Crystal Dragon

Dips in population happen, look at the recent events and holidays. Real Life>Gaming sometimes. And ya know, managing Real Life, is a whole lot more important.

You and I might not always see eye to eye, but I concur.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I do understand the middle ground being a better spot to consider for the level grind in time scales of players other obligations and lives. Most of the issues I ran into with the rushed players on that game was the lack of knowledge of their own class and capabilities, to the point that running random dungeon queues, and raid queues was a nightmare to put up with as a healer or a tank. Even with some of the mitigation abilities some classes had, it still made the whole thing a serious drag of my own time and efforts to just gear up characters I vested close to four or five years with at a time prior to the changes. It wasn't so much jealousy of the changes that made me quite jaded about the game however, it was the fact that they made paid options to "boost" characters in the game store and ended up with an entire population of new players that were completely clueless on gearing, gemming, enchanting, and setting up their characters for optimal play in the hardest end of the game content - leaving the rest of us older players trying to weed out the ones that were not even making the cut of contributing to a raid or dungeon party's efforts rather difficult to deal with. Most of them were so self absorbed thinking they were hot shit for buying their levels, that well, entire parties would ditch them to avoid them the minute they even mentioned boosting a character to the groups. I do think that MMO development should focus on better options of leveling that won't make people shell out cash for a faster option, in and out of game (There were SO MANY scamming leveling services at the time I played, not sure if they are still around, but yeah, fast way to lose your account on there was to hire one of them and hand over access to your account for that.). I do think the learning curve could be made a bit easier with more tutorials with options as they open up, instead of foisted off as click through guides when you first log in on a brand spanking new character though, at least so players that are brand new to it, have something to help them along. Not sure if they did anything with the newer tooltip designs, but I do know that Ghostcrawler had a lot of involvement with some of the class guides back then.

Honestly Ghostcrawler was one of the devs that I enjoyed interacting with from time to time back when he wasn't squeezed by Blizz's relentless push for more and more content changes. Forum dweller. I do agree with him about the streamlining being the worst possible push for MMO's, leveling is intended to be a learning curve, an experience and should not have been condensed the way it was on WoW. Hell I left the game about a year maybe two after that was pushed on WoW and never looked back.

HERO: 5 VILLAIN: 2 ROGUE: 48 RESISTANCE: 2 I usually start out with Hero and switch later on to Rogue. The two villain's I have, well, my attempts to playing red side beginning mission content were not very fruitful but I kept them anyway. I do have at least 1 to 2 characters on each of the shards, but here on Everlasting? I let my imagination go wild.

New guide is up and open for feedback and further detailing in the thread.

I don't really mind helping people find understanding between one another and their character stories honestly, it's kind of something I enjoy but there are times that I question myself being in their situation and try to work out the best pathway forward. Sometimes the best pathway is the one separating from the crux of the issue, the cause of the ripples in the first place. But there are times that communication simply isn't hashing out between both sides and an outsiders point of view can trigger things to get worse. I try not to hold any bias when I do act as a neutral voice but even I recognize when it's friends of mine involved and it can be very emotionally draining and stressful both mainly because as much as I wish to support my friends I also see the mistakes happening and try to lead them to make things right. I know the situation is tough, tense even for me but there is always a way to work forward and through the problem. Sometimes it's old habits, poor communication from one side or the other and other times it's a persistent issue that doesn't seem to have any way forward and it's in those cases that ret conning might be the only other option. Choosing to ret con to defuse drama or poor communication can be a way forward but it takes a portion of the story with that character and basically dissolves connections forged in that span of time. A last ditch effort to salvage a characters core story, now I'm not trying to persuade or convince that this is the only option. Sometimes speaking to the players involved can resolve the conflicts and create a new direction to take but there are times we end up engaging with players that don't want to seek resolution and will hold to their own characters story and views simply because they can. In situations like this, we often have to weigh the pros and cons. Is this character critical to my characters story development? If not, will ret conning affect their characters story as well? If so, can the player compromise and work out an agreement I as a player and they as a player can be happy with? Will this affect the players characters connected to my own? If so, talk it out. Most players are willing to find a way that works for both you and their own character, but sometimes players are really set on their own perspectives of the world through their characters eyes. If not, breaking away from those players may be necessary to preserve your own characters core story. Will other players respect my decision to ret-con a part of my characters current story? If so, then go for it! If not, discuss with them the reason you wish to make this choice and ask for their views on what they think you should do moving forward with the character, take their insights and consider what possible way that may work in favor of your characters story and maintain the story with the other players characters involved. Sometimes, there is no way forward with them and to ret con would mean to break away from them, but this isn’t necessarily a permanent issue, they can be reintroduced at a later point forward from the ret con point once you feel confident the character is still intact and solidified in a way that you are comfortable with. Ultimately, this decision often comes with its own weight in price. Character story core remaining intact however costing connections with characters that developed in the duration that’s being ret conned, but this isn’t necessarily a bad weighted price to take if the character has hit a point that either is too much for you as a player to deal with or uncertain of maintaining the characters core values through. What this does do however, in positive effect if you are in a conflicting situation with your character story that brushes against the core values you have developed them based on, a chance to try a different path or option they could have chosen at the time the ret con rolls back to, different decisions can spiderweb all kinds of different story lines to develop from in many different aspects and exploring these options is more a positive, than a negative. Sometimes you have to think of roleplaying characters as a "Choose your own adventure" paperback book (For the younger generation, these were books that allowed you to pick the decision of the main character, you, in the book and they normally had two or more different endings to the story in the book.), by choosing to ret-con, you are turning back the pages at least several in order to take a different choice forward with your characters development, allowing them a chance to grow in a different way than the earlier choice had given them, and shifting perspectives of the character based on this different path forward. We have to remember that because this particular universe, you do have the option to go through the Menders of Ouroborus, or even with other players involvement, to step back in that characters time line, and review what options were available and happened at the time the issue began and taking the path you didn't choose the first time you came through this end of their story line. There's no set end goal really to be placed, just a better path forward ultimately that maintains the characters core values you built your character off of. However, it's important to remember to discuss this decision with the players more entrenched into your characters story first, at least to know if they will be able to respect this decision and work with you to rebuild their connections, should they dissolve with the ret-con time span chosen, or try a different direction of interactions with them, or (And this one is one I do get saddened by) decide to break away from them to resolve the characters core values being maintained. As a final closing note, this is an option with roleplaying that can cause conflict with other players if they are not informed, or aware of this decision, maintaining open communication with one another helps assuage the possible conflict and assumptions that other player characters may make as a result of taking this choice, but this is also a final option to take should no other choice the player, or the character had made was able to resolve the problematic situation. A last ditch effort, to preserve the characters core story and values, without invalidating others involvement is the important part to remember.

