Thu May 8 18:11:33 2008

At 9 o'clock AM, Day of Thunder, 10th of the Month of the Winter Wolf
on the Theran calendar Xubetok perished, never to return.

Xubetok was a rager that I had a ton of respect for and really thought was top-notch. I'm not entirely surprised that it came out of you. I didn't expect a mention since we only crossed paths a few times but I can really say that you were cool to run with. Thanks for the fun times and good luck with your next.

-PP

This character was started as semi-experimental. I had not played warriors since 2004
and Battle cabal since 2001, so I tried to taste everything at once: specs, legacies,
brawling skills, edges, etc. This is my first dagger spec and I liked it so far.
I also wanted to play something that is not uber powerful and making a rager
(with all their limitations) seemed to be as a good choice. Overall, I liked the Village
but the cabal war dynamic is broken. I really miss good old time raiding against
somewhat equal odds.

Several factors contributed to my deletion:
- I wasn't satisfied with my build, I can't say it was extremely bad, but it wasn't
very good either. Since it was somewhat experimental that was expected though.
I didn't really aim for the high number of kills so the lack of lagging or kill sealing
abilities didn't bother me a lot. Let us be realistic, you can't rack large PK numbers
by killing only skilled and tough opponents simply because they just don't die that often
(especially to a rager), so amusing pk ratios also imply some cheapness like level-sitting or
harvesting PKs against newbies, unskilled players or players who are in a real disadvantage
to you. I wasn't interested in that kind of stuff because I find it boring, the game
is supposed to be fun, not a job (get that PK per hour ratio, strive for it) and it doesn't
really prove anything to me (though it is where many players will disagree with me).
Instead, I went for the build which is defensively oriented (trying to be a wimpy-aggressive
bitch village defender). However, it also imposed some tactical disadvantages on me
because I couldn't really do much against some gay tactics like flee/sleep, flee/cleave,
assassinate/flee or Kostyan running between the village and the Galadon healer, charging stsf
and mouthing at me .
- I had some loosely working schedule until May, so I could put some hours into the character,
but now things have changed, we have some new project running, so I need to devote more time
to my job.
- Things became somewhat dull lately with all those fortress/outlanders permas
running around in my primary time. I tried to sleep at nights and work at days,
so my primary playing hours were 7pm-12am CST. As a neutral arial rager
I had no reasons to fight them (except mages) so there were days when I would login,
see 15 people in pk and only 2-3 possible targets among them. If two of them
are exploring mages (whom I can't find) and the last one is running with other four
people from his cabal... you could image yourself what I mean.
- And the last thing that triggered my deletion was disagreement with the direction
of the current battle leadership. Don't get me wrong, Fjarn and Jalenkan are good characters.
But I would like to see battle leaders who put in hours, actually contribute to the war
(and more than everybody else, Kostyan, Mizfara or Igbah come to mind) and aren't just
induction machines. Some big bad barbarians who rally the village troops and smash enemies.

Battle

Battle imms - Perhaps you were awesome, but I can't confirm that because I had not seen you.
I saw probably only Yean and no more than twice in my whole life. I wasn't actively looking
for attention either.

Droghnund - You had flaws but I liked the character. I believe that a lot of players' hatred
came to you because you played cheap in your early years, level-sitting with a hero set
on a duergar is not against rules, but it's cheap. However, I expected you to change
once you finish "building your char" and move into the hero range. I know that playing
a duergar rager in the hero range is as hard as playing a duergar rager at middle ranks is easy.
You suddenly have all those stsf and armageddon/defiance guys tooling you and I don't even
mention those artless outlander gangs. But you stayed around and gained my respect.
I tried to support you as I could and every time you died besides me I took as my own loss.
Your RP was very solid as well and as the Drillmaster you did your job fine (as fine
as I would expect from an evil Drillmaster).

Fjarn - A cool char and though I disagree with the whole leadership approach in the current
village (see above) I'm not aiming at you personally. You've chosen Jalenkan as the Drillmaster
and I expected that because you two were friendly and probably you know him better,
but in the last War Council people proposed other names. It is not the first time and
certainly not the last time when a leader makes a decision that may disappoint people,
I can only suggest that when somebody is making several such decisions, probably it's time
to think about some decisions that actually make people happy.
We didn't meet often in game, we had different playing times, but from what I'd seen
you were a fine villager and what is also important, you had a good player's attitude.
I also applaud your decision to drop the recommendation requirements for applicants,
the thing should really go away because it only promotes OOC connections in the village
and also is somewhat tiresome job for both, applicants and villagers.

