Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MichaelAhlf 09-07-07, 05:34 PM	There is one thing scaring me most of all about the ill-advised, almost nonsensical new "region" system. It is simply this: the way they are talking about doing this, everyone's access will look exactly the same. I am not being facetious. I am looking at the MMORPG-junk way they are talking about the game being, and in MMORPG's, what do you have? Every character has the same gear at a given level, for each "role." Healer? Why you need the Healer Epic Set, m'boy. Tank? Oh, the Ultra Platinum Epic Set for you. And so on and so forth. Now, look at the system we're being asked to swallow. Vastly reduced number of regions = vastly reduced number of mods. Everyone can play every region = everyone WILL play whatever mods get a reputation for being cheesy access. End result? Very quickly, every character of each level, for each "role", will be carrying precisely the same gear and favors until they use them. Yes, in LG some of the same occurs, but there's enough variance and enough people traveling to different regions and interactives that I've never seen the same build twice, and everyone has a surprise or two up their sleeves. Between the death of far too many conventions thanks to the gigantic region / "anyone can play anywhere" nonsense and the reduction in available modules, I fully expect to see character variance go the way of the dodo bird in LFR.
Mithreinmaethor 09-07-07, 06:12 PM	So since I see that you are posting in the FR specific forums that you have decided to play LR ? <snip> If you dont care for LR, and dont want to play it, why not find other venues to post your displeasure with the direction WOTC went ?
Bold 09-07-07, 07:23 PM	Between the death of far too many conventions thanks to the gigantic region / "anyone can play anywhere" nonsense and the reduction in available modules, I fully expect to see character variance go the way of the dodo bird in LFR. No, you won't see that because, as you've stated MANY times recently, you absolutely refuse to play LFR. Thus, none of this should concern you. Right?
RLWilde 09-08-07, 01:29 AM	There is one thing scaring me most of all about the ill-advised, almost nonsensical new "region" system. It is simply this: the way they are talking about doing this, everyone's access will look exactly the same. Even if true, why is that "scary"? Only people who live in or travel to the "right" regions should have the "best" equipment? I know you're afraid of it appearing as an MMO, but, frankly, a lot of that is happening in LG (regardless of access), and a lot of that happened in LC. I think the doomsaying of "every character of each level, for each "role", will be carrying precisely the same gear and favors" is just doomsaying.
Grimslade2001 09-08-07, 01:19 PM	There is one thing scaring me most of all about the ill-advised, almost nonsensical new "region" system. It is simply this: the way they are talking about doing this, everyone's access will look exactly the same. I am not being facetious. I am looking at the MMORPG-junk way they are talking about the game being, and in MMORPG's, what do you have? Every character has the same gear at a given level, for each "role." Healer? Why you need the Healer Epic Set, m'boy. Tank? Oh, the Ultra Platinum Epic Set for you. And so on and so forth. Now, look at the system we're being asked to swallow. Vastly reduced number of regions = vastly reduced number of mods. Everyone can play every region = everyone WILL play whatever mods get a reputation for being cheesy access. End result? Very quickly, every character of each level, for each "role", will be carrying precisely the same gear and favors until they use them. Yes, in LG some of the same occurs, but there's enough variance and enough people traveling to different regions and interactives that I've never seen the same build twice, and everyone has a surprise or two up their sleeves. Between the death of far too many conventions thanks to the gigantic region / "anyone can play anywhere" nonsense and the reduction in available modules, I fully expect to see character variance go the way of the dodo bird in LFR. Unless, of course, magic items will not mean as much or be as necessary in 4E. In which case, that makes LG the example MMORPGism. I think you need to take a couple deep breaths and think of the positive ramifications of fewer regions and wide open play. 1) Tons of mods for everyone. Many more than even the most travel happy player in LG ever played. Even using LG numbers, 12 regions x 8 mods + 20 Cores= 116 mods a year. That is 464 hours of play a year without adding in adaptables and interactives. Compare to LGs 148 hours in one region. 2)Level playing field No sweet spot access to 6 regions for 1 or 2 lucky regions. 3)Bigger regions, bigger pool of volunteers. More authors, more judges, less burn out. 4)Easier coordination between LFR admins and WotC novels and R&D. We get a better shot at changing/influencing FRs canon with less regions to focus on. If you want to discuss negative ramifications, talk about the diminishing influence individual PCs will make on the campaign, the loss of regional feel when having Out-of-Region judges running regional mods or the loss of regional identity because of larger regions or the smaller opportunity chance of seeing Triad members face to face. The ranting FUD approach makes all of your arguments seem ridiculous. Take a breath and weigh the good and the bad. The sky is not falling but you have found a nice acorn. Brian Mahony
