Mu's Asheron's Call Rants

1/2/00 (later) - Didn't take long for responses to the last rant about The Staff. Some even came from The Staff's wielder, missing the point entirely.

I will address all problems with the staff. I have absolutely NO intentions of using it in PvP battles. I am not interested in anything beyond duels but as it stands, I doubt I'll go PvP again... Too many rules made up by too little people

As I was watching the duels, I can safely say that this is true. Lots of rules were set down, i.e. "don't run in the tower", "everyone else stand over there", "to the death, no surrender", etc., all stated by one person. Guess who. And there was no ranting about rules for PvP, which I find very silly, but about a goddamned flaw.

I don't like PK, it was fun while it lasted, and it felt like intelligent Quake for a while.. But I went PK the first time to fight Kynn. Everything seemed okay the first time even though I used the staff, but I went PK again the second time to duel MY FRIENDS, Nazer and Zerena..
I'm sure Nazer and Zerena have no problems with me using the Staff.
On a final note, I don't run around town shooting innocent people in the back and claiming the town is my own. Nor have I ever killed ANYONE outside the Arena.
As it stands, I have gone nPK and will never return to the self-centered world of glorified power that is PK. Kynn can be the king of it all he wants

Well at least something good has come out of all this. The irony is that the complaints about The Staff, et al, are not self-centered at all... they are about a god device which demolishes any sense of balance for everyone, PvP and PvM alike, if they have to contend with it.

Sounds to me it went from congratulations Caeryn to damn I want that staff and if I can't have it, she can't have it either.
This moment would have come around some day... There are those players who worked play 36 hours a day, and get really annoyed they cannot use a staff they don't have and cannot get.
As for Mu... I'm so glad he found it adequate to comment on a duel he did not watch. The ranters are beginning to turn from humor sites to abusing their notoriety. Now, all I need is a ranter in my allegience and I'll give him the go ahead to Rant about someone I don't like.
Isn't this right Mu? Kynn?
Com'on, hypocrits. You PKs want surprise attacks, jump bugs, exploit areas... but when it comes to something you cannot use, you go berzerk. Sounds like a lot of double standard and hypocrisy to me.
Maybe one day you guys will actually get around to asking how much work WE put into this staff and understand why I would not hesitate to use it again and again.

One: True no one else can get it, and for that reason no one should have it. If everyone could get it, no one should have it. The beta era WoBF was something that many could get, and everyone could use... it was soon the preferred weapon of melee fighters, mages, and archers alike. And it fucking sucked.

Two: I did watch. Reading is fundamental.

Three: I was not ranting about "someone I don't like", but a mistake by the admin team which was a threat to balance and playability in the game, especially since it could very easily happen again unless it becomes apparent how damaging it is. Although that is changing very rapidly as The Staff's wielder is taking all of this as a personal attack and jealousy. It's more of a commentary on something which is wrong and stupid, for reasons which one would have to look beyond one's sense of self-importance and defensiveness to see.

Four: "Beginning to turn from humor sites to abusing their notoriety". I never said this was a humor site, although some people apparently think this must be the case... until something about them shows up here. Ranting is venting about things which piss me off personally, and why. I personally think there is valid reason to bitch about a unique device which makes someone a god, something which is used because "it was the only way to kill Animal". Was it also the only way to win the first match, which involved a lot of close rushing and using The Staff over and over? There's nothing fucking funny about that.

Five: If people could read beyond the little tiny tidbit which bruises their ego and causes a tantrum, they might see that I have always been pissed off about things like jump heal, the pre-buffed drainable magma golems, etc. Easy to get blind and stupid when you get childish and defensive.

Six: I know the story about The Staff. It's a nice story. It's also totally irrelevant. I am not commenting on whether or not something special was deserved by one person (out of the "WE" who did the end quest), but that the special something is a goddamn game breaker. The fact that it was given to anyone seems to imply that it will happen again. Quests in AC are very deep, usually filled with false endings and rewards for those that dig deeper, which is great. It's easy to see how another god device might be awarded to someone who goes beyond the false "Great Work" ending for a quest and finds something hidden. "First person to fully complete the super secret Spring quest gets this unlosable base 20-50 damage speed 0 yumi with Blood VI Heart Seeker V and Magic Resistance V!" Then the wielder of the Yumi goes red, tanks through a bunch of people, gets criticized, gets defensive, and whines instead of realizing that game breakers are just that... bad for the game.

Seven: The reason The Staff's wielder would use it again and again is because it's a really easy way to dominate everything in the game.

