"Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

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Wade
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"Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#1 Post by Wade » Wed Mar 16, 2016 4:12 am

Hello,

So I was thinking about how it shows up that a character is a darkelf right in their tag, despite the fact that according to the help file they don't actually look any different than normal elves.

I think it would be better if their identifiers didn't change to "darkelf" to better reflect this fact, allowing characters who are darkelves to have more opportunities to be secretive if they wish.

It would, for one, make knowing if someone is a darkelf a bit more than just "well, their race tag is darkelf, so I can automatically know they are a darkelf, right?"

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Re: "Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#2 Post by amrat » Thu Mar 17, 2016 7:40 pm

Hello,
this has been discussed before on a few occasions.

The way I see it, as there's nothing that stops you playing a regular elf who is devoted to Sathonys or Lilith as things are, what would be the point of having darkelves in the game if they are indistinguishable from normal elves? Would you then add yet another option for those who wish to play an identifiably evil elf?

I guess the reason why elves are in most fantasy lores the only race with a separate evil version is that they are generally the race that is intrinsically good, compared to the other more neutral races. In Geas, while they are the only race created by a Good God (perhaps in addition to Gwen and halflings depending on who you ask), they are not really identified as a good race more than the others neither by much of the game or most of the players. Therefore my question would rather be, should members of the other races have such an option to clearly identify as evil as well, at least the halflings?

@Amrat

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Re: "Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#3 Post by ferranifer » Sat Mar 19, 2016 7:27 am

Lorewise Sathonys and Lilith tease elves with power to corrupt them and stick it up to Taniel. Why don't they offer this for halflings or dwarves? Well, maybe they don't really care as much about Zhakrin and... whoever crated the halflings, Gwen I guess. Why not to humans? Well, they do that in different ways (look at Vlad). I personally like that it's restricted to elves from a lore/setting perspective.

It has been mentioned multiple times that the transformation to darkelf DOES change you physically and that they look different enough to be immediately identifiable as changed. Just not different enough to justify a change in adjectives. In game terms I like to think that their ears are longer than usual, more slanted and with a jagged edge, that their canines are a little longer, their eyebags darker, their eyebrows protuding, their backs a bit hunched forwards and so on.

Regarding the gameplay implications of not being able to hide that you are a darkelf, AFAIK that's also intended. Reasoning being that you DO get stronger when you become a darkelf and that advantage needs to come with a disadvantage. Your choice is to become "branded" to gain power.

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Re: "Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#4 Post by ferranifer » Sat Mar 19, 2016 11:28 am

From 'help darkelf'
"Not really distinguishable otherwise from an elf, darkelves tend to have paler skin due to their increased nightly activity."

I must admit that this sentence confuses me as if that is the case, then it really makes no sense that people can see them as a different race in game. Since I assume that the gameplay implications are still there, I would recommend simply changing that sentence in the helpfile.

Or maybe some wizard can clarify what is the design intention here.

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Re: "Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#5 Post by Aslak » Sat Mar 19, 2016 12:00 pm

From 'help darkelf'
"Not really distinguishable otherwise from an elf, darkelves tend to have paler skin due to their increased nightly activity."
A few years ago, darkelves were not an own species, they indeed were undistinguishable from normal elves. It was great and was abused, as always. You had darkelves that were not evil, just wanted to boost to attributes, some that were somewhere in the middle and a few that really tried to wreck chaos and havok in the guise of normal elves.

I would assume that the helpfile is just a remain of that time.

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Allurana
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Re: "Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#6 Post by Allurana » Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:40 pm

ferranifer wrote:Lorewise Sathonys and Lilith tease elves with power to corrupt them and stick it up to Taniel. Why don't they offer this for halflings or dwarves? Well, maybe they don't really care as much about Zhakrin and... whoever crated the halflings, Gwen I guess. Why not to humans? Well, they do that in different ways (look at Vlad). I personally like that it's restricted to elves from a lore/setting perspective.
Duergar (dark dwarves) and darklings (dark halflings) actually do exist in the world, they're just unavailable to players. Humans, being created by Sathonys, are arguably already in their 'evil form', so they don't have further changes. Halfelves and tshaharks can be considered perversions to the natural order already, so that might be why they don't have alternative forms themselves.

Wade
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Re: "Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#7 Post by Wade » Sat Mar 19, 2016 7:26 pm

Perhaps it's just the help file confusion. Maybe it needs an update to reflect whatever physical changes a darkelf apparently has. I'd really love to see that personally.

maybe a little descriptor saying "He/she is very pale." in their description, somewhere around eyecolor and and weight/height... though that brings up, what about the darkelves that are dark skinned :P

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Re: "Darkelves" and the idea of Meta

#8 Post by anglachel » Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:02 am

At first the dark elves were a starter race. Then the dark-elf ritual was implemented. For while exists born dark-elves and transformed dark-elves.
We are open for suggestion about a help-change.

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