Butterface 09-08-07, 02:00 PM	Now, look at the system we're being asked to swallow. Vastly reduced number of regions = vastly reduced number of mods. Everyone can play every region = everyone WILL play whatever mods get a reputation for being cheesy access. Actually, I'll play whatever mods take place in a region of the Realms that I am interested in, or have a reputation for being really well written. What do I care if everyone else "cheeses" it out like you described? I'm in control of what I do, and I know I can have a unique, worthwhile character regardless of the actions of others.
Golorious 09-08-07, 07:11 PM	I really don't buy this concept at all. There is so much variety with in the open core rules currently that there ca be so many variations that people wont be the same ever. I currently do not have a NONC feat on a single character and I have never met characters exactly like them. In any system there will be characters with similar or identical builds. But honesty characters possessions and feats are not what make them unique or special. What makes people different is the personality the characters have. Granted in a world filled with only "roll" players then yes many things will be identical. However, throw in a few Role players and nothing will ever be identical. Role playing is what brings life and difference to the game.
LGMoses 09-08-07, 07:47 PM	I hate to play devils advocate but I see how that could be of concern. People will always get the most powerful stuff and it may cause some lack of variation. I would hate the mmo "epic set" mentality to take hold. I'm not TOO worried about it happening but I would not like to see it happen. So MichaelAlf, just let this thread be your rant thread. A dissenting opinion may help us think things through better...
paigeoliver 09-08-07, 11:48 PM	I really can't see how this could be possible. I seldom even see characters who are particularly distinguishable in the game because of their exact equipment lineup, and it isn't going to be the same regardless. There is no best set of equipment for a certain character type, at least not within the realm of what a character at any given level could afford. Even if the only access in LG ever allowed was the stuff that is open in the LGCS you would STILL see a lot of variation in equipment. Some people will pile everything into one area, while others will diligently buy a +1 in everything and then move onto a +2 and so on.
MatteBlack 09-09-07, 12:38 PM	How concerned with individuality are the folks who would pick all there character's options based on efficacy going to be? Most powergamers I know are infuriated by someone playing an odd build that does anything other than optimally fill a stated role. If the focus they promise on balance in 4th Ed. are actually there, the differences between optimal and suboptimal shouldn't be as bad anyway. Seems like there will be more solid options to be played. While they all drift to the optimal few builds, my friends and I will play characters we like and actually RP them and make our own individuality.
ankhwearer 09-10-07, 02:38 PM	It's possible that everyone's access will look the same because RPGA chooses not restrict the player from some arbitrary subset of character advancement choices. In fact, there might not be accesses in the sense we are used to in 3.5. So I think it is a bit premature to complain that everyone's AR stack is going to be the same. We have no idea what's going to be on an AR anyway. Making assumptions that everything is going to be the same (e.g. AR's with access items on them) except for the stated differences (bigger regions) is the practice of people that just want to complain.
ankhwearer 09-10-07, 02:44 PM	It is simply this: the way they are talking about doing this, everyone's access will look exactly the same. Isn't this already true for people that live in the center of a region, but never do air travel. In fact, this setup means that Denver, CO will have more scenarios, not less. And how diverse to you think the AR stacks were for the large group of dedicated RPGA players in Brazil. In fact, this was already a complaint for most of the world. It's only the "spoiled" people that live in the midwestern US that could brag about how many regions they had traveled to that year.
