I'm not going to offer up replacement ideas, because I'm a bit jaded presently concerning the whole game. Instead, I'm just going to point out obvious flaws and things that are just sad to have in the game in general.

Empire: Overall, I don't have many issues with Empire. I do think that Centurions is one of the most useful and equally laim powers in the game as far as cabals go. Simply put, they're death to any non-commune or casting class that gets word of recall in anyone with a clues, hands. You've tightened the purse strings on cash and such and then have a mob that will deny even newbies being able to pass them without forking over some copper or equivalent item. Top this with the fact that if an imperial (or bloodoathe) attacks you at the centurions, you can't flee or pay (while fighting) while they can flee at will. Then the final insult to injury, they're pretty darn hard to even hit and they hit like they're buffed out the whazoo. Mangles are common on regular people. Simply put, not counting how useful this is to bar easy mobility for many, this power just sucks. I don't however expect anything to change because like on any mud, it's the coders pet cabal so the imms in general won't touch it. Onwards...

Scion: The fog stuff, no clue what it's called. That affects a greater area, blinds, pops people out of camo or being hidden, does damage etc. This is a supremely crap power. Very useful, and if I wanted to make a nice assassin I'd go scion, no clue if warrior types get additional hitpoints but mobs that acid blast, poison and tanke for you after you first initiate are pretty sweet. This cabal has no real purpose and doesn't seem to add anything to the game as a whole from what I've seen. Again, I don't expect anything to change because obviously someone thinks that a common joe shouldn't have any difficulty overcoming these things. It's amusing...

Fortress: I know there are exceptions to the rule, but is this cabal good for anything whatsoever other than being a pat eachother on the back 'I'm ok, you're ok.' cabal? I never see them doing much of anything except either being non-existent or gathering in squads of six or more. As I said there are exceptions but come on, either push them to be the sword and shield of light or just let the fortress crumble into the dust it seems to be. No clue on their powers, cause I rarely see any of them around or using anything.

Herald: Good RP cabal, good for players who hope not to die and like to sit around. Kind of like an RP mud chat room. Guess that's ok for whoever likes that sort of thing.

Battle: No sense of self. This cabal is a mess, and it's the Immstaff's fault. With conflicting credos like be courageous and if you have one foe and eight of you, you should 'all' crush that 'one' foe into the dirt and all the variances in-between. You have ragers demanding one on one's then ragers who will kill a mage and sometimes anyone else full throttle five to two odds and so forth. The altered powers obviously aren't a stupendous draw, though I give an 'A' for an attempt at variety that might have worked if the cabal as a whole were more cohesive. There are enough preps in the game that anyone who wants to monotonously trudge through a bunch of hoops can get them and tool most of these cabal members. It's ironic when a rager is hitting someone for scratches while eating obliterates and worse. Kind of funny, but basically says that the cabal is obviously wrong about its whole focus. Skill and knowledge of tactics make one better than being fully shielded with barrier... more often than not shields and barrier wins.

If there are any other cabals they don't count... obviously

I think the Immstaff whips ass with innovative new ideas, nice changes that make the mud a better and more unique mud but I think it falls flat on its face with promoting any kind of contiguous world plot-line or focus. Those cabals with active Imms are filled with seemingly noteworthy screw ups and ne'er do wrongers. While those cabals without active Imms are crappy and though the players within them might be every bit as good as their peers, well who's around to notice or give a crud? Destroying Sylvan was both good and bad. True, like 'all' the cabals its purpose was kind of vague and useless in the face of a changing mud, but likewise before its powers were utterly rearranged to make it docile and effectively passive, it added another proverbial monkey wrench into the overall mechanics that helped keep everything fitfully churning along. At this point I'd say destroy all of the cabals and either let them stay gone or come up with a whole new variety of organizations. No more of this, Oh HO! It's back! The new and IMPROVED Empire! or any malarky like that. When even playing a cabaled character gets to be blah, there's something seriously wrong with the mixture...

A concerned mudder

Just a quick question: How many scions have you played since the cabal got a revamp?

Ta,
Romanul.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

None honestly, I didn't say scion was a useless cabal I mentioned my feelings about the mass area power, even when on to say it's not lacking in imagination. Just think it's a bit harsh for non-caballed types to deal with but evidently, as Valg suggested there are possibly ways around it other than simply leaving the area or trying to kill someone or something specifically so I didn't harp on about it. For an update on my initial post please look down near the bottom at the one titled Naw. Thanks

Just... no.

P.S. No, you crack whore.

Sheesh Nepenthe, I didn't say the game sucks or any of the imms suck, so why do you have to be an a-hole? I just said the cabals at present seem really jacked up. Basically whoever has the most wins, and while I see the reasoning behind that it's just pretty boring. Imms who act like you do should take a break, remember without players you're just making a cool game to stroke your own ego that no one likes, there's no reason to be a turd.

