As the title suggests, this is a list of things I've noticed that I personally feel are missing or should be done differently.
I am well aware that some things might be easier said than done and that some things won't even be considered, but hey! lets talk about it.
Two Weapon Fighting
nothing wrong with the way that it's done as per the writing of this, but personally i'd like to see something like Two Weapon Defense - Improved Two Weapon Defense - Epic Two Weapon Defense.
a character who goes with two weapon fighting in all it's possible variations is making a substantial sacrifice in defensive capabilities, i know that it is intended that a two weapons fighter is somewhat expected to be a DEX build but... not always the case... and forgoing the use of a shield is often a massive loss in defensive capability, especially considering that fighting with two weapons comes at the loss of AB.
adding Two Weapon Defense could be a reason for Two Weapon Users to end the argument between extra attacks or defense.
how to actually implement it and how to balance it is something to be discussed of course, it should not be a direct competitor to a tower shield.
Deflect Arrows:
the feat Deflect Arrows is only activated if your off-hand is free I.E. no shield or weapon equipped including but not limited to torches and books or wielding two handed weapons.
to me... it makes no sense realistically that a character with an off hand weapon or carrying a torch or a mage with a staff in one hand and a book in the other can't make an active effort to deflect a missile with their off-hand.
attempting to deflect an arrow with your hand specifically is actually amongst the dumber things you can try to do xD
unless you are a monk...
Making deflect arrow trigger with off-hand occupied would be neat and making it exclusively monks who are able to do it bare handed.
just a cool idea in my head.
Hide In Plain Sight/Stealth:
I'm gonna be blunt... i don't like the idea that my character is visible to the party when i use HIPS.
she is supposed to disappear... it is primarily from an RP perspective... i am not a fast typer, if i am out on a dungeon run i'd like to add flavor along the way but realistically i can't keep up... however, having my character disappearing from sight does a lot of the heavy lifting all on it's own RP wise.
i would not be opposed to HIPS being attached to it's own macro and normal stealth be on the usual macro.
if i want people to be able to see my character i use the normal stealth mode but if i want my character to go full shadowdancer, i trigger the HIPS macro and the party is left guessing where my character is... just as it should be.
i understand that this is a very exclusive thing as i've heard arguments that it's a good thing that people can see your toon because then they can always be healed or don't miss out on buffs... and to that all i have to say is that the HIPS user just have to pay attention.
Teleportation:
oh boy... ok... Teleportation is boring, i get that it's convenient... but the way it's used it more akin to a raiding party or a modern day strike team.
it's freaking insane xD
and there is no consequence to it either and lets not forget the fact that anyone and their auntie are doing it.
i know this may be an unpopular take but personally i feel that teleportation should be limited to arcane casters and possibly clerics with the travel domain.
and add some consequences to it... roll a nat 1 on concentration and let the caster and party be caught in an arcane blast... or how about the teleportation failing and you end up somewhere unintended... like the top of a mountain... or dead center in the ocean... or in a dragons lair... add some risk to it! lets have some fun! and put a cooldown on that thing so when it all goes tits up the party needs to find a solution instead of just *shrugs and re-casts*
as teleportation is now, hells no reason to actually see the server and the surrounding areas because at lvl 14 everyone is just a hop and skip from anywhere anyway... and that's a shame.
and that brings me to another point-->
The World:
lets say that we do limit teleportation... then the world needs some love... i am pretty sure i can walk from Arabel to the gnoll caves without a single encounter...
just a long ass walk of one empty map after another with nothing to do but getting lost in your own thoughts.
With that take on world design it's no wonder that people don't wanna walk to the various dungeons on the server, because there is quite literally nothing happening between Arabel and destination anyway.
and honestly i find that to be a darn shame... because some of the areas are really well done and a joy to traverse just on visuals alone... but it's still empty.
no... i am not so clueless to think that it's just a case of adding mobs to a list of areas and that's a done deal... some of the areas don't exactly support an encounter all that well... so suddenly we are talking about a complete redesign of some areas.
another solution could be, and this one is not easy either, to create a folder of areas with procedural generated encounters that trigger at random and scale to the party/player passing through.
in either case... personally i'd like to see the world take on a semblance of life instead of just a series or empty tiles.
or maybe i've just been to the wrong areas.
/customize NUI:
honestly got nothing against it... would like to see a minimize button added to the NUI so i can minimize it instead of closing it all the time just as you can with the /help NUI.
