Alfa is planning to go live on Sept 1st with a full scale Beta test. Expect the Phlan sever to be a part of that. Post here if you want to take part.

I'm there. Sounds like Phlan has become quite the number one ALFA server.

I'd love to take part. Thanks to our DM crew for all their work. Cant wait.

Definately, count me in.

Of course! How could anyone resist?

Count me in as well.

I would, but I have a very important exam the next day. Damn! :(

What time is this scheduled for? I will not be around until late in the day, so I'll jump in around 9 or 10 EST, if things are still going then. Just send us more details as the date gets closer. Thanks.

Count me in.

Erran, can you design party hats for all our characters to wear??? Just to add a festive touch to the event ;) :good:

I'd like to have a look. Actually I'm pretty curious to try out the halfling rogue I designed for ALFA exclusively on "ALFA territory" :)

Ok, a few words of warning:
This is primaraly for us DMs to shake out the bugs and get them fixed. You may be asked to travel to the next server, just so we can see how that is working.
The characters you play need not have anything to do with your 'final' characters. They will die a lot, as we adjust the play balance. Such deaths will not be carried over into the 'final' game :) nor will any xps/items :(
The upsides: You will get to know your way round Phlan and some of its inhabitants. You will see some HCR action and get the feel of multiplay with strangers as your companions.
Downside: Some may consider this a spoiler and might prefer to wait a month or two for the Real launch.
I'll let you know more details closer to launch day. Party helmets are available from Matteo's Store, usual prices. :D

I'll be there, no doubt about it.

I'll be there, not sure how long I can stay but I'm really looking forward to this.

I'm in! Should we make a first level character or something and just have them on standby?

LOL! How about you make LOTS of first level chars of various classes, you are gonna need them! Seriously, none of us now how the play balance is going to work, that's part of the beta. After about a month introduce your favourite character if you are feeling reasonably confident. Then we can seamlessly move into the 'real thing'.

I thought we had to create the characters on-line with the server to prevent cheating??? Is that right? Or can I start pre-building them now?

Before there were computers Mathy, there was pencil and paper. Nothing to stop you working out a few characters before you log so you wont waste time wondering which feats/spells to take and how to allocate your points.

It looks like there will be ~ 20 servers on day one. A consequence is that, for the Beta at least, the road west from Phlan leads to ... Arabel in Cormyr! So suspend your disbelief. We will no doubt get inquisitive visitors from there so give them a warm Moonsea welcome.

With longing and waiting to yet again gain acces to the internet with my pc. The downtime has been a loong time, so Im looking forward to joining you all in Phlan!

Best regards Ragnoor

Me! Me! Me!

I wanna BETA test too! :grin:

From Mandos:

"ALFA pass and addy's will be up on the DB login screen. Go to the (ALFA) home page, click on Member Login and you will see it in front of you."

When you arrive on the quayside in Phlan, don't be surprised if you are butt naked. Just head on over to the Adventurer's guild and see 'Honest Jan', he will fix you up. Then meet up with some chums and - explore! There's a city and over 150 wilderness areas out there, it makes Baldur's Gate feel like a sandpit!

Estimated lift off, 10am GMT on Sun 1st sept.

[ August 31, 2002, 20:00: Message edited by: Erran ]

BARDS RULE
I'll be there...

[ August 31, 2002, 20:57: Message edited by: killamber ]

Phlan went up, on schedule, at 10am. You do not need to install the 86Mb hakpak as we have not used any custom tiles.

At the moment we are not connected to Arabel or Scardale due to Vault tech. difficulties.

Hint: choose a Faerun deity, don't leave that blank.

[ September 01, 2002, 18:38: Message edited by: Erran ]

I entered Phlan today...Sweet! I had a good time! Until I was killed by a pack of ghouls in Valhingen graveyard...Nasty, nasty!

Good Advice: Never venture out alone...Fairly quick death awaits!

Bugs? I did notice that in the Laughing Goblin and Neller's (sp?) the innkeeper's said they had items to sell, but when I asked to see them...Nothing happened. Just wanted to let you know...

Otherwise...Very well done so far!

Thanks Sir Bel, that is a known one: those scripts are on the 'to be written pile' as they will involve the whole resting deal. As long as you got your ale , you're ok?

Btw, the inn in Kuto's Well Ward is Nat Wyler's Bell inn, aka 'the Pit' to locals.

OK, You've had some fun and whacked some goblins, we're going to turn the respawns off. No real need to hide behind pseudonyms as these chars will not be carried forward, for the Beta why not use your SP name?
Now we'd like you all to head out of town either by the Northgate or the Thargate in Old Phlan and explore some of the 150 wilderness areas that ADMs Baldak and Evaine lovingly crafted.

Challenges:
Can you find the source of the Stojanow river in the Dragonspine Mountains?
Can you find the hidden elven village in the Quivering forest?
Can you find the borders to Thar, the Ride and Arabel?
Can you find the village of Stormy Bay?

