Review Submitted By: Anghwyr
Author Status: Player
Started on Avendar: The Crucible of Legends: Jan 1998, with breaks.
Submission Date: Oct 15, 2007
TMC Listing: Avendar: The Crucible of Legends
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Anghwyr]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Introduction: I've played this mud on and off over the last 10 years
(the last hiatus was caused by WOW). As a European, I find that I
mostly play during the quiet hours, when there are little or no other
players online, with player killing and interaction with the mostly
American population happening only in the early or late European
hours. Still, the world itself is built with such care that just
exploring the new areas (that are regularly added), the fleshing
out of older areas (also regularly), or to explore one of the classes
I haven't played yet, is enough to keep me coming back for all these
years.
Current news: Avendar's codebase is currently being rewritten from
scratch (read up on the plans on the forum), and where the initial
stance of the imm-staff was to focus all resources on that process,
protest from the players (who left like they were left behind in a
world that wasn't taken care of anymore) changed the imms point of
view. The number of patches and tweaks and fixes to the current
world (that are being communicated to the players through 'help
recent') is larger than in years. This response has been greatly
appreciated by the players, as no one likes playing in a dead world.
Examples: the latest areas added to the mud are heavily progged and
more importantly, have visible stories woven into the game's lore and
content. This makes the areas not separate, but things that add an
enormous amount of life to the game. The valley of nordath, for
example, has quests running over the whole mud to lift (or replace!)
its curse, during which its history becomes clear. The bard class has
a song (called the Walls of Nordath), which is inspired by the events
in that area (All bard songs in general have names that are tied to
game areas or history). Jindaska is the village of the caladaran race,
and breathes the spirit of that race with all the quests and mobs.
Quests in Jindaska will send you through the world again, as you
follow the footsteps of a young druid. I still love the Ryarl plains,
where you learn what kind of world the kankoran wolves live in, and
can become a 'Kahn' of their people. I love the forst of Morn, which
is just a harsh place, and sets the bar for every forestry area in
Avendar. And I love the hundreds of little riddles and tricks and
clues left all over avendar. If a beautiful lady is loitering near a
pile of bones, get your priorities straight!
Anyway, to sum up: if you're seeking a world to explore, Avendar is
a very, very nice place to waste your time in.
