Posted By Oracle at 10:54 AM - Sun Dec 18 2016
I hadn't given it much thought recently, but think I will. Perhaps that way I can still roll a farmer ;) He'll be offline a fair bit while I focus on running a county but it's a good plan ;)
A more likely scenario might be an adventurer or bandit who doesn't have the 8x death penalty of your Count.
I like alternative souls, gives me more of a selection to consume, like a chocolate selection box.
Posted By cjmarsh at 1:05 PM - Sun Dec 18 2016
Posted By Malais at 10:50 AM - Sun Dec 18 2016
Caspian has a (few) valid points but the different dynasties brings to mind a problem.
If you are nobility taking part in the DoD what is stopping someone from using an alt to join a kingdom and acting as a spy?
Sure it adds spice and content as you have to fight without and from within. But with everything I've read about coe focusing on the RPG side of things how does this ultimate in meta-gaming fit in?
I get more chances at a talent and different paths of the story (see SWTOR) but In other pvp games like EVE infiltrators have brought down some of the largest alliances in game. Is that a valid reason to have an alt as well?
Personally I have time for only Mal but I'm not advocating either way. Just curious how things like this will play out/be viewed.
I don't see how an alt as a spy will prevent role-playing. I doubt there are many who would willingly use their only character in that role if it means they couldn't spend time actually playing with the people they really do give their allegiance to. I also think that the potential existence of spies does make for livelier gameplay as you've said. In Eve there wasn't a single Corp I ever joined that wasn't concerned about spies in the ranks and it added a whole new dimension to the dynamic.
Perhaps I miss spoke. I don't mean using a single character as the spy but making an alt and using that alt to feed "insider" information to your main.
Ie use information you the player is access to by virtue of playing a second character that your main wouldn't otherwise know.
I don't RP so don't know the rules but in general I assumed this kind of meta gaming was frowned upon.
And if it is how do you keep the two separate?
It´s not a pvp game even though pvp is an important feature. So there is no "winning" through spies but yes, they could influence the political landscape. However that is only ONE side of the game.
I certainly will have one alt to mess around, maybe even doing some minor crimes here and there just to experience the game in a different manner.
Posted By cjmarsh at 7:07 PM - Sun Dec 18 2016
Posted By Oracle at 10:54 AM - Sun Dec 18 2016
I hadn't given it much thought recently, but think I will. Perhaps that way I can still roll a farmer ;) He'll be offline a fair bit while I focus on running a county but it's a good plan ;)
A more likely scenario might be an adventurer or bandit who doesn't have the 8x death penalty of your Count.
I mean using my alt as a farmer, perhaps a part time cook too, unless I have other people wanting to cook. In that case, I'll just help to keep them stocked ;)
The count will still be a tinker, carpenter at the moment. I like the idea of developing traps, buildings, devices, mechanics etc.
A decent number of people taking up alts will help the game in a big way. The basic "single life" subscription is a bargain at the moment equating to around $2.50 a month if you live life carefully.
If people start rolling alts, it'll increase it a bit and help to keep things funded.
I'll probably be making a throw-away alt that I will use as an explorer. I'll set him up to survive as best he can, pick a direction and walk until I can't go any further, then I'l just pick a new direction and head off (obviously not the direction I just came from).
"But the Duchess had no common sense, probably because it was, well, too common." - Terry Pratchett
Selene Server Contact for The Older Gamers (TOG) | Friend Code: DE07B6
I will have two accounts, one for the club and one for the load
You may have erased my signature, but you can't corner the dorner
I will never be the best anything. That is just not an aim I have in a game so the most 'efficient' way to play is never going to be the way I approach things. For me it is all about story. I want to have more than one and that means alts. I probably will not have a lot of them but certainly a couple.
Posted By Malais at 11:20 AM - Sun Dec 18 2016
Posted By cjmarsh at 1:05 PM - Sun Dec 18 2016
Posted By Malais at 10:50 AM - Sun Dec 18 2016
Caspian has a (few) valid points but the different dynasties brings to mind a problem.
If you are nobility taking part in the DoD what is stopping someone from using an alt to join a kingdom and acting as a spy?
Sure it adds spice and content as you have to fight without and from within. But with everything I've read about coe focusing on the RPG side of things how does this ultimate in meta-gaming fit in?
