Alright, it seems to be my turn to write a review of this server. My stay has been shorter than usual so my experiences can only go so far as for example I did not do any adventuring or dungeoning yet. That being said I can still speak of what I saw and experienced. Most of which was resoundingly good, not to say, magnificent, some things I have mixed feelings about and one experience was actually negative. I am going to over each starting with the good, then the mixed feelings, then the ugly. When I came to this server I found this forum and the honest feedback given here, even if criticism, very helpful and what I am about to write is meant to conform to and follow that very spirit of constructive praise. Or criticism.
The Good
Activity
One of the first things that stood out to me was the tremendous activity of this server both in player count (ooc) but also in terms of actual roleplay (ic). Many a times I came across sparsely populated/active places or people who only responded every five minutes or more. You can't effectively rp or tell stories that way. Not so on TDN. There was, and I emphasize this, not ONE instance where anyone did not respond promptly and with quality content. That alone was absolutely remarkable to me. It didn't matter where you went or who you spoke to. This was 100% consistent. Just to verify that I am not just raving here there is one experience where I didn't get a response IC for more than five minutes from a lone player outside the gates but that was likely someone being afk and that can hardly be a fault.
The Community
Normally when I join a discord on a project, a server or a group it is a somewhat tedious process of wading through various channels and muting those where most or all of the content posted is internet memes, pictures or similarly casual or unofficial business. On TDN it was different. Not only did I not need to mute any channel even the "general" channel (which is a usual suspect for what is mentioned above) was orderly and well conducted. Anyone wanting "more" could go to the "abyss". A very fair and pleasant experience. As a new player I was also greeted and welcomed with respect but not overly so as to feel gushed over or uncomfortable. All in all it felt very mature. I could even discuss my thought process of character creation in the main channel in brief.
IC Conflict/Death/Perma-death
Perhaps one of the most contended and difficult topics I was not only pleasantly surprised how this is handled here but downright impressed. The system that TDN employs elegantly combines playerchoice (grievous wounds) for non-opted-in's with the desired gravity of consequence for those who do "opt-in" or play a warlock as a class. The fact alone that you, as player, can choose whether or not to opt-in but even if you do not opt-in you can still die IC is a solution that gives the maximum amount of responsibility and choice into the player hands in this without compromising any of the setting or immersion. The fact that auto-opt-in was restricted to just two or three classes was also notable as all of these classes rightfully and practically demanded such a response if it came to conflict and their true nature was known. I also read that the TDN unique "Civilian" class used to be auto-opt-in but was then changed down the line to optional and I find that sensible. As a civilian you have single digit hp for most of the time, maybe a dozen hp or so and it is extremely easy to get downed even just through mishaps (teleportation bug) or other circumstances like a game crash (which happened to me on occasion) that are neither intended nor warranted but mechanically you would still lose your character. So I think that was a good choice as those playing civilian who still want that can opt-in while those who don't can refrain. All in all I think TDN's solution to this is "The One" or "This is the way." and I would advise anyone who builds a server to take an example of this in my opinion, truly, exemplary system.
The new graphics
I don't think there is enough praise to be given here. Not only are the graphics, particularly character customization related absolutely amazing, the hairstyles and clothing are actually historically accurate lending a certain credence to the immersion you simply won't find anywhere else on nwn up to this point. That was one of the things that made my decision to leave so much harder.
The ingame systems
Some of them still on the way (crafting) some of them well implemented. Reputation, fame, infamy and oh my goodness the naming system! In case you don't know every person displays as a generic name like "Stranger" and you need to learn their name and then manually apply it. How awesome is that?! I needed to learn it but that didn't take long and my goodness does it help immersion. This is one of the things that I personally would recommend as an absolutely MUST HAVE if there was an unofficial total conversion mod for EE based on TDN making the game at large function like the server does. For now though you get to enjoy it here on the server, that is if you choose to play. Which I recommend by the way.
I could go on here (persona, disguise, outfit-saving, etc) but there is a certain sense of wonder in exploring this on your own and I don't want to take that away from you if you are new and choose to give this world a try. Besides that post shouldn't get too long but then who reads forums these days ...
