So, I was looking at the two mummies PBF's, and I have a question re: game balance for the IMMs.

Cotzibue before level 51 mummy -
Fri Jul 1 10:55:39 2011 at level 51 (301 hrs):
Cotzibue advanced to level 51 <PK: 24-33>

Hero delete -
Total PK Wins 126 (102 at level 51)
Total PK Losses 50

So Cotzibue went 102-17 at hero, and significantly worse beforehand as a normal spectre/necro.

Tavlin before level 51 mummy -
Thu May 26 22:28:34 2011 at level 51 (248 hrs):
Tavlin advanced to level 51 <PK: 107-20>

Hero delete -

Total PK Wins 356 (249 at level 51)
Total PK Losses 26

So Tavlin had WAAAAY more success as a regular necro, but LOOK AFTER HE MUMMIED...249-6.

I mean, guys, I love the necro class. I think it has the best ambience of any class. And I know that getting mummy/lich is something that every player hopes for, and it's relatively hard (but seeing as how the last 4 mummies have succeeded, not terribly hard) but...

...is it meant to be THAT much more powerful? I mean, we haven't even started talking about the last two liches...it just doesn't make sense to me. It would be like saying if you can hero a paladin and not delete after 250hrs you shouldn't just get a second virtue, you should get a third AND a fourth.

I'd like some IMM feedback. These numbers just staggered me when I looked at them. I was honestly shocked.

Mask and scion powers certainly didn't hurt Tavlin's numbers. Also the fact of his being in Scion meant people sometimes tried to raid and/or defend when he went to retrieve, which quite often involved one or more of them dying.

I've had about 10-12 spectres.

5 got lichquest and none liched (3 died on elixir, two couldn't find items).

One of them got first ever mummyquest when it was implemented and died (my fault, i mistook an item and gave ANOTHER item instead of item that i had in my inventory - doh!).

Other 4-5 didn't get lichquest (no mummyquest were there at that time).

some calculations: 10 (attempts) * 250 (hours average lifetime) = 2500 hours, or 104 days of *non-stop playing* for *no success*.

Easy? Go try yourself. Maybe you will be lucky, but maybe you will repeat my experience.

Yes. Mummyquest is easier as far as i know, and chances are higher. But you still can get an item that comes from 4-5th circle of hell. Or just an item that nobody ever seen (for example, 4-5 years ago i've got an item "harp with the green strings" and still have no idea what it is or where it comes from).

I think Tavlin had a lot of fear factor going for him. Honestly, even solo, it wasn't like he wasn't unbeatable. Was he tough? Sure, but I know that I dropped him/drove him off a number of times solo and killed him a few times with one other person. I just think people started to fear him a lot and it snowballed.

If people think they're going to die to you, then you've already won half the battle.

I also fought Tavlin throughout his life, though arguably not at his strongest point. Mummy Tavlin, while stronger than non-mummy Tavlin, still wasn't unbeatable.

But mummy Tavlin was noticeably immune to some of the strongest anti-mummy counters. That mask he got later in life, for example, almost completely neutralized me and Sivyh and any other hiding class which might have been able to otherwise take a tiny margin of advantage against him.

Also, I think Twist's own sense of fair play let a lot of people think they were close to beating him, when in fact they weren't even close. He often went without barrier or other significant protections in order to draw in some of his enemies into staying longer than they should have and make them think they had a chance of killing him. You'd get him to gushing or writhing all alone and feel nice and fuzzy and proud, but in reality the threat to him wasn't THAT severe and in that entire time he was throwing on scourge, forget, curse, etc - even getting the occasional PWK or sleep in, which basically would guarantee your death if they connected fully.

When your character hits 2.3k hp on good despoils, with full abs available, I think you might have some room to play around

...but you missed the point of my question.

Is mummy (and/or lich) supposed to be THAT MUCH better than 47 spectre? And if so, doesn't that mean either 47 spectre is underpowered or Mummy's/Liches are completely overpowered?

I just really want a discussion, because I am completely torn on this. My third favorite player (he's right behind you) quit CF (I think?) because he failed 3? mummies in a row. And he had the right ingredients for at least 1 he was positive. So in a sense, I love that mummies are in the game and I love that they have an element of risk to the character and many other things.

But are they too powerful?

(also, for Tavlin, Scion Chancellor or Advisor powers made him NOTICABLY tougher... but also should have meant his death at least more often than a non-caballed...)

Is a possible solution that Mummies/Liches can't be in a cabal? Because with Emperor powers or Chancellor powers a lich/mummy looks twelve times as scary.

Eh. I like having a super buff bogey man to fight. And the bogey men CAN be beaten, I've never met a character in CF that I don't think can be dropped by the right 1 or 2 characters.

I don't think Spectre's are under powered though, they just need to played with a bit more caution. Sort of like an elf warrior pre-legacies. Maybe they could be upped in strength a bit? I dunno, I wouldn't tamper with it much, personally, because necros are easily one of the scariest pk classes.