Fist de Yuma - March 5, 2002

There has been a lot of old timer tests going around. I decided to put a few questions, more to bring up memories than really test people. I will have my answers at the end. Remember that one person may see a different answer than another. What was the first new item everyone got, especially mages, with the first patch? What was the first new server? Where was the first big mage drain spot? What nerf was put in to stop draining? Where did everyone go to hunt lugies before the Citadel was created? How many Nobles in BDC? What was your reaction to meeting your first Shadow? What was the really big nerf made in the first patch? What change was made so mages could not run away from PK battle and not be hit? What lifestone was destroyed by the Tommies? What is a ground spawn? Why was high al leather armor the ultimate armor you could get? What was the first town attacked during the shadow wars? There was a major shift between the first shadow war and the second one, what was the change? What was the major scandal with a Sentinel who was fired, what did he do? This will be server specific; What was first the major PK alliance on your server? What was the first Major pk event on your server? Who was the GOD of your server? I'm not sure if all of them had one but I know of two that did. Who was the first columnist writing about AC? What was the first major event? After OHN's and BSD were created they made a change, what is that change? Why was there a 12lv running around Aerlinthe? What was the first new Golem put into the game? What was the first major help for everyone who used magic but mages mostly? Before the code was broken how long did it take you to learn a level VI spell and how much did the comps it cost you on average? How many try did you attempt with each test? What trick could be used to sometimes know you had the right combo but failed? What major nerf was given to lockpick? What major change to bow was made to help archers find the best bow? What major advantage did archers have in BDC? What major Bow exploit was there so they could do more damage? What tactic were you able to use in LOD to fight the Noble solo? Why did no one ever carry an M note? Where was the very best place to sell loot at? When a high level headed over to sell loot what generally happened? Where was the very best mage shop located? What enabled a large group to take over a town so one else could enter it? What monster killed about everyone in the wild? What major change was made to the Vaults? My Answers What was the first new item everyone got, especially mages, with the first patch? Robes. Before that patch they did not exist. Everyone was dressed so strange when I logged on. The snow was strange. New monsters such as the Hoary were fun and that got the mattie robe. What was the first new server? Solclaim. It was an exciting day. Everyone rushed to make a player and hold their name. Where was the first big mage drain spot? Lugie fort outside of Qbar. Still a good place to start a mage. What nerf was put in to stop draining? They reduced the xp from a monster that could not attack you. Lot of different rules that make it ineffective but it is still with us. Where did everyone go to hunt lugies before the Citadel was created? Old Mine. It still exists and is a good place to tweek a restart. How many Nobles in BDC? Three. With the new places not many go to BDC anymore. It use to be packed 24/7. Nobles lasted a few seconds at most. What was your reaction to meeting your first Shadow? Most of us thought it was a player and ran up to day hi, Surprise. What was the really big nerf made in the first patch? The reduced the range of drain and harm. Before that change a mage could drain all the way out to the edge of radar range. What change was made so mages could no longer not run away from PK battles and not be hit? Sticky. Before sticky you could not be hit if you were running. What lifestone was destroyed by the Tommies? Dryreach. Not sure why. I don't think they kept up with that story line. What is a ground spawn? There was spawns of loot at points on the ground. This loot was not anything to laugh at. Some of the best items ever found were found on ground spawns. Elder had a weapon that has never been exceeded that way. Why was high al leather armor the ultimate armor you could get? Before a major change in armor most armor had zero protects from elements. Only leather had some percentage of protection. What was the first town attacked during the shadow wars? Teth. Other places were attacked later but that was the first. There was a major shift between the first shadow war and the second one, what was the change? The first one was for the big guns. One of the first BM's got it on MT. In the second war there was a level limit to go fight the boss Shadow. Everyone was buffing low levels to go in and attack. What was the major scandal with a Sentinel who was fired, what did he do? A Sentinel started porting players to the Vesayen islands. It was not open at that time. He might have gotten away with it except someone posted screen shots on his web site. This will be server specific; What was first the major PK alliance on your server? For mine it was Requeim. They ended up forcing most PK to join with "Join or Die". What was the first Major pk event on your server? Some will disagree but I feel it was the Killean vs. Requiem war. Killean had over a hundred players go red and run through the towns. Then it set down to ambushes and small battles. The next day there was an agreement made and the war ended. Who