I find it unfortunate, though not surprising sadly, that The Staff's wielder was unable to see that the thing being addressed earlier was not a "me too" thing, or a "you suck" thing, but a "this is really bad for the game" thing. Nor do I expect any sort of turnaround on the issue from The Staff's wielder, as the posts made indicate super-defensive waah waah mode, which is not only difficult to get out of, but might be humiliating as well. It would have been better off for all concerned to use The Staff to powergame madly for a while, dump all xp into Jump until about 350 or so, jump on top of a tower which nobody else could get to, drop it, and watch it decay with a bunch of people. I threw away my low arcane WoBF in beta and played a lot of StarCraft for a while, since there was no longer a point to playing.

Which is sort of the conclusion I have been coming to anyway. Thanks for bringing it home, The Staff.

1/2/00 - Kynn's recent rampage against everyone has stirred up a lot of controversy, interest, and most importantly, ludicrous and unfounded rumors all around Frostfell. Here are some of the more interesting ones...

"I hear that Gargamel moved to Darktide." (Gargamel has been on vacation for a while.)
"I hear Gargamel ordered his who allegiance to go red and kill and loot everyone on the server."
"I hear that Garg and Kynn had a big war, and Kynn one hit killed him, then Gargamel came back and killed him 3 times in retaliation." (This is one of Kynn's favorites... "Cool, I've always wanted to one-hit Garg.")
"Kynn is camping lifestones and killing newbies." (Think about the mechanics of this statement.)

I tried to start my own rumor... "I hear Kynn has some exploit to turn people PK against their will, and is using it in Shoushi Grotto so he can steal people's calling stones." Nobody believed it, although Qui-Gon Jin seemed to take it as an excuse to rant in game around the Arwic LS, stating that "asheron is good.. anyone who strays from his might is a damned fool, and in real life will probably be a murderer". Awesome!

Naturally, the PK activity in the Arwic area has been on the upswing, and all over the server in general. With this comes some real glaring stupid problem in the PvP world. Take for example the "wand killer", one of my personal peeves. Using a spell off a wand uses none of the user's mana, and given the wielder is probably a high level mage with mad conversion, very little of the device's mana. More importantly from a PK perspective, the wiedler doesn't have to say anything, and so unless the target happens to see whatever it is heading for him, there's no warning. Wand spells also go off pretty damn fast. This isn't a problem for your run of the mill Shockwave III Life Magic Mastery III sort of affair (where the spellcraft is reasonable, allowing the target to resist), but when you think of the Wand of Black Fire and the White Virindi Wand, you can see how awesome the attack potential gets.

If anyone was in beta, they will remember when the Wand of Black Fire was introduced, it became the only way to fight. Arcane 122 required (or something), fired Flame Bolt VI instantaneously, for 1 mana per shot. Since then, someone must have figured out that this was maybe not such a great idea, and so now the requirements for the WoBF include War Magic 270 or better for the wielder. Difficult, sure, but not unachievable, especially for those who have specialized war and/or high creature magic to boost their skill. The Jihad Masta is a WoBF user, and yesterday killed Kynn several times with the following high-thought tactics:

1: Hit the hotkey for Fire Vulnerability Other
2: Charge up and use the Wand of Black Fire
3: If you get hit, hit the hotkey for Lifestone Recall
4: If you win, spew out some misspelled trash talk like, "Welcoem to the crytp"

Withe Fire Vulnerability Other VI and Fire Protection Self IV on the target simultaneously, the target can expect to take 150 or so damage from a WoBF hit. If there is no Fire Protection, the target can just expect to die. This sort of wand killing with the WoBF (and its sister, the Lightning VI firing White Virindi Wand) reminds me a lot of the 5 pool zergling rush in Starcraft. Why bother with trying to be good at the game, when a fast rush build is usually just as, or more, effective? Battle.net is full of mindless trash talkers who don't know how to play the game beyond the 5 pool, and I'm expecting that when AC is full of 40+ level mages who can use the WoBF or Virindi Wand, the servers will be full of wand killers who are just as successful, and just as mindless.

Still, the WoBF and Virindi Wand are not the game killers they once were, for the following reasons:

1: The wands can be gotten by anyone who goes after them
2: They require an inordinately high War Magic skill to use
3: They have a spellcraft of 270, so it's possible (sorta) to resist them
4: There is a counter

The counter, by the way, is simple: War Magic Ineptitude Other. When Jihad came back to Arwic to kill Kynn again with the WoBF bumrush, it was funny to see him stand still, knowing he was frantically hitting the "twinky wand spell" button over and over, then recall away. Word has it that he is currently researching Focus, Willpower, and War Magic Mastery Self V+ to preserve the one-trick pony's one trick.

