Contemplating A Return

The last time I played Achaea with any type of seriousness I was about 15 years old. I'm now 23 and thinking of a return. Apparently a ton of stuff has changed since then and the new landscape has sparked my interest. My big mistake back then was mostly just hunting alone and never forging any lasting connection with fellow players IC or OOC. I leveled really quickly and passed House tests quickly, and that was about it. This time I want to immerse myself more in the RP side of the game... Though I definitely want to level a lot, but with friends... So where's the party at? Where should I start? I was thinking about a rogueish Bard but I'm not super creative at least in terms of music, art, poetry, and I think that may limit my RP options there quite a bit.. I'm really loyal in real life so the path I choose is going to be pretty permanent, unless I just need some huge change waaaaay down the road to keep me engaged. I guess I'm just looking for a really engaged community mostly around RP. The other thing that's always hindered my return is my horrible ability to create any sort of useful keybindings on my own. I use to remember how to do it, but I've forgotten. I had someone set it up originally for me and basically just used their template to create more as the need arised... Any advice as to where to look on that particular problem would be much appreciated!

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  • Aksel said:
    The other thing that's always hindered my return is my horrible ability to create any sort of useful keybindings on my own. I use to remember how to do it, but I've forgotten. I had someone set it up originally for me and basically just used their template to create more as the need arised... Any advice as to where to look on that particular problem would be much appreciated!
    At least with regards to this, there's now a relatively simple server-side means of doing this now. Some stuff is still client-side (though server-side has aliases, curing and everything now), but a lot of people use Mudlet, and there's plenty of people willing to help you work out how.
    - (Eleusis): Ellodin says, "The Fissure of Echoes is Sarathai's happy place."
    - With sharp, crackling tones, Kyrra tells you, "The ladies must love you immensely."
    - (Eleusian Ranger Techs): Savira says, "Most of the hard stuff seem to have this built in code like: If adventurer_hitting_me = "Sarathai" then send("terminate and selfdestruct")."
    - Makarios says, "Serve well and perish."
    - Xaden says, "Xaden confirmed scrub 2017."



  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    edited May 2015
    All of the factions are good options at the moment, if you intend to immerse yourself. If you stand on the sidelines, you won't find the engaging RP you're looking for, but if you dive headfirst into your faction's community, you'll find it. Cyrene recently split up with Targossas completely, and is forging their own direction. Eleusis has gone mega hostile, and is demanding a return to Nature and the destruction of all cities. Hashan has been trying to stand on its own feet and make Darkness / Twilight a more interesting avenue of conflict in the world. There's no shortage of immersive RP in Achaea right now, if you put in just a smidge of effort to find it.

    Bard class should never limit your RP options, you don't need to pigeonhole yourself into the role of an art-loving poet who wields a sword. A class does not define your character's personality. You could be a Bard who simply enjoys combat and the rogue lifestyle, and regards music as a mere tool for achieving it. Don't ever fool yourself into believing something as flimsy as class defines your character's personality. My character is the houseleader of the CIJ and has gone from Jester to Bard to Serpent to Magi in a short timespan, but Aktillum's personality remains the same.

    As far as keybindings and stuff goes, the website client is particularly fancy these days and offers some great scripting support, especially with server-side curing being a thing now. Alternatively, you could use Mudlet which is a highly popular client and there's a clan for it with tons of people who will help you, myself included.

