Why do I hear the voice of South Park's Office Barbrady in my head saying, "Nothing to see here. Move along!". Everytime Valg locks a thread. If Bush ever needs a replacement for Tony Snow you are a lock.


Reporter: "How did President Cabdru solo acquire things that even armies of players working together haven't been able to?"

Valg Snow: "This Press conference is over..."

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

The conspiracy theorists just does not give up and not to mention the thread as mentioned just spawned into tons of topics. I was guilty myself of this. For example about the role reward people whine about. +1 int, not too shabby. But when he got it he had 57 hours played and was only 32, out of these hours he had spent atleast 25 at level 15. I doubt nep is a guy that wastes time and sits at the inn so one can just assume that almost all of those hours were spent fighting wearing eq designed to practice (healing sleeves etc).

So the use of +1 int on practice was not that big, I bet most of it was already done. However int also helps aps in spell casting and in gains. But is there really that big of a difference between a duergar and fire giant and the small gainst difference did not matter at all.

Compare this to other rewards. What if nep said he played the shaman that got maledicts that hit a whole group? Or that he played the healer that got a offensive damage sup? Or even the lowbie warrior that could quaff in combat? ..and you guys whine about +1 int.

I don't believe (one can never be certain) that he cheated, he just did some things that might not have been what a good sportsman would have done. Like in soccer when one of the opponents his lying down hurt, good sportsmanship says that you play it over the side line to stop the game. Nep just continued playing, not breaking any rules but not that good of a sportsman either.

I'm not talking about what he deserved and what not. I'm not an active player for the last two years so I didn't watch him closely.

But to me +1 int for "just" a honorable mention (not even the 3rd place) is a damn nice reward.
If I'm a fire AP and I'm offered +1 to one of stats, that stat would be INT (not charisma), hands down. (Though nowadays I may think about dex).

We also don't mention that fire APs got some boost not long before he started Cabdru. Excision became much better and fire giant's inventory capacity got increased (more space for wands, yay!). After all, that was just a coincide...

We also don't mention that fire APs got some boost not long before he started Cabdru. Excision became much better and fire giant's inventory capacity got increased (more space for wands, yay!). After all, that was just a coincide...

1) What inventory change are you talking about?

2) Excision had been in for a roughly a year. Code changes aren't showing anything helpful in the interim-- you can't Excision a device you couldn't hold (anti-evil, etc.), can't practice it with a dumb loophole, etc. What are you talking about?

2B) Excision is much better in the hands of anti-paladins with larger inventories.

2C) The majority of recent anti-paladin changes have help the smarter races much, much more.

But to me +1 int for "just" a honorable mention (not even the 3rd place) is a damn nice reward.

How do you think it compared to the other rewards? I gather you took the time to figure that out before making a conclusion.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

1) Excision was introduced when I played Nabburak, a year before Cabdru.
But in that time it sucked. 3 rounds lag and high failure rate.
During Cabdru reign excision was much better, as good as zap and even better, because you don't need to hold a wand.
I can't say when exactly that was done though.

2) Fire giants inventory got increased shortly before Cabdru. Greddarh did notice that too.
From PBF:
Nabburak: Carry # 28/29
Cabdru: Carry # 11/36

3) Other rewards might be also nice. That one time. (To cover shady things?). Compare that with rewards for the first place in other role contests.
After all, it was just a honorable mention. You expect to get a title or +1 prac, and woops here goes +1 int on fire AP.

>1) Excision was introduced when I played Nabburak, a year
>before Cabdru.
>But in that time it sucked. 3 rounds lag and high failure
>rate.
>During Cabdru reign excision was much better, as good as zap
>and even better, because you don't need to hold a wand.
>I can't say when exactly that was done though.

Failure rate hasn't ever changed. Lagtime I dropped down some months earlier as I was watching A-Ps and realized none of them ever used excision offensively.

