Having six ways to sit on a chair is pretty impressive, though I don't know how useful it is to gameplay.
It is very useful for role-playing because a sitting position can express different things about a character. For example, you can sit in a stern position, or cross legs, or put one leg on another, or raise one leg and put it on the chair and put your arms around it.
BGTSCC is also probably the only MMO game where you can gain experience points by sitting on a chair and role-playing with others. You get quite often RP XP just for writing good sentences when you interact with other player characters. Some people don't hunt monsters at all but just sit somewhere in a tavern or around camp fire role-playing with others and getting experience points that way. The RP XP gaining system has been designed very cunningly. It somehow recognizes true role-playing interaction from other types of chat alone or between players.
Well to be honest, if the DM is the judge on how good i interact (talk and keep in role of my PC) with others i´m not sure how that pays off if i have a rampaging halforc bastard berzerker choosen you know. This char would throw around insults like "you silly, want club on head?... NO? you gotta die anyway BANG" and then i´m judged by a DM or script ? How do you handle realy evil roleplayers that destroy any living and goes beyond with what you had in mind...
the screenshots are truly amazing. So I decided to give it a try - but I have to say the NWN2 camera is screwing me over big time. I want good old iso!:P Also the difficulty is ridiculously high..
the screenshots are truly amazing. So I decided to give it a try - but I have to say the NWN2 camera is screwing me over big time. I want good old iso!:P Also the difficulty is ridiculously high..
There are three different camera modes. It's best to use the one which centers the camera diagonally above the character and follows it. The mode which puts the camera behind the character like in Dungeons & Dragons Online doesnt't really work for NWN and NWN 2 games.
Difficulty can be challenging for people who have played mainly single player games. You cannot pause or save the game and BGTSCC is probably a bit more difficult than some mainstream commercial MMORPGs. Fortunately, death penalty is not too harsh. Character looses 100 xp per level for dying but it cannot loose a level that way and there is no money or item loss. It is possible to avoid xp loss if there is a player character cleric who can cast raise dead or resurrection on your corpse or if you have someone who can take your corpse to a temple and pay for your resurrection to an NPC priest.
@Yathrin The problem with those two links is that it includes BOTH 1 & 2. What if we only want #2 since we already have #1?
It seems NWN 2 with expansions is not sold separately anymore but 25 euros for a game bundle including NWN 2 + expansions is not a bad price considering that you can get at least a year of fun playing NWN online. I spent 3-4 times more than that price in 2006-2008 just on NWN 2 and its first expansion and so far it has been the only game besides NWN 1 worth every cent of a full price.
@Yathrin The problem with those two links is that it includes BOTH 1 & 2. What if we only want #2 since we already have #1?
It seems NWN 2 with expansions is not sold separately anymore but 25 euros for a game bundle including NWN 2 + expansions is not a bad price considering that you can get at least a year of fun playing NWN online. I spent 3-4 times more than that price in 2006-2008 just on NWN 2 and its first expansion and so far it has been the only game besides NWN 1 worth every cent of a full price.
I'm not paying again for a game I just bought a few months ago.
You install the games as usual, then you simply connect to server from in-game and it automatically start downloading all the content. That took some time for me, though, so if there's a faster alternative out there that might be preferable, but that's definitely the easiest way.
I'm having the GF give me a late birthday present in the morning. *this* (ought to hold me off until BGEE and beyond) .. Although, I do have a few questions.
I did play one of the NWN games when I was a kid. I spent probably 5+ hours attempting to play on a pos computer. I never got out of the initial tutorial of the game I think it was due to framerate lag etc.
I've always wanted to go back and play through them over the years... I'm curious how the world interacts, though. (multiplayer)
Am I always interacting with a DM?
What are the casual (and non) encounters I am going to have with them?
Are they (DM's) necessary for me to play?
What happens when a DM isn't around, or if he's with other people?
I guess is the world interactive on its own, or do I need to wait for a DM to log in to make things happen?
What are the casual (and non) encounters I am going to have with them?
I have seen the DMs make a few miscellaneous "interactions", I guess when no players are in need of aid. For example, the other day a small group of PCs had gathered around a small street square in the Gate talking to each other, and a DM took control of a child NPC and created some social fun. I don't know where it led since I just passed by, though.
