Monster Problems

[Zakilevo]

I want Atamara back

Bring players and you can have it back!

[Anaris]

Those are some pretty good points.

I feel like control of non-fortified regions ought to me more fluid. Right now takeovers are just a bunch of either meaningless violence where even the whitest of knights suddenly turn into violent hooligans, or endless freedom celebrations that set regions awash in ale for a week. And if the invaders aren't taking over, they're usually just burning things to the ground, slaughtering hundreds of peasants in the process. War is simply too devastating to be on the losing side, so most realms won't risk it unless victory is all but assured. Other realms just simply can't afford to take much land from their neighbors. Realms should be able to benefit from occupying land without actually taking it over or looting it to cinders.

I've actually had some interesting ideas recently in this general vein: broadly, increasing the speed and dynamism of wars, making sieges both more important and more siege-like (interdicting traffic, maybe sapping walls or something, etc).

Nothing that's likely to happen in the immediate future, but definitely some interesting things to think about.

[DeVerci]

Monsters went from being passive and merely touring through our regions to going on an all out blitz and taking over regions they've ignored for weeks.

[Sonya]

I understand the idea of the monster/undeads to be an incentive to avoid realms to become bigger, specially those on the rogue borders, causing them to stretch and the other realm lands to survive.

But for a realm like Westgard, who initially was a refuge for those people from other continents is useless, It will soon be the second time where we lose all region to monster, and is not like we have been sitting roleplaying how the flower garden are pretty or tourneys, we haven't got time to settle in properly.

We have no bles who haven't got stated since the first day, i got my stated two weeks ago, but before that i spend 6 months living of the capital city's charity. how do you expect a realm of new players to survive? (yes even if we are long time players we are new to Dwilight and we were thrown in a city surrounded by monsters)

I feel jealous of Xavax, they are having a blast right now, and if it wasn't for those constant wave of monsters we would have settled long time ago, is really like a sand castle, the wave destroy it every time you have almost finished and is getting really annoying.

If Westgard had the mere chance of settle in properly half of Dwilight would be Burning by now.

Regards.

[Konrad]

Don't worry Westgard, you just gotta get your density up!

[Zakilevo]

If I remember correctly, they don't really start a TO unless many of them gather in one place.

From the looks of it, they seem to be pouring out now that they finished Zuma off.

Zuma has been attracting and killing monsters but now they are gone, human realms will have to deal with them directly.

The problem with Dwilight is, eastern realms are expanding inward which puts more pressure on outer realms like Westgard and Madina.

If monsters become too unbearable, you may want to talk to Anaris. I remember him saying he doesn't want Westgard to get wiped out.

[Sacha]

If I remember correctly, they don't really start a TO unless many of them gather in one place.

True, but most of the time it happens so fast you have almost no time to counter them. It's like suddenly all hordes in the area converge on one region in the span of 2-3 turns.

[Schancke]

Don't worry Westgard, you just gotta get your density up!

Indeed that should pose no problem, we'll be at 6 nobles pr. region in a few days 

[Zappy99]

Alright I'm getting seriously tired of all these monsters. Luria player here. We have been planning for quite a while to split our realm, once we had recovered a bit, to add a little more dynamism and maybe attract some new players. Several months ago, I announced the realm split and told people to prepare for it happening a few weeks later.

Then a monster horde arrived and took a few regions. We eventually beat them back and retook the regions. Then another horde arrived and the same thing happened. Then another. And another.

By all rights, we should have completely recovered and been ready for the split by now. A few months ago, I had been looking forward to engaging in more inter-realm politicking and RP'ing the restoration of the Lurian Empire. It would have breathed new life into a realm that is slowly dying after the massive population loss and the loss of our territories. Now I can look forward to several months of taking regions and fighting endless hordes of monsters. It's absolutely ridiculous - especially considering we are a realm in the middle of the island and with one of the largest adventurer pops - and it's seriously sapping my enjoyment of the game. There is no activity in our realm anymore, only orders and monster reports, we can't do anything else.

These monsters are a !@#$ing farce, pardon my French. The first time we tried to increase the density, we lost the western island and there was a large exodus of players. Now we have half an island. Of course, you say, I could just move to another realm if it's too bad, but this shouldn't even have happened in the first place! We have had so many plans in Luria to make the game more fun for ourselves, but they're all impossible because of the monsters. I am not playing this game to play whack-a-mole with 10k hordes, I am playing it to RP and play against PLAYERS, and I'm just not getting that any more.

I have played this game for years and enjoyed it immensely, but if this doesn't get better I don't know if I'll be continuing.

[Zakilevo]

You have EC if you want to fight people.

[Victor C]

Alright I'm getting seriously tired of all these monsters. Luria player here. We have been planning for quite a while to split our realm, once we had recovered a bit, to add a little more dynamism and maybe attract some new players. Several months ago, I announced the realm split and told people to prepare for it happening a few weeks later.

Then a monster horde arrived and took a few regions. We eventually beat them back and retook the regions. Then another horde arrived and the same thing happened. Then another. And another.

By all rights, we should have completely recovered and been ready for the split by now. A few months ago, I had been looking forward to engaging in more inter-realm politicking and RP'ing the restoration of the Lurian Empire. It would have breathed new life into a realm that is slowly dying after the massive population loss and the loss of our territories. Now I can look forward to several months of taking regions and fighting endless hordes of monsters. It's absolutely ridiculous - especially considering we are a realm in the middle of the island and with one of the largest adventurer pops - and it's seriously sapping my enjoyment of the game. There is no activity in our realm anymore, only orders and monster reports, we can't do anything else.

