Arelith

((My OpEd essay on Arelith Forest... was just feelin a little blue, and wanted to share some thoughts.))

Man! I have spent so much damnded time in my life wandering Arelith Forest. Just doing circles sometimes. It has been my most favorite location in the server for a long long long long time.

Thematically: It is supposed to be the GREAT FOREST the largest forest! -it is why the Elves built their city there. A great city of Elves!

But going there now.. it kind of makes me sad.


When I first came to play on Arelith, in 2010, I was all about Cordor, and it's districts. Until I started my first elf, and got involved in the regime of Ari'ana Corbel... and hooked up with the (then) Hartwood Rangers... I was still kind of finding my way as my first ranger Char, but some really great players took me under their wings, and got me involved in the City of Myon and the Grove... and I pretty much have never left.. even though, now I am just on it's fringes. I can't let go. I just have too much grand experiences there.


But.. over the years, as the server has developed and changed, and modified... additions.... lands get re-worked.. added castles.. Bendir Fort turnes into Burrowhome.. turns into a large Dale.. turns into a HUGE dale.. turns into an EVEN HUGER DALE! .. (no i'm not bitter.) -Brog has had connection portals, linking it to the Giant Dale, and a shipping line connecting it to not only Wharftown *sniff, tear* and Guldorand... removing it's isolation... The Undercity gets flooded, and a new complete redesign in it's the replacement of Andunor... the Underdark is hugely expanded... Guldorand gets revised with Soulhaven (then Soulhaven moved out!) the Skull Crags gets additions and expansion, Minmar gets huge... The Brambles are expanded and gets a castle, but it's overrun with goblins... then itthe Bramble Wood gets expanded AGAIN and ANOTHER castle!... but that expansion is renamed "Darrowdeep Wood" (cuz, come on.. who are we kidding, that's still the Bramble Woods!!)) The Banites get territory and a castle.. the SWAMP OF SORROWS gets revamped -- AND GETS A CASTLE!!! Cordor's 4 districts turn into 2 *sign* but man it' gets an awesome rebuild. The planes get expanded! Warftone gets some lovin (or hatin' depending on your view)


Arelith Forest? And Myon... remain... pretty much unchanged. Maybe a tweak here and there.. I mean.. Benwick? Cool! Benwick's Destruction? meh, okay... I'm not a paladin guy... but... at lest the Paladins got a better stronghold to replace Benwick...

Maybe yeah, some gnolls moved in.. and some Boogins took over your northwest corner...

but wholesale overhaul and expansion of Arelith Forest? Compared to so many other regions?



And it kind of makes me sad. Such a lost opportunity. I mean... Imagine a HUGE (and potentially dangerous) Forest Right SMACK in the middle of the Island. I mean.. GIANT forest... the kind that if you wander off the road, you can get lost... REALLY lost... Like.. DESERT LOST ... or the kind of Lost I get now when I go to the Dale... :p

Imagine a forest with so many cut-backs and backdoors and hideaways that litterally if you didn't invest serious time learning the paths, you might never learn them (Kind of like how the dale is now)

And... inside it... if you know the way... there is an Elven City... Magical elven city... a city that is the WONDER of the island -cuz you know... Elves!

Magical elven cities are what they write novels about. Of course.. Tolken does an excellent job... And Peter Jackson did it justice in his films (imo) ((Those matt paintings of Rivendale when the dwarves come upon it in the Hobbit is just wicked))


And.. in another direction... Deep deep DEEP inside this MASSIVE forest... A druid grove. Also, tucked deep insde the forest... in a place you likely would NEVER stumblin into unless you knew the way.


Imagine getting to the border of Arlith Forest... and needing an NPC GUIDE to take you through to the other side safely (Think Barbarian Guides in the Dark Spires.. or the Skull Crag Ranger Station ranger Guide) -and if you were to undertake the journey into Arelith Forest yourself... oohh.. you better be prepared...

Well, that's my dream anyway. I wish it were so. It makes me sad it isn't like that. I feel it is a lost opportunity for this mod.


So ends my opEd.. .I still love you, Arelith Forest... but you do make me a little sad sometimes.

Thanks for reading.

-tK

I would like lost like dale but not lost like desert. I would also like to see a guide that turns the forest skippijg process into a system that connects different parts of arelith with less portal access.

I don't want it to be the lost desert + forest of despair.

There are plans to update it in the future. It's on The List.

A grand forest full of secrets for nature-based characters to explore and thrive in would be awesome.

Does anyone else remember the old, pre silver-glades Arelith forest? It was huge. Dangerous as hell in some areas, but it had a very "large" feeling to it. I kinda miss it sometimes.

Hey, when we updated it it was dope! That was only-

*checks notes*


oh over a decade ago okay. i made the cricket caves like 12 years ago, and the only update the forest has gotten since then has been to add that gnoll dungeon.

glad to hear it'll be getting updated but for gods sake please remove shadowhaunts they arent real and make no sense

The Grove (faction) has more than 80 members, yet The Grove (place) is always empty.