I was watching some informal matches on Black Hill earlier today on someone else's monitor, and saw another twinky wand trick. This one, however, is very different. Crossroads readers might have heard about The Staff of the Weeping Witness, a truly unique artifact given by +Sarneho to Caeryn Dryad for something or other. These are the stats:

Casts War Magic Mastery Self VI (+35 to skill)
Casts Shockwave V
Spellcraft 467
Requires Arcane Lore 60

Think about this for a moment. This is an item which, far as I know, was a gift from the game administrator to a player which casts a near-instantaneous war V spell at no mana cost, with the skill of someone who has War Magic 467 (unresistable), and cannot be disabled. There is no way in hell that you can take a 40th level mage's arcane lore below 60 with any combination of VI spells.

In any case, I watched the first match... The Staff vs. someone else. The Staff won. The Staff's wielder was commenting that it was close, and that she would have died... one can infer that the finish to this statement was "if not for this twinky staff". The next match was really great... Animal vs. Kynn, their first real match, once which got restarted after Animal got lagged and Kynn asked that he heal and they restart. A long, drawn out, tactical battle which utilized archery, drains, war magic, a White Virindi Wand, an electric mace (!!!), and complex maneuvering and counter-thinking. Kynn won after five minutes, an epic battle that had all the observers on my end cheering for both combatants. Both are very high level players who have worked long and hard on their characters, their tactics, their skills, etc. What a fight.

Later on, Animal was beaten by The Staff.

+Sarneho needs to be slapped. Hard. Sure Caeryn's work has been interesting and beneficial to CoD and to whomever is looking for the information she gathered, but an apropos "gift" for that sort of thing would be something like a unique piece of clothing, an artifact which is of commeasurate power with other "show devices", or even a goofy twink wand which is like the WoBF but fires acid VI, for example, with the same requirements. The Staff of the Weeping Witness is at best a ludicrous game breaker which reduces the challenge and potential of AC to that of Furcadia. At worst, it is a thing which destroys PvP, pisses off observers, and hurts otherwise worthy and skilled combatants who fall before the might of some twink with a crappy god device. My feelings on The Staff are summed up here:

Kynn tells you, "Caeryn Dryad tells you, "Ah, I'm level 40, the Staff is called Staff of the Weeping Witness, its a gift not meant for ambushing PK's. But in a tournament I understa"
Kynn tells you, "tournament I understand all's fair""
You tell Kynn, "fuck, say I resign the tournament, and declare the winner to be the Staff of the Weeping Witness"
You tell Kynn, "or else show up for the tournament by gating in a team of 5 allies to take out your enemy"
Kynn tells you, "lol"
Kynn tells you, "This is going to be a good rant :)"
You tell Kynn, "im not kidding, i would do it :P"

All's fair right? Of course this doesn't apply to jump heal (as illustrated below), or Animal wishing to stop a match which had gotten fairly even (Caeryn admonished, as the "referee" of the tourney I guess, that it was to the death). In fact, Caeryn did seem to be giving a lot of directions during the matches, even though she had the least experience of those on the hill, which was a site for matches since way early beta. What authority... oh wait, I forgot... she has The Staff.

Here's some chat excerpts between Kynn and Caeryn after the second victory by The Staff...

Caeryn Dryad tells you, "Yes that it is.. no one claimed it was balanced"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "Hence, I am disgusted by it's use. As far as I'm concerned, any fight you're in were you use that to win, you haven't won, nor done anything except exploit a"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "bug."
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "You are not using your own skill in any way shape or form, simply a bugged wand."
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "But, that's my opinion, no the majorities."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "lol, your opinion suddenly meant much less to me and my peers... having seen Animal use the jump heal bug I'm not sure you would have comented had I lost"
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "Sounds a lot like double standards"

Yup, the jump heal bug. It's STILL FUCKING THERE! Actually though, I did some testing and found that Heal Self IV+ is as effective or more so, and doesn't fill the damn screen with dipshit words of power.

You tell Caeryn Dryad, "You can also use the jump heal bug. There is a difference. If animal were to use it fighting me, I would cancel the duel."
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "however, you're free to form your opinion however you like."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "I just did"
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "Double standards are very unfair things"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "How do you feel I have double standards?"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "As far as I know, I exploit no bugs to fight, nor support it"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "I don't follow your reasoning."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "You claim that my staff given to me for my work by turbine is unfair, yet you let Animal use the bug in battle"

If Turbine is actually giving out god devices to players, I'm going to have to take another trip up there. With a baseball bat.