I get more chances at a talent and different paths of the story (see SWTOR) but In other pvp games like EVE infiltrators have brought down some of the largest alliances in game. Is that a valid reason to have an alt as well?
Personally I have time for only Mal but I'm not advocating either way. Just curious how things like this will play out/be viewed.
I don't see how an alt as a spy will prevent role-playing. I doubt there are many who would willingly use their only character in that role if it means they couldn't spend time actually playing with the people they really do give their allegiance to. I also think that the potential existence of spies does make for livelier gameplay as you've said. In Eve there wasn't a single Corp I ever joined that wasn't concerned about spies in the ranks and it added a whole new dimension to the dynamic.
Perhaps I miss spoke. I don't mean using a single character as the spy but making an alt and using that alt to feed "insider" information to your main.
Ie use information you the player is access to by virtue of playing a second character that your main wouldn't otherwise know.
I don't RP so don't know the rules but in general I assumed this kind of meta gaming was frowned upon.
And if it is how do you keep the two separate?
I'm far from an expert at roleplaying but I'd imagine that just claiming the knowledge of your spy alt is as simple as saying you've "retained the services of a spy". While playing the spy you wouldn't have the knowledge of the main account in roleplaying but theoretically the spy would be reporting all observations to the main.
Regarding espionage and alts - that's a known quantity, and is by design.
That's why in-game chat always uses your character name, and chat channels always use your User Alias.
It's entirely possible to be talking in a chat channel and be standing next to someone also talking in the channel and have no idea.
It's also why, while we have user accounts here on the website now - we will be opening up, at some point, character-based forums and experiences. This is the main reason we haven't done more with recruitment UI, etc...
Because when you recruit for an in-game organization or domain we want it to be with your in-game persona. So while the Kings in particular have gone out and exposed who they are and which Kingdom will be theirs, that was never our intention.
It's entirely possible to be a Count, and have nobody know which count you are. It's also not possible to determine from the Influence table who's a Count and who just happens to have 5,000+ Influence.
Reasons for having an alt:
1) Social reasons - playing with friends that ended up on a different server.
2) RP-reasons - playing a very niche role might not making for a very fun main character
3) Crafting/gathering - sometimes it's fun to just mine or smith, but I don't think I'll have my noble/aristocratic char going all blue-collar at times unless I make it work within the story.
4) Not sure how fighty my main will be. If he's not, I might have a fighty alt for the times I feel like hacking and slashing a bit.
I'm not looking to have 4 different alts, but probably one to combine some or all of the above.
Count Lofi of Skaaney, friend code 8766AA
Posted By Caspian at 2:00 PM - Sun Dec 18 2016
Regarding espionage and alts - that's a known quantity, and is by design.
That's why in-game chat always uses your character name, and chat channels always use your User Alias.
It's entirely possible to be talking in a chat channel and be standing next to someone also talking in the channel and have no idea.
It's also why, while we have user accounts here on the website now - we will be opening up, at some point, character-based forums and experiences. This is the main reason we haven't done more with recruitment UI, etc...
Because when you recruit for an in-game organization or domain we want it to be with your in-game persona. So while the Kings in particular have gone out and exposed who they are and which Kingdom will be theirs, that was never our intention.
It's entirely possible to be a Count, and have nobody know which count you are. It's also not possible to determine from the Influence table who's a Count and who just happens to have 5,000+ Influence.
Awesome to hear!
In this particular game, aging and dying makes for the interesting option of playing characters in two successive generations (e.g. father and son) in the same family/dynasty. So you can play the somewhat elderly king ruling his kingdom with wisdom and dignity, whilst on an alt you play the youthful and strong crown prince who is leading the king's army from the front, and who will eventually inherit the throne. Or you play the experienced if somewhat frail old farmer who mostly stays home and tends to crops and livestock as well as his oldest son who is often out exploring the forest, hunting game and occasionally bringing home some treasure from the strange ruins he chanced upon. Possibilities are endless.
In fact, if you want to play a continuous line of characters in a family without any huge gaps or weird jumps from an 80 year old father to 20 year old son, playing two accounts simultaneously seems to me to be the best way to do this. Essentially, the soul of each account "moves" to it's own grand child's body after death, but with two accounts in successive generations, a single player can still play the entire line of succession.