Report any broken transitions. If you hover your mouse over your pic you will see the ref no. for the area you are in.

P.S. Who got the note in the Elite Goblin's chest?

[ September 02, 2002, 12:17: Message edited by: Erran ]

I worked together with a Hafling rogue and cleaned out the goblin house. Her name is Kipli, last i saw her, she still had the note.

Btw. can we find the "subjects" mentioned in the note, in the beta version of Phlan?

"There is a new rumour circulating in the 'Laughing Goblin' and 'Nat Wyler's Bell': a couple of adventurers called Voeresa and Kipli found a note in a chest belonging to an elite goblin hiding in a riverfront house in Old Phlan. It tells of more goblins camping in the Quivering forest, north of Phlan ..."

Just arrived home from a month long business trip. Checked up the PC a bit, and tried to get in the Phlan server.

I guess I was just too tired, but I don't know how to get in. (YES, I AM A MORON). :)

Will try sleeping first, then hopefully, someone would have left instructions for me on how to get in Phlan when I wake up. If there is...

... I'm not going to work. :grin:

:hippy:

Taking Phlan down for a day or so to idiot proof it. It seems that some people's idea of roleplaying is to run round town and kill all the merchants. It's not even as if they get any gold or items from it.
Might even let BTA out of that tomb ...

So far, so good. Got into a group in Phlan yesterday, we went to the graveyard, after finding the note in East Phlan, found our way into a previously locked crypt, and died horribly fighting a Skeleton Priest and an impossible Cursed Ranger (I think it was a ranger). Our bodies were strewn from one end of the crypt to the other. I'll admit though, it was kinda fun. When Phlan is back on line, I'm going out into the wilds, trying to meet some of Erran's challenges. So far, I'm very impressed, and it's good to see other's around. Every time I've logged into Phlan, there have been at least 2 others online, sometimes as many as 8 people. And I have to admit, I've been one of those adventurers running around in his underwear, scaring all the noblewomen. Heck, haven't we all wanted to go streaking down the city streets at one time or another? :)

I had a couple of false starts when I logged in. My game froze up twice when I tried to put on my newly acquired Studded Leather armor. Third time was the charm though.

I then had a bit of fun sneaking around the Valhingen graveyard and I killed a few Vampire Bats and a couple of Zombies. I was surprised at how few XP I got. Zombies were 7 and the Bats were 5 IIRC. I sure won't be leveling up any time soon if I keep killing that caliber of monster :)

I then went out and snuck around a couple of the wilderness areas adjacent to the graveyard map and ran into absolutely nothing out there, not even an animal or two.

So I headed back to the graveyard and found one of the locked trapped crypts was open! I snuck inside and poked around a bit, but there were traps blocking all the unexplored parts, and since I was alone and had no trap disarming skills, I decided to leave... Well, the exit didn't exit, so I am still there... :)

[ September 03, 2002, 19:20: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

There's also the one crypt, I can't remember the name, but it's in the extreme right bottom side of Valhingen, that the exit isn't in the logical spot, it's in the doorway between the two chambers, and not the stairs going up. Not sure if that's a bug, or a 'feature'. But at least you could get out of that one, eh BTA? :)

Idiot-proof... no wonder I couldn't get in. :p

:hippy:

Our first working portal is open, behind the graveyard, going to Thunder Peaks. I portaled through and back fine. BTA got rejected, I advised him to change his deoderant! Try it and let me know how you get on.

P.S You do need the ALFA1.2 Hakpak (80MB download) in your hak folder for Thunderpeaks, he uses special tilesets.

Got bounced back the first time I tried it, then dropped my Phlan Visa and tried it again and it worked fine.

Just checked it again and it's working fine now.

[ September 08, 2002, 21:05: Message edited by: Capt. Tripps ]

Couldn't get to Thunderpeaks, but I didn't go back and drop my Phlan Visa after Capt. Tripps let me know that worked.

Instead I heard that Undead needed to be eradicated in the Valhingen Graveyard and in Sokal Keep and they were paying 1gp per skeleton knuckle. Seeing as how Undead are my racial enemy, how could I resist?

Went to the graveyard; never found any Skeletons. Just the same Vampire Bats and Zombies. So I took the ferry to Sokal Keep.

No Skeletons outside, but more Zombies and Vampire Bats, and I had to play cat-and-mouse with a couple of Giant Spiders. Good thing I can run a little faster than them, and duck around a corner to go stealthy again :)

Went into the inner Keep and found nothing; walked up a ramp to the parapet and saw a Skeleton with a crossbow. Sh*t I thought; a crossbow. Well, it's just a Skeleton right? A hit or two and it should be dead instead of undead right? So I sneak up to it and as I attack, I note the word "huge" prepended to the Skeleton's name. Got a couple of good hits on it before I died :mad: Shouldn't HUGE Skeletons look bigger than normal Skeletons? I guess not.

[ September 08, 2002, 19:49: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

LOL He was huge before he went on the diet! Take it up with Bio, they never did a huge model.
Like I told ya, soloing is a risky business. Next time take some AORTA chums with you, like a cleric or two!

