Sat Sep 6 10:45:52 2003


At 8 o'clock AM, Day of Thunder, 31st of the Month of Futility
on the Theran calendar Helio perished, never to return.

Race:	human
Class:	ranger
Level:	45
Alignment:	Good
Ethos:	Chaotic
Cabal:	SYLVAN, the Sylvan Warders
Age:	38
Hours:	149
PK Ratio:	100% (closer to 100% is better)

Drop me an email at heliotali@yahoo.com
I'll field any questions or comments on an individual basis that way. If you want to post here, I'll check in a few times to see if there's anything here to respond to. I really don't like using the forums because I think that they do more bad than good, but I think alot of these farewells deserve to be said, so here I am too.

So yea, this has been oncoming for a little bit now. My free time cut in half a few weeks ago, then to nill shortly thereafter. I was hoping to keep Helio running, but I don't think that it's feasible or fair to. All of the enemies I knew seem to be gone or going, and a handful of the friends as well. I had a good time with Helio, and I hope that I rubbed off a little bit of satisfaction on some other players also. I played completely without any ooc knowledge or contact, with the exception of me knowing what I knew before an extended hiatus. I found that you don't need permapals to rank, pk, or rp. I'm leaning towards believing that laziness is the root of cheating..

Before people go talking about my pkratio, I'll say that I wasn't playing to PK, just to RP and learn a bit. I think that I did both. I got something on the order of 10 kills. I tried to not gang up on people, but I made a few mistakes with that. I also owe some kills to bugs which got pushed onto the bug submissions board. Sorry about that everyone. I tried to be cautious about who and what I was killing with Helio due to the implications that it could have had on the cabal I was in. I was looking for a reason not to PK unless you were a clear-shot enemy of sylvan. I went on to use as much preparation as I could before charging head first into a tough fight/imperial gang-bang (which I always charged into). I attest my pkratio to that. What happened to pk? There were so many situations that I figured I had a 1% chance out of, and always got away. If you're going to gangbang to ensure a kill, then you damn well better score the kill. *big reluctant sigh*

On Cabal-raiding/retrieving: I noticed a change to add experience to raids, and morale as well. I think that this is really cool, with the exception that I think a successful raid should not only balance but override a lost item morale effect. I really hated fighting at the palace as a ranger, by the way, and I have since rangers lost their bears. On a side note, I think that the imperial guardians should be fully utilizing 'shove' on citizens. That would make things much more interesting. But fighting at the palace was just a huge pain for me. Between centurions and trap thieves, summoning necromancers/aps/shamans, bash-spamming warriors, etc. etc. it was just a huge hassle. There was a time though that I prepped myself with everything I had, and Tichniktil came and shielded me as I was about to run in. That's what we call a smooth getaway..with sapling.

Things have changed a WHOLE lot since I first played cf. Most notably:

Some people became scared to death of death.
Some bugs became features.
Some features became bugs.
Some people got whinier.
Some people got more skillful.
Alot of new people showed up.
Alot of old people left.

That's about it, without regards to the exceptional work of the imms and heroimms to expand out with new and unique areas. I chose not to die sometimes because I knew that I'd be looking at an empty corpse, and that's not something I wanted to deal with, really. It used to be alot of people killing and dying and everyone would loot what they could and you'd see massive gear circulation. You would not see these mages with 2000hp from gear and base hp, but you'd see that gear alot more frequently. On the note of gear, I tried to get some decent things but I never really went after anything amazing, especially if it was non-utilitarian. Gave away 2 thin silvers early on, and felt good about that.

The question on my mind right now is "Why a ranger?"
The answer is plain and simple...I was playing from work. I needed to be able to get up and walk away at almost no notice, and not know when I would get back. With a ranger, I could use the overpowered camouflage after eating and drinking, and I'd be set to stay camo until I disappeared into the void. This is why I was always really cautious about dealing with other rangers and the owls/bats. I was afk for alot of my playtime. Later on into the character, I started playing using dial-up as well as from work, and with a bad net connection, a ranger was best again for my situation. I feel like a few of their skills got seriously nerfed, but that a handful of them are still ridiculously strong. I never got why people felt the need to stay in the forest to fight. The forest is for hiding and healing, sure, but you can do just as well fighting in the cities as a warrior can; better in some cases. I was satisfied with the ranger class, but probably won't play one again for another few years or something.

