Island Fighting
My Archer is doing well in the new islands. Still he lacks life and has some holes in his protects. Fire is one of them. It has not been a really bad problem as he has hit and run the spell casters.
This changed the other day. Going down the beach I had killed a few of the new Mosswarts. I have Fire Vuln so I knew better than to get into a melee battle with one carrying a fire sword.
I was setting up to kill one when I was caught by a surprise spawn. One swing with the fire sword did 103 damage. I was hitting run when the second shot killed me.
This was a problem. My leggings were on the body. It would have been worse, my bow might have dropped. I was carefully in working off the vit as dillo's and shallow stuff all attack the legs.
I got to the body and it was between two Mosswart spawn sites. I was lucky in that it was only within range of one of them. Of course 6 bad ass 35 to 40 Mosswart spell casters with fire weapons were more than I wanted to face.
My first attempt got my leggings but had me being chased a few clicks and close to being killed. I decided that killing them was better that being chased around the island. The advantage with fighting them was I could damage one from a distance and run. This let me break contact sooner than before. Also if I got one away from the rest I had a good chance of killing it before it got to me.
That worked. Had a few close calls but overall it was safe. Shoot a few arrows and run. If all chased keep running. If one chased I stopped and kill it. Got my stuff and ported to the subway.
With my hunting the new dillos I'm getting a lot of hides. This is making a lot of the new Elder members happy. With 130al and good elemental protection it is great armor for a beginner to mid level player. I had three sets when I hit the hall and had no problem finding a home for them.
Then back to the Subway and off to Mayoi. I stared with 100 AP arrowhead bundles that morning and I was about out. New speed really eats up the arrows.
New vassals, lost vassal
My first vassal The Saint told me he wanted a change. That change I'm not sure of but in any case he broke with me and dropped the players I had under him. The Saint at one time was a second Fist. I could count on him to stand in for me when I could not be there. He is one my oldest friends in the game and we plan on being friends still.
Right after that another friend told me he wanted to join Elder. So Thorin Darkblade stepped into The Saints slot. Darkblade expects to be playing his other ppl Cennt more these days. He plans to move Cennt under Mage after a time.
A few months ago a vassal and I took a trip to BCD. We wanted to go Noble hunting for a bit. Another player asked if he could come with us. The Nobles were not spawning in BCD so the trip was not as expected.
The other day I met Hu-Ni II again. He was hunting on the island. I was playing Mage and was buffing after a battle. He saw me buffing and ran over to toss a heal on me.
We ran into each other again and decided to team up. After two de-buffs (Imperil and lighting voln) he was doing major damage on Bandies. He killed one with a single blow. With bandies having over 600 hit points that was a major hit.
We had one bandie die close to a few Drudges and Monkeys. (I had killed it with war spells.) I said for him to grab the loot while I healed him. Went ok as I was tossing heals and getting 20 to 30 heals on him. As a heal spell will do more than that so I was healing him to full. Then he was dead.
I was in shock, not so much that I forget to run as they all turned on me directly. Hu-ni II said they all chain casted on him at once.
He got back and recovered. I had to go sell off so he hunted while I was away. I got back and asked how he was doing. He said he was doing ok as all he needs to do is fight smart. Seconds later he died.
I was searching for his body for a while but not having much luck. I was hitting the [ key and got a Lighting Katar. I don't now why this item struck me but it did. Lighting unarmed weapons are not uncommon.
Hu-Ni II said he got his body so I was free to make a run at this weapon. It was in the middle of a pack of Monkey's and Drudges. I knew I was going to take major damage getting this. I made sure I had it selected. I ran up, hit "F" and then "9" to port. Between the Monkeys and Drudges I took about 168 damage of my 188. I hit the Life Stone with 20 hit points.
I checked the Katar. 2-6 +11% melee, +8% skill. It has some spells but a race requirement. To bad The Saint left when he did. It is his race. I'm sure some vassal will really love this.
After that Hu-Ni II and I talked for a few hours. That is one of the fun things about the game that many overlook. It was not surprising when he asked if I would load Fist so he could join Elder.