Seriously, this is pretty awesome. Might have given me an idea for something to try out. Only downside, it's a serious net hog to load up (Kicked me out of game, and off the net for about fifteen minutes to just load it up to give it a full listen!)

Ah pardon, I got the dates mixed up. xD Damnit dyslexia.

Well there is a recruitment fair coming up on the 18'th and 20'th of this month, RP SG's mostly will be recruiting there, City of Roleplay is organizing and hosting it. Lots of different kinds of groups often show up for each night, the 18th reserved for Hero side and the 20th for Villain side. Though it does sound like you are looking for something a lot more organic and casual in style preference, I would recommend the Oddballs', reach out to Seacow in game, they might have more information about their recruitment and joining process than I do. (From what I have seen of them, they are a good bunch to be part of and lots of quirky fun.)

We have two new mentors joining the RP guide project this week, Ry @cedric_wolfheart , and Jewel @umbrae ! They've been very helpful with providing examples for the lesson nights we teach as well as very familiar with the content we cover to help new players and the vets brushing up. I'm very excited with their joining our project and lending a hand to those seeking it!

Also this, just a playful jab.

I do a lot for the RP community and I don't think gold titles are really required to show that or even stand out if anything I think there's more value and worth in doing the deed and telling the tale about it than holding a title for it and forgetting the work that comes with it. That's not to say CRs are not fitting for the community but it is to say it's easy to lost in the idea of Glory associated with a gold title. I've had numerous groups of people tell me that I should actually qualify as a community rep and every time it came up I pointed out that my work my efforts are something anyone can do if they had the knowledge and the patience. A title isn't required.

Alright, so coming up in the New Year of 2025, I will be stepping down as part of the admin team of City of Roleplay officially. I will still, however, remain part of the community as I will be shifting my priority focus on maintaining Welcome Wagon's and the RP Workshops project with the help of Dimi1, and Mcspazz to further education of RP methods and styles, as well as covering the positives and negatives of roleplaying within the community. This decision has been dwelling on my mind for the last few months as I know I had not been very active in the CoRP community as an admin staff member, and I also know that the community tends to self moderate quite well without admin guidance a lot of the time. The few times I've had to step in to deal with a situation was usually resolved fairly quickly with a temporary mute, and very rarely a kick or ban was issued. That's not to say I am quitting the community itself however, I have had a lot drop into my lap over the last year that I'm still going over with my therapist and dealing with on a personal basis, a lot of issues that cropped up in my life offline that I had been trying to maintain some semblance of calm in the storm of chaos. So my time, suddenly had become very valuable and spread very thin between the many hats I've had to wear over the last few years. I will still be a regular log in on the discord community, that is a certainty, but taking on as a mediator, or even as an admin team member at this time is beyond my scale of ability to commit to in the coming year. So, with a heavy heart, I regret to inform the community that I will no longer be part of the CoRP staff team following the coming year. Kill skuls, I'll still be around, following New Years 2025, just not at the role capacity that I have held over the last few years anymore.

OOPS Yeah thanks for the reminder haha, Everlasting, Hobo! 😄