was the GOD of your server? I'm not sure if all of them had one but I know of two that did. No doubt that Baalzevuv was our God. By today standards he was a gimp. The thing to remember was he had out leveled everyone but almost double. When I met him he was 42ed level. Even as a mage he had a melee defense most melee could not hit. To showoff one day he had a large group attack him in Teth. Using drains and his melee defense they could not defeat him. Who was the first columnist writing about AC? I was going to say Pyreal Rat but I might have beat him by a bit. I'm not sure so I'll give it to him. What was the first major Quest? Lost City of Frore. This is routinely done now but back then it was a major study. After OHN's and BSD were created they made a change, what is that change? The spawn rate for both was around 30 seconds back then. Turbine stated that this was causing major lag so the reduced it. Meanwhile both OHN and BSD were major leveling spot. They were also major death bins. Why was there a 12lv running around Aerlinthe? There was a bug letting a player summon to their last log off spot. To get an island tie they had to never go into a summonable portal in their lifetime. They had to work to 45, got to the island and log off. They log back on and Lifestone recall. They could then summon a portal to the island that had no restrictions. It was possible for another person to tie to that portal. They could then recall but not summon. To get to 45lv this way was a major pain. The one person I know who did this made the error of letting another persons get a untainted mule to the island. He was lied to and it opened the floodgates. They nerfed it with the next patch but those of us who had the tie had a fast way to the island for a few months. What was the first new Golem put into the game? Diamond Golem. It was a while until we stopped being scarred of that one. Lot of people died before we got strong enough to fight them. What was the first major help for everyone who used magic but mages mostly? They reduced the weight of comps. Not having a mage then I'm not sure how much but it was a major help to mages. Before the code was broken how long did it take you to learn a level VI spell and how much did the comps it cost you on average? It took me from half an hour to an hour. Average cost was 10k in comps. It was a major no fun passage we all had to do. The first taper was set. The other two had to be determined. With twelve different colors that meant 144 different combos to try. This meant an average of 72 attempts per spell. How many try did you attempt with each test? Generally we tested three times with each setup. The reason we did it three times was because even if we had the right combo we might have fizzled. Even trying three times was no guarantee if your skill was a touch low. There were many times we did a full set of tapers and did not have the spell. What trick could be used to sometimes know you had the right combo but failed? Mana drop is normally 5 for a wrong setup. If a right setup, mana conversion might kick in, and the loss would be less than 5. Of course mana conversion did not always kick in, especially if you were a melee. Also if you gained mana just as you toss the attempt it may look like you used less than 5 mana. There were a lot of "Ifs" but it was a help. What major nerf was given to lockpick? They put in SIK chests. Before that you could pick the locks of the chest of you had enough skill. Some good loot was taken that way. Because of camping and lines they changed it to SIK's. What major change to bow was made to help archers find the best bow? They put the damage mod on the inscription. Before that change you had no idea what the damage mod was. People ended up testing bows to find out which one did the better damage. After that change people discovered that a mod 113 bow existed. (Really 112 as the fraction dropped wrong back then.) This was before the composite so 113 mod bows were worth their weight in gold. What major advantage did archers have in BDC? There was a wall they could shoot through. This let Archers draw major hordes of Olthoi, including the noble, to that wall. They would safely attack them as the Olthoi ran at the wall from the other side. There is also a pit that an archer could jump over and get everything to end up in the pit. This is still there. After everything is in the pit it is target practice. What major Bow exploit was there so they could do more damage? They figured out a way to trick the server into letting them use quarrels with the bow. This archers then do the damage of a crossbow with the speed of a bow. What tactic were you able to use in LOD to fight the Noble solo? They made the hallway narrow at one point to keep the Noble from running to the top. A player could draw the Noble to that point and then attack. An Archer or Mage would take no damage as they attacked from beyond the Nobles range. A fighter could fight and move back to heal and rest when needed. Why did no one ever carry an M note? No one that I know of was strong enough. Pyreal had weight 110000 bu was over most players limit. Where was the very best place to sell loot at? Teth had great prices. Later AB had as good. The prices difference created an exploit that let people buy at one spot and sell at the other, making major cash. To save the game they had to change the pricing structure. When a high level headed over to sell loot what generally happened? Hordes of mules would rush the vender to see what he sold. Where was the very best mage shop located? Of course