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== General == | |||
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|date=. | |||
|title=Thanks! | |||
|article=Thanks for the warm words, and the insights. Very interesting and a good read, I liked it a lot, even though I just found out about it now, by accident. --[[User:Tom|Tom]] 17:30, 9 November 2010 (CET) | |||
|author= Tom}} | |||
==Immortality== | ==Immortality== | ||
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|date = August 20, 2010 | |||
|title = Reviving Old Characters, and Many Other Thoughts | |||
|article = Dear Editor, | |||
First let me say I love the idea and the well thought out and written articles. | |||
It's an odd coincidence that I would find this page literally a turn after I set my character Alise to emigrate. She had been in Fontan over 1000 days, and was becoming one of those deaf mute characters (a vast changed from her origins as a hotheaded loudmouth who found controversy in everything). Moreover the whole realm was. Fontan had been waging the same war for close to three years and had been in an stalemate for a year, fighting the same battles in the same regions over and over. Most days I would log to orders, some scout reports, the game generated reports, and if I was lucky another battle report where once side had won a marginal victory and both had to retreat. Fontan, the realm that boasted it could drowned its enemies in a sea of old messages, had become a ghost town. | |||
I miss the heated debates of Fontan's heyday, the political factions, all the infighting, the newspaper battle with Westmoor at its founding, and Alise's political enemies (all long since gone). When the political intrigue was dead, we still had the constant arguments and discussion of strategy in the military forums. Now gone as well. It's weird, I enjoyed Alise most as a simple Marshal of one of Fontan's many armies rather than when she held the power as Chancellor, or as General, or as Duchess. | |||
As a player those old days kept me so emotionally attached to the realm that no matter how bored I was by the current lack of activity I couldn't leave. For the better part of a year the only time I was excited to play Alise was when we got into OOC discussions about how Fontan used to be, or writing my histories of the realm. Trying to renew some excitement in her I had her step down as Duchess and form a religion. That didn't work, I just couldn't bring myself to write the RPs or the wiki page for it. | |||
For six months or so I had been contemplating leaving, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Fontan at its height had been the most fun I had in Battlemaster. (With SEI Ikalak very close on its heels. To any Dev reading this, BRING BACK THE WAR ISLANDS!) Fontan finally began coming back out of its shell a few weeks ago, but it wasn't the same. All the arguments seemed more random bashing then heated debate and political intrigue. Something finally snapped in me, I was in a city, and I hit the button. Hopefully a new place with new faces can help me revive Alise, though if Atamara is still as bad as it was she will be emigrating again soon. | |||
Sometimes though you have characters so entrenched that you can't move them no matter how bored you get with them. Such is the case I have with my other "Old" character Rev. To give the context, Rev was involved with the attempts to colonize Darfix (That rich city sitting empty in the Northwest of Dwilight). When Niselur finally succeeded in the attempt it was great. We had alot of fun building the realm. Then our banker went inactive right at the worst time possible. Darfix, our only source of income and recruits starved to nothingness. Niselur basically became a walking corpse unable to defended itself from the rogue forces surrounding us. All the other leaders move on and only Rev was left. Of course it died, and Astrum promised us aid in rebuilding in the Gaston duchy, which we gladly took. | |||
Don't get me wrong I love Sanguis Astroism, and I love dreaming about "New Niselur" and all the things I will do with it and Darfix, but I will be lucky if the Gaston duchy is ready to secede within a year from now. The amount of rogues baring down on us is constantly sending the duchy's population back to nothing. Without the population and production it brings we can't fix the absurd travel times that keep us from being able to defend it well. Furthermore Rev is stuck with no income, and as a "King" he can't be asking for handouts. So now I am stuck with him preaching in regions already at 99% believers simply because I have nothing else to do with him while I wait. I can't ICly move him elsewhere, and OOCly I feel getting rid of him would be a disgrace to all the other players who work for a "New Niselur," as the project really has no one else to lead it. So I'm stuck with being bored of him, and getting the random SA debates to keep it somewhat interesting. | |||
