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With the new Hero point change, you could get it off much much quicker.

Still, I'd rather see it down to the 1.5 hours just so I can balance it with the other spells, cause I'm greedy that way.

Could one use hero ponts to reduce the time cost, or is it only skills and not arcane spells?

nope, it includes arcane spells. Even says rituals (though admittedly that's only one type of arcane spell) in the description. It also includes potions.

so 5 hours becomes 2 hours via 1 hero point. 2 hours becomes 48 minutes, etc...

*gives Chris a wink* Hey, there's a lot I'm willing to have Vaun do for some magic items. You just keep that in mind. I sure as hell can be baught!

I'd like to see the time down too. 5 hours is insane when we only have 48 plyable hours in an event. I don't feel it's fair to MAKE people use hero points on a spell just so everyone else (magi and fighters to protect them) doesn't have to kill a huge chunk of their event to cast a spell. It's already expencive as all hell, and the higher the level of hte character, the WAY harder to find a body anyway. The spell is fine as is if you just kill that HUGE cast time. It adds nothing to a scene if it takes more than 2 hours or so. Honestly.

I have to say, I'm kinda with Heidi. I mean, I just dumped over $500 into Vaun and props. That's no chump change. If she dies... I'll be bummed, especially if it's a chump death. However, I've carefully made it 4 years with her, off and on. Now, if this game becomes a shooting gallery, I'm out. I'm not investing half a grand only to be punked and then left with a bunch of stuff I may or may not be able to use. I understand that's the risk with any game. But, if we're going for quality, there is investment to be considered. Not that I think people shouldn't perm. I want that jerk character off the field for good as much as anyone, and it sucks when they come back a million times. There just has to be a happy middle ground, though it always seems elusive at best.

It's something to consider that the morale of the player base is at an all time low right now. I mean LOW. People are still stinging from last season, and it's not easy to get over. Add that to everything else, and a fair number of folks are just heart sick. Sounds silly, but it's true. I've spoken to a lot of folks during the off season, and they feel really iffy about the games future right now. I don't know what the solutiuon is. I have ideas, but the vocal minority rules around here right now. (Sorry Aaron and Reid, but it's true). People won't speak up because they get shot down and told they are being stupid. It's very dangerous a slope. Like I said, people are sad, and they don't feel the love they used to.

We need to do something, beause this used to be a wonderful game with a bright future. Right now, honestly, I have my own doubts, and that is a VERY hard thing for me to admit. I love FH, but not so much that I'm very willing to get my heart broken. I am not alone in this.

5 hours can work just fine. Those involved with the spell can simply leave phys-reps of themselves behind and go NPC to avoid boredom. Being NPCs they’ll be quick to know if their little pocket of the world gets disturbed, and can quickly get back into character to deal with it.

Last event can’t help but leave player moral at an all time low. PvP sucks hard on the OOG level, and performing it on a mass scale ensures that suckage affects a great many people. But that’s when you need to get back on the horse. People ought to feel much better after they attend that next event. After they’ve gotten re-involved in the game with new characters, and can again see a hopeful future of engaging character and storyline developments. We just haven’t had that next event yet.

It’s been the perfect storm for low moral. Mass PvP character loss, a long downtime before being able to get back on the horse, and rule changes that, on the surface, make the game appear far more deadly. Thus there’s a great deal of stewing, and the GMs, who strive to make everyone happy, get frustrated with all the negativity. That frustration loops back on the playerbase and a viscous circle is engaged.

Everyone – players and GMs alike – just need to hold out for that first event. Odds are we’ll all be feeling worlds better afterward.

Hear, hear, well said Doug.

5 hours can work just fine. Those involved with the spell can simply leave phys-reps of themselves behind and go NPC to avoid boredom

NO NO NO this is a bad idea and more of an argument to change the time.

As for moral? Brining people back fromt he dead is not the way to regain moral. You need to send the elves packing which would be a good way to honor their deaths.

