Review Submitted By: Lord Zordrac
Author Status: Player
Started on SlothMUD: A few days ago
Submission Date: May 7, 2005
TMC Listing: SlothMUD
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Lord Zordrac]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
I admit that I looked at Sloth MUD because it was listed as the number 1
mud. What I had expected was to see a glamorous mud with 1,000
people online at once. What I saw instead was a reasonably popular
mud with 40-50 people on at a time, but not one which is incredibly
popular. So how then had it managed to attain its number 1 ranking?
My first impression, admittedly, was not the best. DikuMud? But that
is so outdated, and surely ROM is a better system? The newbie rooms
were hard to follow. Where do I train? Where do I practise? There were
mobs to kill, yes, but what is the experience to level? And what
significance does it have with the 4 classes I chose, and the order
that they were in? What race am I?
But as I found, Sloth MUD III has that beautiful, poetic balance
between a game that is unbelievably easy to play, and one which
undoubtedly fulfills all of the requirements of a long term user. All
of its areas are entirely unique. It has primary, secondary, tertiary
and final classes - 4 total. It has skills and spells that are similar
to others, but nonetheless unique. And a list of commands and
abilities that are also quite new, and surprising.
I have played in muds where you had multi-classing. Naturally, its in
many different ones. I've played in ones where at 'Avatar' level,
you get to pick a second class. I've played ones with 'remort' or
'reclass' options. I've played ones with 'advanced classes' at
level 30. And I've even played 'Godwars' muds where you get
everything instantly. But Sloth MUD III seemed to have this down pat.
On the surface, you can do what you like - pick any classes, and cover
all of your bases. But at the same time, your secondary class takes
twice as long to gain in. Your tertiary 3 times as long and your final
4 times as long. You can be level 5 in all of them, or be level 30 in
just 1. It depends.
The temptation of course is to go with the standard 4 classes -
Warrior/Cleric/Thief/Mage - and perhaps just change the order to suit.
But then the temptation of the 4 extra classes -
Necromancer/Bard/Druid/Monk - add just that little bit extra. Sloth
MUD III doesn't fill it with 100 different classes and 50 races. They
just keep it simple, and make it basically perfect. No worries about
balancing. Just right.
You don't have to reroll 1000 times to get it right - its just
decided for you. But you can add stats later on, and reroll. Its how a
mud should be played - forced fairness. No more cheating and
manipulation.
There's just so much to love about this mud. On one hand it is small
and simple - a beginner mud with so much more to add later on. But on
the other hand, the base of it is so powerful that you'll never
forget it.
The perfect match where it is easy to start and has so much to go on
with. What more could you ask?
