and also because I don't seem to have much time for mudding now. Since compromising him on Dio's (I agreed with whoever pointed it out) I've been playing another character most of the time anyway. Not fairweather playing though, because it doesn't really affect who I fight all that much. Playing a paladin made me need a very good long break from good aligned characters, and evil is less frustrating to play because you can act on your wishes to a greater extent. People need to stop worrying about the hordes of goodies so much if you ask me. The imbalance is not nearly as bad as people make out. Just keep moving and no one will catch you, yet you will catch their stragglers. That does assume that you don't turned up to completely suicidal cabal defenses (ie ones where you will be permalagged).

Well, this was definitely the most challenging character I've played to date in terms of pk. I warn anyone thinking of trying to repeat this combo -- I wouldn't bother.

Manzinul was a drow axe spec who didn't have fist of the titans. My second weapon spec was hand to hand and my legacies were flow of shadows and whispers of the great siege, both of which are INFINITELY better than the seemingly crappy legacies I picked for Avastin. I quite recommend both these legacies for drow. I took whispers of the great siege first which enabled me to get a couple of my final ranks solo, and made the painfully slow process of healing as a drow much more bearable. As far as saying Avastin's legacies of striking the shadows footfall and hour past midnight were crap, I should mention that imms were still getting the game balance right on legacies then )and I did test Avastin's against an axe spec with Ward of Blades, which was just so much better than my legacies that I couldn't compete in a sparring situation).

I managed to find one axe that was less than 3lbs (ie not dropped from lack of strength). It was called a "perfectly balanced axe". Woohoo. I also managed to find another kind of iron axe that weighed less than 4 lbs, so they were my backup. As it was, I almost always used axe + shield (which was my intent) rather than dual wield like most axe specs too. I tried to rely on finesse over brute force. Had some very fun fights with this character, but in almost every case I felt I was outmatched by giant warriors. However, drow are capable of staying alive when things don't go their way and trying another attack when things might work out in their favor.

Manzinul tended to struggle to find groups. Most ragers attacked me on sight because I helped scions against Ckroeg one day (as I happened to be grouped with scions at the time). Ckroeg attacked the group and ran to the destructor, so I flushed him out for the others, and then gave the head to scions since the big D didn't take too long to kill. (Flow of shadows is nice for fighting the big D.)

However, I wasn't really an ally of scions either, and usually I didn't like or trust them enough to group with them. In fact, I probably killed more scions that any other cabal, because so many of them decided to attack me. Incidentally, for the villagers, I was actually spying for the village on the scions. I just worked with your leaders and not with the common peons of the village. I can't believe more of you didn't work that out since I often allowed you to run past me at the giant instead of pincering you. I particularly disliked fighting Ckroeg since I screwed up and got him a mob death when we were ranking as lowbies.

(Sorry about that Ckroeg. I was trying to improve parting blow and therefore attacked too quickly in order to make sure I tanked before you. That was a good reminder of why not to spam attacks on mobs when someone else is leading the group around in an area where mobs of similar keynames are of vastly different strengths.)

Not sure whether all the scions who attacked me thought I was a rager or something, or whether some village leader tipped them off that I was a spy. Sylvans, Marans, paladins etc... all tried to kill me too, as you'd expect. I was somewhat annoyed that warlocks tried to kill me though, when there were magi around that they could have hunted.

I've always liked drow. I'm probably imagining it, but they seem to learn stuff faster than arials to me.

My skills and so on at deletion were as follows (and yes, I did delete with 56 practices and 2 trains, because if I wasn't short of time to play, and if the character wasn't compromised, I'd have played him into old age. I therefore had the trains reserved for when my stats dropped):

Manzinul the Weaponsmaster
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level : 51 Sex : male Race : dark-elf
Ethos : Chaotic Align : Evil Class : warrior
Practices: 56 Trains : 2 Hometown : Udgaard
Exp : 592067 To Level : 21933 Sphere : Dedication
Age : mature, 210 years old (132 hours)
Hit Point: 884 /884 Mana : 634 /634 Move : 851 /851
Str : 18(18) Int : 24(24) Wis : 21(21)
Dex : 24(24) Con : 16(16) Chr : 17(16)
Carry # : 28/36 Weight : 257 lb 0 oz (Max 327 lbs)
Gold : 55 Silver : 47 Copper : 3
Wimpy : 0 hp Morale : Moderate Position : Standing
Hitroll : 27 Damroll : 29
AC pierce: -178 Divinely armored AC bash : -207 Divinely armored

AC slash : -202 Divinely armored AC magic : -194 Divinely armored

vs Spell : Somewhat protected vs Paralysis : Heavily protected
vs Breath: Not protected vs Petrification: Barely protected
You have 0 weapon specializations.
You have 0 legacy choices.
You are specialized in axe.
You are specialized in hand to hand.
You retaliate against strikes through the Flow of Shadows.
You have no fear of lean times, having heard the Whispers of the Great Siege.
You are affected by:
Spell: 'detect invis' for 32 hours.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<884hp 634m 851mv 21933tnl indoor civilized>
You are using:
<worn on finger> a moss-lined ring, set with turquoise
<worn on finger> a ring set with a single ruby
<worn around neck> a jade talisman
<worn around neck> a jade talisman
<worn on body> a lightweight chainmail vest
<worn on head> a circlet of dark metal
<worn on legs> plate leggings decorated with red enamel
<worn on feet> fashionable leather boots
<worn on hands> a pair of black steel gauntlets
<worn on arms> some black leather sleeves
<worn as shield> (Glowing) a shield of flames
<worn about body> Cloak of the wolf-kin
<worn about waist> the girdle of rats
<worn around wrist> an engraved silver bracelet
<worn around wrist> (Glowing) sapphire bracelet
<wielded> (Glowing) (Humming) an unholy axe, 'Nightbringer'

As you can see the gear isn't brilliant. But a damroll of 20 or so is fine with me. I never really cared much about damroll apart from when I played my first character. Then I worked out that using the right tactics and landing 3 massacres as a result still gets you kills. I always fear that maxing damroll with result in me turning into a bash spammer.