Unless there is a specific reason to be there (a moot, for instance), there is no reason to go to the Grove. There are no services there; there is no faction house; it is not tied to the writ system; the only reason people do visit is to [find out in-game mechanic redacted].

Can I say, as well, that from both an IC and OOC perspective, the constant UD raids on the Grove are getting tiring. Every other night it seems we're bothered by someone seeking retribution for something some unrelated surfacer did. UDers can't enter Myon, because of the mythal. Bendir is fortified. The tower is defended by NPC guards and magic. So where do they go? Why the Grove, of course! Because the only defenses it has are some mid-level dryads who summon elder elementals. It's getting old.

The forest, and the Grove itself, both dramatically need an update. Compared to the vastness of the areas around Guldorand, Arelith Forest feels like a prickly thicket (heh) on the side of the road. The Grove needs functioning defenses because both I and my character are tired of Underdarkers regularly attacking it to "teach the surface a lesson," even when the Grove had nothing to do with whatever they're presently aggrieved about.

There needs to be a reason why people would go there. Make Clarissa give forest-relevant writ quests. Something. Anything. Please?

If the forest is getting updated, can it get a name change too?

I would love if it was changed from Arelith Forest to the Heartwood. Have the forest named the Heartwood (ie forest at the heart of the island) and the Grove within it is the Heartwood Grove. It just makes sense linguistically, and I think would be better.

theCountofMonteCristo wrote: Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:08 pm If the forest is getting updated, can it get a name change too?

I would love if it was changed from Arelith Forest to the Heartwood. Have the forest named the Heartwood (ie forest at the heart of the island) and the Grove within it is the Heartwood Grove. It just makes sense linguistically, and I think would be better.

1. Yes. The whole forest being knowing as the Heartwood would be great.

2. I really love parts of the Old Forest, particularly Silver Glades, the Road to Benwick, the crossroads, Twin Falls Gap. I hope these wouldn't really change.

3. I also don't want shadowhaunts anymore. There should be devils outside of Benwick, not shadows (let's restrict them to the Shadow Wood, but even then... can we get like shadow-undead?)

4. The Grove has had increasingly meta-importance because of server additions over the years, yet it's really just left to be tended to by dryads and an age-old druidess. I think it needs to be up to snuff (the dream is that Myon crashes into it and the elves and druids guard the remnants of the ruins, etc)

5. the Temple of Silvanus should migrate to the Grove or something. its weird

This tends to be a lesser shared opinion, but I'd really love to see more large areas of pure wilderness that are not broken up by roads or ruins. Just trees, water, animals, nature, and unique places for people to RP. Vast expanses of forest that can be traveled through for the sake of immersion, and these areas could be strategically placed as not to force anyone to go through them if they are trying to reach a certain location (Minmir, Myon, Bendir, etc). Instead, if you know the way, you can visit these wide ranges of forest nature and explore them to truly find the peace of the forest without running into any hostile NPCs, just docile ones.

As for the Grove, it's true that it has become highly active. But it's also become an easy target because of its ease of access and the points aforementioned above by Aadra, in addition to the lack of any real cause to stay for any long periods of time unless something is happening.

I'm glad to read that additions are eventually coming to the Grove itself and the forest as a whole. I'd like to see the stone seats in the Grove actually arranged in a circle, treant defenders outside, maybe some faction mechanics that can be put in place so its not completely defenseless and/or so we can use a banishment system. Maybe a new oasis area that can be accessed through the Grove, but only by characters of the corresponding nature classes, similar to the Dreaming Tree.

I could spitball ideas all day of course and I have no idea if we're anywhere near seeing the forest get a remaster with everything else going on. But I'm really glad it's being considered!

I remember when the Arelith forest was one area. I think the spawns were worgs. That was... 2004?

I have said this before, and I've even made a few suggestions over the years, but I will say it again:

The Arelith Forest could indeed use a size update, but more than that, I think it could benefit from an update in its depth. Anything that could be done to make it feel less like an open aired dungeon, the better.

In my mind, it should be a lot more like Tolkien's Doriath, Nargotrond and Gondolin, even. Hidden, mysterious, secretive and beautiful.

No need for abyss or sibayad styled transitions, but something to make it feel like a fantastic and deep woodland would be awesome.


More this:



Less this:



(I know that might be a bit unfair, and it's coming from someone who played a couple of characters heavily based around those areas, but it gets my point across).

Dr. B wrote: Tue Aug 18, 2020 3:43 pm I remember when the Arelith forest was one area. I think the spawns were worgs. That was... 2004?

don't forget the malar panthers and green slaadi

I would love it if Arelith Forest and wilderness areas beyond were much larger, much more "wild" with little pockets of something instead of feeling like an overdeveloped state park, had support for tribal monster RP with perhaps a savage wilderness outpost starting location, and maybe it could be its own server split from surface.

That is only an "I would love it if". I do not expect anything to happen.

I mean, I agree with all of this, and it's cool and all. The only downside however (just to remember) is that larger areas tend to be... it tends to be rarer to accidently run into people. Both because of the sheer size, and also because folk get impatient and just end up portaling wherever they want to go.
(And no, removing the portal system is not an option.)
I mean - on the whole I think that I'd still prefer it if Arelith/Heartwood/Shallow Wood Forest were a larger, more wate-landish area, and a lot of the other suggestions are ace, so consider me on side with this. But it does have that one downside to consider.

