Shattered Kingdoms

Immigration to Ayamao and Aghelia is now open.

discuss

I was one of the very strong advocates FOR closing down the additional player organizations and countries at the time. I think it was the right play as much as it made people a little grumpy, and I'd still defend it from the perspective of the time.

However, so many (great) changes have been made to flatten Pyrathia and make coming together easier (e.g. adventurer's guild, the astral guild) that weren't there at the time. I'm still on the fence about player orgs being re-opened, but love this.

Thoughts? I know it falls into "the always will be unpopular even if it might be good" thing like taxes, but from a game management perspective I think funneling players toward eachother is a net positive with the playerbase as it is. Anyone agree? Disagree? Keep orgs closed? Ask for them to open? Are they ALREADY open or is it just immigration?

Just immigration.

No inn regen bonuses. No tribunals. No plans to reinstate these at any point.

I think it has been discussed before a few times.

https://www.shatteredkingdoms.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26772&hilit=Black+hand+open

https://www.shatteredkingdoms.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26678

https://www.shatteredkingdoms.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26582&p=429926&hilit=More+choices+is+always+better#p429926

I can see both sides of the issue, but I lean more toward having more choices.

Look, I understand both sides of the argument. But it isn't happening.

Even if playcounts got to the point where we could have this discussion, the Black Hand and Guardians of the Alliance are irrevocably altered and/or dead. It would be some new thing in each kingdom.

Regardless, this much was hard won. I can take them back out if they're not enough on their own.

I'm confused. I didn't want or intend the nature of my post to be perceived as 'not enough'

Allowing immigration adds more choices. I think choices are a good thing even if it's just from an RP standpoint. I just thought he was also asking about what people thought of closed orgs than just on immigration alone. Those links to posts may be old and opinions could have changed by now to be fair.

In the event that something new would be added, I'd be willing to help with descriptions/testing, if and when that time were to come and I'm almost certain others would help too.

This is definitely an appreciated change. I didn't even really think I wanted it, but to see it - and a new MOTD - was refreshing (if it took me a few times to login to notice the change). The little things make the game more lived in and feel tended to, and I think even if it feels a bit twilight years that's a healthy thing to have around. All ten of us can blow up the various forums with random (relevant) shower thought posts and I think it'd be healthy for the game. That's just what I was after making a post about it.

The discussions you linked don't seem to argue merits from a game management perspective, though I do like Trag's soda company analogy (e.g. changes flavors then changes back and it's exciting). They seemed mostly like pile-ons of more choices better.

Trag's soda company analogy almost pitched me to the side of bringing tribs back. However, after coming back with a huge break in between playtimes, I sincerely thought there would be just completely long dead player orgs with the playerbase size as it is. I just assumed (and even prayed like lol let me in to what i think is a dead cabal that really isn't). I was actually shocked I had the options I did, pleasantly. That was a huge "proof in the pudding" moment for me that the system was working to do its job, even if it's kind of an easy punching bag. People say it failed, but if the goal was keeping remaining player orgs with players, it's doing better than what (my vague recall ability makes me want to say) we were doing with the extra two tribs and more players.

Are there any outside the box thoughts that could limit the thinning of the (increasingly) zero-sum game of player movement?

One wild one I had was to kill the law in these areas. Have a lightie, darkie, and true chaos flavor of Teron. I feel like killing NPC casting has already been a dagger in the heart of trib utility, anyway. It prevents the need to turn up the potential pbase average to keep things feeling alive, but gives room to do hero-ball RP and PK without being taken out by their own guards. Also the benefit of people can't drag law NPCs in. No idea if this is a good idea, but it's a wild one that I'd throw out there.

I love it guys.

[Edit]
I always thought it was the northern wastes and aghelia just happens to be the writing of the north. Just wondering.

Not to sound ungrateful, but I'm gonna have to say I'm not really a fan of this change.

I hate to keep harping on the Light vs Dark aspects of the game, but it seems like nobody is going to pay attention to it if I don't whine like a little [REDACTED]. Yet again this is pretty drastically weighted in favor of the Lighties.

They get an impenetrable fortress of a home city back. Sith'a'niel was ALWAYS the most fortified city in the game and nothing about that has changed. Despite all the RP/changes/whatever that happened around Ayamao, nothing has impacted Sith's gate guards or the guards scattered around the city.

In fact, apparently Ayamao even still has an active judge and law system?



Ayamao is even central to the rest of Pyrathia. You can live in Ayamao and easily walk to Exile/Teron/Nerina. (Good luck doing that if you're a Northern citizen. Or Empire, for that matter.) Not everybody has gate.

Meanwhile, Kol's Moot and Krychire are absolutely dead cities after whatever RP happened there. The guards in the Moot got removed and replaced with the random barbarian guys or whatever. Krychire has beefy, annoying [REDACTED] zombies that attack everybody.

Oh, and the judge in the Moot and Krychire both actually just got straight up removed from the game. Both places are also littered with gate targets.





I am genuinely starting to wonder if maybe we just need to disable all the darkie classes/races/factions and make the game light/grey auras only, because every thing I see get changed seems to be entice people to play Lightie, when there's already plenty of motivation for that in the form of the best cabal in the game, the strongest class in the game, and both of the best religion spells.

Like...this is just blatantly "here, the lighties get a shiny new toy and oh, the non-lighties can have this chewed up [REDACTED] bone nobody wants anything to do with I guess".

I really don't get it.

You ungrateful [REDACTED]! Repent.

[EDIT] Sith is technically not a lighty only city, just not a place for delfs. As a darky I would totally set up shop and (ab)use the law system against the lighties that live there.

Okay, roll a darkie and let me know how that goes for you.



You like centaurs, where's my darkie centaur rogue that lives in Ayamao.