  • Pssssshhh that's all I need to hear guys! Was just looking for a status update on the RP elements currently... Shallam was still a thing when I last played! Glad that's gone though from what I've gathered Targossas and it's citizens now represent a much more concrete and defined definition of Good which seriously needed establishment last I played. Cyrene will always interest me I was there with most of my characters back then. Lady Beneficia was the leader at that time if you want to get old school. Wulfen was the Tyrannus, and Landon the king of trees! Anyways I'm leaning towards Eleusis as that whole stance sounds very engaging. I always loved Cyrene but the whole neutral thing really got old for me. Not that I was ever a strong combatant or anything. I guess pigeon holing was definitely an issue for me then too, but as a 15 year old I don't think I realized the complexity of a fully fleshed out personality was enough for RP in itself. Also I was a quiter person then rather shy I suppose. I always wondered this. Every back then said Ashtan was a terrible place for RP was that just trolling? Or is that a real thing? I've always liked the idea of chaos in terms of RP, but that general attitude towards the city kept me from ever giving it a chance. Shallow I know
  • The problem is Ashtan is huge, and Ashtan has a lot of people who joined it simply because you can do whatever you want. Ashtan does have good roleplayers, and it has one of the houses most renowned for roleplay in the game. You'll just run into some people who don't really care about roleplay too. Of course, because the population of the city is so huge, you'll still find plenty of hardcore roleplayers! A similar thread was posted recently that might help: http://forums.achaea.com/discussion/3507/best-spots-for-rp/
  • Yeah that makes sense. So my next question is... It looks like all the Houses are gone and there are new one's in placeish. What's going on with that? I'm fairly certain I'm making a bard and joining Eleusis at this point. So I guess specifically what are their new houses? Or where can I find info on all the new Houses as that may dictate my decisions a bit depending on lore and such... I'm starting to draft a general idea of where I'm going with this next character.
  • You'll get some information on the two Eleusian Houses (the Scions of the Ithmia and the Heartwood Kin) from the city tasks you do, which lead you towards getting Aine to induct you. There's also the basic help files on both, which give a general overview, and you can speak to members of either in-game if you like.
    - (Eleusis): Ellodin says, "The Fissure of Echoes is Sarathai's happy place."
    - With sharp, crackling tones, Kyrra tells you, "The ladies must love you immensely."
    - (Eleusian Ranger Techs): Savira says, "Most of the hard stuff seem to have this built in code like: If adventurer_hitting_me = "Sarathai" then send("terminate and selfdestruct")."
    - Makarios says, "Serve well and perish."
    - Xaden says, "Xaden confirmed scrub 2017."



  • AktillumAktillum Philippines
    edited May 2015
    You don't join Houses through Certimene anymore, the newbie intro has been massively expanded to have you do a bunch of tasks (including for your chosen city) and at the end of your tasks, you are asked to join a House. Type HOUSE LIST in-game to see all the Houses and what city they belong to. If you don't like the House you join through the newbie task stuff, you can still use Certimene to change afterwards.

    As far as whats actually going on with Houses, they're all being "deleted" and merged together to form new, bigger Houses that accept nearly every class. Sort of. Hard to explain, but the new Houses are much less focused on class roleplay and more focused on the roleplay of their organization, so you no longer have say, the Paladins or the Priests guild, and each focuses on roleplaying Paladins or Priests respectively. Rather you have the Luminai and the Dawnblades, which accept both classes, but one is focused on combat and the other is focused on ritual roleplay. Thats a short gist of it anyways, without going into full detail. So for Eleusis you have the Scions and the Heartwood, the Scions being the "combat focused" House and the Heartwood being the "ritual RP" House, but both accept nearly any class.

    Its an on-going project that hasn't been completed yet, as Ashtan and Hashan are still undergoing the House changes.

  • Oh wow that's really different! So every city is more or less down to two houses at this point? I think that's a good call causes less fragmentation I'll miss the old class based houses, but this presents more diversity I suppose. I think I'll go with The Scions in Eleusis this go around! I'll put my characters name in a comment here when I actually sit down to play if anyone's interested in playing together!
  • If you want to forge a connection, I definitely recommend joining a House over going rogue. You may have to bounce through a few different Houses until you find one that clicks, but when you find yourself in the right one, they're the best source of things to do and reasons to log in, and the best way to meet people who have a shared goal.