>3) Other rewards might be also nice. That one time. (To cover
>shady things?). Compare that with rewards for the first place
>in other role contests.
>After all, it was just a honorable mention. You expect to get
>a title or +1 prac, and woops here goes +1 int on fire AP.

It's pretty clear that you haven't been paying attention to role contest rewards of the last 2-3 years... including the time you won.

Oh, and as far as carrying capacity goes... I'm more than half sure Cabdru was enlarged when he deleted. Size does have an effect on carrying capacity, and as far as I know always has.

Enlarged, perhaps.
Still modern fire giants can carry about 34 items compared with 29 two years ago.

nt

"New payment options w/ Iron Realms"

I'm pretty sure one doesn't exist that that character could use.

Dragon size!

But I downgraded that in my mind as there were logs of Cabdru, oh, you know, going through doors

"New payment options w/ Iron Realms"

It sure does make it easier to kill people.

Basically, I tended to quit in the Scion cabal HQ, and I'd gotten in the habit of eating a pill to enlarge before I quit each time. The theory being that it'd improve my survival chances if I logged on to find twelve RBW's bashing me. Much like 'mages should quit with a protective shield up' it's a habit I learned the hard way.

Then I decided to delete, logged on, and did so immediately, presumably while still enlarged. I'd have to see if I have a log of deleting but even if I do I doubt it has an affects list.

I always thought it was rotten that you didn't do an 'eq freeze' or whatever it is before you deleted, for posterities sake.

"New payment options w/ Iron Realms"

You can search for it, I think it was Deathweaver that posted it up.

There are also logs of his earlier sets, pre-ST but post-hell.

Yhorian

Cabdru is using:
<worn on finger> (Invis) the ring of regeneration
<worn on finger> (Invis) the ring of regeneration
<worn around neck> an ivory amulet shaped like a troll
<worn around neck> (Glowing) an unholy symbol of the Spider Goddess
<worn on body> hide armor from a yeti
<worn on head> (Glowing) the flaming crown of giants
<worn on face> the copper mask of Anazu
<worn on legs> (Glowing) (Humming) a pair of darkened leggings
<worn on feet> (Glowing) (Humming) a pair of darkened boots
<worn on hands> gauntlets of ogre power
<worn on arms> a plain phylactery
<worn about body> the skin of an invisible stalker
<worn about waist> a girth of lobster plates
<worn around wrist> a ribbed dryad bracelet
<worn around wrist> a ribbed dryad bracelet
<wielded> Jumnarl's double-bladed battle axe
<dual wield> (Humming) Abomination, Axe of the Black Serpent
<tattooed> a disfiguring brand of a giant hand

Cabdru is using:
<worn on finger> (Invis) the ring of regeneration
<worn on finger> (Invis) the ring of regeneration
<worn around neck> an ivory amulet shaped like a troll
<worn around neck> (Glowing) an unholy symbol of the Spider Goddess
<worn on body> the hide of the Ancient Black Dragon
<worn on head> (Glowing) the flaming crown of giants
<worn on face> the copper mask of Anazu
<worn on legs> greaves of Elysium
<worn on feet> (Glowing) (Humming) a pair of darkened boots
<worn on hands> gauntlets of ogre power
<worn on arms> a plain phylactery
<worn about body> a cloak of displacement
<worn about waist> a Girdle of the Anarchs
<worn around wrist> a ribbed dryad bracelet
<worn around wrist> a ribbed dryad bracelet
<wielded> Jumnarl's double-bladed battle axe
<dual wield> (Humming) an ornate bone club named 'Khalghaver's Bane'
<tattooed> a disfiguring brand of a giant hand

--Nightshade

Come on I know you have a log of it somewhere.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

I probably do! I'll see if I can find the energy to dig it out when I'm home.

nt

"New payment options w/ Iron Realms"

In my time the failure rate was quite high and in your logs you deliver excision shots with 100% accuracy (like having 100% in zap), I wish I would had the same with my fire AP, yay.