My CF complaints:
I ranked to what 45 while never once being attacked (PK) while ranking. This may have been from my late hours of play, but there were still plenty of enemies in range who just didn't care enough to come kill me.

I think that some of the imms are getting bitter and withdrawing from CF like it was friday night and their beer goggles were going away. Your involvement is all that keeps some people coming back.

People who play late at night seem to be less inclined to RP, and some character clearly ran by a european said "I don't need a role because its so late at night." Remember to rp no matter what. That's what the game is here for.

One other one in my mind is that I don't think faerie fire has been looked at in a very long time. I could be wrong, but I'm rather sure that it's the only offensive skill-spell-supplication that if successfully cast, can not be resisted with a saving throw. Again, I could be wrong.

CF compliments:
New skills/areas/races/classes are a really nice aspect of CF. Keep up the good work guys.

New practice code makes things more fair for people who don't know jack, like me. I loved it.

There seem to be plenty of heroimms to take the role of cabal interaction from the increasingly busy upper imms.

Some players really have improved in all aspects of CF and make the game more interesting.

My Score and Skills:
Helio the Warder of the Glade
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level : 45 Sex : male Race : human
Ethos : Chaotic Align : Good Class : ranger
Practices: 49 Trains : 6 Hometown : Galadon
Exp : 403255 To Level : 11545 Sphere : Storms
Age : mature, 38 years old (149 hours)
Hit Point: 733 /733 Mana : 515 /560 Move : 830 /830
Str : 23(23) Int : 18(20) Wis : 19(20)
Dex : 20(20) Con : 20(20) Chr : 15(16)
Carry # : 26/32 Weight : 402 lb 9 oz (Max 512 lbs)
Gold : 141 Silver : 335 Copper : 15
Wimpy : 130 hp Morale : Moderate Position : Standing
Hitroll : 27 Damroll : 49
AC pierce: -228 Divinely armored AC bash : -221 Divinely armored
AC slash : -222 Divinely armored AC magic : -199 Divinely armored
vs Spell : Heavily protected vs Paralysis : Somewhat protected
vs Breath: Not protected vs Petrification: Not protected
You are affected by:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
armor 1%( 1%) call lightning 76%( 76%)
control weather 78%( 78%) axe 98%( 98%)
dagger 95%( 95%) spear 81%( 81%)
sword 100%(100%) staff 92%( 92%)
whip 90%( 90%) dirt kicking 100%(100%)
disarm 95%( 95%) dodge 99%( 99%)
enhanced damage 100%(100%) hand to hand 83%( 83%)
kick 1%( 1%) parry 100%(100%)
second attack 100%(100%) third attack 96%( 96%)
shield cleave 1%( 1%) pugil 79%( 79%)
lash 1%( 1%) fast healing 94%( 94%)
haggle 1%( 1%) meditation 100%(100%)
scrolls 87%( 87%) staves 78%( 78%)
recall 100%(100%) camouflage 100%(100%)
acute vision 78%( 78%) ambush 100%(100%)
quiet movement 100%(100%) pathfinding 100%(100%)
herbs 92%( 92%) tame 100%(100%)
butcher 100%(100%) find water 100%(100%)
camp 93%( 93%) bark skin 76%( 76%)
imbue staff 80%( 80%) fashion staff 76%( 76%)
track 100%(100%) lore 91%( 91%)
warcry 77%( 77%) entangle 99%( 99%)
protection heat cold 81%( 81%) shield block 94%( 94%)
dual wield 100%(100%) dark vision 62%( 62%)
creep 100%(100%) bearcharge 78%( 78%)
backrake 90%( 90%) serpent strike 100%(100%)
waylay 81%( 81%) snare 79%( 79%)
bioempathy 71%( 71%) harmony 86%( 86%)
preservation 73%( 73%) trepidation 71%( 71%)
windwalk 85%( 85%) beast call 70%( 70%)
chameleon 71%( 71%) strengthen 70%( 70%)
wilderness familiarity 95%( 95%) pen 1%( 1%)


On to some goodbyes: Enemy Cabals first, friends second, imms last but definitely not least.