MichaelAhlf 09-10-07, 04:45 PM	Isn't this already true for people that live in the center of a region, but never do air travel. In fact, this setup means that Denver, CO will have more scenarios, not less. Flip on its head: what it really means is that there is no impetus for you to travel anywhere, no reason to play with anyone outside your city's insular group. Adding up metaregionals + regionals + Cores for one region was generally 36 or more modules per year. That was plenty for a character and a half, and I got one character all the way to 8th level and another to 4th my first year on those alone. Add in a neighbor, and that was plenty. And how diverse to you think the AR stacks were for the large group of dedicated RPGA players in Brazil. In fact, this was already a complaint for most of the world. It's only the "spoiled" people that live in the midwestern US that could brag about how many regions they had traveled to that year. Funny that: Texas and the American West had issues with that too - our travel options sucked compared to the jokers in the Midwest / Eastern Seaboard where you could hit 3 regions in a 1-hour drive. The solution, however, isn't to try to make regions meaningless or open everything up to worldwide play. It's to do a better job equitably apportioning regions.
jhorred 09-10-07, 04:59 PM	Funny that: Texas and the American West had issues with that too - our travel options sucked compared to the jokers in the Midwest / Eastern Seaboard where you could hit 3 regions in a 1-hour drive. The solution, however, isn't to try to make regions meaningless or open everything up to worldwide play. It's to do a better job equitably apportioning regions. The population base in the west just won't support the small regions that the east enjoys. We're just too spread out.
MichaelAhlf 09-10-07, 05:39 PM	The population base in the west just won't support the small regions that the east enjoys. We're just too spread out. Really? It was my understanding that a lot of the play happened around major cities in either situation. I'd think that breaking things up a bit more (perhaps as an example, California sharing 2-3 regions in common with the East Coast) might have done some good.
jhorred 09-10-07, 07:04 PM	Really? It was my understanding that a lot of the play happened around major cities in either situation. I'd think that breaking things up a bit more (perhaps as an example, California sharing 2-3 regions in common with the East Coast) might have done some good. The west coast has some large metropolitan areas (SF/Oakland, LA/SD, Seattle) with large quantities of mountains/desert/farmland in between. Some of the other states in the west have a lower population than some of the same metro centers. The east coast is a series of nearly interconnected metropolitan areas. There is much less space inbetween the cities, resulting in a higher population density. Let's say for purposes of this discussion, that each region has 25,000,000 people in it to provide enough campaign staff for the region. The regions in the east are going to be smaller, since there are more people per square mile there than in the west. They could have made all the regions the same size but if they made them all the same size as they did in the east then the campaign would suffer because there would be less players to draw a campaign staff from. I would hazard to say that some areas would not be able to support a region at all due to a lack of players. (E.G. the population of Wyoming is exceeded by many cities.) I think this illustrates this best. (http://www.darkskysociety.org/images/gallery/usatnight.jpg) And for the record I have lived on both coasts though I live on the left one at this time.
