In our v3 world where insane (inane too?) amounts of work can be put into subclasses, raiding, races, areas etc. there’s a part of the game that we (I anyway) feel is overlooked and a part that has been overlooked for years: Manors.
I do agree that from a gameplay aspect it’s a nonexistent issue. There are a lot of things worth working on other than manors, which will benefit a larger amount of players. I’m not proposing an overhaul though, but a little thing for those of us who wish to put exorbitant amounts of work and exuberant texts, delighting our aesthetical senses into our despicably well-worded and themed manors (Pompous? I think not.)
A well-themed descriptive manor is hard to make so that it satisfies one’s vision, especially when you’re restricted to four rooms plus a porch. I’m not saying it can’t be done, or that it hasn’t been done, I don’t however, see how it can be done without rushing your descriptions, killing your ideas and strangling creativity. Nor am I advocating “underdark sized manors” as an flister put it.
A tiny increase from five total rooms to eight or ten would vastly help in creating a red line in the story of a manor theme. Furthermore, adding lua-progs to manor mobs for greater interactive value would greatly enhance the feel and atmosphere of a player’s dream house. If not this, then at least being able to somehow make more options for listening to a mob’s short story.
It all comes down to the ambience of a manor, and to the feeling of being interactive with the manifested creations of your imagination. All I really wish for are more options of the purely cosmetic variety to make manors more entertaining. I’m not suggesting a raise of the mob amounts, item amounts or percentages. (Although, more cosmetic mobs wouldn’t be bad, since a large empty house with a story wouldn’t be much better than a full small house without one.)
In the end though, despite these ramblings, there’s not much that can be done but hope for the divine intervention from Lasher, to this misery that is a badly written manor description.
