I'll keep it mildly long :)

As much as I'd like to say the ride was fun, it was only fun for a few interactions with Drokalantym....everything else became dreadfully boring as a non-caballed neutral healer - it's half the reason I randomly picked fights with people is because there was *nothing* else to do. I ganked but that's what a healer does when he can't solo kill (which I did quite a bit). I learned a lot of areas I didn't know before, I explored more than any character I've ever had (23k exploration and 23k observation), I had pretty much the best set of gear possible since Silent Tower was closed and it even got to the point where I was IDing all shopkeeper items. When you struggle to find a reason to log on, and it's "oh let's hope the entire Scion/Orc cabals are on so MAYBE we can do the Inferno so I can find one replacement for my near perfect set!"....you get the idea. I got killed by Empire trying to be a pimp using the pipe (which backfired and slept me in front of a dispeller and pincer warrior) and when I knew I wouldn't get it all back, the despair of having to work to get it back when I didn't really care just wasn't worth it to continue. I'm just not fit to be uncaballed or non-pk driven because without it CF can get very boring (it was like Vadante but worse).

In general, the character's premise was to follow Drokalantym's wishes and make his return known to the world - usually through destroying dragon scale, hunting those who did, and generally trying to act like a superior being. It made for some painful relationships because everyone felt the need to use one piece of dragonscale (looking at you Eleia and Lezra) to void out any relationship - way to prioritize a very useful ally for crap gear. What would you rather have - Five-scale Mail or a healer back-up? My point exactly. It was a simple premise that I attempted to grow on but it seemed from lack of prayer answers and just general lack of direction that Drok didn't want to take it further and my dedication was failing (after losing Orcus to a crash, I said screw it and killed the eight-headed dragon to get another)....and if I was losing direction, no reason Drok would ever do anything else so what's the point? Our meetings were generally around "amuse me" and nothing further when I tried pressing it. Sadly I remember my last Drok follower (cloud giant of frost, remember that Nep?) and he just seemed to have it mesh a lot better than this guy....but his premise was to understand his gift, which gave Drok more to feed off though RP-wise.

Some notable goodbyes....

Nexus and Rayihn - I never got around to joining Nexus for a few reasons - one, Drok said it didn't interest him so it didn't interest my guy. Two, some of the Nexus would wear dragon scale and how am I supposed to not kill cabalmates? Pelrin pretty much told me to shove it when I told him to destroy his. Three, they can't explore Hell. You heard me right - with the pure lack of players in the Hero ranks it's absolutely impossible to get a Nexus group together for the Inferno because when you have the numbers....they're in the wrong side of the balance (not to mention they probably won't like you). I doubt the game ever has the numbers anymore - oh you can do the first few circles but I'm at the point where I could walk that in my sleep. I want to fully explore past the Fifth, kill all the Archdevils, and do some fun stuff...it's the best area in the game and it seems no one really cares as much as I do to explore it. When you've been playing as long as I have, it's the "final frontier" that makes it worth continuing. The last group I had like that? 8 people like 4-5 years ago. I haven't seen 8 people who wouldn't kill each other since FortO'Clock with Vadante (which most of the Fortress won't even do) and any attempt to get the old school players back for an OOC group just doesn't seem possible. Just seems the glory days of Inferno trips are gone. It probably will take another crazy charge AP who will actually risk it on a trip, but the chances of that with the three level sitting 40 APs is so slim it's not worth it.

Isendor - I had a lot of respect for you up until that crash. It was too convenient and you didn't relog back on for 10 minutes. I did beat you in a pure 1on1 which I asked for..which I was quite proud of with your uber Bal'Talon sword (btw, paladins use wimpy? :) You'd have died without it and fleeing). I was hoping to end the whole "hunted by Fortress" ordeal but apparently some Goddess was mad at me for killing Fortress members in the Fort who wore scale and repeatedly attacked me. Gotta love how the title-happy Imm loves to smear a character with falsehood of the situation...my purpose for killing the Light is just as valid as Nexus balance and yet I'm crapped on for it. I remember asking you to step out of the desert to get shields for an Inferno trip when you were level 11....you heroed 3 days from then, got titled and Marshal/Chosen now. Good job but just seems way too fast.