    If you imagine Achaean organisations in which you're a member like circles in a Venn diagram, cities are the largest, and tend to be the least personal. Houses are smaller, making it easier to form relationships with other House members. Orders are smaller still, but hard to get into as a newbie or lowbie. Various IC clans exist and are also small, but can be hard to discover.
    image
  • Whether you intend to go rogue or not, if your character has an interest in performance arts they should check on CLHELP SERENMASQUE. I've personally had a lot of fun getting to know the folk there and work on projects, similarly to the way I did when I was in a House. The cool thing here is that they want to ensure each player in the troupe can be helped in working towards their personal goals, as well. It's fun.
  • Alright this is me! I did end up going with a bard from Eleusis... Obviously my new characters name is Carbrey so don't be a stranger! Also any tips for a new bard? So far I've invested my lessons in Swashbuckling to the skilled level, and Weaponry to the adept level.
  • AhmetAhmet Wherever I wanna be
    Aksel said:
    Oh wow that's really different! So every city is more or less down to two houses at this point? I think that's a good call causes less fragmentation I'll miss the old class based houses, but this presents more diversity I suppose. I think I'll go with The Scions in Eleusis this go around! I'll put my characters name in a comment here when I actually sit down to play if anyone's interested in playing together!
    Cyrene and Targossas have three each!
    Huh. Neat.
  • KlendathuKlendathu Eye of the Storm
    Carbrey said:
    Alright this is me! I did end up going with a bard from Eleusis... Obviously my new characters name is Carbrey so don't be a stranger! Also any tips for a new bard? So far I've invested my lessons in Swashbuckling to the skilled level, and Weaponry to the adept level.
    No need to train Weaponry, doesn't really help, especially now envenom is in Swashbuckling. Get Tune in Voicecraft, then focus on Swashbuckling to trans to improve accuracy.

    Tharos, the Announcer of Delos shouts, "It's near the end of the egghunt and I still haven't figured out how to pronounce Clean-dat-hoo."
  • As of the last few months, I'd place the order of "most to least immersive RP" like this:

    Mhaldor
    Eleusis
    Hashan (sometimes) = Cyrene*
    Targossas
    Ashtan

    * Cyrene varies a lot. It's got a lot of solo players, without any requirements, so actually FINDING the RP can be more difficult.
    I put Ashtan at the bottom as really anyone else would because it's honestly just PvP for the most part. As of being unenemied to Ashtan some months ago, Ive even noticed people OOC in say.

    Targossas has diminished in RP imo due to Pvp; I noticed this on an alt. When I first started though I'd probably have placed Targ as tied for first.

    Eleusis picked up with it a lot and sort of replaced Targossas. Plus the "nature" theme appeals to a lot of people.

    Hashan is basically one big clique of people in the Xanatov bloodline, and I can't imagine any of them leaving the city. It's basically like "family role play" lmao.

    Mhaldor is the only City ive really been with on Stuneree, and has always been the favourite. It's just a little bit too hardcore sometimes. If you want RP to be strict, 
    Immersive, important, I'd always say Mhaldor. You just need to realize it's the most hardcore for RP, and some people there take it more seriously than real life.

    Hope it helped.


  • Targossas has a ton of potential and a lot of people working to improve the RP side. I haven't had an alt there in a while, and when I did it did admittedly feel like a ghost-town populated entirely by people who wanted to do group PvP, but, from the outside, it at least looks like the RP stuff is getting going again in a real and interesting way. I imagine that other cities, like Eleusis, beginning conflicts with Targ that involve more than "we hate you so let's fight" is probably helping too

    And Ashtan has a huge amount of RP, it's just such a massive city that there isn't the same sort of "city-wide RP" that's makes it easier to see the RP in places like Mhaldor. You're not going to see people announcing a ritual on CT in Ashtan, but I would be very surprised if it weren't the case that more rituals and other little RP events are performed in Ashtan than in Mhaldor. And some of the Ashtan organisations, especially the Occultists, but not exclusively the Occultists, have longer histories of deep, engaging RP than any other orgs in the game. Ashtan, as its own massive entity, doesn't provide much RP, but there is a ton of RP to be found within Ashtan.
  • There's tons of RP that goes on in Targossas, and honestly, very little of it is thanks to Eleusis picking a fight with us. We don't have a lot of RP justification to pursue a war with them, so its not overly interesting from an RP stand point (Disclaimer: this is not a complaint about the conflict, as fighting Eleusis is fun. Just a statement of fact). In fact, there's far more people interested in RP than there are interested in group combat, by an enormous margin. As far as I can tell, if you're an experienced adventurer and you can't find anyone to RP with, you're not looking hard enough - I get more people approaching me to RP than I even want sometimes. I won't comment on what we look like from the perspective of a noob, considering I have never really tried approaching Targossas from that perspective.

