It is really frustrating that I develop a role, play the shapeshifter, get really into it, roleplay, pk, don't pk a lot but roleplay but just stuff doesn't map out for getting Immortal EXP, but no big deal. But I get to my final tier form and yet again, for the 4th time, I have gotten the same form I have played over and over and over before.

Because I chose not to go to all the "specific honey pot" obs/exp gathering spots at a younger level, since I have been to those areas dozens of times before, and I just didn't feel like running the "gather obs/expl walking and looking robot scripts" to do those tedicious, but high return obs/expl locations. In addition, I have a substantial role, but for whatever reason an immortal hasn't looked at it (and I get it, its not a big deal being 30 to 40 hours in and no review yet, life is more important).

I am now stuck. Stuck that I cannot shift into the form to use it to explore, and so I'm a level 45 chump that didn't farm when younger and is now screwed and cannot reroll the form I have already played a dozen times.

So basically this set up is forcing power ranking to top tier then if you get a form you want to play with you then PUT IN YOUR ROLE. Or you basically have to become a serious edge farming idiot to make sure you cover your bases with a character you are vested in.

Both are honestly dumb and draining. Could you just give every shifter that option to the roll the bones for your major focus. I'm not asking for free edge points to spend anywhere, just availiability to that once for the major focus for the shifter.


PLLEEAASSEEE. This sucks so bad that a character I love will now have to suffer tedious endless 12k of explore and obs farming to get this edge. This can equate to dozens of hours of exploring, especially "MISSING" the sweet spot lower level stuff.

oiasd

It is very much by design that your 14 hour old, level 42 uncaballed shapeshifter with almost no quantifiable accomplishments of any kind that you rolled 3 days ago cannot afford the edge(s) to re-roll their forms.

To repeat what's been said many times: if getting the forms you want on your terms is your expectation of the shapeshifter class, please either adjust your expectations or simply pick a class that allows you to build precisely what you want.

You could easily go get enough edge points by walking through Organia, Trothon, and other various easy to look at high level mobs to accrue enough exp/obs to roll the bones. It wouldn't even take 30 minutes.

It is just not this situation, it has been replayed over and over and over. This is just yet another example of it. I guess if I have to ask something and talk about it as a frustration, I need to do it from a proxy so you are not all over my ass and checking my characters.

This is just another one in a long list of frustrated shifters that had good roles and that I didn't want to do the same redundant thing over and over and over and over to satisfy a requirement that just brings unfun.

Thanks for being a bit of a douche. Next time I'll have to document every single shifter this has happened so I can have more "validity".

Umiron states: "please either adjust your expectations or simply pick a class that allows you to build precisely what you want."

To which you respond: "Next time I'll have to document every single shifter* this has happened (to) so I can have more 'validity'."

The point is, shapeshifters are a fairly easy class to play from a mechanical perspective. That "ease of play" and low investment element is attractive to many players, but has some limitations. Randomization of forms is probably the biggest single drawback. If you do not like form lottery (I know I don't) any other class is an option.

It isn't a matter of validity, it's simply understanding and accepting the nature of your preferences. That includes both the benefits AND the negatives which accompany that choice.

*One instance makes an incident, multiple instances makes a trend.

You are using your bad shifter luck as a mechanism to complain about obs/exp edge points.

Frankly, if you are willing to spend hours power ranking countless shifters, itself a repetitive and somewhat boring task, I have a hard time sympathizing with you if you say it's too much to spend one more hour running through a few areas to check some stuff out.

Additionally, those ways aren't the only way to gain XP. You could keep developing these really good roles you say you have, you could PK, or heck you could just set a last name and RP your ass off.

I myself get tired of the time investment it is required to build a character the way I want but that choice is on me and not the mud. There is a ton of stuff you can do with minimal investments but edges aren't one of them.

Even still, and understanding I'm being redundant, I can get a couple thousand obs/exp points in a fraction of the time I can power rank. The size of the tasks just don't even compare.

So that's leads me back to my conclusion that you are just using it as a mechanism to bitch about the system. The choice is yours. You can either buck up and spend that hour or so to get obs exp points or spend 15-20 hours power ranking another character.

You'd rather spend 15-20 hours power ranking a shifter and tossing out and re-writing good roles than spend 1-2 hours running through a few areas?!

This sounds like an underhanded attempt at bitching about obs/exp system to me because otherwise that seems like an awfully ridiculous waste of time.

I just suck at this game, I guess.

1) Focus
2) Always aim for a 3-man party

Shifters are second only to dexy warriors as most desired ranking companions.

3. Quit immediately if you can't find a ranking group.

Focus is the main part, grouping is secondary.

If the goal is to minimize the game hours on your character when you get your 1st tier form then you want to minimize the time you're online but not earning exp. Or, online but earning less than an "optimal" amount of exp. While you can solo rank, its almost always going to be "slower" than ranking in a group, which will result in you having more hours on the character when you get the 1st tier form.

If the goal is to minimize the amount of RL hours before getting a final form then solo ranking is fine. Advisable, even, when a group can't be found.

Is to get a very specific form or combo.

The amount of time he spent is negligible. Could just roll up another shifter.

This is just feedback from years of playing shifters and losing great roles in a conflict of playing out a role and playing the same form again. Its a great class, which is why I enjoy that aspect.

This was, and I agree, a poorly written initial post about an issue that has been brought up before. The concept of throw away shifters. I was in my post trying to find a way to develop a bit more balance to it. And open a discussion about it, not a witchhunt about how I'm a tool and here is my current character information, and I have no right to complain.

For all this other feedback about how its so easy. I beg to differ in two ways.

