Achaean Raves

Batista

#AchaeanReactionaries

Big raves, though.

With the general gameplay, systems, combat, QoL changes, etc Achaea has never been better. The game has taken a MASSIVE step forward in terms of mechanics and the way it plays, and that is no small feat, because it was already very good.

Battlerage is cool. Weaving oGCDs in makes the dreadful bashing routine way more enjoyable.

It's really just the RP stuff that feels off. It could just be my adjustment period, but it feels like the soul has been sucked out of things. There's a weird "There is no war in Ba Sing Se" vibe I get sometimes.

I don't really blame anyone, though. I think it's always been underestimated how easy it is to want a revolution and tear the system down, to do something to shake things up vs how hard it is to make something with a lot of moving parts just mediocre, nevermind pretty good. It's tough to cover the obvious base cases, much less the edge cases.

But seriously, outside of that, the game is 100% legit. I love pretty much every system I've played with, enough to drop money to support it. I'm loving the forays (and I HATE all things bashing), and the whole talisman thing is neat as hell. Lore-themed arties? Hell yeah, son, sign me up. The Tsol stuff looks amazing, and big props to whoever designed each piece.

[Deleted User]

I've been in a major slump since EVENTS happened, and was considering a long /afk on Achaea. But, suddenly Mhaldor has about a million slaves, many who are new and shiny to the game or certain aspects of it. On that note, thank you @steigr, @lynair, @tisette and @sarmenti for making me want to still log in. You guys rock. 

Lynair

Thanks @Syndra for all you’ve done to get me off the ground. Lots more adventures to come! I guess @steigr and @tisette are pretty neat too... 

Amunet

Syndra said:

I've been in a major slump since EVENTS happened, and was considering a long /afk on Achaea. But, suddenly Mhaldor has about a million slaves, many who are new and shiny to the game or certain aspects of it. On that note, thank you @steigr, @lynair, @tisette and @sarmenti for making me want to still log in. You guys rock. 

Good newbs will really revive your enthusiasm for the game when you are burning out. Teaching them how to play makes you remember exactly why you got hooked in the beginning.

Froggle

I'm about to date myself as an oldbie here, but between renown and auto curing, the IRE team has made Achaea such a smooth and easy experience. I'm blown away at earning 100 bound credits just doing newbie quests while I reacquaint myself. It's fantastic that you can explore early areas that give afflictions without any programming (Ophidions, lower level of Azdun, etc), and that you can come out of it with 33% on the way to a trans skill. Freaking. Awesome.

[Deleted User]

I remember when I came back from a 10 year hiatus and there was now the Mudlet Mapper. Instead of having to mentally remember rooms, or have the Achaea room map up in a browser window, it was right there and I could GOTO anywhere. I was in heaven. Though I still can see the layout from Mhaldor to NoT in my head when I walk.

Cooper

Se e e e se se e e se e e se se s s se se e s se e e se e se e se e e s se se s s sw s s se s s s se s se s sw sw sw w sw se se se se se se se s s s s s

Azyrac

A big thank (raves) for Mhaldor and Mhaldorians. It's been super nice last two days. People are helpful and warmly welcoming! 

Batista

Azyrac said:

A big thank (raves) for Mhaldor and Mhaldorians. It's been super nice last two days. People are helpful and warmly welcoming! 

We got you, fam.

Isaiah

Slave @Azyrac, if you continue to slander the evil, emotionless Mhaldor that people have come to know, you will find yourself standing in the Red Square. You have been warned!

Penwize

I'd like to rave about the event Ashtan just finished(?).  I'm not even sure where to start, except to say it was the sort of thing I've wanted to see in Achaea for a very long time.  To everyone that was involved with running it, you did a pretty great job of it throughout.  This event had something for almost everyone, which is a huge credit to it.  The choice to involve different specialties from different houses was a smart one, and helped get more people invested than would ordinarily have.  None of the plays felt underhanded or designed to deliberately trick the players, but there was still a good layer of intrigue to pursue where things weren't clear.  Plenty was left open, which I think allowed some people to take advantage of it for more free-form ritual solutions (which were, most importantly, reacted to). 

The final battle and the buildup to it were fantastic, with attention to detail that was honestly impressive.  That boss fight was quite possibly the most fun I've had in Achaea in a very, very long time.  Clear mechanics tuned to be hard but fair, with a boss arena that was both very well written and had environmental hints hidden in it, coupled with an interesting story and an opportunity for players to carve out a hard-earned triumph?  There's not much you can improve upon there, it was excellent.  It definitely brought back memories of raid leading new content in WoW's early years. 

