I don't play Wyvern because it's boring. The skill system is fun to think about, but making a character matching my plans isn't. Gaining levels, and more importantly money, seems to mainly require grinding. What else would it take? Levels are initially easy to raise, but then require more grinding and eventually a decent build to kill the tougher monsters and get a high level. Gaining a high level isn't itself a worthy goal. Instead, gaining a high level is fun because it allows for a more creative character setup, as well as progressing to more difficult areas. I consider the former to be a flaw in the skill point system. The usefulness of many skills doesn't increase linearly. A heal spammer, for example, would want so much lore, so much incantation, and possibly so much meditation. More or less wouldn't be as useful as those specific amounts. A character that can't raise its skills to those points won't be an effective heal spammer, while a character that has excess points will be able to bolster other skills. Particularly if high levels become more difficult to obtain or each level recieves equal emphasis, I would like to design a unique and creative (viable is also good) character for a low level.
The actual combat is also repetetive. I have played some, but not much, as a mage and an archer. I've mainly played as a melee character. Maneuvering is definitely a strategic part of combat. Dodging spells, choosing your opponenets, retreating, and positioning yourself so you can retreat are all useful and common maneuvers. They do, however, become instinctual and tedious after a while. Supportive spells or items come down to using them when you need them. For example, I played a character who used a fire resistance scroll whenever I saw db or a powerful fire monster. Using a scroll of fire resistance is simplistic and unexciting. It's not a difficult strategical decision to make in the midst of a battle. It's not even phase one of a clever attack combo for battling a specific type of creature. I do it so I can close in on the monster without getting torched and then bash it to death. Wyvern needs exciting combat features that add variety and complexity to combat.
Most of the quests that I have completed were tedious. I consider both arriving at the solution to part of a quest as well as physically solving it to be tedious. Amazingly, I don't even have much against puzzle games. I consider some of the adventure games that I've played to be both creative and entertaining. Quests in Wyvern, however, have never attracted me. Perhaps I haven't tried the good ones. No matter the quality of the quests, they do consist of solving a problem. The newfangled RPGs of the late 90s and beyond that emphasized more RP than dungeon crawling have spoiled me. I now expect not only sufficient quantities of characterization and lore, but also choices and the ability to portray my character as I see fit. Some quests add to the lore, which is nice, and quest NPCs are nearly the only NPCs with much to say, but there is nothing to relate the quest to my character. They are simply to complete a task for possibly a reward maybe.
Finally, exploring is dull. OK, I do like going through a new area for the first time. However, I quickly learn that there is nothing of interest, and never return. I go back to places with good monsters and loot, but that's only for the monsters and loot. Anyway, I think more lore and characterization would be nice. How about some NPCs with something to say? Wyvern would work perfectly with Ultima-style conversations. That's Ultima 6 and below, of course, though Wyvern could give you options at the end of the text if it wanted to, right?
But most of all, I don't play Wyvern because of LAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGAAAAGGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGL.
That's why I don't play. I have a lot of hope for Wyvern, even if the changes I prescribed aren't made. I know that there are people who work on Wyvern actively and who do have a vision that seems like something I might enjoy. Whether or not it reaches that point is to be seen, but I'd like to think that it will.
Here's my response to some things that have been brought up.
Difficulty:
Wyvern isn't too hard if you know a bit about the game. You can't tack on heal spamming to anything and make it serviceable anymore, but there are still builds that make the game easy. Considering that areas like AV give good loot and xp, you don't have to be able to roll through beholders to get to level 25. It just takes some grinding.
Trade:
I don't mind not being able to give stuff away. It makes the game both a grind for loot as well as xp, but besides that I think it's moot. Min is a pretty good deal for most worthwhile items anyway.
Chat Censoring:
I don't mind profanity, though I feel no need to speak vulgarly. I'm very glad that politics and controversial stuff is kept out of shouts as it always errupts into an argument as impassioned as it is senseless. I don't know why the really, really awesome RPG that is far superior to Wyvern in every way and everyone loves is censored, though. I think the wizards are trying to smother our gushing, overzealous, inner fangirl.
Evil Wizards:
No comment. jk, I've found that they're human beings for the most part. That isn't necessarily good, however, considering my misanthropic tendencies.
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