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Server Reset Lore Speculation

There seems to be a lot of phoenix imagery surrounding this worlds lore. In a <a href="https://youtu.be/YGepb_OZLhQ?t=20m25s">Dev Q&A</a>, they sort of confirmed that one of, if not the head deity of the(a?) pantheon is a phoenix. We the players are rejuvenating this world. Maybe it makes sense that eventually, the world will die again? It makes sense from a story perspective, and a gameplay perspective. Let me elaborate why.

The event would be way far off, mind you. Metropolises will probably have risen and fallen many times over before something apocalyptic is triggered. But imagine that server wide event! Fire rains from the heavens as the dead rise en masse. The Military cities collapse in civil war and power vacuums, the Technology cities awaken some Cthulhian horror from beyond as the Mercantile cities devolve into a cut-throat rat race to safety. The Divine cities pray in earnest fervor to gods who will not hear them. Prophets and soothsayers chant in the streets, "To the portals! To the portals!"

Of course it would be a fun event, but I can hear the nay-sayers already. "But what about muh progress?" "I don't want to loose all the stuff I earned" "but what if I'm the Grand Negus of Cheesetown? Why do I have to start from scratch?"

No king rules forever (RIP Varian). Your items will degrade, your towns may fall in seiges, you'll lose caravans, time, gold and maybe even status. The one thing that is more important than all of that is the people, connections and relationships. That's why we play MMOs. The loot and crap is secondary to the guilds, the friends, the economy, and the social dynamic. If you look at it that way, a server reset isn't so bad. It lets up and coming guilds have a chance to shine, while old and douche-y guilds fall out of power.

That's my schpeel. Feel free to agree or disagree, but the important thing is to discuss it.

Comments

  • Arguably one of the reasons we are addicted to games such as MMOs, is because of the progress associated with a character.
    Either experience or possessions.
    People simply cannot delete a character and leave a game, because they have too much [insert hook] invested in their character.

    Most modern MMOs are 100% dependant on that addiction to survive and drive their pay2win systems.
    So for many, it is the norm. Anything else is an alien construct.

    So I agree we need to understand and break that addiction for starters.
    Then may be we can get back to the important thing....each other.
    Not the material status symbols we covet as signs of a social levelling system.

    Some people say, if there is no hook people leave.
    I say it doesnt matter f they leave...it matters that they keep coming back.
    One is a prison to suffer.
    One is a holiday camp to be enjoyed.
  • I had to think about this for a while. I can see this in a long-term scenario or depending on what happens with a Node. I don’t think it would happen to a single Node but what if all of them go to the dark side. Will the gods get upset? What would be the result of that sort of outcome? Lots of questions here but the concept is a good one and has some major implications. Do the plays have the ability to stop the slide into the abyss? If not do they have the option to say we can’t hold back the tide and retreat.


    Ox
  • [quote quote=18529]Arguably one of the reasons we are addicted to games such as MMOs, is because of the progress associated with a character.
    Either experience or possessions.
    People simply cannot delete a character and leave a game, because they have too much [insert hook] invested in their character.

    Most modern MMOs are 100% dependant on that addiction to survive and drive their pay2win systems.
    So for many, it is the norm. Anything else is an alien construct.

    So I agree we need to understand and break that addiction for starters.
    Then may be we can get back to the important thing….each other.
    Not the material status symbols we covet as signs of a social levelling system.

    Some people say, if there is no hook people leave.
    I say it doesnt matter f they leave…it matters that they keep coming back.
    One is a prison to suffer.
    One is a holiday camp to be enjoyed.

    [/quote]

    I agree, for sure. Even if this game takes off and I devote all my game time to it, I'll still pop back into WoW every so often just to see how it's going. What I hope for in this game is looking forward to a fresh start (if there was a reset of course). It'd be like how WoW has (had?) a big movement towards legacy servers because a ton of content was removed with the Cataclysm expansion, as well as a change in game philosophy. Sometimes, it's nice to start off new, and see how the world would develop differently.

    [quote quote=18532]I don’t think it would happen to a single Node but what if all of them go to the dark side. Will the gods get upset? What would be the result of that sort of outcome? Lots of questions here but the concept is a good one and has some major implications. Do the plays have the ability to stop the slide into the abyss? If not do they have the option to say we can’t hold back the tide and retreat.[/quote]

    See, this is awesome! An entire world event where everyone has to contribute to keep the world safe another year or something. It's like a pen and paper RPG I take part in that has been going every weekend since like, 1972. The reason it's been going so long is because: a) our DM takes forever to do anything, but more importantly: b) the world resets all the time because at the end of every campaign, the Glish a race of evil, genetically enhanced, magical, bipedal dinosaurs try to destroy everything, and depending on the actions the players perform, the world is destroyed or saved (it's a very weird game).
  • [quote quote=18532]I had to think about this for a while. I can see this in a long-term scenario or depending on what happens with a Node. I don’t think it would happen to a single Node but what if all of them go to the dark side. Will the gods get upset? What would be the result of that sort of outcome? Lots of questions here but the concept is a good one and has some major implications. Do the plays have the ability to stop the slide into the abyss? If not do they have the option to say we can’t hold back the tide and retreat.

    Ox

    [/quote]

    What if the gods are the dark side.
    What if the dark side is just a matter of perspective.
    On one side is the world trying to protect itself from the players.
    On the other side is the players trying to protect themselves from the world.
    When all it boiled down to was taking resources and damaging the world in the process.

    ie The peoples destruction and nemesis...was self induced.
    They just paint the other side as the enemy to justify their acts.
  • [quote quote=19855]What if the gods are the dark side.
    What if the dark side is just a matter of perspective.
    On one side is the world trying to protect itself from the players.
    On the other side is the players trying to protect themselves from the world.
    When all it boiled down to was taking resources and damaging the world in the process.
    ie The peoples destruction and nemesis…was self induced.
    They just paint the other side as the enemy to justify their acts[/quote]

    Now that is an interesting take. The story is told by the victor so to speak. The races may have done something to alter the balance of power in the form nature, magic or even beliefs. The compass started to spin and everything went sideways. This may be a good argument for the portals and the blue aura areas we have seen in videos. Divine power, nature or magic? Evil or good? Is there a third wheel there with neutral?

    Good theory and ideas so far!

    Ox
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