Greetings
Let's get to the point and not start arguing about details.
Characters and skills is a completely different subject, namely balancing.
There are so many different opinions and views, combined with different experiences (good teammates or bad ones) and last but not least personal playing skills.. this debate would never come to an end, because everybody has a different feeling on the gameplay.
If Hibernia would have no relics on all servers, then it would be some kind of clear cut.
But the Hibs do possess some relics. So it can't be all crap.
Personally I wouldn't say we Hibs are so badly off either. Our chars are just somewhat.. different, and that's pbobably a good thing, because otherwise it would be stereotype.
Exact same skills for every realm? - that would be fair for sure, but, ahm.. stupidly deadly boring!
A friend of mine even feels like we have an advantage char-classes wise. So there you go.. another view ;)
While much of the balancing issues arises from just these uneven points of view, there are some clear observable facts.
Let's stick to those ;)
Bards and Emp may indeed be called an error. There's not much room for diff opinions on that one.
Apart from that everybody has to agree to all that's been said about hibernian artwork, graphics and architecture.
It IS dull.
And that's the subject of this article, that's meant by saying "poor stepchild".
I payed a visit to Camelot recently, and I'm quite sure it's exactly that level of creativity and devotion which people in Hibernia long for.
Diversity rules!
Please don't argue in circles about char details, but agree in the overall message.
Farewell
Alestan
Movement for a better Hibernia
For those of you who are unhappy with the current state of Hibernia:
On December 7, 2001 Mark Jacobs, CEO of Mythic Entertainment, made the
following statement; "Hibernia will get special attention in order to correct what people perceive it being the "poor stepchild" of the game. In particular all aspects of the development team will be turning their attention to that Realm (classes, spells, NPCs, dungeons) to improve it and the player's perception of the Realm. "
This statement was made 14 months ago and the players of the realm of Hibernia are tired of waiting. On April 12, 2003 there will be a formal sit in protest on the Pendragon server of Dark Age of Camelot. This protest is to once again voice the concerns that make Hibernia feel, in Mark Jacobs words, like the "poor stepchild" of the game.
This protest will begin at 8pm eastern. Any wishing to involve themselves in this protest should come to the town of Mag Mell on Pendragon at 8pm eastern on April 12. Protestors will be invited to the guild "Hibernian Protest".
Some of concerns that will be expressed are these:
- Graphical Detailing -
Comparing Hibernia's graphical detailing to the other two realms one immediately notices the lack of detailing in Hibernia.
Terrain - The zones do not have any "feel" of their own because the landscape does not have the diversity of the other two realms.
Towns - The towns, with only a couple of exceptions, do not have any "feel" of their own because the buiding models given to us do not have the diversity of
the other two realms. The capital city has much less graphical detailing than the other two realms. It appears that in order to cover up the lack of any real
buildings/content in Tir na Nog the developer took the shortcut of making very long, wide hallways throughout the area as filler rather than constructing buildings. The buildings that are in Tir na Nog, with the exception of the castle and the training halls, are all cut/paste of things in the towns outside of Tir na Nog. Having two stables in the city was also a shortcut to fill
space, they take up large amounts of space for one building, the fact that Tir na Nog has no horse routes makes these two stables a slap in the face to the
Hibernian player.
MOBS - The MOBs given to us lack the diversity of the other two realms. Even with this lack of diversity in the MOBs, Mythic has completely removed the Formorians from Hibernia. Give us some more MOB models. We really don't care if they are cut/paste from the other realms as long as they are different from the other MOBs in Hibernia.
- Content -
NPC - The NPCs of Hibernia do not speak as much as the other two realms (ie. bartenders who talk about the food and ale in their inn, bar patrons who tell stories about their own adventures, etc.) which leads to a very dull feel to the towns. We have no time of day events such as the magic show. None of that.
Our towns have no life.
Quests - The quests do not have the detail of the other two realms. We do not have a "learn to group quest" and we have nothing like the goblin attacks, skeleton attacks, or dwarf attacks that spawn large amounts of creatures just
for the quester (sure we have the curmudgeons vs. siabra but that happens regardless of whether or not anyone is doing the quest).
MOBS - Removal of the formorians from Hibernia (though they still exist in HyBrasil) is inexcusable. From simply an experience gaining standpoint the multi-pull grabeyes that respawned quickly are far better than the single pull
Parthelonians that respawn VERY slowly. From a backstory standpoint, there is (or was) a lot of Hibernia's backstory around the Formorians. There was NO REASON for the removal of these MOBs, their removal has hurt Hibernia in its "fluff" content as well as in its ability to PvE for experience. The fact that the removal of all formorians was NOT documented is a slap in the face to
the Hibernian players. What was said is that they were going to be fighting with Parthelonians. How can the Formorians fight with the Parthelonians if the Formorians don't exist?
Towns - Calling Brynach a town was a slap in the face to Hibernian players, as was putting some NPCs just standing around outside Tir na Nog. Every developer at Mythic should know by now that Hibernians want some graphical content. If you are going to drop NPCs somewhere for our convience then please simply state it that way, don't get us excited that we are getting some graphics and then
just place NPCs around. This includes dropping some NPCs around Kimba's tree, adding horse routes to it, and calling it Culraid. TOWNS HAVE BUILDINGS!!! Can
we make it any clearer than that? A few people standing around are not a town. Now, while we are on the subject of buildings, where are the rest of our buildings? Hibernia has the least diversity of any realms as far as Architecture is concerned. We not only want buildings in our towns but we want enough diversity in those buildings that we can tell the difference between the towns without having to look around for terrain landmarks like rivers and lakes. Hibernia is also the only realm with no horses to/from our capital city, why is that?
