Sun Apr 29 21:03:15 2012

At 9 o'clock AM, Day of Deception, 9th of the Month of Nature
on the Theran calendar Garm perished, never to return.

Race:	felar
Class:	ranger
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Chaotic
Cabal:	OUTLANDER, the Outlanders of Thar-Eris
Age:	71
Hours:	421

Garm was my first leader char, and was a blast up to the point that I heroed.
Things quickly slowed down after that, and it became harder to get excited
whilst trying to find prey in the woods got much more time intensive. My playing
times and limited range did not help as most of the time I'd be against chars who
I either could not forcibly kill with ranger tactics or chars who would avoid the
wilderness like the plague. I tried to increase my playing times since getting leadered,
but real-life things catching up with me in the near future mean that I won't be able
to keep a consistent presence. I think it's just better for everyone if I pass on the torch.

I was a primitive chaotic evil forester beastmaster, living for the Hunt.
Early in life, pretty much everyone in the woods was seen as prey. This
included other Outlanders who I either did not know were fighting for the
Tree or were seen as weak Reavers, especially with me as a pledge and the branch full
(which it was for many hours). All of this changed when I got inducted and
leadered as my hunt was now replaced by the big Hunt. See my role entries
for more background information.

Nightreaver was a welcome surprise and a breath of fresh air even though it
didn't change a lot, PK range and finding fights wise. Rangers these days
can be *very* boring at hero, especially if one prefers solo fights and
is rubbish at group ones. Or maybe I just suck *chucklefelar*

**

On Rangers: Initially, I rolled Garm to close the chapter on beastmasters. I wasn't even
planning to hero but level sit at 40 and do lots of hunting until I distended. I
did this for a while, but eventually I decided to go all the way as I haven't had a hero
ranger in a while. Moreover, Nightreaver was up for grabs although I didn't expect
much due to my primitive role, solo hunter approach and limited interactions
with the others up to that point.

Regarding PK, I think the sweet spot is 35-44, the class simply shines there and one can have
lots of fun once he learns the ropes. If I had one tip to give to aspiring
ranger players, it would be this: Be opportunistic and patient. Do this to
the EXTREME. Maximize the odds of you sealing kills by striking at the
right time, at the right place. After a certain point, most ranger kills vs
good opponents will have to be forced kills because they will try and split
the moment they figure out you're around/get ambushed.

Although I tried hard at this, I think I could easily have double the PK wins if I
was more disciplined. A lot of the time, I would simply get impatient and ambush
in sub-optimal circumstances and the prey would get away. Alternatively, I
would spend the time to setup elaborate traps and prepare the
battlegrounds only to see the would-be corpse recall/teleport instead of
walking out the same way he went in. *ARGH* the frustration!

On Beastmasters:

Beastmaster was big disappointment. I found _all spec_ skills to be weak
or next to useless at hero and not very useful earlier. As an estimate I'd say
that 90% of my PK wins are due to basic ranger tactics and
snare/entangle/waylay. Snare is an awesome skill, easily *the* skill for
ranger and even though I think I've gotten quite good at using it,
I still feel there is stuff to find out and get better at.

Here is a skill breakdown from my POV, would be interesting to see what
Daevryn/Zulg/Twist has to say:

Wasps (+Apiarist): Think it helped me kill one person who was clearly new to
the game at hero, and 5-6 before that. It should freeze way more often IMO,
people at hero in general could walk away like nothing was happening,
not seemingly affected in the slightest. What does the edge do again??

Tame: Not being able to waylay with a tamed pet makes this a no-go for the majority
of the situations where one would like to use it. One still can't tame the kinship
wolfs (??) and the best mob I could find and tame is the snow leopard.

Serpent kinship: Outcome too random to be of any use, most of the time opponents are
either going to be running away or be 1-2 rounds from death. 2 rounds lag and 6 possible outcomes
at 100% (opponent leaps out of the way, can not contact serpents, poison, confusion, plain damage,
hold person) makes this unreliable and therefore of limited use.

Wolf kinship: Wolf seems weak at hero, tracks slowly and can't be tamed. It also attacks
snared prey and can only be used once per fight on a long timer. Given the
dynamics of most ranger fights, the skill doesn't fit in very well.

Predator Stance: Extremely situational, at hero even more so. Don't think it ever won
me a fight beyond lvl 40. Good against shields as the strikes are unblockable, meh for
anything else and damage type is frequently resisted.

Bear kinship: Normally I wouldn't even train this, but tried to use it on raids.
Very weak, I'd banish 3-4 rounds in. Never used in PK for reasons similar to
tame.

All in all, for PK purposes I'd much rather Garm was forester/survivalist or Savage.
I would trade _ALL_ beastmaster skills in a heartbeat for control weather/call lightning or
just savage blow that seemed to have worked very well for Mrekya.

I remember a post here or dios, where it was rumored that beastmasters do extra
damage/get combat bonuses vs shapeshifters. Well, I never saw that, as most
offensive shifters in the game ripped me apart. Dhesthil hitting me
for multiple MANGLES a round through aura/stoneskin on my home terrain takes
the cake.

