Posted December 04, 2010
So for the last few weeks been hopping between a bunch of PW servers and really enjoying the multiplayer experience. Each server is completly different and really new styles of play and people. So I thought I would point some people in the right direction if any of you are a bit confused to which multiplayer server is worth joining.
So I would imagine that the majority of people would prefer Action servers as they are more about extremely epic gear and hack and slach gameplay. Usually rather light on story but there is always a little bit to be discovered. I found most of the servers I tried to be rather confusing and everyone seems to start with some serious gear. Overall I enjoyed the ones I went on but found that they are almost identical to standard mmo style gameplay which was a bit of a turn off for me as Wow killed that style of mmo's a long time ago for me. so I didnt find them too interesting. But if you are interested in trying one of these out (as I know my opinion is certainly not shared by everyone) I would recommend two servers out of the lot that I tried.
- Land of Chaos - This was fun and is a very advanced server. Huge amounts of areas and equipment. Didnt really understand what there was to do but from the advancement of it I can imagine there is no shortage of bosses and dungeons to conquer.
- Higher Ground - This one was pretty fun. Large player base and certainly a lot of things to do. Really promotes team play and has an underlying story. Joined this server from a recomendation from this forum as it sounded interesting. More info on that topic then mine if you really want to know what thats like. My main problem with it was a similar problem I had to Land of Chaos. I generally found that as a newbie I had no idea where to go. Quests most of the time dont show up in ur quest log and you are required to jot down notes from conversations to do them. Which is interesting as each quest requires investigation but can turn off a new player with no buddies to play with. But on the plus side this server has an enormous amount of tools scripted to find a group and get into the action.
Those two are the ones that I would recommend above all (that I tried, Would love to hear recomendations for some other Action servers that you guys like.)
Now we get to what I have enjoyed the most out of my entire NWN experience. The roleplay servers. I personally (like many of you I would imagine) never cared much for the idea of roleplay. Always thought that it was a bit noob tbh. walking around instead of running and sitting down in the bloody tavern!!!! Why!?!?! I used to ask myself. Even if you are just chatting always thought that I play a game to play not to sit in a chat room. If i wanted that i would play second life. But with NWN I did a bit of research about the different servers and actually the Roleplay servers sounded quite cool. Even though I would have to abide by the stupid RP rules. But I joined a server made a Barbarian and logged onto one and boy was I suprised. Not only have I enjoyed the experience ten times more then I ever imagined but I generally care about what is going on in the game world. With the whole RP aspect and DM scripted quests etc. the world actually accomplishes things that I have never seen in any other game. The game world is litterally alive with world changing events left right and centre. Since my RP skills were so bad.... omg.... I rerolled and now am a living part of the server recognised by many. Alignment actually matters and I have genereally been intimidated but some evil characters in a dodgy part of town. Was even told to "get the F**k out of our bar!" was awesome.
I also found that the questing systems in place were a lot better implemented then the Action servers and had a much more fun vibe to them. The quests were actually interesting and worth doing rather then the usual "go kill 10 goblins" style quests. The fact that I can walk in a slum and feel intimdated is something I havent felt since the times when I played eve online.
So the servers I would recommend above all are:
-Escaped from Underdark - This is by far my favourite for the moment. Been having a great time on it and also happens to be the least forgiving server I have ever played on. PVP death is permanent unless resurrected by someone but it is controlled. (Usually need to have a DM present which is very easy to do and could very easily end up being a big server event sort of thing). The server is also very low magic and hard, which I enjoy a lot since when you see someone with amazing looking gear you know he is special, while on action servers everyone was amazing looking. Removed any feeling of cool i thought. The world is also constantly changing and for the first time I have ever seen in a game its really not static. The player factions litterally change the zones perminantly by their actions.
-Ravenloft: Prisoners of the Mist. - This is a very interesting server. By far one of the most advanced RP servers I have been on. This server i found was immeansly immersive and the freedom to do what you want was immeasurable. You can even be a cultist that eat BABIES!!! if you really want. Was a very strange and enjoyable server for me and one that I won't stop playing on anytime soon. Requires some downloads to get running but they are worth it since the enviorment is unmatched so far. This has a huge and dark gameworld that has a very good playerbase. If you every enjoyed either Ravenloft dos games (like me) or Pnp version of it or simply like bram stoker style vampire stories then this one is worth checking out.
There are many more out there but these are the few that I felt really stood out from the rest. Ofcourse there are many servers I havent tried yet but its hard to find time when there are so many options and what you find is so enjoyable. I hope that for some of you unsure of which PW server is worth checking out or simply confused about what to do will find my info usefull. Also for the people intimidated to try out the RP servers because of all the rules and having to stay IC dont worry about mistakes or being slow to respond. People are not only patient but also will see your new to it and really try and help you to learn how to do it correctly till it comes naturally (I was so bad in the first few days omg). I found that the RP players were some of the friendliest people I have ever played any game with. So just jump in create a character and see what happens. You can always start again when your comfortable.
Something that I did that I found very useful was to make batch files for each server I connected to that simply moved the custom content to the right places when launching the game and back into a storage folder when exiting. This allowed me to run each server without overriding a lot of the files as to not destroy my Original Campaign experience or effect other servers. I recomment doing it. Was a very easy procedure and makes playing multiple servers a lot more intuitive.
