Thu Mar 22 22:42:36 2007

At 7 o'clock PM, Day of the Moon, 28th of the Month of the Heat
on the Theran calendar Eulinda perished, never to return.

Race:	arial
Class:	warrior
Level:	51
Alignment:	Neutral
Ethos:	Chaotic
Cabal:	BATTLE, the BattleRagers, Haters of Magic
Age:	42
Hours:	310

By the way, I forgot to ask, when did you (staff) know I was the player for Eulinda? Just curious. And no, I am not going to ask about what devious behind-the-scenes methods or consequences. I might ask if there was anything in particular in Eulinda that made you think it was me (or not me). Ysal's post is typical in that most people I've heard from had no idea it was me, but I'm curious if the staff sees things differently, or when in a character's life.

Thanks.

It's like poker. Different people have different tells that come through no matter what characters they are playing. You've played enough Battle that I can generally piece it together within about 100 hours or so - not that I'm even actively trying, as I could care less which players are behind which characters. Some examples (and not just for you) are prays, preferred gear, routes, fighting tactics, speech (I should say typing) patterns, etc. There's a ton of stuff we all do subconsciously with each character that, over time, become recognizable to the Imms that watch.

Other Imms are much, much better at recognizing these tells than I am. That being said, it's not really something we talk about all that much, unless the player behind the character(s) is a habitual cheater or repeatedly does shady things and we feel like we need to keep an extra eye on them.

To sum up: I suspected it was you about 100 hours into the character, but didn't really care enough to verify it via ISPs or other Imms, and I don't recall ever hearing another Imm mention it.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

FYI, the tell for me was when you prayed asking if your hit point gains were buggy because you thought they should be higher.

At the time I didn't think anything of it, but about a day later it hit me, like... oh, right, I've only ever seen one player do that, so this must be that guy.

Some Imms are really good at figuring that stuff out. I, personally, don't pay attention unless I think someone is cheating. I have much better things to do while online. Daevryn put it together when it came to the prayers. I haven't been around long enough to have seen that as a pattern.

I loved her rp and everything. Well of course Zesam wasn't a fan but I the player really enjoyed you being around. I'm actually starting to feel a void with so many of the village gone now. Zesam wanted to rip your face off everytime you called him Zezy. But I couldn't help but laugh. Well done with everything, bring something else awesome to the game.

Thanks. That's nice to hear. You wouldn't believe how much we hated you when you would change Taelina's sex for like 115 hours. It was pretty funny.

I'm glad you didn't take the name shortening personally. Frankly I think Tummy had it the worst! :P

You're obviously doing a lot right to get all the love and attention you're getting, so you don't need me to tell you, but even so, good fun as an enemy.

Where to start, where to start. I rolled Eulinda to see just how badly berserker powers had been nerfed after the changes. I also had some idea that I'd see about getting Lyristeon's tattoo, but that didn't work out for reasons I can go into if someone really wants but which aren't that important now. The character's personality developed over time, but started pretty quickly with the speech patterns.

Contrary to what several have been saying on Dios, there was never any intent to create or have a character to deliberately annoy people. Eulinda was very literal, very straightforward, and very much a combination of fighting and proper upbringing/manners. She rarely understood or doled out any real irony or sarcasm, and she of course had a healthy dose of vanity, some of which was due to her role based upbringing. She didn't curse, that would be rude. So she called people silly. If you couldn't handle that, well, there you have it.

Having said all that, let me tell you that never in all my years of cf did I laugh so hard or so often as I did with Eulinda. It was an entirely liberating experience. Hysterical, fun, active, pretty much everything you could want from entertainment. If Eulinda wanted something, she said so and generally did something about it. There was no worrying about what anyone thought if she wanted some piece of equ or item. There was no worrying about what anyone thought if she wanted someone to apologize or do something to make up for having hurt her (in her mind, obviously many people didn't mean to insult her when she said they had). There was no worrying about what anyone thought if she wanted to go kill someone or loot it all or leave it all (she did both, often).

It also very much pleased me that people began copying and using her naming system, referring to Tummarellen as Tummy and various other people by her shortnames for them. I couldn't help but smile when I'd see that.

