Feedback please

[Alphonse]

We've been running in Beta for quite a while now, and it would really help to get some feedback from you guys on how you think its going.

Whats been good for you? Whats been not so good?

Please be honest and help us make Islands even better.

Thanks

Al

[Daemona]

Whats been good for you?

The premise of the arrivals of the PC's is quite good, washing up on the shore of an island that cannot be left.

The layout of the island itself with distinct and separated northern and southern areas.

Low gold availability which forces people to look for other pursuits than the accumulation of wealth.

The concept behind the crafting that more powerful variants build on the less powerful original ones.

NPC spawns are at a good level of challenge and encourage party exploration.

DM interaction should actually be at the top of the list.

New items popping up throughout the island stimulates the necessity to explore the same areas frequently for changes.

Player RP has been great. *hint of jealousy*

Quests that are gray in nature instead of pure black and white.

Team response to any problem or suggestion.

Alignment changes toward lawful or good seem to be DM only. They are both tough to get and should be.

Availability of PrC's

Whats been not so good?

Certain key elements are a little to scarce such as cotton as it is a base for many of the items to make.

The original Fed-x quests may have been a bit tough for a starting player making it hard to reach the first level, could discourage some new players if they cannot find someone on line to help.

The team can't do anything about this but the players have to get more involved. The site must be promoted and a larger player base established.


I will add to this list later as more things come to mind.

[Kieron]

good
1. unsettled world setting. like the fact that much is wilderness and we aren't at a very advanced stage of civilisation / nation states.
2. reasonable shot of running into a dm on my playtimes (kaz in particular)
3. no epics running around as center of the universe
4. no guild politics as of yet

bad
1. limited no of "regular" players. 2 regulars i see (sonja, nat), 1 irregular (lily) and then nobody else since the first week

2. really tough for newbs, particularly those without summons. cats make much of the island unexplorable. not many starter quests. with the scattering of the ingredients even crafting becomes a difficult route. lack of equipment compounds this (see below). and while i prefer grouping, sometimes there aren't other players or they are busy, or you just can't stay with them without dieing all the time.

Could improve
1. equipment - i have mixed feelings about the lack of basic equipment. it makes basic stuff that much cooler (hurrah my tower shield). BUT some classes are more dependent on basic equipment. i was very close to taking weapon focus as a lvl 1 feat and now glad i didn't cause i wouldn't have found the weapon! tough balance i know. the 4ac difference between say plate mail + tower shield , and purchaseable chain mail + large shield is huge at low levels. it used to be that mages sucked at low levels (no hp or ac) but ruled at high levels. but without good equipment, a familiar or summoned boar/wolf is a better fighter than the fighters.

i know some of this is craftable, and now that mine is cleared of goblins that may be viable, although given the weight of ore, distance to travel and low yield / advancement of mining/weaponmaking (vs say alchemistry/herbalism) plus needed to bypass the cats, this may take awhile... my char doesn't want to be a miner/crafter but may be forced to go down that route.

2. gold/loot - be good if some low level stuff dropped gold or something sellable for more than 1gp (perhaps a furrier who pays for bear hides and beaver pelts). thus players can "hunt" as a viable alternative for financing and to buy healing supplies. right now it seems gold mainly comes in through 1 or two "chests" and i am forced to craft to heal.

3. dm mundane "adventures" - concise little mini adventures would be nice. i.e. go rescue X from this tribe of Y, and work together. a mundane challenge. lately i have mainly stumbled upon smashing different spawns with no resolution as part of a long term plot. sometimes it is nice to achieve something even if it is a minor victory/achievement, and it gets back to pnp lets-go-on-an-adventure mentality and bring a balanced group to handle it. if i can't handle a big cat, what i am doing wrestling with minions of an evil god? baby steps...

note: i did miss the goblin event which probably was such an adventure.

[Kieron]

one more good i forgot: responsiveness is great. that Terry took pity on me and fixed psionics made a huge difference to playablility, and the same with some other bugs/fixes/requests i have seen. still a small community and not one bogged down by bureaucracy is great

[Sianae]

Can't think of anything else than what has already been said above (Dae pretty much made 'the list' ).

know some of this is craftable, and now that mine is cleared of goblins that may be viable, although given the weight of ore, distance to travel and low yield / advancement of mining/weaponmaking (vs say alchemistry/herbalism) plus needed to bypass the cats, this may take awhile...

I do think the way between the mine and the forge/anvil is a little too long. Takes around 30 min. when you're heavily encumberred (most people will most likely be if they carry a decent amount of ore with them)...and then there's the cats.

[terryrayc]

good feedback, thanks.

I've adjusted some of the encounters (Cats) to make it a little less stressful getting to the mines.

Also completed a new quest tonight, it's now live.

Keep the feedback rolling, thanks.

Terry