Ryngard 09-10-07, 07:32 PM	I'm curious... Why would it matter? We aren't fighting each other. We're grouping together to play adventures... right? I might be missing a concern here but I've never compared my stuff to anyone else's. Granted I've been out of the scene since Living City, but it never was a problem then, why is it now? Oh and frustration and discussions like these make things heated but lets try to keep our tones civil. :)
KarmaInferno 09-11-07, 12:29 PM	I'm curious... Why would it matter? We aren't fighting each other. We're grouping together to play adventures... right? I might be missing a concern here but I've never compared my stuff to anyone else's. Granted I've been out of the scene since Living City, but it never was a problem then, why is it now? It matters because they need to try and ensure each region has a large enough volunteer base to be able to produce content at a reasonable rate. -karma
MichaelAhlf 09-11-07, 01:34 PM	It matters because they need to try and ensure each region has a large enough volunteer base to be able to produce content at a reasonable rate. -karma Perhaps, but what they're doing is the opposite - ensuring a smaller pool of authors and adventures overall. How are new authors to break into this system? It seems likely to be the other way around - whoever comes in is going to get the adventures for their allotment from people they "know" and the rest of those who might like to write are going to sit in the cold waiting their shot to even try out. Yes, in active regions this was still an issue, but I remember a couple guys from my area writing stuff for other regions that didn't have so active a base. I even helped playtest one of them. With LG's system, there was room for "potential" authors to showcase their ability to write and "try out" by being involved in intro mod / interactive / special mission writing. With this new system, I get eerie visions of the "glass ceiling' of mod writing - the established guys get in, they have their 3-5 year arcs with 2-3 mods a year, and newcomers? Well, sorry, the worldwide slots are all completely full. Come back in 4 years, maybe we'll have a slot then if someone burns out.
KarmaInferno 09-11-07, 02:39 PM	Thing is, you're making an assumption that there will be a "vastly reduced amount of mods". We don't know that. We know very little at all. Making assumptions based on speculation is just silly. -karma
MichaelAhlf 09-11-07, 04:18 PM	Thing is, you're making an assumption that there will be a "vastly reduced amount of mods". We don't know that. We know very little at all. Making assumptions based on speculation is just silly. -karma There are currently 30 regions. This is being cut to 12. Further, metaregions don't exist. I highly doubt the number of Core mods increases at all, which means any increase to cover the disparity needs to come from increased production on the region side - which is going to be very hard on any brand-new regional administrators to try to keep up with. Either that, or they're counting on the ability to ignore the existence of regions, and just play whatever... in which case what I said is 100% correct and more authors have to compete for far less module slots.
ankhwearer 09-11-07, 04:20 PM	Perhaps, but what they're doing is the opposite - ensuring a smaller pool of authors and adventures overall. How are new authors to break into this system? I feel that a solution that fixes this AND insures the highest quality mods would be to have authors submit full outlines, or possibly even full mods, with the region accepting the best 8 for publication. If sub-par mods are weeded out, which I wish was the case currently, everyone would win. Since the mods are now playable in every region, it follows that QA is going to have to be up to the level (at least) that core mods currently strive for. I mean, if authors are going to "compete", they should really compete! Asking someone to try their hand at writing mod X because they did well on one mod before is not competition.
KarmaInferno 09-11-07, 04:23 PM	"I doubt" "In which case" We Don't Know Jack Squat. Back in the day, LC had no regions at all, and I remember at one point playing 80 adventures in a single year at the high point. For all we know the number of adventures available to the average player might go UP compared to now. We don't know. -karma
ankhwearer 09-11-07, 04:36 PM	Flip on its head: what it really means is that there is no impetus for you to travel anywhere, no reason to play with anyone outside your city's insular group. This has nothing to do with the original concern in the thread: Everyone's AR stack will look exactly the same. Changing the subject does little to counter my rebutal to your concerns: Everyone's AR stacks already look that same; how is this a change for the worse? Funny that: Texas and the American West had issues with that too - our travel options sucked compared to the jokers in the Midwest / Eastern Seaboard where you could hit 3 regions in a 1-hour drive. I live in Seattle. I'm very aware of this situation. But, again, I'm thinking of most of the players in the world, not just my microcosm. And, having only played LG here or once at GenCon, I do not think your concern is a reasonable complaint for 95% of the members of the RPGA. Only those that live in the midwest or the northeast. The solution, however, isn't to try to make regions meaningless or open everything up to worldwide play. It's to do a better job equitably apportioning regions. I have to guess here, but it seems that your vision of "equitably apportioning regions" means more regions that are smaller. Thus, more neighbors writing mods that you can play by driving over to their region. The volunteer infrastructure is just not there to support more regions. Or the writing of more mods (80% of which you'd never get to play because they are too far away to travel too, like France.) Let me express my concern: Writing a mod in your region that only 200 people every get to play before retirement is a waste of a volunteer's effort. Depending on people to fly into your region in order to get the play numbers up on your mods and your cons is an inefficient way of making the effort more valuable. (And, think about the environmental concern of having people make 3-4 extra flights each year). Instead, generating better mods and sharing them with the world is a stronger way to get "bang for the buck" out of a fixed pool of volunteers.
