Diplomacy on Test Question

[Vorrio]

My impression from reading about diplomacy is that to make anything happen in civic diplomacy or trade routes or such you need to have many diplomats working at once in the same city. Since the test server's population is so much lower than that on live servers, will those aspects of diplomacy ever get really tested? Is there some adjustment so that test diplomats can push levers (or whatever they're called) more effectively?

I've been thinking about trying diplomacy, but it doesn't seem like, on test, there would be any point. Can a solo diplomat do anything? Is there any reward for diplomacy that would help with crafting or adventuring that one person could do?

Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but I've never really done the diplomacy thing past the intro quests on live or on test.

- Vorrio

[Absalon]

One aspect of civic diplomacy is raising levers. When you first start out, it can take a while to raise a lever by yourself. Most levers start at 10 and you need to raise it to 40 to trigger the buff. That's a minimum of 30 sucessful parleys. But while you are parleying the levers are always moving back to their starting point, roughly 1 point every 2 or 3 minutes. So realistically, it might take you 40-45 parleys to raise the lever by yourself.

As you increase your presence with each station (soldiers, domestics, nobles, etc.) you will be able to move the levers more per parley. At 75 presence, you become known, and can move the levers 2 spot per parley with that particular station. At 225 you can move the levers 4 spots per parley.

All that being said, there really is no reason to raise the levers and get buffs on test unless you need one of the civic card buffs. If the devs add more content related to the levers and what they trigger, then we may need to get more people involved to test it, but for now it shouldn't matter.

The trade route parleys aren't in yet, but they won't require multiple people. They are sort of like the writs in that you have to parley with npcs to spawn the NPC you want.

If you haven't tried diplomacy yet, I would suggest trying it on Live first. That way if you have any questions you will be able to find people to help you. On live, join the diplomacy channel (/join dip). That's the best place to get your questions answered in-game.

[SwordMage]

This does raise the thought that the lever thresholds should be lowered on test so that the functionality can be exercised more frequently.

[Vorrio]

Thanks for the response, Absalon. I didn't realize that it become much easier to lever stuff as you got higher.

From what I understand, a lot of diplomacy (like the trade routes you mentioned) isn't in yet. Right now, it seems very separate from crafting and adventuring. It'll be interesting to see if the developers set it up so it starts interacting more with the other spheres. Like higher level diplomacy being necessary to get some legendary recipes post-30. Or civic diplomacy that affects zones where higher level people adventure, so if you're going to be raiding a zone, a diplomat could work some levers to get everyone in the zone a significant damage or resist bonus or something. Maybe some of that stuff is already in and I don't realize it, though.

The idea to have test diplomats able to push levers a bit further than normal seems like it might encourage more test-types to take up the sphere. Might be useful as things like trade routes come online and need to be tested.


- Vorrio

[Absalon]

Originally Posted by Vorrio

Thanks for the response, Absalon. I didn't realize that it become much easier to lever stuff as you got higher.

From what I understand, a lot of diplomacy (like the trade routes you mentioned) isn't in yet. Right now, it seems very separate from crafting and adventuring. It'll be interesting to see if the developers set it up so it starts interacting more with the other spheres. Like higher level diplomacy being necessary to get some legendary recipes post-30. Or civic diplomacy that affects zones where higher level people adventure, so if you're going to be raiding a zone, a diplomat could work some levers to get everyone in the zone a significant damage or resist bonus or something. Maybe some of that stuff is already in and I don't realize it, though.

There is some stuff like this in. In Nusibe Necropolis, there is a civic lever that is supposed to disable traps in the zone, making it much easier for groups to get through. I read that the wrong effect is attached to this lever though, but should be fixed in the next patch.

There have also been some crafting recipes added. They drop from entertain parleys and require prestigious baubles to make.

The idea to have test diplomats able to push levers a bit further than normal seems like it might encourage more test-types to take up the sphere. Might be useful as things like trade routes come online and need to be tested.


- Vorrio

I think the biggest issue with the test server is that the characters are mostly from beta. Many of those characters are lacking in many areas. I have a 27 disciple on test that is 159 dip skill, but he is lacking many of the cards that I would have normally, and he has very little presence compared to my diplomat on live.

If players could copy their characters from live to test, I think the test server would see a lot more action. As it is, it's hard to test something when you first have to spend a lot of time getting to the point where you are able to test the content. I made a point of doing some testing this weekend, but I only tested the new HZ horse quest. I wanted to try the PZ writs, but my noble presence is only about 89. I have limited play time because of my job, so working up to 150 noble in order to test the writs wasn't gonna happen.