are a bunch of active knights. The internal RP is interesting and one of my reasons for staying as a knight. But the guild does seem too restricted, which in turn is also needed since people need to learn the RP, so the guild isn't ruined completely when the idea was to revive it. Im not sure what there is to do about it. Either you have no knights or you might end up with a bunch of people on horseback who doesn't act the knight at all. A terrible dilemma.

[Targun]

Makfly has it. People just migrate from one guild to another as there is not enough members to pupulate them all. For most players an empty guild is useless guild. Sometimes the migration is motivated by perks. Sometimes by boredom and an urge to try out something new. Other times it's just people who kept the former guild going leaving for another guild.

I doubt it has anything to do with Knights. Just lack of players. I am seriously considering dividing the playerbase into 4-5, 1st of April joke by Gorboth, a reasonable move. At least not unless the playerbase is something around 40-60 people. There is not too much to loose after all, is there?

[Tarax the Terrible]

I'm asking because I respect the KoS and its members as a strong roleplay guild.
It is this type of guild which has more problems bringing in new members when times are slow.

The issue of the guild being underpowered because of lack of active members and people not being willing to travel around and idle occasionally without fear of unprovoked attack is sad. It can happen to all guilds, perhaps a temporary blessing from palladine could be created to make them unattackable outside of the war plains. A big difference from our free for all history but if it would help maybe worth it.

If they did get nerfed it is probably due to what a small minority of the membership was able to do with the skillset.
I remember seeing two minority uber geared knights both knight calvary before the recode in full haste gear beating up on a certain infamous vampire in the wicked vamp guild days. A high ranking PoT and I as a BDA joined the fight and they _beat the crap_ outta all 3 of us.

I know the guild has already been recoded but I find it hard to know where to place them.
Calia has more damage, Neidar has more tankiness, mercs can block as well as them.
They are just sort of in the middle imo.
And the Knights I do see active are not using the calvary layman.

I would see them buffed, but in a different direction to give them some uniqueness instead of jack of all trades status.

* Take away all the benefits of haste from their specials. When you think of knights its heavy armour and brutal stirkes, not speed and finesse.
* Remove any dual wielding skill.
* Give them a bonus to armour when wearing a matched set, thanks skyrim for that idea.
(Like Morpheus always used to run around in the suit of shinning armour, very Knightly)
* Rework Calvary charges, they get a big bonus from lances and penalty for other weapons.
Charge is something that is mainly a combat initiator, but can hit multiple opponents, ie if you charge me you have chance to hit my team on the way through, charge draconians etc.
So 3 to 4 knights charging together could really deal a big burst and could perhaps clear the plains by charging once through each room.
But there would therefore be a very long cooldown.
* Do away with block, its un Knightly to trap a foe.
* Replace block with Knightly combat, a chance to knock down your opponent, stopping them leaving and they will take extra damage from attacks. This would get a small bonus from weapon and shield but be the most effective when using two handed weapons.
* Change kdie (controversial) might be better that they randomly get a burst of health and stamina when fighting.

The above is just a brain fart, me picturing Knights charging in, Dismounting and Laying about them with big two handed melee weapons. They are able to not use shields but be deceptively tanky in their well fitting armours and unmatched martial prowess and faith in their god. Also picturing them not being that equipment dependant, but still wanting the elaborately carved greatsword, jet black war sword, maul, mithril capped pike etc.

[Uther]

Knights werent given shieldskill due to balance.

When I read the Dragonlance books.. dragons of autumn twilight etc etc.. Knights had 2 handed weapons .. sword and shield and more to that.
But according to Gorboth, when I asked why knights doesn't have sword and shield, I don't remember what he exactly said, but something like
Neidars should be the best tanks and giving knights shieldskill would unbalance the guild and they become to powerful.

G you must correct me here if I recall wrong.

[Makfly]

Trying to come up with ideas on how to boost Knights killing power, is like trying to look for ways to avoid a leg-amputation of a man with a heart attack.

I certainly have no intention to discouraging people from coming up with ideas for whatever guild, but I do not believe it will fix the source of the problems.

It is the game that needs players, not 1 individual guild.

All resources really should be trown into the promotional campaign to bring in new players, while trying to win back former players.
Any other focus seems to be rather futile.

Personally I stopped playing too, and went on to Skyrim and some Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Fortunately the "keeping an eye on it" period lasts alot longer than the "actively playing" period.
That's a benefit for the game, if it wants to draw in former players for sure.