Tue Jun 9 10:23:54 2009

At 11 o'clock AM, Day of the Bull, 8th of the Month of the Winter Wolf
on the Theran calendar Dierj perished, never to return.

Race:	human
Class:	shapeshifter
Level:	51
Alignment:	Evil
Ethos:	Chaotic
Cabal:	SCION, the Scions of Eternal Night
Age:	53
Hours:	238

Dierj was a pretty fun character in all. I got a great combo and was really thankful for that. I am also really thankful for the form I recieved for my role. It was nice to be able to fly around when needing to gather different things. I'm sitting here in my wife's hospital room while she feeds our baby boy. I'll try and remember all that I can, but I am sure I will miss a few things and people. For those interested my wife delivered this morning at 1252 am, a little baby boy. 7lbs 14oz and 21 inches long. He is very cute and I named him after my father who passed away when i was in college. I feel very fortunate. I've made a lot of friends here over the years, so I thought some might want to read that above. Sorry to those who don't care.

So...lets get to thoughts.

Scion powers for a mage are awesome, and yes, if you know the right places for items your despoil can be very sick. However, despoil waxes and wanes and so that powerful item I got 800 hps out of also gave as little as 200. I played Dierj like I play almost all of my chars, pretty aggressive and not fleeing when I should enough. Sometiems it pays off, sometimes you get shafted by a DB when the other guy is convulsing. I know enough about battle not to say DB is overpowered, but man Woldrun sure is. :)

Forms - I had tiger which is awesome and I can't say anything should be changed about it. Pounce can definitely be a bane for folks, and I know it used to tick me off as a player sometimes. It does fail though quite a bit and warriors got smart with how to try and get away. Usually if they used the tactic I'm referring to I stopped using commands like bite during the fight and just waited poised to see how they fled. Diamondback was a little disappointing in that it has no dam reduction, and doesn't seem to heal any faster than croc or komodo. I do think maybe Diamondback could use a little more loving somewhere. I honestly could survive longer as a tiger most times than as the diamondback in any given fight.

Imms -
Beroxxus - Thanks for coming back and being cool. I never hid the fact that i wanted to be Chancellor and was bummed when you gave it to Tameron. (No knock on Tameron) I do like leader chars, as Ahtieli I'm sure will try and point out with some log that doesn't make sense. :) Anyway, glad you are back.

Mergulla - I never really understood you. You gave me tasks, some of which I completed and then never even said a word. Heck, I took Mathalia's last death and not a word from you. I think when an Imm tasks you to kill someone and you do it, some kind of response should be given. So...in some ways I want to flip you the bird and tell you to leave Scion and stick to your other things. In other ways I appreciate that you are there for some of the Scions and some of the wordplay was cool between us. Dierj wasn't in anyway interested in your religion, which wouldn't have fit his roleplay in any way. He did try and be as respectful as he could be. Sorry about the Druk'tars in your place.

Enlilth - I was bummed that you went away on me after interacting a bit. The little time was cool.

Daevryn/Nep - I throw you in because man did the new rods suck, but I'm glad you guys heard us and did your coding for alternates. That is cool. My only problem was that I had run out of good places to explore for edge points. I also didn't want to write another role chapter just to try and get them. I was hoping for something with the malthalia/Mergulla thing, but nothing came from that.

Scion -
Tameron - I have to start with you as you were probably Dierj's only IC "friend" or someone he considered to be alright. Of all the people who could get Chancellor, you were the only one Dierj could stomach. I'm glad you were rewarded in that way. I know you often said things about Advisor to me but I'm pretty sure Mergulla was very opposed to it and I'm hoping they will say something to help me understand where my RP fell short.

Nysildon and Sulzaen - I lump you together because you are both competent and formidable. Sulzaen is a lot like Datsue in that you aren't afraid to mix it up with villagers in melee battles. I think you got a good thing going. Man what I wouldn't have given for despoil as Datsue, I think that could definitely turn the edge in some of the battles you face. Chars like Woldrun being the exception.

Caztor, Ikuna - I lump you both together because I liked you, but at the same time didn't care for some of your things. I didn't feel like either of you really showed up when we actually needed you to.

Lierielth - I like how we started and honestly how we finished. You helped me get in Scion and as a player I appreciate that. WHen you logged on and tried to order Dierj to do something after not being around much at all, well, not a chance was Dierj going to listen to you. I know it is your RP and I think you doa great job with it, but Dierj never bowed to any mortal char. In fact, he never even called Tameron Chancellor over CB or anything like that in response. You had the combo I wanted as far as croc goes.

Mizheng - I liked your character for the most part, but you could be annoying too. I said what I needed to in your thread.

Any other scions, please respond and i will write back when I can. I will say as a player I'm sorry for the crap I gave one thief in particular who wanted in, but Dierj had to stick to Dierj.

