Thu Mar 9 11:44:42 2006

At 11 o'clock AM, Day of Thunder, 10th of the Month of Futility
on the Theran calendar Umira perished, never to return.

... the proposal was a joke.

You were great to have around for ranking, and with that ram form, I could/should have ridden you to hero - too bad I wasn't able to get a long login session in a while to do that.

All I knew was that you were kicking some major ass with that ram, and even before learning it you were quite competent. I said what I could to stay on your good side since you seemed to RP the "if you cross me (or log off while we're ranking without giving me fair warning), i'll kill you" type... and I didn't want any of that against a ram whem I'm toiling around in the low 40's.

Come on back to the fields, and roll up something pretty for me to hit on!

This was my first character after a long eight month break from the game. I can honestly say I handle the game in general far better than some other people that have been playing nonstop waaaaaaaay too long.

I got bored and deleted.

This was my first off/air shifter to hero. I rolled this character for two purposes:

One was to get better at tracking people through areas. Keep an eye on where they fled to and hid. I admit I got a little bit better at that but I did way too much attacking and not enough observing in this regard. People still lose me right when they leave an area when I try to give chase, and this isn't them quaffing teleports.

Two was to explore for preps, specifically some a/b/s on the offhand chance I might play more magi. I was acutely aware I wouldn't be able to kill some bigger mobs or hack it in explore areas to get some of the more untouched sources that may be present, those are never worth the time and energy to go get, and a wand is especially pointless if it requires two or more people to get. (i.e. a healer or muter or etc. etc. etc.)

I found and checked repeatedly at least fourteen locations that would have wands outside of locations such as Trothon and Onyx and Silver towers and Nonveil and Veran and etc. etc. etc. All of them were empty. It may be the case that some of them have moved before I found them or are not in use yet but over the course of 129 hours she only found one measly aura scroll and a shield potion(that is, I only found them repopped in those locations once during my lifetime). I finally got sick of competing with all the gnome shapeshifters and mages in my range that probably actually were getting those a/b/s things, and were too afraid to attack and piss off another off/air shifter which suited me just fine as I knew I full well was out of the league of any other wand/gear whoring gnome mage shifter. Also I heard on the winds of some lame assed fortress warrior whoring them to himself too, for whatever reason, dying with some number of three to six of them in his corpse.

I learned playing this character that offense/air is solely for killing people who suck, because just like paladins and goodie conjurers and necromancers and etc. etc. etc. nobody is going to fight you on your terms and nobody in their right mind should. Off/air shifters just can pick their fights better than most thieves and assassins simply due to flyto. However, anyone *worth killing* (i.e. dangerous caballed characters or other well geared people) you need a/b/s to kill. I tried using some miscellaneous damage reduction that my foes can attest to finding my bags full of, resist elements and protection and neg/pos but it usually didn't matter.

It was pointless to take a shifter against dagger, spear and mace specs. Without damage reduction you won't outdamage them once the maladictions hit. Might as well revert;c word while you have the HP to do so.

I did learn how to gear a hero mage for HP, far better than I learned with my bards. Final forms are better than any other class out there for mob killing, they just have to rest between pretty much every mob.

Never bothered to sit and master word or my spells/controls.

Now for goodbyes:

Order of Magic roleplayers: I'd say keep it up. I really wasn't interested. I got the strong feeling that your RP will fall through despite how long it's been going on given that most of your membership comprises of hero level gear whore gnomes that barely log in and/or PK everything in sight... I couldn't even get help from much of anyone but Necore for taking down people that really deserved it and even then his enemy set wasn't the same as mine. Of course my RP was the fairly standard and stale hatred of discrimination against half-breeds that IMHO CF hasn't gone into with enough depth since Mynawk went dormant as an imm, and Mynawk I never even got to interact with much, so what do I know. My desire to put much above standard effort into RPing in CF died long ago for one reason or another.