So I lost one semi-active player and gained a semi-active and an active. Things always seem to happen for a reason with me.
Vassal in trouble
I was taking out Bandies on the island with my mage when I got a tell from Pantine. Him and a vassal were hunting. A Shadow Child made a portal to the new island as it died and the vassal accidentally took it.
Pantine was too high to follow and Braken Dododo was too low to move. At 15lv the new island was very deadly and if he died had no way back.
Pantine had read that Cliff Bowman was hunting the island so he sent me a tell asking for help. I quickly logged Cliff Bowman in. He was in Mayoi after restocking up on AP arrowheads. He put on his armor (not an easy task) recalled to the island and ran over to the coord Braken gave.
Before I did all that I looked up on ACExplorer where the closest portal was. I found an Eastham portal very close by. I was lagging bad so this was not going to be easy. Sure enough I lagged a bit and he ran by me. Five Shallow Destroyers attacked him. Destroyers unlike Devourer's I can fight well. Devourer's I have to hit and run. If we and ran into five devourers he would be trying to catch up with me.
The problem was they were all chasing him. Five 31lv monsters were more than enough to kill a 15lv player. I'm guessing Braken had not played with an Archer or Mage before. He played just like he should with a good melee. That is to run around the melee and let him kill off the monsters.
Unfortunately that does work with an Archer or Mage. We need a straight shot at the monster. When with an Archer or Mage you need to run away from him, reverse and run straight at him. It took a while to get this idea across. I showed him what to do until he got it.
A few seconds later we got to test it out. We ran into a pack of the new Mosswarts a few steps away. This time he did it right. Running directly away from me then right at me. This let me make short work of the Mosswarts.
A short time later we found the portal and both left for Eastham.
Good deeds
Pantine was then taking his vassal Lugie hunting in the Citadel. I was lagging enough that I felt hunting was not smart. I said I would log Mage and do some buffing for them. Fist de Muya wanted to go as well.
Our friend Liquid-Smack was there playing his mage Ty-Po. He said he would go with us. Pantine ported to AB and gave Mage a ride to the Subway. A short run later we were at the Lin Citadel.
After buffing Pantine's Vassal and Fist de Muya, Ty-Po and I started buffing the other player. Most of them were in the low to mid 20's so level VI spells were god like. A swordsman can do a lot of damage with level VI item spells on his blade. Lugies don't do much damage with level VI protection spells on the target.
For two hours we buffed players with little break. It was a good thing I had just stocked up as I burn a lot of comps. A few player were fans of the column and this was their first chance to meet me.
Ty-Po said he felt sorry for the Lugies.
Spec'd archer
There has been some debate on the need to spec bow or not. An Archer really needs Life magic. The new speed increase has fixed a lot of problems but without life the really big stuff is iffy at best. I'm seeing Life/Archers taking out Corals with little problem in the Island.
To get Life Magic spec'd and it is hard to spec anything else. So the question came up on the need to Spec bow at all. The answer is, we use to be able to get away with it but no longer. New stuff has better and better missile defense. Even full accuracy 300+ skills are missing.
I have a few players that are melee/archer on other servers. For a while this looked like the way to go. Spec melee, Unarmed and train bow. Today the non spec'd bow is not going to be useful at high levels. I'm very close to killing another mule and making a real Archer on Mt. If I do it will be like this.
70
10
100
60
50
40
Spec Bow, Life
Train Melee, Fletching
Item at 9
Healing at 20
Mana conversion at 40
Lore 60
Speaking of templates I have a Fist's Unarmed template that a few people are trying.
100
10
100
60
30 (50) *
30 (10)
*Best long term is 50/10 but the lack of healing and mana may be too much at low levels.
Spec Unarmed, Melee, Life
Train Lore
Item at 9
Healing at 20
Mana Conversion at 40
Creature at 80
Vassals getting Patrons killed
This was a topic on our e-mail in the last few days. My vassals have gotten me in a lot of trouble before. The Saint got me smashed by Tuskers and Randolph led me into a three death day once.