Honestly, the only thing I disliked with the event overall was just how long it took, and how much some of the quiet periods dragged on in between plot developments.  That was easily eclipsed by just how worthwhile the payoff was for everyone involved, tough.  In hindsight I can also understand why some of it took so long given the attention to detail given to it.  That's a very fair price to pay. 

I really hope we see more content like that in the future, because it's almost everything I wanted out of Achaea.

Ellryn

Big raves to Mhaldor lately, but mostly to the roving murder-hobos that are the Legates. The support and patience as we've figured things out. Going with the punches even with all the hiccups. (I swear, I'm working on it!) Y'all make it fun to be around, and usually someone is up to something to keep me busy.

Akri

Insid'ari Akri Nithilar

Her crew was first to challenge the mistress of salt and spray, their victory forcing retreat upon the Sorceress of the Sea.

Big raves to my crew for having been eager and patient despite how often this broke. Also I'm sorry to everyone who went along or wanted to come along only to run into one of the dead ends. Lastly, thanks a bunch to the admins for an amazing honours line and always helping out with this. It took a whiiiile, but things have been pretty crazy for everyone so I get it! Looking forward to getting the trophy and (endlessly) boasting about with the glass bottle talisman.

Astarod

Akri said:

Insid'ari Akri Nithilar

Her crew was first to challenge the mistress of salt and spray, their victory forcing retreat upon the Sorceress of the Sea.

Big raves to my crew for having been eager and patient despite how often this broke. Also I'm sorry to everyone who went along or wanted to come along only to run into one of the dead ends. Lastly, thanks a bunch to the admins for an amazing honours line and always helping out with this. It took a whiiiile, but things have been pretty crazy for everyone so I get it! Looking forward to getting the trophy and (endlessly) boasting about with the glass bottle talisman.

Is the wheel still one use? That seemed like a bug, considering it resets/seems to have a c/d. 

Akri

Astarod said:

Akri said:

Insid'ari Akri Nithilar

Her crew was first to challenge the mistress of salt and spray, their victory forcing retreat upon the Sorceress of the Sea.

Big raves to my crew for having been eager and patient despite how often this broke. Also I'm sorry to everyone who went along or wanted to come along only to run into one of the dead ends. Lastly, thanks a bunch to the admins for an amazing honours line and always helping out with this. It took a whiiiile, but things have been pretty crazy for everyone so I get it! Looking forward to getting the trophy and (endlessly) boasting about with the glass bottle talisman.

Is the wheel still one use? That seemed like a bug, considering it resets/seems to have a c/d. 

I'm pretty sure it's intended to be single use, yep. It even has a warning in TALISMAN INFO MARGAMWHEEL, if I recall correctly.

Aroan

I'd like to give a big shoutout to the volunteer(s?) who helped to make the recusants' time in New Hope so memorable. We've been living there for the past few weeks, and have had a steady rate of interaction with the locals. Some highlights have been: trying to explain to a small child why he can't dig down from New Hope to reach Zanzibaar, teaching said child basic arithmetic, and later getting scolded by a protective mother for putting crazy ideas in her son's head (seriously, I have never been so scared for my character's life). They have been a series of entirely mundane interactions that also happen to be some of my favorite bits of roleplay in recent memory. The game's world has never felt quite so alive to me as when I had to tell a denizen child that we were leaving, only to have him break down in tears.

And then there was the incident with the dog. It will not be discussed further.

Also, a callout to all the players who visit us so frequently for text-philosophy club. I look forward to many more hours of debate with you all.

Armali

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes

Lilu

Too many people to try tagging them all and I don't want to leave half of them out, so if you think this might mean you it almost certainly does. I made Lilu well aware of jesters' reputation and I hope I've done a good job of avoiding the obnoxious clichés that people understandably disdain. The reception and help I've gotten has been lovely, whether that be Hashani that take me on forays every day, rogues I interact with randomly, Cyrenians that helped me with that recent prank, Ashtani who give me nudges in the right direction for research. Seriously, thank you all. 