Empire: I hate you guys out of principle. I pretty much made friends with you only so you wouldn't make my life miserable, and what a surprise, it worked. Not one of you thought about my chaotic ethos and how to oath me because you need all the allies you can get right now with the hero range being constantly dominated by 3-10 goodies/ragers at one point and the like five or six outlanders that pop in and out at random login times.

Skarthoz and Orc Chieftan: I wish I got to RP with you guys more than just levelling. You seemed like really cool people, and Skarthoz would pull the most ####ed up and/or useless preps ever off of corpses out of his ass. Giant strength, anyone? Armor?

Scions: I only really RP'd with Greddarh and that was for the same reason as Empire, since I was an uncaballed evil I couldn't afford to piss off evil cabals and interrupt my exploring. Goodies and ragers interrupted my poking around various areas anyway. Wish I got to RP with Greddarh more.

Carlooth: I was about to kill you for flagging me but I was so bored with the character at that point I didn't even have the energy to really take it personally that you got up off your ass and investigated a crime. I was about to kill you and sacrifice everything in your corpse for flagging me but I was thinking along the same lines as Remoldezaire below, it's really time to quit if I'm thinking of how I can make players miserable again just for giving me a run for my money, if I'm just frustrated for not being able to stay in a fight long enough to finish it to my satisfaction.

Remoldezaire/Aundar(and to some extent Gulloth): Since you intentionally waited to get me when I unghosted to gaunt me while regearing, I made sure that I was never in a position to be gaunted again. And it really drove you ####ing nuts apparently, given how bored Remoldezaire was he actually taunted me for hiding underwater at night. Really, Remoldezaire, there's little skill involved in playing a conjurer when you find the mana sweetspots and then pretty much make sure you're not above ground or in view when you conjure. You were playing a conjurer on autopilot and were able to get away with it because of archons, woo hoo. Whenever you decided to actually be dumb enough to attack my ram form, you ate four demos and worded. I just was stupid enough to attack you without damage reduction and more often than not lost. Also relying on circumstantial assaults got me killed too. But pretty much it was me hunting you two by day and you both actually scryed *me* more than the Emperor or Greddarh by night, because you knew I couldn't and wouldn't bring allies to bear on you. Don't complain about not finding any skilled players just because nobody cares to go and fight yet another goodie conjurer that wouldn't take risks. And Aundar, you obviously are very bored and should delete if you are going to take 'I hate people who hate empire' as an excuse to gank me down with outfit leathers and one Mouldrilar's amulet. I did what I had to survival, as apparently you did with Outlander (but completely and utterly forgot that Outlander has multiple alignment factions and got bitched as a result anyway, I heard.) You also were pretty much never above ground when I logged in if you could help it.

Ragers: I honestly have to say I enjoyed fighting you guys most and that's only because the powers give you the balls to have to fight. Of course I wasn't about to feel suicidal and stick around to fight Lerimos'(and Lekajab's) impale that instantly ####ed me over, but Ysaloerye you were interesting to fight and actually gave me a chuckle once in a while. I love the scot-irish dwarf stereotype and hope it never dies. 'I'll put a boot in yer arse.' heh. I really didn't like the fact that you decided to poke around when that thing attacked Empire and knew you would attack me if I was attacking it. No Villager put up a fight like you, man. I couldn't come at you with a/b/s but I came anyway and it was pretty interesting as DB isn't as garunteed a win as people seem to think, damage reduction or no. It was pretty lame in my opinion that Ulthinius got props just for saying 'Mage in Inn' though. A large part of why I never got depth in my RP was that there was no reason to stay in one place too long or else some other clown in hero range that was as bored as I was would come around and attack me like you and Ulthinius did there. (Yes Ulthinius, I made sure to pay your ass back twofold for that lame ####. Nevermind what the imms thought. My previous scout wouldn't have done something that weak and had a vastly different definition of cunning than yours.)

Sharten: I got a pretty good chuckle out of you proposing to me just because of my final offense form. The irony is ram is a male goat and I was a female shifter...

