So I preface by saying I haven't played for awhile. I'd like to play bard again but when I see that I'd be level sitting for an eternity to try to get enough kills to get daunting again because of the low playerbase I give up. That sort of thing.

So what I would like to propose is that instead of continuing on the same path in order to continue adhering to class balance and keeping conservative with changes, I propose we flicker brightly by shaking things up.

Because god knows my favorite thing in CF is getting rewards (isn't it everyone's?) and the fact that RP is the best when there's a PK framework.

Give us an Age of Heroes. Give us lots of warriors with 3 or 4 legacies, lots of quest forms, random spells given out frequently for even a hint of RP, like azatodeths cloud and stuff. Upgraded familiars could just be something you expect, and greater summoning could be something in reach, or what could be striven for. Those badass weapons like that whip the fire AP got should be given out, maybe just temporarily, to be returned with a certain number of souls.

If everyone is OP, or can become so, then it gives everyone a reason to log in and play, rather than just doing another assassin. Maybe if you're fun and engaging you can be an assassin with a Virtue.

Yeah, it won't be balanced. But are we playing this game for a perfectly balanced experience or are we playing for a game where people are invested in living breathing characters, striving for greatness? Where the gods are real, and they bestow gifts as well as take them away?

And if you take down Mr. 4 legacy warrior you bet your god will give you a cool reward. Or maybe he gives you said reward before the fight that allows you to win. but if you don't win despite said gift you get punished. Easy come easy go.

That's fun for me. And I'm willing to bet it would be for others. And I beg of you to take at least a step down this road instead of keeping the status quo. It would make me come back, and I'd be willing to bet others would come back for an age of heroes too.

Yeah it could be an arms race. Yeah, whiny bitches are gonna cry when they get something taken away, or someone else gets something cool. But #### them, let everyone else have fun and they can quit.

I even have a story for it!

Edit: also just double the speed of skill gains, what have we got to lose by doing this?

I don't agree that entropy and scarab have no place.

But I wouldn't say no to there being a mage cabal that is for all Magi.

And I'd say yes to skill gains being easier, but only if you are grouped. (And I know groups fight tougher mobs but actually I can do that solo too.)

I don't really like the idea of triple legacies etc. It would be so hard to balance.

What I do think would be nice is to find a solution for aps to have a leader weapon. Maybe just allow them to create a weapon (like the poison dagger skill does) that can then transform on command. But which isn't protected from saccing or looting etc. But which also can't be wielded by others.

Then Xu Shao replied, “In peace you are an able subject; in chaos you are a crafty hero!”

I’m not interesting in making special into casual, because then it’s not special anymore at all. Plus you already have folks who complain about imm influence on characters, and this proposes that imms effectively CREATE builds (picking multiple legacies, familiars, etc.) so I can see some objections there too.

Otherwise, speaking to personal preference, I’m against this. While I might think that certain rewards could pop out more often, or that certain people are deserving, I’m not a fan of making it common rather than uncommon. You can already fight badass tough characters in the game as is, with plenty of struggle if you aim high. And folks can already act out an age of chaos without having a crazy number of bonus powers.

Mechanically speaking, this also isn’t practical. The vast majority of immortals can’t mechanically provide any rewards like this, so it’s not even feasible on that front.

Otherwise I really enjoyed reading your story/echoes for it though, that was good stuff!

PS: You don't need daunting as a bard, so if you just shift your playing from focusing on that to other stuff, maybe it'd be more enticing for you!


-Ish

I'm all on board with keeping special, special. That said. There hasn't been much 'special' given out in CF recently. I can't remember the last time I saw a unique old school leader weapon. I guess the last third legacy I can remember was Grembolin but he got that right at the veeery end of his life. We haven't seen a buffed familar/greater summoning since Charine/Clahier IIRC. We haven't seen a quest form in god knows how long. (I'm sorry, I don't consider anaconda a quest form for a number of reasons.) Hell, IMO there's even less custom titles and longs now (Although there is one custom long around now which is deserved because that dude is a badass.)

I'd be cool with special being a LITTLE more common. Just. Something to spice up CF.

