Passing test of honor and those who don't.
I cannot be sure of the player's name but someone found a Mattie robe on the ground. This is a pure test of honor. His board name is AbsoluteProphecy. Instead of rejoicing at his good luck he hit the boards trying to find the owner.
It took a while but he found the owner. Seems this person died and had a party formed up to retrieve the body. At that point the all lagged out. It might have been one of our server crashes from this week, not sure.
While this is a great story in itself another story unfolded with this. It seems hordes of players tried to trick AbsoluteProphecy into giving them the robe. One insisted it was his even after the robe had been returned. There was no doubt that the robe was returned to its rightful owner so this was a very lame attempt, or a joke in bad taste.
AbsoluteProphecy is to be applauded for his actions. The others condemned for theirs.
No loot PK
There is a movement to make PK on Optional Player Killer servers no loot. (For the brain dead kiddies this means carebear.)
The biggest problem with PK on the Optional servers is the looting and the unbalanced nature of PK. This is not a problem on Darktide as everyone makes an optimal PK player. On the Optional servers we have a lot more options and responsibilities. This means that only the few players who made PK only players can compete.
A melee if he has all his items and his skills is up to par can hold his own against a mage. The problem there is the melee only needs a few deaths before he is dropping the items he needs. These items were worked for, traded for and sweated over.
A mage can easily set themselves up to drop very few items. Even if killed a lot of times the most they will drop is a set of cheap boots, gloves and helm. A fighter can do this but at the cost of being much weaker.
For this reason you see a few PKs on the Optional servers and most of them are mages or hybrids. A lot have pored XP into skills that the white players would not waste points on.
On MT we had a no-loot setup for a while. We had large events, tournaments and a lot of fun. Then politics got into it and a few looters were able to break up what we had.
The results were the last event we had was plagued with looters. The sniffed around the event like dogs seeing who they could pick off and loot. Many camped the alters to catch the new players.
Overall the event was nowhere near as good as the last one. All for greed. Don't give me crap about it being better because it is not. Most of the new players who were looted headed white and will not be PK again. These lame looters destroyed the joy of one-on-one competition and team events.
So we are back to where we were, a hand full of mages calling each other names. The answer is to have PK without looting. For this reason a petition has been created to try and get it fixed. To sign go to;
http://www.petitiononline.com/pklite/petition.html
Of course the looters and loud mouth kids are up in arms. We get comments like; "LOL this has to be the lamest attempt at ruining pk." This from an Og mage who drops nothing. Other comments of a similar nature were all from mages. What I got was, I don't drop anything and I can get lot of nice stuff by looting, why stop it?
Pure greed. If there was balance in PK there would be no need for this. That balance is not there. The argument of using death items does not hold water. Mage drops 4k in comps, a fighter drops 300k in death items. Not exactly fair.
Some have said that money is cheap these days. If you run a trade route and gamble all day this might be true. Most of us play to have fun and money is always a problem.
This could go on all day but bottom line, unless the looting problem is fixed PK on the Optional servers will never be more than an afterthought.
New Story
I have posted a new story no the fanstory web site. This one has nothing to so with AC. It is about a mountain bike ride. Those that have ridden bikes or motorcycles you'll get a lot out of it. From them I got 5 stars and a lot of praise. The people who camp that board hate it and I got 2 stars from them. Read it at;
http://www.fanstory.com/displayStory.asp?id=1019
I have shown this story to people who don't ride and they love it. It is especially good if you have ridden. Check it out. If you really think it is worth two stars rate it that way. I prefer honesty over flattery.
Strange things about people
There are people who post inflammatory stuff on the boards. They take a side of the debate and make outrages statements. Some of them are pure trolls and not to be bothered with, others falling a category of mob mentality.
I discovered this with private messages to them. I saw a statement that the purpose of PK would be lost if you could not loot. In a private message the person was reasonable, if immature. This guy wanted a trophy for his victories. Lacking the "Ear" another game gives him he wants loot.
It is strange how people can go into a mode completely different than their real selves when in a crowd. Taking them out of the crowd will switch them out of the mob thought.