Even more recently a DM and two warlocks were playing out their initiation into Hellfire Magicz, and my Lawful Neutral cleric ended up in the middle of it (or rather, they brought me there - I met them in another area and teamed up, thinking we were just going to hunt some lizardmen together). So well, I was kind of pulled into that encounter... After some help arrived, the two warlocks ended up taken to the guards, and we ended up having a trial session as well (with a DM as judge).
What happens when a DM isn't around, or if he's with other people?
I guess is the world interactive on its own, or do I need to wait for a DM to log in to make things happen?
The DMs are not necessary to play, they just spice things up. There are quests to do, dungeons to explore, and enemies to kill regardless. Players are friendly and most are easy to interact with. I ended up just hanging out at a camp fire and talking (in character) for 1-2 irl-hours the other day.
So, if a DM is not around, you either explore on your own (or with other players, of course ) do pre-existing quests, or just fight monsters, or hang out and rp with other players. Yesterday, for example, I was asked to play a hired assassin by another player (I don't know why they chose me - possibly because my name began with B which put me high up on the list of online players I guess) in an all DM-less event. That was fun too.
Ehr... I believe I ranted off a bit. Did I answer your questions adequately?
@Renulan I was away for a few weeks but scriver has already answered the questions quite well.
Last month I finally got one of my characters to level 30. It took me 11-12 months to do that. The character is actually level 32 in terms of total experience points because drow characters have +2 ECL. I've been on the surface only once with that character during that whole time and it was during some global epic events.
Hunting monsters can get a bit tedious from level 20 to level 30 because you get no more than 30 xp for monsters after level 20. There are some special "mini-boss" monsters like the Beholder, Dracolich, Black Dragon, Duergar King, Ice Giant King, Elder Brain which yield 70-150 xp and some significantly more dangerous infernal monsters like the Pit Fiend which yield 200-400 xp and 5000 gold coins. Finally, there is the legendary White Dragon which has probably not been killed by anyone or any group for a long time.
Item balance is nice in my opinion. After one year of monster hunting you will most likely find a hundred of nice items, at least ten really nice items and 3-5 really amazing items. There are "standard" items which always have the same name and properties (Enkidu Armor, Ring of Might, Astral Blade etc.), some of which are item set items (Wizard Set, Paladin Set, Fighter Set etc.), and items with randomly generated names and abilities. The randomly generated items are potentially the best items but really amazing ones like +4 AC items or +4 weapons with nice extra abilities are extremely rare. The best standard item is probably the Mithral Full Plate but it is very rare too. It is a light full plate which is excellent for characters with good dexterity and gives more armor than an ordinary full plate. The best enchantment or enhancement an item can have is +4 but a high level wizard or cleric can add temporarily a +5 enchantment on weapon, shield or armor.
One of the most epic, challenging and risky adventures that could ever happen in BGTSCC or even in the history of all fantasy MMORPG gaming is if some day a group of level 30 Underdark characters journeys to the surface, gets to Cloudpeak Mountains, defeats the White Dragon, and then returns back to the Underdark. No one has ever succeeded yet or even been brave enough to try. Making a level 30 Underdark character takes at least 200-300 real life hours and all of that progress can be lost in an instant if character gets killed three times on the surface (permanent death). The white dragon is extremely dangerous, probably hasn't been killed even by surface characters this year so far, and besides that there is a danger of PvP encounter(s) with people who play with surface characters.
This is most likely going to be much more complicated than a simple spider killing quest because a DM is up to something and nowadays there are worshippers of Lolth down there in the city of Sshamath who will not tolerate spider killing.
Ah nice. Right now I have a level 5 sorceror.. I've been playing non stop for a few days. My first character was a drow but got overwhelmed when everyone was talking in literal drow and I decided to roll a human.. :P
The whole Underdark/surface idea is extremely cool (btw if a surfacer dies 3 times in the underdark, PD as well?) It'll be fun to one day travel down there.