(For those who say they do not get Dwilight, try Sanguis Astroism. It really is an unique element that I haven't seen elsewhere in BM. Think Medieval Catholic Church with open debate, and that's SA.) | |||
It is funny how our view of our characters can change drastically in short periods of time. From his inception I was bored to death by Borin. I quickly made him a hero hoping to get rid of him. I tired of Minas Ithil quickly and move him to Hetland. When he failed to die there, and their war turned stagnate, I moved him back to Atamara. I couldn't find a realm I could stand there, and sent him back to Beluaterra, this time trying Riombara. I don't know if it was the realm or the beginning of the invasion, but what a difference. Borin went from being a nuance to my favorite character. When I logged in to see him critically wounded from a duel during the apex of the debate in Riombara about allying with the Monsters I actually screamed at my laptop. Not a month before I had wanted him dead, and now I couldn't fathom it. Since then he has become the only character I really am having any fun with. | |||
On the matter of mortality and the forth invasion I have to say I rather like it. It didn't effect me much since Borin was already mortal (as a hero) but I think it just adds another element of excitement to the invasion and Beluaterra as a whole. I don' think I would ever want to see it through out the whole game, but I don't think I would mind if Beluaterra kept it even after the invasion. As someone mentioned, it does create the risk of "clone characters," I think it is outweighed by the extra element it add to the "wildness" that is Beluaterra. It's simple really, if you have a character that you don't want to die, don't bring them to Beluaterra. People also need to realize that alot of fun in BM comes from trying new places. My characters (with the exception of Alise) move around alot. Often my characters leave positions and realms for no other reason then I feel like trying a new place. I have always been peeved when someone dies and their brother or son or whatever automatically takes their place. Variety is the spice of life, try something new. | |||
Tying into what I was just talking about building up a new character and "climbing the chain" doesn't have to be hard. Elys was a Baroness within a couple weeks of being created (much to even my surprise). About two months after Borin came back to Beluaterra he is a Lord and Banker. Alise became ruler of a realm as old as the game (Fontan), six months after I created this account. Not to mention there was 140 nobles there at that point most in the realm longer than her. Play your characters well and you will advance, but more importantly you will have fun. Most of the fun (atleast to me) is the rise to power, rather than having it. | |||
Going back to the invasion, and more importantly the Dream, I have to say to the Devs and Tom "Bravo." Just when we all began complaining that it was impossible to beat the invasion forces they give us quite a few new elements ans the means to stand and fight (scrolls). This invasion is a new beast entirely and all its possibilities are exciting me. | |||
As for lack of nobles to fill estates killing expansionary war, look at Ibladesh. They just send the lands rogue and expand as nobles come in. | |||
Sorry for the wall of text, and the scatterbrained nature, just my thoughts after reading everything. --[[User:Athins|Athins]] 03:04, 21 August 2010 (UTC) | |||
|author= Athins}} | |||
{{TattleLeft | {{TattleLeft | ||
|date = July 22, 2010 | |date = July 22, 2010 |
Latest revision as of 16:31, 9 November 2010
http://wiki.battlemaster.org/skins/common/images/bm-logo.png The Journal | ||
Discussion Board | ||
Another aspect of this project is that I would like to generate some discussion and maybe even an exchange of tales and views. These days, it isn't really appropriate to have OOC exchanges in-game. Likewise, whilst the discussion list serves its purpose, it's a little too heated for my tastes. Perhaps this little Oasis of Tranquility can become the place for mature and nuanced debate about BattleMaster? I can dream... |
General
Thanks! | . |
Thanks for the warm words, and the insights. Very interesting and a good read, I liked it a lot, even though I just found out about it now, by accident. --Tom 17:30, 9 November 2010 (CET) | |
Tom |
Immortality
Reviving Old Characters, and Many Other Thoughts | August 20, 2010 |