I also attacked various paladins but my results varied against them whether or not I had protect up. Ysaloerye paid more attention to the fact that I was prejudiced against dwarves/high elves and drow than any paladin ever would have even if I mentioned it anyway.

Outlanders: I liked you guys a fair bit. You seemed to understand more than most that even if I was with Imperials I was doing it mostly to survive, as you neutrals ranked with me anyway. You also didn't try to involve me in cabal politics, though if you attacked dwarves or goodie conjurers I would have appreciated being included a bit more often. Morasfenmire almost matched my RP but we had very different IQ and points of view to come to the a similar conclusion. I almost wish I got to fight Iliyma more because of her cool Jade Penumbra title, or chat with Aeria since she was a wood-elf and I didn't mind wood-elves so much since there's no hint of discrimination toward them in Evermoon. That may be something that needs review, their general attitude toward each other race. Especially you, Alenysi. I felt sorry for you when Kaeciln deleted, that you had 'fallen in love' with a prick like that. I almost sent a really jackass tell to you over that but decided his childish ranting was enough of an embarrassment for you. Even if my character thought you were a moron for lashing a potential ally and someone who was fighting and making an example of YOUR half-elf superiority.

Vynelian: You're too cowardly. I think I made that quite clear ICly though, since you hated my guts and I didn't care, I just needed you to get better and quit whining. You had wands and I still got into more fights than you.

Anyway I'm going back to avoiding preps if I can. The a/b/s system is infinitely frustrating and you have to depend on it if you want to survive a fight against a foe that's half-decently geared. If I have a choice, I'll just make other a/b/s user's lives miserable by fleeing far and away if I realize they have damage redux on. And maybe an assassin with ALOT of copper would teach me tracking better than a off/air shifter.

I have to admit I hate pretty much all of these ideas. " - Nepenthe, on New Ranger Skills

Any evil is not my friend, I See red aura if I Dont feel like a pansy I attack it...heh. I Would NEVER be an ally with you...and yes the Kaeciln is kind of embarassing, he never was like that around me until the end when he complained...A LOT. And she didn't think anything of superiority, all she knew is she didnt like evil at all...hehe. And you could have sent me a tell, I'd been a bitch about it, its all good Good luck with your next and don't punk my ass too much.

I could tell you were relatively new to the game. My first interaction with you was you swooping down on me in the weald. Killing my elemental, then dying to me. The fact that you were wearing a suit of earthen gear at hero, told me you were new to things.

I then gaunted you a few times, I think killing you one or two more times. Wearing newbie gear and trying to pick easy targets made you a viable target for me. Once in Hamsah when you attacked me with a jaguar. Another time when I gaunted you to near arial city, you died to myself and Aundar. As far as you being unghosting? That is impossible. You are unable to gaunt someone when they have recently died. Even if they are 'whole' again. You get a message that says, Soandso's life energy is too low to gaunt. So you are mistaken about that.

WHen I conjure, I do so in a safe place. It is only smart thing to do.

I find your comment of you 'hunting me' laughable. If servitors were leaving or I was not in sanctuary...yes I would move off and put them up. Sorry but I dont stand in a spot and allow a near naked offense form, the chance to two round me.

WHen I said I was bored with having few skilled foes around, I meant it. Your own comments about a typical range of foes are actually very acurate. Almost all my range was allies. Few times when Imperials logged on en mass, they were together.

You did learn from your mistakes though. I noticed you never flew at night ever again, and spent your time in the oceans.

As far as you having troubles finding wands. You are not looking hard enough.

I have played many many air shifters, and can give you some good advice for hunting if you need it.

Last advice for now, is shifters are the easiest thing to gear for. Dont wear gear that can be gathered by a level 20 warrior. Use the search engines on the other sites...and put some effort into gathering.

LM

If you're going to burn me for earthen gear you really need to check your facts as that's some of the best *regear* for hero mages right now. It's been revamped... and the mobs cannot be killed by a level 20 warrior without help. A total 300+ HP off of fifteen mintues spent regearing is nothing to scoff at.