Imperials:
Vai - Reminiscent of Karel. What happened to you?
Shezaral - I just didn't like you, and it was for a number of reasons. One was that I couldn't see you, and never even got the chance to talk to you. Part of that is the key to my dislike, not being able to see you. Trap thieves could have wrecked me in any number of ways. It's like taking twelve rufies without drinking a damn thing.

Izuvererus - I wanted to kill you so badly the last time we fought. Then four imperials showed up to exactly where I had you snared, but that's life with empire. You were an annoyance among the top annoyances. My biggest qualm with you was the inability to stand up to a debate. If you can't speak english well enough to argue (which I don't believe for a moment) then simply DO NOT TALK SMACK. It would have made my interaction with you a great deal more pleasant, and you wouldn't have needed quiet mode.

I lost a butload of respect for you(EMPIRE) when Izuvererus, Amadelie, Grrhanr, Hasslet (sp) and some warrior couldn't kill me. I never made it into Astilamos's range or else things would have been different alot of the time. THat is to say that I could have snared the whole group, but that when I didn't he'd have beaten me down with a mace.

There were too many other imperials that I saw and/or fought to mention.
Oh, and Kogefibo..I didn't know you, but your name amused me greatly.

Scions:
I understand the concept of scion better than I'd like to admit, but you should really be showing a force in my opinion. I only knew three people who I had confirmed as scion. Sorry about the raids. I'm not going to make specific goodbyes to you here because I think that you're trying to be shadow-esque secretive. You know who you are.

Tribunals:
I didn't like you on a large scale for my role. I wasn't just another storms follower as I'm sure most people who knew me could tell you. Alot of my role diverged from an age-old 'religion' called the fellowship of the storms. A bit on this in the lyceum for those who care. I only had a truly special relationship with two of you. Here's a few tips for all tribunals everywhere, or whatever Bria decides to rename you all come the end of December: Trustall off. This is key. You can be worded, slowed/hasted, enlarged/reduced, et al. if you are trusting. Secondly, think of a better way to get to safety than with your guards rescuing you. That's not the best of ideas, especially if you have autoassist on and can't lag your opponent.

Polid - You reminded me of my first storm giant arbiter, and it brought a twinkle to my eyes. I'm glad I never had the opportunity to fight you within my pk range.

Tygart - You were the funny one. I got you and you hated me for it. I then decided to rank on with the wanted and you hated that. As an icon of my faith, I wanted to be wanted to make a statement. As a believer in my faith, I had to find a really good way to get myself wanted. It only presented itself twice. The first time, I got wanted. The second time, I got directed to the imperial lands, so it didn't work out.

Warlocks:
Ranger dies. Bear dies. Sapling downed. Angel dies. Sapling back.
RINSE AND REPEAT. Give me a break, really. If you find that fun, then you're sicker than I thought. I didn't enjoy it, I was bored as hell doing it, but I HAD TO. You had the choice to stop when you wanted. I couldn't offer you what you wanted, and you couldn't offer me what I wanted. Moral of the story; booring.

Azharadon - See above. And no, I wasn't going to let you kill even one warder if I could help it. You're a maniac.

Tivald - Very sorry I helped to kill you. I felt terrible after, and hadn't realized just what you had on your hands when I walked in and spammed bearcharge four times.

Fortress:
Gwyythiniel and Ardyana were the only ones I knew. I had a special role in line for Ardyana, and only Gwyythiniel knew even a little about it. Go figure how that worked out, since I almost killed Gwyythiniel when we met. Weird thing. Ardyana, I liked you because you were an elf ranger. I've been looking for any way to help any elf ranger I could since the first time I played a ranger. You have it rough, and need a few bonuses.

Entropy/Shadow:
Please come home.

Sylvan:
I liked being a member of this cabal almost all of the time, but there were a couple exceptions. Problems I had with the cabal included leaders barking orders or not being around. I understand why each did each, but it still took away from my time there. I wish you guys could have been around more when I played, but I'm not selfish enough to complain too much about that. The experience I had overall was awesome, and I wouldn't give it up to have not needed to fight those ugly fights or hear those ugly complaints. I just read my note list, by the way, and it looks like you'll be fine (SYLVAN).