The GrumpyCat wrote: Tue Aug 18, 2020 8:56 pm I mean, I agree with all of this, and it's cool and all. The only downside however (just to remember) is that larger areas tend to be... it tends to be rarer to accidently run into people. Both because of the sheer size, and also because folk get impatient and just end up portaling wherever they want to go.
(And no, removing the portal system is not an option.)
I mean - on the whole I think that I'd still prefer it if Arelith/Heartwood/Shallow Wood Forest were a larger, more wate-landish area, and a lot of the other suggestions are ace, so consider me on side with this. But it does have that one downside to consider.

Easy to work around with cool mechanics that have been sugested in the past:

Paths and shortcuts only usable by druids and rangers (or if one is in the party) that cut the traveling time considerably.

The GrumpyCat wrote: Tue Aug 18, 2020 8:56 pm I mean, I agree with all of this, and it's cool and all. The only downside however (just to remember) is that larger areas tend to be... it tends to be rarer to accidently run into people. Both because of the sheer size, and also because folk get impatient and just end up portaling wherever they want to go.
(And no, removing the portal system is not an option.)
I mean - on the whole I think that I'd still prefer it if Arelith/Heartwood/Shallow Wood Forest were a larger, more wate-landish area, and a lot of the other suggestions are ace, so consider me on side with this. But it does have that one downside to consider.

I totally get the downside to this. However, my solution would be to create large natural wilderness areas as previously described (without ruins, settlements, roads, etc) and have them accessible through different paths of the already established forest. That way these nature areas can be accessed by choice, and are not a mandatory path of travel to go from point to point.

Seeing large planes, forests, rolling hills or mountains, that aren't broken up by any sign of civilization and are just pure areas of wilderness expanse full of secret things to find and animals - Would be, in my opinion, an incredible addition.

My only request is that these areas not be overfilled with hostile mobs. I love the new areas around Guldorand/Soulhaven but you can't take ten steps without running into a gang of ettins/rocs/harpies and it REALLY puts a hamper on travel RP.

Aardra wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 4:21 am My only request is that these areas not be overfilled with hostile mobs. I love the new areas around Guldorand/Soulhaven but you can't take ten steps without running into a gang of ettins/rocs/harpies and it REALLY puts a hamper on travel RP.

Exactly. I'd like to see new wilderness areas completely free of hostile NPCs. Just big wilds to explore with passive animals.

I would love an area between the Heartwood and the Silver Glade that's non-hostile, filled with neutral animals/fey/etc, as a place to build a few more shrines and monuments. Maybe throw in a few NPC Rangers for defense, some lore-appropriate peddlers, an outpost for a Speedy...

Some more ways to comfortably thrive in the Forest, I suppose.

Arcbled wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 3:38 pm I would love an area between the Heartwood and the Silver Glade that's non-hostile, filled with neutral animals/fey/etc, as a place to build a few more shrines and monuments. Maybe throw in a few NPC Rangers for defense, some lore-appropriate peddlers, an outpost for a Speedy...

Some more ways to comfortably thrive in the Forest, I suppose.

I must admit I like non hostile wilderness too, but I would need to lower fixture limit to about 15 in any such area, as players would definitely use that opportunity to turn it into a little town. Last time I attempted a non hostile 'natural' exterior was the Shyr Meadows. Within 48 hours the whole are was filled with furniture.

Fair point. The Grove itself is probably a better place for altars and the like really, if there were more room to fit things in.

Irongron wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 4:04 pm

Arcbled wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 3:38 pm I would love an area between the Heartwood and the Silver Glade that's non-hostile, filled with neutral animals/fey/etc, as a place to build a few more shrines and monuments. Maybe throw in a few NPC Rangers for defense, some lore-appropriate peddlers, an outpost for a Speedy...

Some more ways to comfortably thrive in the Forest, I suppose.

I must admit I like non hostile wilderness too, but I would need to lower fixture limit to about 15 in any such area, as players would definitely use that opportunity to turn it into a little town. Last time I attempted a non hostile 'natural' exterior was the Shyr Meadows. Within 48 hours the whole are was filled with furniture.

I'd honestly be fine with 0 fixtures allowed in wilderness areas. Keep them wild! The last thing we need are tents and tables everywhere, or the countless number of billboards you see advertising shops on all the roads.

if/when the forest is reworked I really *hope* there will be a section of 5-10 screens which will work like abyss/desert but in some of those random screens there will be caravans to other sections of the forest.

AstralUniverse wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 9:43 pm if/when the forest is reworked I really *hope* there will be a section of 5-10 screens which will work like abyss/desert but in some of those random screens there will be caravans to other sections of the forest.

Please no more random transitions. Please.

I understand that there is a need for creating the impression of a massive forest/dessert that people will get lost in but all it does is make me avoid it like the plague, especially when I have a limited time to play.

-S