  • KlendathuKlendathu Eye of the Storm
    Jeslyn said:
    I'm not going to go over details as they are private, but Ariettie, Klendathu, Ahmet, Khaibit, and Sybilla are fantastic characters. 
    Thanks!

    Tharos, the Announcer of Delos shouts, "It's near the end of the egghunt and I still haven't figured out how to pronounce Clean-dat-hoo."
  • AodfionnAodfionn Seattle, WA
    Mhaldor's RP has always been p impressive and also terrifying. Even as a life-long enemy of Mhaldor, I've always found them to be the most consistently quality interactions.

    Targ, imo, is in a class of its own in terms of the diversity of the RP as well as the scale upon which people get involved. Mhaldor might be similar, I'm not sure - but the Team Good RP definitely has some of the most potential for awesome badassery. Also, Targossians are (as Jeslyn noted) pretty good about embracing conflict and just rolling with whatever. If you can get past the frequent raids, the only shoddy RP comes from the TextPope's mistells on CT or Diaspora.

    Occultists have only a while before they get swallowed up. Might suggest hopping on that train while it's still in the station.
    Aurora says, "Are you drunk, Aodfionn?"
  • Serverside curing is probably one of the best things that has ever happened to Achaea. I started playing again because of it.

    As for RP, I'd assume it's everywhere if you find the right people. If you're not okay with dying a few times (possibly a lot), don't join Mhaldor. People join Mhaldor for RP, but get mad/sad when they lose xp for "no" reason.
  • OP, I do think you'd probably enjoy Achaea most of the IRE games, although, I kind of wonder about Lusternia, which has a big bard culture, but I just don't know much about it.  Also, I can't believe no one has mentioned the Outriders in Cyrene.  It's a huge, welcoming House with a sort of "well-rounded" approach where you will design one item as part of your advancement, for example.  It's where I designed the one and only clothing item I have ever made - the Team Yudhi sweaters, and had a ball doing it, not something you hear every day about House requirements.  You could also try Virtuosi if you're more "serious" about the arts.  I tend to recommend Outriders for best experience, but I'd ask around and try to get a feel for both. 

    You also won't feel like you have to die a lot in Cyrene, which is technically true in all of the cities, but is actually part of Cyrene's culture both in and out of character.  And so long as there is XP loss (or really, any loss from death that you have to "grind" back), a city like Cyrene serves a very specific purpose beyond its other fine qualities, and that is that it's much easier for players there to mostly opt out of PK that is probably going to mean a lot of deaths to other players, and a lot of XP loss with that.  If you'd said you were most interested in PK, I'd definitely say try another IRE game that's ditched XP loss because of that (for now that's only Imperian I think but I still haven't tried EVERY IRE game yet).  However, as you seem mostly interested in RP, Achaea is a much better venue for that (not that any of the IRE games have people running around babbling in text speak), and possibly Lusternia (maybe).   

  • JinsunJinsun TN, USA
    Aodfionn said:
    Mhaldor's RP has always been p impressive and also terrifying. Even as a life-long enemy of Mhaldor, I've always found them to be the most consistently quality interactions.

    Targ, imo, is in a class of its own in terms of the diversity of the RP as well as the scale upon which people get involved. Mhaldor might be similar, I'm not sure - but the Team Good RP definitely has some of the most potential for awesome badassery. Also, Targossians are (as Jeslyn noted) pretty good about embracing conflict and just rolling with whatever. If you can get past the frequent raids, the only shoddy RP comes from the TextPope's mistells on CT or Diaspora.