the three racial mage shops had the best selling prices. They were hard to get to so overall the Awric mage shop was the best. It contributed to the major overcrowding of Awric. They nerfed it and moved it to its current location before Awric was destroyed. What enabled a large group to take over a town so one else could enter it? There was a bug that prevented portal storming of people in buildings. If enough people were in a building to create a portal storm and everyone outside would be ported away. Even running to a building was hard. People use to race from building to building in Awric, trying to get under cover before the storm hit them. At times you only had seconds in town before being ported away. What monster killed about everyone in the wild? The major killer was the Ash Gromnie. Remember that most people had armor with zero protection against lighting. Until our melee defense got high enough it was pure death to run across one. Mountain Rats fell into the same category but the king was the Ash. What major change was made to the Vaults? When first created you could tie to them. They made them un-tieable later. A few still had ties and had a major leveling advantage. I broke my tie to the acid vault the first day, before I found that out. Sing Weapon After my stupidly turning in the item to the wrong NPC with Fist I figured I would get the Sing weapon for Jr. I had one major worry. Jr has the ability to toss VI life protects which should provide a touch better protection than the items Fist used. Melee defense and attack is less than Fist but against Mosswarts and Shadows I was not going to miss and they were not going to hit me. So except for one thing I should have as easy a time as Fist did. That one thing is a major factor. Fist has around 250 magic defense after buffs. I have put zero points into Jr's magic defense. Where Fist resisted most of the Mosswart spells and a lot of the Shadows, Jr was not going to resist anything. There is also the factor of health and stamina. Not only has Fist put 10 of millions of points into endurance but also started with 40 more points. For those two reasons I was a bit apprehensive about doing it solo. So when Wuyung expressed interest in going with me I was overjoyed. Not only would I get to adventure with an old friend but I would have the help I felt I might need. I had already run to Awric and had taken the Mountain Shortcut. I had then run to the Bandit Castle portal. I repeat this because there are so many out there that don't know portal routes. They have depended on someone to lead them by the hand wherever they go. Teaching people how to move around is one of the jobs of a patron. I waited there for Wuyung to catch up with me. From there we ran to the island portal and then to the Mosswart place. After breaking contact with the chasers we buffed up and headed in. The fights were hot and heavy but with VI protection their level IV spells were not every effectives, even after tossing Vuln's on us. Things got different when we started toward the Shadows. As we started fighting on the ramp the Shadows from the room in back of all showed up. For some reason they all decided to cast at me. I was far below the healing point and running for my life. Fortunately there was a crowd fighting Wuyung and the Shadows could not chase. We had killed the ones that had attacked our back so I had room to go around the corner and suck healing elixirs. I was back before Wuyung knew I was gone. After that it was easy. Two 67lv fighter made short work of the weak Tuskers and the Hollow. We got the acid and ported out. Next stop Zeakal. We met at the exit and the Mosswart place was a short jog from there. This was not easy but not as hard as fighting the Shadows. We had to wait a bit while the Boss Mosswart spawned again. We needed the item off him. Next patch we can ignore him as the acid will be used on a different item. I hope to have mine upgraded before I die and not have to do this again. We both turned in to the right NPC and got the weapon. It is a nice weapon but I'm looking forward to getting it upgraded. Bodies We had just got the weapon when Fire Lady give us a ring. She had a body in the Plateau. She was running to EVL along the river when she was jumped by some Broods. Broods are not often in the river but it will happen. The three of use got to the plateau. Wuyung and I did not know it was Broods that killed her or I would have had Mage there. Broods are not melee food to say the least. We headed to the river and traveled a few clicks when I saw that the coordinates of her body and the river were not even close. Fire told us she did a bunch of running before she died. We headed up the hill and cross-country toward the coordinates. With massive Olthoi spawns and a lot of other nastiness we were quickly separated. I got to her body about the same time as Wuyung. He was being chased by something and I had a few Nobles and EV's on my tail. I found a clear spot and killed what was still with me. During the battle I got the message, "Your fellow Wuyung died." Darn, he had his Sing weapon all of 20 minutes. We finally cleared the Nobles and EV's around Fire and Wuyung's body and recovered. The Broods were being cleared by the mages so we had the room. From there we headed to EVL to do a little hunting. Wuyung and I held the last room on the second floor for a while. It is a good spot for two melees. The spawn is not so fast that you get overwhelmed and not so slow that is not worth your while. It was getting late and I decided to head to the beginning and log. On the