This will also happen in game. My archer was in the Citadel until last night. When he hit 30 I took him to the islands. Several times I got players trying to make me leave. With my mage tossing level VI buffs he could kill a Giga in 3 to 4 arrows and everything else in 2 to 3 arrows.
With that kind of power I was out killing the 40+ players. I was careful to never target another players battle. I even received comments that I was a pleasure to fight around. Comments like "You're the first decent archer I have ever met.", made me feel good.
One time I had a player start cursing me as soon as I showed up. He ranted at me for a bit and threatened to bring his mage there. I had no fear of this as in this type of battle a mage would not do well.
After a bit I sent him a tell and got it off the open message ranting. Turned out he was just having a bad day. He fell into the mob mentality and later felt bad about it. He apologized for cursing at me. I wished him well and we left without hard feelings.
News group tales
I have expected more people talking about the Lugie camps. This is the only one I found.
Last night Barra and I faced the normal question of "what do you want to do?"
We briefly thought about a run to stonehold to make getting the Frore transcription easier. Nah, too long a run. Dires hunting? The umbris hide when I come to visit. We could go stomp on big lugians. Hmmmm, that has merit. With the initial rush to get the quest items over and enough people without missle defense getting squashed, there could be few enough Isparians to make this interesting.
We portaled to Qalabar and started running into the hills. As soon as I could see the bare patch of ground that is the center of the encampment, we stopped and enchanted our war gear. We took up a fighting stance and dove in.
As we carved deeper into the camp, and started meeting Taitus lugians, it became apparent that we were in fact the only Isparians here. The combat was non-stop with no quarter asked or given.
We manage to clear a spot around us, wipe the blood off of our faces, catch our breath and renew the enchantments before diving in. We worked further across the camp and suddenly, a rock hit me like no rock had ever done so before. Okay, lucky shot. I heal and press onward. About then, I see a translucent rock coming my way. I have just enough time to embrace the earth and avoid death.
"Careful, some have hollow rocks." I shouted to Barra. I rolled back up to my feet to get a good look at lugian with the rocks so I could see to it, he died next. Much to my surprise, his uniform betrayed his
status as a Taitus Raider. This was the elite of the lugian forces. One of their best trained, most experienced and strongest warriors. What was he doing out here?
It was then I noticed the other two. They wore a similar uniform but darker. One had the marking of a lieutenant, the other a commander! Someone must have routed the lugians at the other encampments. I suppose since this is someone elses doing, the honorable thing is let them lead the attack once they arrive.
For an hour Barra and I fought on, as soon as we would clear and area, reinforcements arrived from the surrounding encampments. We were low on potions but not on resolve. Another Isparian or two trickled in but it was clear they had no part of the battle at the other encampments and it was all they could do to keep recovering their bodies.
An aside for the reader; Ill never understand why fools who carry melee weapons do not wear proper armor. There are far too many things in Dereth that are not impressed by enchanted robes.
Barra and I talked it over and decided we would claim the glory of killing the final commander. Barra decided to see if her skills as a life mage were up to the task of imperiling the commander. Not only were they not but the assembled raiders turned as one and hurled their hollow boulders at her. She died almost instantly.
I continued to keep the raiders at bay as she made the run back. Once we recovered her lost goods, it became clear that only one course of action would win the day. Face to face combat. Honestly, the prospect frightened me. Hollow boulders have slain warriors far stronger than I in an instant.
The first course of action was to try to thin the raiders. I ran in and managed to get a pair to follow me but more seemed to arrive as we killed them. This was not going to work. It was time for a bold plan. I was going to rush and attack the commander directly. The odds favored my death but if I could wound him enough to enrage him and make him chase me, I could get him away from his honor guard and kill him.
Barra circled the ring they had formed, taunting the raiders and diverting attention from me. I made it to the commander unmolested. I pulled back my rapier and dug it into the commanders broad chest will all of my might, once, twice, three times. The commander was horribly blooded...but then again, so was I.