Liches - I'm lumping you two together because I've got the same thing to say. DO SOMETHING FUN! Seriously, going around and collecting phylacteries when you log on is like chinese gold farming. I asked you both to do Inferno trips and both said pretty much "it's too dangerous". Go ballz out and do something more for crying out loud. Outside of another crazy charge AP you're the only ones viable for another fun Inferno trip and you're stuck in limbo repetition. No one likes "blah" characters who play it safe all the time. By the way Ahtieli, that was a pretty bad showing in that fight - you could have easily killed us both (energy drain the giant healer) but you just spammed power word kill....the most pathetic way to instant kill someone.

Alzinghul - The only thing that kept me going was logging on with you for some exploring or killing. I went a little out of my superior being roleplay when I geared you up but after you started to follow the Lurker (he ever answer you?) it was a good choice for us. I know it's blatantly wrong to have a sanctified orc with a horde running around but we fought some pretty rough odds about 90% of the time (and we used the horde like twice?). Even through my sanctuary, I've seen you take 50% of your hero HPs in ONE ROUND at the Watcher alone not even including other players....it's a rough life and I know my being gone isn't going to make it any better. Good luck though (and I agree, it's wrong that you can't use giant_only gear).

Grokk and Grembelis - you suck for leaving me alone :(

Drok - did our times not mesh or was I just not that good with this guy? Just had this sense that I was pulling teeth to get anything because I probably wasn't interesting you.

Anyways, hope some people enjoyed the character - I tried very hard to show people areas by exploring and the trips to the Inferno in a way that fit my RP but would wet the appetite for more. Apparently it didn't take.

_torak_

Well I never really had a chance to interact with your character on a role playing level so I must say that I am rather disappointed we didn't have that talk. I know you're bitter about the crash, but if it makes you feel any better when I woke up I wasn't sung up and in a completely different room, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway. I had a phone call about one minute after the crash and had to take it. If I didn't want to face you three I would've never shown up in the first place. So, that's that.

On a side note, unless one of us made a grave error it was highly unlikely either of us were going to pull off a kill.

And yeah, I made it to hero pretty quick. Then again I put in a lot of hours in a short span of time. Hooray for vacations.

I think Lyristeon summed it up perfectly below: I liked young Vizjun a lot, and if you'd deleted at level 40 or so I probably would have only good things to say here. You put a lot of effort into your RP and it showed.

I'm not saying you stopped trying when you got fully empowered, exactly, but sometime shorter thereafter you got that and heroed, you turned from an interesting character to generic "Torak" hero who runs around trying to gang people down (not that I blame you with a healer) and boss people into exploring Hell or whatever you wanted at the moment. I'll grant you, you kept to Vizjun's speech patterns but that was about it.

I spent a lot of time watching hero Vizjun looking for a good time to interact with him again, and at that point in his life he was so uninspiring to me that I couldn't muster the energy to do it. There's Vizjun ganging someone down with Alzinghul... again... and not saying anything other than ordering Alzinghul to do various things in combat. (Note: I don't blame Alzinghul for that either. I'd do the same thing to get that kind of backup as an orc.)

I really thought hard about unempowering you (because you had become boring), and if I'd been more active and positive that I wasn't just catching you on your worst days, I probably would have... but you seemed to be having fun with what you were doing and your RP wasn't terrible, so I erred on the side of keeping claws off and letting you do your thing.

I got the sense you really wanted Drokalanatym to be something he isn't, and like a would-be Hell trip groupmate that refused to follow orders, became frustrated when he didn't conform to what you thought he should be.

As far as Nexus went, I think you heard what you wanted to there. You asked Drok if you should join, he said that what cause you chose to fight for wasn't that important, so long as it was interesting. I don't fault you for that choice either, I'm just saying.

I do agree with Eleia and Ahtieli below, in the sense that if I were playing a character who wanted to go to Hell, I wouldn't go with you. Sorry, but everything about the way you lead exploration groups rubs me the wrong way and would not be a fun time for me. I say this not to bash you but maybe to get you to examine why that would be and make changes for the better.

That was my first time in hell, at least beyond the first circle.

When I got the invite, that wasn't quite what I was expecting. I didn't have the chance to look at anything at all. I learnt a little, but in general we moved faster than I could take stuff in.

It wasn't quite what I thought I'd been missing out on for years!

####ing Torak. I love you some times man, but Nep and the rest are right. You are no Jaguab when it comes to leading groups.

