Need a break from this game. I just am fairly sick of everything that is OP in this game that makes it impossible for a mediocre player to compete on any level. Its become clear to me that this is a game where the PB is split between a handful of mediocre players like me and very skilled players who stomp all over them and honestly that is losing its fun for me. I like challenge not impossible odds. There are simply too many people who outclass me no matter what build I try and I've got the feeling that with such low PB numbers its just the exact same people under a different hood and the odds will never get better.

I just cant do it anymore.


Maybe in a few months or a few years ill come back. For now i'm deleting CF off my computer again.

Later.

I just think most of the mediocre players tend to play it safe which means the fights you do get will tend to be ones that your opponent expects to win.

But yeah, I often feel like paper in a realm full of scissors myself.

You can always play a strong combo in whatever cabal is in power, although with lower player numbers It's really hard to say any cabal is in power, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

you could gather some numbers and just plow through those people. even istendil went down that way.

low player numbers + anti-gank means it is very easy as an elite player to keep the momentum going. on top of that, low pb numbers also mean it is very easy to swing pk dynamics into favorable odds or simply not log on and avoid bad odds.

anyway, not stating an opinion one way or another, just pointing out what i see as contributing factors.

Granted, this is as someone not currently playing but-

One thing that has -always- worked for me is simple - be fearless.

Now it took me the better part of 5 years to figure out the difference between fearless and suicidal, but seriously. The biggest thing about CF monsters is their fear factor. When the mud is scared of someone, people are too scared to go after them, they let the CF monster choose fights squarely on his terms and a good player is going to win on his terms.

Also don't be afraid to try some outside-the-box things. Coordinate some weird environmental trap. Lure them into a false sense of security either by letting them get the upper hand by sleeping you or whatever but eat a fire newt beforehand or have a strong blindness curing potion + herb of cleansing. Pay off a summoner to summon a buff mob out of place somewhere then drive that iceballing anti-paladin into it. CF is a sandbox! Make your victory!

I can't think of a single character that I set my mind to killing that I didn't bring down. (Granted I didn't play during Zorzaul, but I did get Cabdru.) Just keep on going after them. Sooner or later they'll be offguard. Then they die like everyone else.

In the wise words of Entropy Lich - "I die when I run out of hit points just like everybody else."

It's hard to be perfect *all* the time, mistakes happen even by players who
play their builds on auto-pilot. That's not even taking into account coordinated
actions by the player base in their attempt to bring down someone.

There were times when I was playing Nyst that I thought to myself how easy
it would be for XXX newbie fortress ranger to kill me, if he coordinated with others
and tried to trap me. Same for empire, same for nexus and so on.

What I experienced during play times on the other hand was the complete
opposite. For the most part, people were happy to let me dictate the terms
of engagement, never really bothered me in my hunts, never came after me
in a coordinated fashion.

There were few who did that (I can think of maybe 3 different characters)
and 2 of those were played by TheBluestThumb, who did kill me in the end
after giving me a taste of his blood and eliciting my overcommitment ;-)

There's also the gear and prep divide. A prepped, well geared character is so far beyond the stats of a mediocre geared character that it's an impossible to overcome gap. I've said for a long time that the gear/quest/etc gap should amount to 10-20%...not 200-300%+. It's such a large difference that it's literally hopeless to fight certain people - and yet your RP dictates you need to. So you wind up doing this half-arsed thing where you try to attack them and flee before you die knowing you have zero chance of killing them.

Given the RP requirements and severity of death penalty, this game really can't support having hopelessly short TTKs and massive mismatches in stats.

At least, not without becoming borderline masochistic to play.

Keep in mind the exact strategy to close this gap is the same one that most mortals and imms espouse that they dislike - being super conservative and never dying while building momentum. So even if you "play to win" it's almost a self-defeating thing.