I worked hard to roleplay not just what I thought of her, but to incorporate her race as well, mindful as I am of the various staff "human in a monkey suit" commentary. She was arial. So everything she did was impacted by her belief that life is short, you gotta enjoy it right this very minute! She could not possibly care less about all the various history lessons people wanted to give about the village. She could not possibly care less about all the serious conversations people wanted to have about the village and its rules. And she said so. She was vocal about it all. I knew that sometimes it might bring her a bit close to the line, but generally I thought - and still think - that it was a perfectly viable rager role. The few times she went after people who weren't mages or village enemies (people seem to forget that killing a scion bard or shaman or empire priest or something is as good as killing a mage, they are village enemies) she had a good reason, or the person pretty much asked for it. Progglesnort was a good example that happened to be mentioned in the pbf. It wasn't nearly as simple as the comment there, which I think happens with some frequency in history comments. In any event, I hope people got the sense they were dealing with an arial when they dealt with Eulinda. I think I did a pretty good job of it by behavior, emotes, attitude, etc. You'll have to tell me.

Having played her for about four months, and over 300 hours, I now feel I have enough of a handle on some things to comment on, and I will in a few days on gameplay. For now, let me just preview that by saying that cranial needs to be changed back to what it used to be and was always intended to be, which is a mace spec's lagging ability, it should not have been made more like blackjack. Resist also was reduced too much, in my opinion. I wouldn't necessarily bring it back to where it was, but I think it needs to be bumped back up a bit. And finally, the nexus inners need to be bumped down a bit. I will explain why for all of those in my gameplay post, rest assured. But suffice to say for here that conservatively - very conservatively! - I would have had 30-50 and perhaps more kills if cranial worked as it used to and was originally intended. I have all the logs, I'll post them later.

Lastly, the people. As usual Kastellyn was fun and fair and made playing a villager a good time when he was around or not around but paying attention. Didn't much deal with Ysal, and obviously I have no idea who "an immortal" is when things happen, so not much to say.

Yean, Drakgrak and Taelina, as much as the staff who make the game I need to thank you for making this character not only stick around (there was a time or two when I thought about deleting, but you guys made it fun enough for me to stay - so all you haters, blame them! :P) but fun every time you were around. I've told Drak and Taelina in their deat threads how great they were, but I obviously haven't had that opportunity for you Yean, as you're still alive and kicking. So I'll say it here: you were terrific. I've known plenty of good battle bards and you were as good as any. I don't think you can judge characters just by pk counts or other statistical analyses, and in particular bards, and so I want to compliment you on how much you affected the village when you were around. You'd log on and immediately I knew things would just get better. You and Taelina shared this, but you were the first and you were there when Eulinda was young so you have the favorite nostalgia thing going for you. You were unflaggingly generous with your time whenever I died and needed to regear or just wanted to go get something pretty for myself. All three of you were, really. And there's precious little Eulinda wouldn't have done for any one of you.

Nueker, she was bitter that you were inducted one day and chosen to lead the next, but you grew into it and grew into a good friend, and she had nothing but real affection for you. And your skills at killing of course, which she prized. Pity you auto'd like that, you were missed.

Vhloughvang, Eulinda watched you grow up and was pretty iffy on you at first, like Nueker, but while you never reall got into her inner circle, she had some measure of respect for you. She couldn't argue with you chosing Taelina as drillmaster, but she was pretty bitter that you chose Brinkmun. Nothing against Brinkmun of course, but having done as well as she did in the rites she just expected it. (And no, I the player didn't much care, I've had drillmasters and leaders and veterans and it wasn't that important to me. Which is not to say I wouldn't have taken it and had fun of course! :)) But you obviously have some skill and in some ways I envy you now, rebuilding the village in your image. Good luck.

Thrak, you rock. I stand by my earlier comments that you need to find that fine line between bravery and suicide, even for a berserker. But that's one of those things where failing means you're still pretty damn great and fun to watch. I hope you enjoyed your rager. Eulinda liked you after our initial problem, as I wrote in your death thread, and if you'd been a bit more deathful and less death-embracing, she might have grown closer to you.

For the most part Eulinda liked the rest of the village (she didn't like you Pesh anymore than you liked her, but at least she didn't go ooc and log out when you logged on) and was happy to be around people. She would try to be helpful when she could.

As usual I welcome commentary from all. I'll take some time and go through my logs and start putting together the fights. I think I have most of her kills and deaths. And some funny rp moments I think.

Bye bye dearies!

p.s. Eshval, I almost blew some snapple out of my nose yesterday when I read your "light my hair on fire and put it out with an axe" comment. Seriously the funniest thing I've read in a long time.

good job :) haha very very well done.

Your RP drove people bonkers but I found it funny to a degree. I found it cool that you had something other then the cookiecutter #### and it was refreshing to have you around. You also killed people like a madwoman and I always knew that I had damned good back up for just about anything when you logged in.