    Occultists have only a while before they get swallowed up. Might suggest hopping on that train while it's still in the station.
    I wish I could agree with you, but right now the occies is a ghost house. You're not going to get a ton of RP unless you plan it yourself or I get bored. Amunet is around which helps but most days are just pitiful. This waiting period is just heartbreaking. @Shara @Arditi  and I had some great RP the other day where we delivered Jinsun's mutant child and @Arditi  and I spoke solely in Atavian to preserve the oath while she monitored the mother. It was pretty awesome, spontaneous RP but not really as much the norm in the occies anymore. I totally agree with Jeslyn that RP groups are cliquish that and some characters make me want to avoid RP altogether. It's disheartening to work hard on an idea and have fun with a few dedicated people only for another character to come in and say "that's so overdone or it's been done before ICly." Take off your fedora, sweetheart and join us back on the ground. The good to evil RP has been done. Families have been done pirates have been a thing. These ideas are not new but people still RP them because that is the story they want to experience. It's a kin to seeing someone reading a choose your adventure book in a cafe and standing over them saying "you're going to choose that choice? It's been chosen before, it's not original." Get that negative ish out of here. Or come up with a new story for us to experience. Things like that are far more toxic to me than say issues or even OOC chatter. With OOC chatter I know they just want to have a chat with their guard down or an issue I know they're upset and whatever it is will at least have resolution. With this, it's like the person at the computer doesn't care from my story and instead of just not participating they need to use their character to tell me how much they don't like it. With the way that people who consider themselves "good" at RP treat each other and others, it's not hard to understand why people don't really want to get involved or have trouble doing so. In all honesty, I don't really always just love @Arditi and his story but he is open to RP so there was no reason not to try and include him in a story that @Shara and I had planned for months. When you reach out and offer someone a story or opportunity written for them instead of offering bland or unwarranted opinions you create something dynamic and wonderful that can enrich the game for someone else.i had much more fun knowing that Arditi had no clue of this story ICly or oocly beforehand and that pulling what was actually a custom pet that had been tested and practiced with from my maids womb and would actually be a talking, moving NPC. I was telling Shara oocly "dude he is going to shit bricks when I drop this monster." And I hope he did. Just kind of a rant/advice for RPers 
    image
  • There was a lack of shitting of bricks, despite the weird subject matter. Then again, Arditi is thoroughly unphased by most things provided he's allowed to make snide comments.

    While this is an extreme example of roleplay, there's really no limit to what you can do provided everybody involved is cool with it. Obviously, Mhaldor is going to allow a bit more brutality than Cyrene, while a dangerous and untested procedure in Hashan will probably be "Tuesday" in Ashtan.

    Ultimately, try out things and figure out an atmosphere you enjoy. Arditi is the main that came out of a veritable mountain of alts that never amounted to anything.

  • JinsunJinsun TN, USA
    Darn :(
    image
  • AmunetAmunet Spokane, Washington, USA
    edited May 2015
    Frankly, @Jinsun, going off on a tangent regarding the dearth of active roleplay within the Occultists isn't going to drum up much interest in those stalwart individuals who may be looking to switch class (or create a marginally productive alt). Take it from someone whose forum rants were once infamous. You have to remember that activity, like everything else, tends to ebb and flow. We managed to have four or five years (real-life) where we were lucky enough to have the golden combination of an active, engaging God, and a talented, enthusiastic group of players. What we were fortunate to experience is practically unheard of in post-autoclass Achaea. At risk of sounding like an OOC Nihilist, however, all things must come to an end. When they do, we have to find a way to deal with it...and forum-rage is never the answer.

