New Unlockable Campagin: The East

[Red]

What if, after reaching the East for the first time, you unlocked "The East" campaign-starts you right after you go through the Farportal to the East, at level 30 (modified by XP penalty) with about three appropiate egoed items per slot and a few artifacts?

To be more specific, you start off with exactly enough XP to be at level 30, which is then modified by your XP penalty. (So level 30 for Cornac, a few levels lower for Shalore, a few higher for Yeek, etc.)

You get three appropiate egoed items per inventory slot-so a Berserker will have three two handed weapons, three heavy armors, three helms, etc. An Archmage would have three staves, three robes, etc.

You get 6 T1 artifacts (ignoring any special dungeons based on race or class), 5 T2 artifacts, and 2 T3 artifacts.

All items start off inside the Transmogrification Chest, for ease of inventory.

This is a good deal less than you'd get going through the game normally, especially missing out on the Arena and potentially missing early game alchemist potions, but it would let you start off in the second act of the main campagin as well as starting with a mcuh more powerful character. It's also where the plot really kicks off, so it's good for someone who wants to go through the plot again without getting through the early game dungeons.

[twas Brillig]

That could be neat, and certainly good for the occasional change of pace. I wonder what the best way of handling the West would be? Obvious options are leave it unchanged, clearing all plot dungeons (so players could still go back and do Spellblaze, for instance, but there's no awkward question of how you got the staff without beating the Master), or leveling all the zones appropriately (with some modifications to address the fact that snakes and worms really aren't menacing even at level forty).

I feel like it's a little weird how one of the first things you'd be doing in this campaign is trying to get back to the West. There are a few dungeons you could do before Armory/Briagh and the Prides, but really not all that many. (Ardhungol, Shadow Crypt, Unremarkable Cave, Flooded Cave + Temple of Creation, Valley of the Moon with some luck)

[darkgod]

I've though of that quite a few times; yeah it'd be fun/good

[Red]

Considering you start with a bunch of loot and artifacts, I'd think you'd've already cleared most of the dungeons. Perhaps just leave the special dungeon (Sludgenest, Caldera, or any others that pop up), the Ruined Dungeon, and the Yaech arena place available.

Also, something I forogt to consider is Antimagic. While I do think you should be worse off starting in the East as compared to getting there yourself, that's a game-changing choice, so that'd have to be an option before spawn, so that way you don't end up with an Antimagic character with all arcane powered loot.

Really though, if someone wants to make a quick and dirty (not sure how easy that'd be since there are no existing campaign addons) addon for this, it'd be fine to just leave the entire West untouched. It might not make a whole lot of sense, but it'd be fun and could be refined later.

[Mortimer]

This will be a bit more work, but I thought it would be neat to start in the east at level one (with all the eastern areas rebalanced appropriately), then have a portal that takes you to the west at some point. It would essentially be like the original campaign after that, but it would give you an interesting look at how the east would be at lower levels. No idea how the story would work though, but if it's unlocked after your first full completion the story would be a lower priority.

[Lyoncet]

This will be a bit more work, but I thought it would be neat to start in the east at level one (with all the eastern areas rebalanced appropriately), then have a portal that takes you to the west at some point. It would essentially be like the original campaign after that, but it would give you an interesting look at how the east would be at lower levels. No idea how the story would work though, but if it's unlocked after your first full completion the story would be a lower priority.

Isn't that pretty much what already happens if you roll a human or Elven Celestial? Unless you mean you want to do (for example) Vor Armory as a tier-1 or -2 dungeon.

[Red]

This would start you halfway through the story. (More like ten percent in since most of the West is unrelated to the story, but with most of the West story done.) The Celestial start is, storywise, before anything in the West, just like anything starting in the West.

As a side note, I once tried doing the East at level 1. It didn't go so hot.

[Planetus]

I like this idea, and I've thought about it several times. Some other things to consider:

That's a lot of equipment to have to start out, and what if you want several options for later, but not now? How about it starts you in the (cleared and unlocked) Fortress, with just enough energy to attune the Rod if you want to. You also start with a potion that would let you go AM, and would get you the Fungus tree (and maybe Mindstar tree as well). You also start with the Heart of the Sandworm Queen and, somehow, have the option to corrupt it if you want. Oh, and Lichform already unlocked for Necromancers and Adventurers (anyone who can get it, really). And some way for Cursed and Doomed to get the Curses tree.

I think that covers all the major choices you'll have faced up until then, gives you a safe place to set your character up (don't want to try turning on 7 sustains and equipping all your gear when there's an orc trying to kill you, after all), and lets donators port stuff in with the item vault and all players store things in the storage room.

And then, when you exit the Fortress the first time, it takes you to the fight in the Unremarkable Cave.

[Red]

Things like buyable trees and the Heart aren't needed, I think. For me personally, I'd want characters that start in the West to have better prospects than those that start in the East. By no names should they be crippled, but all the same you're skipping 30 levels. I think it's fair to say you shouldn't get full credit for them.

Cursed Aura, though, should definitely be available. That's part of the class itself.

[Davion Fuxa]

Splitting the Campaign into Part 1 & Part 2

Feel free to scrummage around.

[HousePet]

Cursed Aura isn't tied to any locations, so I'm not sure why it was mentioned.

[Planetus]

I mentioned the Curses tree simply because it's usually triggered when you first pick up a weapon. Well, unless you want to spawn in a room with a weapon on the floor for just that purpose, you'll want some way to have access to that tree when spending points the first time. You don't want to need to go adventuring before you can spend any points in it at level 30+.

I also think things like Anti-Magic, Fungus, and to a lesser degree Mindstar Mastery are more build-centric trees, at least collectively (and definitely for Fungus). I don't know that Harmony or Vile Life from the Sandworm Queen Heart really go there, though.

[PurpleXVI]

I think for it to work, the East would need a bit more detail, maybe a second friendly town, certainly more sidequest dungeons. As it is, the East really feels kind of empty, especially the Western half of the East.

[Planetus]

Maybe hide an anti-magic (though not radical) themed village hidden in those woods on the southern edge of western East. There are a couple of paths that lead to nowhere in there, and it'd be a good place for one. There could be a quest tied to finding it and convincing them to trade with Sunwall, as their strategy for survival against the orc hordes has always been stealth and being hidden (thus trade would be dangerous).

[Red]

Perhaps it would be a town of renegade Orcs. What we know of the Orcs is that they're smart and thorough, so they'd be unlikely to miss even a small village of an entire different race(s). Whereas Orcs would have a much easier time hiding-just claim you're from a different Pride on some mission relating to another Pride and certainly not involving whatever Pride found you. Not easy to keep up the deception, but much more possible.

It'd probably be somewhat closer to the extremist side than you suggested, Planetus, in order to explain their break. They'd see any Orcish magic as foul and unclean, and bide their time till the hubris of the mage-Orcs toppled them and their kind, then pick up the pieces. This could even work for magic characters-the antimagic Orcs view magic as a crutch, something that diminishes the true strength of a person. And, well, you're not a person to them, so you can use magic all you want. The weak people need their crutches, even if no Orc should sully himself with such a thing.