The RP however is what nixed you for drillmistress. While I did think you were good for the village I couldnt have you a drillmistriss teaching everyone how to dress propper and wear ribbons and #### like that hahah. You deserved it for the way you faught and killed and held the troops together at times but I couldnt have a hussy for a drillmaster ;) sorry toots

another thing that added to that was that our times didnt match up alot and I felt like you started playing alot less often after the rites and after taelina's death so I wanted someone who was present more for drillmaster. Again if that was just our times not meshing I am sorry for that.

Over all well done well done indeed and I look foward to your next char.

Yeah, one of the big things here was that so many rager characters sound and act the same, and the entire cabal (myself included obviously, having played more than virtually anyone over the years) has a very serious nature to it that I think was ripe for the picking. I wanted to burst some of that bubble. I'm glad you enjoyed that aspect of her. I know I did.

As for who being a good back up, YOU were MINE dearie! :P

While I hear you (and others) on the commander/drillmistress jobs, I'm not sure I agree. Probably not worth going into now in detail, but in short I think she would have made a terrific drillmistress (not so much commander, I would have been happy with it mind you but I agreed that she wasn't the right choice for it).

And Eulinda was NOT a hussy! Seriously, that annoyed me. I'm sending hate mail to Lyristeon for that. Bastard. ;)

I had a week after the rites in Los Angeles for work and couldn't really play, but other than that I was regular after the rites, so it must have been bad timing for our logins.

Hope you are having fun rebuilding.

was never any intent to create or have a character to deliberately annoy people. Eulinda was very literal, very straightforward, and very much a combination of fighting and proper upbringing/manners

If someone asks you to stop talking to them, forever, you know you are annoying them if you keep at it. It's your RP? Not sure if you actually know proper upbringing/manners, but it is pretty rude to continue to speak with someone who has made clear they don't want to listen to you. You did great at fighting, but I can't believe for a second you weren't trying to annoy people because I know for damn sure just about anyone you talked to that wasn't a rager, and probably a few of them, asked you not to talk to them. Unless they were a masochist.

"Others believe that life is too short for anything other than the pursuit of personal freedom and happiness. Often described as aloof and flighty, arials believe that nothing is greater than a life well-lived."


That pretty much seems like Eulinda to me. As for not remembering you did not like her, flighty and aloof seems to more than cover that.

Besides that Karel, you have left more characters in the lurch because you up and delete ending role threads that have included your wonderfully roleplayed characters(sadly this has happened to me a heck of a lot). Eulinda may have drove you nuts but the character was around long enough to truly have an impact on others.

Could you point out the part that had absolutely anything to do with what I posted?

I apologize to Eulinda's player from detracting from her thread. Having said that going to do it a little more. Other people's roles aren't really my responsibility, especially when I don't know about those roles. Long enough for an impact... Enarn 304 hours, Eulinda 310 hours. Was it the extra six hours or that it was spaced over a longer period of time?

I'd like to see the log because I don't remember the circumstances you're describing.

And you're pretty much wrong on everything else in your post, too. As I wrote there was no deliberate attempt to annoy anyone at all. So either you're calling me a liar, or you're wrong. I'll tell you now, you're wrong.

Also, you're "knowing for damn sure" that anyone I talked to asked me not to talk to them means I'm glad you're not my doctor or lawyer or anything else for that matter, because when I say I know something for damn sure, I know it, and here, you're wrong. Flat out wrong. Most people didn't say that to me at all. And for that, I have log after log after log to prove it. In fact a lot of people would initiate conversations with me just to see if they could get through to me (in their eyes) or figure something out.

So next time, maybe *actually* be sure before you say something as though it's fact. Because here, you've got egg all over your face. Sorry.

You were a kick ass rager. Hands down, one of the best in awhile. That being said, I have to admit, there were times I just felt completely exasperated by your speech patterns. Hence the reason I titled you with the Exasperating Hussy. I am truly glad that Kastellyn eventually changed it. I just thought it really funny because of the general attitude towards you by imms and players alike. You just wore us out like uneven chalk on a blackboard.

As for not getting more involved with my religion. I so want you to take another shot with a character who actions are more of a pest than the words. There was so much good about the character, but the speech patterns detracted more so. I tried to give you the hint earlier in life, but, you were who you were and kudos for sticking that out.

Good luck with the next and hope to see another character who goes out of their way to confound by actions and not annoy with words so much.