I didn't say the game sucks

You did. Did you read your post?

or any of the imms suck

You wrote regarding Empire: "I don't however expect anything to change because like on any mud, it's the coders pet cabal so the imms in general won't touch it."

Please explain how blatant accusations of favoritism and a lack of objectivity (aimed at a specific immortal, even if not named) is not equivalent to saying that. Your post is full of this sort of thing. Don't cry "poor me!" now.

Imms who act like you do should take a break

Players who write posts like the one you wrote probably need to take a break. I'll refrain from further advice.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Funny, I've been taking a break.

I've never understood why me not appreciating an irate player with an opinion not remotely rooted in our little shared MUD reality, such as it is, equates to me not appreciating any players.

If you can read what you wrote and not see it as much more offensive than anything I said, then I'm sorry but you're an enormous crack whore.

Ok crack whore. I'll leave it at that since it's obviously cool to say that and anything else I say gets removed.

Well, I spent about 45 minutes writting this big long rebuttal to his post that addressed every single point he made.


Then I saw your post. And my post became redundant. You said everything I wanted to say.



"Death awaits ya all, wit nasteh big pointeh teeth!"

Delete this. Sleep.

Give me a break, you're crying about today's cabal powers? They are a fraction of the power of the old school ones. They should bring back old master transform and insect swarm just to show you how moronic your post sounded.

I have no intention of making the Scion powers less effective until even the laziest and least creative player is not bothered by them. The power in question can be countered in a number of ways, three of which are available to every character in the game. If a Scion beats you with it, they're playing smarter. Sorry.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

There are a few nuggets I might on some planet agree with, but mostly I feel like you're full of crap. But I mean that in the best possible way.

>Empire: Overall, I don't have many issues with Empire. I do
>think that Centurions is one of the most useful and equally
>laim powers in the game as far as cabals go.

So you're mad that they're a) hard to kill, b) prevent fleeng, c) capable of making newbies take routes other than the roads.

The first is untrue, at least at hero. Depends on the class. Paladins chew through them. The second can be a big deal, but not always. If you think there's an imperial around and see centurions on "where" then don't go to the cents unless you think you can kick the imperial's ass without fleeing. The last is something I actually consider a good thing. Will teach people alternate ways to get places.

>Scion: The fog stuff, no clue what it's called. That affects a
>greater area, blinds, pops people out of camo or being hidden,
>does damage etc. This is a supremely crap power.

Does it prevent them from leaving the area? Does it prevent them from destroying the source of the fog?

>Fortress: I know there are exceptions to the rule, but is this
>cabal good for anything whatsoever other than being a pat
>eachother on the back 'I'm ok, you're ok.' cabal?

They raid Empire and Scion with some frequency. They get raided by Empire and Scion with some frequency. Acolytes presumably help people on occasion.

>Battle: No sense of self. This cabal is a mess, and it's the
>Immstaff's fault. With conflicting credos like be courageous
>and if you have one foe and eight of you, you should 'all'
>crush that 'one' foe into the dirt and all the variances
>in-between.

Ragers kill mages. Voila. Some do it with honor, some without. Some are courageous, some are weaselly.

This cabal is pitiful. Unless you're one of them of course. Wide-sweeping powers and vague definitions allowing you to flag people and make something as simple as traveling through town impossible, who wouldn't love that? The laws as they stand presently are a massive joke that most don't find too amusing. If you aid a criminal in 'any' way. Damn I dropped a fancy cap and he picked it up... that's flaggable my friend. Damn I'm a mage tribunal and I'm outside of town because if I whack criminals outside of town it 'really' shows I'm dedicated and deserve to be a vindicator, oh someone attacked me while I was trying to kill them, that's flaggable man, you aided a criminal. Why is this cabal even around? Can't you just make every one of the three hundred guards now wandering most non-ruined cities attack anyone who intiates an attack in front of them and flag characters instead? This cabal is for those who 'really' don't wanna get killed, like the ego stroke of being able to ruin things for people who irk them or flex their tribunal muscle, and hoard the gear that comes with being able to have the mud do the work for you by killing those pesky criminals. Let it die... please...

>Damn I'm a mage tribunal and I'm outside of town because if I whack criminals outside of town it 'really' shows I'm dedicated and deserve to be a vindicator,

It is good rp for any tribunal. If a tribunal doesn't attack a criminal outside of town, then they are running scared and deserve removal imho.

> oh someone attacked me while I was trying to kill them, that's flaggable man, you aided a criminal.

If this relates to a recent note to tribunal, perhaps you should mention that before attacking the tribunal you woke your criminal groupmate.