That was hilarious btw. And I think I tanked pretty damn well.

...just blows my mind. Do you really just troll people without knowing why? There's a VERY good reason I made an unshifted shifter take blows in those fights - our options were an Orc, a Giant, and 2 shapeshifter forms with low intelligence.

Do I need to show you a log of a mongoose getting instant-killed to understand WHY I made the tank unshift or was that explanation not obvious enough? Have you even seen the logs with the stone to understand?

Bleh.

Mind you, I've never been on one of your hell trips...but if you're going to be bossy and not even show people enough to have them grasp the necessity of them tanking in a situation like this, it really seems like these trips are all about you and wouldn't be any fun for others.

I've just got a thing against people like Sam who flame unnecessarily and with spite filled in their words. I should explain more when I'm going "through the motions" of going down the circles...it's not an elitest attitude, I'm just trying to get through the fluff to get to the meat (which probably isn't fluff to a lot of people).

I got some learning to do as a leader, I get it - from people's feedback that is a bit more helpful like Nep's instead of #### talkers like Sam.

You take those newbies to hell. Short (relatively) trips.

let them look at everything. Let them id everything. Show them each room. show them the ins and outs. Do that a few times, with different newbies.

And before long. you will have educated a whole new group of players who are willing....AND ABLE....to keep up with you to the lower circles.


There's the heisman trophy winner who goes home and plays a pickup game of sandlot football with his old highschool friends....who get's pissed at all of his recievers who don't cut at the right time...who drop the ball...who blows a gasket when his friend doesn't block that person blitzing.

Playing with him is ####ing lame. And not fun.


Then there is the third stringer in college who goes home and plays a pickup game of sandlot football with his old highschool friends...

And he gives hints on what they can do better. He let's them play at their ability, and has fun trying to give them tips on how to bring their ability up.

playing with him is WAY fun. for all involved.



Which kind of hell-trip leader are you?


You whine about no one wanting to go to hell? Well, maybe that's because for the VAST majority of the current playerbase...they've never been, they don't know the way through the dark forest, and the only chance they have to go is with someone who makes it *NOT FUN!!!*.

Why not change that? Why not make a few characters with the goal of teaching 15-20 at least of the newer players the joys of hell. once enough people see how fun it can be, without an ass riding them with a bullhide whip all the time....you will see more and more trips take place.

~

I'm talking about the one when we let Hujijin(sp?, the dude with the Sceptre of Domination) repop after we killed him once with me tanking.

We had bard+invoker+thief+unempowered healer (you hehehehe)+me+other shifter+someone else, can't remember.

If I remember right we got a repop right after he died and we had....

-a bard who needed to rest while he sung or he'd run out of mana (or get lagged which would be worse)
-an invoker who needed to periodically flee to reshield since he dispels
-my unempowered healer
-two shifters who can still instant die in form if they tank and can use aura/shield to help them tank better
-a low intelligence thief (svirf right?) who wasn't even a hero

I may not make perfect moves in bad situations like that, but I try to make intelligent choices.

Honestly how the character evolved is something I need to internalize if I'm ever going to grow because Vizjun was a perfect example of something I could have made a lot better and I reverted to my old ways throughout his life. Being pinned into a non-caballed neutral non-pkable character didn't help in anyway either because boredom can really destroy character goals. Maybe unempowering me would have been the better option or I should have deleted earlier when I noticed it myself...think it happened when I finally hit hero and went "well, now what?" and realized something was out of place from what I original had done.

As for my leading exploration groups, maybe I've just become bitter to the ability of some people or even lack of people to do it with - I probably push people too much because I want to get past the mindless parts. I remember groups of eight people saying "Hey let's go to the Inferno!" all psyched up and ready to roll on a Friday night...now I actually get angry if people forget things like potions of translucence which can't be healthy. I've logged about everything through the Inferno, including multiple Satan trips and I think I change for the better once I enter Dis because it's "uncharted territory"....compared to knowing practically every room, every item and mob description up to that point (granted I forget some things or do risky moves...should have waited for that stupid mob to walk away from Archdevil Belial before attempting it).

I always feel like I have to push people to do the Inferno though....in all of Vizjun's life I got asked once to go and it was from a total newbie.

I think for my next character, if I can ever figure out what I want to make, will be definitely caballed and pk-able....and probably shut up a lot more with no Inferno interest. Maybe it'll balance it out and I'll learn something.

