I've been running around now for a couple of weeks trying to figure out what's fun to play on this server and what's not. I thnk I've tried out eight or nine characters before I ended up with my current trio. So, a big thanks for the "delete character" function!
In general, I'm enjoying myself immensely, so thank you for letting me have fun!
A few observations:
A fighter will easily level up until you get to level 13 or so, then when you get over the hump it's enjoyable until you get to the waste at about lvl 17 or so. (I haven't gotten any further yet.)
A dex-based char, be it Ranger/Rogue or Monk, gets to level 6-8, then it becomes very difficult as far as I've levelled (10-15 or so).
I gave up on my sorcs/wizards at lvl 5. Nothing doing.
Now, I might be doing everything wrong, but still. My observation is that its' hard if you don't have a STR-based char. Why? Because, here's what I think:
1. Most mobs are easy and bosses are very hard. This gives low XP for getting to the boss and then gets you instantly killed. This makes it hard to do quests linear fashion, which is truly not a big problem, but confusing for a newbie.
2. Most monsters seems to have +5 weaponry or better, at least my Soak +5/5 cloak is more or less worthless after getting past Tyranoids. Perhaps decrease enhancements and increase damage?
3. Most monsters are very hard to hit if your AB is not a fighter AB. On the other hand, they don't hit awfully good, but hard. But still, if you have a monk, you can't enchant your gloves in the harbour smithy, which makes fights go on forever. They can't hit you, you can't hit them. Perhaps lower the AC and increasing the HP? Or, make gloves and bows enchantable in the smithy, or add more enchanted gloves/bows, probably a lot less work.
4. There seems to be less armor for non-fighters around. There are a few good choices for monks, but not in the loot. I mostly find (heavy) armor that I can't carry around on my dex-based characters. Perhaps a few more armor/trinkets for magic-users/monks/bow-users in the loot?
5. There are (I think) a lot more possibilities to use smithy/forge and other stuff to get your magic uber-sword, but making gloves, bows and staffs of the uber-kind is harder. Perhaps add a few in the loot? Or as boss drops, or something?
6. Some magic-user opponents are more or less impossible (druids and the High priests on the first island comes to mind) because if you don't have extremely high fort saves (like a fighter), you're dead. Period. A potion of Clarity only lats a few rounds and are heavy to carry around in large numbers.
7. I haven't found any magic bags better than -40 weight. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but as a non-STR-character, you can't carry much loot. This means it takes even longer to level up someone other than a fighter.
8. Lastly, it's hard to optimize for a power-build, since you desperately need Crafting skills for the high-level stuff. Or, you need to build a crafter character to support your other characters. Or, you could be lucky and stumble over someone you can pay for forged stuff. Still, if you're a one character player, it forces you to compromise.
Again, this is perhaps me doing stuff wrong, or not knowing where to go, but it's some honest feedback. Also, since I've built two PW:s myself and worked as a builder on a third, I know what a pain it was to balance everything for everyone, so I try to be respectful. I hope that shows.
Just to be clear: I'm very grateful for this world you've built and let me play around in. I don't expect you to be extatic over my ideas, it's entirely up to you if you say "Wow, great ideas", or "Nah, I'm gonna ignore this dude". No offense taken ...
