>"It's one of those things that add a degree of asymmetry and
>make the game better."
>
>Can you explain how being withered and loosing years off your
>life, ultimately meaning you play that character for less time
>makes the game better?

It's really no different than the fact that ANY character (or NPC) can kill you, taking 1/3 or your con, and bringing you closer to con death. I think wither just upsets people because they can pull it off without you dying, and it feels like you've "lost", even if you haven't.

>I have no issue whatsoever with loosing 30 strength but
>shouldnt that be enough. There is a permanant impact on the
>character that cannot be rectified in any way.

Which, again - con loss. Anathema. Drinking a potion and being banned from Battle. Part of the allure (or hate) of CF is that our goal is for you to play - and hopefully embrace- a character. Nothing done in life can ever be "undone". I suspect it's the perceived pack of control that really bothers people, just like people hate being assassinated because once it happens, it feels like you had no control over those choices, but that - just as in reality - is life.


Given the sheer rarity of age death (and lots of those people are into stupid hours old), I remain baffled how people get so upset at "OMG, I lost 40 hours of playtime I COULD HAVE HAD, but I deleted anyways so it never mattered!" If age death even made it's way up to 10% of deaths, maybe then it'd seem useful to look into it for me, but right now we're talking like 5% of less than 1% of all deaths being affected by this.

Also, to the Jhyrbians - yes, you can choose to run from the shamans. Or the murder-transmuter, or the OP bat-adin. Or you can take risks. Or you can split the difference and take controlled risk. The beauty of CF is that it's all up to you, and if it fails - you can always do it again!

Nothing is precious because it lasts forever.