Sat Jul 4 18:45:36 2020

At 4 o'clock PM, Day of the Great Gods, 19th of the Month of the Old Forces
on the Theran calendar Noggard perished, never to return.

Race:	goblin
Class:	raider
Level:	40
Alignment:	Neutral
Ethos:	Neutral
Cabal:	BATTLE, the BattleRagers, Haters of Magic
Age:	39
Hours:	188

The fastest defender has dismounted.

IMMs thanks for the experience. Regardless of my list of complaints below, I did have fun. Especially the little bits of interaction here and there. Really made me smile.

As far as race/class, it was really odd playing a goblin and I have a few comments about them below.

Complaints:
1: Biggest complaint is that they have skills that are mana intensive and don't have any form of mana regeneration boost. (Self inflicted) Add on defender mana burn and it gets nuts.
2: Cheap shot hardly ever seems to fire and doesn't fire at all if you're mounted. I think an up tweak closer to thief % landing rate would help and/or allowing cheap shots while mounted.
3: Hybrid "thief" as per help file but doesn't have peak or ability to hide in most areas. I think hiding in any wilderness at night would be more raid like since there's 0 swamps next to any goblin settlement.
4: Self inflicted but still a complaint, most of the best goblin gear is magic. I mean... There are goblin shamans and raiders, neither has magic, so how did their gear become magic?
5: Mounts are broken. A neutral goblin calls Evil mounts, which could be by design but if you're in a cabal and an orc raids, the cabal guards would attack it. As such, you'd be brought into the fight against your own cabal guards. Also, I couldn't bandage or poultice the mount, and they die easy (even with the edge).
6: You can't backstab anyone while mounted. (Self inflicted) many people seemed to be too big to backstab.
7: Magic Vuln. I think it's a bit high. 5-7% would likely be much more balanced since the vuln is so wide spread and difficult to cover.
8: Skirt is a little too niche. Having to have a mount to hit what's essentially a circle stab, and being saddled with all the drawbacks of being mounted is rough. I think this skill would be useful if you could use it regardless of whether you're tanking or not and would fit game practice because mounts are so fast.
9: This likely should be around 2-3 but I forgot until now. Goblins don't get lore or appraise through commerce and the only reliable source of identify is by using a stinking gnome in the Inn?

The Good.
1: Mount speed. Being able to move so fast was great. Meant that I could move far faster than any other villager around and get to throw out bandages and poultices often before other villagers even made it a couple areas away.
2: Resist to disease/poison combined with scavenging. Made carrying food much less of a chore because you can almost literally eat any body part that's ever chopped off.
3: Archery. This is a really cool skill and I used it a lot. Brings a lot of survivability and variety to fights both PvP and PvE. Side note: Bows are generally light weight and 99% of the ones in game weigh more than they should, also, they're limited in attack type/material. I'd be glad to do up some item descriptions for some bows if anyone wants me to.

Overall, it was fun but wasn't for me. After playing defender for a while I really felt like I needed that extra passive damage of a Berserker to boost my PvE and PvP, so lost the will to play.

>The fastest defender has dismounted.
>
>IMMs thanks for the experience. Regardless of my list of
>complaints below, I did have fun. Especially the little bits
>of interaction here and there. Really made me smile.

I am definitely always hesitant with goblin BattleRagers, but definitely felt you deserved the chance. I began to wonder a week or so ago, and this week assumed it was a foregone conclusion. My only advice based on your comments might have been not to worry about a PK count or PK wins, but focus at playing the character well still.

>As far as race/class, it was really odd playing a goblin and I
>have a few comments about them below.
>
>Complaints:
>1: Biggest complaint is that they have skills that are mana
>intensive and don't have any form of mana regeneration boost.
>(Self inflicted) Add on defender mana burn and it gets nuts.

This is on par with orcs. I haven't played a goblin for reasons I'll get to below, but if anything were to ever change, I'd say mana cost would be the only option.

>2: Cheap shot hardly ever seems to fire and doesn't fire at
>all if you're mounted. I think an up tweak closer to thief %
>landing rate would help and/or allowing cheap shots while
>mounted.

Dunno about frequency, but while mounted is intentional. How exactly are you supposed to kick someone on the ground while riding a spider or warg?

>3: Hybrid "thief" as per help file but doesn't have peak or
>ability to hide in most areas. I think hiding in any
>wilderness at night would be more raid like since there's 0
>swamps next to any goblin settlement.

Again based on orc. I was always semi-fond of the idea of goblins being able to hide many places, but not sneak, but...there's ways around that for one, and not sure if it is any more fitting.