Kasender - I said it before and I'll say it again: you underestimated your own ability. For role or whatever reasons, you did. Part of me being me was to try and help your motivation and let loose your inner strength. I'm sorry that you took it harshly. I can understand you not wanting to fight how it was that day. See my goodbye at the top. Makes lots of sense to me. Either which way, you were a good guy, and I was glad to have you around, and sad to see you go.

Aereglen - I love having a bard around, but more importantly, I love having a well roleplayed one around. I hated when you'd make stupid mistakes in tactics or roleplay, but I really did like you overall, and the mistakes were few and far between. I pushed a few things your way to try to pull at your strings a bit, and I'm sorry about it. I know that you knew your way around, I was just messing with your head. I was always happy to help you do whatever, and we could have rocked Izuvererus in a few ways if we had decided to work together. It wasn't in my style to do so, but I was starting to consider it. I hope you go on to do well, you were one of the ones that was somewhat frequent at my hours, and I liked your style.

Tichniktil - Use shorter names :p I could handle saying Tichniktil, but it was long and didn't fit the sentence most of the time. It was really great to have you around. I tried to always thank you for those shields, and try almost as hard not to ask for them. I liked you as a character, and the supportive abilities of the invoker were just a great bonus. You reminded me of someone I used to know. We did some fun stuff together, really. I'm glad that I had the time to spend with you. I recommended you for lieutenant by the way. Oh yea, and you lost me that wanted flag that I really worked hard to get -and- keep...

Kalvalker - I would have liked to get to know you better. You seem to do well, though.

Choranek, Akrangol - Good luck with leaderdom.

Blachmianan - I put you here because you're a sylvan to me, not imm. You inducted me and I thank you for that. I was happy and sad at the same time when you were a heroimm something like three days later. Good job. You seemed pretty cool to me. I'm sorry that our last discussion led to nothing. It wasn't meant to be just now.

Alysrith - You get stuck down with the sylvans as an avatar before what I'm calling immortal. Thanks for all the time that we had to talk. Alot of the times I'd see you among one of the other few people online in the dark hours, and I'd try to give you something to do at the same time as make something for me to do. I hope you didn't mind me using your words. Using your words meant alot to Helio, so I hope you found it acceptable.

Powers - This one is for you imms: Please change the powers. I'm not going to complain about how weak they are or whatnot. They are _way_ too powerful. If you capped them within PK range, it might be okay to leave powers how they are, but as they are, a Sylvan can do some really sick things to anyone in the forest. Only drawback to them, besides mana cost, is that alot of places that should be are at the moment.

Talians:
I liked not only the ones of you who I spoke to, but the uncertainty that you represented in the situation of the game. I was never entirely sure what was going on with you guys, and that made me really happy and scared at the same time. Good people with what seems to be a good purpose. Plush on!

Uncaballed friends AND enemies:

Callistes - You were awesome, utterly awesome, to be around. I only wish that we had more time together. You were my ic brother, and I hope you'd be nice enough to drop me an email and say hello if you read this. I didn't even mind the time you asked an ooc question, even though I'm always assuming that'd be the one time an imm is watching me. Don't want to say too much about you in case you're alive, but it was definitely nice to have a friend online ic at X am, where X was usually 2-5 system time.

Tielliun - I felt so terrible about what I had done both ic and ooc that I had to show you around a bit. It's amazing, people cheat left and right (according to the forums), and yet, I met you completely ic, and in one night, we found two wands (3?) and some other assorted goodies. Go figure. I hope you're still pushing on, I haven't been able to keep track.

Edeana - I'm sorry that I had to lie to you. It broke role, but I as a player was worried about what would happen to what you wanted to know about that I didn't tell you. I can't believe you played a 0%pk character. Kudos.

Krilijn - Zing. Sorry about killing you when you clearly weren't trying to fight back. It didn't really matter to me, because as I said, you were part of a gank that tried to kill me. That didn't sit well with me ic or ooc. You reminded me of a Madison player a little bit.

Hembiing (sp) - Thanks for the stuff. I don't know why I remember you, but I do.

