First of all! The briefest of introductions as I post this. I'm the new design/clerical imm, Sirin. So, as part of my job, Hrithma has had me going around to various first continent areas that aren't being worked on for the purpose of deciding which should be revamped in what order, and how. The final order has yet to be decided, but I'll start a series of these posts for the purpose of getting ideas from everyone else!
Let's start with Cult of Shadows. From what I understand, the area was made ages ago, (pre-creator-sig, according to Areo) by an imm named Darcos. Syn has told me that Darcos was Whisp's little brother or something, and not very old. This would indeed explain alot of what I've seen.
I've been making brief notes upon going through these areas, I'll post what I got from Cult of Shadows:
[quote]
[i]
[b]Cult of Shadows:[/b] Oh, god. 1st revamp. Predictable, boring, repetitive.. Spelling errors out the ass and beyond. For fuck's sake, a beholder as a lord? DND much? Too small also, and no real purpose to the entire place so far as I'm aware. There was once an issue regarding cross-area resets for Daktos and an item for the Soulcutter quest I believe, but that's been fixed by Areo. Still, I'm told that some mortals still have the spare item that was once this soulstone or whatever it's called. This should be fixed too, before any complete overhaul is to be made. As for design thoughts, I'd say this should be eventually turned into something along the lines of an assassin/necromancer type guild or training hall. A renaming is in order as well, but this will all be detailed further at a later date.
[/i]
[/quote]
Obviously, I was not too impressed. The descriptions for rooms are repeated so many times it's not funny, and I doubt there are over ten different room descriptions in total. The layout itself is simple, something like six or seven levels with a few hallways and generic offshoot rooms. The lowest level seems to have a 'Seventh Plane of Hell', and a demon with a very silly name. Which of course brings me to my next point, ridiculous mobs. The 'Overlord Beholder' and 'Demonios' for example. I'm quite frankly surprised this kind of thing was allowed to go into the game at all, so long ago.
I quote for example, the descriptions for the Beholder and Demonios:
[quote]
[i]
"The Overlord is a beholder, a large floating orb with a central eye, large mouth, and many smaller eyes sprouting from stalks, atop its hideous form. The Overlord is a beholder of some power, and is resistant to metal born weapons."
"Demonios is a massive demon, at least 12 foot tall. He floats in the center of this void, motionless, fire bursting off his huge body. Uncontended by all other demons he resides here, the evil energys fueling his power."
[/i]
[/quote]
At any rate, on to the recommendations: Complete overhaul.
As stated in the notes, I would think this could be turned into a place for the assassins, necromancers, and those who favor silence above all else. A Guild of Silence, if you will. History, information, training, all could be kept here. It also opens the door for potential story-driven quests and actual congruency with the rest of the game's storyline. Perhaps it could even be released as part of a global, or mini-global, so to speak.
Thoughts from everyone else?