ankhwearer 09-11-07, 04:49 PM	You know, still taking the best case scenario of play opportunites (Ohio state), players are still getting a better deal. The region of Veluna comprises of Ohio state and no other locations. Currently, players in this state are adjacent to 4 other regions (and nearly adjacent to Ket/Ontario). That also 4 Meta-regions, in addition to their own. Not including Core mods (since everyone has access to those), that's 6 regions times eight mods and five meta-regions times six mods = 78 mods. So, under the upcoming regional system, the twelve regions would have to share only 7 mods to out do the best case scenario in the entire LG. And I think it's safe to say that the new regions will have as more mods than that per year, given that they currently get eight plus meta-regionals. (Also note that 78 mods that's an average of more than three per week, or about one Convention every other weekend, plus the entire set of Core mods.)
catsclaw 09-11-07, 05:10 PM	I feel that a solution that fixes this AND insures the highest quality mods would be to have authors submit full outlines, or possibly even full mods, with the region accepting the best 8 for publication. If sub-par mods are weeded out, which I wish was the case currently, everyone would win.Two problems with this: First, say the region needs a mod that involves group X, attacking group Y, to avoid calamity Z. Either you assign a specific person to write that, or you publicly reveal the outline of the next year's plot arc. Doesn't work. Second, and more seriously, do you know how long it takes to write a quality mod? Even a pitch takes me at least a solid weekend to write up. I doubt you'd get a lot of good writers willing to spend 40-60 hours writing for the chance their mod might get accepted for the region.
MichaelAhlf 09-11-07, 05:26 PM	Changing the subject does little to counter my rebutal to your concerns: Everyone's AR stacks already look that same; Except that that's not the case. Most people I know in LG may have played the same mods, but not with the same characters or same character playing the same combination of all mods. At least for the very start of LFR, most people will have only 1 character, and this will be a problem. I have to guess here, but it seems that your vision of "equitably apportioning regions" means more regions that are smaller. Thus, more neighbors writing mods that you can play by driving over to their region. Not smaller. Just spread a bit better. Example: Northern California could easily have shared Gran March with North Carolina, rather than NC sharing it with South Carolina. Louisiana could have shared a region with somewhere on the eastern seaboard, rather than with immediate neighbors. And so on, and so forth. That's good, because I wasn't suggesting "more" regions. Let me express my concern: Writing a mod in your region that only 200 people every get to play before retirement is a waste of a volunteer's effort. By that logic, writing adventures for my home groups is a waste of effort? Depending on people to fly into your region in order to get the play numbers up on your mods and your cons is an inefficient way of making the effort more valuable. (And, think about the environmental concern of having people make 3-4 extra flights each year).[/quote] Which is a great region to divvy regions up in some smaller parcels, and give more people the chance to not have to fly to get to conventions. Instead, generating better mods and sharing them with the world is a stronger way to get "bang for the buck" out of a fixed pool of volunteers. Why bother having regions at all, then? Why not just have a major pool of modules and let people write for whatever they want? Wait a minute. LG's regional system worked. Perhaps not perfectly, but it did work. I'd rather work at improving it, rather than just scrap it entirely.