I think that you misunderstand me. I wasn't necessarally saying that bringing back people's characters would fix it. I'm talking about something deeper and more troubling. It's not about character loss. That sucks, but it happens. It's more... the total feel of the current FH environment. It's not the game it used to be. And that is not to say that growth and change are not a natural part of any larp environment. It's something else. It's an attitude. It's the fact that PC's honestly feel that the GM staff could give a shit about their feelings. It's that Aaron and Reid, god knows I love the boys, and I really do, seem to be running the show at present. I know this all sounds harsh, but I'm being completely honest and just telling you what I have heard discussed MANY times in the last few months with MANY people. They all say the same thing; they're not sure if FH is the kind of game they wanna play anymore.

*sigh* I hate saying this stuff. I want everything to be happy and good again. I don't want to be sad every time I think about FH. I don't want to worry that I'm spending money for nothing. I want to feel secure in the fact that I will have a good time like I used to. I don't want to hear all the bitching and unhappiness that has become a regular lart of EVERY FH conversation I've been a part of for the last five months.

GM_Chris wrote: As for moral? Brining people back from the dead is not the way to regain moral. You need to send the elves packing which would be a good way to honor their deaths.

Why? Why the hell would we EVER go back there? Everything we had and loved is gone, ashes. Why the uphill battle for a little scrap of land? We have a new home now, and have to make the best of it, because the elves kicked our asses, with the help of people we trusted. There is nothing there to go back to. Honestly. From a character POV, it's better to fortify ourselves against something like that happening again rather than risk destruction again. I understand the nature of a hero is to overcome impossible odds. Well, we believed we could, if we just stood together. We learned, to our sorrow, that it's not enough. Your friend might well turn and slaughter you. And did, in fact.

If this sounds like whining, forgive me. It's not meant to be. I'm trying to express, though poorly, what so many others have said over the last months.

Now, as Doug rightly pointed out, there is the new season. The same folks who are hurting and unhappy are going to give it a chance to be better. I hate to say it, but there is so very much riding on this first event of the new season. People need to feel like there's hope, like there's a reason to live this character's life. Because, frankly, we all have enough sorrow and hardship in our real lives. Most of us will be damned before we pay for it in our fantasy lives.

If people really feel that way, I'll pack my bags and leave the game, right now. I have no issues letting the game survive if it means my not being involved.

As for us running anything, as of late, many of the GMs were sick or otherwise occupied which is the only reason I've answered any of the questions and my opinion is no way official. As for keeping a list or things to and have changed, I do that so that I remember, not for any official reason. At the end of a season, no one recalls what was brought up and why.

I really wish people would talk to us instead of just talk in back rooms about how they perceive the GM's at Final Haven.

So I guess that is the crutch of the matter. I mean if people feel we do not care, yet your post is the first I am hearing about it, then logically how am I suppose to care about things I do not even know are a problem.

The one thing I know you specifically have a problem with is the time of the resurrection spell which I responded with: “you might be right give me a time you would like it to be.” If I did not care, then I would not have asked you for a solution, I would have simply told you to bugger off.

As for the concern of Aaron and Eric running the show, this I have heard from a couple people.

There are 20 hidden GM forums. I believe Aaron and Eric have access to about 6 of these. Erik and Brad also have access to about 6 of these forums. Well Erik might have access to more. Travis and Matt I believe have access to around 18. Aaron and Eric have no vote on anything except maybe spells and potions.

We listen to a bunch of input from a bunch of different people then take the topic to a forum where we can just discuss stuff privately with less distraction. In fact we have forums, as you can tell by the count, that WH GM's are not even have privy too, and we discuss stuff there too. It is set up so we can think about things taking in everyone's input before we make a decision. This decision is determined by a vote. The only people who have a vote is Wayne, Mike, Matt, Trevor, Bill, and myself.

Now let us address the "feel" of the game. For starters the LARP has been going on for awhile and we have not attracted a mass of new people. We have had a 6 month break which I am sure does not help, and the last event of the year bothered some people. There is also a second LARP that people can attend. We also have this attitude of why continue to try? Well it is because you can make a difference. I know this is a fantasy world, but it is a great mirror into our own world, but in a much more accelerated way. There are causes and things that are greater than the individual. There is good left in the world and it is worth fighting for. You as a character need to decide if you really believe what I say or simply want to be left alone, but I assure you that if you leave the elves unchecked there won't be a Caldonia to go back to. Yes that was some creative plagiarism, but true in all respects.

