Some observations of a possibly returning player.

Daganev

I wanted to share some thoughts in hopes that I'll be able to return to Lusternia by the end of the overhauling process.

First some background.  I used to play Lusternia for what felt like 24/7 and I spent way too much money on credits before the Elite Membership options were even available. Since then I've graduated college, got a job, got married, and had a child.  At different points in time, playing Lusternia almost prevented me from getting married and to keep a job, but I figured out the proper life balance, and switched to playing Lusternia "casually" as much as possible.   About 3 or 4 years ago, I had to stop playing all together.  I don't exactly remember why, I just remember believing that that part of my life was over, and the game was fun, but I wouldn't be playing it anymore.

Then I received an email announcement about the overhaul and the converting of cures to just 4 options, slush, wafers, steam and salve.   This got me pretty excited for a few reasons, and so I've been logging in during my comute on a train to see if I'm interested and to see what sort of changes there are.  And I'm writing this to express a few surprises and insights I've gained in the past 3 days.

1.  Wow, it's amazing how much just comes back to you, and you feel like you never left.  The world of Lusternia is amazingly immersive. I remember events and story lines like my favorite childhood movies games.  I was not expecting that experience when I logged in and looked over my character and inventory.  So well done to the game writers and players for that.

2. I'm becoming reminded of why I couldn't really play casually anymore.  I'm hoping that what little teasers I've read will be able to enable the changes I think would be needed to get me to stay and play casually for more than 1 - 3 weeks before 'quitting" again for some extended amount of time.  I'm running out of time to write this post, so I'm just going to do a bullet list info dump. Sorry if it isn't coherent.

• Losing all your defenses when you log out even for a minute or two or lose connection is a killer.  I think defenses should only be lost if you are logged out for more than 3 or 4 hours. (maybe even 8)
• Wow there is a lot to keep up with. So many skills, so many sub systems.  It would be great if more subsystems were a bit more automated.  For example, I'd like to be able to type PUT UP ALL DEFENSES, or PUT UP ALL DEFNESES POWER which would go through my skills and vials and consumables and put up my defnese, or remind me which defenses I have that could be put up (which don't consume power), and then also do so for those that do consume power.  Another example, is that I had to go around google too often to look up things that should have been more clear.  When I look at my defense and see the thing for the domoth blessings for example, it would be nice to click on the blessing and see how it's affecting me, or see what the possible domoth blessings are etc. Same with Ikons, curios, dingbats etc.  So much to keep track of, I wish it was easier to be reminded of what these things were when I encountered them in game. A lot of good work was done with the links that I don't think existed 3 years ago, and HTML5 client is hepfull as well.
• I'm really happy to see a quest log of which I believe I saw in Midkemia online that really pulled me into doing quests, which I never wanted to do before. Well done on that, it's going to be great when all the quests are put in and are made more searchable.  For example, I'd like to be able to do QUESTS GLOMDORING and get a list of all the commune related quests, rather than just the one quest which happens to have that name.  Huge project I'm sure, but definitely something I'd be happy to buy a subscription to help fund.  If I could casually play and just go through the quests 1 hour at time over weeks etc it would definitely be nice. 
• There are so many things that just about all players do client side, and it makes sense that these things need to be done client side to save processing power on the server, but boy would it be nice if these things were avialable automatically in the HTML5 client, or even done server side when possible.  The most amazing thing in the world would be for the HTML5 client to recognize what skills I have, and to make certain alias, and triggers avialble for me automatically based on those skills.  I spent way way way too much time looking through the influence skill set to remember to do Beg, then Wheedling, then Supplication.  (Though I was surprised to remember that I have to cycle through them without needing to look that up again.)  And imagine the look of shock and appreciation for a new player, or a current player on a new alt, when suddenly they gain a level and the client tells them they have a new alias available, or that an alias has been updated or they suddenly see new triggers.  It would really make the game more accessible since basically, each player has to reinvent the wheel for things many players have allready done countless times. Even if they purchase a system from someone, they have to go through this 1-3 day training process, rather than just getting immersed in the game it'self.
• I wish quests would require I happen to log in at the right time of day, but I can see how these really help keep players in the game, so wouldn't really suggest changing them, but maybe an "time lord" artifact could fake the time for people who want to pay for it.

I recognize just about everything I wrote would be a 1 year project all on it's own, and might be too huge / ambitious and might make current players feel cheated in that they had to go through the hard work and did just fine, so why can't everyone else.  But if these things were done, I certainly would be able to play casually for more than just a few short stints.  I wouldn't feel like just as I'm getting into something the hours of investment needed to take it to the next level may not be worth it.

Great game, I hope this feedback helps.

Oh and thank you to all the players that have been helping me get re-adjusted and just helping me in general.

Ssaliss

As a note, the whole "losing your defenses on logout" seems to go the way of the dodo with the overhaul (well, when we reach phase... three, was it?), so that's already being handled. I also hope that defenses are made in a way that would make a defensequeue available in FirstAid that would mimic the curequeue that already exists, which would semi-solve your "PUT UP ALL DEFENSES" issue.

Anyway, great seeing you again!

Rialorm

Afaik they cannot make all defences like that currently due to legacy code. Something with half of the defences being in an old system and the rest in a newer which is why if you disconnect some poof and some don't. Iosai explained it somewhere once upon a time. Maybe @Ieptix can elaborate.

I agree though, Lusternia is probably the second most time intensive online game I have ever played (EVE Online gets to keep the honors for that one, sorry :P). However, in the first most time intensive game they have done lots of quality of life improvements that have old vets like me breathe an audible sigh of relief as we recall how we once had to find our way through a bunch of seriously obnoxious menus and now you press a button or two and the magic happens. I believe this is what Lusternia is trying to do as well however as part of the overhaul as well as many of the wonderful fixes that both Iosai and Ieptix have brought us. I hope this trend can continue. I believe that if MUDs want to stay in the competition is it important to make them more accessible but without tarnishing their positive complexity. And for that to happen you want players to be spending as much time as possible on what matters, rather than being semi-afk somewhere fiddling with commands. Much better if you have people battling it out during that time. 

Ieptix

Some (a lot of) defenses are tied to your connection, others are linked to your character. When your connection dies, anything tied to the connection is kaput, so maintaining them between sessions isn't possible. Defenses will be universally tied to character once we get to the defense overhaul, and more than likely will last a pre-determined length of time rather than being wiped at logout (or may only get wiped after being logged out for X time, or something). We've not decided exactly how this will work yet, but it's still a long way out either way.

Daganev

Thanks for the feedback, it's exciting to hear that the defenses will eventually be tied to character.

I mostly wanted to express things that I noticed that were clearly preventing me from taking the "next steps" in "returning" to the game.  Hopefully i'll be able to enjoy the quests that take less than an hour to complete, and the relatively risk free influencing for a while longer.

It was an odd realization that I was spending more time preparing to play than actually playing.