Dagar - Liked you a lot, you were my mentor in earlier years and also a rager who was around
in my playing time. Thanks for the recommendation, I was really disappointed when you deleted.

Inger - Pincerlady! Enjoyed your company. Sorry for the unplanned deaths at the Island
but you were one of a few villagers with whom I would ever go to raid against odds.
You are a good example of how a berserker should be played, thus I proposed you
as the Drillmaster (besides myself). I wish we would have more villagers like you.

Ruhktanshi - Very solid roleplayer and also a skilled bard. I felt some sort of strain
between us. I don't know, maybe that happens when I feel the player's fishy decisions
(what's up with that level-sitting and quits?). I wish I would have more time to walk
with you and, perhaps, understand you better.

Jhengar - Another cool svirf and I have a feeling that I know who you are. Sorry for making
fun of you but when you came with your RP for my recommendation you basically asked for it .
Keep it high, I have hopes for you.

Vrinlo - A bard with a heart. That's probably the most important thing for a villager
and that's what that makes the cabal fun to play. Ask for a con quest or something?
If I even return to the village I wish you to be there.

Verzbit - That was fast. A good berserker but I have some criticism for you:
people actually like those who come and die to them all the time (and pad their ratio)
over those who would fight them but escape when they lose. But don't be misguided
by this false cheap love . Dying all the time is easy but that is not what
I would call "old-time-berserker-style". Try to get things actually done next time.
There is no shame in dying if you tried to win. But if you just come and die...

Jalenkan - A solid villager. I guess I failed to gain your recommendation and I didn't like
the process either. Why the hell you started to discuss my build/tactics in close-OOC terms?
I'm allowed to play whatever I want. I also don't feel comfortable being questioned
about my tactics by a person whom I doubt is better in that than me.
I felt sorry for your LD deaths at the Scion/Nexus inners and you actually got me killed
that way once at the Island. I got very bad disruption and then spent my remaining mana
bandaging other villagers, hoping you will flee from the inners and bandage me.
But guess what? Yes, you lost your link and died there and then I died too.
One your particular death at Scion was really funny. There were three people besides you
there and nobody noticed that the Archmage got you stunned with the last blow.
So we just went away and you died several ticks after .

Pasodilaso - I guess it was coming for you. You probably argued too much.

Xiu - Not bad... Level-sitting spoiled it though.

Other villagers to mention: Dragrahl, Dorfo (thanks for forging), Taruk, Tuhdain, Dalisnik,
Bayamon (stop that ST exploration, play the villager), Mageslayer (never seen you).
Younger villagers, keep it up.


Scion

Stop damnit logging together around Igbah.

Igbah - Weaksause . Hehe, not really. Ragers' resistance isn't great nowadays,
so villagers can't really get significant damage reduction and you with your build hit me
for *** DEMOLISHES *** through resist. That means that a single good flurry takes out
a big chunk of my health and I will not survive the second one. When you had your top set
you were unstoppable and while prepped you could solo raid the Village slaying several
villagers in process. Those poor duergar/cloud villagers couldn't do anything to you.
And I only could get it back to you when you screw your flurry somehow (evade rocks).
I like the character and I like the player. You have good attitude. Way to play a badass
evil without being an actual asshole like Fatfrumos.
There was a period of time when you were raiding the village every day, so most of ragers
stopped to show or were logging out once you log in.
Thanks for not killing me as much as you could, and I was also extremely lucky to avoid
deaths. You always missed that last finishing bash/flurry/whatever on me .

Waris - Knew you since my very yearly years. Super conservative AP. I understand when
an AP is conservative, but seriously, you've brought it on the whole new level.
C'mon, APs with abs can own everybody, bring it on .
Even though we grew together We rarely fought.

Soha - a punk invoker. Maybe you weren't very tough, but I personally think it is better
for the game to have people like you who actually defend against tough odds.


Empire

Kostyan - Very bold character. I disagree with the mouthing thing, after all
if your autoskills own everybody that doesn't mean your player is awesome and they are not.
But you have your highs and showed some honor to your opponents which rarely comes
from imperials. If you discard the mouthing your character is very good.
Keep it up. You have deserved the emperorship.
And yes, a dagger spec is dangerous to any villager because they can't use a healer
and have to survive the bleeding by resting. You can enter the combat and flee/recall/heal
as needed while for villagers it's hard to run from a competent dagger spec.

Kornuel - tough imperial bard. We all know that bards are overpowered .
Your melee is broken and needs to be balanced. A few more years and immortals will realize
that too. Also, bards are very tough match-up for villagers because they are able to disable
any melee class with their songs and defenses. I couldn't lag you, so I had no real chances
to win but had very good chances to die to sleep/songs every time we fought.

