Mon Sep 19 11:08:23 2011

At 5 o'clock AM, Day of Freedom, 32nd of the Month of the Shadows
on the Theran calendar Gravizk perished, never to return.

Race:	duergar
Class:	shaman
Level:	48
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Orderly
Cabal:	EMPIRE, the Empire
Age:	120
Hours:	152

I really enjoyed this character. My first two, for anyone who remembers, were Silatar and Quarig. Gravizk was by far the most successful. I had a semi-decent record in PK, almost made hero (but didn't, again) and might have made High Priest as the only active Divine.

Thanks to everyone for the great interactions, and thanks to Enlilth for the empowerment. Sadly, our times didn't seem to mesh much after the first empowerment...but someone eventually fully empowered me and even gave me my last name (what for, I'm not sure).

I mentioned this in another post, but I especially enjoyed my conversation with Allysia and the trib (sorry...the name escapes me at the moment) that helped me really solidify and get into my role.

Sivyh-Very helpful to me, I'm sure you guessed that I was fairly new. Kind of nice for how I'd envision the Emperor, but you probably sensed that I was no real threat to you and the Divine needed some sort of presence.
Zaan-Didn't see you around too much, but whenever I did, you were leading me around and generally kicking ass.

In the end, I deleted for OOC reasons. Apparently, 3 weeks ago, my lowbie alt picked up a jeweled broadsword that I had dropped. No memory of this, but I do know that Gravizk checked the keep a few times for the amulet thing and I learned with my first char that I could sometimes get broadswords off the ground in the keep. Either way, I was imm slain and decided that, with my new program starting, I didn't really want to devote the significant time to grinding gear again. It's by far the least pleasant part of the game for me, since I dislike killing mobs and don't really know how to gather decent armor myself yet. Silly reason to delete a character that I really liked, but it happened. Unsure if I'll make another, it was disappointing to see my time flushed away like that for (imo) nothing.

nt

It's partly the gear, and partly the implication that you're cheating and need to be punished, like you would punish a child. As an adult, one who did not consider himself to be cheating, the experience left me with a very sour taste in my mouth. All I can really say.

nt

Goodbye Gravizk! I really enjoyed the conversations we had! I'm still thinking over the last conversation we had -- Knowledge is not enough, it is only a means to an end...but to what end? I'm sorry we won't be able to finish that conversation! I think you were a really good shaman, challenging people to find themselves even if they were otherwise at cross purposes.

>In the end, I deleted for OOC reasons. Apparently, 3 weeks
>ago, my lowbie alt picked up a jeweled broadsword that I had
>dropped. No memory of this, but I do know that Gravizk
>checked the keep a few times for the amulet thing and I
>learned with my first char that I could sometimes get
>broadswords off the ground in the keep. Either way, I was imm
>slain and decided that, with my new program starting, I didn't
>really want to devote the significant time to grinding gear
>again. It's by far the least pleasant part of the game for
>me, since I dislike killing mobs and don't really know how to
>gather decent armor myself yet. Silly reason to delete a
>character that I really liked, but it happened. Unsure if
>I'll make another, it was disappointing to see my time flushed
>away like that for (imo) nothing.

Everyone did that at least once. Even if they claim they didn't :) It's a positive experience for you - you weren't banned, demoted, unempowered. First time - it's a warning, and you should take it as a positive thing that you shall never do again in the future.

About gathering eq - it's not a problem. You have at least one cabalmate who would gladely help you with eq and teaching what you can get by yourself (summon helps a lot with reequiping as a shaman). Also, there are few others who would help you if you would need it.

With basic eq, with black shroud, you are good enough to go out and PK someone. Most of the good eq comes not from grinding; personally, I veery rarely bothering with it, unless I find something extra-rare on the mob. 90% of it comes from PK. And black shrouded shamans are very good at it.

There are a lot of enemies, but if you are playing right, they are not a "horde that hunts you", but "many tasty targets to kill". Especially on your rank - you have been a walking inferno for a lot of them.

Next time, before deleting, just quit andtake a deep breath. Calm down 2-3 days and come back. Negative emotions after such things or badass deaths are usually waning to that time and you will find new vigor to play your character. Especially if you have a role that is interesting for yourself (which is not made just to get some immexp and cheap promotions/empowerment).

Good luck with your next and come back to the Empire - world is waiting to be dominated!

Only play one character at a time.

That way you can't benefit one character because of the other.

Even if you don't pass gear, you might learn where enemies hide etc. because you are playing different characters, one of whom is not their enemy, etc.

I am disappointed. I am pretty sure you knew that it was me through that mercenary. It was so much fun to talk to you.




GLWYN

Haha it was you the whole time? I've never had a merc, so I was unsure of the mechanics. I thought it was you at first, but by the end I was half-convinced as the player and Gravizk was totally convinced that it was Enlilth speaking. Whoops!