>4: Self inflicted but still a complaint, most of the best
>goblin gear is magic. I mean... There are goblin shamans and
>raiders, neither has magic, so how did their gear become
>magic?

Worth a look, I suppose. Wasn't really certain of that much goblin-only gear to begin with, and there's always usual gear.

>5: Mounts are broken. A neutral goblin calls Evil mounts,
>which could be by design but if you're in a cabal and an orc
>raids, the cabal guards would attack it. As such, you'd be
>brought into the fight against your own cabal guards. Also, I
>couldn't bandage or poultice the mount, and they die easy
>(even with the edge).

I'm confused by this. As in...your cabal guardians attack your NPC pet when you arrive in the room? I'm confused how else your guards attack anything, much less an NPC.

>6: You can't backstab anyone while mounted. (Self inflicted)
>many people seemed to be too big to backstab.

Another intentional drawback of being mounted.

>7: Magic Vuln. I think it's a bit high. 5-7% would likely be
>much more balanced since the vuln is so wide spread and
>difficult to cover.

This is the primary reason I've never played a goblin. I always look at that and just wince. However, I'd say that anything less than 15% is so minimal not to really he worthwhile having.

>8: Skirt is a little too niche. Having to have a mount to hit
>what's essentially a circle stab, and being saddled with all
>the drawbacks of being mounted is rough. I think this skill
>would be useful if you could use it regardless of whether
>you're tanking or not and would fit game practice because
>mounts are so fast.

I could probably be argued either way, though it's relatively mute since I have no control over such. Ultimately, mounts are a unique ability for goblins. Worst-case, don't use it and you get a free NPC pet out of uululate. Though, IIRC, I thought being mounted also provided some defense against bash/trip, which on it's own is quite useful.

>9: This likely should be around 2-3 but I forgot until now.
>Goblins don't get lore or appraise through commerce and the
>only reliable source of identify is by using a stinking gnome
>in the Inn?

Also on par with orcs. However...gnome? I would have sworn Alduk was a dwarf, but maybe I didn't pay enough attention.

>The Good.
>1: Mount speed. Being able to move so fast was great. Meant
>that I could move far faster than any other villager around
>and get to throw out bandages and poultices often before other
>villagers even made it a couple areas away.
>2: Resist to disease/poison combined with scavenging. Made
>carrying food much less of a chore because you can almost
>literally eat any body part that's ever chopped off.
>3: Archery. This is a really cool skill and I used it a lot.
>Brings a lot of survivability and variety to fights both PvP
>and PvE. Side note: Bows are generally light weight and 99%
>of the ones in game weigh more than they should, also, they're
>limited in attack type/material. I'd be glad to do up some
>item descriptions for some bows if anyone wants me to.

Pretty much all weapons weigh more than a RL counterpart. No-one I know swings around 50lb swords or axes. Or do you mean even with that in mind? Another consideration you might keep in mind is that while a bow itself is light, it does take considerable strength to draw and fire one. The argument could be made that it's a poor functional design (increased weight to represent strength needed to fire it).
>
>Overall, it was fun but wasn't for me. After playing defender
>for a while I really felt like I needed that extra passive
>damage of a Berserker to boost my PvE and PvP, so lost the
>will to play.

On the flip side (and I could be wrong) - I also have the feeling that there was a ranger who was super disappointed that they couldn't death blow archery shots.

But, when it comes down to it...well played. Hopefully you find something more enjoyable.
>
>

I really like Jormyr as an IMM. Had one of your followers once. That fight to earn entry was about the worst matchup I could have had. Assassins can bandage and defender poultice and bandage. Meant my chance of winning was 0 right from the start. It was really fun though. I enjoyed setting people on fire with archery. Usually surprised folks.


>I am definitely always hesitant with goblin BattleRagers, but
>definitely felt you deserved the chance. I began to wonder a
>week or so ago, and this week assumed it was a foregone
>conclusion. My only advice based on your comments might have
>been not to worry about a PK count or PK wins, but focus at
>playing the character well still.
>
I normally do this but also couldn't really do much in the way of exploring because damage output was too low to kill bigger mobs and I really enjoy the PvE aspect. In PvP, I just felt like I could annoy people but not much else usually. I'd have been more deadly with without being a villager but still couldn't have done the PvE aspect all that well.

>>Complaints:
>>1: Biggest complaint is that they have skills that are mana
>>intensive and don't have any form of mana regeneration boost.
>
>>(Self inflicted) Add on defender mana burn and it gets nuts.
>
>This is on par with orcs. I haven't played a goblin for
>reasons I'll get to below, but if anything were to ever
>change, I'd say mana cost would be the only option.
>
I don't think this'll happen because archery is shared with Rangers who get meditation.