Dashmiri - see Kornuel to a lesser extent. While you were weaker compared to Kornuel,
it was still enough to own villagers .

Klurak - rotting bastard. Luckily for me, my con was high enough. Take that!

Khrathtyn - quality imperial healer. But that's the imperial thing that happened to you, hehe.
Conspiracies don't really work and end with a failure almost every time. Don't listen to those
who say otherwise, just do not do that another time. You lost some of my respect when
you turned into a scion bitch, but as I player I understand that decision.

Vehldriss - An assassin who actually did fight, not only stalk/assassinate. Good one.


Nexus

Probably the only opposite cabal we have some raiding/defending against going on now.
I guess that is because we don't really have powerhouses on both sides, so the things
are somewhat even.

Grecken - a kickass druid. Should you use preps you could actually give me some troubles .
I find it annoying though when you and other nexuns don't defend but come to weaken the giant
instead even if we raid Nexus two vs. two. Cabals are created to make conflicts and while
your tactic is not against rules, it is against the spirit of the gameplay. I can understand
though when a druid prefers to fight in woods. And yes, when I have guard the item, I will
stay near the village for a while just to make a shot on you before you finish the convulsing
giant. Going after you into the Grove, getting my spores and stuff and then going to heal
them to some obscure places is the easiest way to lose the item.

Jakziim - Not the strongest bard, but the persistent one. I had some respect for you
and didn't really enjoy killing you. Get yourself a few flying potions, you will die
much less then.

Praeto - Mixed feeling. You were a notable character, no doubt. But notable in both sense
good and bad, hehe . Still it's better than being a faceless nexun #1267.

Cryptodiro - a maniac invoker. Just crazy one. And with abs you could actually pull
some of that maniacal stuff.

Ashtalar - For a long time I didn't even know that you were a nexun. You rarely showed
to defend and I'm not sure why because conjurers can put some hurt on foes. Enjoyed spanking
you around the Thera. And we had some funny encounter in the first circle of Hell.

Deigibe - a punk conjurer.


Tribunal

I hate being wanted because those patrollers are annoying.
And I also tried to avoid fighting those of you who weren't mages. Many of so called old
school berserkers like to fight tribunals instead of enemies just because it's easier
to kill a poor tribunal fighter than fight powerhouses like Igbah or Kostyan.
I tried not to fall into this category.


Outlanders

I wasn't a defiler so you left me alone.
Except Macha who would attack me when she was bored. Not that I mind it
Jhoqu - very solid character and your leadership is deserved.
Seyriannia - artless bard . Well, we had some short talks here and there.
I don't mind if you gang those powerhouses. For the sake of the game they should
be ganged and full looted periodically, but I disagree with bringing people
against poor Droghnund.


Inn

Sorry, you are obsolete.
People do still come to the Inn for immortal exp and rewards though.
Should imms stop giving any rewards for that kind of stuff you will see how many
players actually interested in it .


Random people

Satebos - worthless lich. Close to Golmagus .

Ramora/Goarang - maybe you had your RP but to me you both came as monkey assassins.
It was impossible to assassinate me, but still you forced me to spend some time
in water places or something like that and I can't say I enjoyed it.


Balance ideas

1) Remove centurions. It takes a huge chunk of players' fun because right now it's nearly
impossible to retrieve from empire for a rager unless you have overwhelming odds.
I don't think we should have the power that makes the whole part of cabal wars obsolete.
Imperial powers are good enough already and considering the number of players
and the number of leadership/elite positions in Empire, basically every semi-decent
character in the cabal has those powers.
If you feel necessary, boost the Empire guardians but take those centurions out.

2) Make ragers immune to fiends (RP justification: they are courageous fighters).
And nerf bard defenses. Before you totally disagree with this idea give it a second thought.
Fiend is argued as a kill sealer for a bard because otherwise people would just flee/recall.
But now bards have lagging songs and ragers can't recall!
Sleep/illusion is very deadly for a rager already. There is no need in fiends on top of that.

3) Somebody was on crack when he changed the walrus form so now it can walk on lands.
It made obsolete some of normal offensive forms like bears.

4) Nexus inners need nerf. They are crazy.

5) Remove no-flee from stsf. And then remove revamp the whole legacy.


Dwoggurd

>1) Remove centurions. It takes a huge chunk of players' fun
>because right now it's nearly
>impossible to retrieve from empire for a rager unless you have
>overwhelming odds.