Upper Immortals:
Saldradien - Sorry. I was really happy to hear that I was being given the chance, but I really didn't have time for it. Maybe someday I'll get free time to play at the same time as you. Please drop me an email if you get the chance.

Jullias - I hate you for that quest of yours:
You say 'Open Sesame.'
Nothing happened man. I am really curious to know if that quest is still even valid, but I don't know how or where I could find out. I wasted lots of time there. At least I made a nice map of the place. *sigh* Something possibly wrong with the area and the new bit of look command, too.. Either way, the quest is mysterious enough to keep my interest, and maybe someday I'll figure it out.

All imms - I like this game. I don't like what has happened to it, but I still think that the game is as good as it was, in potential anyhow. Like anything worthwhile, it offers you what you put into it. That goes for the players and builders alike. The more you put into it, the more you will enjoy seeing this game played. The more players put into it, the more enjoyment they can get out of it. Try not to let the bad apples ruin the crop.. Some people still play just to play and enjoy, and when you have to spend so much time re-exploring or checking to see if a quest you learned is still legit, then it detracts from the enjoyment factor. Consider making limited items have a personal_limit counter that bars one character at least from taking 6 of the same wand and never letting others see it. If people have 3 characters, then let them take the 6, they either deserve it or the things will poof anyhow. Floofi Poofi. That's my input as far as wands and such are concerned. I'll say thank you once more, and bid a fare evening.

Goodnight everyone. See you eventually, maybe.
-HT
heliotali@yahoo.com

Rindolor in char had mixed feelings about you, even though he only met you a few times. He/I kinda resented you trying to pile on a bit to what Chor asked of me to complete, but that is more IC than ooc I assure you :) he respected and looked up to you as an elder ranger, and an elder sylvan so I give ya that

as far as my opinion goes, sorry but saying things like "K'sra, and Vorsweni" etc.. just seemed kinda corny to me. Only can seem to handle Alysrith sayin that heh.

and now for a few questions....

> I never got why people felt the need to stay in the forest to fight. The forest is for hiding and healing, sure, but you can do just as well fighting in the cities as a warrior can; better in some cases. I was satisfied with the ranger class, but probably won't play one again for another few years or something.

Are you serious? Out of the woods you lose the few abilities you have. no Bearcharge for lagging, no Ambush, no snare, no entangle, all you can really do is try to pugil/serpent strike them to death and pray your damroll hits them hard enough before they flee/quaff plus you lose wild fam. and within cities you lose windwalk, leaving yourself rather vulnerable to thieves/assassins (Not that I am one to talk about fighting only in woods :P).

>My CF complaints:
I ranked to what 45 while never once being attacked (PK) while ranking. This may have been from my late hours of play, but there were still plenty of enemies in range who just didn't care enough to come kill me.

bah...you complain about this? count your blessings. I PKfight almost every time I go ranking.

whatever, have fun with whatevers next, and pay attention at work! heh. lata

-Quickfoot

Thanks for the respect and all, and sorry about the K'sra speech. It's something that used to bother me and so I asked Alysrith, as one of the only people on I could think to interact with at times, to explain it to me. So as I learned more, I used more. It made alot of sense to me IC.

>Are you serious? Out of the woods you lose the few abilities
>you have. no Bearcharge for lagging, no Ambush, no snare, no
>entangle, all you can really do is try to pugil/serpent strike
>them to death and pray your damroll hits them hard enough
>before they flee/quaff plus you lose wild fam. and within
>cities you lose windwalk, leaving yourself rather vulnerable
>to thieves/assassins (Not that I am one to talk about fighting
>only in woods :P).

I'm more serious than you could know. Bearcharge likely doesn't work quite how you think it does, same with entangle and I'd bet even windwalk...Relying on damroll and serpent-strike (I was a sword-sword or sword-shield ranger) is silly. Rangers are not exclusively forest-spec warriors. They have some things that warriors just don't. Think about the skills that are unique to rangers (warriors can not get). Look at the two skill/spell lists if you need to. Pay close attention especially to 'staves:' and 'scrolls:'. These two things make you even more ridiculous of a fighter than many others. The things a ranger can do to a PK are just absolutely ridiculous on some levels.

