Eternia is a PVP game.

[Velkor]

So im new have not been here long but so far love the game my one gripe is this exactly so far. I can tell that a major part of the game is pvp and that's fine but I think a better balance should be made. As a new player who is starting off I have had fun and still am but i can see a problem coming into play now where a character that RP wise would go a certain magics but OOC can see that being a bad combo of spells or whatever and just not doing it because then he kind of just loses in pvp every time and i can see that getting boring a bit. I will use my character for example because of RP reasons im going towards lighting/Holy/Armed and i have no hiddens as of now but just from a new player standpoint i have no idea how well that combo will be and dont really care that much but i will admit if it turns out bad well i wont change it i dont think unless rp reasons occur but i will admit pvp will become a more annoying thing for me at that point. I could be wrong about all of this like i said im new but just from the little i have seen this is my first impressions.

[Xiga]

In regards to Looc being chattery: The IC tab exists, exactly to close out such chatter.

In a serious scene for me, Looc jokes and stuff are appreciated. Yes, it does take some of the IC immersiveness away but sometimes if my character is DYING or something else intense is happening i need to have some gallow humor, going, or ask questions on IC etc. Jokes = ok, belittling the scene or taunting ones actions = not ok. I get that its not for everyone though.

Ill expand on this further later and also the other points on it being a PVP game. (To which I agree. It sucks to play a non PVP character, or a protective character who fails every battle because your build is not meta/youre not a great verber/have the time to dedicate to learning verbing)

[Avee]

It's an online video game, that is also multiplayer.

It has competitive elements, which breed opinions and in-fighting.

Nothing posted here has been particularly enlightening.

[Swift!]

Hipster's right.

Not really sure there's much solution to this honestly. Eternia is so evolved in the direction of faction v. faction content as it's core, it is very difficult to imagine a major PvE element being introduced, or a complete balance to building. Not to bring up competitors by name, so I won't, but I feel like said competitor is sort of a more PvE game than Eternia. That, for me, goes a lot into which game I prefer to play at the time, and my attitude when playing said game.

Playing Eternia stresses me out, like inherently, cause I know ultimately each character IC in front of me, every story, every life, will depend on the results of their verb performance.

IC is dictated on the effectiveness of your OOC build, and if anyone believes otherwise they are either wrong, or they believe people's IC should be considered 'weaker' for not understanding OOC elements. This isn't unique to Eternia though, and most roleplay games, even collaborative writing ones, have combat systems which carry metas. Granted some of those systems are more...- knowledge based, rather than skill based, making them easier to adjust to.

Taking verb out of Eternia is not an option though. So the problem isn't really fixable at all, unless you begin shifting the game into more PvE inclusive content and have faction v. faction conflicts be influenced by their respective PvE events. This happens already quite a bit, Ebonblooded getting their cute little dragons and such, but I am thinking more so in the way of....-

Say Osrona attacked Moxtli. I know Moxtli is dead, but bare with me here. Moxtli, instead of just waiting for them to show up at the gates, organizes a PvE event to get say, a one time EC which can help them defend Moxtli. Meanwhile, Osrona has departed on an event to get a temporary blessing for one of their major hitters. In both of this 'preparation events,' player characters which are not well built or PvP gods can help the faction achieve boons which will help their PvP group! Much like the logistics chain in a PvP focused MMORPG like Guild Wars or New World. There could be various effects from such events, ranging from a 'get out of extinction free card,' to extend the life of an attacked nation for one more PvP event cycle, such as the EC mentioned earlier, to even perhaps more experimental effects like reducing the attacking or defending forces by half, forcing them to pick a smaller roster for the event, and chain verb multiple people from the other faction.

I think something like this, if fleshed out, could give less meta characters avenues to assist their faction or selves. It would certainly help make them feel less useless or sidelined, and could even create a whole new approach to playing a character!

though you could also ignore me cause i don't really play seriously anymore anyway and i think most people play this game for pvp tbh and like you should carter to your demographic you know?