Fort -
I had a lot of great fights with many of you. Sometimes you guys could be so annoying with your crying into battles where I was already struggling with 2 against 1 making it something outrageous. I killed a fair number of you though and I hope you guys learned a thing or two about fighting a tiger.

Battle -

I think the best thing I ever heard was when Woldrun asked me if i had any carrots. I laughed so hard because i would often comment to him that you guys must breed like rabbits. I'm glad to see Thror back and battle on top for awhile. I'll have to put my next villager on hold though until you guys are down again. I don't see how you guys are having much fun when there are that many of you about. Especially now that i deleted a char that was always looking to fight you!

Woldrun - Argh...you suck! Seriously, you were such a tough battle for me all the time. I was so happy when I got you that time right after Mathalia. Dierj was definitely rolling on a high at that point.

Marsen - I'm sorry you deleted apparently because of the trouble we shifters were giving you. I don't like frustration for a char to get that high, but at the same time when there are six of you consistently walking about, I think I have to try and take out the one I can easiest. Most of the times you were one of those easy fights for me if i was ready.

Malthalia - you know how to do a bard and you did it well. Good job.

Malakhi - Ug, that time you caught me on the river and i was interacting out of form with your leader was annoying. That is one downside to rping as a shifter, you gotta be really weakened to do it.

Susu - Nice edge or whatever it is you have. That dispel with critical is nice. I know why you never really fought me, and I understand, so I'm not going to jump on the haters wagon.

Gahdak - Ug..you were a tough battle for me most of the time as well. We did have some awesome ones though. That one in galadon where my link dropped at 100 hps was the best. You were so close to dying and so was I. If I hadn't just killed another villager I think you were mine.

Other villagers - Please feel free to write. I will say this as I commented on it in game. I think that for a berserker to kill my nightwalker while I fight another berserker is pretty much a blight to your courage. Nightwalker is a skill of a scion, like bloodthirst is of a berserker. For you to then jump that while i fight another is like you trying to kill a conjurer's archon while someone fights the conjurer. That nightwalker does not = a 2 against 1. Now...it is good that you aren't jumping me and saying i have two, but still...I think Imms should voice their opinion on this one because I think it hurts your standards.

Empire - You guys are pretty much no-shows unless someone big is around. I give credit to those who are trying to do something, but I know the wind gets sucked ot of your sails quickly. I hope to make another Imperial soon, but a certain lich is going to need to be Anaathema before that happens.

Ahtieli - You underplay your abilities constantly and then gang people pretty rediculously. You say you rarely use forget or "land" it but the only times you killed me were exactly that. Delete already or step away from the mantle because you really aren't playing the character anymore. you have skills, and I'm sure you are playing another character now because you are bored with the Lich.

Traphe - I give you major props and even prayed once saying how I think you deserve more. You have consisntently been around in the worst of times for Empire and I applaud you for that.

Other Imperials can respond if they want to.

Outlander - Only Mreash really ever did much with me, and then mostly in caves, but we had a couple of great skirmishes.

Thems the thoughts.

At least, a non-village berserker warrior.

Tough as nails and well played. I'm sorry if I wouldn't face you alone but half the time I was hitting you for maims and you had over 1400 hp and could block my fleeing and/or flyto me.

Even some of the berserkers were pretty easy. I never expected one on ones from the fort, it was the 4 to ones that got tiresome. I tried not to do that too often to anyone except raiding or in the case of a villager who had an item related to one of the heavnly things going on. Anyway, I was always worried about an entwine/co wrath with you and that made me shy away from fights with you as well. I'd typically shift to dback and try to wait it out. It didn't always work. :)

Keep trucking.

Uh, never fought you? What are you talking about. I never avoided you, which is obviously what you're implying.

Congratulations on the baby boy.

I'm just going to say that the only memories I have of fighting you were related to raids, defenses, retrievals, or me catching you with a group learning. You never stepped out nd came after me. I'm sure you tried stalking me a few times, but there were never really any one to one fights outside of the things above that I recall. I'm not saying you 'tried' to avoid me, but I don't think I was high on your priority list as you never seemed to be "looking" for me either. Just my perspective which is obviously one sided.

I'll discuss more when I'm dead but as you said, just because you didn't see me coming after you didn't mean you weren't a priority target. You'd be very surprised how many things get in the way. Including your own cabalmates. As a tiger straight up fights against you were difficult, obviously, and you played it well, especially after you got that airform, making you very powerful indeed.

Go back and feed the baby. Amazing how tight those nurses swaddle him, isn't it? I was amazed the first time I held a baby only a few hours old.

>Diamondback was a little disappointing in that it has no dam
>reduction, and doesn't seem to heal any faster than croc or
>komodo. I do think maybe Diamondback could use a little more
>loving somewhere. I honestly could survive longer as a tiger
>most times than as the diamondback in any given fight.