>>2: Cheap shot hardly ever seems to fire and doesn't fire at
>>all if you're mounted. I think an up tweak closer to thief
>%
>>landing rate would help and/or allowing cheap shots while
>>mounted.
>
>Dunno about frequency, but while mounted is intentional. How
>exactly are you supposed to kick someone on the ground while
>riding a spider or warg?
>
Maybe not a kick from the goblin but you can certainly spin a mount to trample. Also, if you've ever watched horseball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=35&v=y590T7Rl2HU&feature=emb_logo
You can see riders readily grab the ball from the ground and you can't pick up a weapon if disarmed while mounted.
Not to mention, Goblins get trip, orcs get bash. You can typically bash many more people than trip with the ease of getting a flying prep and of course bash can lag longer without the cheap shot. That's why I was advocating for the change. You can't trip a person while mounted anyway but you can use a net or other exotic which have low lag chances anyway.

>>3: Hybrid "thief" as per help file but doesn't have peak or
>>ability to hide in most areas. I think hiding in any
>>wilderness at night would be more raid like since there's 0
>>swamps next to any goblin settlement.
>
>Again based on orc. I was always semi-fond of the idea of
>goblins being able to hide many places, but not sneak,
>but...there's ways around that for one, and not sure if it is
>any more fitting.
>
I originally thought of goblins more like Native Americans. Sneaking through the woods to pounce, except of course, evil/vile creatures.

>>4: Self inflicted but still a complaint, most of the best
>>goblin gear is magic. I mean... There are goblin shamans
>and
>>raiders, neither has magic, so how did their gear become
>>magic?
>
>Worth a look, I suppose. Wasn't really certain of that much
>goblin-only gear to begin with, and there's always usual
>gear.
>
Thanks!

>>5: Mounts are broken. A neutral goblin calls Evil mounts,
>>which could be by design but if you're in a cabal and an orc
>>raids, the cabal guards would attack it. As such, you'd be
>>brought into the fight against your own cabal guards. Also,
>I
>>couldn't bandage or poultice the mount, and they die easy
>>(even with the edge).
>
>I'm confused by this. As in...your cabal guardians attack
>your NPC pet when you arrive in the room? I'm confused how
>else your guards attack anything, much less an NPC.
>
Ok, to test this. Have a goblin with their mount in the same room as the giant or destructor on the test realm, then have an Orc, say the Chief for example come to raid. The Massive giant or destructor will attack the mount from the goblin because the game thinks that it's part of the Orc Horde. This happened to me so often that I stopped standing in the same room and only came in to bandage and walk right back out. It's because of that code that allows mobs to target allies of those who are fighting them. The same code that hurt Conjurers so bad with Archons but it's kinda broken.

>>6: You can't backstab anyone while mounted. (Self
>inflicted)
>>many people seemed to be too big to backstab.
>
>Another intentional drawback of being mounted.
>
>>7: Magic Vuln. I think it's a bit high. 5-7% would likely
>be
>>much more balanced since the vuln is so wide spread and
>>difficult to cover.
>
>This is the primary reason I've never played a goblin. I
>always look at that and just wince. However, I'd say that
>anything less than 15% is so minimal not to really he
>worthwhile having.
>
Always have to ask. Even halfies get an edge to lessen their vuln.

>>8: Skirt is a little too niche. Having to have a mount to
>hit
>>what's essentially a circle stab, and being saddled with all
>>the drawbacks of being mounted is rough. I think this skill
>>would be useful if you could use it regardless of whether
>>you're tanking or not and would fit game practice because
>>mounts are so fast.
>
>I could probably be argued either way, though it's relatively
>mute since I have no control over such. Ultimately, mounts
>are a unique ability for goblins. Worst-case, don't use it
>and you get a free NPC pet out of uululate. Though, IIRC, I
>thought being mounted also provided some defense against
>bash/trip, which on it's own is quite useful.
>
I never noticed much of a difference in bash/trip because I was so afraid of losing weapons after the first few fights that I'd mount and run using it, then dismount to try and fight. You also can't blind an enemy to prevent them from disarming you.

>I really like Jormyr as an IMM. Had one of your followers
>once. That fight to earn entry was about the worst matchup I
>could have had. Assassins can bandage and defender poultice
>and bandage. Meant my chance of winning was 0 right from the
>start. It was really fun though. I enjoyed setting people on
>fire with archery. Usually surprised folks.

For the record - I know. It was never about winning that fight. 😉