You tell Caeryn Dryad, "You expect me to stop the fight and tell animal he's a bad boy?"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "No, I wait until it's over then tell you both you're lame :P"
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "I see a vast difference between a staff given as a gift between me and a real exploit.."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "I can't believe you put them on par with each other..."

Note: they are not on par. The jump heal bug does suck, and I wish those dumbasses would get off their chairs and take care of it already... only been around since late beta. However, as far as I know there is no way for anyone else to get The Staff.

You tell Caeryn Dryad, "Simple, both ruin pvp in the same way."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "I am newer than he is AND i'm much lower level"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "Both are an unfair advantage."
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "Both are 'cheep'."
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "Both are used when a person can't win by convential means"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "to give them some sort of an edge, that the other can't use"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "I dislike that, some feel it's a part of pvp."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "Sounds like the bracelets and rings we use my friend.."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "Maybe we should strip down and rely on our pure 'skill' to protect ourselves"

I wish I had a bracelet or ring which let me cast unlimited V's, usable from level 8 or so. Oh it's "newbified" too. Can't be lost (after an unfortunate incident where The Staff Mark I was lost).

You tell Caeryn Dryad, "*chuckles* You're equating jump heal and your toy to using bracelets?"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "I suppose no warrior should use a bd bow either, if he does't have item"
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "actually you're equating jump hael to my toy.. and then I'm using your reasoning to equate my toy to a bracelet"
You tell Caeryn Dryad, "This conversation just turned ridiculous. You have your beliefs, I have mine. Good day."
Caeryn Dryad tells you, "Mmm I agree with that much. Good luck."

It is my belief that Caeryn may actually not realize the implications of The Staff, since to the best of my knowledge she was never PvP+ before The Staff, never experienced firsthand the problems that came in beta from +600% damage bows and the 1 mana 122 arc WoBF, never felt as small and insignificant as the person who has played a character for months only to be cut down at any time by any jackass with a balance-killing device. I may be wrong... if she did have PvP experience, then fuck her. But I don't think this is the case.

The Staff is a big mistake. They should know better after braindead moves like the old WoBF. I just hope that the mistake gets corrected and never happens again. Here's the gist: DO NOT GIVE GOD DEVICES TO PLAYERS. You want to reward a player for doing something cool on a site, or hosting an event, or sucking miles of cock, or delivering chinese take-out to your offices? Think first. A volunteer advocate only gets a cool-looking Aegis shield and the restriction that they cannot go red, and an obligation to hang out in newbie towns and answer questions like "hwere do u get teh soll???///". They don't get a free Armor VI Everything Protection VI set of long underwear and an instakill weapon for their services.

I'm a little calmer since I watched all this bullshit unfold, and so my current feelings are: Fuck The Staff. Fuck +Sarneho for making such a boneheaded mistake. I have nothing personal against Caeryn, since I believe she doesn't really understand what's happening. But if she does... well, you know.

Yet one more day of stupidity which keeps me playing more StarCraft than ever.

12/26/99 - Is it wrong to keep beating a dead horse? Not when that horse keeps giving you material every time you encounter it. Sadly, though, anyone who thought that maybe killing The Silver King for cash and prizes as per the last rant is out of luck, as he is now non-PK. Why the changeover? One can only assume it's in order to more safely conduct the same sort of big commercial negotiations he seemed so happy about last time he decided to start lying and trash talking. However, this time he's moved into mattekar robes. I happened to walk in on an auction Abor was conducting, and apparently getting a good price with. Nice to see some people are keeping the market value high. 8P

I wish I had thought of this... "Hey Kynn, I uh lost *campable crafted item I can sell*, can you get me another please?" It seems a lot easier just to ask for the money though. There should never be a need to deceive your monarch for something as piddly as cash.

I also got this interesting note from a long time forum poster, Hick Young, who has recently come under fire on the forum for some bizarro posts.

Subject: I've been annoyed with the Silver King too!
Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 15:57:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Hick Young
Dear Mr. Collins,
While playing AC, I keep running into this player named "The Silver King". I think he the same guy who keeps bothering you as well. He has been quite a problem ever since he crossed my path. I think I got 'em kill or something while leveling up. He has even has gone far as using my handle "HickYoung" to write a dumb message on your board. The message was something about vassels and making fun of a friend who I was a vassel of. Yet, the replies to that message made me laugh my ass off! He even went as far as posting the message to some other boards. I'm not bitching about the message or about my good name being used like that, but I would like to say I feel sorry for this dumb guy who has to lie, cheat, and mess up everyone's else fun. He needs more help then I do (and that scares me). Well I hope you have some happy hoildays and I'll go back to being a "dumb warrior". I need to clear my name of the crimes of bad writing and have many more emails I must send to people. The Silver King is a loser and remember losers are selfdefeating and all that other that other shit. You have a very thoughtful homepage and I'm glad you have strong following too.
Rask Hick Young
P.S. Did I forget to say happy New Year hick?

