when I first found Achaea, it was like another world to me, one with endless possibilities, and a huge dynamic scope.

It took one event though to wake me up and jerk me out of the whirlpool.

After that I haven't been able to take Achaea seriously, it's like eating but there is no taste. I lost my Achaean taste buds.

I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else, you found Achaea, got completely swept up in it, then one event left you wondering what the hell had happened all that time. You suddenly look around and see that it's just a bunch of people typing just like you.

I'm not sure it was the erosion of the IC/OOC barrier, but I think that was a big contributing factor.

What event? And no, not really. I've had my off times, but nothing has really completely turned me away from Achaea.

The forums. Why did I have to discover the forums?

I honestly like the lack of immersion, helps me get less involved in it. It's honestly the reason I quit for awhile. I got too stressed out about a silly game.

In my opinion, immersion is good....to an extent. I'm at the level I enjoy. It's immersive enough to where I believe the world but not enough to where I get lost in it.

To echo Rynn's post, I'd also like to know what event you're referring to

Completely Agree!

Although the so-called downfall of Achaea certainly helps to "break the spell" - less Novice less fun!

Well, speaking from a person who is fresh in the realms I am feeling the immersion as fresh. However, I have just left full on WoW addiction from this. I have always loved reading fantasy and thought that the text medium would bring much needed role playing. Have any of you guys ever looked for role players on WoW servers? Yuck.

But, yeah, what drove your interest to the hills?

We all want to know what this event is.

Even me, the noobie.

Achaea died for me when Maximo got kicked out of Cyrene during his bid for an open Senate seat.

The 'magic' has never really died for me, it's just shifted. At first, the world of Achaea enchanted me. As I played the game and became aware of the truths and problems that drive other folks away, I realized that the world of Achaea is only magical because other people play it and make it fun for you. So as I got older, I made more effort to interact with those around me and make the game fun or interesting for them. I just became the enchanter instead of the enchanted, but that's still fun.

Lots of folks here seem to let other people turn them away, like it's required for other people to roleplay with you before you can roleplay back. Achaea is as fun as you make it. It's not like a normal video game, where you pick it up and it entertains you. Achaea is a game where you are both the audience and the performer, and trying to play it as strictly one or the other will always leave you either bored or disillusioned.

And why would getting kicked from Cyrene kill the game for you, Maximo? It's just a turning point in your character's biography. I've poured 2 real years into Cyrene and the Wardens, but if I were kicked out tomorrow for being a Church-loving, Chaos-hating, peace-threatening dissident, I'd still love every second of it. It adds to the 'story' around my character and the people he interacts with, which is why I really play the game.

Immersion end for you when a political move went awry and gave you a nice little story line to work with in the future?

Goodbye then

Surprisingly, I have. However, for every one or two RPers in WoW I've run into, I've come across five or six who thought RP was having cybersex.

I agree with you so much it hurts.

There are problems with Achaea but there are problems with everything. When I started playing Achaea I was totally engrossed in the world that was created. But as you continue playing and your character(s) become leaders you start to realise that the environment really depends on the players. It's the players who make the game great as we're the ones providing the day-to-day roleplay. Admins (et al) play a big part too but it's we the players who have to sustain the roleplay.

So yeah, if you get screwed over in a political move I'd say take that on board and make it part of your roleplay. There are so many people who play Achaea and everyone has competing interests. Sometimes you need to accept that you're not always going to get your way and just make the most of what you've got. If you're resigned to only play while things are favorable for you, you may as well not bother.

The forums didn't destroy my immersion, thankfully.

My immersion was broken when Triak sent me a tell saying "WTB grief, with a slide of lulz, and tears to wash it down"

I know right.

Hence, I always played an Undead. People tend to leave you alone then. But, Achaea blows away the standard of role playing of WoW altogether. So much, that I totally need to brush up my skills. The sky is the limit in Achaea. I was so used to working with boundaries that it is nice to have real control over my character.

Reading the logs sure helps me a lot too. People are saying that the forums are not a good place for newbies to come, but I think that it is a great place to learn and understand how the 'elders' of the community perceive role playing and what they expect from the rest of the community. I just regret how much of my time I spent on WoW now. Oh, and the money...

