Two Tier Cabal System?

[Flying Hampster of Doom]

My first cabal'd character was an assassin at rank 35, Dav let me in because he said he wanted to see what an Illithid Psionicist could do. My app was horrible, he even had to ask me for more info because I didnt put enough in there. I got to rank 39 and stayed there for a long ass time cause no one wanted to group with me and I did pretty good, making enough to be put fifth at the time in cabal standings on the board. I did fairly well on him and I learned alot about pk and how to rp those pk's because I couldnt tell my friends why they had just fallen asleep and were now getting ***'s thrown down on them. Assassin's is a good way to go to learn pk, and a bit of the rp.

I also know as a consistent knight lightly ( I swear I will make something different next time) I always try to offer up help and keep an eye out for hopefuls who need it or whats more ask for it. If I cant figure out what you are doing wrong I find someone who can, I remember what it was to be a shitty ass pk'er and I know it is to make mistakes via pk and I always try to help others get over those problems. Most cabal leaders will do the same to those who are attempting to get in, just ask "If you arent too busy can you watch this fight?" Most of the time those of us in cabals are relaxed enough to help out when you need it.

[Adebaldi]

The reason why it is so hard for newbs to get into cabals is the new "only 35s can join cabals" rule. Before that it was just a matter of how much you wanted to get in. If you failed the cabal tests you could just hang around and learn more and maybe when a the cabal got a new leader you could try again and since you had been around more than anybody could remember you probably got in. Heck, even Adebaldi got into a cabal, though I had to wait for immortals to change so the new imm didn't know how bad I sucked, but still I got in and had a lot of fun (I was uninducted 1 and 1/2 days later for sucking bad). And does anybody remember Jijit? I remember when we both were squires. I considered myself decent already back then (I sucked), but Jijit didn't even know the way to Mahn-Tor. I failed the test and got bored and deleted. I am 99% sure that Jijit couldn't pass that test, but still Jijit became a cabal leader and also the best player I have ever seen. Mostly because of her rp, but in the end she pk'ed better than any other healer I have seen.

But my point is that the current rules discourage ranking to 50 cause people know that they will have no chances to get into cabals and they'll rather delete and create another char than wait another 200 hours at 35 to get another chance and they'll miss a lot of fun that they could be having. Yeah I got pk'ed a lot at 50 with Ade, but also the best times I have had in AR were when I was playing Ade.

[Louis]

i don't have the slightest inkling about what you meant with that "black guy stealing the white guy's TV" analogy.

Louis boggles at the concept.

newbies earn cabals. we have enough newbies in cabals at this point as it is. there's your example of how cabals help newer players. legion should be only for non-newbies because it is supposed to be AR's craziest cabal, and if you don't have some real skill there, how are you supposed to dominate? they are the only cabal with total domination in their job description.

this also means that Legions (along with Justices) should be the top Assassin contract money-makers.

[Phostan]

Wow. If that's how the imaginary AR is, then all those guys should be fired. Because I see very minimal total domination output from legion.

[Louis]

then maybe you should make a character and join legions and show everyone how its done. you'll notice that the veteran players on AR don't go around publically talking down to everyone and griping about the status of a cabal. they join the cabal and strengthen it, steering it towards their own vision of where it needs to go.

quoting davairus on legions in a thread about cabals elsewhere: Uh, no, don't go for Legions if you just learned to pk "real good".. and don't advise people to do that.. this cabal's for people who are head and shoulders above everyone else, otherwise its the mud's biggest joke. I'm in the process of eliminating the biggest nubs in it, last thing I intend to do is induct clowns.

i'm of the train of thought that there should be 0 newbies in cabals under the wishful thinking that they'll just get better. however, newbies should be given a chance if they show promise. that's a big difference and a few trashy newbies that don't know how the game works can ruin a cabal for the rest of its members.

[Phostan]

I find your lack of faith disturbing....unfortunately I'm not force attuned, so you're lucky this time. And if I'm going to show everyone how its done, I'll show it by using a non-caballed character to slaughter all the Legion as an example of how it's done. Not by joining Legion. And wishful thinking makes the world go 'round. Being a f'ing pessimist doesn't help anyone in the long run. And remember, if you have nothing nice to say about newbies...you're a shallow narrow-minded turd.

[Clifton]

I'm actually going to have to agree with Louis on a few points. Instead of critizing and being an armchair quarterback, why not show what Legion are meant to be. And if you aren't able to, why speak in the first place. Putting mouth before your ass usually results in a faceful of shit. Also, I believe its best for newbies to learn to fight/pk uncaballed. True, regaining the items is harder, but it saves people from straight up gunning for you. Besides Deiminos, its been rare to have anyone at all multikill, Legion included. So, it gives newbies a chance to re-equip half assed. But the problem I really see isn't the pk practice or the skill, it's the equipment. The mud's balance is so good right now that equipment can and will make or break a pk... if everyone were equipped equally at 50, that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but this makes some insanely hard to kill...

[Valerion]

If we are going to steer this discussion toward why AR isn't retaining players as much as some other MUDs (even though there is another thread just like this) then I'm going to go ahead and throw my two cents in.

Ok, here's the bad stuff. Given, I love this game and will continue to play it because I think it has unlimited potential, and believe it or not, the imps are great at keeping it balanced.

The RP is crap. Sure there are a few good roleplayers out there, but at least 75% of RP on AR is "aye" and "care to group?" Period. Now, I shouldn't do this, but I'm going to. (without names) So I'm playing the other day and this halfling thief decides to start trying to kill me. We go at it for a few rounds, he is able to pry a couple items, and what have you. (Then gets killed by the Justices for attacking in town) Then we're in town again and he still wants to get my last couple of rares. So he asks me to duel. I say to the submit, the two justices on hear it, then we fight, I submit, and then he proceeds to try to chase me down in town still and kill me. I was running around and finally just say f**k it and stand still long enough for him to land the final blow. They kill him and take all his shit.
A f****n HALFLING for god sakes. He was neutral of course, and so was I, but that doesn't make it any better.

I don't forsee the RP ever getting better with players like this that sit in the high 20's and mid 30's pk'ing the shit out of anyone else that comes into range and stealing the one or two rares that they might have, and I definitely thinks this discourages newbies and veterans alike. It definitely pisses me off, because the amount of that crap that I see far outways any amount of good RP that I DO see in the game.

[Flying Hampster of Doom]

Move Past 30 and into the realm of the big boys and girls. I am constantly on the lookout for youngsters (and even those of my own range) to rp with.