Whats Going on with Portal Stones

[MightyDan]

Hello,
Been involved in two recent attempts at portal stone activation. Both failed miserably, last one resulted in adventurers death! Are we basically saying you don't want any more portal stones in the game or have we just been EXTREMELY unlucky? I don't might a chance of death/failure but seems to of been a huge amount of effort put into flogging a dead horse.

[Medron Pryde]

They just got a LOT more difficult to work with.

Which probably means IF they work you'll get a major prize.  ;)

[Chenier]

It's almost as if portal stone events weren't supposed to be a core aspect of this game that occurs on a monthly basis, eh?

[Anaris]

Not sure what island you're on, but there was a recent event mainly on Beluaterra that changed how portal stones work.

In-character, the aether between worlds has been destabilized by so many portal stones being activated over the past few years, and now doing so is dangerous.

Out-of-character, as Chénier says, portal stones were never intended to be such a common thing (except during a couple of invasions).

The inventory page gives a pretty clear warning about the difficulties and dangers of using portal stones now.

[MightyDan]

My main character yes was on Beluaterra. Don't want to sound like a "cry baby" but when you put a lot of time and effort into a project and it doesn't work its obviously disappointing especially when your character simply dies with very little roleplay or story to go with it. Adventurers seem to of been weakened too much and if there is no reward for trying to roleplay with them it seems kind of pointless. Just my opinion but I haven't got the energy to start another adventurer character again.

[Anaris]

Portal stones were never intended to be a major part of the noble or adventurer game. They have had a vastly outsized effect on the game (especially stable islands) for far too long, and we've had a lot of complaints about itâ€"complaints that were, in our view, quite justified.

We took steps to rein in their influence and ensure that they are not something that anyone thinks of as a go-to method for helping their realm in wars anymore.

I am sorry you lost a character to it, but there were clear warnings that this was a danger.

[MightyDan]

Surely would of been easier (and fairer) to simply make stones harder to find rather than giving false hope/fun once a full set is found? No worries though - I AM sounding like a cry baby so I will go bury my character and get over it!

[Chenier]

Surely would of been easier (and fairer) to simply make stones harder to find rather than giving false hope/fun once a full set is found? No worries though - I AM sounding like a cry baby so I will go bury my character and get over it!

I see nothing unfair about it. The mechanics are the same for everyone.

BM was never meant to be D&D. It was never meant to be a "tactic" to use portal stones.

[MightyDan]

Fair as in what's the point wasting everyone's time if it isn't going to work anyway.

What was the point in portal stones then if not to hunt high and low for them and then try and use them?

You could say the mechanics are the same for everyone about everything in BM that anyone complains about (eg all the uproar when Bara'Khur got hit by adventurers.)

However I aint arguing - I'm just saying in my opinion it has spoiled a whole chunk of the game for me.

[Zakky]

Fair as in what's the point wasting everyone's time if it isn't going to work anyway.

What was the point in portal stones then if not to hunt high and low for them and then try and use them?

You could say the mechanics are the same for everyone about everything in BM that anyone complains about (eg all the uproar when Bara'Khur got hit by adventurers.)

However I aint arguing - I'm just saying in my opinion it has spoiled a whole chunk of the game for me.

Don't bury your character. Find a scroll of healing and go resurrect it.

[MightyDan]

Don't bury your character. Find a scroll of healing and go resurrect it.

Too late. RIP Paul

[Weisz Guys]

On a minor technical point it would be useful if the portal stone failure/death message went to all in the region rather than just the individual.  In the middle of an attempted collective RP those remaining had to wait a couple of days to figure out what was going on from a supposed crucial moment.

An unintended consequence of the portal stones changes might create an opposite incentive to what seems to be being encourage.  Namely, if you do find a few portal stones you effectively start an arms race.  If you do not use them and someone else activates a portal, the implication of the last event was you would lose half of them.  Or was that element a one off?