Gurklukke

Coming here after a decade long burning out from another game and I honestly have to say, all the things people from that game said about Achaea, have been found to be untrue.
I have had one of the most wonderful times playing here, everyone has been helpful, inviting, and people who say that Achaea doesn't have RP are lying, I feel like there have been some good sized crowds for some really fun cultural events pretty much every day since I have come to this game.

I am so grateful for the community for bringing back that spark that I haven't felt in a MUD for over a decade. Honestly, I do miss some of the QoL stuff from Aetolia, but like on the other end I also feel like Aetolia is running around with safety scissors on all the time and censors far too much of their game based on community reaction.  I feel risk in Achaea and it is so refreshing to feel like I am actually working to accomplish something, even when it comes to hunting....In aetolia you get the equivalent of dragon in a weekend....it is ludicrous.

Achaea, great job.  REALLY from the community to the volunteers and producer.

Tesha

Cre'alhal visited the homeless vagrants with an army of Eleusians, and eventually, the topic of Dungeons and Dala'myrr arose! After an eventful explanation of the divine-less game world, Aldarers, Aldarests, and role playing, she ended up making a Dungeons and Dala'myrr character. I definitely panicked at first because my script isn't set up to respond to denizens (the eq from sending denizens tells messes it up) but I adapted the user interface I made and now we have a character sheet printed on a letter for her!

I present to you all: Ama'qaalar!

https://ada-young.com/pastebin/FXEkQF0H


I had a ton of fun interacting with Cre'alhal (as always) and I have to give major props to whatever part(s) of the team makes stuff like this happen, including the New Hope shenanigans. Much love for you all!

Armali

Not going to lie, this and the fighting earlier, with the ex-Targs beating back Mhaldor, have some of the highlights of the day. The mental image of a bunch of homeless, vagrant philosophers taking up arms and defending their hobo encampment is hilarious.

Sarfir

I left Eleusis IG a few years ago, spent some time rogue, and joined Hashan on the advice of somebody very near and dear to me.  I love Eleusis, Sarfir still has relatives and friends from there, but everything I'm experiencing in Hashan just blows it away.  There are so many people doing so many different things in so many mediums.  My only complaint is I work second shift, and I'm not around for much of it except on the weekends.  Everyone I've met in Hashan has been super friendly, from people understanding the difficulty it took to join a new city after Sarfir left his home especially with the cold shoulder he's gotten from people he used to consider friends, to people helping him more with combat, to participating in raids/counter raids, seamonster hunting, different city events.  My experience has totally changed.

On the note of raids and counter raids, the few people I've talked to from Mhaldor and Targossas have been great sports in helping me learn more, as well.

Caelan

What's Hashan?

Stheno

Cyrene held spooky performances in the lighthouse! I especially liked @Stefana's Danse Macabre with skeletons. Well done to all involved.

Mayaween remains my favourite time of year.

Kresslack

The haunted orchard tour in Cyrene was a lot of fun to behold. Thank you to those who help orchestrate that.

Stefana

I am so glad the performances went over well and thanks so much to @Stheno and everyone else who attended. I was both very excited and extremely nervous to do a public performance this year so I am both thrilled and relieved that people enjoyed it! I am looking forward to more Virtuosi-hosted events outside of Cyrene in the future!

Ictinus

Politics has no business in the Achaea forums and the subject of issues should be handled through the admin team, not through public litigation here.

Connell

Coming back to Achaea over the past week or so, slowly as work has been crazy, but just watching people who I don't know dropping Chaos knowledge bombs at the brass lantern makes me remember how kick ass everyone is. 15 people at the brass lantern and I only know like two of you. Also, nice work @Amunet

It's good to be back

Amunet

I was finally getting around to some organizational minutiae in the game, sorting out the ten thousand journals I have been carrying around forever, and I came across a manuscript of a proposal that I wrote to nail down some changes in the Occultists during the early years of Amu's second term as the Demiurge.

In 551. 

RIP Occultists. I'm not crying, you're crying. 

Astarod

So Today:

@Lyndee was all like, "Lets do arts and crafts, but with words."

Basically this ^^^^

So, given only ten minutes with our teams, as a city we all had a lot of fun with drums, poetry, illusions, and other fun things we could all do together with teams we didn't get to pick (which was part of the fun). Everyone was such a good sport about it, and it was genuinely one of the more fun events we've had in awhile. 

Thanks Lyn, that was awesome! Thanks guys, for all being funny, witty, and interesting. Novices and Vets alike seemed to have a blast, and it was just a great way to celebrate being a city!