Fri Jun 22 14:45:30 2012

At 5 o'clock AM, Day of Deception, 16th of the Month of the Ancient Darkness
on the Theran calendar Feyhan perished, never to return.

Now that I've seen the char sheet, I want to provide some thoughts on shamen and how I did, which isn't as bad as I thought, but not that great by any count.

Shaman as a class

Shamen do lack something, maybe it's just me not using Rot, since that seems to be the way to get kills, but I remember how I hate to be on the receiving end of that and just didn't practice Rot at all. I've even tried using pincer stuff for lagging purposes, just to stretch the battle for a bit in order to land my supps, but that mostly lead to facepalm moments, where the palm of anyone would get to my face and I would bail quickly. Shaman is probably the rager killer of choice IF said rager didn't have access to poultice. Also, hero-level ragers do tend to pack so much svs that the plague just doesn't stick. And that's in a rare case they actually try to stay in battle. Just seems like you have the potential to win any battle, but actually finishing someone is extremely hard. Dispel someone - they teleport/word, land plague/poison - they teleport/word, start with Wither and land it - they teleport/word, go for energy drain against mages/paladins, and they either outdamage you extremely quickly or teleport/word after two energy drains. I've tried starting with damnation, but that worked pretty much the same as starting with a blind - immediate flee/teleport. Also, for some reason sporting 60-70 damroll and avg28 weapon didn't do much for me - mostly mangle/demo on a regular hit, which by the way very rarely hit against any melee class, no matter whether it's a sword or an axe or a flail. I know there was a project to revamp them, just saying they need something.

Duergar
Oh, the pain, the pain. Detecting hidden very rarely came into play, which was a big surprise for me. Only time it ever mattered was pretty much against Mauz, and then not so much since he was also looking for a fight and not an assassinate. But the downsides were huge. For the latter part of my life I was able to keep the shield, but in the early and mid stages with the Fort ruling the day it was pretty bad. Also, skills never went up pretty much at all. My next one is an arial/elf/delf.

Matchups
Could generally fight anyone but tough rager berserkers or defenders. Berserkers of the Caitlyan variety and defenders of the Xazzax quality. Just seemed I could do next to nothing against them, maybe it's just me. Also, with a maran online, it's kinda hard to fight any Fort guy, I would immediately be cried to.

Scion
Very cool, but mostly empty. I know I was a part of that emptiness, but when I did log in I rarely saw anyone else. Generally login consisted of me retrieving for a while, then defending for a while, then retrieving again, then logging off. Nightwalker is huge, but not so much without the scepter. Also, you can't do a hit and run, heal, come back with one, which is a big letdown for a shaman. Other powers I would exchange for a nightfist easily. And I don't know why clerics can't despoil stuff - just seems more RP'sh to let clerics defile as opposed to mages. Thanks again to chancellors/Reksah for not kicking me out.

Neltouda
Was great while it lasted, but then stopped seeing you for the greatest time stretch, so meh. Unfortunately couldn't quite explain to you the role or where I want to head with it without breaking RP. But then poof, and the point was moot. I actually was without a char and decided to roll Feyhan following you spontaneously after you announced free empowerment interviews because of the wedding.

I'm the kind of guy who sticks with a char for the longest time (RL time) even though there's the downside that I can't login often or for very long. Thanks to all the people who make it possible to have a caballed char even in Scion who can't play more.

Met a ton of people, most were great, never fulled anyone, don't think I was fulled by anyone either. Besides, gear is not that important. Having fun is though, want to thank all the imms for keeping the flame alive.

Your RP was outstanding and I was hoping you'd run with this all the way to leadership in Scion.

When we were both stuck for a long time pre-hero and you tried to get me to go ranking with you, I'll have you know that I was sorely, sorely tempted to go kill Storm Giants with you.

In retrospect I wish I'd run with it, even though it would probably have ended up with me dead and looking like a fool as soon as you hit hero.

In any event, ever interaction I had with you was absolutely stellar, but I figure that duergar with only enemies is a pretty tough road.

Absolutely killer while it lasted, though.

Well, the plan was, of course, to use you to rank me and kill you as soon as I had the chance. In a nice and friendly way, of course. Much, much preferably through an "accident" of the storms suddenly beating up on you. My sphere was Storms and it was just so perfect a setup that I proposed it. Wouldn't wait until you help to hero me, just would take the first presentable opportunity for RP.

We had a string of battles, which were quite enjoyable, since you actually were interested in staying. Always liked you. It's one of those favorite enemies relationships, and, besides, I didn't really view you as an enemy through the char's eyes.

Just couldn't login enough, well, and Neltouda faded away, didn't see her since like March, which made me want to login even less I suppose.

Since Rindros was primarily a RP character, I expected only that from my members. You always put forth the effort in that department, even though you seemed a bit new at it.

You walked the fine line perfectly for your induction. Not too eager to walk into death, but not too hesitant. Well done in that respect.

Still, you weren't around enough.

>Since Rindros was primarily a RP character, I expected only
>that from my members. You always put forth the effort in that
>department, even though you seemed a bit new at it.
>
>You walked the fine line perfectly for your induction. Not
>too eager to walk into death, but not too hesitant. Well done
>in that respect.
>
>Still, you weren't around enough.

I was kinda surprised to be inducted so early, so kudos for that. Thought you had a bit of a soft spot for me for some odd reason I couldn't really fathom. I know I wasn't around, but some things you can't really change. I guess I'll try not to roll a Scion until/if I can play more.

I personally find it retarded that many scion leaders go for hero induct only, and/or hoop jumping. I knew within about a minute of talking to someone if I wanted them in or not. Then they needed only do the deed and they got in.

You were around when I rolled up Zynzyn, and only just now auto-delete...and you have 201 hours. Not to sound like a prick here but how in the hell did you take up a Scion slot for that long?

>You were around when I rolled up Zynzyn, and only just now
>auto-delete...and you have 201 hours. Not to sound like a
>prick here but how in the hell did you take up a Scion slot
>for that long?

I always felt a bit guilty about that and decided to auto him a while back. Thing is, I couldn't log in often enough unfortunately. Family/kids/work, the usual. I must give it to the leadership and the imms for allowing me to hold the spot this long. Probably because I usually play just one char. At least two advisors wanted to kick me out actively, and I'm surprised I actually managed to stay.

Small thoughts: Shamen are pretty good all-around, but just couldn't kill anyone who's not interested in staying in a fight, or at least I couldn't. And I didn't practice rot at all since I hate the spell, so I'd estimate I did like 10 wins and 50 losses, which is a horrible record for a shaman.