    That having been said, welcome back, @Askel. I recently came back after a near two-year break myself, so if you have questions, or simply need moral support because of the culture shock, please feel free to ask. As Jinsun has stated, the Occultists are in a transitional period, but if the RP intrigues you, we would be glad to have another person on board.
    My avatar is an image created by this very talented gentleman, of whose work I am extremely jealous. It was not originally a picture of Amunet, but it certainly looks a great deal like how I envision her!
  • JinsunJinsun TN, USA
    I'm not rage level upset, at all. Just kind of had a lot to say . I was honest, though , I wouldn't advise anyone to start a legit occultist house occie right now. It's a lot of work and they're not likely to get the experience and attention than they would in the newer houses right now. If they really want that RP, sure I'm there and I'm game. I'm just not going to pretend that our house is fun right now. It's not. Some of the people are, but they're fun people even when we're not talking about the house. That and the pretentious attitude that comes with a lot of RPers has been a bit of a turn off. If I wasn't optimistic and trying, I wouldn't invent an entirely new character to throw in the mix.
    image
  • Jinsun said:
    I wish I could agree with you, but right now the occies is a ghost house. You're not going to get a ton of RP unless you plan it yourself or I get bored. 
    Jinsun said:
    I was honest, though , I wouldn't advise anyone to start a legit occultist house occie right now.

    Ummmmm...encouraging people to not join does not solve issues of people not being around.
    image
    Cascades of quicksilver light streak across the firmament as the celestial voice of Ourania intones, "Oh Jarrod..."

  • JinsunJinsun TN, USA
    Not sorry for not encouraging people to spend Hours of their spare time on something that only has a month or two timespan of lifetime left slogging through reqs alone. I would hope someone would be that honest with me if I was returning.
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  • MelodieMelodie Port Saint Lucie, Florida
    I totally joined Mhaldor knowing exactly that the Houses would be going soon. I was told to do the reqs and did so gladly. I got HR5 about 2-3 irl days before everything blew up.

    No regrets.

    Doing reqs often allows you to get a feel of the culture and where you are, not to mention experience something for the last time before it truly goes away forever. Now granted, I went through the Insidium reqs much slower (and because I was HR5 before, I was allowed to 'skip' a lot of the HR1 and HR2 reqs), and only just recently got full member in there (HR7). But I just attribute that to doing a lot of things at once. Anyone who sits down and just pumps out the reqs can do so.

    It's just about having a good frame of mind and (hopefully!) at least semi-interesting requirements.
    And I love too                                                                          Be still, my indelible friend
    That love soon might end                                                         You are unbreaking
    And be known in its aching                                                      Though quaking
    Shown in this shaking                                                             Though crazy
    Lately of my wasteland, baby                                                 That's just wasteland, baby
  • Melodie said:
    I totally joined Mhaldor knowing exactly that the Houses would be going soon. I was told to do the reqs and did so gladly. I got HR5 about 2-3 irl days before everything blew up.

    No regrets.

    Doing reqs often allows you to get a feel of the culture and where you are, not to mention experience something for the last time before it truly goes away forever. Now granted, I went through the Insidium reqs much slower (and because I was HR5 before, I was allowed to 'skip' a lot of the HR1 and HR2 reqs), and only just recently got full member in there (HR7). But I just attribute that to doing a lot of things at once. Anyone who sits down and just pumps out the reqs can do so.

    It's just about having a good frame of mind and (hopefully!) at least semi-interesting requirements.
    To be fair, there's a pretty huge difference here between Mhaldor and the Occultists. The Mhaldor houses got reconfigured, but their essential aims and identity were always more about the city's overarching philosophy anyway - while the details changed, the philosophy remained pretty much identical. The Occultists have a ton of specific stuff to learn and do. Depending on how Ashtan's Renaissance turns out, it may be the case that essentially none of that survives in the new houses - maybe in a high clan or something, but given how much the Occultists have waned in activity and how independent all of their stuff is from Ashtan's city-culture, I don't think you can count on it nearly so much as you could in Mhaldor.

    On the other hand, the Occultist requirements are, at least to a certain kind of player (and I am that type of player), really, really interesting. Easily my favorite of any org in the game.
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