If BT isn't meant to be a bit D&D, or whitewalker influenced if you prefer, then perhaps someone could tell the legions of undead which keep crashing into our walls and sending bored players to experiment with what little variables left they can find?  The main portal stone event which seems to have caused upset was because it was far too powerful.  On BT where mystic happenings are not out of place, more frequent but far less powerful portal events could still be positive as well as meaning people outside the inner circle get a chance to learn about them prior to major daimon events.

Finally to answer your question M-Dan, my impression was you were slightly unlucky but certainly not extremely.  The 1st failed event, we didn't get the outcome we were looking for, partly because you cannot always expect direct results and our request (via an alchemy theme, that gold funds should be boosted as lords/knights were becoming impoverished) was either not deemed worthy, or more likely was simply overtaken by the more pressing narrative of the portal stones being reformed at the very time we were activating them.  The 2nd attempt as you accepted you knew there were risks, so you were only somewhat unlucky.  We learned the death chance certainly is not a negligible one.  I suppose part of your grievance is whether our efforts were always going to be an unrewarded endeavour even if you did avoid the death risk.  That I don't know, and knowing would be useful to managing expectations.

Finally though I will turn it around and say you did not fail and thus were not unlucky after all!?  You drove an RP that definitely engaged 3 of the nobles of my realm and drew in another 4 adventurers from elsewhere along with one mysterious passing tramp.  I understand some disappointment but I and others enjoyed elements of it, and hope you did too at times?  Thus we were successful in one meaningful sense.  We had fun, learnt a tiny bit and added a line of RP we can still pursue.  Cheers.

[Anaris]

On a minor technical point it would be useful if the portal stone failure/death message went to all in the region rather than just the individual.  In the middle of an attempted collective RP those remaining had to wait a couple of days to figure out what was going on from a supposed crucial moment.

An excellent thought. I will make a note to add this (or ask another dev to do so).

An unintended consequence of the portal stones changes might create an opposite incentive to what seems to be being encourage.  Namely, if you do find a few portal stones you effectively start an arms race.  If you do not use them and someone else activates a portal, the implication of the last event was you would lose half of them.  Or was that element a one off?

No, that was part of the big event, and we did it manually. It's not something I expect to be doing again.

[Chenier]

Portal stones now have a fail chance. Doesn't mean they will always fail.

Would be sensible to link it with spellcasting skill, but not that it changes much to anything.

Also, the undead aren't player-controlled. There's a great thematic difference between adding some inhuman foes, and having the players wield godly magic all the time.

[MightyDan]

Finally to answer your question M-Dan, my impression was you were slightly unlucky but certainly not extremely.  The 1st failed event, we didn't get the outcome we were looking for, partly because you cannot always expect direct results and our request (via an alchemy theme, that gold funds should be boosted as lords/knights were becoming impoverished) was either not deemed worthy, or more likely was simply overtaken by the more pressing narrative of the portal stones being reformed at the very time we were activating them.  The 2nd attempt as you accepted you knew there were risks, so you were only somewhat unlucky.  We learned the death chance certainly is not a negligible one.  I suppose part of your grievance is whether our efforts were always going to be an unrewarded endeavour even if you did avoid the death risk.  That I don't know, and knowing would be useful to managing expectations.

Finally though I will turn it around and say you did not fail and thus were not unlucky after all!?  You drove an RP that definitely engaged 3 of the nobles of my realm and drew in another 4 adventurers from elsewhere along with one mysterious passing tramp.  I understand some disappointment but I and others enjoyed elements of it, and hope you did too at times?  Thus we were successful in one meaningful sense.  We had fun, learnt a tiny bit and added a line of RP we can still pursue.  Cheers.

Wise words Mr Emperor. You should be a politician. I was fun doing some good old fashioned RP and gathering our little party. Reminded me of the good old days of Warhammer! Maybe we will try again one day.

On another technical note I think a glitch had effected Paul - he seemed to be healing from his wounds and if I'd left him long enough think he would of recovered.... didn't seem quite right seeing as his head exploded.