<884hp 634m 851mv 21933tnl indoor civilized>
charge 3%( 3%) axe 100%(100%)
dagger 100%(100%) flail 100%(100%)
mace 100%(100%) polearm 100%(100%)
spear 100%(100%) sword 100%(100%)
staff 100%(100%) whip 100%(100%)
bash 100%(100%) berserk 89%( 89%)
dirt kicking 100%(100%) disarm 100%(100%)
dodge 100%(100%) enhanced damage 100%(100%)
hand to hand 100%(100%) kick 87%( 87%)
parry 100%(100%) rescue 78%( 78%)
trip 100%(100%) second attack 100%(100%)
third attack 100%(100%) fourth attack 100%(100%)
offhand disarm 75%( 75%) shield cleave 75%( 75%)
pugil 8%( 8%) lash 100%(100%)
fast healing 100%(100%) haggle 82%( 85%)
meditation 97%( 97%) recall 100%(100%)
lore 100%(100%) warcry 90%( 90%)
shield block 100%(100%) dual wield 100%(100%)
pincer 100%(100%) overhead 100%(100%)
drive 100%(100%) parting blow 77%( 77%)
feint 100%(100%) whirl 100%(100%)
pummel 85%( 85%) retreat 100%(100%)
ironhands 99%( 99%) crushing blow 100%(100%)
vital area 100%(100%) stun 87%( 87%)
evasion 94%( 94%) disembowel 100%(100%)
hook 100%(100%) weapon breaker 100%(100%)
dash 95%( 95%) pen 75%( 75%)
You have 56 practice sessions left.

I managed to accrue a number of mobs deaths and deathtrap deaths. One was particularly galling because I was pretty sure it was a deathtrap but a mob chased me into it.

Umm, my goodbies are going to be general ones, since I've not played in a while.

Bye to the scion healers. Generally speaking I was impressed by you all. In Thornacrull's case I was quite impressed that he (in my day) would charge in to defend the chasm against paladin, thief, warrior and healer. I was quite unimpressed that he dragged me in before I'd even got my axes out, let alone prepped, and fought just outside the archmage (which was hostile to me). Then yelled at me for taking the first opportunity to retreat. That's why I didn't travel or speak with you again after that Thornarcrull (but at least you managed to persuade me to show you where the staff of striking came from). You did apologise for the torrent of abuse you gave me but most of my characters will not take sh*t from an ally, even if their own actions are debatable, because in my characters eyes they choose the best options available to them at the time.

And goodbye to my only consistent allies -- the Nexans. I liked you all.

Down to one character now. No idea when I'll find the time to play him though .

Color me quasi-amazed and impressed that someone managed to hero a d-elf warrior who picked axe as a first spec. Not because it's impossible, but because most of the metaphorical ducks I feel like I'd need in a line to level it past the low/mid thirties would be rare lately.

All I can think to say looking at your gear and reading your commentary on the same is: There is a particular item out there that may make you weep thinking of this character and the missed opportunity if you should discover it down the line.

>>There is a particular item out there that may make you weep >>thinking of this character and the missed opportunity if you should >>discover it down the line.

hate it when you say things like that

Whilst most of my character throw on whatever armor is best in terms of game mechanics, I tried to dress this character in a manner I thought consistent with his race and class. For example, those boots I was wearing are not what most warriors would choose (although I still had 22 dex axe Ckroeg impaled and boneshattered me, thanks in part to them). They did, however, suit a drow imho. Likewise the light chainmail (which is also damn nice from a number crunching point of view too).

As far as this particular item goes, odds are I could have age died the character and never come close to finding it, or alternatively walked past it on a daily basis and never known. But sod's law says that next time I log on I'll blunder into it. ;*)

Was handy to have a spy that seemed not to be a double double agent and spying on me and giving me bad Information. You were alright, shame we could not have traveled a bit.

it work most of the time, some of the time, none of the time?

I'd say most of the time. Maybe two in three attempts? However, I was a decent enough tank that I could afford to miss it once or twice against most enemies.

The thing about the specs I took with the legacies I took... There was a way around almost any enemy tactic provided I could avoid gangs. Flow of shadows could keep me from being permalagged, even though it kicked in quite rarely in pk, because I could stay alive for quite a long time where people were just concentrating on lagging me. Stun was useful to get out of being entwined, for example, and carry on the combat on a more even footing.

The important stuns (which I never failed) were when air offense shifters swooped down on me and I stunned them before they shifted into their offense forms. Had that failed, I am not sure I want to know what would have happened.

Overall, I was extremely happy with hand to hand spec. Stun was possibly my favorite of the spec's skills, but I liked them all. I don't think it is underpowered and I don't think it lack adaptability. The vital area skill for example is a very nice one if used properly. By properly I mean taking full advantage of it being a one round lag skill to do it and bash someone before they come out of their own lag, IF it in fact made them drop their weapon. At hero, vital area's maladiction isn't that bad.

Stun is a cool skill. I think it is pretty well balanced too, as it stands. More effective and it would be too powerful. Less, and it would be too risky.

When I play another warrior, I might well go for whip again over hand though.