[imported_Augustus Lee]

*Takes a deep breath* First off, I'd like to start out by acknowledging that the vast majority of the people on this forum haven't the foggiest idea who I am, and therefore many of you may think me to be a newb or have no idea what I'm talking about. In fact, I'd wager only two people here still know who I am. That being said...I'm still gonna say something because the constant bickering is astounding. It's crazy how big this thread is. I think I spent a half hour, maybe forty five minutes reading the entire thread to make sure I got everything.

I AGREE with most of what Jakko said in the beginning of the post. Ease and convenience vs. challenge and annoyance are good points. One also needs to realise that the two player bases brought together here are used to completely different styles and most have very different mind sets. I've played both sides of the coin, meaning RPer and PvPer. I would hope several people have. I understand most arguements on both sides in relation to the whole Pits Runes deal. Here's what I see:

Sure, they'd be nice. I'd love to be able to run outside of a dungeon I just got sacked in and restock to try and get my crap back. Takes a butt load less time and my chances of succeeding are greatly increase. Excellent in reguards to convenience. Do I think it would take away from the challenge of the dungeon itself? No, not really. That rune has nothing to do with the dungeon itself, it has to do with recovering from death.

Here's one flip side to that coin. Death is part of the game. Plain and simple, it's a part of the game. Death is an inconvenience. It doesn't matter if I die by environment, or die by a pvper, it's a pain in the ass to recover from. From what I'm seeing, by advocating the pit runes we're advocating making pve an easier gamble. I don't agree with that.

There's been several suggestions that make the idea of the pit runes more appealing, such as some kind of delay to equate a realistic run time to a nearby town (assuming you could actually make that run yourself and know the way) or even making the runes only effective for the dead. I think there's been others but it doesn't matter. WHY should it be easier to recover from a death in a dungeon?

If I'm out west of britain collecting a resource (most of you know what I'm talking about) and I get thumped by a random pvper, well I'm just screwed. Running back to him would be a waste of time. Chances are that pvper has a rune with him. By the time I get back to him to exact vengeance, it's too late for me to get my own loot back. Assuming I'd want any loot he may have on him, meh...I guess that's opinion based. some people would want to do it just to say, "Hah I got you back". Bah, that's not my style. It can be yours, that's fine. Either way, I'm going to suffer the run back to town, the res, and the regrouping. There's nothing that we can do about that. Doing something about it in dungeons simply because we can is just a matter of convenience.

Yeah, it sucks dieing in a dungeon on an island and having no way back into town from that location, but that's part of the risk, it's part of the challenge as many have stated. You take a chunk out of the risk and challenge by removing that possibility. I recall someone mentioned dungeons that have levers that must be pulled and puzzles to be solved and what not, and how much of a pain it is to get back to your body in the first place in such dungeons. Well, if the chances are you couldn't do it in the first place, why bother? Go back to town on foot, suit back up and start from the beginning again like you'd have to in the first place. That may not be the most appealing concept but it -is- all part of the challenge.

Now a lot of this is all PvP player related. (And I'm leaving out entirely the discussion of the stuck button for reasons of my own.) But ya know, IN:X is a merged shard. There are RPers here too. Theoreticly half the shard are RPers and half are strictly PvPers. So there must be compromise. All the reasons I've listed have been purely mechanical and therefore I will say are mostly PvPer related issues and reasons. What about the RP aspect? I know some of you could care less, but it -is- an aspect that should be thought about being that this shard includes this form of gaming.

RP wise the pit runes at dungeons make absolutely no since (imo). RP should involve realism as well, and the chances of such a thing as runes to and from a town on ANY world, by ANY creator are slim to none. Dungeons are SUPPOSED to be difficult. A god, or a master/mistress of said dungeon, wouldn't want to make it easy as pie for you to come back and try try again. Each time you go it should be some kind of task. Not -just- a part of your characters day to day routine. Hunting is a part of RP yes, some times it's a *****. But then again so is wandering around minding your own business lumberjacking and getting whacked by a PvPer just for shits and giggles. (Note: I have not dealt with this personally, but I'm sure it happens.)

The point right there is that ANY decision being made right now should not just gauge mechanics but also the RP aspects of the game as well as this shard is supposed to be a merging of BOTH play styles. Do I intend to RP here? Surely. I haven't RPed in years and look forward to some fun RP. I also look forward to some good PvP once my skills are back up to spec. But let's not just argue one aspect of a mechanic and leave it at that, let's look at it from all possible points of view if we can. I'm sure I missed things, there were a lot of good and bad points and I don't have the time nor patience (nor awareness after pulling pretty much two double shifts in a row) to go through each and every one. Clashing with eachother because we come from one shard or the other is pointless, we're one shard now. We're all making sacrifices and we're all getting some things that others aren't. This shard will have many compromises between the two player types that have come together, but that's part of merging. It's -how- two things become one: COMPROMISE.

I've approached this as an IN:X player, not as a former INer. As I said, I've played on both sides, so that was easy enough for me to do. I like the idea of pit runes, but I don't think they make since on -this shard-. At least not as they are at every town bank.

As far as player bankboxes go, I liked them pretty well when I used them. However, they make no since in an RP world, and I agree that it would pull apart some of the community in that we're all pretty much forced to go to a town and involve ourselves with others by having banks only in the towns. I support Guild bankboxes or guildbanks because it makes since to me, both mechanicly and RP wise. A guild (or any sizable group) would have their own storage facility and if at all possible their own link to a larger one in a real setting. And mechanicly it means that guild members don't have to constantly carry all necessary equipment for PvP with them just in case of a raid.

Anyway, I suppose I'll wrap it up with that. I've added a good amount for everyone to read. :lol: In the end, I totally agree that what we should be aiming for here more than anything is challenge and fun, and there are some aspects that are ridiculously annoying and taking away from the fun, but at the same time there are a few things that do seem to be to easy to be reasonable. Then again, we're still in the final beta stage, so let's not get too hot and heated about it and point things out to the staff as we find them and hope for the best results. Anyway, happy gaming folks!

***Edit***
Forgot to mention in the part about the dungeons with the levers and so forth. All of those puzzles and what not were put there to -make- those dungeons difficult and extremely challenging. The loot and prizes for making it through said dungeon should be grand, and should -not- be simple to get. That's why said dungeons are the way they are. If we added pit runes to those dungeons, then they would quite possible become just part of a players routine rather than a task to undertake with preparedness, and maybe with a few friends (which bolsters player/character relations, no?) ^_^; That's it, I'm done. BUH-BYE!