These monsters are a !@#$ing farce, pardon my French. The first time we tried to increase the density, we lost the western island and there was a large exodus of players. Now we have half an island. Of course, you say, I could just move to another realm if it's too bad, but this shouldn't even have happened in the first place! We have had so many plans in Luria to make the game more fun for ourselves, but they're all impossible because of the monsters. I am not playing this game to play whack-a-mole with 10k hordes, I am playing it to RP and play against PLAYERS, and I'm just not getting that any more.

I have played this game for years and enjoyed it immensely, but if this doesn't get better I don't know if I'll be continuing.

The Rouge's purpose is to kill realms, you'll have to deal with it and survive unfortunately. People keep growing isolated, and no wars were going to begin, you're saying rouges are preventing PvP? Unfortunately, players are preventing PvP.

There is more political opportunity available now than there has been in several years. Take advantage of this or don't complain that nothing is happening... I started a giant conflict in my realm EASILY. Take the initiative if you want something to happen.

You're about to split? Have you not payed attention...? The rouges are concentrating density. The Daimons are gone, now the rouges are REALLY going to be doing their job.

You know the purpose of the rouges, attempting to go against its purpose and then complaining because you can't do it safely is like if I got angry at a bee for stinging me while I put my head in its hive.

[Zakilevo]

Yes. Monsters are trying to push people closer. I can see some problems with this though like Fissoa and Madina case. Fissoa will probably die at some point and Madina will be completely alone. Madina will probably fall eventually but that will take a long time.

Why are all realms being attacked? So people don't complain about how the dev team is trying to favor certain realms. I actually hope they would choose few realms and wipe them out though to force people to be in a certain area. I know it sucks but if you have ever played on BT, you'd know what Riombara felt like. Being isolated sucks a lot. You will never be able to interact with people since there is a limit on how far you can travel with your unit.

So Madina's case, they will probably never be able to interact with other realms and fight monsters until they lose.

[Vita`]

One thing I noticed. You only play in one realm and one world. Why not try elsewhere for a fuller experience? This is one reason for having multiple characters, so your game enjoyment isn't all in one realm/world basket and its success/failure. As mentioned, there are wars on the East Island. There were wars awhile ago on the Colonies, but I have not heard news from the Colonies lately. On Beluaterra, Nothoi/Dominorum vs Nothoi has an ongoing war in the midst of a daimon Invasion. War Island...eventually. -.-

I would suggest to just go ahead with the split and continue killing rogues as you engage in inter-realm politicking. You may be the middle of the island, but that is irrelevant to rogues having mostly surrounded you. Seeing orders and clicking mechanic buttons in response doesn't take away from the 12 hours in-between turns that can be used to roleplay and describe what your character(s) are going through fighting against the monster frontier.

I agree that The Freeze was a mistake, and I wish we had done the suggested overall ramping of monsters, rather than targeting an area. And sinking Atamara then, instead of all The Freeze business. But I cannot change the past, only learn from it. This recent more gradual monster increase has been one lesson learned from the too-quick swarm across the West in The Freeze event. The spawn rate is based on the overall density of the island, not specific realms, which means all rogue borderlands feel pressure when island density is lower. As mentioned by another poster, taking regions back from rogue will lower the density, if equivalent regions are not lost elsewhere on the map or new characters created/immigrated onto the island.

The rogue's purpose is not specifically to kill realms, just to spawn and conquer regions in accordance with island-wide noble density of held regions. The daimons are not gone, but the fact their last region was taken means the daimons are no longer distracting the monsters as much.

Once you make room for your head by removing the frames, you could probably stick your head safely into a hive without getting stung. Though most of the bees will have been removed, by removing the frames. And you'll look rather idiotic. Bees are rather peaceful creatures, you know.

[GundamMerc]

Vita, I'm starting to agree with the others in here that the monsters are failing to serve their purpose. Even when Dwilight was fully colonized, it had a completely different atmosphere from other worlds because of the sheer scale of it. Morek and Astrum were massive powers with vast areas of influence, but even they couldn't control things for even half the continent. You still had Barca, Madina, Luria, and D'Hara who were involved in their own politics. I'd say that Dwilight was stronger not during the frontier age, when it was a struggle just to survive, but during the period of time when it was fully colonized. Didn't like Sanguis Astroism? Go on over to Asylon, Madina, or Barca! I truly think that Dwilight will become much more healthy if the monsters are wiped out and kept at normal levels.

[Zappy99]

Vita, I see your point with only playing one character, and I realize that my problems are partly due to my own playstyle, but I'm already having trouble making enough time for one character, let alone several. Besides, Dwilight is the only SMA island in the game. I'll try and make the best out of it, but it's still goddamn frustrating being locked in a downward spiral by PVE monsters.

Edit: Perhaps a solution would be to at least reduce the horde sizes a little and having them start fewer takeovers. The way it is now, our full army can barely beat a single horde, and there's barely any chance of us stopping them before they take a region. Furthermore, there's little time to take regions before the next one arrives, because it often takes days to clear a horde (perhaps have them disperse after being defeated once, like undead). That would do a lot to make it seem like less of an insurmountable wall, and give us a chance to actually push the rogue lands back instead of constantly retreating into a smaller and smaller corner of the map.