I'm also having trouble being an evil human. It's my first time role-playing...ever.. but I think i've been doing alright so far. Have any idea of where to begin or who to look for being an evil sorceror? I love being the evil solo guy, but finding some others would be nice too.
I don't know if surfacers get permadeath in Underdark but at least they are not "kill-on-sight" in the city of Sshamath because the city accepts traders from the surface according to the FR setting. However, Underdark is really big and areas outside the city might not be as safe.
As an evil sorcerer on the surface, it's better not to summon undead creatures or monstrous summons, familiars or animal companions in the presence of player characters who might be paladins, clerics or druids. There are some evil guilds and organizations like the Zhentarim for long term RP goals. Soloing as a sorcerer with offensive spells is probably harder than joining a group and helping warrior type characters with protective or buff spells.
For wizards and sorcerers there are some interesting prestige classes such as Pale Master, Scholar of Candle Keep, Arcane Trickster and many more. In NWN 2 you can multiclass four different base or prestige classes but on BGTSCC you must take at least three levels of each class before your character reaches level 20.
By level 20 it's possible to have combinations like Sorcerer 10/Pale Master 3/Scholar of Candle Keep 3/Blackguard 4 or Druid 7/Stormlord of Talos 10/Shadowdancer 3.
If you choose druid and build it correctly, you can play as a big scary dragon at level 28-30.
They had the Spider Infestation event today in the Underdark. The Dungeon Master who held it made a report on the forums describing the outcome. I'm posting this here to give you an example of some basic quests that DMs can organize in NWN games.
Ilztraen Arken'ndar Johnson Slite Xune Aleval Barra'Illiam Dris Mioz Nalagh De'Ndar Olath Mri ' Kul
Conclusion:
The adventurers were hired by the wizard Zarmoon to rid the mushroom from spiders. The spider infestation was preventing him from collecting his precious mushrooms, which he used as spell components, and as a source of food.
At the grove the group came upon several corpses, many of these drow. The Spiders had turned the mushroom grove into a proper nest.
After several battles with the spiders they came upon the Broodmother herself, her fate as grim as the stories had told. The battle was hard, but in the end, Xaranviir fell.
Rewards:
- XP bonus to all the participants - A Necklace that dropped from the Broodmother "Tear of Xaranviir" - Books and journals depicting the story of Xaranviir and the fall of her house - Gold reward for completing the mission from Zarmoon
So i'm pretty sure I want to join the Red Wizards... Do I need to make a forum post to get accepted? Or talk to a DM or find someone in-game? I'm not sure how to go about it. I am trying to discreetly find other people with bad intentions without blowing my cover, but still can't seem to find anyone, which isn't a problem necessarily but.. Yeah, hehe.
How can it be that I've never heard of this:o Despite hating camera of NWN2 with heightened passion, this most def needs a spin. Those screenshots linked in 2nd post are awesome, might be an idea to put them in OP as well. Can't wait to get back home and try this.
I'd love to hear more about community. How many active players does this usually have during peak hour?
OMG!!! I cannot believe this has been under my nose this whole time!! I just got nwn2 and started playing it bug free but this...THIS!!! Ok first I need to beat the story first THEN I will play this game! I just hope it will still be out when I try it.
@scriver @CaptRory I was wondering too how they divided the unique necklace from the quest. Maybe the person who managed to loot it first got it and others didn't even get a chance to see it or maybe they threw a dice and the person with highest score got it.
The camera in NWN 2 is indeed worse than in NWN 1 in my opinion, but after a few weeks or a month you get used to it and it stops feeling annoying. In BGTSCC there are three buttons on the right side of your hotbar in UI which allow you to change camera mode on the fly without the need to access an game options. One of the camera modes puts the camera right behind the character like in Dungeons & Dragons Online but in NWN this mode is suitable mainly on some special occasions because it is not an action game like DDO.
During peak hours, especially during week-ends, the server is often completely full and sometimes there is a small queue of people trying to get in. I've seen even 72/70 players online a few times. Some player left and three players managed to log on simultaneously, exceeding the player limit. During peak hours it usually takes 2-5 minutes to log in but sometimes it can take 5-10 minutes. During the least popular hours there are usually 20-40 players online. There is surprisingly little lag or even no lag at all even with 70 players online. Sometimes they set up a second server but that usually happens when they arrange some really big DM event or maybe test something. The main server is online around the clock every day just like in MMO games.