You know perfectly well I'm not saying you need to go. The fact that you will do what no one else wants to is an assett. We need to know what needs to be fixed and the like. I just think, knowing you as a frind as I have for so long, that sometimes your tone is a bit off and it gets to people. It's hard to tell delivery when it's written. The downfall of this sort of medium. You can come off as agressive or matter-of-fact, babe, and not everyone knows you well enough to understand that it's just you, not meant to be personal. You also come off as being the final say, and even if that's not the case, perseption is everything. Just be more... gentle (I suppose) and leave room for discussion. Don't slam the door in peoples faces, like we both know you do from time to time. You are a very point blank kind of person, Reid. Not everyone knows how to deal well with that. Aaron too. You're the most active and vocal people, thus you appear to have the most say. It's hard for people who have no idea what's going on behind the scenes to know any better.

Along those lines, I'm not saying you are ruining the game. You are a symptom of a much larger problem. So are PC's who don't speak up and let GM's know how they feel, myself no less than any other. I've been stewing for months, avoiding this forum for JUST that reason. The GM's ALL have crazy busy lives as well. It's impossible to keep fourty odd players in the know and happy. If that's the case, perhaps additions to the GM staff are in order to help with the work load. Growth on both ends can be a really good thing. New ideas and all that jazz.

I'm sure most of this is coming across wrong, and I'm sorry. I just... I don't want to see the game die because people won't express what is making them unhappy. Communication in any dynamic is essential, and I'm trying to do that for those who just don't have their own voice right now. I'm willing to be the 'bad guy' and say what they've been saying, because I DO love FH, and I want it to be wonderful again.

Believe me when I say that the only thing any of us want is to fall in love with our characters and the game again. We want to be inspired and to long for events, counting the days. We larp because we love it, the story, the interaction, the drama, and the setting. I think everyone just needs reassurence that they haven't lost what they love. That would be worse than losing all the characters in the world.

I think we have the chance for new start. I look forward to it this may.

I look forward to May!

Ok, my turn I guess.

Any problems I have had with rules and all I go and talk to a GM. That's what they are there for and you know what they listen and either try to take the time to explain things to me better or hear what I have to say. Ask Mike about the number of times I have had a problem and I'll talk to him.

Maybe I've always been more pro-active on stuff, I dunno. There were mechanical breaks that were being exploited. If I can find breaks then well others can as well for I'm not the most technically minded individual of the bunch.

This may come off as blunt but who better to find the rules breaks and help the GMs try to fix it then well people who love to puch the limits of the rules.

Sure the two in question can come off as harsh but if you talk to them face to face or privately, at least whenever I've asked them questions they've alwasy taken the time to explain thing really clearly to me and not make me feel silly for asking questions in the first place. I dunno, Aaron has been really helpful to me as of late explaining some stuff I needed explained.

Maybe the events of the last game has people just all nervous. I know for a fact I am because I played a character and that is over and now I came up with something completely new. I'm excited about the newness and all the new adventure.

Maybe I'm just on optimist but I think this season could be really good. The key to some things like they were in the beginning of this is that we as players work better together.

To be honest that is what overall did some things in is that people didn't want to work together.

I've looked at the rules...hell this past week I've been bogged down in rules after I received my rulebook and it doesn't feel bad at all. It's going to boil down to the pcs being able to work together.

Say for instance the elves hit Caldeonia, you know it would be AWSOME to beat down the elves who dare set foot in Caldeonia for though it's not taking back haven it's still beating the bastards down for what they did.

I dunno, perhaps I'm babbling but Fesko stated things really well with the give it a chance at least. All new adventures, all new excitement, all new people to meet. I actually think it's going to be more like it was back in the day.

All that, and Mohdri too!