- Class Issues -
Though it may be argued (and certainly is on the VN boards) that many classes in Hibernia have a multitude of problems in RvR viability, or in PvE viability, or in bugged spells/abilities, or in completely worthless spell lines this will not detail each and every one. Instead here are the areas that Mythic has completely ignored Hibernia as a whole.
Bards - Even though bards have the worst offense/defense in the game, that is a class balance issue and not a realm issue. What is hurting the realm most with bards is that Mythic seems to not even know that this class exists or if they do they choose to ignore it. Mythic certainly does not know how the class works or care anything about the class' playability. Case in point: Mythic for months defended placing empathy on reinforced armor stating that empathy was the bards power pool, it was not until player logs proved that charisma was the bards power pool that Mythic finally admitted that empathy did NOTHING for bards.
Case in point: Even after admitting their error and retrofitting every piece of +EMP reinforced armor in the game Mythic still put +EMP reinforced armor +into Shrouded Isles. Case in point: Even after giving other classes (such as the friar) self buffs for questionably useful rising stats (at least STR lets you carry more) the bards are still stuck with EMP as a rising stat and no buffs to make up for it. These types of things (and many more on the bard class) show that Mythic completely overlooks this class. This impacts the realm of Hibernia
as a whole because so much of what Mythic expects from Hibernia relies on this class (endurance regen, crowd control, healing). Making this class unplayable
except as a follow-bot class seriously hinders Hibernia as a whole. This is the only class that will be mentioned on its own because although the others may have individual problems no others are completely unplayable.
Mages - Unlike the mages of the other realms Hibernian mages do not have choices between multiple viable spec lines. Even the much derided earth spec for theurgists at least continues to offer up SOMETHING that both the theurgist themself and their group at large can find useful. Spec lines such as enchantments and mentalism offer NOTHING to the mage and little or nothing to the group. A spec line for a single target mez and a pet that kills its owner is not a good line (all other CC spec lines offer area effect). A spec line for two pet buffs and a melee damage add is a TERRIBLE line for a mage... in fact it is the worst spec line in the game mage or otherwise. These spec lines need to be made viable even if they are never made into the most attractive lines.
Fighters - The melee weapon styles in Hibernia are still the worst in the game. Our blades line has no after parry or after evade styles, it is no wonder most do not choose it. Even the lines that do have decent style types are still more expensive in penalties and endurance costs than the other two realms. This was fair when Hibernia was the only realm with the possibility of endurance regen, but it is certainly not fair anymore.
- RvR Imbalance Issues -
KEEPS - Hibernia is the only realm whose keeps have 6 climb points. The other realms only have 4. This makes it much more difficult to defend a Hibernian keep. Considering that our assassin class is the least able to take the punishment dished out on a keep wall it really seems that Mythic is heavily biasing keeps against Hibernia.
TERRAIN - Though some small effort was put into stocking Emain Macha with a couple more aggressive MOBs, the terrain of the Hibernian frontier is still the most inviting to enemies. Unlike the frontiers of the other realms there are clearly marked roads all the way from the enemy portal keeps to every keep in the Hibernian frontier. Most of these roads are clear of aggressive MOBs and guards making it the easiest frontier in the game to navigate. Unlike the other realms Hibernia has no mountains (we barely even have hills) so our keeps are clearly visible in large open fields rather than obscured by surrounding terrain, the same can be said with forests.
- PvE Imbalance Issues -
DUNGEONS - Hibernia still lacks a level 5-10 dungeon. Muire's Tomb is still the biggest deathtrap in the game.
REMOVAL OF PVE AREAS - I haven't heard the other realms complain of complete removal of hunting grounds (though I have heard them complain of areas being "nerfed") yet some of the best hunting in Hibernia has been removed... the formorians.
LACK OF 10-15 AREAS - Though Muire's Tomb is supposed to be available to this level range, it is a deathtrap (see Dungeons above). Outside of Muire's tomb there is pathetically little available to the level 10-15 range.
DRAGON - Do the devs really not know about this imbalance?
- Summary -
Though patch 1.51 did try to correct some of the glaring inconsistancies in how Hibernia's spells and abilities work in relationship to the other realms (making them work the same as the other realms) it did nothing to address the feeling that Hibernia is the red-headed stepchild of this game. For far too long the Mythic development team has ignored the fact that HIBERNIA IS NOT THE SAME QUALITY of video game as the other two realms. The players of this realm pay the same amount as the others and deserve to have the same quality of game. The graphical quality of Hibernia should have been addressed long before Shrouded Isles was released. The Mythic development team should know how Hibernian classes work (such as bards not using empathy). The glaring inconsistancies such as keeps with six climb points should never be allowed to pass through quality assurance. All of these things have happened and continue to happen. With each passing day Hibernia falls further and further behind in population balance, not because our classes are unplayable (with the exception
of the bard) but because in EVERY aspect of game quality Hibernia comes up lacking. We want the same quality of graphics as the other two realms. We want the same quality of quests as the other two realms. We want the same quality of talking NPCs as the other two realms. We want an equally defensable frontier. We want equally defensable keeps. WE WANT AN EQUAL VIDEO GAME.
- Chanur Silvarian -
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