The strange thing is, watching you, I constantly was thinking that diamondback is too good. I'd see you survive some insane situation with it and think, ####, diamondback is tough.

Yeah, it doesn't regen better than crocodile or komodo dragon. It also dodges ridiculously well whereas they more or less tank like straw huts. It's almost a mongoose that also heals crazy fast.

Dierj and Kasir had a semi-prolonged fight in the mausoleum that would probably make a pretty good log for the log board. It involved a lot of diamondback healing.

That is awesome news, and best of luck.

Re: CF - it was fun on my end. When you had your scion powers it felt evenly matched between us - with me having the slight upper hand at the beginning, but that sliding downward as the fight continued for more and more ticks. When it was me against two of you it was a serious challenge that presented some matchup issues. The one thing I've been wanting to add since you posted it on Dio's and I couldn't respond there for obvious reasons is inre the raid where you were beating up Ghrummin and I stepped in with a hamstring to drive you off. Here's what I have to respond:

that was a raid, Man.

Obviously, if it were on Eastern or anywhere else but at the chasm I would have let you finish Ghrummin without stepping in. But it was a raid. I can understand why you'd be disappointed and annoyed, but ...

:)

So thanks for the fun and once again good luck!

~

You started to stand out once Ikanu deleted and Caztor started showing less often - so it'd be you, maybe Tameron, and maybe Sulzaen.

I'll be honest, until then it was hard to tell all you shifters apart. Especially with the whole "Lion, tiger, and bear near the Fort." "Oh my." thing going on.

I found that tiger was the hardest of those to deal with, if I was fighting a number of you. You hit me less hard but I couldn't pump out the damage on tiger like I seem to be able to on other offense forms. Which is why they don't hit quite as hard, I suppose.

Fights with you were always fun, as was the banter. Enjoy the baby - you'll find that once things settle down a bit, you'll have time again, once the kid is sleeping. At least, if you're lucky enough to have one that sleeps for solid blocks of time!

GLWYN.

I liked that char and thought that you will get leader spot.

Congrats and best luck with child.

You really were the only shifter who gave me any real trouble. Where as the others I could eventually kill or wear down. You just kicked my ass nearly every time. I dont hold a grudge or anything. You were probably prepping like crazy or something, or that tiger is pretty insane. It was fun though. I had a good run and had an itch to make a new character anyway. I kind of explained it all in my death thread. You were fun to fight eventhough I kept getting my ass kicked. ^_^

--Zephon

Yes, i was afk in the soup kitchen, and that kill you did on me was great. I applauded it. Also generally tough elsewhere too. GLWYN. Have fun with junior.

I generally liked Dierj, though I won't say there was anything that "stood out" exceptionally to me that made me think "Leader." We had some good interactions, though I thought the druk'trar in my shrine was extraordinarily rude. Also, it was really obnoxiously spammy which made the interaction even harder plus made me more crabby with you. You were a very competent Scion, and a solid pk'er. What bothered me about Dierj was that you didn't seem to play your role very much. Yes, I told you to kill Malthalia but that was sort of a "I'll like you more if you do this" instead of "If you kill Malthalia you can completely ignore all this other stuff I just asked you about doing." I suppose I should have given you a cookie or something, it would have been role fitting for me, but then again I'm still settling into the Mergulla persona myself. So, I apologize if the interactions left you wanting.

Maybe this will be my answer to something that plagues me. Mergulla said above that there wasn't anything that "stood out" to make her think "leader." I guess this is where I'd like some thoughts not only for myself but for others.

I feel that if I consistently show up, especially when the odds are against me, and i continue to retrieve, raid, fight, interview, and generally do what made me a "good scion," why is that also not "leadership like?" I guess it could be like Zulgh saying he didn't see anything that made me a leader and Kastellyn on my PBF saying I should get some leadership loving when he caught up to me. Two people, two different messages. It is frustrating for myself, and I would guess other players, who consistently log in, bust their hump and really don't hear anything about it. I guess I'll have to wait to see what made Tameron "stand out." Again, this isn't a knock on Tameron, but we spent a lot of time together and she didn't act all that differently than myself. As for my role, I thought I was sticking to it, I did try fighting Ahtieli quite often, but as a shifter, that is a scary thing and sometimes certain death. My last fight with the lich I caught her sorta with her pants down in the sands of sorrow, but she of course got away.

Maybe the answer is that in Scion, leadership has nothing to do with showing up or trying to fight for the scepter. Maybe it is supposed to be about writing a role about "prophecies" that will never happen and stabbing pepole in the back? (again, no knock on Tameron as this isn't them). Dierj in no way was going to bow down to Satebos to get an item, and he never saw him anyway to even talk about what he could want. Don't bother saying I could have written a note to Satebos because that is basically the same thing to Dierj as begging. Dierj only wrote notes about things like that to dieties.

