Sun Feb 1 02:36:57 2009

At 10 o'clock AM, Day of the Great Gods, 12th of the Month of the Ancient Darkness
on the Theran calendar Iunnrais perished, never to return.

Race:	arial
Class:	shapeshifter
Level:	51
Alignment:	Good
Ethos:	Chaotic
Cabal:	FORTRESS, the Fortress of Light
Age:	31
Hours:	153

I envisioned Iunnrais as a similar character to my character Tsyda only more focused towards helping others hence why I chose acolyte. I wanted to be able to swoop in, heal or rescue, and fly out. I could do this to a degree but because I wasn't an acolyte I did not have access to the powers necessary to pull this off. It got increasingly frustrating watching fort members die (as well as other lightwalkers) that I could have rescued had I been an Acolyte. I got tried of waiting for something that wasn't going to happen so I deleted. I just don't like to play a character for ages that has been derailed from their central purpose.

I believe I had over 100 hours as a scribe and sorry but that is too damn long to go without becoming an acolyte. This isn't a tattoo we are trying to get here. Scribe and Squire are just probational periods to make sure they are doing well enough to become the full fledged member. It doesn't take 100+ hours to figure this out, it doesn't take 50 hours but that would be reasonable to me. If by 50 hours someone isn't up to snuff they need to be told either directly by the imms or indirectly through the leaders. I was told repeatedly by Padwei that I was doing great and yet here I am, deleting because I knew it was either not going to happen or happen so late in the characters life as to make it a pointless gesture.

Let me show you a little something from the helpfile for acolyte:

Power: Level: Echelon:
Favor of the Sun: 10 Scribe
Spiritual Link 18 Acolyte
Spirit Sight 24 Acolyte
Altruism 30 Acolyte
Succor 32 Acolyte
Curse of Radiance 35 Acolyte

Do you notice that all the powers listed are BEFORE level 51? Do you know what I discovered as I perused the PBFs of acolytes? Virtually all of them were level 51 when they were made full acolytes. But that wasn't always true. The further back I went the more I saw people being made acolytes earlier, much earlier in many cases.

Now either there has been a real downfall in the quality of people in the Fortress OR the expectations have been increasing over time to unrealistic levels. Again I need to point out that this is not a tattoo we are going after, or a bloodied knight from the old knight cabal, its just a normal full fledged member of the Fortress, either Acolyte or Maran. Keeping people waiting so long without feedback is an injustice to the player, the time they have put into their character, and the Fort as a whole because they are denied abilities that would make them more useful.

Perhaps it is time to give more power back to the mortal leaders of the cabal and allow them to make people acolyte/maran. Perhaps even to start off with just one ability and then be able to give powers as the acolyte continues to prove themselves or remove abilities for mistakes. I honestly can't say what the answer is to fix this problem but it is a problem and it needs to be addressed.

Goodbyes:

Neltouda: Excellent, this was my first follower and I will enthusiastically be making another one. I apologize coming before you so late and for deleting but this was a Fort first character and due to the above statements I just couldn't keep playing Iunnrais under the circumstances. Your diligance to your followers is commendable and great fun.

Tellik: Fast became Iunnrais's favorite exploration partner. I kinda played dumb to many places that I the player knew but my character would have no way of knowing though that was my first visit to Yzekon so thanks for that.

Illian: One of my favorites in the Fortress. I am shocked you are not yet a maran. I just hope that changes soon or I thinkt he fort will lose yet another.

Padwei: Thanks for everything. You were also one of my favorites in the fort even though our times did not always overlap well. What time I did have to interact with you was a pleasure in every way. I see quite a bit of similarity between your character and my Tsyda though I think you do it far better than I ever did.

Unalethekai: I had even less chance to interact with you but what I saw is outstanding.

Caerga: Didn't like you much at first but you warmed on me quite a bit. Sorry about the temper tamtrum about you travelling with balanced villagers but Iunnrais could not have reacted any differently.

Velkoth: We traveled and grew alot and I always felt you were real solid and consistent. Good luck and I hope you can make maran soon if you havent already.

Canir: Glad I could help you get to your final forms and sleeks. You appear to be doing well and you are definately willing to put yourself in harms way for others. All good qualities.

Hayim: I really liked you at first then the more I knew you the less I liked. I don't dislike the character but neither do I like you. Just too many temper tantrums that seem on the verge of OOC to me. You do, however, mix it up ferosciously and as a maran I think you are doing really well.