I've thought about this some, and I've come to the conclusion that centurions actually make things more fun. Obviously they do make it harder to retrieve from Empire, but I don't think it's as bad as you describe. I say they make things "more fun" because centurions allow Imperials to not have to sit around Imperial lands "guarding" whatever item they're holding. They can go out and do "whatever", then return whenever the eventual retrieval effort happens.

Now, if the Imperials are just babysitting the item they've taken, waiting on you to hit Centurions, then yeah, it's pretty dangerous to attempt it. But then, that means they're not taking advantage of the freedom cents offer.

If they do decide to venture out, your strategy then boils down to wasting their centurions faster than they can call them. Unless there's just a bunch of them online, eventually it will get to a point where they can't call them anymore.

>4) Nexus inners need nerf. They are crazy.

I probably haven't fought them as much as you have, but based on the few times I did as Waserax...yeah. Ouch.

>5) Remove no-flee from stsf. And then remove revamp the whole
>legacy.

No-flee is the big problem with it. I'd be somewhat okay with the offense/defense aspect, if it didn't prevent fleeing.

>I've thought about this some, and I've come to the conclusion
>that centurions actually make things more fun. Obviously they
>do make it harder to retrieve from Empire, but I don't think
>it's as bad as you describe. I say they make things "more
>fun" because centurions allow Imperials to not have to sit
>around Imperial lands "guarding" whatever item they're
>holding. They can go out and do "whatever", then return
>whenever the eventual retrieval effort happens.

Many cabals don't have centurions-like powers so they have more people to come and try to retrieve. I don't think the game suffers from it. You can give imperials early warning instead of centurions for example: "someone blah blah enteted the Imperial Lands".

For magic users centurions can be avoided. You may pay your way in and recall on your way out.
For ragers centurions mean that if they can't win in one attempt (defeat all defenders) they will be blocked in imperial lands and die (they can't recall away like other cabals can).
This is bad thing for the game. What do you think, how many powerless ragers are needed to defeat Kostyan or(and) Kornuel at Vanquisher?

This power just make obsolete a significant chunk of gameplay:
Battle retieval against odd from Empire.
If you don't want to remove centurions completely, at least make some changes for ragers (maybe they should not block ragers on the way back? or should not block them at all?

It has been my finding that centurions from a hero level imperial are way tougher than trying to kill the vanquisher and this holds major truth when your young. They hit much harder and have a great deal of hp, combine that with a bard, voker, or healer (mainly healers) and you have a nearly unstoppable defender against young attackers.

Sure some cabals (not battle) can haste, sanc and all that stuff to their lowbies and send in a tiny army but even then it can still be tough at times unless no one is around watching the centurions. Let us also not forget how seldom small armies are around when Empire has just taken the cabal item.

I won't leave out the centurion trainer edge which makes them even stronger if I am correct...

Yes centurions can be a death trap and I likely can't count the amount of times I died when I was younger trying to regain the head only to be killed because I couldn't leave but that is part of the reason I like to play villagers. They aren't meant to be like everyone else but I will say they are long overdue for some love. *wheres Andy when you need him*

I don't intend to jump on the hate centurions band wagon as I still think they are a great idea and can be used in a large number of situations for tactical advantage other than in imperial lands but that is just where most people see them.

Vanquisher has way more hp than even hero-level centurions. Hero cents do have more offense, though. Probably even those called by someone without the edge.

I didn't say that cents had more hp than vanquisher, I said they had a great deal of hp and as for comparing damage... a hero cent will hit for demolishes against gnome races and likely massacre others without a natural resistance to weapons. That is without the edge. I imagine with the edge they are stronger all around.

>It has been my finding that centurions from a hero level
>imperial are way tougher than trying to kill the vanquisher
>and this holds major truth when your young. They hit much
>harder and have a great deal of hp, combine that with a bard,
>voker, or healer (mainly healers) and you have a nearly
>unstoppable defender against young attackers.

This is generally true. They don't really have a lot of HP, but otherwise I agree.

I would argue that their enhanced ability to keep a cabal item from out-of-range people is basically the signature power of Empire.

>I won't leave out the centurion trainer edge which makes them
>even stronger if I am correct...

It does give them certain advantages. However, recall that you can't pick cabal edges. The average number of characters with that edge since its inception that exist at any time is definitely less than 1.

Yeah, I forgot about the "blocking them in" aspect. Some possible solutions:

1. Have centurions announce people walking by, but not block anyone of "equal or higher level" than the person who called them. So hero cents would "announce" heros walking by, but block everyone else like they do now.

