Review Submitted By: Ganymede
Author Status: Player
Started on LegendMUD: October 1994
Submission Date: Oct 10, 2003
TMC Listing: LegendMUD
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Ganymede]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Although I have stopped visiting Legend except for a minute or two
now and then to poke in, I have enough years of experience with it
to have the pros and cons pretty well nailed down in my mind.
The writing and acts are phenomenal. The areas come alive with the
robust flavor of history, thanks to lovingly crafted room descs by
skilled writers and almost as many unique and memorable acts as
there are rooms. Many of the best areas were written by immortals
who no longer administer at Legend, but even among newer areas,
poor execution is rare.
The code itself, at least on the user end, is really incredible too.
There are enough skills to allow you to do practically anything you
want either in battle or in roleplay, and only a few of them are
totally useless. The fight code is refined and gives you tons of
options. Player battles are intense and highly rewarding to those
who take time to develop strategies. Legend's interface is
clean and highly customizable.
Legend does require grouping to be successful. If you're a busy
social bee, you won't have a problem. Loners will have a hard time,
and for some character professions, XP can be all but impossible to
achieve without being part of a large group. You may want to find
another mud if you prefer to go it solo.
Immortals on Legend are a mixed bag. Many of them are great people
who care deeply for the game and the players, while some are highly
standoffish and abrasive. The immortal culture is highly exclusive,
resulting in only a handful of new immortals every few years, and
the turnover among newer immortals is high at times. Some years back
a period of infighting spilled over into the mortal community, and
since then a culture of authoritarianism has slowly prev2ailed. Rules
are rigidly enforced with warnings, which are given out fairly
frequently because...
The players are also a mixed bag. As I mentioned before, Legend has
really refined and rewarding code features for fighting and for
roleplay. As a result, it has over time attracted a fairly
incongruous mix: players who like laid-back roleplaying, and players
who like hardcore, balls-to-the-wall playerkilling. This strange
dichotomy is offset by a healthy number of people who like to
practice both in some measure, but the bottom line is, the resulting
playerbase is a cumbersome group of people with different interests,
tastes and sensibilities. The paradox is that, in trying to provide
a complete experience for each group, Legend ultimately fails at
both.
Years ago, Legend's reputation for its excellent fight code attracted
a lot of serious PKers who were essentially in it for the sport and
had no use for roleplay. This resulted in a lot of bloodshed that
raised the cries of those who were used to RP-motivated sparring,
and many of Legend's original players left in disgust. Over the
following years, attempts by the immortals to satisfy both groups
have resulted in a partly permission-based PK system so ridiculously
convoluted, you could spend a whole week familiarizing yourself with
the rules of who can be killed and who cannot. This system naturally
no longer satisfied serious PKers, who themselves largely evacuated
the mud, leaving behind finally a disjointed playerbase of RPers,
PKers, and those who like to do a bit of both. If you belong to that
middle group--if you enjoy some good-natured light roleplay but
nothing too serious, and you like the occasional PK fight but not
too cutthroat--you will probably love LegendMUD. If you lean heavily
to one side or the other, you are likely to be disappointed in what
you find.
One piece of advice for the adventurous roleplayer wishing to give
Legend a go: turn off the chat channel. Chat is pretty much an
in-game IRC channel where very little in-character conversation
happens. If you don't mind OOC chat, this channel is frequently
enjoyable, but if you want to really immerse yourself in RP, kill
this channel immediately.
Overall, LegendMUD provides a great experience for a particular type
of mudder, and if you fit the description, I can't recommend it
enough.