I got "####ty" prize for the first place, you know
Sometimes casting weapon avr 28 wasn't better than my avr33 whopping Axe of Conquest.
I'm jealous, I would trade it for +1 int anytime. And since it was first place, I would dare to request + 2int and +1dex

That being said, despite of the fact you're a shady person (don't deny that!) and Cabdru was just a "crappy rip-off" from Nabburak, I don't mind having you around, so keep trucking and make some more powerhouses we mortals may flame about.

>In my time the failure rate was quite high and in your logs
>you deliver excision shots with 100% accuracy (like having
>100% in zap), I wish I would had the same with my fire AP,
>yay.

I promise you it hasn't changed.

>I got "####ty" prize for the first place, you know
>Sometimes casting weapon avr 28 wasn't better than my avr33
>whopping Axe of Conquest.
>I'm jealous, I would trade it for +1 int anytime. And since it
>was first place, I would dare to request + 2int and +1dex

It's a unique weapon with unique progs that was made specifically for you! I don't know, I think if I'd gotten that instead people would be complaining a lot louder.

>That being said, despite of the fact you're a shady person
> don't deny that!) and Cabdru was just a "crappy rip-off" from
>Nabburak, I don't mind having you around, so keep trucking and
>make some more powerhouses we mortals may flame about.

I deny all charges, senator!

I did learn a lot by fighting Nabburak, which I promptly used to make a much less successful A-P. But damn it, N A-Ps later I sort of got it right!

It has always been reliable if you were good enough at it.

So let us stop a this:
- failure rate wasn't changed
- lag was reduced from 3 rounds to 2.

>- lag was reduced from 3 rounds to 2.

This is true in some but I don't think all cases.

I don't remember what the 'some' are, though.

I expressly encouraged starting a new thread to continue any unfinished discussion, which is happening right now, and is (*gasp*) not removed. I gave my reasons, and I'll stand by them. If I'm aiming for secrecy, I'm not very good at it.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Eh. It's a year+ old thread. By this point people are pretty much going to believe what they want to believe, I think.

In answer to your earlier question, I can't think of any item that even half fits that description, so I'm not really sure what you're talking about.

Maybe he is referring to that item that nuked Amora in those logs.

its a very hard to get item. It only works on a small subset of players. Those players it works on are traditionally very hard to kill in general because they get so many defensive abilities.

Anti-paladins, Necromancers and Evil Conjurers are some of the nastiest pk-characters out there. Those are my three most feared.

They do not need an evil-only amulet of instant death to nuke the only damn characters that can stand up to a stacked AP or a lich Necro without facing a distinct and likely chance of dying.

I would like to know where the instant-killing-emperor-liches amulet is, please. Even if it's in the most ungodly part of ST, guarded by 5 archmages and has one charge, it'd make me happy to know that goodies aren't being completely left out of it.

Yhorian

Prayer beads, helm of brilliance, Amathylar, Defiance, hummingbird pendants, Heartseeker, Bal'Talon, thin silver bracelets...

Oh yeah, did I mention the majority of that is free with request?

--Nightshade

But not a one of them is insta-death.

but if I had to guess based on the amount of controversy about not being able to get it, combined with the fact that I see the things I mentioned (individually or in some combination) regularly on any random near hero goodie worth their salt that it is arguably harder to get than all the rest of that combined.

People whose gear fights for them piss me off.

--Nightshade

As Hrudgir, I wanted hummingbirds. One char had one who rarely logged in, the other wasn't a pker. I could do nothing to get them. Extrapolate this to all high end goodie gear, and you see my point. Defiance even falls under this. It is often held by paladins who take few risks, and moreover are willing to (usually, nep played temp paladins are an exception) get the group together to get it.

"New payment options w/ Iron Realms"

I can bash that other evil for his darkened if I want it. I can't bash my elf groupmate for his heartseekers.

"New payment options w/ Iron Realms"

People not taking risks and preferring to spam eq and grin like a moron as it all scrolls by rather than actually (god forbid) USE their high end gear to DO something.