Anyways, thanks for the experience.

> Maybe unempowering me would have been the
>better option or I should have deleted earlier when I noticed
>it myself...think it happened when I finally hit hero and went
>"well, now what?" and realized something was out of place from
>what I original had done.

One thing I've learned over the years is that by the time you're asking yourself that question you should have deleted twenty hours previously. I've had a few characters with long, happy, wonderfully RP'd lives flame out in apathetic glory.

This one, that wandered around with you, just never took off in the first place ;)

By the moment I refused to destroy that mail I already decided that I won't ever come exploring with you. I respect your area knowladge but you seemed to me the worst party leader I've ever met here. Dying the third time with you for nothing...well I wasn't planning that. Your help as an ally was handy sometimes but not that I can't live without it. With healer's help it's way too easy:) And third I'm rather bored with my range last days as well(hope weakend would fix that) so I didn't mind one more enemy. And cloud giant healer even shining like new year tree isn't that much of the threat for me. Sure you had some tricks at your sleeves but well that could be fun.
Other than that I more liked you than not. Good luck.

Sorry but "dying for nothing" is complete BS - we died fighting Archdevil Belial (tough ####, it's not easy...dying is part of learning the Inferno which I seem to remember you getting gear from) and a huge dire wolf (if Alzinghul hadn't bailed we'd be fine, but fleeing around the pine wood like an idiot grabbing the entire forest isn't my fault - I spent over 2300 mana healing you, I'm not superman).

But whatever, you decided to ruin any future Inferno groups because you're bored - your choice. And if purity of mind wasn't totally useless our fights would have gone a lot differently. I had Rock of Faith edge, resist mental and purity of mind and yet you landed every single song on the first sing. Bards are BS when it comes to that, no offense. It's not like you'd ever kill me either 1on1.

It's not dying thing. I'm not lich and I don't care that much:). The problem is the way we went exploring. You run all the way for the item you wish to take/mob you wish to kill. No stops, no explains, no showing something. I just didn't see my profit other than logging all th way(not that bad but comparing to other people I was traveling along it's far from the best).
***It's not like you'd ever kill me either 1on1
Not that we have alot of fighting. One day we started war next day you died. Now I'm almost sure fiend would rape you, but now way to prove it:)

That in your last fight, I'd dispelled all of those things.

So I am a tad bitter that you start a War and aren't around to do any of the Warring, it is going to be a much faster road to con-death to say the least. I definitely enjoyed the running around with Vizjun, I'm not sure we lost to anyone when the two of us were together. It will be interesting see how everything pans out now that you're gone. Thank you for helping the horde out we're pretty deathful if used in the right way. I loved the inferno trip and Bleegulza was incredibly stoked so you did have a positive affect on a few players. See you in the fields.

When we met in the lowbie ranks, I tried to pass off the claw as a gift, but you didn't buy it. I was going to talk to you again in the next few days and see if cooperation was possible, since our goals were similar. It's not meant to be, alas.

Tight rope walking. Some of the good was really good. Some of the bad was borderline betrayer stuff. You pushed the envelope and got some good reviews when you were young. I liked the young Vizjun a lot.

I'm not exactly sure what changed but something definitely did. I pked early on, I demanded people not wear scales, I kicked some ass in the Arena....then I got old, geared and bored. I guess my problem is with burnout of what to do.

Maybe I should just make an evil villager...that shouldn't get boring.

>>Liches - I'm lumping you two together because I've got the
>same thing to say. DO SOMETHING FUN! Seriously, going around
>and collecting phylacteries when you log on is like chinese
>gold farming. I asked you both to do Inferno trips and both
>said pretty much "it's too dangerous".

If exploring is fun for you, it might be not fun for me. As for inferno trips I told you that there is not much things I really want from there. Add to this quite a big price and you being not all that good group leader and my lack of time for playing because of work. So I better go pk than go into Inferno and die in tryings to get another shinie for you. Nor lich actualy all that great help there. It's not my cup of tea to die just for getting you "we can do the Inferno so I can find one replacement for my near perfect set!"....".

>Go ballz out and do
>something more for crying out loud. Outside of another crazy
>charge AP you're the only ones viable for another fun Inferno
>trip and you're stuck in limbo repetition.