Still I expected that to be all behind me. I got a call from Pantine about a body in a dungeon. Seems someone got a Tusker to the entrance portal and he is not quite ready for them yet.
Mage has no problem with Tuskers so I logged him to help. After buffing Pantine up we headed in. We found a few Drudges and a lone Tusker to take out. Then we headed over to take out the Vinnie. I want to get my archer a mask so we hunted them for a head.
Pantine got killed by a Vinnie in our first encounter. After taking that one out and recovering his body he led me down a passageway. I saw a Vinnie at the end of a ramp. A bunch of Drudges attack us and between my de-buffing them Pantine and fireballs they died quickly.
I decided to take out the Vinnie. I de-buffed it and sent a fireball on its way. Pantine shouted "Don't" and then "Run". Up the ramp can a horde of Scarecrows, complete with hollow weapons. It seems the Scarecrows only attack if someone attacks the Vinnie. With only my fully buffed Mattie robe I can face most anything. Hollow weapons are the exception.
I was carved up quickly and Pantine made it to the top of the ramp before dying. Pantine needed a lot of buffing to cast a portal by this time. It is a good thing I can cast level VI spells on him. We got the bodies with no problem and killed a few Vinnie to work off the vit.
Next time Pantine, a little advance warning!
Con men
I said once in a column that only the greedy fall victim to many of the tricks out there. Of course there are schemes that will trap everyone but they get learned quick. The timely closing of a trade window so the victims item falls on the ground is one such.
Most Con's count on the greed of the victim to work. The current is someone who claims to have the ability to duplicate items. He shows a common item, does a jump and then shows two of them. Jumps again and show three, claiming to have duplicated the item.
He will then demand a high value item for the information on how to do this. His claim is he got the information from a Sentinel and it took a month of begging to get it. For his hard work of begging he needs a good reward in return.
A smarter player gave him a cheap but not so easy to have item and asked him to duplicate it. That proved he was lying. I'm even smarter. Even if it was 100% true I would not want the information. I know there is someone who made a lot of money on e-bay by duplicating high value items. I even have a good idea how they did it. I'm hoping Turbine deletes the accounts but don't expect it.
In any case this person is having a good laugh. He is well known now and thinks that is funny too. His response is that he will make a new player and restart his scam.
Of course there is RL stuff going on that should get the law involved. I'm not sure how do you prove anything? People have sold things on E-bay only to have a problem. This happens after the items are given. Credit card fraud and other things prevent the money from getting to the seller.
The problem is how to proven something was stolen or how to get the law into a visual item thief. The most outrages of these were a player on my server. He sold his PPL and it was thought to be a done deal. He did not want to sell but a RL emergency forced it.
Well after he gave the account over e-bay canceled the money transfer because of fraud. By the time he got the account back it had been looted and his main player deleted. As bad as that is he is still out the money he needed for the emergency. He also has no way to resell, as the main is gone.
I read where this has happened a lot with items. As there is no way to even prove something was stolen it will be hard to fix this. Without much risk the low-life's of the world can take advantage with impunity.
In the case I read the player who committed the fraud was in game enjoying the item. Unless MS steps in he will get away with it.
There is also account hacking. MS's security is not the greatest. There is also the problem of password stealing programs getting into your computer. A popular program was patched with such a program and put on a web site. There is also a rumor of a web site that will use a bug in the browser to infect your computer.
Another game had a bug exposed last month. People were able to go on as other people's players and steal and get them killed. This game has a permanent death server so this was very bad. This was so rampant that they are restoring everyone killed in that time frame. They are also restoring the players who were stolen from if contacted.
People outside of our game world may not see a problem. We see it as a turmeric event. I hope Turbine and MS start to understand how bad this problem is. When it is just a few people losing a few items it is a pain. When you start getting real money involved it will be come a big problem.
I would love to see e-bay selling out of the game. It is getting the pros into it as easy money will always attract the scum of the earth.
NewGroup Tales.
