Sat Sep 8 12:32:18 2007

At 8 o'clock PM, Day of the Great Gods, 12th of the Month of the Great Evil
on the Theran calendar Ktaar perished, never to return.

Race:	felar
Class:	assassin
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Orderly
Cabal:	EMPIRE, the Empire
Age:	77
Hours:	512

I don't think you posted your character list/known player handle. And I don't think everyone knows who this player is yet (as hard as that is for me to believe).

I need you to so I can post something else.

(or at least, the people that cared)

Ktaar Kitane was brought to you by Balrahd.

I played:
Balrahd (obviously)
Adhelard
Qing Long
Tjok
Malkhar
losing memory at this point...
Faeras
Johan
Khiravn
Amergin
Ahvlannon
others..
and the character with my favorite title, ever:
Golias, One Lucky Sonofabitch

If so, you are continuing the earn your "OMG I WTFPWN THIS SHIZ" on cf points. You rock, once again.

Thanks, but to be completely honest, it is much harder to be successful as, say, a Maran Warrior, than it is to be successful as an assassin. I can see why some people are addicted to the class - the combination of deathfulness and ease-of-use is fun.

I do hope that the Imms take my suggestions re: cabal power balance into "the consideration it deserves." ;)

My point is that you don't KEEP playing maran_storm_warrior_94837. You spread it around to other classes/cabals and still beat ass and shine.

nt

n/t

Ive been in random character mode for some time now... anyway I remember trash talking you in hamsah when you were stalking me and teleporting away figuring I was safe. Not 3 minutes after I teleported you found me in arial city and slit my throat proceeded with a well deserved full loot. Lets just say I never trash talked again. Heheeh nicely done. Awesome char

That was great, and that's what happens when you mess with an Elite Shadow ;)

Believe it or not, the one who requested I loot you was... Isildur (i.e., Waserax).

n/t

...to know that at least one of my fatwahs worked.

Thanks to whoever bought the PBF for Ktaar. I'll owe you!

t

Hello, CF!

I had a lot of fun playing this character, but work is ramping up for the next month or so and I need to focus what free time I have on my family (it's easier to justify spending 1-2 hours of CF a day when you're working reasonable hours). If Ktaar weren't an imperial/imperial leader, I probably would have let the hording code work its magic and logged in infrequently, but I didn't want the character to die a slow death that way. I held on for a while because I was the only hero Imperial online against several enemies for a month or so now which was a fun experience and I wanted to contribute to making CF vibrant in what way I could. I obviously like the game enough to purposefully set aside time to play it. But you guys can carry the torch for a while :)

So, I said enough about assassinate being overpowered in other threads. I even worked to get it to 100% so I would have some credibility behind saying it. My solution, Nepenthe, if you're reading this (you asked before) is this: Make battleragers resistant to assassinate overall, and make characters resistant for a while after a PVP fight. It makes sense that they'd be a little wary. You could also tweak the success % a bit because I swear I would hit 80% of them after 10 stalks. For those of you that think it's balanced and posted that you have never been assassinated... I really wish you had posted that with an active character name because I would have loved to show you how easy it is. C'est la vie.

Re: Shadow Powers. Dwoggurd and whoever else (Jinroh?) said that Imperial powers suck compared to Fortress are on some serious crack. Imperial powers, at least shadow powers, are SO FREAKING SUPERIOR to Fortress powers it is ridiculous. Light into Shadow? Umm.. when you're standing next to your stalking victim.. awesome. Eavesdrop? Um.. when you know *exactly* where your victim is going to go to next, and *exactly* when/if you're victim is warned of your presence by someone that can detect hidden... awesome. Imperial spies? Um... whoever said it was just a weak version of locate mark is missing the boat. Anyway, I cannot imagine there is a better cabal power build for assassins. After playing an Imperial, I highly recommend that Fortress powers get a revamp - they suck in comparison. What Fortress could use, in my mind, is a tracking power that triggers off phoenix brand.

OK, now that game balance comments are out of the way :) Ktaar Kitane was rolled to experiment with assassinate and see if it was as wicked as I suspected and to abuse Tribunal powers. Then Nepenthe gave Outlanders insect swarm and I met a duergar warrior Blade named Akefus who was an awesome roleplayer. The experience convinced me to take the Oath even though Ktaar's role was not suited for an Imperial. I was excited about the idea, though, and wanted to learn how to play a great Shadow in the style of Jhyrbian characters. Unfortunately, the Shadow Lord was Seriistian, who was an extremely good PKer with an assassin (quite honestly the best I have seen first hand since assassins were revamped), but not one for intrigue. Worse, Seriistian deleted soon after, leaving me without a mentor on "Shadow-dom". So I had to pave my own road so to speak.


