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Slanted · 10-31-2002, 02:17 PM

Hello everyone.

After a few years away from Muds, I have decided to start fresh again with my favorite past time of old. I have been doing a good deal of research on Top Mud Sites, and have even tried a few muds, but I have yet to find one I really like. Perhaps some of you could suggest a mud that fits the following qualifications. Oh before we begin, I would ask that in your replies you say how the mud qualifies for these specifications rather than just saying that they do. I know this subject seems to have been driven to the ground, but I do see a lot of replies that seem like they have absolutely nothing to do with what a potential player asks for.

Things I like in a mud:
1) It must be Roleplaying Mandatory. I am absolutely critical of this effect. If I wanted a hack and slash game I would go play a graphical game where I can more easily develop positional strategy.
2) I love really brain blastingly complex skill and development systems. I have no problem adapting to such things. However, I also like systems that don't require a lot of downtime investment. What I mean by this is that I hate when games use roundtime or large wait times to regulate the use of a skill. I hate sitting in roundtime for a long time on a regular basis.
3) I love games that do not use bland, boring repetition as a way of gaining skills or ranks or whatever. I like levelling/skilling/whatevering to be a more natural process. For example, I like a steady progression of learning new and wholly different techniques within a skill rather than having to make 200 blunt arrowheads then when I gain a rank, use the same verbs 400 more times with different materials to make sharp arrow heads. What I would rather see is a steady progression of learning all the different verbs used in an arrowhead followed by an opportunity to travel to a tribal village where I could learn a wholly different process to making a wholly different type of arrowhead.
4) I like games where I don't have to engage in combat to become skilled in something.
5) I also like games where roleplay events are often scheduled. I particularly liked Inferno's scheduled roleplay policy if you ever played the game.

Now for the don't likes:
1) I hate, absolutely hate time sinks. Like I mentioned earlier I would rather have to learn a jillion new verbs to advance then do the same repetitious process forty jillion times with roundtime as the only preventative measure to me skilling up.
2) I don't really like far future settings with a few very very notable exceptions. I suppose this is because I always liked magic and I dislike using guns in combat. Just a personal thing.
3) I hate it when 95% of a game is designed for the top 5% of the population power wise. Gemstone 3, dragonrealms, and to a large extent everquest (though it is not a Mud in the common defintion) did this. It really angers me to no end. I realize these people play all day and night and therefore have more to say about the game, but for the love of god fix the bugs and improve the overall experience for the majority of your player base before you give in to the constant whinefest of the people with no jobs and no prospects outside of this game.
4) I don't really like long combat. I like my combat to be short and sweet with criticals and such. By the same token I don't like games where the first to attack usually kills and wins, but I don't like to sit there and mash attack, retreat, adv, attack for 3 solid minutes before something I have killed thousands of dies.
5) I am not a big fan on skill hard caps for major skills. I understand that this is sometimes necessary, but I prefer it when games let the ceiling, so to speak, be based entirely on the highest currently implemented challenge available.
6) I also hate it when games apply the law of diminishing marginal utility to the advancement process. What I mean by this is that the first few levels give you a lot of bonus to a skill or trade or whatever, but as you go up, the margin by which you increase in these skills lessens, until you need to gain 10 levels or so to equal the same gain you received by levelling once at low levels. Lets face it, skills and levels are usually harder and harder to get as you level, I think you should either get as much as you got for the earlier, easier levels or even more marginal utitlity out of your greater investment of time. Games like Gemstone 3 use the poor example of this gripe and it just goes to show that the game was designed for up to level 20 and is currently boasting level 200 characters. Such a system is really a pathetic way to balance out powergamers.
7) I am not a big fan of permadeath in games. Then again I am also not a big fan of PK except when it is exceptionally well roleplayed out.

I think thats about it. Thanks for reading my long post (trust me, if I keep posting here you will see that I am pretty long winded). I hope that I can find somewhere nice to settle down and share some quality roleplay with some unique individuals.