So I guess the 'enchantment' is very much in its initial stages for me. I will try and perk you guys up as best as I can who have started to lose interest. I have to say though, that the houses are great towards the newbies. If the houses were not as newbie-friendly I probably wouldn't have made it past the first week of playing.

Granted...this is my second week!

So you'd think. And that's all I'll say on that matter. -shudder-

Well...I take my hat off them then if they want to think.....nah...Just ewww!

-shiver-

The fora aren't all bad. The Dais and the Scarlattan Theater are both good places to be.

Just stay away from the Inferno like the plague.

The inferno section made me bitter D:

It was a nice point to go off of, and I did for a while, but the loss of enchantment/immersion wasn't voluntary as I tried to convey. A lot of it had to do with the emotional investment I had in the people and city of Cyrene that were all I had known in Achaea since I had join. So the, "start over and stop bitching" is sort of harsh. I was a lot younger too.

This isn't a bitching about that event thread though, someone asked, and I answered, don't troll me -bag

BZZZZZZZ
Bad move.

It really died with Autoclass, not the forums.

People keep saying that, and I'll continue to call them idiots.

Well I am sorry for shooting an opinion. Achaea to me has never been the same since Guilds were still around. I personally liked being together as one class instead of a House with 7 different classes. Alliances have not been the same towards Houses since one house can have its own Milker from serpents and so on.

I enjoyed the entire Paladin vs Infernal rivalry and so on. *shrug*

It's different.
Some pros and some cons on either sides.
If Guilds could be trusted to operate correctly then i'd love them back.

I never called you an idiot, Praz. I just noted that some people have proclaimed RP is dead DUE to autoclass. I have never had trouble. If it came out as "You, sir, are an idiot," then I'm sorry. But, I'm just so bloody tired of hearing it. I've played in guilds, and I've found it the same as it is now. Maybe the -feel- of the game is quite different, but, aside from that, I note nothing different.

I have to admit, one of the appeals of the Naga, for me, is how it is single class. I actually like Mhaldor's system of designated Houses for classes, with no overlap. I think it helps a lot to delineate the function of each House within the city, and keeps roleplay logical.

As for the magic that is Achaea: nothing really breaks it for you. You break it for you. It's all how you choose to play!

The only reason I dislike the whole guild idea is that if you really like a class, but the guild sucks, you are kinda screwed. Granted, I wasn't around during Achaea guilds, but I've played Imperian and Aetolia and Lusternia...I like the serpent class/classes similar to serpent, and those guilds are ALWAYS either WAAAAY too serious, -bags, or both. So I like autoclass, because I can happily run around being serpenty without someone yelling at me for "failing to uphold the guild's dignity" or anything like that.

It's one of the things that also helps preserve Mhaldorian unity. Probably one of the best decisions the Mhaldorian leadership mate in the age of Houses.

While I do believe a lot of the people who have 'lost the magic' are themselves responsible, I don't think they're wholly responsible, and not in all cases.


On the flip-side, it eviscerates class RP.

I can't remember the last time Carmain had a real roleplay experience. Ever since I first bought credits achaea didn't feel quite so real anymore.

Carmain, wanna roleplay in my grove? Teehee.

The "failing to uphold the guild's dignity" part was something that kept the RP around. Remember the Landmark battle? That as well was pretty fun. Autoclass itself isn't a bad idea, it just went too far with having 10 classes of one House. Lets take Infernal House for example. Runewardens are a neutral class pretty much so they should fit in as well as of course the Infernal class for that House. I would hate to see the Infernal House permit Jesters or something. But as for Sylvan for example would have a different value with Magi and Monks permitted in the House.

?

You know, I kinda agree with that. Buying credits does kinda change things. It goes from 'okay I need to -try- to get powerful' to 'I can spend my real money to make my character powerful!'.

Shh.. you'll get warned for alt revealing.

I bought the minimum credit bundle to make sure that my character doesn't get deleted if I get swamped with work. Hehe.
I will bare this in mind though. I am not in a rush to get powerful, as I know I'll just get my ass whooped by everyone else anyway.
I guess if I stay weak, then I will never face that scenario. Probably for the best.

Actually, I owe the forums a big thanks for bringing me back into Achaea again. Even though I've quitted Achaea a few times, I've never quitted the forums. And sometimes, reading logs, quotes, and so on just makes me wanna get back and play again.

