Thu Dec 5 12:18:44 2013

At 12 o'clock PM, Day of the Sun, 20th of the Month of Futility
on the Theran calendar Ankhran perished, never to return.

Race:	fire
Class:	anti-paladin
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Orderly
Cabal:	None, None
Age:	253
Hours:	214

I really enjoyed the engagements and I have not felt that kind of pain from an AP I years! Avalusci was often so high energy it was all I could do to keep up with him let alone keep my own protections up. Great fun and a great char.

Not even a mention by name though.. Anyway, I lost count of all the times you got away from me convulsing on the ground during our fights. I was really hoping that excision would fail just one out of a dozen or more but in the end, I never got you once and that is something I do regret a little bit. I did find a viable tact to use against it but never got the time to test it, oh well.

The fight on the sea of despair without the head, for me, was a memorable one. I did well for the first good while but that last go round after you healed and returned was another story. On the good side, I was worth a charge both times you got me.

I also liked that you didn't shy away from too many fights even though I was likely only worth that single charge. Anyway, good on ya for this one and luck to ya on the next.

Here's my death thread (modified):

Had fun guys.

After Venecfis, always wanted to get a beefy fire giant. Never had a successful Empire besides Vehldriss, and I was pretty confident that I would be emperor. But I know that if I became emperor, I would get ZERO studying done. So, although I didn't meet my goal of being emperor and getting the last two blessings, I'm calling it quits.

Re: the whip, I actually really didn't know what it did until Gilut pointed out muddle to me. This was a few days ago. I initially used the whip for the parting blow effect and the 20% mana regen. I was going to go back to black flail of dark whispers, but thought that it would be an interesting RP thing to have it with me. After Cavani's death (See the log), however, I thought that it was pretty op. I prayed to the imms about getting it tweaked. Then I saw the log, and realized that Cavani is a dumb#### who didn't put in commands at the last 4 rounds. So much about being "op". Bad bad bad case of RNG - kinda like getting deathblowed 4 times in a round. Further, the whip's programming probably netted me 2 or 3 kills.


Avalusci - Loved your character man. To be frank, after you condied, I kinda lost part of the incentive to continue playing. It just wouldn't be the same.

Destuvius - If you read this, thanks for the chance. I could tell that you're new at being an imm, but keep it up. I do think you can work on a direction for the RP when talking to your followers, but really, it's gonna come with time (also, I base this on rping with Eshval and Thor - they got their #### down).

Zhenyen - Never around, but a badass when you are. That last kill just now - stupid RNG ####ed me with blind and not curing blind.

Rahzeez - Honestly, if I were to be emperor, I might've just promoted you to warmaster. Loved having you.

Ergoth - We worked good together, but you're never around. Didn't particularly like that.

Two healers - Man, you guys really started to understand how to be annoying towards the end. But relatively good job.

Voralia - Fun times. Wish I got to speak to you more.

Ogun - There are so many things you could do to make my life a living hell. But seriously, a whip + shield? Cmon man.

Gilut - Good fights. Had fun.

General Tribbie/Nexus/Outlander/Herald/Fort/Villager Crowd - good times.

Special mention to STSF - I hate you with a passion.

You had class, balls and good RP from what I could tell.

The whip was truly OP against anyone who couldn't parry/dodge/deflect. Against anyone else... A whip on a fire giant... Not much of a problem really.

So, say against a Rhino, invoker or something else that just doesn't avoid any hits, it would rape them. Against most others with good to moderate parry/dodge ability, it doubt it did much. :)

At least I had little problem with it. Found myself muddled and feared a few times, but that only made the fight end.

Great work! I always do enjoy your chars!

"So, say against a Rhino, invoker or something else that just doesn't avoid any hits, it would rape them. Against most others with good to moderate parry/dodge ability, it doubt it did much. :) "

You do realize whips are the hardest weapons to parry and dodge in the game right?

>You do realize whips are the hardest weapons to parry and
>dodge in the game right?

Two things:

1) Whip is a fairly common weapon skill among classes, so there's that. The difference between 75 and 100 in terms of defenses isn't huge, but the difference between 0 and 75 is pretty significant.

2) No weapon is "the best" in all situations, but even with that disclaimer, if I were trying to pick "overall hardest to defend against" I probably wouldn't pick whip.

Whips are incredibly hard to tank. Saying a whip is that awful on a fire AP is not really correct. You just can't use lashes and you'll want a shield more often.

But its not like they're easy to defend against.

Well, look at it this way: what would be worse to have as your special weapon? Dagger or polearm, maybe?

Spear is ok for vault if you sleep someone but there's the whole "kot" problem and defensive spin does nothing for you with fire giant dex and you lose shield block, crippling strike and cleave.

