Mon Apr 16 01:46:54 2012

At 5 o'clock AM, Day of the Sun, 34th of the Month of the Sun
on the Theran calendar Gorb perished, never to return.

Firstly, I found myself asking, "What the hell does he think he's doing?" a lot with Gorb. Some of the things you would do simply astounded me and I couldn't fathom why you would attack some of the people you did. 171 hrs pretty quick con death and that would explain that what I saw was fairly common. If I could say any advice to these actions it would be, don't be afraid to run, get good at it even, find out which mobs don't like which people, races, which areas are close by but seldom visited enough to buy you a few tics of healing etc.

I recall one retrieval against scion that I took 1 death, you took 3 I think, maybe more. This wasn't because I had better gear or could fight better from a mechanical pov but because I am slightly above avg at running. (This was you and I, not grouped, against Shifter and out of range/healer we couldn't get to.)

Second, mute? Really? I was again in WTF World. Your notes were hard to understand sometimes and the gestures were only mildly better. I would advise strongly against a mute char who wishes good cabal pk success. Being able to tell people that you are getting accosted by a shifter or three would have likely saved your butt a few times. All negatives barred, I thought it was really gutsy to try and was something I never would have attempted and give you some accolades.

Needlessly to say, even with all the above, I liked Gorb a lot with only one other exception being the whole Gorilla thing. You had the right qualities for a good villager in my book. Courage, Determination, and Strength and you showed them all, often. Even though I'll blame db and thirst for my arena losses I say good Job.

I can't compare you to Qush but I'll give an example of progression using my very first villager app. He was a dwarf who was lawful and at the time you couldn't join the village without imm interaction if you were lawful. Sadly, I didn't find this out until Thror who was the mortal leader asked me, "Are you Lawful?" after he tried inducting me. 28 levels down the drain which for me was huge back then. This was likely my 10th or 12th char and highest ranking one, ever. Again another WTF moment.

>Firstly, I found myself asking, "What the hell does he think
>he's doing?" a lot with Gorb.

Many times I had same question for Gorb too!

>I recall one retrieval against scion that I took 1 death, you
>took 3 I think, maybe more. This wasn't because I had better
>gear or could fight better from a mechanical pov but because I
>am slightly above avg at running. (This was you and I, not
>grouped, against Shifter and out of range/healer we couldn't
>get to.)

This was mostly because my connection is crap really! Many times I attack and get the control at half of my HP.

>Second, mute? Really? I was again in WTF World. Your notes
>were hard to understand sometimes and the gestures were only
>mildly better.

Hardly understandable notes were absolutely intentional. I abused others
a little doing so and I'm sorry, but in my idea, Gorb couldn't do much better
anyway.
Mute? VERY challenging and VERY fun too! Just look at it positively and you'll
love to take it. (I would have done so, if it was not that obvious that it's me, or
if I had a better RP/role to do so.)

>Even though I'll blame db and thirst for my arena
>losses I say good Job.

Thanks. But I'd say Gorb could have won over Invoroh in arena battles anytime.
(not outside of arena for sure!)

Gorb counted on Invoroh very much. (almost same as Xazzax)
I think you are doing a very good defender.

Ha the first time i was hurt to start the fight thats why it was as close as it was...I thought for sure you had me. The second time as a nexun you learn to not cross the eastern without being ready for a fight so I was semi prepped and ready for you. I thought you was solid in the fights though well done.

I have learned it the hard way!

I'm curious about the role though, it seems like it would be a fun read.

I have not the roles, but anyway, they were just the guidlines and some brief history to say why I'm doing what I do. Nothing more than simple roles really.

I really think that I should just leave playing CF as it seems that I have not enough potentials to become good. I saw somehow no improvement from Qush to Gorb. I liked Gorb, but he was not successful either. I always had sound tactics to defend the village against three or four raiding scions or nexuns alone, but a) never really good as I thought b) mostly did wrong on critical points.
Don't know how long took for you to do it right, but I think that with this many mentors I have had by now, I should have bee much much better.

Anyway, it was still a good experiment to run along or fight (and most mostly die) to you all out there.

Battle:
Salyeris: Thanks a lot for all the encouragements, teachings and leadership. Sorry that I wasn't wise and good enough and somehow failed just as Qush did. Just thanks and more thanks.
Xazzax: I hated you from the first time we talked. Hated your RP, your toughness, your tactics, your courage, …. Hated you more when you translated my letters absolutely different from what I wrote, and even more when you cut three fingers from the poor Buk BY MISTAKE! But don't forget that at last I defeated you twice in arena! (change all "hate"s to "like")
Invoroh: I liked you very much, but I could like you even more if you didn't like to hit me when that gorilla was around . Thanks for all the fun you caused for me.
Djetmai, Mamangava: You seemed to think Gorb is strong. I'm sorry that he was not.
Caitlyan: I wish I could cause bleeding just like you.