I would love hear thoughts about what you guys think aswell as perhaps some recomendations. Also perhaps my view on the Action servers are wrong so would love to hear your views on it and perhaps the best way to play them.
So I would imagine that the majority of people would prefer Action servers as they are more about extremely epic gear and hack and slach gameplay. Usually rather light on story but there is always a little bit to be discovered. I found most of the servers I tried to be rather confusing and everyone seems to start with some serious gear. Overall I enjoyed the ones I went on but found that they are almost identical to standard mmo style gameplay which was a bit of a turn off for me as Wow killed that style of mmo's a long time ago for me. so I didnt find them too interesting. But if you are interested in trying one of these out (as I know my opinion is certainly not shared by everyone) I would recommend two servers out of the lot that I tried.
- Land of Chaos - This was fun and is a very advanced server. Huge amounts of areas and equipment. Didnt really understand what there was to do but from the advancement of it I can imagine there is no shortage of bosses and dungeons to conquer.
- Higher Ground - This one was pretty fun. Large player base and certainly a lot of things to do. Really promotes team play and has an underlying story. Joined this server from a recomendation from this forum as it sounded interesting. More info on that topic then mine if you really want to know what thats like. My main problem with it was a similar problem I had to Land of Chaos. I generally found that as a newbie I had no idea where to go. Quests most of the time dont show up in ur quest log and you are required to jot down notes from conversations to do them. Which is interesting as each quest requires investigation but can turn off a new player with no buddies to play with. But on the plus side this server has an enormous amount of tools scripted to find a group and get into the action.
Those two are the ones that I would recommend above all (that I tried, Would love to hear recomendations for some other Action servers that you guys like.)
Now we get to what I have enjoyed the most out of my entire NWN experience. The roleplay servers. I personally (like many of you I would imagine) never cared much for the idea of roleplay. Always thought that it was a bit noob tbh. walking around instead of running and sitting down in the bloody tavern!!!! Why!?!?! I used to ask myself. Even if you are just chatting always thought that I play a game to play not to sit in a chat room. If i wanted that i would play second life. But with NWN I did a bit of research about the different servers and actually the Roleplay servers sounded quite cool. Even though I would have to abide by the stupid RP rules. But I joined a server made a Barbarian and logged onto one and boy was I suprised. Not only have I enjoyed the experience ten times more then I ever imagined but I generally care about what is going on in the game world. With the whole RP aspect and DM scripted quests etc. the world actually accomplishes things that I have never seen in any other game. The game world is litterally alive with world changing events left right and centre. Since my RP skills were so bad.... omg.... I rerolled and now am a living part of the server recognised by many. Alignment actually matters and I have genereally been intimidated but some evil characters in a dodgy part of town. Was even told to "get the F**k out of our bar!" was awesome.
I also found that the questing systems in place were a lot better implemented then the Action servers and had a much more fun vibe to them. The quests were actually interesting and worth doing rather then the usual "go kill 10 goblins" style quests. The fact that I can walk in a slum and feel intimdated is something I havent felt since the times when I played eve online.
So the servers I would recommend above all are:
-Escaped from Underdark - This is by far my favourite for the moment. Been having a great time on it and also happens to be the least forgiving server I have ever played on. PVP death is permanent unless resurrected by someone but it is controlled. (Usually need to have a DM present which is very easy to do and could very easily end up being a big server event sort of thing). The server is also very low magic and hard, which I enjoy a lot since when you see someone with amazing looking gear you know he is special, while on action servers everyone was amazing looking. Removed any feeling of cool i thought. The world is also constantly changing and for the first time I have ever seen in a game its really not static. The player factions litterally change the zones perminantly by their actions.
-Ravenloft: Prisoners of the Mist. - This is a very interesting server. By far one of the most advanced RP servers I have been on. This server i found was immeansly immersive and the freedom to do what you want was immeasurable. You can even be a cultist that eat BABIES!!! if you really want. Was a very strange and enjoyable server for me and one that I won't stop playing on anytime soon. Requires some downloads to get running but they are worth it since the enviorment is unmatched so far. This has a huge and dark gameworld that has a very good playerbase. If you every enjoyed either Ravenloft dos games (like me) or Pnp version of it or simply like bram stoker style vampire stories then this one is worth checking out.
There are many more out there but these are the few that I felt really stood out from the rest. Ofcourse there are many servers I havent tried yet but its hard to find time when there are so many options and what you find is so enjoyable. I hope that for some of you unsure of which PW server is worth checking out or simply confused about what to do will find my info usefull. Also for the people intimidated to try out the RP servers because of all the rules and having to stay IC dont worry about mistakes or being slow to respond. People are not only patient but also will see your new to it and really try and help you to learn how to do it correctly till it comes naturally (I was so bad in the first few days omg). I found that the RP players were some of the friendliest people I have ever played any game with. So just jump in create a character and see what happens. You can always start again when your comfortable.
Something that I did that I found very useful was to make batch files for each server I connected to that simply moved the custom content to the right places when launching the game and back into a storage folder when exiting. This allowed me to run each server without overriding a lot of the files as to not destroy my Original Campaign experience or effect other servers. I recomment doing it. Was a very easy procedure and makes playing multiple servers a lot more intuitive.
I would love hear thoughts about what you guys think aswell as perhaps some recomendations. Also perhaps my view on the Action servers are wrong so would love to hear your views on it and perhaps the best way to play them.