Dear Editor,
First let me say I love the idea and the well thought out and written articles. It's an odd coincidence that I would find this page literally a turn after I set my character Alise to emigrate. She had been in Fontan over 1000 days, and was becoming one of those deaf mute characters (a vast changed from her origins as a hotheaded loudmouth who found controversy in everything). Moreover the whole realm was. Fontan had been waging the same war for close to three years and had been in an stalemate for a year, fighting the same battles in the same regions over and over. Most days I would log to orders, some scout reports, the game generated reports, and if I was lucky another battle report where once side had won a marginal victory and both had to retreat. Fontan, the realm that boasted it could drowned its enemies in a sea of old messages, had become a ghost town. I miss the heated debates of Fontan's heyday, the political factions, all the infighting, the newspaper battle with Westmoor at its founding, and Alise's political enemies (all long since gone). When the political intrigue was dead, we still had the constant arguments and discussion of strategy in the military forums. Now gone as well. It's weird, I enjoyed Alise most as a simple Marshal of one of Fontan's many armies rather than when she held the power as Chancellor, or as General, or as Duchess. As a player those old days kept me so emotionally attached to the realm that no matter how bored I was by the current lack of activity I couldn't leave. For the better part of a year the only time I was excited to play Alise was when we got into OOC discussions about how Fontan used to be, or writing my histories of the realm. Trying to renew some excitement in her I had her step down as Duchess and form a religion. That didn't work, I just couldn't bring myself to write the RPs or the wiki page for it. For six months or so I had been contemplating leaving, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Fontan at its height had been the most fun I had in Battlemaster. (With SEI Ikalak very close on its heels. To any Dev reading this, BRING BACK THE WAR ISLANDS!) Fontan finally began coming back out of its shell a few weeks ago, but it wasn't the same. All the arguments seemed more random bashing then heated debate and political intrigue. Something finally snapped in me, I was in a city, and I hit the button. Hopefully a new place with new faces can help me revive Alise, though if Atamara is still as bad as it was she will be emigrating again soon. Sometimes though you have characters so entrenched that you can't move them no matter how bored you get with them. Such is the case I have with my other "Old" character Rev. To give the context, Rev was involved with the attempts to colonize Darfix (That rich city sitting empty in the Northwest of Dwilight). When Niselur finally succeeded in the attempt it was great. We had alot of fun building the realm. Then our banker went inactive right at the worst time possible. Darfix, our only source of income and recruits starved to nothingness. Niselur basically became a walking corpse unable to defended itself from the rogue forces surrounding us. All the other leaders move on and only Rev was left. Of course it died, and Astrum promised us aid in rebuilding in the Gaston duchy, which we gladly took. Don't get me wrong I love Sanguis Astroism, and I love dreaming about "New Niselur" and all the things I will do with it and Darfix, but I will be lucky if the Gaston duchy is ready to secede within a year from now. The amount of rogues baring down on us is constantly sending the duchy's population back to nothing. Without the population and production it brings we can't fix the absurd travel times that keep us from being able to defend it well. Furthermore Rev is stuck with no income, and as a "King" he can't be asking for handouts. So now I am stuck with him preaching in regions already at 99% believers simply because I have nothing else to do with him while I wait. I can't ICly move him elsewhere, and OOCly I feel getting rid of him would be a disgrace to all the other players who work for a "New Niselur," as the project really has no one else to lead it. So I'm stuck with being bored of him, and getting the random SA debates to keep it somewhat interesting. (For those who say they do not get Dwilight, try Sanguis Astroism. It really is an unique element that I haven't seen elsewhere in BM. Think Medieval Catholic Church with open debate, and that's SA.) It is funny how our view of our characters can change drastically in short periods of time. From his inception I was bored to death by Borin. I quickly