Legiondel II is a old hand in the MS newsgroup. In this story he takes on the Crator caves.
Last night I met up with a friend of mine, Lowen Wolfe, and his vassal, "Him the Tuff." We were going to explore the crater caves up at Mount Esper. Last time I tried to take a magma golem was around level 34, and I had level V protects. The first magma golem I found nearly harmed/flamed me to death and I had to recall.
Now I am level 39 and wanted to try the crater with level VI buffs. Lowen and Him are both archers, so I would be the tank. I buffed myself with Life/Item/Creature VIs and dropped a Fire Protection VI on both Lowen and Him. Then we went in.
I wasnt sure of the way to the magmas but it didnt take long to find the place. That first pit that you have to jump down into was where I had to retreat last time... not exactly a pleasant memory. But I jumped down first anyway, followed by my fellows, and sure enough we were greeted by a granite, obsidian, and two magmas. I had it in my mind at this point that we were probably going to die.
As it turns out, there is a big difference between level 34/V buffs and level 39/VI buffs. The golems were pretty much unable to do physical damage against me, so the spells were the real hurt. Even so, the three of us got rid of the monsters so fast that we were never in any real danger.
We continued downward and met even more golems, along with some elemental creatures such as flares and infernos. I have to say, the atmosphere in the crater is really cool IMO. The graphical effects make the place feel really hot, and taking heat damage adds to it.
It was interesting to learn just how easy it is to take out a magma. Col Vuln III is all it takes to kill a magma with only one Frost Bolt VI. We reached the bottom of the crater and I was no longer afraid of death at this point. I picked up the Pyreal Forge Bellows too, in anticipation of my someday Aerlinthe quest :-) But my buffs started to run out, so I went back up into a tube to rebuff. This proved uneventful - its nice to know that its safe to do a full set of buffs before respawn.
Lowen and Him stayed down below to fight more. When I was done buffing I went back up a little way. I was getting cocky and didnt believe anything could hurt me. For awhile, that was the case. I took on a few magma golems at once without any problems whatsoever. Then I got a message that Lowen had to LS recall before the golems did it for him. I went back down to the bottom and found Him the Tuffs corpse - he didnt make it out alive, obviously.
I took out the golems that had killed Him and got a mote from one. It was getting late and time for me to log, but I decided I could wait for Lowen and Him to get back. That was when my cockiness got the best of me.
After tanking a bunch of magmas I was fairly confident that I could keep doing the same. Unfortunately, one of the ones at the bottom decided to chaincast a few flame bolts. Even with Fire Prot VI I couldnt heal fast enough to keep up with it. I realized then that I had Fire Vuln V on me as well. Oops.
Back at the LS, and my corpse at the bottom. Big day tomorrow, would not be smart to stay on. So, I didnt. I lost a bunch of master robes but this did not hurt me much because I have a pack full of D notes to replace them with. What really counts is that I made it to the bottom alive, and the trip was pretty fun so I might have to back some time. In any case, thats another place to scratch off of my "explore this place" list.
--
Legiondel II, Archmage of Frostfell
__________
Any story involving Olthoi is bound to get my attention. Here is one of the better ones I have read.
Two Atlans, No Major Stones...
That was the dilemma at hand yesterday. Currently hunting Irons at The Halls of Metos, I had determined that the Major Stinging Stone was the first on my list. My patron, only two levels my senior at lvl 35 was not going to be nearly enough to get me through.
I had heard horror tales of the Acid Vault. I had heard that when I went I should expect my radar to be completely yellow with Olthoi Soldiers. I had fought Olthoi before. I had taken quite a few Workers and a Soldier or two, but never more than one Soldier at a time. My patron had mentioned last week that he wanted the stone himself and we would get a party together for it this week. Last night he said it was time and gave me the meeting place.
I got plenty of comps and mana stones, but for a strange reason, stopped by the healers for some health potions. I havent used health potions since I was in the Citadel in my teens, but in retrospect, that was my best decision all night.
