Re: Dies Irae
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Vampire is dead. There was only Sabbat, and a Sabbat faction focused on religion and a version of the Masquerade. There was no Camarilla, and no independents or anarchs. Caitiffs and Panders were banned. I don’t think it will pick up even if they make a new wizard. What they want to do with conflict just does not work with the realities of a Sabbat focused vampire sphere. I have never seen it work without an established Camarilla to fight. Without the Camarilla, it turns that aggression inwards or it dies to entropy. There was nothing happening before it closed.
Shifter is the largest sphere by more than 2 to 1, and most of that being Bete. Everything is open (even Rokea and Nagah) so you have as many were-hyenas as you do Shadow Lords. The novelty of a Bete focused shifter sphere is enough that I think any negatives will be overlooked. They apparently plan on adding were-bats to the roster.
Wyrm is Pentex-only (all characters employed by Pentex) and is restricted to Black Spiral Dancers, the Bete in the 20th Anniversary edition of Book of the Wyrm (so no Bastet, there are Histpah; no Corax, there are Buzzards; no Ratkin, there are Mad Destroyers), Malfean mages, and Kumo, the evil Chinese were-spiders from the old Hengeyokai book. Fomori are allowed, but only a special type of super-fomori. Scylla has been banned from games and is happy to show why.
Changeling is the second largest sphere and the most active. It’s Changeling, if you like Changeling and the sort of people who like Changeling. In contrast to the rest of the game, it is all very good guy focused. They allow normal Changelings, Inanimae, and some sort of special chimera from 20th Anniversary.
Mage is the smallest sphere but that usually is the case. The app is large. The Technocracy are good guys, but they murdered all non-white mages outside of the Traditions so the crafts are dead. Sorcerers exist, and Bygones are playable if part of a mage groups.
They are in “beta” so any of this could change. I do not expect that anything will. They seem to believe that the issues are not with their policies or theme decisions, but with people failing to appreciate them. The wiki is not optional and you will need to read most of it, and it is not pleasant to use or explore.
The conflict rules are and will be a problem. I understand where they come from but I have even seen people ask if cross sphere play is allowed at all and seen different answers. Shifter cannot turn to the Wyrm, a mage cannot turn Nephandi or change their allegiance, and vampires could not change sect or ghoul, bind, or embrace anyone but a mortal. They seem to expect a large game, but new players have already slowed a lot. Everyone I know stopped trying to recruit.
Tthe biggest red flag for me was the staff behavior. They make announcements about behavior - negativity, arguing, being passive-aggressive. I was not logged in often but I did often check the Discord. And every time I have seen someone being rude, being argumentative, being childish, it was always staff.
The game is very much a sandbox. If you are comfortable being a side character on a small game, you may enjoy it. It was not for me.
Using a one time account because I do not want anything to happen to the people that I was friends with.
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Also, we/they just banned Polk, so.
That said, I do agree about the conflict rules being a problem. If you’re going to have antagonist groups on the same game together, then you will have character conflict that could wind up violent. That’s part of the appeal of having antagonist groups. Banning that outright is short-sighted.
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she/her | playlist
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@Roz said in Re: Dies Irae:
@Pavel said in Re: Dies Irae:
Also, we/they just banned Polk, so.
lmao what’d he do this time
Existed.
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@Pavel I have no interest in sharing a space with a bigot sex pest, so good on them for that.
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@labsunlimited Indeed, though my inference was that this “one time account” poster may well be Polk in disguise.
ETA: Obviously I don’t know either way, but it’s just an added suggestion to take what they say with a grain of salt – even the bits I somewhat agree with.He/Him. Opinions and views are solely my own unless specifically stated otherwise.
BE AN ADULT -
I’m having fun here and don’t feel like a ‘side character’.
The wiki seems fine to me and staff does take suggestions to help make it easier to navigate. I only needed to read stuff pertaining to the spheres I was interested in, definitely not ‘most of it’.
I don’t think this person is Polk (Polk only had 1PC and it wasn’t a vampire). Regarding Vampire, I think it was ‘dead’ due to the staff in charge having to step down due to RL.
I haven’t seen the staff be anything but nice and helpful.
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It seems like this place kind of suffers from a lack of experience. I haven’t dealt with all the staff, but it seems like some are just having their growing pains with being a staffer and making decisions. Marid clearly knows what they are doing both mechanically and thematically. If that was the experience everyone was getting when dealing with staff, the place would be hopping. But since Marid seems to be deep into messing with the code, the players are left with… everyone else. But there’s a sharp, steep drop off from interacting with Marid to dealing with some other staffers.
It feels like they kinda just forgot what fun was about. It seems like they built this place and then certain staffers never wanted to give up control. You app a PC and immediately they go about trying to turn your PC into their NPC, talking to you about your character like they know it better than you, telling you who your character is and what it needs. Its more than just condescending and talking down to you (which is bad enough, I know) but in my case, I was specifically told what abilities and secondary abilities (???) I needed to take, some of which didn’t have anything to do with my concept, they just wanted to see it. And oh, yeah, this character is a vanilla mortal. Not some high powered supernatural combat twink that needs to be reigned in for fear of breaking the sphere or the game. Just a regular vanilla mortal.