I generally agree with this, hence why I said maybe a bit more common, fully situationally dependent on each reward and character. There are currently two questions forms out and about. There were a few 3 legacies relatively recently I think.

Oh nice, put in a PK requirement, okay, that makes sense. But make no mention that it has to be done by a set level at all. "able to kill and maim a hundred different ways with the power of their voice alone." I actually thought I had to land KBs with every song and skill I could to try and get it at one point, since after 100 pks I thought why the **** can't I take the edge yet. You have no idea how annoying it is to try and land KBs with roundhouse.

This was, and likely remains I am sure, an utterly moronic requirement- why is a guy that killed 10, 15 or 25 people before 45 (or whatever it is) considered deadly enough to be feared, but a bard with 100 PKs is not because he killed them later on. If you can take sounder of the knell, why can't you take daunting. What, because a bard can use fiend to get kills ater that point, as opposed to ganging and spamming vibrato/apocalyptic at an earlier level.

Sorry, this edge was always a sore spot for me, because it's just one of those things you have to know to be able to get. Pointless obscurity of a requirement, and in addition, a nonsensical one at that.

Make it tied to net solo PKs if you want to have a PK requirement at all for it FFS. That's the best measure of a bard to be feared. The how and when they do it should not matter, since it is seemingly based on reputation, and there is no sub 45 bard that any competent player would ever really be afraid of, no matter how many PKs they may have landed, since you know, PKs are not public info anyway. I can think of many well played deadly bards who had a reputation that would fit, and none of them had this edge. I think I only saw one PBF with it, and it was rather old. The edge encourages level sitting, which in itself is a terrible result.

End rant. Sorry Ish, I generally like your posts and this was not directed at you or any Imm. Just one of those one off CF goals I never attained on any of my bards cause I didn't know how to until after I stopped playing.

it was made for Nepenthe's evil outlander bard

I'll admit this edge seemed one very much prone to being only for people "in the know"
Stealth edge requirements like this one had are BS. Of course, I probably could have asked for the specifics back in 2010(ish), but who knows what answer I would have gotten then. Probably something vague like PK more at all ranks since edge mechanics were more hush hush at the time then they are now.

I feel like it would have been extremely useful on a village bard that was so vulnerable to being bashed and tripped. Command initiative is so very valuable to a bard.

I didn't know Nep played a bard that had it.

Apparently the only bard who ever earned it unless neps bard never got a pbf.

it probably wasn't a part of pbf at the time, but it could have been hidden/deleted by him (tin foil hat)

I tried for it and somehow missed the mark too.

Damn is it infuriating.

This is literally what sets us apart from visual games. We can have a more dynamic world. Gods can have a real impact on every single character. Today need not be the same as yesterday. Every character can be different from the last.

Maybe we don't need 4 legacies and thief liches. Maybe we dont need shapeshifters with a virtue. But when someone makes a character there should be an expectation of I wonder what cool thing will happen for this character that will make it completely different from the last one I made. Maybe I'll get a cool awesome weapon or a unique spell that fits my rp.

As it stands now you make a char expecting to get nothing with the tiny chance of getting an okay reward if you win a writing contest. That doesnt create a compelling reason to roll something.

If I knew that if I worked hard and was an interesting character that its almost guaranteed I get something cool, even if its not powerful (azatodeths cloud, flesh hollows), I'd feel much more compelled to roll that next char. Wonder what I'll get this time.

Right now the only reward you can reasonably expect to get is if you follow a God, you can probably earn a tattoo with effort. This means all my chars are religious. That is a restriction. We should work to make the game as unrestricted on rolling as possible, to get people to, you know, roll again.

I'd also like to note that theres "special" and "so special its never even been given out." Like the whip that fire ap got. I assume theres other weapons but no ones ever seen them so what's the point of them being there. Use them! Give them out! Shake things up!

I have zero desire to roll up bard#500 because theres nothing special about it, and almost no possibility of there ever being anything special about it.

Yeah, you can rp however you want, but it's hard to rp a demon when you're literally a human. Now if you had permanent challegha form from demonspawn, that would really set you apart. Ya know?