The group was small, six in all I believe. I counted three mages and three melees (including myself.) We fellowed for easy communication. I didnt bother to look at levels as we were pressed for time; it was getting late and some of the group had school in the morning. The portal is summoned, we buff, we run to another portal, the chaos begins.
Exactly where in Dereth the portal dropped us I have no idea. There were more high level Banderlings, Drudges and Tumeroks than I had ever seen in one place. I ran around in the chaos not knowing where we were going or what was going on. Someone found a safe place to buff where we were unmolested. The mass buffing started.
One of the life mages hit me with Acid Prot, Armor, and Pierce Prot VI. Into the Vault we went. My cable modem decided to slow down considerably while downloading the area while in portal space. I was the last in and no one was around except for two Soldiers. Knowing no better, I fought and dispatched them. I once again thanked the mage for my protects. I then realized we might have a chance. Someone showed me the way to the group and we began to run like mad through the dungeon.
The amount of dead Isperian bodies lying around amazed me. I counted as many as 20 while running through. Separation from the group was death, so I stayed close to the seemingly strongest melee. In a lull, I stopped to admire the loot on a Soldier I had killed, it was full of very nice armor, some garbage and a SIK. Before I could pick anything up we were gone.
We all met up at the acid pit and jumped, one did not make it; down to five. We managed to find a safe harbor close to the stone to rebuff. I got re-protected by a kind mage. Someone accidentally recalled while buffing. Now we are four.
In our safe place I could see this mass of yellow on my radar. I felt the worst fear I ever had since coming to Dereth. I knew death was at hand for all of us. Only four of us against that? We make our break for the hallway with the stone and set up our defensive wall near the dead end. The onslaught begins.
There was not quite enough room for all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder. We fought like true heroes. That is, until, a Soldier broke our line and got behind me. I had assigned myself two in front of me to tank, but the one behind us decided he didnt like me too much and started attacking me. I had to continue with the two in front of me. Better one behind me then two. Health going down. I had no choice, had to start healing.
Problem! My hotkeyed kit had run out! Ahh I had healing potions hotkeyed. I drink two, but the three bugs on me take away the 50 points I had gained. I yelled for help, but no one could break their attack. Suddenly I see my patron break attack, but he started healing himself immediately. I feared all was lost.
I finally down enough health potions (10) to get me to 125 health and resume fighting. They start falling one by one. Then a silence draws over us. I see no more, I hear their screeching no more. We had won. One mage, and three melees (two under lvl 40) had killed Asheron only knows how many Olthoi. I couldnt believe it. I was the last to get the stone, I couldnt see it amidst all the loot on the ground, plus I didnt know what to look for. A portal was opened and we were at the Subway. We said our thank yous and goodbyes and most of the group logged out.
Asheron help me I cant remember any of the names of those in the group other than my patron, but thanks to them all. The whole experience is actually a little blurry to me, and I might have missed a few details. I have never had a game deliver that much true adrenaline in my life.
It was certainly the most intense experience I have had in the game. I do not die a lot in game: only 69 times in 34 levels. My former patron had died 300 times by my level, but I think one should avoid death whenever possible. I know if I had died I would have lost some Master Robes, Great Mana charges and maybe my BP. (hardly ever drop a UA weapon) But I was petrified none the less. Its funny how certain things mean so much to you. Such a great experience. Thanks for reading!!
Kyler II lvl 34
Frostfell
UA extraordinaire
Casts a mean lvl V item and lvl IV Critter.
_______
The Acid Vault is no place to find yourself a victim of the WI flag. Jim finds that the hard way.
Walking around Ayan and contemplating my life here in Dereth, I began to realize that I had been quite sedentary as of late. Time for a change. My life revolved around one Halls of Metos or another for far to long. I was introduced to my first Iron at 25 and was hooked, Motes, loot and very nice xp. I have honed my skills in the halls and now find myself 11 lvls later and the draw of the golems has faded. I have acquired 3 atlans for myself, a couple for monarchy mates, and traded motes for the occasional upgrade of equipment, and to help someone out that was "this close" to his GSA.
