Aventia- a long standing PW with unlimited character levels.

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               

With biowares new site, I just wanted to give Aventia some representation here. This is an amazing PW I have played on for over 7 years. Here is the guild description:

A world where you set its boundaries! Unlimited Character Levels, PLAYER CONTRIBUTED CONTENT - Over 50 different contributors, 5 nwn servers using one server vault with a MYSQL backend for persistent world data, persistent location saving on all servers, Deathmatch, PvP & PvM  battlegrounds, Tournament Arenas, Active DMs, Guilds for classes, Pvp Clans, Area Binding, Server portals, Loot Dividers, Player Housing, player account based Bank and Loot Vault. And if the features you like are not here then contribute it because Aventia is built on an API that allows people to contribute their own areas as a council of DMs determine the API! Role play not required! The only vice is that Benefactors of the server are given special privileges. Content for player levels 1 to >100.


Thanks for Checking us out!


 

In our hay-day there were 30-60 players on at any given time. Our active player base is much smaller now, so I would add that the world is more co-operative than anything these days, although PvP is still allowed (with a few rules no PP or disarm.) The unique post 40 system allows players to continue to gain power as they level past 40. One of our players just reached 400, and we have an expansive world to accommodate and challenge players at all levels. There are also numerous other customizations to classes, feats, and spells. We are still continuing to evolve based off our foundation of it being a player contributed content driven world.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               I just wanted to add, Aventia has a new Host for the past year or so, who is essentially the sole benifactor so there are no longer donations for in game favors. The only donations currently accepted are player/Dev time (player contributed content) which is one of Aventia's foundations.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               There are so many custom features to Aventia that I feel I left a bunch out. I will keep posting them as I think of them. One of the really nice ones is a system we have called quest points. These are gained from DM events and can be used to buy even better gear than drops in the mod, or for things like exp transfers, ect...



If your just starting out there I recommend loging into Naria to make your toon (you get the first 5 levels free), and then logging into the HoC server to buy some starter gear. You will also recieve a book in your inventory which details some of Aventia's customizations (although most you have to search for them on the boards), and more importantly it has information on how to find some (but not all) of the areas on the servers, and the APL they are intended for. If your soloing you may want to try areas below what is listed in the book as those level ranges are for parties...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jenna WSI]

               My mind boggles at how you can balance for pcs on levels 1-400+.... some serious boggling.
I'd be interested in hearing how that works.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Jenna WSI, 29 novembre 2010 - 11:56 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_KenquinnTheInsaneOne]

               The system Aventia uses for post40 levels is unique to my knowledge. It predates the Higher Ground post40 leveling system.

Each level after 40 increase your melee damage, ab(max of +20 enchantment mod to attack, the system does not use NWNeXalt), HP and spell damage and duration(+1% per level). If you would like more details feel free to ask.

Edit: I relized that I partly sidestepped your question about how everything is balanced to account for characters with insane number of levels. It is not really a question of how you balance insane levels. It may seem like daunting task, but once you know how powefull an X level character can be you just make areas to challenge them.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par KenquinnTheInsaneOne, 30 novembre 2010 - 10:54 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Jenna WSI]

               Thanks. So... just how many weapons for example are in your mod? I can't imagine how much work that would take to do, yeah.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_KenquinnTheInsaneOne]

               Getting the number of weapons would be a pain, but a total number of unique items is 10kish and rising. The way the items is balanced is based on a set of items guidelines called the API(Yes I know its not a real API, but that is what it was called) which dictates what can and can not be put on items along with item level limits.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jenna WSI]

               And I thought it was hard to keep track of our items... good lord. But I guess if you have enough staff anything is possible to achieve (within the games limits), and it's cool to see just how far people can push the game. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_KenquinnTheInsaneOne]

               Truth be told not all of the items are used, but without writing a parser to check if an item is referenced everywhere yanking the unused items would be far more effort than it is worth, as to having lots of staff...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Oclair Monanari]

               http://social.bioware.com/group/3383/
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               I just thought I would clarify somethings, and mention a relatively new customization to Aventia. Some of you may notice other servers listed under Aventia in the action section on GS. Gondolyn is a seprate server with it's own character vault, that Aventia kinda took under it's wing. There is also the western Isles server, which is basically just a sever for beta testing, and occasionally runing quests.  All of the adventuring areas and what not are on Naria, Dusk, and South Isle, and the HoC server is for commerce related activities (starter gear, gp bank and item vault, as well as QP items to browse) and character customization (appearance crafting), and maintenance (leveler, ect...).

One really exciting new development is the implementation of a Quest Point Shard system, where by players can gain the above mentioned QPs in game when DM's aren't running events. QPs again can be used for all sorts of things, like buying custom high end gear, exp transfers, ect. Having an ingame way to get these is just a nice additional thing for players to work for other than just for getting in game drops, or exp to get you up to lvl 100 or 200+.

Also note, CEP 2.3 is the only required Hak needed, and if your just droping in to check the servers out, upon making a character you will find a book in your inventory that describes some of the customizations, as well as a guide to some of the areas (and the party levels they are intended for.) If your solo I would recomend staying below the recomended levels until you start to aquire some decent gear.

Cheers all, Lazarus
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               Jenna, I am not sure if Ken adequately answered your question about balance. For Aventia, like most PWs trying to achieve some semblance of balance has been a WIP over many years. And it also depends in which capicaty of balance your refering. If your talking in terms of items, the allowed properties on items follow a set of rules outlined in our API. I would say in terms of item magic level it is a medium magic world. (+9 AC on armors is now the recently updated max for example.) Another example of how Aventia has handled one aspect of it is that certain classes (high BAB str types, fighters, WM, DD) can wear 40/ heavy armors where as on robes only 20/ is allowed. If your talking about the difference between a high level caster vs a high level tank, yes it is true the caster does more damage, but they depend on the tanks to stand behind, so everyone still is usefull, and needed. Numerous classes have also been modified, to give them greater viability at high levels, but sadly not all of them. Harper scouts for example are not very usefull, and some builds are more viable than others. That may change if/when someone else picks up the lead dev torch, as mentioned Aventia has been evolving for 8+ years and has undergone many generations of builders, scripters, and other Devs.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 24 mars 2011 - 10:41 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_NWN DM]

               +9 is medium magic?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               Well I guess it depends on your perspective, and how you define it. It's not +20, or even +15. Furthermore only +7 is allowed on boots, helms, cloaks, rings, bracers, and amulets to allow for some custom feats and abilities which allow for higher ac of those particular types (dodge, deflection, natural, ect..) for certain classes and builds. No crit immune items, % immune vs dmg types is strictly limited, as are numerous other things as outlined in our API (basically the rules governing builders). So yeah I would define it as medium item magic. Don't get me wrong it is an epic and high magic world in terms of player development, our high lvl casters can dish out a couple 1000 dmg, and some of our high meles are critting at 1000+, but in terms of item magic level, yes I would say it is medium.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 25 mars 2011 - 12:13 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_NWN DM]

               I guess the important thing is that you, your team and the people who play on your server are enjoying themselves.