This is generally bad for CF in general though, whether it's good or evil doing it. Maybe it's completely off base, but it seems to skew toward goodies doing it the most. And the tribs of course (BLATANT POT SHOT).

Anyway, I think I'm done here. This is starting to steer the thread way off course. Sorry.

--Nightshade

I generally agree with the point you're making. That said...

>Defiance even falls under this. It is often
>held by paladins who take few risks, and moreover are willing
>to (usually, nep played temp paladins are an exception) get
>the group together to get it.

It really doesn't seem THAT bad to me to get solo for any non-dwarf paladin. I'll probably do something one of these days to discourage the serial suicide method that generally seems popular among paladins not played by me; even without it's completely doable.

Caveat: You do need to keep your eyes out for (or pre-gather) a few key pieces of gear to do it with minimal struggle. None of it's super-limited or stuff the same paladin could not get alone.

I think the last time I did this was with a pre-hero no-virtues-yet paladin, for what it's worth. As far as I can figure, assorted game changes since that time would only make the process slightly easier.

If this seems insurmountable, that might be a challenge to make another paladin and try to figure out how to do it.

It's from Hell, was in the area when it opened in the mid-90's, and remained unchanged as far as I know until during the time I had it, at which point it became somewhat weaker. Also, Cabdru wasn't the first character to have it, and might not even make the first ten.

That sounds like the one I'm talking about, that and the Axe that supposedly could take down uber mobs just by landing one prog. Not for nothing I've been playing this game a long time and I can't think of one other character that had that amulet much less 10 others. I'd be real curious who if you could name some. Back to the topic though my question is, that is it true you acquired almost all that gear solo, because honestly I know you'er super bad ass, but I can't see how it's possible without alot of Imm only tricks. However if you tell me you got all that stuff fair and square and that it's still possible for a non-Imm to get that stuff then I'll believe you and not bring this back up ever again.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

>That sounds like the one I'm talking about, that and the Axe
>that supposedly could take down uber mobs just by landing one
>prog. Not for nothing I've been playing this game a long time
>and I can't think of one other character that had that amulet
>much less 10 others.

For the most part I'd have to do some digging, but it typically comes out a few times in a streak whenever hell trips are going down a lot. Basically, the mob that has it isn't extremely tough (relatively) and is with a somewhat more famous mob with a much more famous/coveted piece of gear. People tend to gun for that, and then end up having to kill this other mob in the process, and then someone ends up with the item in question.

>Back to the topic though my question is, that is it true
>you acquired almost all that gear solo, because honestly I
>know you'er super bad ass, but I can't see how it's possible
>without alot of Imm only tricks. However if you tell me you
>got all that stuff fair and square and that it's still
>possible for a non-Imm to get that stuff then I'll believe you
>and not bring this back up ever again.

A lot of it, yeah.

I don't see any reason why it couldn't be replicated. Numerous 2-3 character hell trips over the years have seen at least one of their number survive to the end. Give any of the players who can do that the same character to play and I think they could do it.

The trick is, the doing of it is mostly an exploration/mob-killing-savvy style challenge. The players who excel at this kind of stuff (honestly, I'd rate myself as a stronger player in this respect vs. as a PKer, especially in the first few years I played CF) and the kind of players who can build an A-P with that kind of overwhelming damage/controls/hit points tend not to be the same people.

Not that long ago, I watched a extremely non optimal non-imm two man team nearly kill the head honcho of the Silent Tower. I wouldn't have thought those characters could even take a seriously shot at it, but they were smart about it in a number of ways and pulled out a few tricks I hadn't accounted for. You give people like that a Cabdru and I don't see why they couldn't do it. (Aside: I wish you guys had tried again!)

How would they have gotten to him? I thought there was some feature of silent that wouldn't let you get close to him again if you didn't meet some requirement, I imagine pissing him off would be one of those things...

Depending on a number of factors such as who your guide/ally is, it could be a little harder or a lot harder. In no case would it be impossible.