way out I ran into Five EV's. It is not often that you find so many in that spot so it was unexpected. Wuyung had followed me and for some reason four of the five attacked him. Wuyung is my level but an old first generation template. He has been more a social player than a fighter. My third generation spec'd life template would he hard pressed against four. He got two before he fell and I got the rest. During the battle my beeper had started. With no buffs I could not stay there and recover his body. I ran to the start and rebuffed for recovery. Meanwhile he had ran back with Fire. We had little trouble recovering the body with the three of us. Goals I like to set goals. Sort of makes it easer to focus when you have an object in mind. Of course a goal needs a target. My target was easy this month. My birthday is the Ides of March. That is the 15th for those who don't read a lot of history. One goal I'll make easy, it is a game goal. The other is a bit iffy. I have raised a bit of cash for a new computer. (Thanks to those who had donated.) I'll still be on dialup but at least I will not have to reboot several times a day and be at one half graphic. The computer will be from a place Toromada showed me. You tell them what parts to use and they assemble the computer for you. I might not make it by the 15th but I should have the money soon after. If you know a good site to learn about motherboards and benchmarks please send it to me. I know a lot about what I want but not up on motherboards or the best processors. The second goal is to get Fist de Mage to 100. When I made that goal he was 97 and it was the middle of last month. By the end of the month I had him to 98 and needed around 110 million points. I had done this by going to the island and joining in the fellows there. On a good day I was making 10 million. I could see that at that rate I was not going to make my goal. I got up early, 4am, and headed to the island. I found Rizean there. I made a fellow and Rizean and I started killing Corals. With him on the West corals and me on the East we were averaging 6 million an hour. I have never seen it better than that. After a while of doing that Rizean had to leave. A few people showed up and I put them in the fellow. The next was an experience I had never had before. Running a fellow on the island is far different from just joining one. Running Fellows Experience fellows can be fun and very good for leveling. The problem of course is Ego's and management. Having a good reputation helped with the Ego's. It also helped that I was totally fair. This meant that I did not discriminate on who could join. Of course that made it harder to manage the fellow for maximum experience. I had to be aware of where everyone was and what they were best at doing. Mages can bring down Coral far faster than a Melee or Archer. Combined with a Mage a Melee or Archer can do massive damage at the flows. More than two Mages at a Coral spot is a waste. With all this in mind I was arranging people where they where needed and smoothing over problems that would pop up. I was able to keep the fellow producing from three to five million an hour for a long time. I did not have a timer going, or decal for that matter. My computer is not as stable as I want it with decal running these days. To be a key fellow meant I had to have stability. I found that running the fellow was a lot of work and fun. It kept me very busy. I did about half the hunting I normally do when hunting in a fellow. In fact it was a relief to be able to find a spot and just kill stuff. Most of the time I'm running to put someone on the fellow or settling a problem. Being the fellow key meant I had to stay close to the start so I could join people as we had others drop out. It also meant I had to run all over the island to put people in the fellow. Some people would be on the west corals. This meant I had to run all the way around the bay to get to them. The other responsibility I took on was body recoveries. The people hunting in the flows were generally in groups so they could recover ok. The people running places were the big problem. They would generally die in bad spots. The corner where you start going west is a mess. The corner is tight so there is not a lot of room to run. You have already ran through a mess of stuff and are generally full of de-buffs and have damage. I don't know about others but I tend to lag a few seconds going into that corner. At times I can find myself running in a different direction when I come out of lag. I have been lucky not to die there but I see bodies laying in the corner a lot. Recovery is always a problem. The other places people die is when running through the flows. This is foggy and full of nasty stuff. A few de-buffs from a Plasma Golem and being hit by a Vapor and a few Tuskers or Relics will kill most anyone. Recovery in that can be a major undertaking. So at the end of the day I found that I had made 35 million points. I leveled to 99 and was beat tired. I did this again a few days later and I'm now 40 million from 100. With 11 days left I will not have to level on the island any more. It was profitable but far too much work for me. I play for fun. It was also quite expensive. I was able to do some looting and that kept me in comps. The expense came in Plats. I found I had burnt over 40 of them. Using a load of pyreal peas I had saved up from hunts I replaced my plats back up to 60. Now I'll be hunting north ML again. With my new plugin I found I make about 1.5 million an hour, a far cry from 3 to 5 million but a lot more fun.