Mixed Feelings
IC/OOC separation on "sensitive topics"
On the one hand the wiki makes every effort to convey a gritty, realistic setting where harsh sentences by the harbor king or public executions are nothing that people would take offense to generally. Indentured servitude and drudgery is listed as common practice, the former being listed as the "backbone of society". All of which unacceptable in today's day and age of course. Particularly modern society. But thats just the thing. Forgotten Realms is not modern society. Slavery is common, racism is a daily occurrence and sexism is practically ingrained in certain regions or societies. Just to name a few examples. And yet, while the server seems to desire the gritty, nasty realism of a low-magic setting in Amn and Tethyr it appears to strive to appease certain modern-day values and tendencies to some degree. While an argument can be made for both, my opinion on the matter is that you cannot have it both ways just like IC/OOC separation. If you choose to engage with a settings as this then modern-day values and reactions need to stay in the modern-day world and not enter the game world to pollute the immersion. But thats just my opinion.
The Human/Elf Split
While I admit that personally I like the idea on TDN I can also see the perils of splitting your playerbase on a comparably small server as a persistent nwn world. On the one hand personally I favor the approach TDN has chosen especially given the setting's premise of animosity between elves and humans. But on the other hand it also relies on a high player count to a very heavy degree. Currently that player count is there but what if it isn't? To me this feels risky and a bit like the fragile balance of gravity and radiation pressure on a star on the cosmos. As I said I like what TDN is doing here and I hope it is going to continue to work well but I really think there needs to be a contingency plan once the hype fades or the leadership starts making critical mistakes - both things that are just a matter of time, not a question of if, but when.
Lack of tutorials
One of the things that I personally found most irritating is hearing of these new systems but finding almost no means to actually learn them without awkwardly approaching players via the OOC tell system (which I chose to refrain from) risking to disturb their RP and immersion or playing a character who has some sort of background justification for not knowing basic things (which I don't recommend you do by the way, it was not well received when I tried it). The only feasible option is to try and ask about it on discord but that comes with its own problems because that destroys -your- immersion. And it bothers people taking their time. Of all the solutions I still think that is the most feasible one at present. If I had a say in this what I would do is work on an in-game or at least in-world based tutorial system where characters (or players if its ooc) can learn this without needing to bother other players and take their time in undue fashion.
The OOC welcome room
While I like very much the way it is set up, tactful and pleasant I found that reading the welcome signs is actually more of a liability than a help as the information on it appears partially outdated and often times downright incorrect. Before I joined the server I read the wiki first because I wasn't ingame yet but then I made sure to also take the time to read the signs in the OOC welcome room. At first I made a ticket about the inconsistencies and outdated parts that I found but after encountering enough of them I just continued reading and discretely informed the staff of this. Their response was one of gratitude but that sometimes things "slip through the cracks". I considered my responsibility in this to be fulfilled. Though I will note that these welcome signs may have contributed to what is going to be my next and last point, the negative experience which came about because of me coming into conflict with something that was not written anywhere, neither IC nor OOC.
The Negative
Now to the negative experience I made. Prior to registering on the discord and creating my character concept I made sure to read what resources I could, prioritizing rules and general server related things moving to lore and setting related things thereafter.
Long story short I was asked to delete my character out of the blue without any warning, any advice or any sign of disapproval what so ever. I did not break any rules as was clarified to me by staff but I cannot go into detail here as to the full reasons to respect privacy.
Not only did this come without even so much as a sign of disapproval, all attempts from my end at making concessions, offering leniency (to the point of full permission to change my character/concept as needed) and even presenting a number of solutions were declined or shut down. No compromise was made despite my full cooperation. At all. I had to delete my character.
While it was explained to me in detail and I have a measure of understanding for their point of view and perspective the fact remains that I was asked to delete my character without any prior sign of disapproval, without breaking any rules and without being able to know about what they deemed problematic because it was, literally, not written anywhere as of yet.
Which made this a draconian response to something I could not be aware of at all because it was not written anywhere nor communicated to me in any way, shape or form.
To me that kind of conduct is simply inexcusable both on a professional and private level.
