Review Submitted By: supernova
Author Status: Player
Started on SlothMUD: July 25th 2006
Submission Date: Aug 6, 2006
TMC Listing: SlothMUD
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [supernova]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
My experience with Sloth mud was mixed at best.
I loved the 8 character classes, of which 4 you could choose from.
Your first, or prime, choice even got skills or spells you would not
get if they were your second, third, or fourth choice. The classes
were also very balanced and unique. Necromancer were actually able to
summon the undead and Druids were able to shapeshift.
Scan was enabled allowing you to look several room around you and
using hunt would allow you to search for mobs that you didn't
actually know where to find.
Practicing spells is done by reading books. The starter books are in
the respective guilds and there are libraries that hold some low-mid
level books. You can find other books on mobs, overall a very balanced
way to learn skills.
The players were quite numerous for muds, sporting generally over
20-30 at any given time. Also, they were very helpful if you asked
them, and quite newbie tolerant.
The website offers great insight into the classes which can be quite
complex. Also, it offers a searchable and superb database of items in
the game and where to find them. This includes spellbooks, recipies
and components used for crafting items. Another feature is the world
map which can show you where other characters are, and lists to show
which characters are logged in and which are grouping.
However, there were some minor and serious issues with gameplay.
First; casting spells. All spells had to be surrounded by the '
symbol. This may actually be necessary as there is quite a list of
spells and skills. This wasn't really a concern as I just aliased
them in my browser.
Second; there is a severe shortage of equipment. Granted there is
quite a list of equipment and a database is posted on slothmud.org.
However you would need a large group or a higher level character to
actually retrieve the items. And there is a catch to this as well,
equipment items spawn rarely, meaning several trips may be needed to
get the item. Equipment can be bought in armor shops but is usually
just basic stuff, also some equipment can be forged but components for
building said equipment is just as rare.
Third; the 'consider' system seems completely broken. Monsters that
were 'perfect match' were easily defeated in a few rounds.Even after
gaining 5 levels in my prime class the weakest monsters in the starter
town were still rated 'perfect match'. While mobs that were rated
'You would need alot of luck' were generally what I killed for
experience and gold. Then other mobs with the same rating would
completely decimate my character. The only real way to judge an
enemies strength was to fight it. Also while fighting you will have to
'look' at the monster to see how much you have hurt it. Looking at
the monster in the middle of battle can be disorienting as it causes
much spam. This led to my fourth concern.
Fourth; monsters would remember you, usually for hours of game time.
This isn't really a problem except they would remember you even after
you died. So once you tried to reclaim your corpse they would attack
again, but this time you would have no equipment to protect yourself.
Game designers partially fixed this by allowing 'familiars' to
retrieve your corpse for you. Also, every time you die you are forced
to disconnect from the mud. Which may get annoying depending on how
often you die.
And the final problem I found was monster looting. Some monsters will
loot your corpse. This can be especially frustrating as the consider
system isn't great. Example: You 'test' a mobs strength by fighting
it. It ends up killing you. You return to grab your corpse (usually by
familiar) and find most of your equipment missing. Looking at the mob
(providing he doesn't kill you before you flee) shows you that the
mob has taken your stuff and left you with little to fend for
yourself, now the mob has your stuff and will also attack you on
sight. You now have to get another character to get your stuff back
for you or start over completely.
While I much enjoyed this game and started to make friends here the
third, fourth, and fifth problem reduced my gaming fun to mere
frustration.
