Yesterday I realized that last time I've played Carrion Fields about a year ago. I guess this means I am gone from the game. Well, it was a blast. I really enjoyed it. I played from 1996 to 2007 - it's 11 years! And in these 11 years, on a rough estimate, I've spent about 5000 hours in game. More than a half a year - ouch! And now I owe a farewell of sorts - to all folks who made this game enjoyable for me.

When I started playing, it was all new to me - other language, no forum, no informational resources... Holding Bloody Orb from Forest of NoWhere looked like a decent choice, Shadow Grove (stock one, mind you) was an impassable maze and PKillers with 13-letters names two-rounded me at level 12. Still it was fun. Game evolved, and so did I. I've always had a full life with lots of hobbies, but always had 2 to 12 hours per week for good ol' CF. Yeah, I didn't play much, but I certainly played my fair share, sometimes more, sometimes less. I cheated at the beginning, stopped doing that as I grew mature. If you are cheating/multicharring, I highly recommend stopping this - game is so much more fun if you play one character to the teeth.

So why I stopped playing CF? Not that I grew out of it - I'm still a kid deep inside. Not because I have a serious job - got one for 9 years already, now I'm a people manager in a large US-based company. Because game became so serious and time-consuming... Yes, partially. But the main reason probably is that I've got a new hobby and it takes all of my free time plus some more. At the age of 28, I suddenly got into dancing. Now I study HipHop, House, KRUMP, Jazz, Popping and other styles, dance in clubs, on concerts, go to workshops all over the world and bring the best world choreographers to my city. It's very time and physically exhaustive, but it is so much fun. A piece of advice for fellow CFers, stay away from dancing - it's far more addictive than CF! :-)

I was lucky I didn't have any "lame" characters - I enjoyed every single one of them. Here they are:

-MASTER- Damiana the Invoker Hero - first caballed character, was learning at the time.
-MASTER- Calessin the Planewalker, Lord Adept of Conjuration - first elder, decent PK record. Was created when conjurers went in.
-BATTLE- Rio the Perfect Crime, Honored Blade of War - last Leader, first Commander. Under Immortal guidance, lead Battle through the phylosophy change. Later retired and age-died. Good PK record.
-SCION- Quimo the Weaver of the Elements. Very good PK record (100+ kills). Constantly went against heavy odds. Deleted after Scion got disbanded.
-None- Amitofo the Shihan - assassin which did not talk at all, not even tells. Was a challenge.
-EMPIRE- Laes the Dai Sensei of the Miyama Ryu, Imperial Shadow Lord - stayed as Shadow Lord for 400+ hours. Excellent PK record (165 kills). 100% assassinate. Enjoyed imperial politics, wars and exploration. Deleted.
-FORTRESS- Alven the Avatar of the Father, Faithful Maran of Justice - paladin of an evil God, tattooed, Maran. Solo hunter. Tricky role - contest semi-finalist. CON-died at 330 hours.
-None- Merlaan the Shinan, Bloodoathed of the Empire - comeback as a Shadow. Many promotions (up to Shadow Lord) then demotions for playing rarely. Very good PK record. 100% assassinate. No decent role. 10+ (13?) edges. Auto-deleted.

If you want to get in touch, you're most welcome! It would be nice to remember good times, and just to chat about this and that. E-mail is ibd at sun dot com. If you are traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia and I know you in game, I'll probably like to meet you. It is possible I can show you the city - it's very nice. There's a possibility you can stay at my place for a couple of days - just contact me and we'll see what I can do!

Again big THANK YOU to you people. Especially to Immortals for making the game what it was all these 11 years, to all decent folks I've interacted in game and to Sheryl for... just being such a wonderful girl!

As our CEO used to say, "Kick butt and have fun!"

Peace,
Boris

Impressive list, and yes - sometimes its time to move on... Havent played CF for over one year now, and doubt that I will find the time to return. I play Wow now instead, not the same, miss alot of the immteraction ect that is unique to CF.

You will properly know me as Zargu, Zhenzar, Zilopza, Dehelia, and tons of others. Mostly healers and shamans of the empire or Scion, I do remember Laes very well! :-)

Take care...

/Zhenzar

Friends,

thank you for the kind words. I know it's mostly players which makes the game so unique - creative and fun ones. I do not swear I will be gone from CF - I'll always have a piece of it in my heart.

One-liners for those who replied to me (sorry, I'm afraid if I go for longer farewells, I might want to come back :-) ):

Yean: and I'd thought you'd curse me for that :-) Just kidding. If I go to S., will drop on by for sure! (I wish...)
Gory: yep, that's me! Would be nice to talk in RL.
Stunna1: sorry, I don't know which characters that were, but it probably was fun!
Gryshilniar: sorry for assassinating you so many times - I've been on other side as well a few times, I know it's a pain. But it adds thrill to the game!
Yhorian: very solid characters, was a pleasure fighting against you, always a tough fight.
DhaezymKruuank: that death was quite frustrating. I remember being close to win it (had strike entered in), I think... Moments like that make CF appealing for me - pure thrill! And... Krump is REALLY tricky :-)
Kreo: they always come back :-)

Peace,
Boris

We've crossed paths on many a character, so I thought I'd say "so long for now."

I know what it's like to come and go from CF years at a time, that's always kinda been my style. I also know what it's like to have other stuff going on.

Good luck with dancing!

You're one amazing person. From engineering whiz to competitive soccer and now serious dancing. Heh. Anyway, I need to thank you as well, for introducing this game to me 6 (?) years ago, and never spoonfeeding me any information, which gave more gratifying results in the end. :) If you drop by the city again for one of your Sun talks, let me know.

WTF?! I wonder if i had known you in RL. Boris?
And as for myself, i havent played CF for about a half of a year after that one last crazy conjurer. And still returned, though, with a complete PK'less character, merely to enjoy the world and it's quests.

Hey,
Great character list. I really loved Alven, he was hard to get along with but once you got used to him he was just an awesome ally. Laes assassinated my characters probably around 30 times so that was frustrating but impressive. Same for Merlaan. You're a class act all around.

Great stuff and good luck with real life.

Sadly, none of them were my allies. But I remember they all pked me with style :P

Just keep in mind your passion for le mud could revive itself over something as simple as the new bird forms, or the idea of entering more tournaments. The game changes and shifts, but at it's core it's still something we all love.

Keep that in mind amigo, I'd hate for you to miss out when it's clear you love this 'other woman' as much as we do. Take it easy in the mean time!

Yhorian

Merlaan was SWEEEEEEEEET. I always wondered WTF happened to you. And about the infrequent logins.

One of my favorite memories on CF is killing a defiance wielding temperance paladin. You (as Alven) with Razmorthin (I also got Ulothrye in a giant gang). You were classy then, classy with Merlaan and classy now.

PS I really envy you. I've wanted to get into Krump for a long time now, but A) I'm white :) and B) I live in Pittsburgh.

Good luck.

I mean, it only took me 6-7 years before I returned. ^^