Conclusion
All of that being said, I would still recommend trying out this server. Just be wary. We all make mistakes and so long as we keep trying there is room for growth. On that note I hope this review was helpful to you if you are a new player or interesting if you are experienced.
With that I bid you farewell all and wish you all the best.
The Good
Activity
One of the first things that stood out to me was the tremendous activity of this server both in player count (ooc) but also in terms of actual roleplay (ic). Many a times I came across sparsely populated/active places or people who only responded every five minutes or more. You can't effectively rp or tell stories that way. Not so on TDN. There was, and I emphasize this, not ONE instance where anyone did not respond promptly and with quality content. That alone was absolutely remarkable to me. It didn't matter where you went or who you spoke to. This was 100% consistent. Just to verify that I am not just raving here there is one experience where I didn't get a response IC for more than five minutes from a lone player outside the gates but that was likely someone being afk and that can hardly be a fault.
The Community
Normally when I join a discord on a project, a server or a group it is a somewhat tedious process of wading through various channels and muting those where most or all of the content posted is internet memes, pictures or similarly casual or unofficial business. On TDN it was different. Not only did I not need to mute any channel even the "general" channel (which is a usual suspect for what is mentioned above) was orderly and well conducted. Anyone wanting "more" could go to the "abyss". A very fair and pleasant experience. As a new player I was also greeted and welcomed with respect but not overly so as to feel gushed over or uncomfortable. All in all it felt very mature. I could even discuss my thought process of character creation in the main channel in brief.
IC Conflict/Death/Perma-death
Perhaps one of the most contended and difficult topics I was not only pleasantly surprised how this is handled here but downright impressed. The system that TDN employs elegantly combines playerchoice (grievous wounds) for non-opted-in's with the desired gravity of consequence for those who do "opt-in" or play a warlock as a class. The fact alone that you, as player, can choose whether or not to opt-in but even if you do not opt-in you can still die IC is a solution that gives the maximum amount of responsibility and choice into the player hands in this without compromising any of the setting or immersion. The fact that auto-opt-in was restricted to just two or three classes was also notable as all of these classes rightfully and practically demanded such a response if it came to conflict and their true nature was known. I also read that the TDN unique "Civilian" class used to be auto-opt-in but was then changed down the line to optional and I find that sensible. As a civilian you have single digit hp for most of the time, maybe a dozen hp or so and it is extremely easy to get downed even just through mishaps (teleportation bug) or other circumstances like a game crash (which happened to me on occasion) that are neither intended nor warranted but mechanically you would still lose your character. So I think that was a good choice as those playing civilian who still want that can opt-in while those who don't can refrain. All in all I think TDN's solution to this is "The One" or "This is the way." and I would advise anyone who builds a server to take an example of this in my opinion, truly, exemplary system.
The new graphics
I don't think there is enough praise to be given here. Not only are the graphics, particularly character customization related absolutely amazing, the hairstyles and clothing are actually historically accurate lending a certain credence to the immersion you simply won't find anywhere else on nwn up to this point. That was one of the things that made my decision to leave so much harder.
The ingame systems
Some of them still on the way (crafting) some of them well implemented. Reputation, fame, infamy and oh my goodness the naming system! In case you don't know every person displays as a generic name like "Stranger" and you need to learn their name and then manually apply it. How awesome is that?! I needed to learn it but that didn't take long and my goodness does it help immersion. This is one of the things that I personally would recommend as an absolutely MUST HAVE if there was an unofficial total conversion mod for EE based on TDN making the game at large function like the server does. For now though you get to enjoy it here on the server, that is if you choose to play. Which I recommend by the way.
I could go on here (persona, disguise, outfit-saving, etc) but there is a certain sense of wonder in exploring this on your own and I don't want to take that away from you if you are new and choose to give this world a try. Besides that post shouldn't get too long but then who reads forums these days ...