> Why is this cabal even around? Can't you just make every one of the three hundred guards now wandering most non-ruined cities attack anyone who intiates an attack in front of them and flag characters instead? This cabal is for those who 'really' don't wanna get killed,

How is that? First you complain about tribunals coming out of town to kill criminals when you outnumber them, and now you complain that it is for people who don't want to die. Which is it? Magistrates out of town don't have any cabal powers to draw on. Therefore they should be at a disadvantage.

> like the ego stroke of being able to ruin things for people who irk them or flex their tribunal muscle, and hoard the gear that comes with being able to have the mud do the work for you by killing those pesky criminals. Let it die... please

The current tribunal is probably the best rp'd cabal of any I have ever known since I started playing the mud. There is some excellent rp in that cabal, and some skilled pk'ers. It sounds like you are sore because you got waxed by one/some.

Incidentally, scion too is not a pointless cabal. It took some conversations with Ghuljun to make me realise for the first time what it is about. Scion powers are nice, but your post shows you don't understand the limitations of them.

I mean you hate every cabal. what do you want 100 players, in an area with no description 5 rooms. and just let them fight. Tribunal right now is doing very well both in Pking and Rping. There are a #### load of good players in Tribunals. along with a couple newer players, that are learning fast. Tribunal was just redone. Going of out town and hunting, shows that you are not afraid. that killing a criminal at any cost is important. Magistrates power end at the gates. simple as that. if you can't avoid a Magistrate out of town. like any other player then thats your fault. The idea of having just mobs handle crimes is really stupid. Anyone can get around mobs. thats not hard.


I don't know what your problem is, but your a #### up. don't play cf you have nothing to offer.

- Data

I don't hate them all, I just think things are pretty blah with them all. Tribunal specifically has no real enemy/rival cabal, no one to fight with on a grander scale, boring. Empire fights the village and the fortress, when empire's even vaguely strong it's no contest for them. Scion, hunt random people and occasionally raid the village and possibly more often the fortress, low numbers, rp might be fun within it but still kind of blah. Fortress I'm assuming raids scion and empire occasionally, seems to be the cabal that suffers the most from mass log on log off symptoms, with rare exceptions. Equates to not really fun in my book. The village wars primarily with empire and scion, taking out any random mage it can occasionally.

I think it'd be more fun if there was more gray area. I do like that sometimes imperials and scion go at eachother, it's rare to my knowledge but that's ideal for two would-be evil super powers. I don't like that the village doesn't seem to do much killing of fortress mage types because they're too busy with scion and empire. I think it'd be cool if empire actualy tried to enforce its supposed dominion and tell the tribunals that they're an underling of the empire. Basically I'd like things to stir up abit. The old curse, May you live in interesting times. I agree before hand that 'alot' of this could be motivated and set into motion by the respective people in these cabals, but without some kind of Immteraction one way or another, most of these individuals would probably face the boot if they tried to pull this stuff off. I could be totally wrong on this count, but I know it's a very real situation for a villager, and I'd suspect any imperial. (not that they're not always under the gun in that respect, potentially anyway.)

As for the powers I mentioned, it's not so much that they're insurmountable, rather than they just seem like lazy powers. Granted they're pretty nice for those who have them, but with the exception of the night time call fog and several variant nightwalkers, they seem unimaginative, and all of this from an imm staff that is clearly anything but. That's a compliment. I just think the trend has been very cut and dried. I have no clue why sylvan was destroyed, I don't think it was lacking for enemies (unless you count that the forests became more dangerous to rank in because of changes to certain mobs) but likewise I miss the random element that now is only represented by non-cabaled types like Woopooga and so forth. More variation is a good thing in my opinion.

re scion powers, not all of them can be seen by non-scions. Sight of the damned and divination being but two. Divination is an interesting power. I still am not sure exactly what it does. (Probably because I didn't realise I could use mob corpses and not just pc corpses for ages.) I have to say that whilst scion rp seems ok under the new system, it is quite easy to miss it. Scions seem to have quite a lot of introverts, though that is perhaps not unreasonable given the cabal.

Regarding tribs not having an enemy cabal, to some extent they do, although I agree they are basically not opposed by an organised force. However, individual tribs have their own personal grudges. Some kill unpopular imperials when they can, making them less popular with the tribs who work with the imperials in some instances. Some hunt scions, because of the number of recent scion troublemakers. Some hunt villagers, because of the persistant village criminals. (Mostly these are the tribs whose corpses can be found lying around.)

What they didn't do, though they can do, is take the items of other cabals. However, it is possible for tribs (the cabal, rather than the individuals in the cabal) to do it at present, under the right circumstances. A week ago, it wasn't. Well, the rules haven't changed, but the rules that can be brought into play have.

That's assuming I understand how the current trib set-up works, but I think I do.