I haven't played anything serious in almost three years. I have the time and the itch to play again, but I'll need to spend some time simply to get back into the game. Yes, that will mean I'll get my ass kicked, now and then. I'm currently playing a not-so-serious char right now, to get the feel of the game again, which, all things considered, is going very well, but I'll need a bit more if I really want to get ahead. But then, the most important question is, what to play. And with that, I'm sort of stuck. I'd definitely need to play an explore char, but of what kind ...

I think goodies are the best to get back into the game. They can request items to lore/identify them, and see what they do, making your search for good stuff a lot easier. Also, the world in general is just friendlier with goodies (and neutrals). If they need directions or general aid/info, pretty much all they have to do is ask. When grouped with other goodies, you can be sure they've got your back. You can blindly trust them (almost), if you avoid people of different ideologies (eg, goodie mage vs goodie villager). Backstabbing or opportunism is non-existant in an all goodie group.

On the other hand, there's evils. They're pretty much on their own. If they want to ask help with something, they have to take a very long time to build a fragile, and always perilous, relation of trust, that can be cut short at any given time. Maybe even for no particular reason. Or, if you want something, even the most simple things, you'll pretty much always need to buy it, often for too much coin ... If you'd like to know where to find that nice weapon, or that specific wand/scroll, it'll be very hard to get others to tell you, let alone help you get it. Playing an explore char is hard, because, yes, you can do what you want, without any duties to others, but you're really on your own. And, unless you're deep into the game, without allies, you wont live long as an evil, or get anywhere.

All this is pretty much theory. Then there's the reality. Being a heavily pk oriented mud, most of the players play evil or neutral, because of their 'flexible morals', which makes it easier to just attack someone. Especially at the lower levels, this means that as a goodie, you'll be vastly outnumbered with a pk range full of enemies. It gets better near hero ranks, but you wont simply get their, while you're trying to get back into the game. Especially since the number of people you can travel with is limited. It would be possible to join Fortress and powerrank to hero, but then you really haven't learned anything on the way there. Also, being generally more pk oriented, evil players will be more concerned with gathering that good gear, or figuring out that great tactic. Which means most evils will have a gear/attitude advantage over anyone (semi-)new.

Basically, the world of CF itself logically favors non-evils, but the reality, especially at the lower ranks (<= lvl35), holds the exact opposite. Simply staying alive and finding a good group as a goodie is very hard.

I could play a neutral, but then I lose request and the benefit of being able to ask just about anything of your friends/elders, which goodies have. And getting people to trust you is maybe even harder than as an evil, because you're on neither side. People will view you as an opportunist, and that makes you unpredictable. And thus, not very trustable.

Any ideas/opinions/suggestions?

Heya, it sounds to me that you might be over thinking things. If you're just getting back into the swing of things and you want to be able to get IC help from people in the game...yeah goodie is definitely the way to go. Aside from that just pick whatever seems like it would be fun for you and give it a shot. It sounded like you wanted to play self-reliant classes, so off the top of my head i'm thinking Paladin, Bard, or Assassin.

The most most important thing IMHO when creating a 'serious' character, is to have a well developed story behind them. Who are they? Where are they from? What motivates them? etc etc. Develop a role that seems like it would be fun for you to play and everything else will just fall into line.

nt

There are goodies who it is within their RP to tell you to #### off politely and refuse to give you info or be your gear whore. I don't play goodies but if I did, I would easily be able to draw the line between charity and being someone's goodie-bitch ICly. You don't get turned neutral for insulting other goodies when it comes down to it or else goodie outlanders would be unplayable (I've had prominent goodie chars tell me they're skull####ing my char's mom after I killed them which is generally indicative of other RP failures with their char but not worthy of being turned neutral), you only get turned neutral for being greedy and/or murdering other Lightwalkers without a great deal of remorse.

Conversely if a hero evil is bored enough and you're in the same cabal, they will also either tank hero level mobs for you with an empty PK range to work their skills, or help you get certain pieces of gear. Evils who roll with a red aura don't get turned neutral for being charitable to their allies because evils recognize the old philosophical argument that charity is generally for selfish reasons anyway either direct or indirect. Example: Orc chief hands level 11 orc a notched axe. "Go bash elf, bring head to me."

Very few evils are the 'prick' kind that make you tank until you're sub-20% HP and then bash you, even an orc knows not to bring his entire PK range down on his head regardless of alignment and that's exactly what that type of behavior does with or without OOC forums. If he gets a hero level suit out of it, someone either better than him or luckier will eventually kill him, and if that person that's better or luckier than him has heard of his past behavior he'll loot/sacrifice/trade the entire hero set to boot. Whether or not Aunkdunell likes to claim it didn't impede him, he suffered this exact consequence of his poor sportsmanship and mediocre justifications during his lifetime and it did in fact enrage him once or twice OOCly.

Chances are if there's something you can request as a goodie there's an equivalent you can kill for as a goodie and/or non-good. If you need lore/identify to get back into the game your choices are mages, bards and gnomes. Since you're not new, just been out of the loop forever, you will probably be better with a transmuter or bard because you will know when you need to tell your groups when you're busy. Conversely you won't be left behind, someone will always need you as those two classes. This is true regardless of alignment.

There is also a whole lot more neutral and evil than goodie in the world. As long as you don't act like a complete moron and/or use your role to create a situation where you speak out of turn to your tanks or other support chars that are tougher than you or whom you need, you won't get backstabbed. They might refuse to help you but that's unlikely as a bard or muter, they very much still need you.

Neutral bard and muter are good to hedge your bets for everything you're talking about. Right now bards have more direct PK ability on the whole (at hero) than transmuters because of recent observations on neurological disruption. Resist mental is tricky to get and only easy for certain classes that either know what they are looking for or can see it. You will have the fewest enemies as a neutral and the greatest amount of leverage to bring a PK range down on an enemy's head whom you can't beat. You can ID gear and note it in a log to sort through the info later.

I have a different experience concerning evils. Once they see you as a competent and useful potential ally you receive a lot of help, even as a neutral.

Most of the real awesome stuff I leaned from others, I learned from evils...

nt

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Pro and cons:


Evils: You have no restrictions really, both PK and explore wise., and you CAN exchange info IC, just have to pay for it somehow most of the time.


Neutrals: You can travel with anyone, and if you don't wish to PK, you won't have any issues with people trusting you. If you DO want to PK, you'll either find that none trusts you, OR that you don't have any enemies to PK. ^^


Goodies: Exploring wise you are quite limited, and that you are PK-wise to. BUT, you'll get tons and tons of help from any other goodie you ask.



Personally I love playing neutral with a set goal on who my enemies are and who my friends are. Even though I've mostly played evils since I returned to CF, before that I was serial goodie player.

As for what you should play... Go for a Evil healer, siding with just about anyone, not much PK, but people will take you EVERYWHERE! Escpecially if you side up with Scion a bit. ^^ Got to see more than I'd ever imagnine when I played Deiha. (Scion healer)


Cool to have you back, good luck to you.

Always shoot first and then call whatever you hit the target.

I recall the imms at least making a bleh comment about that very behavior in someones pbf.

It's not as if it's your fault for the mob not re-wearing it.

nt