1. 15 hours of fun, ranking, role writing, RPing, some PKing, fun. 2 to 3 hours of exp farming = not fun. If given a choice, probably do the 15 hours again over the 3.

Maybe I should "buck it up more". We can agree to disagree then. I was just looking for a bit more balance in the system.

As a side note, looking up my IP, and posting the information to "prove" I'm just a whiny bitch is really strange way of using IP information. It is not difficult to extrapolate that my latest run in with this prompted a long list of frustrations over years. This kind of "snapshot" you have no right to complain is a childish approach to a discussion. It annoys me that this is used in this matter.

So if you are so hellbent on a specific set of forms, but don't want to "lose" a role, just power to your forms and then put the role in? That seems to be the best way to do it for what you specifically are looking for.

Ranking up to 42 to 44 without a role always creates an empty character. There is something about having direction and every set at the beginning that brings the character to life.

Which is part of the frustration. Power up, empty character, delete anyway. Not power up, invest tons of time, get all those edge points, get stuck with a form that I have played already many times. Blown tons of time now I have to struggle through a form that brings no joy. I don't want a specific form, just a damn new one.

There are only so many times you can play the manta ray before you start puking.

Well, whatever, my issue, thought I would bring it up as a way to reduce powerrank/delete shifters.

I'm now glad that my character and IP have been identified and my paranoia is that my forms are already being set to "craptastic" and numerous immortal comments about how lame I am have already gathered.

>I'm now glad that my character and IP have been identified and
>my paranoia is that my forms are already being set to
>"craptastic" and numerous immortal comments about how lame I
>am have already gathered.

Before I go off on you, let me make 100% sure I'm picking up what you're putting down.

Are you suggesting that I (or the staff in general) has in the past or will in the future use your IP address to identify you, single you out, and then override your forms to ones you feel would be "craptastic"?

A one word yes-or-no response will suffice.

Obviously if I truly believed it I wouldn't say it was my paranoia thinking that this has been done. This was supposed to be a joke. Seems that didn't work very well.

So uhm, hah hah? Sorry about the misconception of what I said.

"...and numerous immortal comments about how lame I am have already gathered."

I don't think you're lame at all, I have no positive or negative leanings based on what was said above. It's all civil discourse after all. Thus, none of this would impact anything you did with respect to me personally in game. Furthermore, even if I did have negative leanings to you on the forum, I would attempt to set them aside and gauge your characters based on their merit in game.

I'd hope the same was true of my peers, and nothing I have seen has led me to believe anything to the contrary.

I don't have anything against any of you. I was just airing my frustrations that has built up for years. I thought I would just air it out in a discussion. And I felt it had some impact on reasoning on why people do throw away shapeshifters. And again, as I said previously, I'm not looking for any perfect combo. I'm looking for playing a great role mixed with not the same 1 or 2 forms I have played.

I don't think this is just a frustration for myself, but it seems I'll just move on.

Thanks for the game and the fun of the shapeshifter class.

Umiron and other newer imms are trying to change the curve against what the players have been complaining about with "bad imms" for a long time.

Seriously, just be quiet. Go on making your incredibly lifeless, soulless characters so you can "win" at your perfect combo... which no one will remember. Leave the unjaded Imms here to reply and spend their time doing meaningful things instead of deal with your paranoid and ranting crap.

We totally need this:


who pk
[51 Human Shf] (PK) (Craptastic) Charactername the the Grand
Master of Changelings

Cf isn't a big conspiracy rolled out to #### with you. I guarantee the majority of the imm & player base is over 28. No one has the free time to care about you. Sorry. You're not a big deal. Either play the forms you get, change classes, or ####ing farm obs exp and other things. But. The fact of the matter is that YOU are doing something wrong. Not the imms.

>As a side note, looking up my IP, and posting the information
>to "prove" I'm just a whiny bitch is really strange way of
>using IP information. It is not difficult to extrapolate that
>my latest run in with this prompted a long list of
>frustrations over years. This kind of "snapshot" you have no
>right to complain is a childish approach to a discussion. It
>annoys me that this is used in this matter.

You have every right to feel that way.

Sometimes I do some background investigation when people make claims or provide assertions based on their experience because I'm quite often correct in thinking that they're exaggerating or flat out lying (in general, not necessarily you). Likewise, people often come on the forums and say things like, "X is ####" or "Y is SO underwhelming!!" and I'll find that X just happens to be what killed them 30 minutes earlier or Y is the only build they can rack up PKs with so obviously it needs to be even better.

I guess that's a compromise the playerbase will just have to accept if they want me to participate in these discussions at all because I find that extra context incredibly helpful when forming my replies and, more importantly, informing any changes I might make to the code.

If it makes you feel any better, it's actually quite a lot of work to sort all that crap out and I'd rather not do it at all, but I do because I think participating in the discussions helps the game and I also want to hold people accountable for the things they say and do.

Nt

I have learned there is no way to keep everyone happy.

I would like to have more obs/exp added so I can have access to more edges and find more things, but I know that is not everyones favorite.

You have to find ways to adjust to the game. Not try to get the game to adjust to you.

Sorry, just had me laughing about the irony of this - the amount of non-name shifters over the years.... I half wish the class didn't exist, it just breeds people to not care about their character at all. I seriously cannot remember any shifter that truly was an amazing player - and not just a pk machine.

Also sheesh, think of all the "special forms" people got that raged about it. Remember the shifter who got the Nightmare form and bitched about having 100% gate on sleeping people, on top of his other two forms?

The last one that rings a bell was Dru... and holy crap that was a decade ago at least. Oi.