Had a BLAST today with Bel and Erran and a couple others I didn't recognize. First we took on some Goblins room to room in a couple of houses then sailed to Sokal Keep and cleared the whole thing out. Got strength drained by a Shadow though and it seems to be permanent. I couldn't afford the temple after I finally upgraded my crappy 1d6 shortbow for a nice 1d8 longbow fit for my Ranger :) so I'll have to live with 13 strength for a while it seems. :( 120 gp for a measly Lesser Restoration? Bah!

I noticed you have some NORMAL skeletons in the Valhingen Graveyard now Erran, so I could finally collect some booty (a measly 1gp per knuckle though) doing what my Ranger loves to do: namely hunting Undead. :)

Chanced the sewers on my own again and avoided all the Stink Beetles this time and killed a couple of nice fat Fire Beetles for the 2gp per belly and bit of extra XP.

I'm now about a third of the way to level 2 :)

Oh, one more thing. I seem to have a problem only in multiplayer where the game either crashes or hangs when I go to move/equip stuff on my inventory screen, and it doesn't always happen, but happens often enough to be really annoying. Anyone hear of this problem?

[ September 15, 2002, 02:49: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

I was about to join you two when the next chapter of the IWD2 solution came in, so I was preoccupied. :shake:

Next time. ;)

Terrible luck struck on Sunday! I joined a huge number of people with Erran, and we went back to the Goblin area in east Phlan. Somehow I triggered a Goblin ambush, and even though I was in stealth mode, I got shot to bits. I tried to run away and let the others take them out, but I couldn't get far enough quickly enough.

As I lay dying, my game crashes, and apparently the same happened to at least some of the others. So I restart my game and log back on. As soon as I'm there I cry for help, but everyone's standing around in confusion, and I pass on into the morgue.

The party was nice enough to raise me and we went back to collect my gear. There was nothing on the corpse. Someone who I think was Lokken said he looted me, but found only my Phlan visa (MmmHmmm ;) ), so the others were extremely kind and gave me gold and equipment for me to re-equip myself, but I lost the 4 healing potions I had and they're extremely important for a 1st level character.

After re-equipping, I joined Erran and another elf with a funny name in the graveyard where we entered a crypt. Killed a few skeletons, but then the elf accidentally tripped a trap strong enough to kill him. As I was now out of healing potions, I couldn't help. The elf said he had some, but we couldn't loot or barter with him (he wasn't quite dead; just at death's door).

At this point Erran had to go, so it was just me and the elf. I checked my inventory, and I had exactly 50gp left, so I said I'd run back to the Adventurer's Guild and buy that 50gp healing potion that looks like a trap; it's the least I could do since he spotted me 100gp when I had died.

By the time I got back, I guess Erran had raised him, so we continued into the crypt and ran across a bunch of Ghouls; far too many to handle ourselves, so we fought a running battle back to the exit. I let one get too close and got a disease incubating in me, but made it to the exit where we were able to dispatch the one that followed us in the wider spaces of the graveyard.

We foolishly decide to go back in. He said he'd parry and occupy them and I could shoot them. I entered stealth mode and went through after the elf, but I entered first (I guess I'm closer to the server or have a faster connection or something), and I'm killed in one shot before I even see what's on the screen (despite being in stealth). I stabilize at -1 HP though, so not too bad.

The elf comes in, and can't handle the two Ghouls alone but manages to get one to Badly Wounded before getting stunned and summarily dispatched. He seemed to stabilize at -7 HP, but shortly thereafter the server went down, so I don't know what will become of us... :)

Damn, and I had over 300 XP too. Hopefully I'll be OK when I log in next time since the server went down...

Not so much a bug as a feature. It seems that if someone loots your corpse while you are bleeding, it waits to see if you live or die before awarding the loot. Thus Garac might be sitting in a bar in Phlan when it pops into his inventory. This is under review.

BTW, the reason the firefight with the goblins was so deadly, some of your companions were high level and the encounter was scaled. Hang out with the big guys and it may get rough!

Erran, you're evil! Those Huge Skeletons in Sokal Keep are just too enticing I can't leave them alone, but they're just too dangerous for me.

Starting out, I can't afford the 150 gp for the longbow my Ranger deserves :) . It'll take forever to raise the 80-100 gp I need to afford it getting 1 gp per Skeleton knuckle and 2gp per Fire Beetle belly, so I keep thinking about the 65 gp I get for the Heavy Crossbow those Huge Skeletons drop as loot.

I usually have pretty good success with them using sneaky hit-and-run tactics, but the fact that the Heavy Crossbow can do 10 HPs of damage really means it's just a matter of luck for me since at first level I have exactly 10 hps.

So last night the temptation overcomes my good sense once again, and guess what? The first shot that Skeleton took at me (which was after I took a couple at it because I'm so sneaky :) ) hit and did maximum damage! Argh! So I'm dead once again *sigh*.

You and your evil temptations! ;)