made him a hero hoping to get rid of him. I tired of Minas Ithil quickly and move him to Hetland. When he failed to die there, and their war turned stagnate, I moved him back to Atamara. I couldn't find a realm I could stand there, and sent him back to Beluaterra, this time trying Riombara. I don't know if it was the realm or the beginning of the invasion, but what a difference. Borin went from being a nuance to my favorite character. When I logged in to see him critically wounded from a duel during the apex of the debate in Riombara about allying with the Monsters I actually screamed at my laptop. Not a month before I had wanted him dead, and now I couldn't fathom it. Since then he has become the only character I really am having any fun with. On the matter of mortality and the forth invasion I have to say I rather like it. It didn't effect me much since Borin was already mortal (as a hero) but I think it just adds another element of excitement to the invasion and Beluaterra as a whole. I don' think I would ever want to see it through out the whole game, but I don't think I would mind if Beluaterra kept it even after the invasion. As someone mentioned, it does create the risk of "clone characters," I think it is outweighed by the extra element it add to the "wildness" that is Beluaterra. It's simple really, if you have a character that you don't want to die, don't bring them to Beluaterra. People also need to realize that alot of fun in BM comes from trying new places. My characters (with the exception of Alise) move around alot. Often my characters leave positions and realms for no other reason then I feel like trying a new place. I have always been peeved when someone dies and their brother or son or whatever automatically takes their place. Variety is the spice of life, try something new. Tying into what I was just talking about building up a new character and "climbing the chain" doesn't have to be hard. Elys was a Baroness within a couple weeks of being created (much to even my surprise). About two months after Borin came back to Beluaterra he is a Lord and Banker. Alise became ruler of a realm as old as the game (Fontan), six months after I created this account. Not to mention there was 140 nobles there at that point most in the realm longer than her. Play your characters well and you will advance, but more importantly you will have fun. Most of the fun (atleast to me) is the rise to power, rather than having it. Going back to the invasion, and more importantly the Dream, I have to say to the Devs and Tom "Bravo." Just when we all began complaining that it was impossible to beat the invasion forces they give us quite a few new elements ans the means to stand and fight (scrolls). This invasion is a new beast entirely and all its possibilities are exciting me. As for lack of nobles to fill estates killing expansionary war, look at Ibladesh. They just send the lands rogue and expand as nobles come in. Sorry for the wall of text, and the scatterbrained nature, just my thoughts after reading everything. --Athins 03:04, 21 August 2010 (UTC) | |
Athins |
Just so you know... | July 22, 2010 |
Dear User 6707,
I have been playing BM for about 3 years now (though I quite and came back after about a year or so, but have been back now for a good two years). I have recently discovered "The Journal" and quite enjoy it and encourage you to continue with it. I am writing simply to answer I question you asked in your article on mortality. You asked (I hope not rhetorically) about what ever happened to Basil Ariston. Well, when I first joined this game Basil Ariston was a mentor (not literally, but in all respects) to my character Kerwin, in Eston on Atamara. Well, you see, Basil was the long time Duke of Massillion, which was Eston controlled for a very long time if I am not mistaken. One day, Eston's ally, Darka, decided to turn on Eston (or rather, was hired out by Minas Ithil with whom Eston was fighting at the time) and Darka marched right in and took over Massillion in two days. Eston was much weaker and left powerless to do anything about it. In fact, our leaders groveled for mercy and made peace on the promise we would in return attack our Federated allies Norland... which we did. However, the point about Basil Ariston is that the player was so upset that Darka could walk in and TO Massillion in two days, one which had been part of Eston for so long, so easily, that he was infuriated to the point of deleting his account. He deleted his account before peace had even been made, I believe. And he was gone. I don't know if he has returned since, but that is the story. Thought you might enjoy it. Thanks for the "The Journal," keep it up!
