Vath

I like the overall quality of the build. Lots to see and explore, lots of cool areas that could potentially be used if the area is considered for main phase RP. I like the secrets strewn throughout as well. I have just one criticism. People are not likely to leave the area they arrive in when teleporting to the starting zone. That is, to say, everyone gathers around the portal right there. The previous starting zone placed a campfire as the central location right at that point so there was a landmark for players to congregate around. This starting zone doesn't have that, but players still do not move away from that spot. That is, to say, we've gone from sitting around a campfire to sitting in an empty patch of grass. It'd be nice if there was more in the area you arrive in when you teleport to the starting zone to congregate around, as opposed to just a hammock and a patch of grass. Camp fire, statue, fountain, anything. The objects in that particular area, though, could use some rearranging. Otherwise, good build and it's nice to see start get an update.

• Type of Bug: Animation, Model • Description: I'm reporting two bugs here. First is that both male and female Undead seem to have broken textures for their faces. Slackjawed options have weird miscolored protrusions, missing jaws have no textures for tongues, metal jaws are absent, so on. Secondly, female Undead have broken animations. So far I have tested it with exclamations, questions, laughing, pointing, dancing and sitting, all of which have resulted in the model breaking when used. • Evidence (Chat message/Screenshot): • Steps to reproduce: For first bug, create any Undead character and go through their "features" section of character creation. If you are familiar with what they normally are, several options are missing. For second, morph into a female Undead or make a female Undead and perform any action which would result in a character animation. As noted above, animations I've gotten to trigger it include the animations for yelling, laughing, pointing, dancing, sitting on a chair, flexing, shrugging, waving, saluting, and bowing - though I'm sure others might trigger it as well. • Expected result: Full list of options for male and female Undead features, proper textures for facial features. Also normal female Undead animations. • Observed result: Incorrect textures on facial features. Also the animation bugs pictured above. • Reproduction rate: For the first one, 100% so far. For the second, also seems to happen universally. Easy to reproduce. However, they seem to stop doing the animation altogether after the first one bugs out. With a bit of testing, it seems that once the bug stops reoccurring, it will show up again if you restart the game. • Additional information: None

I meant that in terms of NPCs, not players. The players can be whatever weird high-fantasy creature they want. What I mean is that the actual townspeople are peasants and farmers, like you find in actual WoW in the many villages you come across. It's guarded by regular guards or something. It has its share of characters, i.e. it's not populated by mages but might have a mage or two, maybe a few veterans who are retired or something. What I'm getting at here is that it's not an island that serves as a dragon den and thus full of dragons in mortal guise or something like that. A town populated by simple, not-godly folks rules by a simple lord or something and guarded by a couple knights, with a wizard or two in the mix and some citizens who have jobs like fishing, alchemy, etc. would be nice. Could even make names and personalities for the townsfolk and let players interact with them if there's a DM. That's in line with what I was suggesting anyway. No threat is a threat if dispatched with total ease, and yes, it is Warcraft, but I think BfA presents the kind of threat I mean. For instance, in Arathi, the Alliance and Horde forces are under threat from the local Trolls and Ogres from what I can tell. It's not the sky turning green and the Burning Legion swooping down lead by a Dreadlord landing right in the middle of town and burning everyone but the strongest heroes to cinders. It's just Troll marauders. That's what I mean - something simple, like bandits or a cult. If you feel the need to run events, make the cult or bandits a reoccurring problem. This way it's like a storyline for players who are regulars, but it's something newer players can easily pick up on and get involved in. That's especially good if they're not playing some mega-OP paladin rushing in to slay those one or two infernals the demonic cult summons while yelling "GOD IS PISSED OFF AT YOU" at the top of his lungs. Only after writing this did I realize that someone already said it but yeah, that's what I was getting at. I didn't mean no threat, just not some huge, glowy, overpowered, over-the-top threat. Something that can be reasonably dealt with.

This is going to sound weird. I want a minimum-effort phase. Pick a spot, maybe make a camp on existing terrain if you feel crafty about it. Make something simple; a neutral camp or town. This town is not plagued by all-powerful demons or under attack by some ungodly powerful threat. This town isn't embroiled in some huge plot that will change the face of Azeroth. It's not populated by mages or ancient elves or hardy warriors, but by peasants. Is there a storyline? Sure, if you want. Something simple and menial. Something that is important to the town, but not the region or the continent and certainly not the world. I feel people go out of their way to make something huge and extravagant and it always ends up being, in some way, niche and over-the-top. Just play it cool and make something an everyday average joe can go to. If someone is NOT that, then they can say it's a stop on their way to whatever important place that this phase most certainly is NOT. Most of my motivation behind this is Amadeus, really. He's not some teleporting wizard or travelling sellsword, and he's not out to go fighting giants or demons or elementals or anything, so it's hard to find anywhere for him. That in mind, the closer it is to northern Eastern Kingdoms, the better, but I'm not picky. I like private adventure RPs but we're asking for something practical here, so I'd frankly prefer a regular town or camp that doesn't bombard me with all this outlandish stuff right out of the gate.

Going to make a forum post for once. I do text walls. I side with the people saying that instead of having 20% of the playerbase on doing nothing, you'll just not have 20% of the playerbase on. Not all RP available is something that is what a player is looking for. For those players, start is a place to sit while you wait for either a friend to get on and RP or for an RP to become available. That's certainly the case with me on Amadeus. The character's got rags and a couple spells, so pretty much every single guild is already out of the question since, as of the time of this post, they're all way over his head and tossing him in would be nigh suicidal. He also cannot teleport and is not some world wanderer who bypasses the threats one might encounter in the world with ease. He's in trouble if so much as a wolf decides he looks like a tasty meal. Right now my options for him are to make my own RP - which I won't do unless I have at least some people on that I get along with who can join in, since I'm obviously not going to sit there and just RP with myself, or to skip this part of his progression and just make him competent, which, while valid, leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Simply put, not all characters can be shoehorned into RPs, and not all players are eager to abandon those characters for ones who do. While I understand not all characters are like mine, that doesn't mean that the RP presented may be optimal for them, and until that point they should have a place to wait to see if there is one. Otherwise, they'll probably just never get on since the only way they become aware of any RP is through Discord. Not to mention, some players or characters are simply not meant for public RP and are meant for adventure RPs hosted privately between them and their friends. If they're in start, they're likely just in the time between and just enjoy talking to other people. It doesn't mean they aren't RPing, it means they're not in YOUR RP. The last thing I'd like to mention is that if start were removed, it's very possible that people will simply make their own. That was the deal with Echeloned. That server also did not have a start zone. Instead, players generally came together around Sunstrider Isle. While I'm not sure that the current climate of RPers would lead to that, it's definitely possible. If they want to be in those RPs, they'll join the phase. If they have no interest, deleting the start area won't make them magically filter in to those phases, it'll make them magically filter out of the server. What else is there to do until something they're interested pops up? How will they find people they want to RP with? Best I can tell, without a start area they simply won't.