..it's probably your own fault. Don't play the game for rewards, just play. Took me forever to figure this out and it's also because I don't have as much time or passion/obsession to win as I used to.

Also it was already noted there's literally two quest forms running around right now, I've also seen some other rewardy stuff that isn't super advertised or noticed yet.

I WANT GOD DAMN REWARDS BEFORE I ROLL UP A CHARACTER YOU PIECES OF #### IMMORTALS. Jeez, no.

Shortly after a particularly fierce sandstorm ripped through Hamsah Mu'tazz, an old beggar happened upon the score of a lifetime.

Happened upon meaning broke his toe stumbling over, but happened upon nonetheless, a certain object, buried almost completely in the sands.

He chose to dig the object up, either to smash it in righteous punishment or out of agonized curiosity, and discovered it was a box.

Boxes are wonderful things. Especially wonderful in a world of gods and magic, where demigods might happen to drop a Box of Mind Control Harem Macguffins and Lots of Diamonds. Or it could just be a box containing nothing but an intent to break toes.

This box, however, suggested itself to be more of the former (though clearly having possessed some of the latter, at least a moment ago), given that it was bound in chains, with arcane runes pulsing over every surface like a heartbeat.

Now, despite the intrepid beggar's pain, he knew better than to smash this particular box, righteous punishment or not, because there was of course a third option, that the box contained some sort of Death or Worse. Likely worse.

But a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so he would of course trade said box in the city for a few heavy gold coins and a few heavier drinks.

But heavier still was the hand of fate, as one of the chains broke as he hefted the box onto his shoulder.

Then another, and another. Soon the box stood naked, a burnt emblem of three snakes entwined with lightning bolts etching itself into the wood.

The beggar knew that the "or worse" was coming for him, so he turned and ran as fast as his broken toe would carry him.

The air stilled, the skies turned black, and Or Worse broke free of the box.

Heavenly lightning began bombarding the area. A feeble attempt, too little and too late, as the demon god of destruction rose.

Zurcon flooded the world with his presence, his death knights coming to his call, the unholy sword appearing in his grip. Even a lonely priestess came to kneel at his feet.

He cast his gaze to the land.

The demon god of destruction cast his gaze to the land and he despaired.

The world he had left was full of conflict, the proud elves were ripe for slaughter, and the gods ruled above with cold eyes and a colder fist.

But this world was a shadow. A cold, barren place, infected with rot. The ranks of the guilds nearly empty, the soil dry where it was once ever soaked in blood. The air was still, the tower's gates stood closed, and even Charon had left his eternal duty.

The demon had raged and burned for so very, very long, hungering to escape and sow destruction through the world. But now that hunger turned to ash in his fanged mouth.

What joy would destroying this decayed place be? This would not feed his appetite, stomping upon a rotten apple.

Zurcon seethed and agonized in frustration. He, destruction incarnate, free of his prison, had nothing that would bring him the feeling he sought, his purpose in being.

"No..." he thought, a plan forming in the screaming madness of a demon god's mind, "This is not the end. Destruction shall rage across this land. The flames of chaos shall burn away this...disease."

Three hearts appeared in the demon's hand. Three huge, black veined, madly beating hearts. He held the essence of his demonic vitality in his hands, and crushed the first.

An ocean of blood seeped into the sands, at first corrupting it deeply, but dispersing just as quickly, the essence spreading out to fill the entirety of the land.

The second he sliced open with the unholy sword, its blood spraying into the heavens. The home of the gods too was filled with the tremendous demonic vitality, and gods felt their strength filled to overflowing.

The last was plunged deeply into the body of our nearly forgotten beggar, having long since gone mad.

The demon god began to wither, his sacrifice spent. Vitality would return to this world. It would be cruel, it would be chaotic, but it would be LIFE.

He whispered unto the old beggar, to his knights and to his priestess.

"Go forth and proclaim my power. When the wars rage and the seas run as blood, and chaos rules the land, you will know that I am satisfied.

The beggar's life would mean something, now. A truly the score of a lifetime.

Bring back Drokalanatym.
I'd probably come back to herald Theranic doom from the lurker in the depths.