The message in question was...

"To Be King" or "To suck the KIng's Butt"
by Hick Young posted 12/23/99 11:09:41 PM
I keep out of people's affairs and I stay away from posting on messages boards with wussy dick people - and that is what this message is about. I have been playing AC for sometime now. I didn't want to, but my current girlfriend got a copy for my birthday and I felt that I might as well try it (to get some action... and maybe not to hurt her feelings). I created a sword wielding dumbass warrior and started to slash away at the poor monsters. I was shooting the shit with some people on AC (still relived that this was much better than UO) when all of a sudden my girlfriend finds with her life-mage-lv 45 when she asked me if I wanted to be her vassel.
I said: "What...?"
"Hick! Didn't you read the book?"
"No I never read the book... too busy with this game."
"Look here you want to give me exp and become my peon?"
"Sure... what is in it for me?"
"You the warrior, not shit because - you the boyfriend get to sleep with the queen!"
"Don't I do that all ready?"
"Sure but we can do some more things like..."
At this point you guys, gals, freaks, and lowerlifes from the Mushroom can get the picture.
*Wink*
But is it really right to suck (or be sucked in cased) butt to your vassels just to get some crapy exp and in return you have to keep on giving them token crap and such. Don't get me wrong, AC is good but this king/peon thing is a neat idea with a little problem. But, why do I want to become a peon when I can become a king. Nice little pyramid thing AC has... but don't doesn't a king need a castle? If AC had buildable castles, then there would a good chance it would turn into a 3D UO clone with no free space. Maybe I'm just knocking this clan/pyramid/triple-A group thing, but with all the jerks, dumb mages who steal kills and then turn around and blast you calling you a looter, and poor AI monsters - you think the people in charge would get there act together. Worst thing about it is that they not the real problem - the players who don't have respect for other people are the real problem. And why should I babysit them for exp? I said my bit... I await the flamers (like any hick gives a fuck).
Rask Hick Young

Really I have no idea who posted the message. I barely moderate the board more than is necessary to keep those GotM idiots off it. The forum post lacks some of the elements I always see in Hick's writing, and more misspellings and grammatical errors than Hick usually makes (although the word "vassal" is misspelled the same way in the post and the email 8P). But people who post messages under other people's handles are shit, and should be exposed, and so I present all the evidence here, in case anyone gives a rat's ass.

This whole Silver King thing has got me thinking about the mentality of online gamers, especially those who take things way too seriously. I remember the first time I got PK'ed in Ultima Online, and man was I pissed. And the first time I fell for the trapped chest trick like a newbie. And the first time I got my house looted with a bug. I've always found the best ways to deal with these things are (1) in a way which is funny, or (2) shrug and get on with it, as there will always be losers in all arenas, and you can't change them. Granted, loserdom occurs far more often in an online setting, especially in a game with handles, since people somehow think that anonymity, like drunkenness, is a license to be an asshole. Whether that asinine behavior takes the form of randomly PKing everyone in sight, using bugs or exploits to destroy their game experience, scamming for goods or money, spreading lies and rumors, impersonating people, or just acting like a pompous dick doesn't matter. The assholes are missing the point of playing, and (hopefully) their prickishness will come back to bite them in the ass, as it so often does.

Enough about that dead horse... I recently was on as another character, and had a heartwarming conversation with someone who revealed that it was Kynn who inspired him to play AC. *kisses up to patron*

Executioner II tells you, "Hello"
You tell Executioner II, "hiya"
Executioner II tells you, "I notice you don't have a patron, any particular reason?"
You tell Executioner II, "yes I'm slated to serve an allegiance"
Executioner II tells you, "Which allegiance?"
You tell Executioner II, "kynn"
Executioner II tells you, "Kynn is one of the reasons I got started playing this game"
You tell Executioner II, "really? how so"
Executioner II tells you, "He killed one of my best friends"
Executioner II tells you, "He's pretty hard-core"
You tell Executioner II, "ah i see... yes he is very serious about pvp"
Executioner II tells you, "How do you know him?"
You tell Executioner II, "through another mutual acquaintance"
Executioner II tells you, "Well best of luck to you"
You tell Executioner II, "thank you, same to you"

What the hell is Kynn going to do when he comes back and everyone is non PK? Maybe get his page working again, finally.

Do you know who this is?

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