**

On Outlander: Awesome cabal, my 2nd favorite after Battle, still _the_ best
option for a ranger, lots of freedom to do things as you see fit, both as
Reaver and Nightreaver. Thanks to Rasst for the induct, I had pretty much
given up on Outlander at that point since I'd only seen you twice in 100
hours. When I came to the Tree naked and a ghost, I was pretty much
expecting to be turned away so my induction was quite the surprise.
External circumstances (heh) forced my hand and caused two unnecessary
environ deaths that also made me lose pretty much all my awesome gear to pit
vultures but hell, none of that mattered the moment I got inducted.

Many thanks to the IMMs for giving me a chance at leader, Amaranthe for the
interview and the person that gave me my last name and echoes. I know that my RP is not
the best but the more I play and it's been a couple of years now, the more I
find myself immersed and interested in roleplaying and not simply running
around killing random folks. I will keep trying to improve, and this is largely due to
IMM interactions and IMM involvement. If there is one thing that I wish
happened more often, it's IMMteraction without the player having to seek
you out first. Many new (and not so new) players can feel lost or
intimidated and it's always a nice surprise when the powers that be take the
initiative.

All the Spirits of Chaos in Outlander: Thanks for the good times, you've all
been fun to run around with. My approach to running the cabal as leader was one of complete
freedom. You were free to do as you saw fit, I never tried to boss people
around or force them to see things my way. If you did something that I felt
was wrong then I would probably have killed you. I did this 2 or 3 times but
not as Nightreaver. Towards the end as I was running out of steam, I kind of
felt that I wasn't evil enough, but I've always had difficulties in properly
roleplaying evil without being a complete bastard.

Riethen: I wanted to kill you twice early in life, once when you sort of spoiled a
near guaranteed kill and then when you used a disrupt instead of neuro and
the prey got away. But then I thought twice about having a muter up my ass,
esp one as bloodthirsty and murderous as you so I let you be
*chucklefelar*. Later you became valuable ally, and even though you were an
Elf you came through as a Reaver to me.

Extra props to Onya, Liralindalum and Yindathos for *very* inspiring
roleplaying. I can only hope to be as good as you guys one day. Selzar as
well, even though Garm did not like how your RP manifested in the cabal. You may
not know how to play ranger, but you sure know how to play EVIL *chucklefelar*

**

On Enemies: Pretty much everyone was sporty and fun to interact with. Few bad apples
in over 400 hours of playtime are not enough to spoil the overwhelming positiveness
I got from the playerbase. Things are much, much better these days in terms of sportmanship
and player interactions than they were 7 years ago.

Nexus: I think I died more to Nexus than I did to any other enemy cabal in the game. In many
cases, the presence of Nexus turned what could be interesting fights into
gangfests that are simply not fun. I admit I never liked the cabal and I see it
as a big detriment to the game, especially these days with the limited playerbase.
You were the cabal I hated the most without exception and this hate got amplified because
I couldn't do much to you once you figured out my limited bag of tricks.

Iklahn: You have one of the best ranger vs ranger builds, and you were
very annoying, repeatedly spoiling hunting opportunities. That dirt
kick alone was huge. I got an edge just to deal with that, but it didn't
seem to do much. In the end, I stopped fighting you solo as the odds of me
killing you were slim even with insects, and I would burn through my preps trying to do so.

**

Tribunal: Dijur and Ianto are the only ones that stick to mind here, for consistent retrievals.
The rest, I seldom saw and can't say much. The whole cabal was a non-entity from my POV.

**

Empire: Playing times didn't match up, so I seldom got to see Emperor and Cabakso and the rest.

Zharek: I was warned by an IMM for my logging out when you had me marked and I regret
doing it and then coming back to kill you. I do feel that the mark only going away on death is ####,
especially for a ranger, but this is no excuse. You were very solid
retrieval-wise, when nobody would blame you if you stayed away. Apologies again.

Kheorr: Extremely conservative from my POV. Before I got Nightreaver and therefore when I was
no threat to you, you would be at the Tree within minutes in order to retrieve. With me
Nightreaver and some risk to you -> either nowhere to be found, logging out the minute things
got slightly uncomfortable or not bothering at all, even with friends. Bleh.

I was dying to kill you after you passed on some of my felar gear to a lvl
~20 assassin, and I almost had you in the Past before I ran out of blindness
cures. At least Zameida got you shortly after *grinteeth*

**

Scion: Solid presence and interactions, extremely good RP all around. I couldn't do much to you
unless I managed to catch you at the perfect spot at the perfect time and this only happened
once with Narissorin. Props to that shifter that talked to me about the "Coven" after murdering
one Paladin that I was about to kill. Found it very refreshing and atmospheric!

PK Highlight is Zameida pretty much killing me on auto pilot on Aryth,
I think I managed to type flee once and then I died. It was brandish return
every time on water after that.