Relaxing by the LS in Ayan, rummaging through my packs, trying for once to get organized, I ran across a strange key and remembered this is the final key for the SoLL. That's it!! I will gather a friend or two and make the run down there for a little entertainment.. A nice sprint through the dires will always get my blood pumping, sometimes it does an effective job at stopping said blood flow as well! I jump up and hit a portal for the hub to make my normal rounds to stock up, and a vassal finds me and tells me that he is in a bit of trouble. Seems that he woke up today in the middle of a nice spawn and promptly hunkered down and returned to slumber. Ok, slight change of plans.. on to Qbar, run for a while and clear the area. That being done, I wake him up and through some buffs and escort him back to town.
Back to the hub, and I hear a call from somewhere in the sea of people that there is a party forming for the fire stone quest... sweet, the SoLL shall be delayed again. Put in a call to my patron and have him join me as well as another friend. This party fails to form up and disperses... in the mean time I decided that I do need to begin gathering my stones and now is as good a time as any. I jump back to Ayan and ask if anyone would be interested in guiding our group and discovered that Terb and a friend was about to go and we joined up.
Off to the temple! We gather at the temple and form up. Our guide Terb (53) his friend Allannon (52?), my patron (34), a fellow vassal to my patron (30), Casy (23) and myself (36). Upon leaving the safety of the temple we are greeted by a small group of shadows (omen?) but outside of some nice de-buffs, they were no real obstacle to this group and we run up to the vault and enter to wait for de-buffs to fade.. I take this opportunity to test my skills against the sparse spawn of Olthoi in this room (1st meeting with these guys) and begin to gain some confidence.. I am hitting well and they are not.
We begin to enter the bowels of the dungeon and are met by several of the residents at the first corner and they seem quite interested in me, as they all wish to be near me and ignore my mates that are pounding them in their back. I think to myself that this could get ugly as I remember similar actions from the Lugians and begin to envision the stories that I have heard about how many of these nasty bugs like to run around in these narrow halls.
We fight on and I am forced to go to heal potions a couple of times (a last resort) and any confidence I once had has waned considerably. I stay close to our guide and we enter a rather large room and I can't hear myself think because of the clicking sound that seems to echo from everywhere.
We bolt into the room and I get about 3/4 across before I am surrounded. I have been warned about letting these guys behind you and manage to work myself to a corner and I pause long enough to breathe a small sigh of relief at this.
The attacks came fast, the attacks came furious, and I soon found myself kissing the LS back in Ayan. I quickly take inventory and contemplate entering that dungeon without leggings, and gauntlets. I am starting to realize why some people carry expensive items around where ever they go. Alas... being a simple minded slinger of steel, sometimes it takes such a demonstration to drive the point home.
I recall back to find 4 Olthoi engaged with 2 individuals.... to my amazement, all 4 disengage from their current battles and come to me. LS time again! My party continues down and grabs their stones and prepares to meet me back at the entrance.. We meet up and go back down after my body, I am now wishing that I would have washed this strange cologne off as they are all drawn to me again.
The next time I showed up in Ayan, I was distraught and had decided that it was a good day to die, but not 5 times and elected to be done with that cursed place. Terb would not hear of it and refused to allow me to lay down and die. I ran to town and bought what armor I could.. with the words acid-pierce running over and over in my head as I perused the wares at a heightened pace.
We go in again and apparently the winds of fortune were with me this time as a large party was just ahead of us and we had a pretty easy go of it to recover my bodies.. Portal back to the hub, and begin to dream again of that elusive little green rock. In the following days I endeavored to find armor that better suited a piercing attack, work on my ability to dodge those infernal legs, and work on the anxiety that built as soon as thoughts of that place entered my mind.
Two stones were retrieved on this trip, one by my patron and one by Casy the lvl 23 that joined us. I was proud/happy for her, but that still stung a little :)
I shall return, and I hope that the next time I will be a little better prepared, a little wiser, and most importantly........ wearing a different cologne!
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