Sepherum's page

Archetypal Threshold? Role Achievement? Bleagh.

Reading over all the posts and all the ideas regarding pvp, SAD, Bounties, etc., I thought about the maybe overlooked role that NPC guards will play in PFO. Not the powerful Marshalls that will guard the safer areas, but the npc guard upgrades we read about. Can you upgrade a caravan to have guards included? How many and how strong? How about guards for a carriage transporting a non-combat orientated crafter PC? NPC guards for a construction site? With lootable goods and destroyable structures, even a large CC will need auxilliares considering RL responsibilities, IMHO. Perhaps a menu of different tiers/classes could be offered with an upkeep and/or equipment level cost associated with them. I recall that the guards in Stormwind were good enough to protect the king if a couple of us showed up to support them. This would be Horde attacking at 3am of course.

...if the skill paths/archetypes/'classes' are going to mirror Pathfinder. Bear with me. I'll try whatever game the devs come up with. The alignment component seems essential to the game already-as it is in pnp Pathfinder. Thus the only true healers are good-with access to positive energy channeling, spontaneous casting of heal spells and many ameliorating domain powers. Evil clerics can only heal...undead. Neutral clerics do the alignment tap dance. To compete on the battlefield evil orgs must use undead, enslaved divine casters and lots of neutral buddies. Ever tried to DM a campaign and the players didn't have a dedicated healer?

I read the last three blogs with great interest. It seems to me the system(s) of flags and the scores based upon the two alignment axes are a solid foundation for meaningful player interaction and the goal of pvp w/o frequent griefing. I realize the devs and many in these forums have already invested some time and thought to the mechanic, but why a separate reputation score in addition to alignment and flagging? The Rep system would be ripe for abuse and metagaming in ways that have already been discussed. It also adds to the complexity of an already complex game. What about adding an 'Oathbreaker' long term flag for not honoring contracts? This along with the Betrayer and Murderer flags which I think are being considered but not yet fleshed out. Doing away with Rep would also negate the idea (which I believe to be nonsensical) that a Lawful Evil settlement cannot build certain prestigious and useful structures. I don't see why the default character setting should be moving towards lawful; PCs could choose to slowly raise their scores along the law/chaos axis by logging out at lawful or chaotic inns/hideouts/forts/settlements with which they have good standing (no criminal, betrayer, etc., flags). At least tie the proposed Rep gain to such a mechanic. A PC could start at Neutral and would immediately have a reason to interact in order to shift her/his alignment to whatever desired. This, I believe, would augment the player-driven storyline from the get-go. Thanks for reading my post this far.

I think the question of how the alignment system will work in PFO is important enough to warrant it's own thread. It will effect every aspect of gameplay from pvp, contracts, chartered companies, transactions, settlements, npc relations and declaring war. I could go on. I've always believed the alignment system in tabletop Pathfinder (or D&D, for that matter) was /is broken and subject mostly to the tastes of individual DMs. Yet the developers have stated that in this way perhaps most of all PFO will mirror the tabletop version. Exactly how this is implemented may be the most important factor in determining whether PFO ultimately succeeds or fails. I'd like to submit two observations. First, a true neutral settlement would not have to admit all members regardless of alignment. According to the table on p.166 of the Core Rulebook, diagonally situated alignments on the chart are two steps from neutral not one. This would exclude lawful good, chaotic evil, etc., yes? Secondly I've never seen chaotic evil played successfully. In the online version it could be an npc alignment for individuals and brutal, disorganized groups or a 'warning' to a pc who is about to receive sanctions of some sort.

So we know generally where we're gonna live, how we're gonna live and how we're gonna die. We've discussed, we've argued. So, what excites you about the prospects so far? Exploring content? Starting a settlement? Opening a business? Running around robbin' fools? Whatever? I'm most excited about being able to really specialize my character. I'm not talking about the 'holy trinity'-I mean really make my guy exactly how I want him. It always bothered me walking around Shattrath City in WOW with my raid gear, a set from the arena, and the highest dps cloth a player could make himself and then see, well, the exact same guy, different race maybe. Over and over. So, more arena and join bigger raids? God it got boring, for my friends too. In PFO, they will start with 11 archetypes with all the requisite options and then skills anyone can learn, it seems. With multiclassing, you can be pretty unique, suited to the role you want to play. Relatively speaking, of course. I'm thinking Monk/Sorcerer or Monk/Cleric. Start a family guild or join one. Maybe be a bounty hunter or hired guard. What do you say?

Just recently I discussed how excited I was to try Pathfinder Online with my gaming group. Two rather salient points came up. 1)When the server population expands, new players will be in competition with powerful, established players and player-run organizations for resources and land. 2)When the game itself expands, these powerful entities will be perfectly placed to quickly dominate the new content. Both of these concerns are heightened by the apparent fact that there will not be large'theme park' areas safe from pvp in which to skill up or level or whatever it's going to be called. So, two things. Soloers, a large portion of potential players, (including me) will be hedged out. New players will be compelled to join an already established corporation to survive, which is the main complaint I've always heard about EVE online. To put it succintly, my buddy said, "Sounds to me that the Power Gamers will eat that one up from the start. I'd rather just buy the next Adventure Path and run that." Comments/suggestions/mechanics to avoid? Or is this game limited to players with a certain playstyle?