Al Smithy's page

my fear is that like so many MMOs before it, it will be dead inside a year of release. And that would be a criminal waste of the IP.

I suspect that many folks (except the most deluded of fanboys) probably are afraid it won't even make it to "official" release.

Recent marketing behaviors by Goblin Works, such as the Buddy Program and premature Head Start promo, seem like bad ideas when the game is still so buggy and feature-weak, and yet they are pushing those things out anyway. Makes them look desperate to attract new sign-ups.

...he says, not actually taking Erian up on the offer. Something something hot gas.

A paladin's quest to prove and maintain her own righteousness is in the end, her own quest.

Without that, I see continued calls of "look at the evil EBA" as just refusing to engage in constructive conversation.

You have chosen to label yourselves as Lawful Good, the onus is on you and your players to live up to it. Shirking that responsibility because it is difficult, while hiding behind the veil of provocative discussions is really just a disservice to serious role players.

And what else is morality but the long standing tradition of legality? Are you suggesting an absolute authority beyond the pantheon of gods who would not agree on a single moral/law anyways?

The question of the nature of morality has been debated in philosophy for thousands of years. Do you really think we're going to solve it right here and right now?

Since EoX owns the whole map, can I haz Blackfeather Keep? Pretty please with a zombie kitten on top?

No. I don't think you've yet sufficiently harassed the real owner into submission. Maybe try buying him off, he might respond to honey better than vinegar.

The part of Al Smithy is now played by Sean Connery in a Russian uniform.

No way! My part shall be played by Chevy Chase in a Russian uniform a la "Spies Like Us".

Al, what name should we write down for your Company-that-is-in-the-EBA-but-isn't-really? Also, what are the names of all of the alts you operate in-game currently? Could you please update us on a regular basis when you make those changes? Nah, that's too much work. We'll just let the spies be spies, the honest folks be honest folks, and everyone else be dead.

I haven't updated my launcher since week two of EE, I just participate in the forum drama now, and chuckle at all the silly children pretending to be big boys.

Seriously, the purpose of this post was a fore-warning, so when we see a character we don't recognize in EBA territory doing things without permission and whack it, folks can't say we did anything "un-lawful" or some such. I believe the term here is "covering our asses." In that context, the less-than-iron-clad enforceability of the policy is moot.

I wonder what Erian has to say about that, considering they apparently allow all non-aggressors welcome to Keepers Pass, his own words.

Lawful you say? That may be, but it sounds like EBA is starting to wander dangerously close to Lawful-Evil.

The types of action you describe are pretty much spot on for a description of how the Hell Knights operate in the Pathfinder campaigns.

You could always ask Mourn if he asked other alliances and groups if they wanted BWG to join them, or to move there, because that is the word that has been going around. From what I heard, one of his complaints was that EBA partitioned away his towers without him really having much of a say in the matter.

But it is currently very easy to make people feel they have no place here.

This game was marketed to such remarkably different styles of players, that *both* sides are doing a fine job of making the other feel unwelcome.

Perhaps if Goblin Works had a community manager person on staff they could devote a lot of time to talking with players each and every day, in game even, to discuss the realities of the game as to where it is at in development and the ramifications of that, but as well the intent of the game design and how people should expect to be able to play within such an environment.

I don't think anyone is going to come after you, especially if you play all the way up in Tavernhold.

The sheep harvesting will go away. the sheep dogs will go away, the wolves will remain to eat each other, with limited production at low tier two.

Nope, what will happen is more capable and resourceful players will start doing more gathering since a lack of resources will make gathering more profitable. Then the wolves will have to help/guard their gathering wolves from other enemy wolves.

No new sheep players. Be happy., but it is your game. I thought you were about challenge and not easy purposeless game.

Maybe Goblin Works should add a new player flag so people can identify the helpless bunny players, or maybe let people self-flag themselves to identify as a non-PvP player.

At the end of the day, no one likes being beaten up and having their lunch money stolen. With PvP outside of The Window, becoming a bully and stealing the lunch money of others is the only way to play.

PvP needs to be restricted to The Window for PFO to be viable in the long-term. PvP griefers (because, let's be honest: that's what they are) suck the fun out of the game. Fundamentally, people play games to have fun. Thus, PvP harms the long-term viability of PFO.

See what I'm saying? There is no middle ground with these people.

Why the heck aren't they playing World of Warcraft instead of PFO? The game they want already exists. Restricted PvP, so they can do crafting and questing and PvE combat all they want without risk, unless they opt to open themselves up to said risk.

But they come to PFO and determine they don't like PvP, even though PFO is designed with open world PvP in mind, and say that PFO will fail if they don't get rid of the open world PvP.

No matter all the repercussions or limits or penalties you add, people will get attacked and get their stuff taken. If it becomes absolutely prohibited for people to get attacked non-consensually or get their stuff taken, then PFO becomes a game entirely different from what was originally advertised and what has been described in the blogs. It is no longer an open-world PvP sandbox.

Adding penalties instead of prohibitions inherently means that people *want* the type of behavior to exist and happen, the contention is just on how much and how often.

For the people who *never* want to get attacked and never want their stuff to get taken, this doesn't fix anything for them.

The real question of importance here is why are they playing the game in the first place, if they are diametrically opposed to, or find morally abhorrent various features of the game which are deemed critical, by the dev team?

They're not just saying they don't enjoy PvP, they are literally calling other players "sociopaths", for doing things in game the CEO says they should be able to do.

This is a serious problem, and I don't think it will realistically be solved until it is made excessively clear to each and every new account holder what to expect in terms of PvP in this game, and Goblin Works *and* Paizo tailor their marketing to the kinds of people who actually want to play the game as advertised, or are able to accept the features of the game (PvP) that it has even if they choose not to actively participate in them.