I'm playing for my fun. not for yours. I already tried to be somewhat fun for you when I spoke with you as an ally while you could not offer ANYTHING to me, except asking me to get you some armors when you were young. Though you were helpful in getting phylactery that one time that got you title of my lackey.

>No one likes "blah"
>characters who play it safe all the time.

Yea and I'm sure one of that type :P.

>By the way Ahtieli,
>that was a pretty bad showing in that fight - you could have
>easily killed us both (energy drain the giant healer) but you
>just spammed power word kill....the most pathetic way to
>instant kill someone.

I figured out that it's you after 3-4 tells. I donno how to explain that but you have very interesting manner of speaking with people, like if you know everything better than anyone else. For example it's quite stupid comment on tactic for that battle. Energy drain won't give me kill there EVER. Especialy if you act like this:

You tell your group 'Get out'
<817hp 560m 944mv <8 AM>> gr
Alzinghul's group:
<51 Ber> Alzinghul 95% hp 84% mana 100% mv 451320 xp
<51 Hea> Vizjun 81% hp 47% mana 88% mv 586900 xp

I was not interested in making you run. Though I did it in out next fight. And pwk was just a way to begin battle, I did way more things than spamming pwk on you.

I wanted to get the Orc out safe and gate to Eleia to fight her more. There's no way we could keep you there, it was mental masturbation at it's finest since all you would do is run anyways (which is exactly what you did).

And the whole point of exploring isn't to die for gear, there's more to it - I said I wanted to kill each of the Archdevils, most of which have nothing for my guy. There's exploring for the sake of exploring, not just for "shinies".

And the whole point of exploring isn't to die for gear, there's more to it - I said I wanted to kill each of the Archdevils, most of which have nothing for my guy. There's exploring for the sake of exploring, not just for "shinies".

why do you think I want or need it? Especially with price I have to pay. Even without it I don't think I would go explore with you, no matter which class I play. Since you are not all that great group leader. It does not mean I'm better, probably much worse.

Interesting character, I declare!

You're a neutral, non nexus character raiding the Watcher. To me, that warrants hunted status. It probably would have gone away eventually.

I think there's more to this game than hell trips.

Good luck on your next. I'll just say this wasn't my favorite effort of yours. Then again, it also wasn't my least favorite.

There are the Pinkys and the Brains.

The Pinkys do the self-entertaining - they have dance contests in the Inn, help or screw with newbies, talk with random NPCs, do something completely chaotic, or generally just make CF an online-chat room for purposes of their particular character's whims.

And the Brains try to do the impossible - you either become a pk god (wasn't an option), you make world changing cabal fights (wasn't an option and it gets repetitive) or you explore what's never been done before which is the Inferno.

Just like any other game, there's always the final level - after you've been pking for over 10+ years, I'm the kind of guy who enjoys the end boss fights...it's the equivalent to WoW raiding but a lot more fun in my opinion. Sacer once quoted that something like 65% of the Inferno hadn't even been seen yet because people always rush to Satan. I know for years no one even used that questy stone item that can instantly kill and suddenly I show a few people and it's becoming more common. No one has even seen or killed a huge part of that area. That is what I like adding to the game - collectively getting a lot of people together and accomplishing something that hasn't been done in the 10+ years of CF. Raiding, pking, roleplaying, etc has all been done but this is actually something still new. Wouldn't you like to say "yeah, we were the first who kicked the ass of Asmodeus"?

Guess I've just got a unique view.

Why not try to design a character to take on the liches?

I liked Vizjun, for what it is worth, although you did seem to lose momentum in the last few weeks.

Oh I've thought about it ;)

Or a group of outlander air/defense shifters who just spam feral rage...

So basically if you RP you're just a an idiot who contributes nothing to the game, but if you hoarde shinies then you're the best player?

Interesting.

asfsaf

I didn't like you way back when and I still don't. Your history is a large part of that. Even after all these years, you really haven't changed. Second is you just don't know as much about hell as you think you do. If you would just shutup and follow sometimes, you would learn a lot more about the place. Third is that you can't seem to think outside the box. You just seem to repeat the same things that were done by the people that came before you. I never saw anything outside of what others had accomplished there.

A piece of advice I once received was that to be a good leader you have to be a good follower. You aren't a brain just because you think you are.

I attempted to leave this vague enough to not out you, but to hopefully get the point across.

LOL. Saying Vadante was your second char provided hours of laughter.