Neversummer 4 Forum Archive

So I re-installed my copy of NWN in order to run through Hordes one more time for the laugh. That was quite satisfying but I was eager to find some new NWN content that would satiate me. At first I was reluctant to turn to the 'online experience' because "gameplay" ended up being which mage could cast time-stop, disjunction and bigspy's crushing fist first.

Neversummer however immediately struck me as an exception. Upon entering I was greeted by several NPCs which gave me a rich background on each of the factions. I choose to become a mystral ascendent with my gnome wiz.

A cheap crossbow and some basic gear later I was living out in the angamar plains. Shooting goblins and such until a few levels later, where invisibility and summons tended to be the order of the day. This worked out rather well. As I gained a few levels I then decided to try out the jobs. Great. Tedious zone-pumping-mephit-capturing later I worked my way up to other quests, some of them I even did in a party... Generally I much prefer to solo. I always play a wiz so I basically want to keep myself rested every nine seconds...

Fast-forward a bit. I've completed all the job quests. There were 2 quests with 3/4 tasks in total. Where's the rest? What's my direction? What am I doing here now? There's no point going after relics, i'll be wiped across the floor with...

So I do what every MMORPG eventually boils down to, grinding. I'm told that at the later levels there are extraplanar zones and such and it gets more interesting. Despite the fact that once one finishes the quests, basically all NPCs are loot-dumps or potion/ammo restocks, It was a goal. Get to the epic levels of 21+ so that these portals become accessible and I can further my exploring of this new realm.

I can find a few comfortable exp-areas and grind them until I get to level 19 or so... and then enter a nice exp party and get all the way up to 25, finally capping at 26 whereupon then I decide to explore the nexus portals.

First attempt. End up on negative energy plane, 8 Devils/Demons wave hello to me, run over and cause me to get fear, then go to town on me in the corner. Not a good start.
Second attempt. End up at the tower of sorcery back at the home city. Lovely.
Third attempt. End up at some area full of undeads. The undead archers tear me and my dragon knight new one.
Forth attempt. Hello Ragnar's kin! Headed for the cradle whie invis and got dominate monstered and killed by tiny dwarfs with big axes. Well, that was pretty much expected and I'd lost so much exp exploring by this stage I really didn't care anymore.
Fifth attempt. Ended up in some Earth plane where once again, the archers gave me and my dragon knight a few new gaping bodily holes to appreciate.

Well, it turns out that out of the following list:
Epic Quests,Factional Quests,Jobs,Personal Quests,Realm Quests,Regional Quests

I have only managed to officially partake in 2 quest lines by level 26. Some Job stuff that has long since passed beyond ever being relevant, with dangling plotlines left to ponder.

Now. I could just take this as a sign to grind further and go to level 40 and then just start doing PvP, but I don't see the incentive. To be quite honest, maybe this world you have here in Neversummer was never for me in the first place, but you sure did make a good job of hiding that fact from the start... Perhaps what I expected is simply not what most people want. That's okay too. I just thought that it was unfortunate and disappointing that there was so much content but no depth, and I think that that is the essence of why I am bothering to post instead of going about my business.

Stark reality is that Aetheria is 99% PvP (or the grind to build toons for such) and 1% PvM, the one percent PvM being factional jobs.. While some people to make PvM toons, it is for the purpose of farming items to use on our PvP toons.

There are a few players that enjoy a lil RP adventuring, and thats where the heavy dose of basic background info comes into play the most.

Most lvling and adventuring takes place in parties. This is true tenfold when you get to the epic planes, where a cleric and bard are pretty much required party content.

With the age of the game overall, I wouldnt xpect to see too much additional content added in the future. The staff we have left, is kept busy with general maitence and the never ending persuit of "balanced PvP". An effort they have done a phenominal job at over the years and years.

If solo play is truely your sole joy in this game, then this is not the home for you. But before you go wandering off, try making a friend or two, to increase your chances of working in a party. Also, when you login give a small shout like "Level 23 lfp (looking for party) pst (please send tell)". You can also spend some time exploring the Material Plane of Aetheria, it is as vast as the combined elemetal/epic planes. The Underdark, Ash mtns, the incredible long Silver Road and all the zones off of it, Sunken Isle, Isle of Dreams, Forstdale, Haddock Murk, Black Hills, etc.

Most parties try to stay in a lvl level range for the best xp of the lowest levels, i.e. level 21-23 or 16-18. The larger the lvl range, the less xp the lowest lvls in party get, this is to discourage power leveling via a high lvl toon doing all the work.

The bigger the party gets, the larger the range can go and still be good XP, due to the speed at which NPCs are conqured.

Hopefully this helps you somewhat. You can find me generally on one of the toons listed below in my signature.

O'Brien,

NS4 favors parties, not soloing... in fact some areas are impossible to solo, you WILL die. The good news is there are generally others on to join you... We generally let the players make their own quests up (and we very much encourage players to throw events), and as you get higher level the PvP and relic raiding can be a lot more fun than killing monsters.

LinuxPup wrote:O'Brien,

NS4 favors parties, not soloing... in fact some areas are impossible to solo, you WILL die. The good news is there are generally others on to join you... We generally let the players make their own quests up (and we very much encourage players to throw events), and as you get higher level the PvP and relic raiding can be a lot more fun than killing monsters.

I'd say that there are only a few non bosses that are unsoloable, at least knowing some of our players .


Good news is that if you have a shifter/good toon, you can probably solo 80% of levelling areas.

It takes a very well thought out build, a good knowledge of areas, time and patience to solo the toughest areas, and you wont be soloing bosses. For the most part it isn't worth it because you have to go so slow and the risk of dying is pretty high.

If you have been here for along time then the areas are easy before 20. Need to party after 16 to go to higher area. The uber bosses you need like 15 toons to be successful on a PVP server, FYI.

LinuxPup wrote:O'Brien,

NS4 favors parties, not soloing... in fact some areas are impossible to solo, you WILL die. The good news is there are generally others on to join you... We generally let the players make their own quests up (and we very much encourage players to throw events), and as you get higher level the PvP and relic raiding can be a lot more fun than killing monsters.

LoL solo. Since my last visit I have atleast 2 new ways to multi-box ';)