Nexuns:
Cersee:Why I always forgot what my plan was just as you entered the shrine? that day Gorb was getting you in the shrine, entwined and pummeled to death, but my thirst finished and you did Gorb in one shot. How did I love to kill you, and I had enough chances in the village to do so, but I failed.
Iklahn: Never thought rangers can be that tough. Still not as tough as a warrior who knows how to entwine, but still very tough.
Ghafler: Our paths didn't cross many times. just twice in one quarter. first you and Iklahn finished me when you were convulsing and I didn't see that you have entwined Gorb, so I was still trying to entwine ! and second time you were alone on eastern, so I thought this time is mine! thirsted and ran to you and you killed Gorb? How you did it?
Yollobo: I always feared the wolf pre hero, but then I didn't see you much around. This or my fights let me think that wolf is not much strong anyway, so I didn't fear anymore. Unfortunately our last fight in the isle was not good. after Gorb entwined you, my connection dropped. I tried to connect again to no avail. Bad luck, I wanted to berserk and I'm sure the wolf was dead (probably Gorb too, because of the bleeding, as thirst was just going to end). But anyway, if there is any honor finishing Gorb, it's all yours now! :p

Scions:
Zameida: I always feared the Rhino when we didn't have the head. but if we had it, I liked to fight you, still you were frightening to Gorb. I mostly knew Gorb will fall facing you, but I need to learn facing your kind anyway.
Dhesthil: Not as fearful as Zameida for me, but still.
Narissorin: not many encounters. Killed Gorb once with the lion form when there were no head. But rhino was still much more fearsome. Gorb really never feared facing you! (maybe because you didn't face that much to make him do so?)
Miczariel: Much better a warrior than Gorb. If not related to your RP, don't loot that much.

Who else to say goodbyes to? Post if I have forgot your name.

How long have you been playing CF?

It took me roughly 4-5 hero characters to get to a point where I most of the time got as many kills as I did deaths. And totally 5+ years before I could call myself an above average PKer. (Still not super good and I'm learning new things every login.)

CF has an almost endless learning curve. Just keep at it, and the only way to learn PK is to PK a lot, and die, con-die chars. I'm not sure but I think I've con-died 20+ heroes.

If you don't feel like your PKing is improving, make an RP oriented character or two, and focus on that aspect of the game. It is a far more vital point of the game than the PKing is, believe me.

Or make a heavy solo-explorer like a lawful good conjurer using archons, can explore most of Thera alone.

It's now about 2 years (little more than 1 year effectively) that I'm playing.
I've been in nexuns for a few heros (one warriors and two shifter) and have explored a lot of Thera (still many places I don't know at all).
I have had two paladins mostly tried to RP with, but it seems that I don't know how to do so. I don't suck on it I'd say and won't try to PK anyone anytime to ruin my simple RPs. But still it's not good when you don't know how to PK effectively.
Gorb is my fifth hero (third con died hero and fifth fully played char). You think it's still early?

Dont worry about losing a few fights in my first two years I con died 4 character within a day. Try different classes and always just try to have fun with it. Trust me not every character will be strong and Trust me you will get better. I learned to pk from POS but thats a different story. GLWYN and I hope you stay.(Plus you already have two characters that have more hours than I have ever had)

Edit: Which shows you have dedication and will make a really awesome character soon.

I've got a single #### to give...and it's just for you.

I think it was my 3rd or 4th year that things really took off for me. I'd give it a few more heroes.

No more mutes for a bit, talk is cheap but very useful!

Also think about going for a more cookie cutter build if you want to feel 'stronger' in the village. Arial bleed spec or svirf damage spec!

Keep on trucking.

No voice had two reasons:
1. put some RP to my char which ended more RP for those Gorb interacted with, like Xazzax.
2. Being a little more self reliant and learn to survive, PK and do stuff alone. (I know if Gorb had voice, I would have asked for help in many situations.)

You char was way tougher then you give him credit for. And as far as pk goes, you were one of the scarier Ragers in my opinion. You will always improve if you continue to try.

I would strongly suggest playing a non rager for learning more of the game and even pk. It allows for more opportunity to GTFO of bad situations and it also tends to open itself to learning tactics and more exploring.

PS: I thought you made some massive strides from Qush to Gorb.

Thanks for all the goodies about Gorb. But I absolutely think Caitlyan, Xazzax and Invoroh are much deadlier than Gorb.

ps: I WILL make my next char a better one then. I promise you.

This will be a bit longer than normal, just so I can offer a few tips and such to you.