As for my tactics attacking a conjurer, there are no *good* ways to attack a conjurer as a straight up damae no tank class, I'm sorry. Without dismiss staves getting put into the game, there is no way to make a conjurer fight you on your terms with a straight up damage class and the better part of skill generally tells people to 'avoid these foes'. I just happened to decide to put my money where my mouth was and naturally I lost. After dying three or four times I quit that, and I didn't die very often with this shapeshifter. I had like three trains and max con when I deleted and that was after at least ten put into HP over the course of my lifetime.

And you may think you sent gaunts after me multiple times, but a gaunt ever only touched me once. It was yours, and it was right after I unghosted, and you looked in the corpse and dropped #### on the ground, so you knew I unghosted by checking who and scrying. You can call it whatever you want but you ganked down a naked shifter because I was still dead from the weald incident you mentioned in which I got unlucky and reverted right before the round so my c word didn't get off.

And you have no idea how long I was in the air spamming 'where archon' and 'where elemental' following you around. I thought about just hacking at your archons and then fleeing and healing up so they'd be less satisfied with you but ultimately it was easier and smarter just to see if you'd get unlucky. I'm sorry if you deciding to take four demos and word is your idea of the smartest offensive move on a ram when you've been playing for years because I never died when you attacked me except for that one gaunt. I only died when I stayed to tangle, go figure. I also explained my search criteria for a/b/s which, if you look, really would give me all of the most commonly checked locations in the game. I still should be able to find a bone here or there without having to explore frickin' Azhan or Silent Tower as advice to 'look harder'.

"I have to admit I hate pretty much all of these ideas. " - Nepenthe, on New Ranger Skills

You cannot gaunt someone who has recently died. PERIOD.

That being said. You have 15 minutes to heal to full and go grab your 'great' set of earthen gear. So either way, you should be fully ready to go (by your standards) after each death.

Your comment, I only died when I stayed to tangle?

What the hell does that mean. No ####. You only died when we fought. Usually when one person is unprepared to fight, they leave...I thought that was common knowledge.

I have killed stacked conjurers with Transplendant archons, with air forms...JUST AN AIR FORM. Solo.

I really had nothing agaisnt you. WHen I deleted, I dont recalling bad mouthing you in the least. Just responding to your goodbyes....Just be glad you werent playing when I was playing my last shifter Alidove. 1400hp, full maran powers, NEVER fought without A/B/S, protection from evil. I guarantee you would not have had a good experience. (Playing with the forms you have....)

And I didn't stay to fight Alidove after you attacked me once because that would have been dumb of course once I realized you were exactly what you just described, a gear and wand whore.

I just told you it twice and you said it yourself in your goodbye. Don't complain about a lack of skilled foes when you don't take any risks whatsoever and they're too smart to fight you when you're fully ready. (i.e. coming after them with 1400 hp and a/b/s up as an off/air shifter or gaunting them with a transplendant archon)

The fact of the matter is you want a dream foe which would be an AP with your wand knowledge, to prep up with a 200 charge weapon and either two round you, or better yet die and have a full set of gear better than yours. It's not going to happen. Even I didn't bother to stay and die to you as Alidove because I knew you were wanded up, and I was always the aggressor when I died to you.

I'm not saying I could have ever gotten the skill to kill you, but #### man if I give up trying to kill you after four deaths that's just the smart guy's thing to do. Most skilled players wouldn't even bother to attack you aggressively that many times. Take Nepenthe's advice to heart if you want to enjoy the game more because I was pretty much the most aggressive you were going to get if you didn't delete Remoldezaire and anyone more skilled simply would have avoided you. I mean you taunted me for doing the smart thing, spending nighttime underwater, and scryed me the most out of everyone in your range even if both the Emperor and some Scions were logged in.

Also ghost time from what I've seen is halved if you log out while a ghost and log in later to regear. Whether that's true or not, a logout typically substantially reduces the time you have to regear just because of the time people spend getting the bearings as they should when they log in. I didn't even remember I was a ghost the second time I came in to regear.