On the forums there is a section in the top left corner which shows you server status and how many players are online. http://www.bgtscc1.com/forum/index.php
I actually payed almost $100 for NWN 2 and The Mask of Betrayer when the games were released because I knew how good NWN 1 was in multiplayer games and I decided to put my faith in NWN 2 too and support the company in hope that they might make NWN 3 some day. I had regretted my decision until I discovered BGTSCC. Now the single player campaigns and over a year of multiplayer gameplay at BGTSCC have redeemed the price I payed.
BGTSCC has existed for at least three years now and will probably exist for many more years because the project seems to have very dedicated developers and followers. As far as I know, they haven't been doing any character wipes, so it's like a real MMORPG in that sense. In a way it feels even more like a real MMORPG than Dungeons & Dragons Online because in DDO only six players enter monster hunts or adventures, or twelve players if it is a boss raid. In BGTSCC people are usually scattered throughout the world but I have seen a few epic adventures with 14-16 people journeying and fighting together.
If somebody is starting from scratch, the whole installation and patching process is much more simple than in NWN 1.
1. Install NWN 2.
2. Install Mask of Betrayer (and Storm of Zehir if you have it).
3. Run NWN2Launcher.exe. Click Update to patch the game to the final version released in 2009.
4. Launch the game. Click "Multiplayer". Type in some account name and some random password.
5. Choose "Role-Playing" and select "Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles".
6. Connect to the server. All necessary files will be downloaded and sorted out in the right folders automatically. This stage can take a few hours even with fast Internet connection when you connect for the first time because there are at least 2-4 gigabytes of BGTSCC files.
7. Create character and play after downloads are finished.
This is not mentioned anywhere on the forums but players who don't have the Storm of Zehir expansion can take only standard base and prestige classes which came with NWN 2 and The Mask of Betrayer. Without The Storm of Zehir add-on It is not possible to take levels in custom prestige classes such as Dread Pirate, Black Flame Zealot, Whirling Dervish or Ghost-Faced Killer, and in certain maps there will be objects with "missing textures". Fortunately, there is still plenty of base and prestige classes to choose from, and 90% of maps do not contain any objects or textures from Storm of Zehir. Otherwise, you can play perfectly fine just with NWN 2 and MoTB without SoZ.
I found an old thread with many screenshots posted by different players from the days of war between Baldur's Gate and Amn earlier this year. It was a really big war and almost everybody participated in one way or another because it involved many different events, quests and adventures. One of the most wild adventures which is not illustrated in screenshots happened to a group of drow mercenaries. They got teleported from the Underdark to a pirate ship in the middle of the sea on the surface and accompanied a pirate crew on a small conquest from a pirate port to the kingdoms of surface dwellers.
Looks like I goofed on being a Red Wizard right off the bat. Already re-rolled and working on an appropriate wizard now. Thanks for the link, I didn't realize I was missing the other threads as I had not made a forum account. I'd be all buggered out about having to re-roll, but then I realized that if there was a game out there that was just to roll D&D characters and play through level one over and over I'd be content haha.
BTW- Anyone new to this whole role-play ordeal like I am, it's definitely easier to start out role-playing good, or neutral before you dip your feet into evil... At least on the surface, anyways.
(funny experience) I was out rolling around in Cloakwood with a party killing mobs and RPing etc, when a hidden rogue came up to me and started a conversation trying to sell me a magical ring. After about 5 minutes of my group coming up to me and trying to get my attention and saying to each other things like, "Why is he talking to himself"?? "Who is he talking to"??? (the rogue was whispering to me) I finally decided to buy the ring from this invisible rogue.