Goodbyes:

All the thieves I ran like Hell from for the first 400 hours of this character: I hated blackjack, getting my inventory cleaned out, and having no chance of killing you thiefies. I hated that it took my over 400 hours to practice up martial trance so I had a way to avoid that experience. I ran from you because it was extremely annoying to lose my entire inventory every single time we crossed paths.

Goodbyes: I'll start with the Imperials that had the most impact on the character - there are honestly too many to name that I would remember and it would take too long to write goodbyes.

Hunsobo: You basically broke the role of this character :P The problem is that I as a player felt you deserved everything you got and that Hunsobo was great for the game.

Waserax: My plan was actually to reach a tie vote and to convince you to vote for me so there would be a tie vote. Unfortunately, you went and voted for Hunsobo. And FYI I had no idea you were that good, Isildur :)

Khasotholas: It was clear to me that you wanted something different, but I liked the fact that you would not remove me directly unless I broke Imperial Law (because I knew there was no way a mortal was going to remove me as long as I made sure one of your followers did not get the Throne).

Seriistian: If you are reading this, I am still curious WTH happened to you. I would have happily played an Elite Shadow for a few hundred more hours. Rising to Shadow Lord that early was a challenge.

Shadows: The best was Valryn, who Seriistian anathema'd. I waited a long time to see another Valryn, the type of character I would have swiftly promoted even though he'd stab me in the back, and I didn't. The recent group of Shadows seems promising, though.

Dyrin: I didn't get to know you, but it was a little frustrating that you insisted on fighting people alone, particularly battleragers :P

SCIONS:
I loved you guys. Logins would have been so boring without you people.

Laviter: I hate that figurine and the sadistic Imm that coded it. That should enter into every conversation about whether to choose felar as a race for assassins. The time I assass'd you was one of my best - I stalked you from the Weald to your wand spot and saw you teleport. I thought about where, from that place, a person would teleport to rather than walk, and ran off in that direction. Where I found you at your next wand spot. The rest is history. ;) Of course, I never saw you at those wand spots again.

Victoria: I logged in tjat day while I was on my vacation specifically to assassinate you. Our hours just did not mesh, but I wanted to land an assassination because I have a sneaky suspicion who plays Vic, and didn't want you to be able to say "I've never been assassinated unless I knew it was going to happen." Of course, you did say that, anyway :P Congrats on being the hardest freaking person to stalk. Even with imperial spies, the most I could get was 6 stalks.

Mek: Said it all in your goodbyes. Would you have inducted me if I asked?

Isspyn: That assassination on you was also priceless. I would love to post it and the background, but it might reveal too much about imperial powers. I would have fought you with trance at the end, though, if you sat on water or something. STSF is the devil, though.

There are more but this is getting long.

OUTLANDERS:
Linaeren: The obvious. It was fun, I'll roll an Outlander in a month if you're still around.

Xinrithil: You taught me my first few lessons in STSF = ugliness. That was such a shock the first time it fired off. Then when it fired off when you guys ganked me, and I wasn't even targetting you. That was surprising, also. I really had to think about how to approach you after those early experiences.

Throkk: I always wanted to use piercing gaze to assassinate someone in camo! I watched you a lot and keep it up.

Again, more, but time and space and ramblings. Actually, I'll have to pick this up later. If anyone wants to ask a question/say goodbye/request a log, feel free. I logged several fights, but it'll take some effort to clean them up.

Mek: Said it all in your goodbyes. Would you have inducted me if I asked?

If the choice were totally mine, yes. Ktaar was everything an assassin should be and inspired fear in everyone when he was around...sounds like something Scion would want a piece of.

And I am always on the lookout for talent when I play any side. Be pro-active and you just might change the world.

Anyways, awesome character, fearsome opponent, and a major high point for Empire.

I am sad. Ktaar kept things lively and kept me on my toes. You taught me a lot about martial trance. Mainly, don't #### with an assassin in a martial trance. The few times I had you on the ropes, you ran like no other to escape. You got me in interesting ways and reminded me how dangerous an assassin could be. I remember fighting Ktaar and thinking to myself "Gee, I don't think he's linkdead, but why isn't he doing anyt...oh ####" then owaza hits. You were a pimp, perfect shadow lord, and I had you pegged for a sure thing on the next emperor. Badass character.

n/t

That one crucial highlight was obliterating Kavan's high water mark for assassinations :P

Who actually has the record, anyway? Ktaar? Other than Kavan, the only other candidates that come to mind are Jalim and Etarekoth. At least, in the last 4-5 years.

nt

nt

I would be interested to know how many Ktaar and Etarekoth had. Unfortunately, I think Et predates the gathering of PBF stats.