Polearm actually isn't terrible but unless it's on par with pincer prog'd polearm it'll come up poorly. It's fairly easy to parry as well and you lose shield block, CS, cleave.

Sword is too easy to tank. Sword specs will own you on ripostes.

On the other hand what's better? Flail, axe...that's about it. And only because the parry advantage without losing a ton of offense. Mace I'm not sure about...I'd probably take whip over mace for lash (not lashes...lash).

Ok, short version, whip is near the bottom of the barrel for me and is only in the running if I plan to use lashes a lot. Its downsides to mw are much more significant than those of the other weapons you list.

So, yeah.

You lost a 40 charge weapon because of a mistake Destuvius made (and honestly, we all have made them at that stage of our imm career). My preferred resolution would have been just to replace it with an equivalent weapon and call it a day, but, long story short, that wasn't possible. I took my best crack at it but what I came up with wasn't correctly functional. (I've had a couple more ideas of things I could have tried since.)

It looked like you were going to be really screwed through no fault of your own, and you were cool about it. I was really impressed by this because, in your shoes? I can admit that I would not have been cool about it. I wouldn't have had a meltdown, but I really would not have taken it well.

Basically because you were cool and mature in a situation where you had every right not to be I was willing to give it my thumbs-up when Whiysdan hit on the idea of handing out Hssran as a "consolation prize." First time it went out that I'm aware of, and yes, a couple things did get tweaked once I got to see it in real action. That, also, is through no fault of your own.

Everything I saw of this character (who, naturally, I paid a lot more attention to post-Hssran because I wanted to see how well it did or didn't work) was a class act and while, in some sense, you won the lottery I also think you were worthy of it.

Some people will disagree with any of the thought process or decision-making there and that's there prerogative.

Hey, just here to have fun and play the game. Imms make mistakes - seriously, if stuff wasn't kicking my ass right now (and for the foreseeable future) I would've stuck it out and stayed until condeath/agedeath (I had 20 con left when I deleted with sufficient edge point/trains for more con - I think I could've beat Kharg's charge/unholy list).

As I said in qhcf, I was pleasantly surprised to get a cool weapon. I'd like to thank you, Whis, Destuvius, and any other imm that helped make that a reality.

Honestly, if people can stop being so petty and just play the game for what it is - a game - everyone's life would be so much better. Don't take the game so seriously. Relax, enjoy, and have fun. It's supposed to be an environment where you kick the ####, grab a beer with a buddy, and play darts or pool. Where you can brag to your friends about the chick last night and make fun of them. All the vitriol and finger pointing really creates an environment counter to that. All this #### about "I invested so much in this game so I have the right to speak up and demand change" ... this isn't a place where you talk about free expression and asserting your rights. There's no duty for anyone to do anything. It's not a shareholder meeting, or a place where you protest teaching creationism at school, it's not a place where you should get emotional. People just need to stop making it like that. There's nothing wrong with having courtesy and just chilling out.

Anyways, enough ranting. Once again, thanks.

"Honestly, if people can stop being so petty and just play the game for what it is - a game..."

Yeah it's a PVP game. Wanting to be able to compete isn't petty. Stop pretending this is a casual RP mud, it's not. Nothing about this game is casual, by design apparently.

I'd be down with playing a game like you describe, but this isn't that game. You can't convince me there's anything casual about 400 hours worth of play on a toon that will die, gradually, via con loss and age, plus looting plus so forth.

I thought your other goodbye thread was better as it looks like here you're just slinging mud at people who didn't want to fight against that weapon.

My advice, don't take it personally.

If that's how you read it, that wasn't my intent.

I don't care if people bitch about the weapon or not. It's moreso regarding the growing trend that I've been seeing of bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch about a b c d e f g. Then h was my weapon. Then i k j ... etc. It's the environment that the bitchiness is creating.

Wanting to compete isn't petty, I agree. It is a PVP game, I agree. It's the method at how people are approaching wanting to compete that becomes petty.

Oh no, someone got black jaguar! Bitch.

Oh no, strong weapon! Bitch.

Oh no, STSF! Bitch.

Oh no, abs is too strong! Bitch.

That seems to be the outlet, instead of 'hey, let's try to get better' or 'hey, let's try to figure out how to beat this combo.'

Competition entails trying to get better at something. It's getting to the point when it appears people aren't trying to get better, but rather, are trying to bring everything to a level they are comfortable at.

And yes, at least to me, this has become a casual game.

Compared to casual games, CF is like the thunderdome. You're never safe anywhere. There's real consequences for death. That's all fine but it's definitely not casual. Half the time I go out for a smoke I'm praying I'm not dead when I get back ;).