First, let me say that Gorb was an improvement from Qush, trust me. When I see a character who intentionally hamstrings his character that badly- mute, and wields no weapons almost the entire life of the char, I know they're not going to live long or survive a lot of fights. (Also, don't measure success by PK stats, measure it by enjoyment you get playing the char, my favorite chars have been ones with terrible PK scores). I don't imagine Gorb got a large amount of PKs, but he did get some and he was tougher than you seem to think, especially once you got flails. The thing of it was, maybe being mute or not wielding weapons would have been a tough challenge, but doing both made it a much bigger uphill climb for you in terms of PK survivability. Battleragers die, a lot, but those two flaws probably contributed to a lot of deaths you would not have had otherwise.

Taking those big flaws is a nice way to challenge yourself, but even veteran rager players would have had a hard time playing like that. Still, you had degrees of success you didn't with Qush, even though you had those handicaps. In my eyes that shows you did take a lot of positive steps with this char. Salyeris in fact liked Gorb a lot, you were generally cheery and fun to be around, and I never mind helping out characters like that.

Salyeris inducted you without you being an applicant since you could never swear the oath, and I never regretted that decision. I did scold you a few times and probably had a few more frustrating moments, but that was mostly because being mute made it much harder for me to keep tabs on you during large battles and you would end up dying lots of times when you didn't need to. When you thirsted, it sometimes just became all the harder. I couldn't tell if you were spamming it to get the skill mastered or what, but you should keep in mind blood thirst has major drawbacks, that's why it's almost never the first thing a berserker does in any fight. There's a line between brave and reckless, and Gorb tended to cross it sometimes, but that's also a good way to learn where that line is and to get a good grasp of what fights you stay for, which others you withdraw from.

If and when you roll another character, try to go without major flaws, and maybe playing something with a higher degree of survivability. You'd be surprised about how much less you'll die when you play a non-villager just by being able to use potions and such. If you like warriors, play a more defensive build, and learn to develop tactics for it that play to its strengths and mitigate its weaknesses.

Or just come on back to the Battleragers, we're always in need of people

Thanks again for all the help and sorry again to act not well enough as a villager, which caused your and others' anger. Very pleased to hear that you never regretted inducting Gorb as I thought you did.
Death is not what I fear. I have learned a lot (both with Qush and Gorb) and it wasn't possible if I had not thrown myself in awkward situations (mostly resulting in my death). The most exciting moment of Gorb's life was: http://www.qhcf.net/phorum/read.php?3,931402,931402#msg-931402
So I absolutely enjoyed it. (At last, I could put my plan to work once. Even if I knew I'll end up dead)
The thing about the flaws was to push myself and probably learn more out of it, which I absolutely did. I probably won't take those flaws ever in the future, but they helped me learn a lot!
The problem with non-village chars is that I should prep, which both I hate and suck.

BUT one question I always had. You (or anyone else) knew that Gorb = Qush? I want to know if it was detectable through RP, skills or anything else..?

I had an idea that Gorb's player was somewhat new, but no, I would not have guessed Qush = Gorb. I also don't really care who plays who, or who played who in the past though, so I tend to not really connect those dots most times. Plus, I expected Gorb to die a lot given the major handicaps you put on yourself, so nothing came through really that told me you were as new as you were.

So you know, you did act well as a villager actually, you had moments where you messed up and struck someone you probably shouldn't have, or failed to strike when you should have, but all players do, especially in the village as berserkers where there is a pretty strict code of conduct so to speak. And I saw your mind go out a lot of times which really made it hard to tell if you were inattentive or disconnected, so I never really minded when you ignored or failed to react quickly. I react to things IC as a char, and some rare times I intentionally try to be stern, but as a player I know we all have things come up and I don't mind.

You never got booted by me or an Imm, so clearly you were not doing anything terribly bad that I or anyone else saw. Jumping in on a fight or two by accident is not going to get you booted for the most part, especially when you're a newer player that took that kind of challenging character and went pretty much all out all the time.

You don't have to fear dying, but you should not be suicidal in seeking it out sometimes. It's alright for a berserker to flee a really stacked against them fight sometimes or not charge three prepped scions when you don't have the head.

Okay, maybe village warriors are always going to seem fairly tough from the perspective of a thief- but I saw you take down some tough enemies, ones that give me real problems. We didn't spend a lot of time together, but I saw good things from you.

Given all of the challenges that you gave yourself, I'm thinking you are on the right track and making serious progress. Come back to the world of talking and you'll learn even faster.

Hope to see you in the fields again soon.

-Djetmai

Thanks for the inspiring words about Gorb. I think I've learned a lot, but the problem is that I can't use them in battle effectively yet.
About Djetmai, I should say that, Gorb always felt safe about shadows when you were around!