Nexus: Wow, you have really degenerated from when I was last in it. You really have sunk it to a new low of backstabbing assholes with Cyrn at the very top of list for douchebaggery. It's no wonder its so hated as a cabal anymore.

I am sure I am missing people in this goodbye but then again I interacted with so many, helping young ones learn, a few entering the fort. Enemies I didn't get to talk to you much.

For any I miss please post and I will respond.

Don't really agree that you should necessarily move to maran/acolyte. One of mine never made it to acolyte in over 200 hours, because they played a role that was not fully suited to what is considered to embody an acolyte. Mainly because I was aggressive.

I do agree about Nexus though. One of my favorite cabals is starting to become something I hate, even though they haven't killed me to the best of my knowledge.

If someone is not performing up to standards they need to be told how to improve and if they fail then be removed. But leaving them in perpetual scribe/squire is bs unless it is that players choice. If you want to do that more power to you but then it is your choice.

I loved Tsyda, and I liked Iunnrais a lot.

Good luck with your next.

..which I regret. What times we did it was a pleasure and you were a fine ally. Thank you for all the help with shielding later on.

It's ridiculous to wait longer. Both immortals and leaders need to assess cabal membership. Inductions should be easier but so should boots.

There has been a small handful to obtain the full bump pre-hero range, but its usually short lived and few and far between. Gets tough fighting hero range evil village berserkers, or Sect leaders, scion leaders, with protection from evil as your evening stick.

Fort powers should be triggered somehow. 15-20 PK wins over dark foes, 10 taking an evil item of power, 50 hours in the cabal, etc. Could be a combination of these things. Then you can also have IMM's and leaders promoting those that they see fit in addition to the automated process.

Really not that hard to maran or acolyte, it just takes getting noticed a few times, and not completely sucking everytime you are being watched. The problem is you gotta play when someone can watch you. The times where there are 10 people total, chances are, the powers that be, aint about.

Looking at the "members" command as Captain recently.. it almost goes exactly along that for who gets Maranated anyways.

Only real standouts below a certain PK threshold were Maranated (I think just 1 or 2). Only crappy players that were above the threshold didn't get it (again, I think just 1 individual).

I personally don't think Maranation needs to be easier, but I DO think that Squires need something more than just protection from evil. As it is, until Maran (and arguably, even after), Fortress lags FAAARRRRR behind pretty much every other cabal as far as powers go.

Sorry about not making Acolyte status. The Fort system really needs to change. Anyway, really liked your ram form and I was looking forward to rocking the hero levels with you. Ah well. At least we got in some ranking time. Good luck with your next, man. How about a Nexassin?

...I had Lemur and Falcon as my top forms. Still, I was able to help you rank.

Re: Neltouda: Excellent, this was my first follower and I will enthusiastically be making another one. I apologize coming before you so late and for deleting but this was a Fort first character and due to the above statements I just couldn't keep playing Iunnrais under the circumstances. Your diligance to your followers is commendable and great fun.

You prayed for me, and I was thinking who is this hero with no Neltouda role suddenly praying for me. Of course I came down to speak with you anyway, and you were pretty smooth talking (always a plus). It's never fun having someone who has the potential to be a really great follower delete, but I'll look forward to interacting with your next creation.

I never planned on having a role with this character. Lately it seems like I put effort into a role, even a mundane one, and the character is doomed. I wanted to just wing it (pardon the pun) and see how things happened. I had intented to visit you much much sooner but made it to hero range rather quickly. That is a large reason why I went to the Stories of the Sea event. I figured you would be there and I could get noticed if I gave a good story. Seemed to work.

Yeah our first interaction was a little terse, and while I understood your reasoning, as a squire I couldn't ascribe to your way of thinking.

I was glad that we eventually go to be compatriots. We had some good tussles against the odds at times. Its always good to be around someone with a solid role and who plays it out well.

GLWTN!

My life sure got a hell of a lot more interesting when I started
getting all your tells. :p After about the third or fourth time
I was invited to group, I really thought about saying yes, but
then you heroed. Heheh, good luck with whatever you have
cooking next.

..I had the same thing happen when I was an heroimm what with two mortals whose names started with que I got their tells all the time. The name Iunnrais is a celtic word for a blustery wind or stormy sky which is why I chose it but I realized too late how similar it was to your name. At least I didn't get your prays. Thanks for being patient about it.

--Iunnrais

Then having played Tsyla when Quezz was around, I just have to think your a name thief ;). Maybe it's a subconscious homage.