RPxp reward:
pardon my French in the following:
personally i see the RPxp Tick system to be the single most moronic piece of game design i've ever come across... and i know i am not the only one who feels this way... i've spend 5 years on C&D and only play one character and will likely never make another character ever simply because of how mind-numbing the grind has been to have to sit through the mandatory two and a half hours of forced activity to justify my XP so i can ding... and there is no way around it either... if you take a break you just fall behind... and you can't catch up, you can't put in a massive effort to lessen the gap... over the past 5 years i've seen my character go through 3 or 4 crews... people simply just hop around characters and retire their characters like people change clothes. or worse of all, they leave the server entirely because the progression system drives them up the wall as much as it does me... i just so happen to stick around.
it's frustrating playing a character that has seen more people retire/disappear/die over a 5 year period than a WW2 veteran.
all that being said, i know it's not gonna change... because if it was going to change it would have already.
i also know and understand why it's in place, which is to limit progression speed so we don't see characters go from lvl 1 to 30 in the span of a few weeks.
however i am also a firm believer that there are smarter ways to go about it than the current system.
like limiting the overall XP gain from kills and possibly leave a dungeon unrepeatable for a period or time so that people don't just run the same dungeon again and again... or leave it repeatable but just doesn't yield any reward.
or whatever... anything is better than the current system that seems to encourage people, including myself, to just sit around Arabel hoping something happens... anything... just, don't make me walk around in circles for 3 hours to get my ticks... anything but that.
but as i said, it's not gonna change and that is a darn shame... but maybe add an RPxp reward to the new bounties? or make dungeon bosses yield a small RPxp reward that only triggers once a week or something.
gear and gold/marks aren't much motivation since gear is typically in abundance unless we are talking ancient(T6) gear and marks are in abundance too. RPxp is the only everyday reward to look forward to on C&D and i find it to be a shame.
just... a little reward for actually doing something other than sitting around talking.
as mentioned before, i know some of these things are easier said than done, but lets talk about it.
Two Weapon Fighting: What you're suggesting is what the Tempest class gets.
Deflect Arrows: Not doable as far as I know, that entire thing is blackboxed in the engine (and not really worth making a NWNX plugin for)
HIPS: Not going to be changed. Stealthed party members being visible is an intended decision we made.
Teleportation: I agree that teleportation is too available and we've made moves to restrict it in the past year, such as adding the requirement to have visited the area before, and limiting scrolls for sale. These were also changes that led to days and days of arguments on the Discord, making some players particularly angry. Honestly, much as I'd wish to restrict it further, it's not worth the fight and dealing with the endless drama from unpopular changes is draining in a way that makes me stop wanting to develop for the server so it's just not worth it.
The World: The server has over 1300 areas. We've slowly been updating it, and I've added features such as random boss encounters, but it's a lot of builder work. Consider it a slow but in-progress thing.
/customize NUI: Sure, added.
RPxp reward: You've been here for 5 years so you've seen the endless arguments about it and know why it's not gonna change :P
Two Weapon Fighting:
i looked up the tempest, seems pretty neat actually... take five levels and get a remarkable advantage to your Two Weapon Fighting.
but... isn't that akin to taking away from and limiting potential build variety by locking it to a class? one could even argue that the Tempest retains it's current model and a stand alone set of feats of lesser potency are made available to the feat list... if possible, of course.
Deflect Arrows:
Fair.
HIPS and Stealth:
may i ask why such a decision was made? i have heard some folk mention that the "Anti stealth" system on towns like Arabel were put in place because some stealthy folk couldn't keep their nose in their own coffee and made a real mess of some sensitive topics that were being discussed by third party individuals... personally i am of the camp that says not to discuss sensitive things in the open, whisper or not that's just stupid... that being said... i get it... i don't like it but i get it.
i do not get the application of a similar system to parties as being beneficial at all... quite the contrary... as mentioned above i find it rather annoying and it gets in the way of my form of story telling and character building... so what's the argument for it?
not speaking against it... ok i kind of am but i get the feeling that the decision is final and no matter what i say won't change it... i am curious though.
Teleportation:
i mean... let them cry about it? ;)
but i get you... it's a damn shame though... would really love seeing a risk factor being added to teleportation.
The World:
uuh! sounds interesting! will be looking forward to it.
/customize NUI:
Score!
RPxp:
yeah i don't expect it changed or completely reworked, which is why i mention things like adding additional rewards to clearing dungeons like a small RPxp reward on a boss kill as a motivator to get out there!
in the time i've been on the server i did not find the motivation to go for a dungeon since my combat XP were full and money was not important and neither was gear so why bother with a dungeon? it's just redundant. basically, make running a dungeon matter more.
my character is lvl 28... it's limited what use i will personally get out of it unless i roll another character... which i find unlikely.
the new bounties have had the effect of getting people out of the square! awesome! brilliant! but i fear it won't last as the novelty of getting more loot wares off.
just my two cents really...
on another note... still wouldn't mind seeing the overall XP gain from combat be dialed way down! maxing out combat XP on 3 dungeon runs is just... waaay too little effort.
There's a lot of things that could be said about these requests, but I will only answer to the one relevant to the role I hold now:
Building the world takes a lot of time and all of us are volunteers. Sure it is old and could use a lot of touch-ups as well as some excitement added into it, but in the end, it takes someone sitting down and doing all the work while balancing every other part of that builder's life. Have some patience, it's not a quick process and much of it takes a lot of hours of manpower just to do. Things are being redone and rebuilt. We want the world to have life breathed into it as much as anyone else does.