And all that might be worth the grief if something happened with your character once your in play, but like most place, you’re just kind of abandoned to the grid… except with a character that doesn’t feel like yours that you’re no longer excited to play. And only after the fact do you find out the staffer admits that they aren’t the best with (game) mechanics. FFS… So why are you badgering me about what abilities I should be taking if you aren’t even sure what abilities apply to what actions?
That said, this is just my experience. So YMMV.
When you go into the game you can feel the lack of engagement. If you’re on for any substantial amount of time you can see all the names of characters that come through then just stop showing up.
I do want to say that I don’t think that any of the above is done with maliciousness. I don’t think they are bad people, just not very experienced with staffing and very out of touch with the player experience they are providing. I know they side loaded a staff coordinator who has been helpful, but it looks like most of the horses (maybe just some) have already gotten out of the barn.
P.S. To DI: The fact that you’ve got Tijuana relegated to one grid square with no builds is… not… great. I don’t want to assume the reason, but it would appear to me that either your cultural or political biases are showing - or you’re just not that familiar with San Diego. Maybe a mix of all of them. But just on the population numbers alone, you should be able to tell that you’re ignoring a huge resource and influence. Tijuana is the most populace city in the area. It is bigger than the largest three (or four) cities in San Diego county combined. Excluding LA, there’s not another city bigger than it for 1500 miles. Just saying. From a gameplay/thematic standpoint, that’s a huge missed opportunity. Culturally, a bit cringe.
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@Jynxbox Okay, I at least somewhat agree with the majority of what you’re saying, except that last part.
The game’s been open in beta for a handful of months, and the primary setting is San Diego. So that’s where the work should be done. Staff have previously indicated that they’d like to expand Tijuana at some point, but it’s not the primary focus of their efforts.
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@Pavel said in Re: Dies Irae:
@labsunlimited Indeed, though my inference was that this “one time account” poster may well be Polk in disguise.
literally my only interaction with him ever was him as Alejandro, it’s the second or third WoD game I’ve been on since I was a teenager, but uh idk how to put this politely but he didn’t come off as someone who knew English as a second or third language the way that does
i have frustrations but most of them that aren’t philosophical seem consequences of getting approved too early and stuff being changed since
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I think that, fundamentally, there are too many kinds of things to be and not enough stuff actually happening to encourage that kind of population. Vampire is, as always, the simplest as it only had (prior to closing) one faction available for play with a limited number of clans that didn’t require pre-approval. Mage, however and only as an example, has the Traditions, the Technocracy, Nephandi, and Orphans available. I don’t play a mage yet, but it’s easy to look at that, or the sheer number of available kinds of Fera, and feel as if there’s a distinct lack of focus.
In addition to this broad, depth-less array of options, the game is very much in beta. I can’t speak to the suggestion of staff ineptitude as previously described, but with the hanging potential of the one sphere I’m in having its entire history rewritten or otherwise changed is more than a little irritating even though it’s an expected part of a beta opening.
I’ve also previously mentioned the OOC Conflict policy as a cause of some modicum of concern. I’m not the kind of person to go running around trying to throw down with everyone from The Other Team, but a big part of playing antagonists is to be antagonistic and if you don’t want to allow that you absolutely need to come up with a justification for it. The suggested “the in-character reasoning, if necessary, can be that the resources required to oppose another player character directly will vastly outstrip those required to pursue any given goal” (Dies Irae MU, 2025) is a, frankly, lazy suggestion that puts the onus on the players to ignore sometimes key parts of a faction’s ethos instead of staff creating a story-driven reason for old grudges and outright wars to be set aside.
Ultimately, I believe the game needs a tighter focus and a more readily described and understood meta-story. It seems to have good bones and the very best of intentions, but right now I couldn’t recommend it.
References
Dies Irae MU. (2025). Policies. Dies Irae MU. https://diesiraemu.com/wiki/policies/ -
@Pavel said in Re: Dies Irae:
@Jynxbox Okay, I at least somewhat agree with the majority of what you’re saying, except that last part.
The game’s been open in beta for a handful of months, and the primary setting is San Diego. So that’s where the work should be done. Staff have previously indicated that they’d like to expand Tijuana at some point, but it’s not the primary focus of their efforts.
I think its more of an issue of what is considered “San Diego”. If you’re building out a city of just over 50k people 25 miles north of the city of San Diego, but ignoring the city of 2 million people 17 miles south… that can make some people feel some kind of way, especially with some of the cross-border themes and culturally-minded beliefs baked into the game. I do get that.
I’d prefer to believe, academically, that political borders and such can be the anchoring point for the decision, for sure. Focusing on San Diego County rather than the City of San Diego. Everyone seems to agree that there’s no malicious intent by the staff, so its no harm.
But I do agree that the proximity and size and political status does make for a big missed opportunity for a more interesting and dynamic game theme, especially in terms of sources of conflict and antagonists. It is tailor made for a MU. Not a BAD thing. Just a disappointing one.
BUT it isn’t one that’s completely wasted yet. I’d encourage them to really take a look at the opportunities there and in the future open it up like a DLC expansion pack with a full complement of themes and integration, not just some grid spaces. Dies Irae: TJ!