Please clear this issue up for me, because, I want to be a better player, not just a good pker. I want to know, in general, what kinds of things I could do to stand out in a cabal like Scion.

Is you guys could have DEFINATLY come up with a scheme to kill him if you'd really thought it over,
just would have to be .. devious and clever.

Think about it, you caught ahteli with her pants down. Why couldn't you do the same with the other lich, does he not have pants as well?

The real issue wasn't trying to get a plan. I seriously never saw him..never...not once...so how does a plan come together? Heh. I hear you though.

I'll say two things, and you can take them for what they're worth:

1) It's a lot harder to stand out as a shifter in a cabal that has like 10 of 12 members as shifters, mostly with similar foci and forms.

2) Dierj just didn't have a leader vibe to me. Some of your characters I've got that feeling from, like, this guy is cool, this guy stands out, this is a guy the rest of the cabal legitimately follows. Dierj, to me, just felt more like one of the guys.

I realize I'm not an IMM but I think it would be a cool discussion for the gameplay board. From my experience, leaders are appointed from two types of people (heavily generalized of course):

1. Characters that blow away the rest of the cabal in terms of longevity and consistency. If you play a character for 300 hours, you are going to establish a sense of presence when you login. It just happens. And these kind of characters tend to be made leaders as a matter of default (i.e., unless there's a character around of type "2" below or there's some other variable going on like login times). My dudes tend to fall into this category.

2. Characters that feel like "IMM pets." These are the types of characters that seem to just get a ton of IMM love and attention from the time they are 50 hours old. For whatever reason one or more IMMs love these characters and they will be promoted by the time they hit 150 hours if a position is available.

Judging by your comments and hours, I don't think you fit into either category. Basically, I think if Dierj had 300 hours you would have been leader and I think if Dierj had an IMM that just loved him you would have been leader. I haven't seen any really "cabal specific" types of things you can be doing.

It would be interesting to hear other people's impressions.

NT

I can't really remember a guy being made a leader in recent times based on one "really cool" thing he did. More just a steady presence for a good long time.

One other "type" that gets appointed is this one:

3. The "ok" guy at the right time. This is the guy who sucks least in a cabal that is tending to suck but REALLY needs leadership. Often, these chars are the ones that would maybe have not been chosen to lead if there was a (1) or (2) type available, but due to a lack, they were singled out as the "most decent". In many, many cases, these (3) guys will turn into a (1) and thereby end up as a (2) due to Imms loving guys who step it up.

When I first came back I figured the player of Dierj had to have been a competant vet. You played extremely well and I saw you come out of some brawls that I felt you shouldn't have won based on a very solid use of tactics.

I agree with you on the Nightwalker thing but the whole 'honor' and unspoken no-looting concept is very alien to me. Perhaps it's just a new era of players but I'm just not comfortable with seeing people get spoon fed their items back. From an RP sense, it really doesn't make sense unless you have a Sphere/Religion that is honor based and from a Battle sense it really doesn't make sense to leave a ton of magical items in a corpse.

Maybe it will grow on me.

I also see many instances where casters use 'honor' against Battle. They run right past someone they know they can't beat in order to beat a weaker member of the cabal with no reprocussions as they kill the cabalmate in front of the stronger member of Battle. Do you felt like you did this at all?

I sure did run past someone like Woldrun once in awhile to get the "weaker" villager. Sometimes I also killed the weaker one and then went after the stronger one while weakened myself. Gahdak can attest to that. My only thing there was a smart pker is going to use someones belief against them and do exactly that. I'm not playing a berserker who follows "parity." I'm playing a low-down dirty mage who wants to kill them all and has no rules to tie him down.

I appreciate the compliments and I look forward to making a rager when the cabal is weaker. I would get way too bored right now.

Oh, don't get me wrong - it's definately the right thing to do and a most viable tactic. You did it well (the couple of times I saw you do it) but you also held your own very, very well in tough situations. I think that there is a distinct difference between honor and parity that both Battle and their enemies seem to confuse.

I haven't been around enough to figure out whether I have a misconception or if things have changed to the degree that they seem however.

Enjoy the child. Some of the best times of your life are about to be upon you. Awesome experience.

But not in an assholish way. You were the sort of enemy I can respect, even when I hate tigers ... ;)

Well done

:D A shame I got interupted constantly when we had that RP session! Had SO SO much to say. It seems that our roles are very similar. rofl Though you turned out evil, and I good. ;)

All you scion shifters are really hard for me... And you weren't different! Well played. :D

Never would have pegged this as you, not even looking back on it.

Was fun fighting you as your foe and fun being your allie.


GLWYN and more importantly, good luck with your kid =D