To perfect it takes approx. 40-50 assassinates. That's based on the declining rate of improvement as one approaches 100%. So that's at least a lower limit on the counts for Ktaar, Et and Jalim.

Any Imp care to check Etarekoth's pfile if it still exists somewhere?

nt

My guess: assassinate kills not tracked separately until partway through the lifetime of that character.

nt

Certain things only started tracking half-way (or 3/4 of the way) through Mekantos' life as well. That's why his PBF is weird. Etarekoth was around right at the same time.

This might have been when PK Ratios were removed and PBF's were actually brought into existence.

>To perfect it takes approx. 40-50 assassinates. That's based
>on the declining rate of improvement as one approaches 100%.
>So that's at least a lower limit on the counts for Ktaar, Et
>and Jalim.
>


I logged them all, and I think if I added them up they'd be around that range (I'll post my logs this weekend - I never get any log comments but some I think are pretty cool). I didn't assassinate that much after I perfected it - I took Stalker's Eye and really wanted to experiement with martial trance.

The Kavan comment was just a running joke between me and Derexal.

PBF assassins by sheer # of assassinates:

1. Dulmisa - # of Assassinations 101, Hours: 641
2. Vens - # of Assassinations 88, Hours: 508
3. Shapan - # of Assassinations 66, Hours: 317
4. Ktaar - # of Assassinations 63, Hours: 512
5. Israhiaz - # of Assassinations 58, Hours: 316
6. Sarmas - # of Assassinations 53, Hours: 396
7. Laes - # of Assassinations 49, Hours: 581
8. Mizzarah - # of Assassinations 36, Hours: 272
9. Alarith - # of Assassinations 34, Hours: 384
10. Nanorab - # of Assassinations 31, Hours: 566
11. Maghrahlris - # of Assassinations 29, Hours: 193
12. Khobedi - # of Assassinations 29, Hours: 224
13. Etarekoth - # of Assassinations 28, Hours: 571
14. Kavan - # of Assassinations 21, Hours: 546
15. Jafacfl - # of Assassinations 17, Hours: 138
16. Saqzawaz - # of Assassinations 16, Hours: 401
17. Ktephes - # of Assassinations 11, Hours: 168
18. Ahzeed - # of Assassinations 11, Hours: 178


Some of the oldest, such as Etarekoth and Laes, might not have all assassinate kills recorded as assassinates.

Jalim's player also informed me there was a bug, early on, where landing assassinations past 100% screwed up your PBF and set you back to zero. Something like that. He claims to have had in the 50s, I think. He perfected it, so that seems about right.

Man...I don't even remember Sarmas. I must not have had a hero at the time.

If memory serves, I was rooting for you to be the first assassin Emperor. Too bad. Great job, old friend, you just barely missed me this time.

I was wondering why you haven't been online in so long. Have fun with the family!

Hunsobo: You basically broke the role of this character The problem is that I as a player felt you deserved everything you got and that Hunsobo was great for the game.


After I read your role, I knew I'd have to make sure not to let it affect how Hunsobo interacted with you. Do you think I did a good job/ok job/poor job of being oblivious to your firegiant issues?


Anyways, I really enjoyed playing with you. Knowing who you are, and that you played Ktaar, made me read Forum posts from you with a newfound respect. :)


Lastly, I'm really glad to hear you deleted out of time issues, rather than frustration issues. I felt bad that the vote for the next Emperor hadn't (hasn't!) happened yet. When I saw the deletion I was worried it was partially due to that.


Good luck with the next!

>Hunsobo: You basically broke the role of this character The
>problem is that I as a player felt you deserved everything you
>got and that Hunsobo was great for the game.
>
>
>After I read your role, I knew I'd have to make sure not to
>let it affect how Hunsobo interacted with you. Do you think I
>did a good job/ok job/poor job of being oblivious to your
>firegiant issues?
>


Yes, I had no idea you were an Imm. Hunsobo was one of a kind, and I knew he wasn't played by Nep because I'm pretty sure Nep played Queliryon, who fought both of us :P I was just expecting a nasty PBF comment after voting for you. At the time, it made sense to go for a tie in the first round of voting. For some crazy reason I thought we'd vote again, and you'd realize Waserax betrayed you and change your vote.

