things I just really like

[2d6 emotional damage]

per title.

I really like the writ system. It used to be very hard as someone "not in the know" of Arelith to know where to go for grinding or finding adventure, but now you have some direction as to where to start looking, and plenty of variety to chose from. The EXP gain is very considerable, so much so that I'm generally content to do my 3 daily writs of adventuring and then spend the rest of my time RPing. I really enjoy the balance between grind, progression, and RP the writ system enables.

I really like spellsword. It's incredibly fun. I like that it gives you the avenue of being able to RP as a wizard, knowing lore and doing cool magic, but also the aesthetic of being a martial class with swords and fighting. To me, spellsword has always been the epitome of what a fantasy character is like and the freedom NWN allows for character design. It's also just fun. I like the clicky buttons that do damage and having variety in damage types. It feels rewarding to have a toolbox full of things to use.

I really really like warlocks. I love the design, the concepts, the different flavors of pacts. They're easy and rewarding to play, offer very cool RP avenues. I also like that you can chose between being a blaster or being a conjurer. Every pact feels thematic and unique with a "vision" in mind for where you could go for each. Great design, feels crunchy.

boats. I love this boat system. Wow. It's so cool. From treasure maps to upgrading your ship, buying ammunition and spending time collecting materials that have a mechanical pay off for the effort is just so satisfying. It's nice to see your effort rewarded in a tangible way. Perhaps a controversial opinion, but I also really enjoy how the ship system has provided a sort of quasi-battle ground for PvP to happen that is very opt-in and away from settlements. To me, the ship warfare system offers a cool way to PvP with other players that isn't just a matter of who built the best or who clicked buttons better. I have come to see different crews as football teams going out and winning (or losing) games and all the corresponding RP from such is similar. Just very cool and I really like the direction it pulls group conflict.

I will add more as I think of them. please do not roast my opinions on this I like. instead, consider contributing things you really like about the server design.

[RedGiant]

This is a great thread.

I also love.
Goblinoid Fortress
Gulderand
Deep Wells
Paladin Update
New Clothing Options
Expanded Weapons Offerings
Anything Weeb.

[Edens_Fall]

Cleric Update
Spellsword Update
Upcoming Trade Post Update
Sibayad
Andunor
Server Lore/History
Necromancy

. . . . pretty much everything that Arelith!

Well, minus elves of course

[Amateur Hour]

The Commoner Class. I am an insane person who enjoys getting to play a boring background character, and I love that there's a way for me to do that on this server.

The Outfit and Description Systems. As previously stated, I am an insane person, and all my characters have way more outfits than I can reasonably justify for a pre-industrialized society. I love that I can easily switch my outfit and my description with a single command so everything matches nicely.

[Good Character]

Writ system for sure. Those who were here before know it was a slog to level your character. Most people hardly hit 30 on a character. I especially love how the newer writs give some sort of direction of where to go without b0eing blatantly obvious, and how any player can help with a writ unlike before.

Spellsword continues to be my favorite class.

I love all the classes that offer involvement in PvP beyond
clicking (e.g. Knight, Spellsword, Cavalier, Swashbuckler, Warlock, etc.).

Honorable mentions: Astrolabe, Dis, Shadow Cordor, Guldorand.

[Paint]

The treehouse in the heartwood grove. I need more excuses to go up there. One of my favorite maps on the whole isle. Uh, there's probably other things I could list, but that's the first one that springs to mind.

[CookieMonster]

I love that Wards and Summons follow you cross server. I don't know who managed it or how, but I will love them forever.

[LivelyParticle]

Many new updates and cool features that are released regularly

The approachability of the devs/team for questions and clarifications

Friends who try to help you despite Kobayashi Maru

[MRFTW]

-guard
-associate tool
-loremaster
-spontaneous divine casters

And now the sustenance spell. I wasn't previously religious but someone's clearly heard my prayers with this one.

[xanrael]

Autoloot

Something I don't think about 99% of the time but was a game changer for me.

[MissEvelyn]

I like dynamic ambient encounters~
"A pack of ogres is hunting in the area" is both terrifying and exciting to see when you least expect it.
Or the traveling huntsman, merchant, paladin, and what else have you

[seppuku me senpai]

This fell off the first page. For shame.

I really like the fishing system and the charm of bug jars. I love running around waving my bug jar hunting for e g g.

Dis is absolutely beautiful and such a well crafted zone. Nothing compares to the level of detail, craft, and character of Dis on any NWN server. It is a perfect study on world building through game/area design, telling a story by showing it through character motivations.

The factions. There's so many right now. The server feels like a living hub of adventurers and things going on between them. It's really cool to learn what people have been up to and stumble across a whole complicated and intense story going on between factions. It's just neat.

[Tabby]

This thread!! Thanks for bringing in something posetive for a change!! Its been generally dreadful negative posts.

+ Guldorand, its big and beutiful.
+ New Recipees
+ monthly new content (I appreciate alot, all the work the devs do)
+ Loremaster subclass
+ Possibility to play as a Commoner
+ Tracking / Read Tracks
+ New Classes
+ House / Shop system (particular, the new bidding system)

[2d6 emotional damage]

i'm back at it again.

I can't believe I'm going to say this but, Andunor. Wow.

From a game design perspective, it's perfect. The Hub really is the hub. Whenever I see someone at the bar in the Hub, other people naturally congregate there so it's usually populated. The portal chamber area is near by. All the amenities are in one area. It's such a high traffick'd zone that you don't even need NPCs there to make it feel lived in, it's always lived in. I love the claustrophobic feel of it too, you can always run into someone else.

I love how easy it is to get around to the other districts too. It's easy to step away from the main square and go to your turf for your turf stuff. And there's plenty of nooks that are 'public' but off to the side for a private but findable conversation. Wow. 12/10. Great execution, and it's functioning like it should.