Every single game you play with PVP has people complaining about this or that or the other. Honestly, if anything, this community is fairly tolerant. You should see the types of stuff people complain about in other MMOs.

Anyway, GLWYN.

Honestly I find it refreshing that the imms do hand out these rewards. It keeps the game interesting. You can whine and complain the whip is OP but then again who says you have to face rewardie A alone. I myself have never gotten such a reward, mostly because I'm horrible at RP and nobodies ever taken the time to help me out with it. I've come against many who have and their not infallible, you just need to know how to approach it. I find that fights against Ice drakes, unholy nightmares and unicorns, leader prog weapons and such make it much more gratifying to land a kill and appreciate all the efforts the imms put into them to help make each individual that receives them grin from ear to ear so I can do the same when I squash it!

You all can complain all you want. Heck I'm not perfect myself. I pop my top plenty, which I actually did recently as wasted a good deal of something I was saving for a idea that will probably never come to be, but heck it keeps me going with my character. I know that none of you would be handing out such grief if you were the ones on the receiving end of these rewards. Just roll with it and make it your goal to destroy them at least once and you will find yourself feeling a whole lot more fulfillment.

Lets face it we all love this game or else we wouldn't be trying to bend it to our wills. We all feel left out when someone gets something we all drool over. Just remember it's an RP game, again something I am not perfect at, at all, but I'm still here and trying after all these years.

*Yes I know my grammar is horrible and I be is use too many comma's, but that's why I work with sharp knives and hot sh*t and am not out there writing novels :D*

My advice to you is two-fold:

First, maybe next time you could constrain your complaint to a single post on the various OOC forums as opposed to what seemed like 20+, especially when it concerns an active character that is adding to the IC game. At some point it becomes incredibly harassing and will likely make the active character delete and the player not play CF for a while. And then the rest of us suffer.

Second, maybe you could not post on the OOC forums about active characters, at all. Same reason. Although you repeatedly alleged that you had nothing against this character, you were simultaneously saying he was nothing special and insinuating he did not deserve a perk. Again, at some point that becomes harassing, and is unnecessary. Particularly once we discover the player is awesome.

Overall, it is a real shame whenever you see ooc witch hunts negatively impact an active character and lead to someone not wanting to play anymore. The OOC forums do not need to be a fourth estate that impacts what goes on IC for active characters.

For one, there was at least a half dozen people saying this weapon was overpowered.

For two, it's now not an issue.

Not sure, based on that, why you feel like I need advice. What I learned is that, people *have* to complain with you guys because that's *how* they achieve anything because apparently you're not reasonable enough to consider us in lieu of that. Finally, on the "debating on the forums" topic - if someone wants to ask me a question or make a point, I'll address their question or point. Not like I have anything better to do while I'm sitting on conference calls.

Let me give you some advice on the other hand (not you specifically, but you in the general sense) - if you don't want people to complain get your thumb off the scales. The thing progs like 7 different things - why on earth would people not complain about that in a PVP game?

Honestly, you can make me out to be the bad guy, or Sam, or half the other people who responded, or you guys can take responsibility for the things you do having an effect on other people. Saying that people should just not point out the ridiculous things that go on is a cop out.

at least six others say something is overpowered, it doesn't mean it really is overpowered.

It cast Mental Jolt, Fear, Malaise, Muddle (maybe some other things too).

It had absurd stats (AVG 33 WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?).

It was an owner-only unholy.

I mean, if it casted NOTHING it would still be on a top5 list in terms of potential weapons you could want as an AP.

I just don't understand why the IMMs would create a weapon significantly better than the Seven Flurries of Anguish and make it owner-only. It's just ####ing lazy and retarded. But then again, being lazy is easier than being good most of the time.

Enough with the woe is me crap. From what I can see not a single damn person said anything about the character of Ankhran (spelling I know whatever) other than that Destuvius probably liked him.

JMC admitted the main reason he deleted was he has a ####-ton of work re: law school and #### to get done.

Honestly, after what I've gone through with multiple characters (and people like Jalim or Pro or Jerry or whomever Shamanman is playing it's even worse) if JMC wants to delete because the IMMstaff can't take their ####ing heads out of their own asses sometimes, well then, that's too ####ing bad.

Yes, the crux of the reason why I deleted was cuz of outside work. The general forum vibe had maybe...5% or less to do with it. I don't really care that people bitch about the whip - I didn't think I personally deserved it, but it was handed to me, and I used it.

People bitching was NOT the reason why I deleted. Nor was it because any conceived/fabricated/actual bias from the immstaff.

My comment was re: the general vibe of the forums and really has almost nothing to do with deleting. Would it deter me from playing the game? Yes, because as much as I try to deny it, inevitably I view the forum as an inextricable part of the game. At a certain point, it gets tiring and exhausting and rather disappointing. I know for sure that if there was a small section of the forum for people to bitch and complain, I would never go there.

