The Lands of Arda

SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

Thank you =)
Thorgal is playing on Gondor vs Mordor, mostly on the Gondor side of course^^ I got some chars there too, but stopped playing regularily there when nothing was left to discover *g*

Ithilsilà · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Catalonia

Oh ya, pretty boring world if you ask me Smile

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SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

Hmm, it was fun for some time. One area, the drow city Issendor (very tolkien^^) is pretty well made and challenging.
And the nerf of True Seeing makes GvsM a really good place for SD builds, especially for PvP.
But since PvP seems to remain the main motivation after knowing all places, I got bored of it too. Too small, the landscape not pretty enough, no forge items, no reincs ....*sniff*

Ithilsilà · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Catalonia

heh true seeing is +20 on spot in NS4... there are other spells for listen... SD is very playable there too. Maybe even too much so. And you can craft plenty too, although it's a bit more time consuming than just looking for ingredients, you have to invest in pure classes and stick to it... Oh, they have mad boni for pure fighter and barbarian so far, and Assassins got a boost too, instant kill attack, summons are a bit better, and depending on alignment, well there is a lot to explore -> nsrealm (add w.w.w. and .c.o.m); click on the ns4.wiki

Well I didn't give gondor vs mordor too much a try to tell the truth. I didn't like it much...

SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

Hmm, TS grants only +20 on spot, or also see invisible?
I looked a bit through the wiki, and the boni for pure barbarians and fighters are really mad, you are right. Is the server still balanced?
Im wondering about playing a cleric bard rdd there. If I didnt miss anything it should be allowed by the server rules. Sounds like an interesting server, at least unless Arda returns *g*

Ithilsilà · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Catalonia

See invis too, and well, there are some voices against the speed of barbarians. But in general it is still very much balanced, well at least, as far as it can be done heh...
Yep you can play such a character but you have to start in Sleeth, Ancient Ones (AO)...

SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

Your are right. What faction are you playing, is there any chance for guys of different factions to play together?
Im curious about the Legendary Demi Lich which can be summoned by a lvl 30 PM, have you seen one?^^

Ithilsilà · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Catalonia

Hm, not sure, the best meleer is a dexer bard PM but only 10 lvls PM, the pets are nice but don't win the day...
I'm in two guilds in TSS and CLAD, the first from The Circle the second from Northern Coalition. Mostly do-gooders guys Smile

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Ancient Ones, Ragnar's Kin (mostly dwarfs and gnomes) and Last Alliance are open for all alignments, and Mystral Ascendancy and Shadow Legion are mostly evil guys...
But yes there is no impediment for different factions to band together to kill some giants ie. You will clash together when you want to raid though. Relics are semi-important. Most for the self-esteem, although lvling is easier with them in your cradle.

But still, is there any chance Arda can be distributed to the loyal ones? Very Happy

SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

Hmm, I just read that there are several spell changes too O_o
Haste doesnt provide an extra spell per round, and lots of cleric buff spells have been changed to the worse. Thats like nerfing my cleric bard rrd build.

The problem about nerfing several power builds is that people will come up with new power builds beeing favoured by the changes. I prefer the standard nwn setting.

But Im still curious about NS4, its only the question if I find a build which wil be fun for me to play there. Id miss the 2nd spell/round granted by haste too much to play a caster^^

Ithilsilà · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Catalonia

Heh, bard and clerics are still powerhouses, you won't be disappointed, though both are better if you concentrate on one class.
And yes there are many changes on spells, but not all of them have been lowered, some have been increased (in damage ie.) too.
If you go cleric, trickery and travel are almost a must, unless you manage to take at least 12 bard lvls then you should go for Sun, Good, or Heal.
All three boost some of the needed stuff. Even plant or Evil might be considered...

And haste is only adapted to 3.5. It was too good in original NWN. Auto Quicken is finally an useful perk. Take implosion focus on evocation, and you will be almost able to kill all on the server Smile

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Bard is just nasty... although song and curse have been lowered a bit, at least I think...

SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

Are there any items which can cast imp invis like camoII? My cleric bard rdd thing always used to have travel and war domain on servers without permahaste items. But anyways, without the 2nd spell granted by 3.0 haste that cleric build with lots of short term buffs (on ns4: divine favor, divine might, divine shield, divine power) wont work, because it will need twice as much time as normally to get buffed. And autoquicken will use up 2 feats to be able to cast an autonqickened divine favor, and it wont affect divine might and shield I think.
On the other hand, the bard song really got improved, so its no wonder that there are lots of bard pm dexers as you said.

I dont like having to learn all custom changes of such servers to be able to create new powerbuilds and to finally start playing. You cant even play an Rakshasa shifter there, since you would have to chose either to cast maxed icestorms or autoquickened ones -.-
Im wondering if all that changing really improved the fun, or wether all that balancing is at the cost of too many builds.

Btw, how is the landscape there? *g*

Ithilsilà · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Catalonia

Actually there aren't that many bard pms around, as you would have to start in Garagoth, not a favourite place for some heh.
And yes, there is an item with ii. But you need a crafter for that. An arcane one. Although I can sell you some rods with ii (you need UMD but you will have bard so np). Wizards can craft those, if you specialize on crafting Smile

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STILL NO ANSWER ON GETTING ARDA, PRETTY PLEASE Smile

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SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

With all the changes, Im at the moment a bit confused and dont know with which build Im gonna start on NS4. Luckily I still have 2 weeks till my exam will be over, so I can figure a decent build out *g*
But I need some information *g*
Are there any heal potions, and how are hard to get?
Is it pointless to play a char with very low Ac but good damage output in the higher lvl areas? (My dual snapper cleric wm still could solo mordor and had only around 45 ac though^^)
Is it rather a server for soloing, or nearly always teamplay? (would be important to know if I wanted to play an archer for example)
Whats the monster´s ab in higher lvl areas (mobs, and bosses), and how high is the damage they are dealing (normal, and crit)?

Ithilsilà · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 323 Location: Catalonia

Ok...

You can play a low ac character but you will need a high damage output, unless you go for a pure barbarian ie. which has a high regeneration rate. Well with a cleric that is possible too.
There are heal pots and you can buy them from a vendor, find or craft them, but they are expensive and they don't heal as good if you chug them right after the other. However you can get some heal rings from a dragon in Frozen Reaches, so don't worry. Besides Bard and Cleric have that covered too.
You can solo with the right build but if you want to take the bosses you should be a teamplayer. And yes there are always possibilities for teamwork, you can try an arcane archer, but pls dont start with one; you would need a lot of gold for the arrows.
Well ab of the mobs and bosses can go from 50-80 (there is a lumi white lord with a nasty scythe ie.) and there will be some new additions (demonweb pits ie.). The AI is pretty good. The mobs will warn each other of a threat.

Till now the best weapons are scythe, rapier, short sword, longsword, bastard sword (although all slash is weaker than pierce and blunt) and warhammer. Robes are mostly a bit better than heavy armours. But at least the dmg output is better on strength characters, especially almost all planes have a lot of crit. immunes creatures.

Still, just try it out, it is worth it, especially the little movies at the beginning Smile

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AND I'M STILL LOOKING FORWARD TO GET AN ARDA COPY, PLEASE Smile

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SerraAvatar · Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 573

Good to know, thanks for all that information. Maybe Ill finally create a fighter bard scythe-WM then^^