The ring ended up being waaay too far out of my price range. The little rogue however REALLY hated orcs and half-orcs. It just so happened that in my party was an orc druid. He decided that instead of paying him gold if I brought him the head of the orc I was adventuring with he would give me the ring. Luckily right before I decided to begin slaying the orc right in front of the whole group, the orc said "If human no have enough gold for ring, me give human gold cause human poof orc when too many people around". (I'd cast invisible on him so no one would bother him or try to kill him for being an orc)
Comments
BGTSCC is also probably the only MMO game where you can gain experience points by sitting on a chair and role-playing with others. You get quite often RP XP just for writing good sentences when you interact with other player characters. Some people don't hunt monsters at all but just sit somewhere in a tavern or around camp fire role-playing with others and getting experience points that way. The RP XP gaining system has been designed very cunningly. It somehow recognizes true role-playing interaction from other types of chat alone or between players.
This char would throw around insults like "you silly, want club on head?... NO? you gotta die anyway BANG"
and then i´m judged by a DM or script ? How do you handle realy evil roleplayers that destroy any living and goes beyond with what you had in mind...
http://impulsedriven.com/nwncomplete
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-DDNWNC/dungeons-and-dragons-neverwinter-nights-complete
There are three different camera modes. It's best to use the one which centers the camera diagonally above the character and follows it. The mode which puts the camera behind the character like in Dungeons & Dragons Online doesnt't really work for NWN and NWN 2 games.
Difficulty can be challenging for people who have played mainly single player games. You cannot pause or save the game and BGTSCC is probably a bit more difficult than some mainstream commercial MMORPGs. Fortunately, death penalty is not too harsh. Character looses 100 xp per level for dying but it cannot loose a level that way and there is no money or item loss. It is possible to avoid xp loss if there is a player character cleric who can cast raise dead or resurrection on your corpse or if you have someone who can take your corpse to a temple and pay for your resurrection to an NPC priest.
The problem with those two links is that it includes BOTH 1 & 2. What if we only want #2 since we already have #1?
I did play one of the NWN games when I was a kid. I spent probably 5+ hours attempting to play on a pos computer. I never got out of the initial tutorial of the game I think it was due to framerate lag etc.
I've always wanted to go back and play through them over the years... I'm curious how the world interacts, though. (multiplayer)
Am I always interacting with a DM?
What are the casual (and non) encounters I am going to have with them?
Are they (DM's) necessary for me to play?
What happens when a DM isn't around, or if he's with other people?
I guess is the world interactive on its own, or do I need to wait for a DM to log in to make things happen?
Even more recently a DM and two warlocks were playing out their initiation into Hellfire Magicz, and my Lawful Neutral cleric ended up in the middle of it (or rather, they brought me there - I met them in another area and teamed up, thinking we were just going to hunt some lizardmen together). So well, I was kind of pulled into that encounter... After some help arrived, the two warlocks ended up taken to the guards, and we ended up having a trial session as well (with a DM as judge). The DMs are not necessary to play, they just spice things up. There are quests to do, dungeons to explore, and enemies to kill regardless. Players are friendly and most are easy to interact with. I ended up just hanging out at a camp fire and talking (in character) for 1-2 irl-hours the other day.
So, if a DM is not around, you either explore on your own (or with other players, of course
Ehr... I believe I ranted off a bit. Did I answer your questions adequately?
Haha, yes you did answer very nicely.
I'm currently updating the files to log in to the server so I can create my character. I'm preeeettttty excited.
Last month I finally got one of my characters to level 30. It took me 11-12 months to do that. The character is actually level 32 in terms of total experience points because drow characters have +2 ECL. I've been on the surface only once with that character during that whole time and it was during some global epic events.
Hunting monsters can get a bit tedious from level 20 to level 30 because you get no more than 30 xp for monsters after level 20. There are some special "mini-boss" monsters like the Beholder, Dracolich, Black Dragon, Duergar King, Ice Giant King, Elder Brain which yield 70-150 xp and some significantly more dangerous infernal monsters like the Pit Fiend which yield 200-400 xp and 5000 gold coins. Finally, there is the legendary White Dragon which has probably not been killed by anyone or any group for a long time.