>>My CF complaints:
>I ranked to what 45 while never once being attacked (PK) while
>ranking. This may have been from my late hours of play, but
>there were still plenty of enemies in range who just didn't
>care enough to come kill me.
>
>bah...you complain about this? count your blessings. I PKfight
>almost every time I go ranking.

If I could have been attacked while ranking, I would have had not only IC reason to fight more people later on, but I would have also had to panic a little OOC and get that extra rush out of the game. It's probably better that I didn't get attacked..they call that addiction. Try not getting attacked while ranking a ranger, then tell me that you prefer the quiet. There's only so many hours you can RP with the same two people while you rank quietly from 1-7 system time...

As for your frustration with me in respect to my approval of you, drop me an email at heliotali@yahoo.com
I'll try to field you in that medium.

Onwards with classes, done with almost all work..
-HT

Its kinda hard to say rangers fight great out of the woods with only 10 pks under your belt. They don't tank as well, they can't lag as well, they lose snare, they lose entangle (in cities you cannot entangle), etc. There's a reason why ranger's are called "woodland fighters". I'm kinda curious as to how you think a ranger is going to do better in a city then a warrior in *any* situation short of using staves/scrolls that I haven't seen used in years. By that argument transmuters can be disgustingly overpowered, but to be honest I just don't see it happening, namely because it doesn't happen.

they lose entangle (in cities you cannot entangle),

you mention cities? does this by default imply you mean entangle works on roads? I mean I never tried cause I just figured it wouldn't work.

Entangle works in some civilized areas. Eastern road is one of them.

You were fun to be around. As for the name, well, I figured gnomes should have long names. Anyhow, you were a solid rp'd sylvan, and a good ally to have around. I really thought you were going to make lieutenant.

Well we played together a few times, but the early morning hours are not always easy for me to get on, except at the weekends, and the last couple of weekends I have been out of town with no way to play (twitch twitch...need cf fix..twitch) From what I saw of Helio I liked him, I for one did not mind your use of the K'sra (I know others found it annoying for some reason) as I figured it was part of your RP. I have no idea what people are going to do if Alysrith gets a religion and ALL her followers talk that way!! =0p

Anyway sad to see you go, but happy that you are getting on with life and education. We'll see you back when you have time.

It's not just him using it, it's overuse. I think I saw Helio use K'sra as a verb once, or adjective.... anyway, it wasn't the use but the overuse.

With 10 pks total and being a ranger what made you think that people even knew you were an enemy? Rangers, likewise, are not easy to sneak up upon while ranking. They can just flee, camo, herb and be ready to fight in a moment's notice.

I liked you from the start, even though you annoyed me. Some little things over and over, like using K'sra. WAY too much. But those are just the little things like I said. You were solid, fast, you knew you stuff, and rp'd well. Sad to see you go and hope to see you back. I just wish more people were like you. As for my mistakes, SOME things I do are because I play an alcholic. Not only is it interesting seeing responses but it's a lot of fun too. Please tell my bad tactics and whatnot because this is my first bard past lvl 30. I'm always learning and alot of it I bet was not for drunken rp sake.

I really do try very hard to interact as much as I can with the warders when I see them. I was hearing a lot of good things about you, unfortunately, our playing times never really meshed. I understand completely how real life events can take away playing times and make it harder to stay with a character. I hope to see you again in the fields when you are able.

Boldereth - I consider you fairly competent, but I think you may not have understood what I was saying, and I apologize. I was in tons of fights. Most of the group fights that I took part in ended with someone else getting the kill (I'm talking about 3 v 3-6 typically). My declaration of about 10 pks is not only limited to that, but to this character. I feel comfortable saying that I know how the game works. You may know better, but it seems like you're ignoring rangers. Rangers can do alot of things, though I'm not sure that they are even supposed to be able to do all of them.