Either way, that was a great interaction and made a definitely mark on Gravizk.

You have no idea how I was feeling. I was half scared, half laughing my ass off.

I was thinking that Enlilth will actually Wizi and punt my butt to hell OR actually take over the mercenary/Guildmaster. That would have been a blast if that happened.

I wish I knew the mechanics or new of the possibility that a mercenary could send you a tell. I wanted to continue even when you became Imperial.

A great conversation, thanks so much for that! Like I said, it really did a number on Gravizk. When you tried to pick it up later, I was a little confused as to what was going on. I guess that was just you trying to find a way to get the mercenary back into the conversation... :-)

Our first couple of fights were a little frustrating for me and the rest I have a feeling were a little frustrating for you.

You seemed to still be feeling out the class and I give you big props for trying out a bunch of different strats instead of just throwing in the towel and take the gank or avoid approach.

I am kind of shocked that Enlilth didn't give me a boot to the arse after I attacked you in his shrine while you guys were chatting (though I think he casted a magic on me because I was suddenly having all 50/50 situations have me end up on the wrong side for a week after that)

With Nererial, I had to kill Bwaadan to keep high priest, and that fight took place in his shrine. One of the things I liked about Empire was the fact I got to kill two cabalmates that clashed with me.

At least he didn't kill you himself. Why does he hurt the ones he loves?

nt

Definitely feeling out the class (my third character, first empowerment) and you hit like a train. I also didn't have a great way to deal with pincer lag. If I had assistance, like when Razas was there, it was one thing...but 1v1, I was going down unless I got you to drop your weapons, but then I had trouble keeping you around. It was also really tough to land maledicts on you, which made it difficult for me to stand in there long enough to drop your strength and strip your moves.

It seemed like you ran around attacking everything that moved, but maybe you had a reason for often racing past mages to target me? You definitely got me a few times, but it often seemed like you'd jump in on me after I finished a fight with someone else. Maybe just good timing...but meh.

Enlilth wasn't actually around when you attacked at the shrine, but I was trying to contact him. Maybe he was OK with it since Razas and I tracked you down shortly after and killed you again?

Just a couple of pointers to fighting ragers if you try a shaman again.

When a villager thirsts flee a few rooms and start summoning mobs. Some are better then others and I leave that to you to figure out but you never made me pay for thirsting.

You liked to lead with blind a lot, not a bad strat against a svirf/assassin (since we tend to not bother to get truesight up in %) but against most villagers its a one round command to cure it. Something like plague or famish to help you work the rope a dope strat will generally speaking get you more mileage. Especially plague because it is a con check instead of a save vs spells check and villagers have a tendency to be lowish on con.

Don't be shy about trying the pure damage strat instead of malediction against well geared villagers/hand specs. Some demonfire, run, heal, demonfire, run, heal plague, demonfire, run, heal can be really effective.


As for the attacking anyone... As a villager I very aggresively hunt village enemies. When confronted with a group of enemies there are a lot of factors that calculate into who I attack and when that are rather situational but the ultimate goal is kill as many of the enemies as possible.

I needed to add a #highlight to detect blood thirsts. I was midway through this character when I figured out how it worked (when you killed me in the past after attacking mobs...then I realized you just auto-attacked things). I never thought to summon mobs, good idea.

You don't know how many times I tried to plague you. It didn't land very often. If you noticed, I stopped blinding you after someone told me you could cure it easily :-) Although, I think a few times I tried to blind if I thought I was winning, to slow down the villager if they started to run.

The problem I had with pure damage is that, if I was winning, the villager just leaves. The villager has to make a mistake, I think, to die to a shaman 1v1. Not that some didn't...

F..k you. I liked you, thought you will be one of the solid imperials and you delete??

BETRAYER! YOU WILL BURN IN ENLILTH'S BOTTMOLESS HOLE!
(before the throne... not THAT hole)

Note to other imperials: stop f... deleting! Where are your balls?
To arms! To balls!

After having that long chat in Hamsah I really thought this char was going places in Empire, you had an interesting take on things and I figured you would make high priest since you seemed to have the RP down. Made me feel bad that I killed you in Hamsah like that, but at least I got to help you out once later.

Hope to see you back out there soon.

Thanks! That conversation actually really helped me solidify what I wanted my role to be. Up until that point, I had kind of drifted along generically spouting Envy rhetoric. Midway through our talk, I decided to channel "The Grand Inquisitor" from Dostoevsky (a chapter of Brother's Karamazov, a MUST read in my opinion) and to focus my efforts on freedom--specifically why the people do not need or want freedom.

I was upset dying like that in Hamsah, but it's all good. I had just decided to word back to fight Puhguly and the shifter and then I just got owned by you waiting at the altar :-)