You Know, Things Are Pretty Okay

[*Strawberry Jam]

I noticed the NWN scry list the other day had less than 100 people playing NWN2. I know it can go up to around 250 but I would say the game is significantly dead that active communities are like life boats for anyone wanting to play.

So I don't think people will leave even if it gets bad, they might express their dissatisfaction in other ways than leaving, like being negative but ultimately sticking around.

I happen to believe that if a game isn't fun anymore it's probably time to do something else. My activity fluctuates on how much I enjoy something or consider potential for enjoyment. If some interaction, or feature, or forum post gets under my skin I'll probably just do something else until it doesn't bother me.

So yes, I don't think there's going to be anything bad going on with Sigil, I imagine the community will still be a healthy mix of people and continue to exist in years to come. It's basically a retro game now and the players are the die hards :lol:

[*Alersia]

If you want ERP you play at haven.
If you want to powerbuild an unusual character you play at sigil.
If you want serious roleplay you play at bgtscc.

1. Sigil offers the opportunity to roleplay an exceptional race such as vampire or werewolf but the roleplay is shut down by the "be nice to everyone, you level easier with them" spirit and the facts that "pvp doesnt exist" and "you need players to gear up".

2. Alignments play a minor role on Sigil. What matters are the factions and yet - they are half-ignored. DMs run events for them and sometimes an headquarter gets an update but thats it.

- Factions are optional and offer very little.
- In the meantime the Bazaar offers everything an adventurer needs.
- Players still cant start at their faction headquarter.
- The heavy lore demotivates new players to delve into it.
- Faction-specific PrCs. The staff doesnt want players to join a faction because of PrCs. But they forget that PrcCs are a good way to bring new players into the lore and roleplay of a faction.
- Faction badges have their use, but there could so much more made of it. Think of an "alternate-level-system" or "faction template" that grants faction based feats, skills and spells based on rank and level.

First of all, all members of the Doomguard gain one 'sword' proficiency - perhaps because Sinkers seem to have a hack for bloodshed. Even those normally denied the use of a blade can wield one without penalty. By the time a Sinker hits 3rd level, his training grants him a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with a sword.
But Sinkers of all levels can draw upon the forces of entropy to further increase their skill in combat with any weapon. If a DoomguardÂ’s engaged in melee with a foe of an opposite alignment (for example, evil as opposed to good, or chaos as opposed to law), he can call upon the might of his faction and try to deliver an Entropic Blow. If his attack roll is at least 5 points higher than the what was needed to successfully hit, the foe automatically loses half of its current hit points. A Sinker can try to invoke this power once per game week; the player just has to tell the DM that his characterÂ’s going to attempt the entropic blow. Note that even if the SinkerÂ’s attack misses, it still counts as his weekly attempt at using the blow.
‘Course, faction members find themselves with more than just fighting skills. Any Sinker can sift through destroyed material and gain a psychic impression of what caused the destruction. He just picks up some broken rubble, charred wood, ground dust, or whatever. He then let the material filter through his fingers while he spends round in quiet meditation. Sinkers of 1st through 5th level can read the cause of destruction only if it happened in the last 10 years. Sinkers of 6th through 10th level can go back 500 years. And Sinkers of 11th level or higher can read a far back as 1,000 years.
WhatÂ’s more, if the destruction occurred within the last century, higher-level Sinkers can actually experience parts of i t For every round spent in meditation and in contact with the rubble, Sinkers of 6th through 10th level can relive five minutes of the disaster through sight only. Sinkers of 11th level or higher can hear and smell as well as see. And the chant hints that Sinkers who are 30th level or higher can actually enter the scene of a disaster, though nothingÂ’s ever said of a basher returning from such a trip.
Doomguard priests of all levels can also sift through deceased organic material and learn the cause of death. The mental images received are particularly vivid if the death was a violent one, or if the destroyed being was of the same alignment as the priest. Finally, if a Sinker’s especially ruthless in his pursuit of entropy, he may find himself picked to become the Entropy Champion of a Doomlord. Only those of 5th level or higher who’ve served the faction well may be considered for this promotion. Once petitioned by a Doomlord – or even the facto1 - the Sinker must first travel to the Doomlord’s citadel on the appropriate quasielemental plane.
Once there the basher undergoes a fasting and purification ritual for one week. Then, heÂ’s brought to the strongholdÂ’s forge, where the steel to be used for his new entropy blade lies in a molten pool. The Doomlord chains the Sinker to a table and peels away a layer of his skin equal to the surface area of the weapon to be made (which might account for why most entropy blades are short swords). The Doomlord forges the skin directly into the new weapon, casting various binding spells in the process. Then the new championÂ’s allowed 33 days to recover and sent on his mission.

3. Since players struggle with a) racial roleplay and b) faction roleplay their new main goal is to build an awesome unusual character. How can he gain the xp for it?

- he can slay enemies.
- he can attend DM events. (not available 100% of the day)
- he can RP alot and gain lvl*100 next day. (you need like 10 days to reach level 2, in the meanwhile by grinding you do 1-20 in a day.)

So simplify it, nothing draws players into roleplay. The only thing that creates roleplay is bazaar boredom and trading items.

There is no xp gain through rising in faction rank (roleplay xp could flow into XP and "faction xp" pool).
There is no xp gain through exploring the multiverse weaponless (Spot Check on mushroom over there = +300 xp, visiting new plane +300 xp, etc).
There is no xp gain through trading an crafting.
There are no quests that bring players closer to a faction (Ingame NPC Quest explains the faction and grants xp).