The fact that you haven't seen something used in a long time doesn't mean that it can't be, won't be, or hasn't already been used. I'm not quite new to CF, and I would say that I knew ten times as much of the old game as I do of the new. I tried to learn some new things, but I tended to fall back on old but solid goodies. You said something about wanting to know how a ranger tears up a warrior in a city EVER. Just one you said, right? Here's a look at when the warrior has guards and a weapon that the ranger can't practice, I'll give you a quick scenario:

Me vs. Tygart
I haste/enlarge/windwalk (fly)/get a few invoker shields. I had but didn't use Aura barrier and shield. You don't need to exhaust every option.
I proceeded to separate him from the guards, slow him while he was trying to call new guards, then utterly wreck him in the exclusively physical combat that warriors get limited to. Go figure how a ranger could win without herbs, entangle, camouflage and ambush, snare, or wilderness familiarity. And against a warrior with a polearm. It must have been a fluke, or a lie, or a fluke..wait, I said that already.

K'Sra - I didn't intend to overuse the word K'sra, however due to some role issues, Sylvan Warders were no longer Sylvan Warders to me (As they aren't to me as a player) but they became K'sra Wolves. So that would be why you heard alot of "K'sra Wolf". I apologize to all of the people that it aggrivated.

Quid - Try playing a ranger for a few hundred hours and just try out everything everywhere. The people who call it boring either don't care enough to try, or already know as much as they want to and don't learn. It sounds like you're looking to learn. Good luck with a great class. It's among my favorite three.

Choranek - Again good luck with the pack. You do pretty well from what I saw, I only ever minded you once, when you unknowingly split the pack in two. Probably not fair to judge you for that. Do great things.

Aereglen - Competent is not spelled compitent :p My main qualms with you was how often you'd be punking animals with offshot songs. I don't remember exactly how wood-elves were coded to see, but I know that at least with me those could have all been avoided. You also could have nerfed the hell out of Izuvererus with me there had you abused that snare of mine.

Blachmianan - I never in the past tended to deal too much with immortals just because of what it entails and how hard it is to just get noticed at my hours. I was utterly amazed when you started talking to me..I was also utterly tired or I would have satisfied you right then and there. It's good to know that good things get passed up (or over I guess) to the imms of your cabal. Two of my past four characters (Spanning approximately 2-3 years) have been more engaging with the immortals, so perhaps in the future I'll run that route again. It always made me happier to be interacting with you and Alysrith. Something's just a little bit different and more encouraging about RPing with quality people, and all of the imms fit that category. Thanks for your time, however little it turned out being.

All this said, if I ever get back it'll be at more reasonable hours. I'm writing this from the class that I'm a TA for, so I'm basically getting paid to respond about CF. I like it. Rush rush rush!
-HT
heliotali@yahoo.com

I really understood what you were saying, but while you equated causing a person to flee I am more interested in viable pk'ing tactics. In my opinion, if you're not looting their corpse at the end of the fight, you had a stalemate. However you're right, I just don't count beating someone while hasted the same as landing a kill by using a scroll/staff to force a situation of either A) permalag or B) lack of escape or C) enough damage to pick them off with a call lightning. In respect to the former, yeah you're 100% right, rangers can fight well out of the woods. As far as landing solid hero range pks? You're crippled out of the woods in that regards, with exception to a few rare tactical exploitations. We're probably not disagreeing with each other more as placing value in different areas.

Okay, I really think that I've gotten enough sleep today to address this now. Personally, I lost most interest in PK about three years ago. It just seemed dry after then. So when I say that they're outstanding fighters, I mean that alone you can live through most anything, and you can stand up to most anything. If you want to talk about the age old "seal-the-deal" then yes, a ranger would actually have to think about the skills he had and be creative. There are some incredibly scary staves and scrolls out there that would exploit all sorts of vulnerabilities and allow a ranger to seal the deal. If you want to permalag, you're going to be doing some gathering of items. If you want to block any and all escape, you're probably going to need a friend with you. But if you have a friend with you, than what are you but a tag-along? So we'll discount that and say that you can only block all escape easily in the woods. If you want to talk about using scrolls and staves to get a victim to the point where a call lightning will kill them after they flee, then I have no problem saying that it's a simple task.

So I'll agree with you that we place our value in different aspects of PK. I think that alot of the time, letting someone run can buy you alot more time than not. I was looking for RP rather than alot of kills, so that's what I did. What I still need to disagree with you on is the ability of a ranger to land a kill out of the woods. I don't think anyone would say that they can't do it in the woods. I just think that the class in general is grossly underestimated as a PKing class, possibly because of the general mould or the average player.