Do I think healthy discussion is good? Yes, but 90% of the time it doesn't sound like healthy discussion, just quips and attacks.

Anyways, I've said my piece.

Dio's and Officials have been bastions of whining since they started in the early 2000s. Seriously. Read up on some of these death threads (Yanacek, Mirzah - one of my personal favs, Parv's first Empire healer, etc).

I mean, I don't understand why people are acting like the forums were these super happy fun Hello Kitty style chat rooms where we all got along. For as long as I know people have been assholes on both forums.

PS You know I have nothing against you coming from another MUD where we interacted (though you barely remember our characters interacting). But I've yet to see you play a character that wasn't given a special reward. While I know that the rewards don't make your characters tough, what is a newbie supposed to think when they see a character like yours? If they never saw your RP, what are they supposed to assume?

Ugh..urge..to..respond..

Maybe you're right about the nature of the forums. Maybe it's just me and a select handful of others.

But as much as you and others complain that it's the divide between the imm/playerbase that is driving people out, this is also a large issue. Just accepting it as "oh it's the nature" is counterintuitive to your ultimate goal of having people play.

Yes, I know you have nothing against me.

I've played plenty of characters that wasn't given a special reward - trust me, the amount of shifters I've had is staggering! It's just my memorable characters that ARE given special reward (your logic is backwards) - in my view, the special rewards don't make my character memorable, but rather, it's because I have memorable characters that I'm given special rewards. I mean, maybe besides Ankhran.

Knac/Ghrummin - self evident I think.
Rektath - No really 'special rewards'...
Kharnial - Made chancellor, got the unholy nightmare last 20 or so hours I played

Also, I'm a longtime vet when it comes to muds, especially this type of muds. I was always in the top 10%, if not top 5% of every mud of this type I played.

Finally, I remember being that noobie when I had my first character in CF. I saw people with cool titles, cool weapons, awesome skills. Know what I thought? I gotta get better and get to that level. Because those are perks, not defining for my character.

And here I am.

>Finally, I remember being that noobie when I had my first
>character in CF. I saw people with cool titles, cool weapons,
>awesome skills. Know what I thought? I gotta get better and
>get to that level. Because those are perks, not defining for
>my character.
>
>And here I am.

it alters present behavior for good/better. i see the past (when I was in diku, #stank, etc) and I'm like dang i was a prick at times and it was never warranted or worthwhile to be like that.

as for knac, i would think a newb would look at him and be like 'that dude is good, i like that guy'. I know i respect people that play the game, play it well, and play it to where others have a great time.

Good luck this year, and I hope you get another chance to make another character. Have to take advantage of law school downtime before the work begins :)

By the way, I remember being irrationally jealous of all the perks I thought Ghrummin had when we ran around together, and then when you deleted, I was shocked at how few perks that character got! Also, you deleted that guy too soon, too.

>Hey, just here to have fun and play the game. Imms make
>mistakes - seriously, if stuff wasn't kicking my ass right now
>(and for the foreseeable future) I would've stuck it out and
>stayed until condeath/agedeath (I had 20 con left when I
>deleted with sufficient edge point/trains for more con - I
>think I could've beat Kharg's charge/unholy list).
>
>As I said in qhcf, I was pleasantly surprised to get a cool
>weapon. I'd like to thank you, Whis, Destuvius, and any other
>imm that helped make that a reality.
>
>Honestly, if people can stop being so petty and just play the
>game for what it is - a game - everyone's life would be so
>much better. Don't take the game so seriously. Relax, enjoy,
>and have fun. It's supposed to be an environment where you
>kick the ####, grab a beer with a buddy, and play darts or
>pool. Where you can brag to your friends about the chick last
>night and make fun of them. All the vitriol and finger
>pointing really creates an environment counter to that. All
>this #### about "I invested so much in this game so I have the
>right to speak up and demand change" ... this isn't a place
>where you talk about free expression and asserting your
>rights. There's no duty for anyone to do anything. It's not a
>shareholder meeting, or a place where you protest teaching
>creationism at school, it's not a place where you should get
>emotional. People just need to stop making it like that.
>There's nothing wrong with having courtesy and just chilling
>out.
>
>Anyways, enough ranting. Once again, thanks.

...but then I realized it just isn't worth it.

Good luck with the law stuff.

I agree with your post almost entirely.

People bitch way to much on the forums.

I had no issues with the whip reward as I thought you did a great job.

I still wish I would have gotten you as I had you close a few times.

With that being said, you owned me for the most part and killed me like 3 or 4 times.

Well done. Hope to see you soon with your next.

Gilut