Returning player having trouble

Malagar

Hi guys! I've been playing Iron realms games on and off for about 15 years now. Mardosi I played extensively for a while and life (and admittedly, some changes to that game) me away from it. I then played MKO for a while before it tanked. I got into Lusternia at some point during that time and I really enjoyed the Character, Malagar Hammerbrew, a bard and brewer of epic drink of tales. I tried to play a few of the other Iron realms games, but their similarities to Achaea sort of caused me to phase out and lose interest. Due to the amount of effort I was putting into MKO, Malagar fell by the wayside and I hadn't looked at Lusternia again until the past few weeks. 

 I returned to the game to find that I was no longer in a guild due to game changes, and I had to relearn a lot of things due to combat changes, as well as buy all new gear, etc... the standard hustle and bustle when you've been away for a while. It's much harder for me to pick an established character up than to create a new one, so I tried that too! I've run into a few troubles in doing so though, and I'd like to share them with the community in the hopes of trying to develop a solution.

The new character I created was a Warden. The concept was a human ward taken in by his guild and trained to be a Paragon of Order and Justice in the Celestine, and perhaps one day to even be a Judge. Since playing him, I've found that the newbie areas, while great for leveling, seem to have a disconnect with the greater story of Lusternia. You spend time in those areas during the very awesome (I can't stress that enough) collegiate quests that help you get into the story of the game, but there's nothing about the areas themselves that make the grind exciting for me. I enjoy roleplaying, and I can't really get behind slaughtering and/or begging from and/or aiding the finks/gnomes/mushrooms/etc... partly because I know it won't matter past level 20, and partly because while there's certainly STORY there, it just seems like it doesn't fit. 

My other problem is that I'm having trouble finding inspiration in using the skills I have available to me in the Warden skillset in regards to RP. The solution to this might be to focus on gaining levels via influencing instead of murdering countless mobs. I understand that RP can be done independent of skills, but I've always been of the mindset skills should be able to augment roleplay in meaningful way, and I somehow expected Wardens to not just be murdery. Have I misjudged them? At any rate, I've just discovered this new character was purged do to me not playing in a while, but I would like to start over, or perhaps play Malagar. I'm just not sure what is keeping me from diving back in... should I just wait for Starmourn? Thoughts?

Shaddus

(rambling incoming)

Hi, Malagar, and welcome back to Lusternia!


I'm sorry you're having problems. Trust me, we have all felt the pain of a lack of retention as of late, people coming and going and not sticking around. I personally appreciate your letting us know that you need help, or advice! A large portion of Lusternian players likely agree with your assessment of Newton. While there -is- a backstory to it, it really is sort of disconnected. 


Right now, Lusternia is just....kinda slow. Summertime has given a lot of people things to do beyond banging away at a keyboard, slaughtering gnomes and finks en masse. Rest assured, some of us are still more than willing to try and give you a reason to stick around. I'd like to urge you to go ahead and start a new character and pick a guild, and just roll with it. See how it goes and whether all the newness is acceptable  and easy to pick up. If you find yourself learning all these new ways and find that you're regaining your interest, message your guild or org leaders and ask them how you can help your new home. Learn and grow, or at least re-learn and grow. If you instead play this Malagar character, and he's "a bard and brewer of epic drink and of tales", it sounds like Gaudiguch might be up your alley. While Gaudiguch is a bit slow right now in terms of activity, there's plenty to see and do, and usually always someone to answer questions.

So stick around, and feel free to ask questions or ask for someone to meet you ingame to help you. 

Yehn

It's worth mentioning there are finks and gnomes in aetherbubbles. Though aetherbubbles themselves are, as their name implies, pretty isolated too. But... in general Lusternia's questing is, a lot of the times, more about the story of a particular area. Sometimes it has more ties back to some central lore, sometimes it doesn't...

Now then, as to not murdering all the things... IMO Influencing is a really great thing Lusternia has that, for some strange reason to this day, you just don't see in other games. And what other MMO-ish games that occasionally try an alternative to "kill all the things en masse" for leveling, usually tend to gimp the exp output for some kind of fear it will be too good... but that's not the case here. Influencing can get you all the way to demigod at a pretty good rate (it's what got me there).

But, one way or another, levelling is still pretty grindy. On the other hand, getting to max level, or getting their quickly, doesn't have to be one of your goals... If you want to get into influencing... I can offer tips and answer questions, and probably most people here can. Just let us know.

But all that said, for skills... I think it's just, the RP side of them is RP, while a lot of the coded abilities... are there for where that's needed, in PvP. Like, for example, with Institute (my class) all your abilities are about using crystal harmonics or time themed abilities to ultimately kill someone. But there's also labs with controllable NPCs and stuff like that to RP out the !!FOR SCIENCE!! side of things. And sometimes admins take control of NPCs as part of events. And a few RP skills here and there like changing someone's age.

But, essentially, if you want to be a lore or RP focused character, then definitely be one. Writing in game books, for example, can be a great way to both earn power and culture for your org, as well as credits for yourself (and probably rise through the ranks while you're at it). The in depth pvp is there for people that want it, but there's a lot more to the game. Like Shaddus said, maybe just hit the ground running and see where you end up!

Daraius

I remember Mardosi. Welcome aboard.

Regarding Newton, I'd advise just milking it for every piece of gold it's worth. Even if you plan to play a pacifist character... what happens in Newton stays in Newton. You can never go back (without an artifact), and the plot there is not really relevant to anything happening in the outside world. Just trade all the finks to the gnomes and vice versa, and you'll have plenty of money for supplies and stuff.

Nice thing about factions is you can play any class you want and most likely find a niche that fits your play style. And like in Achaea, you can draw as much or as little RP inspiration from your skills as you want. Daraius is a Tahtetso monk, for instance, largely because when I started the character I wanted to play in Hallifax but didn't like any of the classes available there. I derive his RP from Shevat and Hallifaxian values, followed by Toshan influences, and finally a sprinkling of Tahtetso monk stuff. The skills themselves inform certain things about the way he behaves, like the precision of movement you'd get from Kata training or the meditative qualities of Harmony mantras. I feel like I could lean in to those abilities, or ignore them, and still have satisfying RP with people. Consider allowing your character to be shaped a bit by his or her experiences and interactions. If you lock yourself into one concept for your character, that could get stale. Alternatively, it can be a lot of fun trying to parse challenging situations through the value of a particularly rigid character.

At the end of the day, I guess my advice is to find the city/faction combo that feels fun to you, and make an active effort to engage with people. Most people interested in RP will give as good as they get, so just showing interest is a good way to get involved. And remember that no one is monitoring your character's motives or activities as closely as you are, so if any part of your character becomes unfun, you can change it with as much or as little justification as you care to provide. Case in point, Daraius gives hugs now, and the people who receive them just have to deal with it. 

Have fun!

Retherian

Here I felt like the only one...everything is drastically changed since I was last around. And I agree with the influencing bit...its multi-rewards are too much to ignore all the esteem can go to a god of your choice bolstering your presence in other areas...