I ran back to Barra hoping that I would not die in the process. I ate the last of my healing hot kimchi and bound my wounds as fast as I could as the Lugians chased me. When I stopped, only the commander and one raider followed me this far. The problem of course was several Extas and a pair of dread mattekars that I were now within striking distance.
Barra protected my flanks as I battled with the commander. She quickly dispatched them and was able to turn her legendary silifi on the lugian commander. The commander could not defend himself against the Silifi of Crimson Stars and my bandit rapier well enough to prevent his death. The rest of the raiders scattered and we spent the next few minutes mopping up the stragglers.
We returned to Qalabar covered in blood but quite elated. We had triumphed where larger groups of the self proclaimed uber have not. It is a good feeling to be shown the truth of your path. Power is not in the skills you know, the magic you can cast or the superlative war gear you carry. Power is a measure of will, of knowledge and the people you choose to call friend.
Nasier
Leafcull
____
There was a thread for a while about people's most scary moment. These two stood out.
> Okay.. its 1:00 a.m., and Ive got another 2.5 hours of downloads I need to
> hand-hold onto my computer.. and Im bored. So I got to thinking (a very
> scary thing to do).. what is the scariest moment people have had in their AC
> experience?
Two come to mind.
The first, I have already told the tale here, so I wont bother repeating. On a body recovery mission I took refuge in a house in the dires to avoid a bander war party...and the house was filled with lich lords. Like most scary moments, the fact that it was unexpected is what scared the hell out of me.
The second, like yours involved a disconnect. This was in the time just before the shadow wars. Ripcrow, Jadira and Pryde Hransun were exploring the north dires. We found LARGE, highly infested tumerok fort and plowed into it. Bear in mind, this is before the day and age of uberness. I was wearing a matty coat and wielding an olthoi sword, roks were a threat.
Right about as I dove in to tear up some rok archers, taking damage, dishing out hurt. I started to lag...and lag...and lag. The chain went red and I was disconnected. Okay, swell, I see my ISP dropped me. I try to log back in and I cant. Hmmm, Okay, think clearly now. Try another POP. No dice. This is looking grim.
I KNOW!
I dash out of the house at 1:30AM, hop in the car and drive like a madman for my office. I rifle my files and find the list of POPs, usernames and passwords for my ISP at work. Drive home like madman. Elapsed time; half an hour. Reconfigure. Log on, fully expecting to be staring at a lifestone. I find myself at full health and Ripcrow next to me killing roks.
"Tell me later, lets get out of here."
"Thanks man, I owe you"
"You would have done it for me."
"Yea"
"Lets find that Glendon portal and go home."
"Why am I at full health?"
"We saw you lag and dove in, Pyrde healed you while Jadira and I killed
roks. They have to log soon."
Scary and warm and fuzzy...all at the same time.
Nasier
Leafcull
This one is written by Chris Foley
Great one Tuesday night.
I was running around Aerlinthe... it was getting late so I was about to log. Just going to take out this spawn of bandies, when RP_Name comes walking up (it was some Tolkien-ish name that I cant recall right now). He asks for help with a recovery... there are 3 Altereds and a spawn of Bandies, and assorted other fauna, standing basically on his corpse. A little much for his level 46-ness to handle. Course Im 45 UA =).
I put on extra lightning buffs and we vuln and start to take on the Altereds. They run up and almost instantly double bolt me. Im at 30 health but with Treated kits this is usually not a problem, so I back up and heal. Fail. Heal. Fail. Heal. Fail. 2 drudges are still on me and one more bolt means a late bedtime =). I exit combat mode and when the drudges wind up for a spell Im OUTTA THERE at top speed, and at the radar edge I finally heal after close to TEN tries.
Miraculously, RP_Name has survived and together we take out the final drudge. The bandies then decide to charge and we lay in to them, me against two down on the beach and him on two half a radar up the hill. Of course as I kill the first one my buffs drop, and I barely escape from #2 as my Frost and Flame prots drop. I dont bother buffing my armor against Cold and Fire -- this was pre-uber-metal-armor (2 days ago =) so I had basically neck to toes NO prot against cold/fire, except my shield and armor/cold/flame 5. So I run and see "RP_Names corpse smolders blah blah blah." Crap. /tell RP_Name, gah, sorry, not much help. RP_Name tells you, "not my day".
