Mon Sep 28 14:55:08 2015

At 9 o'clock AM, Day of the Sun, 20th of the Month of the Old Forces
on the Theran calendar Koob perished, never to return.

What a ride, and I went out with a BOOM - sorry for the phylactery guys, but the time had come to let her die. It has been quite some time that I had such a blast with a character. Whyisdan, you're the schnitz (or however you say that in English - it's definitely overly positive). Your interactions were top notch, as always. It's a pity that we didn't have more later on; then again, I'm not all the praying guy, so I'm definitely to blame, too. I never succeeded in the quest you put me on, I think the final score was something like 4 or 5. (for those who wonder, I needed to slay 13 giants before I would have a shot at another virtue, hence also the last name). There were never all that many evil giants about, and having to match up with their playing times was just too difficult at times. I definitely liked the genius of the quest, and didn't mind at all that you said something like 'another text book paladin' ; in fact, I guess I was. The little nudge to try and be something different clung to my mind throughout this character's life, so the hint was well-taken. You are very inventive, humourous and always go with the character; and, for me, that makes you a great IMM.

For those who wonder how the hell I con lossed a paladin that was tough (at least, once I got the hang of the class) to kill in PK's: I don't tend to walk around to destinations, but teleport. I had something like 50 or 60 teleports in my bag at any time - it enabled me most of the times to get somewhere very quick. This also means that I teleported quite a few times to places that meant my death (although I noticed that this has been toned down since the beginning of the change, because that was just ridiculous). Sometimes I died immediately, and sometimes I was like 'hey, I still need to explore this place', only to die some time later on in that area. Teleporting, exploring, and getting used to the class meant my death most of the times. Charging in after a death and getting my butt kicked, only to realize much later that 'avoid' wasn't toggled on (it automatically resets when you die), kept on happening until 200h in Koob's time, D'UUUUUHHHHHHH . Silent Tower cost me a few deaths in the end as well.

The moment I rolled Koob, I didn't see/hadn't seen a lot of monks, let alone elven monks. By the time I got to 35, three other elven monks had rolled, so far for my niche experiment . Still, it's a great class, and combined with the Temperance virtue, it has a LOT of survivability - I'm sure at least some of you got frustrated trying to -insertanability- me. Next to elven bards and elven conjurers, I'd say this is one of the greater combinations to go exploring. Vigilance and revelation made surprise attacks next to impossible. Intensify made up for the loss in attack power. Champions stand is ... well, champions stand . Mana is the biggest problem with Paladins though. The many times you have to stop what you're doing (whether that be exploring or PK'ing) make this combo less of a steam roll, which is good I guess. I went for elf to partly deal with this, and the difference with storm giants was great, but still I spent quite some time regaining mana. It was a blast to have the Twilight orb and the troll amulet simultaneously - but that didn't last all that long unfortunately. Counterattack fired like 2 or 3 times during Koob's life, finally bugboarded it a week or two ago. I thought that the combination of race, class and virtue when all abilities are toggled on, this would get higher quick, but it hardly ever fired, and never raised. Having such a survivability made me far less conservative PK-wise than I normally am, and I actually liked that more than I had expected. On the other hand, I didn't have a lot of kills either, most of the times because once I started intensify, many just fled (which I would do too, no finger-pointing here), and a four-round lag is easy to get away from. I will get back to the elven monk at a later time, that's for sure.

Fort: You are my first, and my last love. I feel very much at ease, and the fact that many of them are new to the game inspires me to help them get on their feet, and teach them about Thera. At times, I do need a change, so the next one might be something else.

Empire: I noticed a lot of sportmanship, that's great. I tried to repay you all within the limits of the character.

Outlander: Love and hate, but I guess that goes both ways

Scarab: I am triggered by the Cult, but I have a feeling that I will never be able to enter. You guys are surrounded by mystery to me, but I guess that's part of it

There's a lot of you that stand out for different reasons, both inside and outside the Fort, thanks for making this character a blast.

To the Imms in general: thanks for keeping on hosting this game - even after almost 20 years, I still learn something new every week . Most memorable moment for that matter with Koob: finding out that the Silent Tower has a SLOPING pathway. I encountered two people in-game that had the same 'aha'-erlebnis when I shared this with them. Hahahaha!

See you all around,
Gorach

You were my personal "introduction to monks" and generally one of the first foes I've got a feel for my build against. Also I'm glad I was one of your quest counts, always wondered why you were the Giant Fighter, but I felt myself obliged to ambush you here and there specifically because of that title.

Tough as nails you were. And ever so patient. You were a big part of my learning curve with the class. Whenever you were around I became far more careful. My default 'anticipate bash' became 'anticipate bearcharge', which I learned the hard way.

The one time I got you, was kind of cheating from my side. I had received the quest not all that long before and was still bent on getting that number asap. Consciously attacking afterwards in town never happened again I think. A mistake with eyes of the phoenix still happened once or twice, mostly because I lost track of being right outside or right inside a protected town. Oh well. I enjoyed our actions greatly, and my not feeling at ease when you were around is definitely a compliment!

Great foe. Surprised to see con death as felt like you weren't dying much in pk.

Great rp and some good fights.

I am still amazed myself at con dying a rather defensive (with Temperance) paladin

You were great and fun to match up against. You weren't afraid to mix it up alone or with allies and i recall some good fights with you! Well done.

How I hated you or, shamans in general. They were the one class that screwed me up, without execption. Still, Koob had a lot of 'survivability', which made me more play more 'reckless' than I am used to, myself. My playing times forced me to go out alone a lot of times. Even though my attacks were futile against you, there was still fun in doing so. They forced me to sometimes try other tactics, at times successful but mostly not . Our fights did teach me a lot about the class though, thanks for that!

Color me surprised. Seemed like you rarely died. Exploration finally catch up with you?

I really appreciated the one talk we had about playing to one's strengths and about how different folks have different roles to play. Was fairly frustrated at the time; you made it better.

Exploration, teleportation and understanding the ins and outs of the class . I played quite some paladins before, but monk was definitely a first, which showed in the beginning.

Yeah, the talk we had was about a subject that I have experienced a lot in the Fort. In the beginning I was always surprised at how few times Fort actually has the upper hand in Cabal wars, even though they always the upper hand in the numbers. The fact that Fort has always attracted (for obvious/logical reasons) newer people, and thus people that still have to get used to the game, Thera, the class, preps etc, and tend to charge in, is in my eyes one of the reasons that this happens. It's really no use dying an unnecessary death.

You're a very strong presence, and definitely earn the Leader spot. I had a plan in mind to deal with Sodsob, which involved your stealing skills, but that is no longer necessary.

There's a lot I'd like to say in response to this (nothing bad) but it'll have to wait until Lithodora's gone. Stay tuned!