You were wrong to title her that. Exasperating? Sure. Hussy? Not at all. She didn't do more than hug, she never let anyone get too close, she just wasn't a hussy, plain and simple. I think that was a bad choice on your part. I would have laughed and enjoyed other "exasperating" titles (Exasperating Flirt or Exasperating Little Girl or whatever). So I agree on the general attitude you mention, but I think it translates to exasperating and not hussy. Oh well.

As for your religion, frankly I think you were wrong again. Obviously it's your religion but I think you weren't understanding and seeing the character. Among other things I base this on what you actually said to me, when we spoke in character, which is "Don't you ever get angry? You're always so happy." Which could not have been further from the truth. Hell, I killed on rager (Fhaen) because he got me angry at him (called Eulinda fat). Hell, she was constantly taking offense and letting people. She would demand apologies. Nine times out of ten she got it and things would be alright. My point being it seemed you were judging her just on what you'd hear, meaning the use of dearie and hon, which annoyed you, and not on what she actually did, or said. That's what bothered me. I think had it been otherwise, you'd have seen the "gaping maws" and the confounding by actions that you talked about.

Anyway, it's water under the bridge.

You just reminded me of those giddy cheerleaders from high school. They were major targets of my sarcasm back then. Perhaps my dislike was more deeply rooted than I had thought. Then again, I still wouldn't have gotten involved with that. :P

Having spent lots of time with you personally I thoroughly enjoyed your char although I was a bit hesitant to recommend you at first heh. Lots could be accomplished in a short time whenever you logged in, and I loved your tenacity and attitude. I thought your rp was funny in the sense that it seemed to be a parody of certain girls irl that we all know. :p

Anyway it was sad to see your name on the battlefields, and I am glad to have known this char. The Veteran was absolutely deserved, and thanks for all the Yean-Days!

IRL girls? Really? Never even occurred to me until I read this post. That's pretty funny though, and is a good demonstration of the general principle that people can interpret things in many ways, often different from what the originator intended (or even contemplated!).

Like I said before, you were terrific and great fun and I'm glad I helped make your time fun just as you did mine. Good luck on the staff.

I'm pretty sure it was you who was complaining about the Nexan inners being too tough, and I should have historied it. You mentioned then that we would discuss it further when you were gone, so I'll hit it up now. I'll just repeat what I said at the time, that you had the means at your fingers of defeating the inner guardians, had you used a different tactic. If you don't remember what the problem was, it was that the second inner kept repopping as you were resting from killing the first.

Your RP annoyed the hell out of me to begin with, but after a while I got used to it and was able to enjoy it. You were always 100% consistent with it, too, which can be challenging. You were an expert PKer; not much more to say than that!

You nailed the arial RP, like I don't think I've ever seen before. I didn't have to do a 'whois eulinda' to know you were an arial; it really came across in the way you acted.

As for why you weren't selected for Commander or Drillmaster (at least by me): I didn't think your RP "fit" into my vision of what those positions are all about. I'm sure you'll take exception to that; my opinion is that there are a wide range of valid Battle roles, but all of those roles are not necessarily conducive to a leadership position. I think Eulinda fell into this category.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: your presence makes this game better. Thanks for that, and enjoy your next!

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

Yeah, I'm sorry people were so annoyed with it, but I'm glad it grew on you (as I hoped it would on others once they came out and said they found it annoying), and yeah, I worked hard to be consistent and arialific. Thanks for the kind words on those two points, that means something to me. The pk words also, but I've demonstrated my ability to pk before and while I definitely wanted to do well in that regard, that wasn't as important for this char as the rp was, to see if I could keep it up throughout. So thanks.

The Drillmistress thing really annoyed me. I hear you, I do, but as you know I disagree. Unless you really want to hear all the reasons why (which I will go through, if you want) I'll just leave it at that. Sure would have been different from Vershelt or some of my other leader types. :)

See you next time. Though my new char is perfectly happy using magic. So beware, you ragers, I'm coming for you! Huzzah!

Like a virulent foot fungus, Eulinda just grew on you.
I got pretty much right off the bat when I inducted you, that you were the consummate 'life's too short to worry' arial, and you nailed it.
I will only echo what others have said, solid berserker, solid 100% consistent RP, great performance in the rites (I wished we had time to have had you and Vhlou go head to head mano a birdie).
I have to admit saying "It was who!?!?!" initially when I found out this was one of yours.
Kudos

Thanks for the arial roleplay compliment. I see Valg in particular complain about it with some regularity and so my last few chars (Azilaph and Eulinda in particular) I've made playing race as much as other other relevant components as important as I could.