2. Have them only block passage if an Imperial is standing there. This would fix the problem with #1 above, in that it removes "tactical" usage of centurions (i.e. engaging someone, then fleeing a few rooms away, calling centurions, and waiting for them to chase you into them.)

3. Make it so you can't entirely block access to imperial lands with centurions. (This would remove their early warning function, though, since people would just avoid them.)

Or possibly a combination of #1 and #2. But for the purposes of allowing ragers to escape Imperial Lands, #2 might not be enough. You'd just have groups of Imperials standing at the centurions posted at the exit, waiting for the battle guy to come. Sort of a Mexican standoff.

So...I'm not sure how to fix it. Seems lame to code in a special case for ragers, though.

Another option would be to have calling centurions be a long lag where the centurions don't show up until after the lag is over. Similar lag to say, request or plant growth. Adds an element of danger and counter-attack and would prevent people from doing it who are already engaged in combat.

Using cents when you're already engaged in combat is one of the cooler uses for them. Much more interesting than posting them then sitting there until the guy finally decides to attack.

n/t

You guys would solo them before I could word and get to the island... how does that = needs nerf? Destructors takes forever to kill and he destroys EQ, unless he's been nerfed in the last couple years...

I had great respect for the character and player of Xubetok (Tubesocks according to Ysal!). I liked how friendly and joking you had become with Inger at the end. She definately likes humor and good spirits.

I was in the 1st circle of hell when you deleted, and I knew something was up because you were pretty silent, which was unusual for you. I was expecting to hear you ask to go raiding. When I returned to the village, sure enough, your things were in the pit. I was definately disappointed you had deleted. When you were around I was hardly ever lacking of something to do. Also, I agree, we did well in raids and thought we made a great team. I wouldn't worry about that death though, it was one of those freak things that happen (like 50% cleave ratios!).

As far as leadership goes, Drillmaster is Commander's choice. I considered both you and Jalenkan good choices and to have a much better chance than I did. You were very skilled, and had been around much longer than I did. I figured you knew Fjarn well, and was surprised to hear you say in your goodbyes that you didn't know him that well.

I like alot of your balance suggestions too! Villagers do have many handicaps and it would be nice to see them get some bonuses in other areas. Especially the Centurions one. They need some alterations. Every other cabal needs to have younger members to defend in order to hold an item except Empire. They can just put up cents. The worst is when they put them up after your in the lands (as a villager). Death trap! I say get rid of them! Why are they so special? The way I see it, when empire raids and takes items, it usually means they have numbers, are in power and can defend. Why do they need the extra bump of the Cents? I actually think it makes more people say "Screw this, I'm just going to roll an imperial". Which of course makes them needs cents even less!!

You were deadly..Well..for the villager

Good char.


And about centurions..Roll the emperor again. When lowbies fort+nexus+outlanders...

Or insert all other combination + nexus come together - centurions are nothing, while their 'heroes' sit in Hamsah and sanc+quickend+heal them.

And..if all pk ranger come to reraid..

You can say that centurions provide this - wrong. So, its just the thing that force 'heroes' - come on reraid.

I though you would have made a good Drillmaster. I wasn't level sitting. A rank 41 bard with no fiend and rank 50 people in range isn't ideal to level sit. It was purely for roleplay reasons because I've taken two flaws that can really screw things up at hero rangers and I was hoping for some interaction etc etc to help undo the flaws. I was ready to rank and then I won the RC contest and I though OH! Maybe now I'll get that interaction but that didn't work out either (three and a half weeks, ouch). A bard with no way to lag or fiend and a 800 exp hole is just bleh at 41.

I felt no tension between us, I wonder why you would think so. I am a bit aloof and my rp doesn't cater to comedy or fun. Truth be told I have had terrible times baby sitting my sisters kid and playing at the same time and it just gets hell at times. There have been times when I've defender with a kid in one hand and desperately trying to hook up some aliases that end up as typos and screw things up.

I thought you were doing great with the pk and rp and I enjoyed our reaction. You were a good village warrior to have about. Verzbit, Drog and now you. This is beginning to hurt.


Ruhktanshi

There nothing wrong when you take flaws fro your character, I just meant to say that when you make OOC-wise decisions to lesser the impact of them it emhpasises the visibility of a player's actions and dimishes a character's actions. It's hard to explain, but it's something elusive that makes others to see a player but not a character.
But all in all, you RP is very solid (better than mine ).

And don't worry about villagers deleting, the war is won already.

