Fri Sep 17 13:13:26 2004

At 4 o'clock PM, Day of Thunder, 24th of the Month of the Spring
on the Theran calendar Brehk perished, never to return.

Race:	gnome
Class:	shapeshifter
Level:	51
Alignment:	Neutral
Ethos:	Neutral
Cabal:	None, None
Age:	203
Hours:	142

I wanted to play a mage type after a long line of warrior types so I chose a shifter. I went offense and utility since the last one I had was defense. I could not have been more disappointed with my final offense form. I received the golden jaguar and tried to keep an open mind because I'd heard it was the worst of the offensive forms. It is without a doubt the worst form I could have received. It should be reclassifed as a punishment form and reserved for those who anger the Imms. Anyway... despite the pathetic jaguar form, I still met quite a few folks that made my time enjoyable.

Iden... Heh it was a long interesting trip to 51 that's for sure. Great guy to have around and I was always glad to see you around.

Many thanks to Grollina, Froose and Rizal for all the help in getting me to 51 and for the interesting talk in the guild.

Some 'open mind'.

You've proven my point about the jaguar being pathetic. A ram or lion would have torn through those things like butter compared to that jaguar. I ranked along side a ram for a few levels and it was easily doing twice what I was. I've also had a tiger form and it out damaged that jaguar without any trouble. Even the hyena form was close in damage to the jaguar and it's a utility form.

A ram and tiger can't make a warrior drop their weapons with stackable strength loss. Nor screw up hiders/camouflagers by making them bleed on the tick. Nor give a clever player an almost guaranteed first strike ability in forested areas when no rangers are around. Three major things about this form which the log shows nicely and which you simply choose to ignore. *snip*

The bite was the only good thing about the jaguar. The bleeding on the tick is so minor it's not even worth mentioning. Two steps, hide, wait for tick, hide again.... Big deal. As far as forested areas, perhaps the camo would work, but that would mean I was in a forested area. If you haven't noticed, sylvans are gone and I was not an outlander. The majority of fights I was involved in didn't happen in the forest so camo is a minor factor at best. Trying to lure someone into a forest so I could ambush isn't a tactic I'm willing to bet on. As far as the ambush strike goes... Wow where do I begin... first, I'd have to be in a forest, second I'd have to get them to chase me and sit in one spot while I wait for the lag on camo to go through. Of course then I'd have to hope they either were sitting in the same room I was in or walked through the same wooded area so that I could perhaps land the ambush, which by the way worked so few times on mobs that I didn't even bother with it anymore. I got torn to shreds by rangers and warriors, which I expected to happen. The only one I was able to stand toe to toe with was an assassin and that's because I shifted to a fox for the majority of the fight then shifted back to the jaguar when I thought I might have a chance at finishing the assassin. Didn't work unfortunately. My biggest problem with the jaguar is that it's listed as an offensive form. It's a strong utility form at best.

Alright, let's try this another way. I'm going to use your own reasoning here and give the ram a quick review with it. Now watch what happens.

'The ram is just pathetic. It features a good damroll but that's about it. Its attack is blunt meaning anyone that has good h2h skills or good defenses in general is going to parry it well and that's without mentioning maledictions. Add some of those and you will barely be hitting any warrior that has decent defense or any hasted assassin once or twice every couple of rounds. On top of that, alot of mobs are just immune to blunt damage meaning the form is totally useless against those. The ram has just pathetic defenses. It can barely dodge at all meaning you'll get hit like a ton of bricks, you will need a full ABS set for every single fight if you want to get anywhere. Sure it has some physical resistance, but anyone can just wield a wrath weapon and go right through that meaning you're left with nothing but the worst kind of dodging for your defenses. Did I mention that there's a certain piece of armor out there that makes you resistant to blunt attacks too? The only thing that's remotely good about this form is its 'butting' attack which usually hits for decent damage, and then lags you for two full rounds in the process. The ram just sucks. I've tried in ALOT of situations and I kept my patience, but there's just no denying just how pathetic it is. '

You know what? I actually like the ram form. Strange how that works.

We can go back and forth about this until all nine circles of hell freeze over and it won't make a bit of difference. I feel the jaguar is inferior to the ram, tiger and lion. You obviously feel different. I see your points, but I don't agree with them. I can throw counter points in about items such as five colored mail being very limited while anyone can stay out of a forest and I can also counter with the jaguar's attacks being as easy to parry/shield block/dodge etc... as the other forms in addition to the jaguar not getting as many to start with and the jaguar having no resistances and only average dodging. As it stands, I feel the jaguar is a poor offensive form and wish I would have received any other offensive form instead. Nothing you've said makes me feel any differently about it. I chose offense to be able to dish out insane amounts of damage while not being able to tank. As far as I'm concerned, I got the not being able to tank part only.

Heh. You already deleted. And I'm still 33 lvl. :).
Seems it better to have hard ranking to play more without disappointment in forms.
*Sigh* will miss you.

In a land overpopulated by gnome shapeshifters, Brehk still stood out. Why did you delete? I liked the little guy.

Ditto that! I was still trying to get you this robe too....

Will miss you.