You'll have to excuse me if I vent my frustration, but I've been at it for 2 years with solid characters and retrieved a total of 3 USEFUL goodies from ST. The fact you went and got half a damn set from it and say 'You can to!' pisses me off. It's not a lie, I'll admit, but it'd be cool if you didn't mislead people into believing they'd be able to do it alone, or even learn how to alone in the next Year. A realistic time frame for exploring ST playing 40 hours a week is more than 12 months.

Here's my rant list, what would make me come back more often:

a) If there was a way to be redeemed once you've pissed off the tower. I mean AFTER, not BEFORE. Because that is always the way it happens unless you've been there with 5 other characters, or have a friend to explain it. Which incidentally I did not, and after 2 years of constant exploration have discovered myself. I'm sure you'll say 'But you can still explore!'. I don't have 5 hours in a day to do this ####. Exploring a pissed tower is a frustrating (that means not fun!) waste of time for me.

b) If pissing off the tower wasn't so stupidly easy. OMG, I hit an inert, mindless creature after beating on 20 others like it, Mr.Arseraper has made you ST_WANTED! This is not an exageration, it's exactly what happened to the third character I ruined with it. And incidentally, you don't even get an echo to tell you it's happened. No hint at the possibility it could happen. And no indication of what might make it happen, baring the obvious - strike an actual mage. Someone else had to explain it to me, again.

c) If I didn't have to spend most of my characters life trying to figure out why NONE of the ways in were open. Whatever you say, it's not only a level requirement. There is something else required that doesn't seem to appear until later hours. I'm guessing to stop people creating characters designed solely to explore ST.

d) My last gripe is, that you ask people not to share information about ST. I can understand why but it basically means I can identify who plays what character by inviting them to go to ST. And 90% of the time, the answer is 'What's the silent tower?'. Well, #### that.

Although I respect your area and your efforts greatly (I love some of the stories told inside ST) but I have pretty much ignored that request from day one. And I'm really sorry, but that is the only way to realistically do it. Your quests, their requirements and the information needed was too obscure for even most veterans. You've definetly improved it recently which is cool but for years it has frustrated me like the broken Thar-acacia quest (Thanks Twist!).

It has been the only way I could get most people to even consider joining me there, because my constant-instant-death-and-occasional-full-loot experience is far from unique, and word gets around. That's not anyone's idea of fun.

Yhorian

PS - Why isn't the Octogonal tower area explore yet?

I will agree on this. If there is a legitimate gripe about Cabdru, this is it. And I think there is.

Risk/reward doesn't seem to add up there. Risk being hours of my life. Reward, generally, being getting your #### pushed in.

I'll take Oryx Steppes or Loch Grynmear or Whistlewood over ST, and not because they are 'easy', but rather because the risk/reward equation makes sense.

"New payment options w/ Iron Realms"

"You've definetly improved it recently which is cool but for years it has frustrated me like the broken Thar-acacia quest (Thanks Twist!)."

Huh?

I got put onto that quest a while ago when I asked and someone said 'oh, xxx is used for this quest'. They then told me pretty much how to complete the quest, but that as far as they knew it was broken. All of this was done in an IC way, don't worry

So I spent most of Kizlido's life solving quests I've never had the time or resources to solve. I managed to find the solution to some awesome ones, but that one was still stumping me even with the vast resources I had at hand.

She asked you for help with it, and you gave her a meaty clue. It by no means solved the mystery but I'll be damned if it hasn't put me on a better track than before by subtly revealing the mechanics of the mob.

Just wanted to say 'Cheers'. The way you did it was tres cool.

Yhorian

To avoid getting too specific on questy stuff (which I may not know of myself), shoot me an email (twist@carrionfields.com) if you would. I'm really confused now.

Don't feel too bad, I've never even been able to get into the damn place. Though the horror stories have probably kept me from trying too hard. I do think it's kind of insane that you make one mistake in there and that's it for your character, or at least that's the rumor.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

I had the amulet with Krivohan. Prior to that Graatch or Challen had it.