Well I suppose I will begin with a couple of your jabs. First off if I pushed the ooc bounds with you I am sorry. Jalenkan by nature is simply curious and my person behind kinda shows through sometimes for example the time when we were testing skills on each other. I have never had stsf work as cutoff that well against anyone else in the game ever.
Second I was never big on writing notes to battle about recommending anyone I simply let either the commander or drillmaster know my opinion when I saw them and I saw them often. The whole questioning of your choices as a warrior was simply to see what type of mind you have for fighting sorry you didn't like one of the ways I checked for people with competent minds. To tell the truth, this was one of the ways I used to see if a village applicant would want to stick around because I truly hate those who get in, stay a few ranks, delete, and if you could put up with my char being a stuck up, questions your intentions, and your tactics then it looked good on you.
Third... yeah... all those deaths at the inners were really really annoying and made me look kinda newish but I wasn't used to elf hp and taking annhilates through resisting while fighting nexus guardians and that one time at the scions.... just wtf... there were two defenders right beside me and neither could simply throw a bandage on me? lol. I didn't die to bleeding or anything... I would have likely survived because I got slowed and the poison was going to fall before it but some assassin saw me stunned and tried to assassinate me and killed me the round after he failed and said I looked like I was in pain and he would put me to rest or somethin like that.
Fourth and last.... Big battle leaders that put in hours... ie I am assuming you mean yourself, which we have similar hours but only part of mine ever overlapped yours... And that rally the troops, well some people are motivators, others like Jalenkan try to get villagers to find the motivation in themselves. As for the Contribute to the War comment, I am not going to comment as any villager that makes it to hero has contributed a great deal. Anyway on to the real things I was going to say.

First I liked your build very much and you used it well as far as I could tell. I know there were times I was wishing Armageddon wasn't iron or that I was an arial instead of an elf but that was the choice I had ta live with. Our interactions were brief for the most part as I didn't get the feeling that you liked me very much but that is to be expected of some villagers. (ie Droghnund and I) Still I had respect for you as a brother of the village and a good fighter. I hope the weak sauce of the village restrictions, no mega protections and limited healing wont keep you away for another 7 years. Anyway Great char, sorry it ended this way for you and I hope I will see you again soon.

The whole questioning of your choices as a warrior was
simply to see what type of mind you have for fighting sorry
you didn't like one of the ways I checked for people with
competent minds. To tell the truth, this was one of the ways
I used to see if a village applicant would want to stick
around because I truly hate those who get in, stay a few
ranks, delete, and if you could put up with my char being a
stuck up, questions your intentions, and your tactics then it
looked good on you.

While I agree with you on those who get inducted and the promptly delete, I don't think you can do much about it.
That's life. Sometimes people just change their minds, sometimes outside events force them to. Regardless of how many recommendations applicants get and how excellent is their RP during interviews, there always be good and bad apples in any cabal and the village is not an exception. But you if will raise the requirements there is a chance you will miss some good people who would learn along the way otherwise.

About leadership, I disagree with the direction, but that's just my opinion. I accept the fact that other people (less wise than me ) may have different (wrong) opinions and have all rights to act accordignly. I, for example, liked Droghnund as the Drillmaster, but I understand that not all villagers are badass evil duergars.

Now that you tried out village warriors... try a couple more! The odds are definitely stacked against them right now.

But for you it's the refuge/fortress that makes you think otherwise

Really sorry to see this. Xubetok was fun to be around, but he also had the skill to back things up. My con, belive it or not, isn't too bad...I think I'm sitting around 16 or 17 with another train coming. I appreciate all you did for Vrinlo including the recommendation and some gear here and there, it was a nice run with you and I am sorry we didn't get to hang out more while I was in the hero ranks.

I'm sad to see you delete, but when real life comes a-calling.... well, there's not much we can do. Xubetok was very competent and if I saw you when I logged in, I could guess we'd have some or all of our enemies' items. That's goodsauce to Fjarn.

I'm sorry I haven't been around as much as you'd like. The past couple of weeks have been pretty rough, with time available really only on the weekends. So yes, I've more or less been an interview monkey. But if my times slow down like this, I think I owe it to applicants to give them a shot, instead of running about raiding or getting gear or whatever else I might otherwise be doing. I'm still tweaking the induction process, and I'm glad you liked getting rid of recommendations.

If there's one thing that I apparently can't stop learning, it's that I can't please all the people all the time. Yes, there were other recommendations for Drillmaster at the War Council. But I talked to other villagers who weren't present at other times to get their recommendations as well. And, I've got my own personal decision tree, populated with experience gained over the course of Fjarn's life. It came down to a difficult choice, as the two in question could probably attest. That was one of those 30 minute logins that stretched to 2+ hours because the right people were on at the right time. I almost missed taco night, and I was the cook

At any rate, I thought Xubetok was an excellent villager. When things slow down again for you, nail a few mages and pay us a visit.

