My Thoughts and Experiences on the current set of RP Servers.

[Vacien]

I have had quite a negative time to deal with the RP servers when I was going online in Neverwinter. To start from the beginning, I had search out an RP server that had a decent amount of detail and story to it but also kept the mechanical systems core to Neverwinter like the campaign. I didn't want to have to worry about half my actions in game getting me a possible ban because of "atmosphere".

I started with the Arelith servers and found them to be incredibly directionless, once past the character creation and starting zones, I couldn't really find any form of job or adventure, only trying to survive the system of dieing to hunger or water while people seemed to have more a clue or footing as to what was going on. After about an hour of wandering with no real ability or direction, I marked this server as a rather bad start.

I then attempted to move to the rather abandoned greyhawk server. It didn't take me long to find most of the systems similar to Arelith along with a rather changed combat system that I disliked heavily and left without much time left in.

I thought I had found a good one in the more gothic RP server of Ravenholdt. The atmosphere felt nice and the food and water system wasn't nearly as oppressive as Arelith though I was still quite directionless. I also had to deal with a number of commands that I didn't know how to use due to the INSISTENCE that all these rps never break character at all. After being unable to kill anything for experience, unable to really get any gold, and also having to stay LONG periods of time waiting for the night, I marked this as a failure as well.

The only place I have felt enjoyable is Blackstone Keep, which has almost no RP but at least doesn't mess with the combat system at all, only the loot. My character looks very cool, I can go kill enemies often, and the story, while nothing to write home about, at least encourages players to enjoy over being what felt was super serious, stuck up, and overall... prickish.

[Vacien]

I won't be bashing any of the people directly, as most I met seemed like good fellows, just already having a crowd of their own to stick to and enjoy over helping anyone new coming in.

[Selphea]

It's an old game, so PWs can get very cliquey with years of feature creep and opaque mechanics changes.

Personally I find that for large-scale RP, MMOs like Elder Scrolls Online and Guild Wars 2 have a lower barrier to entry.

NWN is good for smaller, static groups where everyone knows each other and can agree on a module to play. It's a pity NWConnections died though, that used to be a good way to find a group.

[Vacien]

What is NW Connections if I may ask?

[Mad Hatter]

NW Connections was a website where DM's could advertise games and players could sign up. It facilitated a lot of the non-PW game sessions (and sometimes PW ones, too!).

[Vacien]

I see, well thats a shame to end off that usage.

[Dysmetria]

Originally posted by Vacien:

I won't be bashing any of the people directly, as most I met seemed like good fellows, just already having a crowd of their own to stick to and enjoy over helping anyone new coming in.

Which is sadly ironic. Some of these permanant worlds have been around for over a decade, they made all their veteran players buy the EE edition of the game and migrate if they wanted to keep playing, introduced tons of issues and bugs they still are trying to fix by doing so, largely so that new players could find and play on their servers.

You aren't the only new player to have bad experiences on those particular PWs and be turned off by them. I got two friends to try playing on "Ravenholdt" during their new player event with me and we all hated it. Because while these hosts and DMs seem to want new players, they also seem to have forgotten what it is like to be one, and that their modules are designed to be brutal and challenging towards even those that have been playing for a decade. For many new players it is just an endless string of deaths, not the fantasy high adventure they were looking for, so like you they get frustrated and quit.

My advice is to keep looking. There are tons of great PWs out there to explore, and no reason to limit yourself to any one of them.

Originally posted by Mad Hatter:

NW Connections was a website where DM's could advertise games and players could sign up. It facilitated a lot of the non-PW game sessions (and sometimes PW ones, too!).

Isn't https://discord.gg/ZDHxTdJ pretty much the same thing?

[Vacien]

Seems like this is a running trend, shame cause I really love this game from my childhood. Story is kinda ass, some of the fights ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and Jesus they over did the traps but I really enjoy some of the fun feats and powers you can get along with the dumb set ups and characters you can make. Wish I could have really done that with tad bit more story with buddies.

[mafilux]

Arelith is pretty great tbh, if you actually interact with people you'll have a great time. Every time I go on I'm meeting new people and going on quests and adventures.

[VinnyD]

I just started up for the first time on ravenloft and its pretty awesome. You just have to talk to people and the npcs to find things to do with rp. As far as im concerned the people all are good at RP and me being new its very fun and people are patient with new players to the servers mechanics. Everything is also explained well in that server, if your down to play add me up

[Emeraq]

The problem I have with most PW's, whether it's RP or not, is it seems there's no middle ground. It seems like it's always low exp and RP required (and grindy to level up and gear up even with quests), or it's relatively high exp, action and no quests where you can hit max level relatively quick but can't really do much because if there's only a small handful of people on at a time you won't have enough folks on that can handle the mobs that drop gear to advance your character.... I haven't found a "friendly middle", I need a medium paced EXP, with questsQuests, with mobs that aren't going to destroy you near end game if you don't have more than 2 or 3 in a party....

[Snack]

There's plenty of stuff to do on Arelith. All you have to do is ask people. Or go on the Arelith wiki to find more info. It's a very Heavy Roleplay filled server with a lot going for it. You can own property, shops, be a crafter, merchant, enchanter, town guard, bounty hunter (of both NPCs and PCs), become part of a guild or faction, run for president (Mayor or Chancellor), be a pirate captain aboard your own ship, and much much more. There's lots to do on Arelith.

And for leveling, there's these quests called writs, which rewards you for killing monsters and the usual stuff with lots of experience and gold.

Arelith also offers full armor customization, letting you customize every piece of your equipment to make it look like you want. The crafting system is solid and entirely player-run, as are the shops.

If you're not looking for Roleplay, then no, I wouldn't recommend Arelith. But if you are? It's got it all.

[76561198065047447]

NW Connections is back up.

{LINK REMOVED}https://neverwinterconnections.org