**

Village: I stopped hunting you the moment I got Nightreaver with the exception of those
of you that were Outlander enemies. Being leader meant that I had to put my personal
hunt aside and focus on the big picture. With Scions powerful and Scion presence very consistent,
I also felt as a player that you have it bad enough without some crazed ranger jumping you in the
woods. Only exception here is Xazzax, who just rubbed me the wrong way and
would have killed the moment I got the chance.

**

All the rest, post and I will respond. It's been many months and I can't
remember much from Garm's early days.

Last but not least, thanks to Cyradia for feedback and advice, Abernyte/Distaur/Lychee for advice and
many discussions over the years and to all the IMMs for spending the time to manage this awesome game.

I would like my next char to either be Fortress member (I have never played good aligned!)
or Scarabaeus follower! See you all in the fields.

Garm was a strong presance for Outlander, and a 'lead by actions' leader. I liked that about you. Strong and confident. Take care and GLWYN.

Thanks fella! Boy oh boy we sure had some fun explorin
didn't we? Got me a shiny pewter mug I'm chuggin an
guzzlin an drinkin an thinkin bout ya right now I am!

Thanks for the spotlight, kind words. The unfortunate part
about concentrating on doing so well in the PK aspect is
that you might lose some steam when you get into the hero
range like you say. Rangers have to really work hard in hero
to keep up their... oh what's the word... Moxi?

You were very silent, solo, but approachable. It was always
a pleasure when I could pull you out of the "felar stalk" and
take you somewhere. From a RP stand point, I loved how you
would get bored/curious just as I envision a felar, and I may
not agree with everything you did, I certainly enjoyed every
bit of your company.

Thirteen Cheers for Garm!

I agree that it does its best in the ranger v ranger fights, but I'll be damned if there haven't been TONS of times I wish I had snare, bearcharge, entangle or any of the other skills that give some awesome chances to kill people.

I was a fan of your char, and if you haven't ever played Nexus, I suggest you give it a shot. If you have played it, then you should understand how and why it is annoying from the outside.

GLWYN and I can't wait to see what kind of scary monster you make this time.

You power-ranked to wilderness fam at 35 in 20 hours over 4 1/2 days.

Jun 19, 2011 |Lv 2 |Hr 0 |
Jun 24, 2011 |Lv 35|Hr 20 |

You then rank sat for 123 hours over 5 months, maximizing wilderness fam and getting inducted to Outlander.

Nov 11, 2011 |Lv 40|Hr 143|

You then rank sat at 40 for ~170 hours (maximizing snare no doubt) over another 5 months, until you power-ranked up to hero in ~5 days.

Mar 17, 2012 |Lv 42|Hr 315|51 Onya, 47 Mhiriel,
Mar 22, 2012 |Lv 51|Hr 332|50 Dinaed, 45 Grafacut,


Do I even need to say anything more? No.

These are the ranges I have most fun with rangers. Play a hero
ranger and you will understand why.

Maximizing wilderness fam had nothing to do with this btw.

It is extremely easy to max out and I had all my PK skills maxed at around 35-36.

My issue with you was the OOC blowout not you calling me level sitter
(which I find nothing wrong with).

frags dont smell, right?

consider my opinion 2 thumbs down, not that it means ####

Apology accepted

I was unbelievably pissed at the time and I'm glad you at least got a warning if not a slay or something. At least you have the class to apologize so what kinda asshole would I be if I didn't acknowledge it right. Outside of this you were a scary ranger and I stayed outside the woods whenever you were around.

Garm really wasn't much on my radar, but the recommendations of your peers really pushed me to go ahead and grant you leader position. When I'm around, (which isn't as much as I'd like), I believe in filling a leader position with someone of promise even if they aren't big on immortal radar, rather than leave the slot empty. As long as the player is decent and doesn't appear to be a risk for really bad judgment, a leadership experience can really be a great RP experience (at the very least, interviewing forces you to get into philosophical conversations with folks!)

Hopefully that didn't sound like a backhanded compliment. :) I did actually like Garm (and even before leadering, you did impress me a bit with your reasoned (yet still evil) reaction to whatshisface the McMurder Outlander that I ended up giving the boot for acting like a tool.) I'm sure you have it in you to have another leadership position at some point, if that's your goal.

Good luck with your next!

Liked you from the first time you ambushed me in the Battlefields. You gave off a great, creepy, "I'm gonna kill you and you'll never see it coming" vibe. Deathfull, and full of fun roleplay.

Did you have thoose unlimited haste pills whole time?

I don't know any generic haste pills, usable by everyone.

The haste edibles you probably saw me use (beyond talismans) come with
various restrictions and are something you have to learn about in game.

You seemed competent, a shame we didn't get to fight much more after my ambush on you on the ocean. After that, you seemed quite weary of me and water. And man! Did I try to catch you at the spire many times with your pants down, but almost every time you had finished retrieving/raiding and I had wasted my preps. Meh!


A shame we didn't get to RP, GLWN

And I almost got you exactly where I wanted you to be, twice.
Most recently I think in Shadow Grove, but I wasn't fast enough.

On water, I simply had no chances at all vs you, even massive prepping
wouldn't change the outcome when you were hitting me more times
per round for way more damage. You were simply scary!