I am a bit curious as to one thing though: had there been time for a final fight between Vhlougy and Eulinda, and Eulinda won (I'm not saying I would have, but I'm not saying I wouldn't have, either), would you have made her commander? I suspect not, but just curious.

I have my differences with some of your decisions but I think on balance you're good for the cabal, and that you're going to grow into it well. Not that what I think matters I suppose, but I've been doing it a long time and I reckon I have at least earned the right to opine.

Just keep in mind that either Azilaph or Eulinda could kick your hairy ass. :P

Good, tough character! When I watched, you never avoided a fight and your tactics in those battles were good and to the point. While I did not find your rp to equate to how a 'normal' person would act, it apparently served you well in your whole package. Good character.

nt

I still find it funny that one time that you killed me without trying.
:P He he.
I believe it was Drak's fault.
You were thirsted, he was the leader and led you into me a couple of times.
Poor Zephon.

Mostly because it was getting tiresome to constantly get my ass handed to me by you, but also because your RP was ungodly annoying.

I liked her RP from what I saw in logs. Funny stuff. But then again, I didn't have to deal with it on a daily basis. Clearly she was an ass kicker when it came to non-RP related stuff.

I honestly shuddered every time she opened her mouth. I did, in fact, try my best not to let her speak. It get her negative roleplaying points for being so irritating - in that me and a good few other nexus avoided talking to her because she just seemed bent on pissing people off with her condesending chatter.

And so, I play this game to escape annoying things like this. Not to be forced to listen to it. Her 'That's SOOO silly' was the Cf equivelent of 'KE KE KE KE KE KE!'. I'm sure its valid, consistent, etc. But it was just too blatantly designed to annoy that I dodged it.

And to add - there have been one or two lowbies I've met while experimenting for my next character who said 'dearie' or 'lovely'. I actually avoided grouping with them for fear of repetition of this roleplay. Ug.

In summary, great fighter, good villager and so annoying to interact with I chose not to at all.

Nanorab

I interacted with her in a very limited fashion. I don't have have any complaints. The "dearie" thing seemed dumb, but only because nobody talks like that except 90-year old women and Eulinda wasn't old and senile. Seems like it should have been possible to do "perky/feminine/spoiled/petulant" without using "dearie" all the time. But that's a pretty minor complaint.

I liked your RP, annoying as it was. It made me want to rip out your non-existant, arial teeth (do arials have teeth?), which seemed to be the effect you were going for. Your early RP, pre-hero, was a bit odd, though, but that was so long ago, I'm having trouble remembering it. You really didn't seem like a Rager, back then, though.

I was never certain how serious you were about "sending Tiatan to heaven". The thought of it was quite distressing, though, because, by that time, I couldn't even shift to stand a chance. I think Tiatan might have actually stood a chance fighting you, though Aldran never did, obviously, and it was annoying that you were so willing to kill him when he was so utterly helpless. I don't see where the fun in that, is. It just seems like it's griefing, at that point, to me. Granted, I'm very new to this game, so perhaps that sort of stuff goes on all the time, but I certainly didn't like it.

I did like our verbal exchanges with Aldran, though. He thought of Eulinda as a little child and treated her like one, once using it to get her to fight, though by the time you actually got to where I told you I was, I had been ambushed and no longer had minions, so it was kind of pointless. I don't know; were you ever interested in semi-fair fights with him? You always caught me unprepared. It's why I'd be a little more reluctant to play another Conjurer.

So, yeah, there's my stream of consciousness. I liked this character and hated it, but my perspective's a bit skewed, and I'm new to this game. Take it as you will, and good luck with your next.


Tiatan/Aldran

I never really got a handle on this character with Dravon. You seemed to come from the Graatch School of Battlerager. We had a couple of interesting fights. I'll have to dig up the old Dravon logs sometime.

Well I guess I know why I thought you came from the Graatch School. :P

Thank you for deleting. The fourth time you CB'd in all caps 'GIRL POWER!' was when I really started hating being in the Battle Cabal. I mean yeah, you were the deadliest villager in a long time from what I saw, but seriously, I now know what someone meant when they said a character of mine had the most abrasive RP they had seen in a while. At first it's kind of funny, but then it starts wearing you down, then giving you a headache, then just straight up making you want to delete or log out everytime you're on at the same time as the person.

I just didn't want to have a hut next to Ginger Spice anymore, nothing personal. But good job on the killing.

You were okay PK wise, I only fought you on the water once and you fled :( God your RP was annoying as all Hell though.