Speaking of someone else, I am shocked by the good manners and surprisingly warm reception of other characters there. I remember old days where anyone not a Drow had to be on their toes for casual PvP smackings, but I have not had that feeling at all. I do feel that lingering possibility of violence (appropriate) but it is never so far that I feel unwelcome or targeted unduly. I'm really impressed by how far Andunor has come as an RP hub. It feels fantastic, alien, dangerous, and exciting filled with unique characters. AND. The players themselves seem to be really welcoming of new people in a way that is thematic but not alienating or coercive. I had great RP with a goblin yesterday. I'm excited to roleplay with a minotaur. What a time to be alive.

[Kenji]

I loved Skal.

The isle broke away from the typical "Arelith" experience where hardly anything political or settlement conflict exists. This place is where I, as a player, felt the most immersive experience. Not everything is about slaying an epic foe such as a dragon or visiting exotic places like a different plane, but the isle embraces the mundane. Skal provides a sense of struggle with the environment and survival of the capable. It is a place of unforgiving wilds, angry nature gods, goddesses, and ice - lots and lots of ice and snow.

What is beautiful about the place is the first time exploring the isle and discovering its wonders. I still remember my first character getting jumped by hidden spiders that would have venomous bites in the "tutorial cave", or my first character getting crit'd by beetles beneath the longhouse for 30hp and instantly got sent to the fugue. The unforgiving environment, coupled with hardly any handholding on gameplay or direction, was an absolute treat and reminded me of the design direction of one of my favorite games: Dark Souls.

I have always looked forward to gathering around the bonfire for a long while. To look for adventurers to brave the Xvart mines together, eradicate the risen undead in Ghostwood, or even take on the minotaurs deep in the mountains. It was fantastic to meet and interact with a variety of character concepts cramped onto the isle of Skal that permitted very intense and interesting interactions. Be it righteous paladins, brooding rangers, covetous mercenaries, curious scholars, ambitious necromancers, sketchy warlocks, angry clergy of the Furies, to even the mundane ratcatcher, woodsmen, merchants, or fishers amongst them all.

This experience doesn't last, however. Because on my 10th character, I already know to avoid the fire trap right before engaging the Xvart queen, rush through the docks of Harbage to avoid the barrage of arrows, and use the darkness spell on the Minotaur chief. As a player, I already know of my characters' challenges ahead.

What is left uncertain are the player characters and concepts that my character will meet in the frozen domain of the Furies. And yet, what is certain then is that they will almost always leave after exhausting their experience on Skal, too.

Playing on Skal was an unforgettable experience, yet it is also one I desperately try to forget, if only to experience that sense of wonder for exploration of the unknown all over again.

[Hazard]

I love the little jumpy-dance kobolds and goblins do sometimes.

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

Path of the True Flame.

The idea of giving up all other spells for unlimited spellcasts of one type of spell was originally a jarring shock for me - not because I liked it, but because I believe a lot of the magical lore and awe in the game comes from the vancian system and the limited nature of magic - while brave heroes and adventurers from mundane backgrounds can achieve legendary feats with proper steel and application of prodigious strength, magic can change the fabric of reality- for an equal effort of a different sort that is limited not in HP and Constitution, but in spell slots and cleverness.

Most mages only get to survive long enough to shine in their chosen field by applying abjuration and transmutation spells first; having unlimited spells of only one type seemed unique enough to give it a go, and my favorite spell school has always been evocation.

To be perfectly honest, I liked it so much that I'd like to see a clone of the path for each of the spell schools, although some such applications (like divination) would need more spells added to fill out the spell levels.

[Drowble Oh Seven]

I love those little flavour descriptions that pop up with the weather, or when you enter an area, or when you pass a particular terrain feature, or - Well. Whenever, really. They're always a pleasant surprise and a nice little hook for my own emotes.



Thank you, description writer, wherever you are.

[Good Character]

Mentioned stuff before but one of my favorite things is random encounters, especially the thematic ones. They're so rare nowadays so I don't want to spoil them but an example would be like the bridge troll over the lake in Skal.

I hope we see more random encounters but especially in dungeons and that could really put adventurers in a predicament.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

I really like the change so that people of any level can help out with writs. A few times now I've been able to come and help players who were lost and not sure where to go, or come along and help destroy a phylactery and breach enemies with acid sheath.

[D4wN]

Same! I love that you can now get help from anyone with writs. It allows for so much more collaboration. And for those in quieter time zones, it allows them to complete writs too.

Other likes! (Btw. Great thread. Very positive):

- Majority of the Arelith players
- Cleric Domain changes
- Aesthetics changes (Accessories, heads, clothing etc.)
- Sailing & Fishing
- QoL changes such as scroll case filter, auto-loot
- Impacting the world and making small changes to it through fixtures, stories, books/notebooks etc.
- Languages / Learning languages
- Player events (It takes so much effort! Kudos to everyone who does this)
- Planeswalking & exploring
- Crafting
- The new tracks / investigation options / mechanics
- Shop & Quarters (and yes, the bidding system. Aussies finally have a real chance too!)

[Griefmaker]

I really like the change so that people of any level can help out with writs. A few times now I've been able to come and help players who were lost and not sure where to go, or come along and help destroy a phylactery and breach enemies with acid sheath.

I agree with this 100%. I love that an experienced wanderer or knowledgeable wizard or a mentor to his apprentice or something like that is able to happen now. Sure, it kills the fighting xp, but RP is the name of the game and it is great!

When I play, I always like to get groups of people adventuring together and I like not having to worry about "cripes, character xxx is a lot of fun, but the group wants to do a writ and it would prevent it". To be honest though, even before the change I would not turn away someone, but I prefer how it is now.