10-31-2002, 02:17 PM	#1
Slanted New Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 29	Hello everyone. After a few years away from Muds, I have decided to start fresh again with my favorite past time of old. I have been doing a good deal of research on Top Mud Sites, and have even tried a few muds, but I have yet to find one I really like. Perhaps some of you could suggest a mud that fits the following qualifications. Oh before we begin, I would ask that in your replies you say how the mud qualifies for these specifications rather than just saying that they do. I know this subject seems to have been driven to the ground, but I do see a lot of replies that seem like they have absolutely nothing to do with what a potential player asks for. Things I like in a mud: 1) It must be Roleplaying Mandatory. I am absolutely critical of this effect. If I wanted a hack and slash game I would go play a graphical game where I can more easily develop positional strategy. 2) I love really brain blastingly complex skill and development systems. I have no problem adapting to such things. However, I also like systems that don't require a lot of downtime investment. What I mean by this is that I hate when games use roundtime or large wait times to regulate the use of a skill. I hate sitting in roundtime for a long time on a regular basis. 3) I love games that do not use bland, boring repetition as a way of gaining skills or ranks or whatever. I like levelling/skilling/whatevering to be a more natural process. For example, I like a steady progression of learning new and wholly different techniques within a skill rather than having to make 200 blunt arrowheads then when I gain a rank, use the same verbs 400 more times with different materials to make sharp arrow heads. What I would rather see is a steady progression of learning all the different verbs used in an arrowhead followed by an opportunity to travel to a tribal village where I could learn a wholly different process to making a wholly different type of arrowhead. 4) I like games where I don't have to engage in combat to become skilled in something. 5) I also like games where roleplay events are often scheduled. I particularly liked Inferno's scheduled roleplay policy if you ever played the game. Now for the don't likes: 1) I hate, absolutely hate time sinks. Like I mentioned earlier I would rather have to learn a jillion new verbs to advance then do the same repetitious process forty jillion times with roundtime as the only preventative measure to me skilling up. 2) I don't really like far future settings with a few very very notable exceptions. I suppose this is because I always liked magic and I dislike using guns in combat. Just a personal thing. 3) I hate it when 95% of a game is designed for the top 5% of the population power wise. Gemstone 3, dragonrealms, and to a large extent everquest (though it is not a Mud in the common defintion) did this. It really angers me to no end. I realize these people play all day and night and therefore have more to say about the game, but for the love of god fix the bugs and improve the overall experience for the majority of your player base before you give in to the constant whinefest of the people with no jobs and no prospects outside of this game. 4) I don't really like long combat. I like my combat to be short and sweet with criticals and such. By the same token I don't like games where the first to attack usually kills and wins, but I don't like to sit there and mash attack, retreat, adv, attack for 3 solid minutes before something I have killed thousands of dies. 5) I am not a big fan on skill hard caps for major skills. I understand that this is sometimes necessary, but I prefer it when games let the ceiling, so to speak, be based entirely on the highest currently implemented challenge available. 6) I also hate it when games apply the law of diminishing marginal utility to the advancement process. What I mean by this is that the first few levels give you a lot of bonus to a skill or trade or whatever, but as you go up, the margin by which you increase in these skills lessens, until you need to gain 10 levels or so to equal the same gain you received by levelling once at low levels. Lets face it, skills and levels are usually harder and harder to get as you level, I think you should either get as much as you got for the earlier, easier levels or even more marginal utitlity out of your greater investment of time. Games like Gemstone 3 use the poor example of this gripe and it just goes to show that the game was designed for up to level 20 and is currently boasting level 200 characters. Such a system is really a pathetic way to balance out powergamers. 7) I am not a big fan of permadeath in games. Then again I am also not a big fan of PK except when it is exceptionally well roleplayed out. I think thats about it. Thanks for reading my long post (trust me, if I keep posting here you will see that I am pretty long winded). I hope that I can find somewhere nice to settle down and share some quality roleplay with some unique individuals.