Mixed Feelings
IC/OOC separation on "sensitive topics"
On the one hand the wiki makes every effort to convey a gritty, realistic setting where harsh sentences by the harbor king or public executions are nothing that people would take offense to generally. Indentured servitude and drudgery is listed as common practice, the former being listed as the "backbone of society". All of which unacceptable in today's day and age of course. Particularly modern society. But thats just the thing. Forgotten Realms is not modern society. Slavery is common, racism is a daily occurrence and sexism is practically ingrained in certain regions or societies. Just to name a few examples. And yet, while the server seems to desire the gritty, nasty realism of a low-magic setting in Amn and Tethyr it appears to strive to appease certain modern-day values and tendencies to some degree. While an argument can be made for both, my opinion on the matter is that you cannot have it both ways just like IC/OOC separation. If you choose to engage with a settings as this then modern-day values and reactions need to stay in the modern-day world and not enter the game world to pollute the immersion. But thats just my opinion.
The Human/Elf Split
While I admit that personally I like the idea on TDN I can also see the perils of splitting your playerbase on a comparably small server as a persistent nwn world. On the one hand personally I favor the approach TDN has chosen especially given the setting's premise of animosity between elves and humans. But on the other hand it also relies on a high player count to a very heavy degree. Currently that player count is there but what if it isn't? To me this feels risky and a bit like the fragile balance of gravity and radiation pressure on a star on the cosmos. As I said I like what TDN is doing here and I hope it is going to continue to work well but I really think there needs to be a contingency plan once the hype fades or the leadership starts making critical mistakes - both things that are just a matter of time, not a question of if, but when.
Lack of tutorials
One of the things that I personally found most irritating is hearing of these new systems but finding almost no means to actually learn them without awkwardly approaching players via the OOC tell system (which I chose to refrain from) risking to disturb their RP and immersion or playing a character who has some sort of background justification for not knowing basic things (which I don't recommend you do by the way, it was not well received when I tried it). The only feasible option is to try and ask about it on discord but that comes with its own problems because that destroys -your- immersion. And it bothers people taking their time. Of all the solutions I still think that is the most feasible one at present. If I had a say in this what I would do is work on an in-game or at least in-world based tutorial system where characters (or players if its ooc) can learn this without needing to bother other players and take their time in undue fashion.
The OOC welcome room
While I like very much the way it is set up, tactful and pleasant I found that reading the welcome signs is actually more of a liability than a help as the information on it appears partially outdated and often times downright incorrect. Before I joined the server I read the wiki first because I wasn't ingame yet but then I made sure to also take the time to read the signs in the OOC welcome room. At first I made a ticket about the inconsistencies and outdated parts that I found but after encountering enough of them I just continued reading and discretely informed the staff of this. Their response was one of gratitude but that sometimes things "slip through the cracks". I considered my responsibility in this to be fulfilled. Though I will note that these welcome signs may have contributed to what is going to be my next and last point, the negative experience which came about because of me coming into conflict with something that was not written anywhere, neither IC nor OOC.
The Negative
Now to the negative experience I made. Prior to registering on the discord and creating my character concept I made sure to read what resources I could, prioritizing rules and general server related things moving to lore and setting related things thereafter.
Long story short I was asked to delete my character out of the blue without any warning, any advice or any sign of disapproval what so ever. I did not break any rules as was clarified to me by staff but I cannot go into detail here as to the full reasons to respect privacy.
Not only did this come without even so much as a sign of disapproval, all attempts from my end at making concessions, offering leniency (to the point of full permission to change my character/concept as needed) and even presenting a number of solutions were declined or shut down. No compromise was made despite my full cooperation. At all. I had to delete my character.
While it was explained to me in detail and I have a measure of understanding for their point of view and perspective the fact remains that I was asked to delete my character without any prior sign of disapproval, without breaking any rules and without being able to know about what they deemed problematic because it was, literally, not written anywhere as of yet.
Which made this a draconian response to something I could not be aware of at all because it was not written anywhere nor communicated to me in any way, shape or form.
To me that kind of conduct is simply inexcusable both on a professional and private level.
Conclusion
All of that being said, I would still recommend trying out this server. Just be wary. We all make mistakes and so long as we keep trying there is room for growth. On that note I hope this review was helpful to you if you are a new player or interesting if you are experienced.
With that I bid you farewell all and wish you all the best.