I rebuff and start on the bandies. The first one obliges by coming on to me solo. As I kill him 2 drudges respawn and I take them out with some difficulty (this is my first melee character, give me a break =). The last drudge is down to maybe a couple of hits as he decides to return to his spawn, dragging me with him. As he drops, the now-THREE bandies get aggroed. One is pre-imperiled so I take him out, and now Im a semi-competent level 45 UA with a crappy electric weapon taking on two unvulned bandies =). Ive done it before, and its actually fairly easy unless they decide to get war-magic-happy. Of course they do, and before I know it Im at 30 health and trying to heal. Again my treated kits are failing me! Im backing up frantically trying to heal, down to 25, 21, 17...
RP_Name casts Heal Other III on you...
IN THE NICK OF TIME, RP_Name shows up and busts out the heal. As the second heal spell hits my kit kicks in and Im at full health. The first bandie drops right away, and the second not too far after. We recover his corpse and I quickly beachcomb before bailing. Ive never been rescued from out of the blue quite like that before, and it added quite the trouser-wetting moment to a night that had a lot of good fights to begin with =).
____
This is not a tale but funny nevertheless.
Hail,
Basically, I wonder how some people remember to breath. Air goes in, air goes out. Thank God (or nature) automated that so they would live.
Why?
I made a portal bot and set it up on Leafcull in Eastham. Easy as hell to use. You send the thing an @tell that says PORTAL for a portal. You send it an @tell with HELP for a list of commands. You can even get its current position by sending an @tell WHERE. Man are people dumb....
His announcement that he does every 10 minutes is in gray text:
Epsilon the Believer is a Subway Portal Bot. To Get A Sub Portal Type "/tell Epsilon the Believer, PORTAL" OR "/tell Epsilon the Believer, HELP" for a listing of commands.-Donations accepted.
On his torch is a listing of components for summon portal I (in case he ran out and someone wanted to supply him for a quick trip, even if he has 200 of all comps he could run out), and my email address. His fellowship name is Automaticsubway Portal. It just dont get easier than this....youd think......
Idiot #1: "What are you?"
Idiot #2: "Dires please."
Idiot #3: "Where is subway?"
Idiot #4: "How do you work?"
Idiot #5: "How much does it cost for a portal?"
Idiot #6: "Is that substantial?" -after giving a trade note. (most a portal can cost is about 300bucks, burned silver scarab and couple tapers.) So ANY tradenote is cool. But you know, there are alot of cheap a$$es in this game. Glad I made so much money of late, I dont even care. However, there are ALOT of generous folks too. My bot made double the funds it took to run him in the time he was online. He only responds to trade notes (Thanks for the Help!) and nothing else. But he is grateful for any light weight payment. One of my favs was a level IV scroll, easily cashed in for comps when he needs them.
Idiot #7: "Hold this for me Ill be right back." Wasnt enscribed, they came back, had I not been WATCHING the bot they would not have gotten their item back. It is a bot people!!!
Idiot #8: "Im gonna try to over spam the bot and crash it." My bot doesnt allow such and just auto-squelches after a time.
Idiot #9: "I can tell you are not automated, dummy, from your responses to me, you cant do that."
Idiot #10: "Hey everyone, crowd around the bot and lets try to get it Portal Stormed." -thank you auto logg-off.
Idiot #11: "Im gonna go get some luggian hammers to give it." -Bot isnt tied to stamina supply, only mana, so it would work, just it would not use its stam to mana routine and would take longer to regen."
One of my favs:
Idiot #12: "@tell epsilon the believer, HELP." -this guy was really trying. Then: "@tell epsilon the believer, PORTAL." Then: "@tell epsilon the Believer, stupid bot." Yes, he typed to the Bot "@tell epsilon the believer." How stupid is that when the auto-announce tells you WHAT TO TYPE. @tells the @tell and name meaning he had to type it twice, ugh, I cant win with such stupidity....