From what I saw you were a pretty solid defender, I wish I had been able to watch you a bit more at hero level, but alas your playtimes were either when I wasn't on or I was logged in with my mort, which we did cross paths with several times.
You sure got around Thera when nothing exiting was happening, I'd often look in on you to see you in some obscure explore area. Made me chuckle.

Battle leadership, once its in the hands of a new commander there its always up to them to set the tone, so long as it doesn't conflict with the tenets of the village. I for one would like to see where you would take it, so pull up the 70's tubesocks and roll yourself another villager!

n/t

He was an excellent fighter, and I tried to take some notes from him. However since I'm a completely different build there is only so much I can steal from you tactic wise

At some point I decided that I need to make a difference in the village somehow, and I decided that was with forgecraft which I have now perfected. I'm glad you liked the daggers I reforged for you, and hope they made a difference. If it makes any difference you were my pick for drillmaster without question.

Good luck on the next.

The Island is indoors and that limits me to my weakest things. Spores and thornhearts which can be cured just one area away in yet ANOTHER indoor place where the only advantage I have is I can grow spikegrowth and HOPE you go into the desert where my powers are supercharged. Yeah, I coulda used preps and tooled you a time or two, but the last few hours I've been playing with protective herbs trying to see when they work and when they don't. But sometimes I DID use preps and daggers just ate me alive. If you use a bone or wood dagger I cannot beat you if you don't let me force you to fight my charmies. Druids don't learn daggers so it's like going in with hand to hand without dodge. Plus the bleeding means that's 13 horus I DON'T regen mana which means I can't fight. So it's just smarter tactics to prepare a counter raid. What annoys me is when we DO manage to kill someone, you have people sitting in both cabals so the outers don't respawn and then you run into the inners making us fight, still weakened, the same two people we just ran off who one was a ghost. That to me is a mechanic the Imm's need to look at.

You were good fun to fight. I just hate all the damn daggers. You were like the seventh identicle fighter for me. It gets to be a bunch of the same after a while. Anyhow, fun fights. See ya around.

If you use a bone or wood
dagger I cannot beat you if you don't let me force you to
fight my charmies. Druids don't learn daggers so it's like
going in with hand to hand without dodge. Plus the bleeding
means that's 13 horus I DON'T regen mana which means I can't
fight. So it's just smarter tactics to prepare a counter raid.
What annoys me is when we DO manage to kill someone, you have
people sitting in both cabals so the outers don't respawn and
then you run into the inners making us fight, still weakened,
the same two people we just ran off who one was a ghost. That
to me is a mechanic the Imm's need to look at.

Nexus inners are the toughtest inners in the game.
It takes at least two villager to bring them down and they usually have to rest in between. And we all end up badly maledicted/slowed.
If you just come with spores and leave, thing become even more complicated. And if you come for real defense, you can actually repel the raiders.
Gameplaying wise if we are able to raid, we probably should have a chance to really defend the item. But it is you who actually "abuse" the raiding mechanic by leaving the giant convulsing with thorns for many many ticks.
Sometimes, as I player, I was just tempted to let the giant die, so it would repop in a perfect health, but as a character I could not justify that, so I was bound to bandaging it over hours and stay near the village. Still you would rush in, one-round it and take the item back.
Sure, if we have many more people than Nexus we could divide our army, but that is not always the case. And villagers can't recall, so we can't return to the village quickly from the Island.
Thus, as you noticed, lately we were performing double-raid strategy. We take the item, you weaken the giant meanwhile and retrieve it back, then we leave one of younger villagers to slow down the giant repop and raid the Island second time. While it's also some sort of "abuse", for us it is the only way to raid the Island and have the healthy giant to defend the taken item (which is how it's supposed to be gameplay wise).

It's funny what you don't know you're missing until you taste it again, but I realized after our interview/ongoing banter how long it had been that someone who I explained where I was coming from incorporated that into their interactions with me. You did that really well, which made me appreciate your RP all the more.

I didn't get to see you fight much, but hey, you must've been pretty decent.

I'd love to see you back in the village before this svirf kicks teh bukkit, but who knows.

Well done, see you in the fields.