UMiskatonic 09-12-07, 02:47 PM	Michael, you've missed the idea of opportunity cost. Even if you and I have the EXACT same options, we're going to end up with different characters. With (as a guess) five races and ten classes, we have fifty choices off the bat. Then, as ARs roll in, we can choose to buy or not buy items. Maybe you'll take the Full plate, and I'll take the Hewards. Another person will take the +1 trident, and so on. Unless items are SO cheap that you can afford everything you want, it's not much of a problem. You'll have to choose one, and there will always be someone else who chose differently. Likewise, unless there's only ONE good item per slot, it's not much of a problem. I know a Dwarven Defender who, at 11th level, doesn't have a belt of giant strength, a amulet of health, or gauntlets of ogre power. What he does have is a belt of enlarge person, and an AC of 35. I have almost the same AR stack he does, but my character looks nothing like that.
gomeztoo 09-12-07, 03:35 PM	For all we know the number of adventures available to the average player might go UP compared to now. It will likely go up as you can play in any region. The number of scenarios per region will likely not go up, as there'll be only one editor per region, and 8 scenarios/year is a lot of stuff anyway. At any rate, I'll be playing in whatever region I like best (sanse my own, should I be a-volunteering), with probably a few extras to do any series-like scenarios.
mark1978 09-12-07, 04:44 PM	There is one thing scaring me most of all about the ill-advised, almost nonsensical new "region" system. It is simply this: the way they are talking about doing this, everyone's access will look exactly the same. I am not being facetious. I am looking at the MMORPG-junk way they are talking about the game being, and in MMORPG's, what do you have? Every character has the same gear at a given level, for each "role." Healer? Why you need the Healer Epic Set, m'boy. Tank? Oh, the Ultra Platinum Epic Set for you. And so on and so forth. Now, look at the system we're being asked to swallow. Vastly reduced number of regions = vastly reduced number of mods. Everyone can play every region = everyone WILL play whatever mods get a reputation for being cheesy access. End result? Very quickly, every character of each level, for each "role", will be carrying precisely the same gear and favors until they use them. Yes, in LG some of the same occurs, but there's enough variance and enough people traveling to different regions and interactives that I've never seen the same build twice, and everyone has a surprise or two up their sleeves. Between the death of far too many conventions thanks to the gigantic region / "anyone can play anywhere" nonsense and the reduction in available modules, I fully expect to see character variance go the way of the dodo bird in LFR. How do you expect each player to be able to play every module each year? With so many distinct regions, and a core contingent of modules being release, convention-only modules, there will still be plenty of unique character builds with varying access to boot. What they are doing is opening up possibilities for players to be ABLE to play that modules with that access their character was looking for without travelling halfway across the world just to play it. Moreover, more online play potentials since there are no regional module locks, no more half players at a table and half allowed online and must be verified to be in your region BS. The lessoning of restrictions can only make this MORE appealing than LG. Mark
Keith53 09-19-07, 09:06 PM	I think folks are making a lot of assumptions about decisions that have yet to be made by the yet to be picked Global Administrators. I don't know the number of modules per region; I don't see an obstacle to the number being somewhat larger than the number allowed in the LG regions. To be sure, the pool of authors does matter. I would not want editors to lower the standards. Some folks apparently have suffered obstacles to entry of new authors; while it is hard to eliminate all obstacles, more allowable modules per region will certainly help. As pointed out, quality and continuity in adventures matter. I think Chris believes that. Keith
Skerrit 09-20-07, 09:03 AM	Another thing that hasn't been worked out, or at least not announced, is how many interactives,special missions, or special events that might be available and what access they might give. There might be lots, or there might be none, so its very hard to discuss. Also note that Chris has said that mods are likely to give better rewards if you play a PC from that region than if you didn't. That means PCs will have different gear based on where they've played, just like in LG.
MatteBlack 09-20-07, 09:42 AM	Another thing that hasn't been worked out, or at least not announced, is how many interactives,special missions, or special events that might be available and what access they might give. There might be lots, or there might be none, so its very hard to discuss. Also note that Chris has said that mods are likely to give better rewards if you play a PC from that region than if you didn't. That means PCs will have different gear based on where they've played, just like in LG. I think interactives and specials may really make or break how well LFR supports convention play. I am really looking forward to what happens in this area of the campaign.