I'm done talking to you. I did nothing wrong but attack you and die and I really don't have a desire to frustrate myself to get to your point since you're already pretty unhappy where you are as it is. I'd rather enjoy the game forgetting a/b/s exists if that's my choices.

"I have to admit I hate pretty much all of these ideas. " - Nepenthe, on New Ranger Skills

Really.

nt

Except in arrogance. Jinroh's and Dwoggurd's are at least confidence. Heh.

n/t

"I realized you were exactly what you just described, a gear and wand whore."

I got news for you. Despite what the immortals say, gear and wands are huge parts of the game. You can accept this, or bitch about it, or both. But. Thinking you can time and again beat down some uber decked badass with a goblin sword is the domain for people like Nepenthe. It seems to me the rest of the playerbase has accepted wands/gear as the huge factors in pk they are, whether they like it or not. If you play mages, I suggest you sack up and fall in line if you want to compete, consistently.

"And Aundar, you obviously are very bored and should delete if you are going to take 'I hate people who hate empire' as an excuse to gank me down with outfit leathers and one Mouldrilar's amulet."

Me with ally. Ally says you help Empire. For various reasons (mostly them repeatedly ####ing stomping me) Aundar hates Empire, he hates anyone associated with them, or anyone who helps them. You fell into that category the whole thirty seconds before you got gaunted. Also, I have no ####ing idea you had #### for eq, but that has never stopped anyone from pkilling me so suck it up.

"I did what I had to survival, as apparently you did with Outlander (but completely and utterly forgot that Outlander has multiple alignment factions and got bitched as a result anyway, I heard.)"

Without getting into specifics of my character, all I can say is Outlander has never bitched me out, if that is what you are implying.

"You also were pretty much never above ground when I logged in if you could help it."

This couldn't be further from the truth. You just couldn't find me all that well. Likely because I was exploring or getting stomped by Empire. The correct statement would be "You were also pretty much never above ground when hurt or in an area I could fly to".

Good luck with your next and for what its worth, you did eat a ####ty death to me.

I hate air shifters, no way about it I always dreaded having 2/3 of you on because I knew you were all looking for me. I agree with the ABS as it seems like 3/4 heros dominate and the rest well, rarely have it. I enjoyed our fights but it was either me impaling and you running or me attempting to run away because I was hurt. Anyway good luck with the next.

One of the few shifters who would come fight even when there was a chance they would die. Too many will not even come sniffing unless they know your hurt, know you don't have the head, know you were just ganked down and looted, or have two other air shifters on backup. I was also glad you took the time to RP convers a bit, most shifters are either in-form or sleeping usually, apart from the ones trying to goad you to fighting them where/when they are at their strongest (see comment on only fighting when they think they have a guarenteed win).

Yeah the Empire Hound thing was just too interesting to pass up, I had already been jumped by the outlander crew during earlier times, and I would/did whomp on any mages who were there (much to the chagrin of some forties).

Glad you are enjoying CF after your hiatus. Roll a villager and I can regal you with some more choice insults.

You ranked with me for one session and I didnt have Ram and *JUST* got porcupine when you left, what do you expect from a sand lizard in pk in hero range? I bet it would sure whoop some ass!

>I found and checked repeatedly at least fourteen locations
>that would have wands outside of locations such as Trothon and
>Onyx and Silver towers and Nonveil and Veran and etc. etc.
>etc. All of them were empty.

This was my experience w/ barrier last time I played a mage, but I found aura/shield pretty easy to come by.

>However, anyone *worth killing* (i.e. dangerous caballed
>characters or other well geared people) you need a/b/s to
>kill.

In general yes, but flyto lets you get the jump on them at inopportune times, such as when they're already extremely wounded. They can't notice you approaching like they would a ground-based foe, so their ability to retreat is reduced. You can sit above an area, watch two PKs engage each other and duke it out, then fly down and hit whoever wins while he's wounded. Even if he flees, you get your pick of the other guy's loot. etc. Cheesy stuff, but effective at times.