My feeling is: "Try it before you knock it" which explains clearly my lack of commentary on alot of the cabal situations right now.
-HT
heliotali@yahoo.com

I really think there are about two types of pk-oriented players. Pker's who value low deaths over high kills, and players who value high kills over low deaths. When I talk about a pk based class, I mean one who can land tons and tons of pks. Rangers are a somewhat defensive and utility class. While you're right in everything you're saying, if I want to make the difference between landing 70 kills as a ranger and 200 kills, I'm not going to make up that 130 with scrolls and staves. Unfortunately, in that regard, my best options are to gangbang people with snare. That's really what I was getting at when I say that rangers aren't a "pk'ing class" in the same level as assassin or necromancer or anti-paladin, and really what it breaks down to is lag or summon. Those are the two major things (and extreme malediction afforded by being necro slept) that will kill a person, but even necro slept summon/lag is what lands massive amounts of kills. But yeah I know what you mean about Pk'ing becoming more of an annoyance over the years, it has indeed become somewhat repetitive. If I have to hit up ST for a scroll that'll gain me one additional kill, I'd rather just gang someone, heh. Sheer laziness maybe.

by what you said about Ardyana. We only interacted 2 or 3 times that I recall, but the rp was fun. I'm surprised you even remembered her. I am very curious and would be very interested to know what it was you had in mind for her.

I will say this much about Ardyana...ranking an elf ranger is NOT an easy thing to do. I had a very hard time getting her as far as level 33, and I doubt she will ever go any farther. I'm thinking seriously about deleting her. Elf/Ranger/Scribe is a REALLY, REALLY tough combo to pull off and have fun with. I found myself just wandering around alone so much of the time or standing camo'd outside the Fortress gates wondering what everyone else inside was doing, that I got really bored with her. I only kept her going for some good RP that was happening with Raun, but since I haven't even seen him around for a long while, Ardyana is currently on my list of things to do...delete, delete.

I'm having a lot more fun with my other character anyway and that's what I play for, to have fun.

Sounds like you had fun with Helio and I'm glad.

You were in ysigrath I believe? I had a crow form at like 22 and was able to entirely demolish, or die quickly to people, was a give or take, your ranger on the case of an other few happen to take me out pretty fast.. but since the pk was so easy, i always had cool stuff, your thanks by the way. see you in the fields

Okay, yea now I remember. You had attacked me while I was at the end of an uncomfortably long 'forget' spell. I said that I wasn't really in the mood at the time for you (not even knowing who you were) but you stuck around through when the forget spell wore off so I dealt with you accordingly. I used the sword you had through to the end, and it really helped me alot. I was trying to get you back all of your things but I think you quit out, so I ended up taking a couple things.

From what I heard about you, you were an entropist of the times, but from what I know, there are no more. Sorry to have done that, and sorry to see an orderly Thera.

Keep on truckin,
-HT

Not at all, it was my stoned only character that id only play high so i either made a friend, or killed/died to someone... plus i always hide my pipe... Muahahhaa

"Hembling lights his pipe"

=== I enjoyed our talks. I thought Helio showed a lot of promise, and I was looking forward to what would happen with you in the future. It seems some things aren't meant to be.

As far as the K'sra words? I didn't mind you using them at all. It was all within roleplay and made sense for your character. As far as the flak you're getting for using those words? *shrug* I wouldn't pay them too much heed. I got some of the same flak as a mort for using those words. ;)

(I must say though, when people call you "corny" for using those words, it sure makes me sound ancient.)

*Alysrith, who will now join the RCA dalmation in listening to some 1920's ragtime played from some vintage 78's on an Edison turntable.*


>Alysrith - You get stuck down with the sylvans as an avatar
>before what I'm calling immortal. Thanks for all the time
>that we had to talk. Alot of the times I'd see you among one
>of the other few people online in the dark hours, and I'd try
>to give you something to do at the same time as make something
>for me to do. I hope you didn't mind me using your words.
>Using your words meant alot to Helio, so I hope you found it
>acceptable.