And yeah, while autoclass had its ups (being able to be a Warlock for 100 years without ever being a Magi), I'd prefer if it never happened in the long run.

While there have been times where I couldn't get enough Achaea, and times where I was dormant except for a 5 minute login once a week or so, I've never really -lost- interest in it. But I've always had a somewhat distanced perspective, perhaps just from my personal nature, that I would watch how people would work. Some would slave away for hours, to help out, so no one else had to. Some would whine and complain that things didn't go exactly their way. There are countless different ways people can play a game, and in a place like Achaea, it's pretty easy to get a read on them.

I was getting disheartened for a long while that Achaea was degrading into nothing but lulzers, thinking that a place I enjoy is just going to wind up full of dumbasses. But sticking it out with people I know put actual effort into bettering the game, and even reading the forums and seeing all the rage directed at lameness leads me to believe there's still a good bit of hope for enjoyment in Achaea.

This game is really what you make of it, and to all those who strive to make it enjoyable for everyone, a big thank you.

I was gonna make a post, but Wattsee pretty much nailed it spot on for me, so I'll just say 'qft'. Thanks, dude.

Autoclass. Not just the effects of it, but all of the crap that went on when it was enacted. I want to see Guilds come back, and I want Taraus back in mine

I lost the immersion after it lost the entire world aspect and it dawned on me that its really a bunch of usually kids on the other side of the computer and thanks to the game mechanics they can dictate what happens to your character. It was also lost when you "walk" by people and all conversations were about killing/combat there is Nothing else that I could find in the game.

I started out playing a priest back in guild days it was Good vs Evil Shallam vs Mhaldor and it was fun and good... Then got screwed over in guild because I made a single comment in guild chat that the leader didn't like was like well your not going anywhere. That ticked me off because I was doing ALOT to help out people but nope ticked off a guild leader you couldn't do jack.

Now Auto-class came in. I was thinking sweet I can play the game with a character and level up my skills without having to worry bout if I offended someone. I wanted to make another priest looked it over. Nope you could spend money say a wrong word have some arse-hat take it from you. Sorry no thank you. So I made a character put him in hashan had some fun met someone joined her house..set a few records,. I don't like being lazy, got burnt out, went played another game for a bit came back started a entirely new character spent some more money trans him out. Had some fun but got burnt out with house folks and the do this or die attitudes.

I quit the house went to another house joined this one actually had alot of leeway so it was fun roleplaying my character this one actually had a back story that I never waived from no-matter which house he was in. Kept noticing that it was never just idle chat that people were doing, they wouldn't talk about this or that it was RAID RAID KILL. When this happend I once again got dissalusioned with the game and was thinking..yep another break time. So I took a break (a Very long one, this time.) Came back because (why I really don't know) I forgotten a crap ton of stuff how things work and not, got smacked in the face for something I couldn't control, I then switched classes Again shelled out money. I finally just got tired and relized that hey while this game USED to be fun.

I could no longer find the fun in it, if you weren't fighting (I've fought sure risen several ranks in my cities for all the fighting I've done, But if you just wanted to have fun and just have decent conversations. I Tried to have several just about every day stuff, it would always move back to battle and fighting.

Well there as the old timers would say I saw the elephant.

Trolling aside, maybe this one post should be looked at.

I spent money, it sucked
had a break, came back, spent money, it sucked just the same
I had a very long break, came back not knowing how to do the basics and spent a load more money and realised, "wtf! I'm playing the same game again!?"

lawl. People who are too scared to have a forum account link to a Achaean charactor account are usually people who don't have a decent opinion/are scared/have a NOBODY or a douche as a charactor.
Post up your main or gtfo, with no understanding of what your charactor has done or could of done (You could be a 18yr old newbie who thinks he's uber powerful) then it's not worth much bitching.

Stop spending money on a game you hate.
Stop browsing the forums for a game you hate so much but came back 3 times for.

i agree with karr

(lolol but i cant spend money on achaea cos THEY DON'T TAKE PAYPAL )

Achaea lost its hold on me shortly after the third time Garn quit Mhaldor to go to Hashan. I've had.. At least 3 or 4 alts that I got up to 40-ish and got bored of in the year since then.

I have like 200 credits and I didn't spend a single cent on em'

Is Zhuge still around? I had huge amounts of respect for him.