My Experience With The Sith (Faction Feedback))

[MementoMori]

I recently returned to SWLOR (On the 1st of August) after hearing that the big revamp update had finally went live. My character had previously been involved with the Sith faction and I was excited to fall back into the swing of things. I tweaked some backstory details and set out. Finding the Sith was pretty easy, I asked on discord and was told to just walk into the building where a lesson was going on.

Here is where the first issue I have been having first appears; lack of interaction. I did not expect, or want, to be thrust into the spotlight purely for walking into the room. I did not want to ‘disrupt’ on ongoing roleplay scene. What surprised me was being completely ignored for 30-45 minutes (estimate) until I forced myself into the ongoing scene. But all was good, I was (re)accepted into the Revanite order.

The second issue I have been having is cliquishness. In my experience over the last two weeks, it seems that if you are not part of an insular group of friends, you get pushed to the outside of the group. I don’t expect anyone, especially not the ‘bad guys’ to be a big hugfest of friendly folks. I do expect to not get shut out of roleplay because I’m not OOCly friends with the right people.

The third issue I have been having is a complete lack of direction. Most of my interactions with faction leadership for the last two weeks have been something along the lines of “I need/want leadership/guidance/training please help” only to be rebuffed. Sometimes it is a single line telling me to fuck off, sometimes it is a wordy few paragraphs telling me that the only guidance I need is inside myself. This might make sense, to some degree, in character. It is incredibly disheartening out of character to repeatedly beg for interaction and mentorship and to be denied.

It’s clear that all three of these issues appear to be interlinked, or perhaps even facets of the same root cause. I am sure many people don’t have this problem, and I have my own (unsubstantiated) ideas on what exactly some of the causes could be. At the end of the day, I have spent two weeks begging for crumbs of roleplay only to be ignored at best by a majority of the faction. There are a few notable (positive) exceptions, and my conversations about these issues have remained exclusively in character for the time being, but from those, I don’t think that I am alone in feeling this way.

[Echohawk]

Since you’ve opted for something of a public witness to your critique, I’m going to respond to the best of my ability in this same setting. Personally I feel like some things could be covered with the DMs or internally but such as it is, I respond.

First of all, certainly glad to see players come back as always. I myself have only been here since the tail end of 2021, and since then we’ve seen a lot of changes in the story and general relationship dynamics of the ‘Sith’ faction. (It’s splitting and forming splinter groups as we speak so it’s likely only going to get more wild as we go.) That being said, I hope those that do return understand that things with the Revanite Sith might not be as things might’ve previously been. With that out of the way I’d like to focus on the points you’ve raised.

1. Lack of interaction - Asserting yourself as a character is certainly an individual touch, as each are going to have their boldness factors (or even more soft spoken aspects depending), and what I’ve had to address in the past is a bit of confusion. People assume that they’re being ignored purposefully, but the truth can depend on several factors at hand. If you’re among a crowd of 10+ characters it can be hard to call attention to yourself, even I feel overwhelmed in such circumstances. I’ll say this point blank, no one is purposefully ignoring anyone, it however can be tough to balance and interact with 10+ interactions at a given time all with the most meaningful outcomes. And while it’s probably not going to be the most satisfying to hear you can assert yourself or wait until the crowd thins a bit, either tactic can work depending on your character’s nature. And as roleplay continues people will grow to know your character more and seek them out depending on various plot hooks etc.

2. Cliquishness - This is mostly myth OOC, though there can be some IC lines certainly drawn from within the Revanite faction. OOC we’re all just here to have a good time and genuinely to try and help one another out whether it’s builds, encouraging events, coordination and all that jolly extracurricular rp stuff. IC on the other hand there are some minor and major rivalries at play. Your character might not always be liked IC, but OOC you will always be welcomed. And if things become too opaque and no solution seems to be at hand you can certainly reach out and we can see what sort of hooks can be arranged to see where you would best get on and progress your own personal story/growth.

3. Lack of direction - This is where I have to be a little self challenging. We admittedly cannot tell you what your character likes, excels in, takes interest in, etc. I can tell you that several of us are very much learning the process of attempting to raise up and teach as opposed to just being the students so that will likely have some mishaps in our character’s changes. But I personally have my character get asked a handful of times a day “hey what can I do for you” tangibly speaking there’s only so many tasks that presently need handling. With the DMs slightly strapped, with Season 2 of the global story coming in a few weeks we don’t have too many tasks to keep busy with other than “bettering yourself” aka getting them skill points, or “gathering materials” whether that’s for gear or for one of the plots we do currently have going on. But I will always try to find whatever creative solutions to give people something to do that isn’t just grind mindset.

All in all, I think your feelings are certainly valid, and I personally encourage you not to necessarily give up if you feel things stagnate or slow. I’ve had several points in the last few months that made me debate whether continuing was a sound idea. The way I see it roleplay will have its ebb and flow, and sometimes that does mean sticking it out a bit until things improve, or at the very least experimenting new ideas with the character. I make it my personal mission to have a character (Kathea) a lot more accepting, tolerant, and flexible to just about everyone she might possibly meet. So if there’s something I can do to help alleviate things, do let me know.

Hopefully in some small way this does help, I’ll see you on the other side.