Item balance is nice in my opinion. After one year of monster hunting you will most likely find a hundred of nice items, at least ten really nice items and 3-5 really amazing items. There are "standard" items which always have the same name and properties (Enkidu Armor, Ring of Might, Astral Blade etc.), some of which are item set items (Wizard Set, Paladin Set, Fighter Set etc.), and items with randomly generated names and abilities. The randomly generated items are potentially the best items but really amazing ones like +4 AC items or +4 weapons with nice extra abilities are extremely rare. The best standard item is probably the Mithral Full Plate but it is very rare too. It is a light full plate which is excellent for characters with good dexterity and gives more armor than an ordinary full plate. The best enchantment or enhancement an item can have is +4 but a high level wizard or cleric can add temporarily a +5 enchantment on weapon, shield or armor.
By the way, there will be a "Spider Infestation" event for level 6-12 characters in the Underdark this Friday.
http://www.bgtscc1.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=28845
This is most likely going to be much more complicated than a simple spider killing quest because a DM is up to something and nowadays there are worshippers of Lolth down there in the city of Sshamath who will not tolerate spider killing.
The whole Underdark/surface idea is extremely cool (btw if a surfacer dies 3 times in the underdark, PD as well?) It'll be fun to one day travel down there.
I'm also having trouble being an evil human. It's my first time role-playing...ever.. but I think i've been doing alright so far. Have any idea of where to begin or who to look for being an evil sorceror? I love being the evil solo guy, but finding some others would be nice too.
@yathrin
@scriver
As an evil sorcerer on the surface, it's better not to summon undead creatures or monstrous summons, familiars or animal companions in the presence of player characters who might be paladins, clerics or druids. There are some evil guilds and organizations like the Zhentarim for long term RP goals. Soloing as a sorcerer with offensive spells is probably harder than joining a group and helping warrior type characters with protective or buff spells.
For wizards and sorcerers there are some interesting prestige classes such as Pale Master, Scholar of Candle Keep, Arcane Trickster and many more. In NWN 2 you can multiclass four different base or prestige classes but on BGTSCC you must take at least three levels of each class before your character reaches level 20.
By level 20 it's possible to have combinations like Sorcerer 10/Pale Master 3/Scholar of Candle Keep 3/Blackguard 4 or Druid 7/Stormlord of Talos 10/Shadowdancer 3.
If you choose druid and build it correctly, you can play as a big scary dragon at level 28-30.
Ilztraen Arken'ndar
Johnson Slite
Xune Aleval
Barra'Illiam Dris
Mioz
Nalagh De'Ndar
Olath Mri ' Kul
Conclusion:
The adventurers were hired by the wizard Zarmoon to rid the mushroom from spiders. The spider infestation was preventing him from collecting his precious mushrooms, which he used as spell components, and as a source of food.
At the grove the group came upon several corpses, many of these drow. The Spiders had turned the mushroom grove into a proper nest.
After several battles with the spiders they came upon the Broodmother herself, her fate as grim as the stories had told. The battle was hard, but in the end, Xaranviir fell.
Rewards:
- XP bonus to all the participants
- A Necklace that dropped from the Broodmother "Tear of Xaranviir"
- Books and journals depicting the story of Xaranviir and the fall of her house
- Gold reward for completing the mission from Zarmoon
So i'm pretty sure I want to join the Red Wizards... Do I need to make a forum post to get accepted? Or talk to a DM or find someone in-game? I'm not sure how to go about it. I am trying to discreetly find other people with bad intentions without blowing my cover, but still can't seem to find anyone, which isn't a problem necessarily but.. Yeah, hehe.
I'd love to hear more about community. How many active players does this usually have during peak hour?
@CaptRory
I was wondering too how they divided the unique necklace from the quest. Maybe the person who managed to loot it first got it and others didn't even get a chance to see it or maybe they threw a dice and the person with highest score got it.
@Renulan
The Red Wizard of Thay is a standard prestige class in NWN 2 but in BGTSCC they made it available only to those who really become red wizards through role-playing and fill in the Red Wizard Questionnaire on the forums.
http://bgtscc1.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=218387&sid=083ab1b6e81eba5c4644c02aa7aeaddd
@Stradlin
The camera in NWN 2 is indeed worse than in NWN 1 in my opinion, but after a few weeks or a month you get used to it and it stops feeling annoying. In BGTSCC there are three buttons on the right side of your hotbar in UI which allow you to change camera mode on the fly without the need to access an game options. One of the camera modes puts the camera right behind the character like in Dungeons & Dragons Online but in NWN this mode is suitable mainly on some special occasions because it is not an action game like DDO.