I tried not to group with Hunsobo or Kharg much (except when required by circumstances like raiding) but I didn't play the role out very well.


>
>Anyways, I really enjoyed playing with you. Knowing who you
>are, and that you played Ktaar, made me read Forum posts from
>you with a newfound respect. :)
>


Haha.


>
>Lastly, I'm really glad to hear you deleted out of time
>issues, rather than frustration issues. I felt bad that the
>vote for the next Emperor hadn't (hasn't!) happened yet. When
>I saw the deletion I was worried it was partially due to
>that.
>


No, no frustration except when Khaso filled the council with unknowns - particularly his own High Priest. I'm not convinced Ktaar would have made a great Emperor. I wasn't standing around in the open talking that much, and I'd be willing to bet most imperials never had a clue when I was online.


>
>Good luck with the next!

>>Hunsobo: You basically broke the role of this character
>The
>>problem is that I as a player felt you deserved everything
>you
>>got and that Hunsobo was great for the game.
>>
>>
>>After I read your role, I knew I'd have to make sure not to
>>let it affect how Hunsobo interacted with you. Do you think
>I
>>did a good job/ok job/poor job of being oblivious to your
>>firegiant issues?
>>
>
>
>Yes, I had no idea you were an Imm. Hunsobo was one of a
>kind, and I knew he wasn't played by Nep because I'm pretty
>sure Nep played Queliryon, who fought both of us :P I was
>just expecting a nasty PBF comment after voting for you. At
>the time, it made sense to go for a tie in the first round of
>voting. For some crazy reason I thought we'd vote again, and
>you'd realize Waserax betrayed you and change your vote.
>
>I tried not to group with Hunsobo or Kharg much (except when
>required by circumstances like raiding) but I didn't play the
>role out very well.

I didn't watch that aspect of your roleplay much, but the role addition seemed to make your respect of Kharg and Hunsobo make sense, at least to me. Lots of chars in "epic fantasy" have racial-type hatred/fear and end up changing over the course of a long life. It wasn't as if you all of a sudden went "oo. Dude gave me shinies! I like fire giants now instead of wanting them all dead!"


>>Lastly, I'm really glad to hear you deleted out of time
>>issues, rather than frustration issues. I felt bad that the
>>vote for the next Emperor hadn't (hasn't!) happened yet.
>When
>>I saw the deletion I was worried it was partially due to
>>that.
>>
>
>No, no frustration except when Khaso filled the council with
>unknowns - particularly his own High Priest. I'm not
>convinced Ktaar would have made a great Emperor. I wasn't
>standing around in the open talking that much, and I'd be
>willing to bet most imperials never had a clue when I was
>online.

To be fair, it wasn't as if there was a ton of choices for any of the council spots (he and I discussed it, actually). :P

As for you as Emperor - I honestly don't think it'd have made you any more scary and feared. Maybe a bit more deadly (tactics/sigil) but you were already so feared by anyone who didn't have detect hidden.

>Yes, I had no idea you were an Imm. Hunsobo was one of a
>kind, and I knew he wasn't played by Nep because I'm pretty
>sure Nep played Queliryon, who fought both of us :P

Hunsobo interacted with Daevryn directly, so it couldn't have been nep. Couldn't have been Zulgh, that would be too shady for words. Kastellyn was out after he announced he played Kharg. That left Sebeok and Arvam on my list of possibles, and Hunsobo seemed to "jolly" compared to Yanacek. So my money was (incorrectly) on Arvam, based mainly on my interactions with Lariya (whom I always assumed was played by Arvam).

btw, I liked Ktaar. We didn't get to run around as much as Hunsobo and I did, but that was more Ktaar's style. Somehow I knew you were going to be quality, even from the brief interactions we had prior to (or just after) your taking the Oath.

I really, really wish we'd been able to kill Niheriva that time in Imperial Lands. :(

>I really, really wish we'd been able to kill Niheriva that
>time in Imperial Lands. :(


Yeah, me too. She really lucked out with her legacies so far as fighting you. I did manage to finally bring her down, though (albeit the quick way :P)

Hey! Outlanders with insect swarm is totally not my fault. Although, the 'Well, if we were GOING to do it, here's what I'd add' new restrictions on it somewhat were.

I liked Ktaar a lot. Nice character.