Idiot #13A: "Are you for real."
Idiot #13B: "I havent decided if you are for real or not."
Idiot #13C: "Are you sure you are for real?"
Idiot #15: "So is this how you rip people off?" Rip off? How in hell can you rip someone off if you are offering a service they could use for FREE?
Idiot #16: "What do I give you to cut you on?" I kinda feel sorry for this person, they just dont get it. Oh well.
Idiot #17A-17Z: Right after he just spammed that he was a bot. "Anyone got Subway?"
And my favorite:
Idiot #18: "PORTAL"<-in public chat. Yeah, you heard me, stood in front of Bot and told it several time to PORTAL in public chat. How in hell could it work that way? Just gotta love them slow folks that cant follow directions too well.
Kinda Idiot #19: This guy hung around my bot for about 15 minutes. Kept giving it commands every time the timer went away. It take 3 minutes to reset and will not respond for 45 seconds after it casts a portal. I figure if they cant see the damn portal in front of the bot they are just too stupid to use it. That is reason for the 45 second wait as the portal is THERE. Same guy came back and funded the bot so I cant complain, but he was silly if not an idiot.
Oh, A$$hole #1: Summoned a portal to the dires in front of my bot then told the bot PORTAL. Everyone thinks it is a Subway Portal then. So, got the bot to do a turn before it summons now so you wont know where to summon yours. It turns a random amount based on lag and timing of the turn command. Sad you have to prepare for A-holes who want to ruin a free service.
Another thing:
It took me four revisions to get the PLAIN statement announcement that he says now. If people cant figure that out I am lost. And youd be surprised who cant figure it out. Any suggestions as to a better announcement that even less smart folks could understand would be appreciated.
Now, I might as well mention the smart people too.
Smart Guy #1: One guy heard the announcement from outside town. He @told the bot WHERE command and got the cords, then @told the bot STATUS, and got the bots fizzle rate. Then [when he got to the bot] he check its level. He musta not trusted a level 34 mage Bot with a fizzle rate of 5 per 20 because he gave the bot a level V item magic mastery buff, infused mana (it had enough but this guy was smart as hell), gave the bot a C note, then @told the PORTAL command. The bot auto-detected the Item Magic Mastery V buff and didnt self buff and then casted the portal for the guy. This is my kinda customer. Upon ending the portal routine, the bot @told him "thanks for your support." Because it was a trade note it recognized the funding and said this. Any other item is ignored including pyreal. Fully used and tested my bot for me, and for this I thank him.
Smart Guy #2: Used every command. IDed the Bot. Buffed it with Focus/Self/Item 6. Gave the Bot a C note. Walked away. He didnt even use the Bot but liked it being there enough to give me a reason to keep doing it. This isnt a customer, but is a person that is willing to fund a great idea to keep it going. I like this person alot and thank them for their support. Someday they will have the portal when they need it because they do such things.
Anyways, thought the group would love this one. To the "Dumb/Slow/Non-Bot-Knowing" people, all you have to do is get this message TO the bot. HELP. You have to use the bots name and talk straight to it. Then you will get the following command list: HELP, VERSION, PORTAL, STATUS, WHERE. And you can use those words as needed.
Lastly, have to appologize to everyone for having a bot with a long name. I know everyone likes a "K" bot or a "L" bot or even a "Blink" Bot. But I didnt work up a bot Im using one of my old mages and they all have longer names. For that I appologize, but thats about it.........
Lastly, are you sure you hate macros still? Heh.
Epsilon the Enchanter-Battle Mage-LvL 31.2-Speced: War/Life/Loyalty. Trained: Mana C, Item Magic at 20, (Creature Magic at 50).
Alexander the Believer-NonSpeced UA/Bow Experiment-LvL 45.9 -Not-So-Uber Tank Hybrid Unarmed/Bow with
Item/Creature/Healing/Arcane/Mana C/Lockpick/Fletching/Deception
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