During peak hours, especially during week-ends, the server is often completely full and sometimes there is a small queue of people trying to get in. I've seen even 72/70 players online a few times. Some player left and three players managed to log on simultaneously, exceeding the player limit. During peak hours it usually takes 2-5 minutes to log in but sometimes it can take 5-10 minutes. During the least popular hours there are usually 20-40 players online. There is surprisingly little lag or even no lag at all even with 70 players online. Sometimes they set up a second server but that usually happens when they arrange some really big DM event or maybe test something. The main server is online around the clock every day just like in MMO games.
On the forums there is a section in the top left corner which shows you server status and how many players are online. http://www.bgtscc1.com/forum/index.php
@xLegionx
I actually payed almost $100 for NWN 2 and The Mask of Betrayer when the games were released because I knew how good NWN 1 was in multiplayer games and I decided to put my faith in NWN 2 too and support the company in hope that they might make NWN 3 some day. I had regretted my decision until I discovered BGTSCC. Now the single player campaigns and over a year of multiplayer gameplay at BGTSCC have redeemed the price I payed.
BGTSCC has existed for at least three years now and will probably exist for many more years because the project seems to have very dedicated developers and followers. As far as I know, they haven't been doing any character wipes, so it's like a real MMORPG in that sense. In a way it feels even more like a real MMORPG than Dungeons & Dragons Online because in DDO only six players enter monster hunts or adventures, or twelve players if it is a boss raid. In BGTSCC people are usually scattered throughout the world but I have seen a few epic adventures with 14-16 people journeying and fighting together.
If somebody is starting from scratch, the whole installation and patching process is much more simple than in NWN 1.
1. Install NWN 2.
2. Install Mask of Betrayer (and Storm of Zehir if you have it).
3. Run NWN2Launcher.exe. Click Update to patch the game to the final version released in 2009.
4. Launch the game. Click "Multiplayer". Type in some account name and some random password.
5. Choose "Role-Playing" and select "Baldur's Gate: The Sword Coast Chronicles".
6. Connect to the server. All necessary files will be downloaded and sorted out in the right folders automatically. This stage can take a few hours even with fast Internet connection when you connect for the first time because there are at least 2-4 gigabytes of BGTSCC files.
7. Create character and play after downloads are finished.
This is not mentioned anywhere on the forums but players who don't have the Storm of Zehir expansion can take only standard base and prestige classes which came with NWN 2 and The Mask of Betrayer. Without The Storm of Zehir add-on It is not possible to take levels in custom prestige classes such as Dread Pirate, Black Flame Zealot, Whirling Dervish or Ghost-Faced Killer, and in certain maps there will be objects with "missing textures". Fortunately, there is still plenty of base and prestige classes to choose from, and 90% of maps do not contain any objects or textures from Storm of Zehir. Otherwise, you can play perfectly fine just with NWN 2 and MoTB without SoZ.
http://www.bgtscc1.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=22722
BTW- Anyone new to this whole role-play ordeal like I am, it's definitely easier to start out role-playing good, or neutral before you dip your feet into evil... At least on the surface, anyways.
(funny experience) I was out rolling around in Cloakwood with a party killing mobs and RPing etc, when a hidden rogue came up to me and started a conversation trying to sell me a magical ring. After about 5 minutes of my group coming up to me and trying to get my attention and saying to each other things like, "Why is he talking to himself"?? "Who is he talking to"??? (the rogue was whispering to me) I finally decided to buy the ring from this invisible rogue.
The ring ended up being waaay too far out of my price range. The little rogue however REALLY hated orcs and half-orcs. It just so happened that in my party was an orc druid. He decided that instead of paying him gold if I brought him the head of the orc I was adventuring with he would give me the ring. Luckily right before I decided to begin slaying the orc right in front of the whole group, the orc said "If human no have enough gold for ring, me give human gold cause human poof orc when too many people around". (I'd cast invisible on him so no one would bother him or try to kill him for being an orc)
I almost wish he didn't.