I got the vibe of a vet player from the char and had no qualms about the recommendation. You brought a calm confidence with you and it was a good foil to my reckless ways. I heard a few days back that you were doing good and was not surprised.
I do not have much time to play and I no longer felt the time I was putting into the game was being amply rewarded, partly in terms of how ridiculously overpowered some combos/edges/game changes are, and partly by the suspicious abuse of ooc connections to get to those combos by the undeserving.
Looks like work time for me as well

The truth is, I wasn't in Nexus until a bit after our hell fight and didn't stay for very long. It was my first time in it and I just couldn't hang I guess... In any case, I came to the point that I refused to fight you. After that hell experience... I mean damn... You were immune to me. Transplendant archon, stoneform, warrior/warded familiar, razorsharp teeth water elemental and you got hit what? Twice in twenty minutes of fighting where you could heal like mad every 2 ticks it seemed... you were in perfect health after 20 minutes of nonstop fighting and I almost died 4 times with stoneform and 1200+ hp... yeah. Oh yeah, and the elemental was convulsing, familiar convulsing, and archon writhing from wounds from concealed attacks. Spells just hurt me more. So yeah... there wasn't a thing I could do to you and survive. Hence I just stayed away from you after that. It was the most ungodly fight I had ever been in in 11 years.

>Satebos - worthless lich. Close to Golmagus .

Sorry to disappoint. Since you ran away without a fight, without fail, every time we were ever in the same area, I thought I'd humor you and let you live out your golden years.

Since you ran away without a fight, without fail, every time we were ever in the same area

I dare to say that you exaggerate a bit (close to a lot) here.
Since you never enter a fight without abs, I had no real chances to drop you, undeads are immune to dagger specs.
So it was either:
- I drop your health to bleeding and you flee to heal or leave an area. And you never stayed beyong bleeding wounds.
- Or you start that gay flee/sleep thing and I shrug and walk away because I'm not interested in no-win lottery.

Of course, if we met in areas where there are locked rooms in which you can summon me and leave to starve, I would retreat to adjusted areas and accept a fight there.

I just have memories of really powerful liches, and when I see you I can't help but picture to myself a beggar-vulture who walks around Thera searching for every PC corpse to make phylacs but don't really use them

his roleplay seems to suggest something else other then a mass murderer. I mean you can claim the abs argument but you need to tack on full voker shields and various other niftyness if he wants it. A lich with a sack of phylacs should rarely have trouble from any solo char.

Necromancers, especially undead, are very pk orientated as a class. Ontop of this, the pressure is to be highly active as a high-profile member of the undead. If he wanted to explore, he should have gone mummy and let someone else have Lich glory. A sack full of phylacs is not for trying to figure out ST better - it's for making yourself a force in Thera for one sort of change or another. Depending on your RP.

Necromancers, especially undead, are very pk orientated as a class. Ontop of this, the pressure is to be highly active as a high-profile member of the undead. If he wanted to explore, he should have gone mummy and let someone else have Lich glory.

His lichdom or non-lichdom has nothing to do with anyone else's attempts. He's welcome to play however he likes within his role.

A sack full of phylacs is not for trying to figure out ST better - it's for making yourself a force in Thera for one sort of change or another. Depending on your RP.

If that's not what he wants to do with the character, what is it to you? (I have no idea if the accusation is even accurate, so I'm speaking hypothetically.) He's not negatively impacting the play of others by those actions. Worry about your own character.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

That's an incredibly hypocritical statement.

When all is said and done, people are in to have fun. But what's fun about a Lich who won't put out? I think even Satebos would agree. In my experience, he makes a lot of effort with PKing and does well when he has the time to. But if someone is dumb enough to say 'It's cool for a Lich to act like a Herald' they're going to get smacked. In the face.

Satebos is pretty damn cool if you ask me (even though he wouldn't tell me what the phylactery he made of my corpse did, damn him).

If he wants to play a lich like a herald, why can't he? Oh, right, because you want him to play YOUR WAY. As Valg said, as long as he is in the bounds of the rules, he can play however the #### he wants. I'm sorry, but if the MUD was run by people like you, we'd have a bunch of lunatic GODWARS pking and/or permagroups, judging by the tone of your posts. I prefer the game this way. I may disagree with Valg about a lot of things (the fact that he wears a moomoo to work is a disgrace) but on things RP, he's always been dead-on.

I really liked Xubetok, you were always around and always prepared for a scrap. I played more conservative compared to Nezlintryzn, but I still wasn't afraid to fight 1vs1 when I wanted too. How you did so much damage at times was mind boggling.

Moving to Scion wasn't exactly a move. It was always my backup incase what happened, happened. But I always had intentions of playing an Imperial to the end. I.E. Healing Imperials, gearing them, waking them up at times.

Post more logs, you're actually getting me through my no CF period until I get stable living quartres.

BattleCharmed