If you're still entertaining guesses on who you played to rock Hunsobo and Kharg... Did you play Queliryon? And if so, did you know I was stalking you in Maethien when you and your group suddenly recalled out and went to the Sands of Sorrow ??!?!! (for some otherwise completely inexplicable reason).

>Hey! Outlanders with insect swarm is totally not my fault.

Yup. It's my fault :)

>Although, the 'Well, if we were GOING to do it, here's what
>I'd add' new restrictions on it somewhat were.

True

>I liked Ktaar a lot. Nice character.

Me too. Wish I'd had more time lately to actually have made you Emperor.

Unlike Seriistian, I hated fighting you once you became shadow lord. Our early fights I did well enough against you, but I suspect your martial trance percentage went up or your found a personal haste source because you reached the point where fighting you resulted in humiliating defeats for me despite my having better gear and better preparation than in our earlier fights. I have fought STSF characters, and whatever juice you were drinking in our last several fights was like battling a third fight against a hopped up STSF dark elf right from your opening kans or my opening hamstring. It was not pleasant.

I wish I could have had roleplay with you, but neither of us preferred to stand out in the open. GLWYN.

Not sure. I did usually manage to stalk you once or twice before finding the trance, and I took the Stalker's Eye edge after mastering assassinate. That helped a great deal. Roleplaying would have been nice, but you put it right: one of us was always hidden.

I was seriously awe struck when that happened. I KNEW you were around and maybe after me, but I had been standing there spamming hamstring for you figuring I could catch you even sneaking when you walked off the road. I guess you sneaked by in the middle of a tell or something and managed to hide again. I certainly didn't think you'd be standing right there with me (I now suspect that is in fact what you were doing). I think I have the log, and I'll post it from my perspective. See the Logs board for that. That shouldn't give away too many of those secrets that you used so well. When you read it from my point of view, check out how blindingly fast it happened between the commands I had entered. I had literally a split second to react, and it was too late. Brilliant execution.

I was always super paranoid with you around after that, because I knew you could and would get me again if you got even the glimmer of a chance.

Yeah, that was classic and still makes me chuckle. I also knew Drezen would be a problem from that encounter :P

>Throkk: I always wanted to use piercing gaze to assassinate someone in camo! I watched you a lot and keep it up.

Yeah, I was like damn piercing gaze! That will teach me not to sit idle for too long, even though it is one of the great things about outlanders. Being able to take a breather and be relatively secure.

I tried to set up some encounters with you when I raided the spire. But you either never took the bait or your shadow power works against fires. Anyway, I never got to pay you back *fistshake*

>Linaeren: The obvious. It was fun, I'll roll an Outlander in a month if
>you're still around.

It would be great for outlander, but I think you are best as an enemy. Whoever gets to fight you is the lucky one. Take care of the family, but come back. You are a great player.

Impressive. I remember hiding out from you on the Hamsah outskirts, probably for hours, as Istilion. I think that says a lot IRT your skill, I never do that. I usually just move around alot and figure, hey, if the guy wants to follow me this bad, maybe I'll eat an assassinate once in a while. With you it was a garauntee. I would wander off to remoteish areas thinking, no way he comes out here to get me. BAM, dead, oh #### me. You did a great job, I hope your next is just as deadly, and on my side as well.

Thanks, though I'm not sure you could call it skill. Man, I remember one time when I tried to gank you with Ahiviln, and I almost died spamming trip on you and eating your swiftstrikes and ripostes.

> Shadows: The best was Valryn, who Seriistian anathema'd. I waited
> a long time to see another Valryn, the type of character I would
> have swiftly promoted even though he'd stab me in the back, and I
> didn't. The recent group of Shadows seems promising, though.

WAS?? I'm not dead yet, kiddo. Just kinda did what you were talking about, though. My playtime went all to hell, which is half of the reason I kept being demoted, and a part of my eventual anathema. Since I got anathema'd, figured no-one's really depending on me to be around, so I can skulk about in the shadows and show up when I want to. Who knows ;)

I always expected to see you on the throne some day. We didn't fight much, because I was always afraid you were just trying to assassinate me. Still, solid character who COULD fight if he chose too. Props.

GLWYN

PS - The way Ktarr Kitane referred to himself as Ktaar Kitane made me chuckle every time. I just couldn't help think "Bob Dole! Bob Dole! Bob Dole... Bob Dole...". Very entertaining.

Aaaw! Never interacted with you, but I had a bet with some other ragers who'd be the next emperor, I was certain it would be you. :(

You rocked that much, I don't know how you didn't emp.

Good job.

.