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---Player of the Perth Family |
Death and Glory | . |
Dear writer of the Journal,
I've played since 2007 and have experienced the highs and lows of extreme character roleplay; that is, seeing a character develop over a long period of time and assume their own little space in the heads of myself and others. First of all, I can understand why everyone fears the idea of their characters dying -- but that is no reason not to put their character in the way of death. My original character, Aerywyn Haerthorne, had come far and became a major player in both the politics, warfare and general life of Arcaea and the main reason I played Battlemaster. He had advanced so far as a character that he and the King were considered to be inseperable juggernaughts (ok, the juggernaught is a bit much, but you get the idea). He died in a duel defending his people's honour about a week after gaining a city for himself at the prime of his life. Whilst a very good character that I sorely miss was removed so suddenly, the character did not disappear. Whilst I fell into a slump in regards to Battlemaster for a little while, if I had thrown him into dangerous struggle I would not built him up as a character, and if I had not done that then he would have lived a safe life instead of dying in a duel he could not refuse. If you played your character well then people will remember them. Now, I am against the idea of mortality for every island on Battlemaster because obviously some people would not like that and it would go further to persuading some to leave a game that is enhanced by their participation. But in regards to Beluaterra I think it captures the mad urgency of everything on a greater level. For a roleplaying reason you could argue that in normal war there are people holding back, the polity of common nobility stopping fellow knights from striking to kill. In Beluaterra you have numerous non-human factions with a completely different view of war which is in turn affecting the humans to make them more... highly strung, in a way. It comes in the greater context of Beluaterra that you are fighting for your life, not just fighting for your honour. But back on the idea of mortality and what it means for characters. Currently I have on character on Beluaterra; King Celyn of the Dominion of Alluran. One of his motivations is to save the lives of his own people, whom he views have been forsaken by the greater morasse of humanity (he did not have a fun time on Dwilight either) and left to the jaws of an invading force to which his kingdom was the first to fall. Twice during the invasion he came close to death, once even falling to critically wounded from wounded because apparently the surgeons botched the job. So he has a healthy fear of death and scorns those who believe honour is everything. As a result he accepts the offer of the monsters and finds solace in the fact that "at least they don't insult us" and figured that they aren't so bad after all. All of this has fleshed him out immensely, down to the fact that if he survies he will have a claim to being one of the hardest nails in the game. That the chances of death are rather high makes that all the more enjoyable. Here is a poem that came to mind as soon as the invasion began.
-Robert Herrick (1591-1673), "Momenti mori", my friends.
| |
--Aerywyn 04:37, 13 July 2010 (UTC) |
Estates
Villains finish last. | . |
Dear "The Journal"
I have a subject you may like to include in your next article. I have been playing a villain character on Dwilight for some time, you may have heard of him he is the Demon of Dwilight, and I think that we players who choose the dark side have hard luck. The question you will address is "what to do with an old character?", what I am wondering is "what to do with a villain character?" Since BM is a social game, playing a villain character bounds the player to failure. Not to say that my villain character is not my favourite, I have had the best times with him, but there is an inevitable doom. What do you think? P.S. I am a big fan of the show!
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D.west.ton |
Expansionary Wars... | . |
...are not the only kind of war there is. In Dwilight, for example, the Averoth/Astrum war, the Raivan/Morek war, the current Xinhai/Aquilegia wars are not expansionary in any way. That is less so on other continents, but I think it's part of what makes Dwilight different.
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vonGenf 09:38, 28 September 2009 (UTC) |
General Comments | . |
I look forward to your other articles. Your current one has already sparked some ideas in the bm dev channel on IRC. I've always thought we needed to recruit more players. However, my attempts at this brought in the typical Nighthawk624 player, so I ditched it. If you have ideas(in addition to feature requests to solve this problem/I take it a simple remove estates is what you're proposing?) to aid recruitment, I would be happy to read them. Oh, and good luck bringing the battlemaster discussion from the mailing list to wiki. :P
VonGenf, let us think this through carefully. While I'm not saying you are wrong, it could likely be that the reason those wars weren't expansionary is because there weren't estates to hold the lands so they had to go for an alternative style. This is not necessary bad or good. I do think less expansionary wars would be a good thing, but they should still exist.
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Ethan Lee Vita (Talk), Editor and Community Manager 15:41, 28 September 2009 (UTC) |
Well Done! | . |
I'd just like to say "Well Done" to you on your new paper. I hope that we can see more analyses on other game aspects in the future. Once suggestion: Your articles will probably generate quite a bit of discussion. (At least I hope so!) I would suggest adding a new discussion link to your article that points to a sub-page specifically for discussion of that article. That would separate discussion for issues, and allow your main page discussion to be specifically for general comments on the paper itself.
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--Indirik (talk), Editor (talk) 15:43, 28 September 2009 (UTC) |