Aravar 09-25-07, 11:13 AM	This complaint must come from someone semi-new. Cause if I remember correctly, it's been a long while, kinda reminds me of the last Forgotten Realms campaign called "Living City". Which I loved and adored more than anything, even got my character in a file somewhere. Even when I traveled to larger cons I never once saw character duplicates, sure some of us used the same items but hey no one is unique. I think it will be nice to go to a convention and actually not having to hear someone complain about how much cooler my regional item/benefit is.
MatteBlack 09-25-07, 11:38 AM	This complaint must come from someone semi-new. Cause if I remember correctly, it's been a long while, kinda reminds me of the last Forgotten Realms campaign called "Living City". Which I loved and adored more than anything, even got my character in a file somewhere. Even when I traveled to larger cons I never once saw character duplicates, sure some of us used the same items but hey no one is unique. I think it will be nice to go to a convention and actually not having to hear someone complain about how much cooler my regional item/benefit is. Honestly, if we are actually roleplaying our characters, a given character build can go through the same mod, play and feel very different than the exact same build. If you find yourself playing the same character is someone else, you really need to consider whether you are balancing your powergaming and roleplaying.
Vamroc 09-25-07, 12:40 PM	There is one thing scaring me most of all about the ill-advised, almost nonsensical new "region" system. It is simply this: the way they are talking about doing this, everyone's access will look exactly the same. I am not being facetious. I am looking at the MMORPG-junk way they are talking about the game being, and in MMORPG's, what do you have? Every character has the same gear at a given level, for each "role." Healer? Why you need the Healer Epic Set, m'boy. Tank? Oh, the Ultra Platinum Epic Set for you. And so on and so forth. Now, look at the system we're being asked to swallow. Vastly reduced number of regions = vastly reduced number of mods. Everyone can play every region = everyone WILL play whatever mods get a reputation for being cheesy access. End result? Very quickly, every character of each level, for each "role", will be carrying precisely the same gear and favors until they use them. Yes, in LG some of the same occurs, but there's enough variance and enough people traveling to different regions and interactives that I've never seen the same build twice, and everyone has a surprise or two up their sleeves. Between the death of far too many conventions thanks to the gigantic region / "anyone can play anywhere" nonsense and the reduction in available modules, I fully expect to see character variance go the way of the dodo bird in LFR. The build will make all the difference you can have two wizards with the same gear even the same level. But if one is a Dwarf and the other is a Kobold then you are going to have radically different charactors. The Dwarf will focus on crafting while a Kobold will focus on buffs. Do you know how many times I wish I was in Bissel so I could play this or that. Bissel and Bandit Kingdoms have mods that are just killer from what I've been told.
PCI_StatMonkey 10-01-07, 12:01 PM	There is one thing scaring me most of all about the ill-advised, almost nonsensical new "region" system... rest cut It’s the players not the access... In Living Arcanis you get to play the same adventures everyone else has... and yet, every table I run I see VERY different tables… Some would say that it’s because the campaign attracts a different kind of player, others would point to the open access (cert system) we have in the campaign. I think that players are all inspired by the system they play… I have seen roll-players turn into amazing role-players (when we started running the Witch Hunter campaign at Origins) In the end it will be a mix of the writers and the campaign system that will encourage individuality or will stagnate it.
PCI_StatMonkey 10-01-07, 12:02 PM	The build will make all the difference you can have two wizards with the same gear even the same level. But if one is a Dwarf and the other is a Kobold then you are going to have radically different charactors. The Dwarf will focus on crafting while a Kobold will focus on buffs. Do you know how many times I wish I was in Bissel so I could play this or that. Bissel and Bandit Kingdoms have mods that are just killer from what I've been told. Hay at least you didint play in the PoU which.. for the longest time, had some of the worse access.. ever..