4. Roleplay lives from opportunities. If a place is empty it provides nothing to roleplay. Take a look at the plane of ice? What does she offer for roleplay? There are frozen statues and a river but no object to interaction with. No provided lore. Areas are either made "to be there" or for grinding.
However I cant blame anyone, the areas are very old and sigil does not have much builders. Making good areas requires alot of time.

If you dont know what I mean with roleplay opportunities or provided lore, check out Alersias house on DM client or the fortunes wheel made by mimi. Her area is a masterpiece of roleplay opportunities. Sigil should be full of fortunes wheels.

[*Mr_Otyugh]

Really, you want to start an argument in this thread? :lol: Have you no shame?

[*Itikar]

So I don't think people will leave even if it gets bad, they might express their dissatisfaction in other ways than leaving, like being negative but ultimately sticking around.

Not really, because, as you said, one can always do something else, which may be either some other activity (like reading a book, studying something, surfing the web, etc.) or play another game, since roleplay and D&d are not exclusive of NWN2 (see NWN1 for example, but also other games such as text-based ones etc.).

I think Sigil comes out on top of both Haven and Baldur's Gate because what you find on Sigil is something quite rare out there: a Planescape multiplayer game with a high playerbase and several cool mechanical and character options, as well as freedom to do whatever character you want both mechanically and from the perspective of roleplay. I think this is more important than being one of the few remaining populated servers for NWN2.

As for Sigil being bad, seriously is it really bad? I am under the impression that frankly it is not bad at all, otherwise I would not be here in the first place. Oh, of course things could be improved and it is absolutely fair to look for ways to improve the roleplay, but that also involves to a great extent players and their actions.

So yes, I don't think there's going to be anything bad going on with Sigil, I imagine the community will still be a healthy mix of people and continue to exist in years to come. It's basically a retro game now and the players are the die hards :D

I agree, I think Sigil has much to offer and unless something drastical and dumb happens that compromises either the setting or the build/race freedom and selection, I believe players will find a reason to log on Sigil regularly.

Also, since we are here, a bit of promotion on social media for NWN2 and Sigil in particular, never hurts at all. I found on reddit various people who were asking desperately for games that offered what Sigil, its builders and staff have very virtuosly realized (i.e. great freedom of character builds, exotic races, playable dragons/vampires/werewolves/demons/treants etc.). And of course I pointed them here. :)

[*Mick64]

If you want ERP you play at haven.
If you want to powerbuild an unusual character you play at sigil.
If you want serious roleplay you play at bgtscc.

To me, the best thing about Sigil, the thing that makes it stand out even more then it's setting, what makes it a totally unique experience among NWN2 servers is that you can do all three of these things all on the same server. It has something for, if not everyone, a wide variety of kinds of folks with different tastes.

[*edmaster44]

Make RP to hard core on Sigil, then you'll get the Annoying Whining Elven Players from Cormyr Bitching and moaning cause you're playing Elves wrong and they aren't suppose to feel cold under a certain Temperature :lol:. I been here for a little over a year and thus far i like my Experience, most fun I've had in a RP Server not since NWN1, not too restricting like NWN1 Cormyr and Leveling isn't at a Snails pace and when you experiencing whiny 'hardcore' Rper's typing so fast at how much you're shit at being Elven that you can hear their keyboards ticking away as fat rolls beads with sweat mixed with an Aroma of Cheetos Cup Ramen and Desperation going 'Gee why don't any one like me?'.


I would like to see some mechanical incentive for Good Characters and Neutral Characters not go into Mecruia to 'grind' because of some weak ass Excuse that is the only good place to get XP at a certain level, And Bazaar Rp isn't that horrible, it's the hub for trade after all, if my DM Client didn't CRASH A LOT, i would try to make that place more...interesting to say the least.

But yeah, Thing's aren't that bad.

[*Hydra]

Make Sigil great again, throw all the non-factioned, Faerunians, vampires, weeaboo characters and demons out!

[*Strawberry Jam]

So I don't think people will leave even if it gets bad, they might express their dissatisfaction in other ways than leaving, like being negative but ultimately sticking around.

Not really, because, as you said, one can always do something else, which may be either some other activity (like reading a book, studying something, surfing the web, etc.) or play another game, since roleplay and D&d are not exclusive of NWN2 (see NWN1 for example, but also other games such as text-based ones etc.).

I think Sigil comes out on top of both Haven and Baldur's Gate because what you find on Sigil is something quite rare out there: a Planescape multiplayer game with a high playerbase and several cool mechanical and character options, as well as freedom to do whatever character you want both mechanically and from the perspective of roleplay. I think this is more important than being one of the few remaining populated servers for NWN2.

That's the thing, if someone is going out of their way to play a 10 year old game that is known to be extremely buggy and run poorly then you can bet they're looking for a specific experience.

If they're looking at the servers with only a few hundred players world wide you can safely bet they're looking for a community. Only 4 options exist to reach critical mass in players across all timezones: Haven, Baldur's Gate, Sigil, and Trinity. Players can't migrate en masse from server to server, so in the end it's the community that keeps things together, the people not as much the technology or mechanics. =)

[*Whitefly]

Haven had quite a lot of good roleplay going on, it wasn't all just sex.
It also had some pretty cool dungeons too! Even if I do say so myself :P

[*Taihou]

Make Sigil great again, throw all the non-factioned, Faerunians, vampires, weeaboo characters and demons out!

"Want to change the world - start with thyself"