A peck, a crack, a hatch. The world became immediately bright for this
young chick. Within a whirlwind of chaos came down the might of nature
around her. She was nestled deep with the crevice of a roast, in a deeply
nested rock form with five other white capsules, just like her own. A new
sound came, one that alerted her to the presence of another. Another peck,
another crack, more hatchlings. She feasted in the fray.
As life progressed, She became known as Vydra. An entity who saw the world
around her in black and white, chaos and order. It was life and death with
her, always existing in a state of survival mode. She was born in a place
called the Maelstrom, a world that required her complete attention and focus
to live. However, below her was a place that she existed above, one that
overlooked a bustling city of fame and fortune, blood and death. As life
progressed for her, she saw how she was prisoner to a world that existed
above all others, isolated to a heaven that suppressed her. Her wings never
allowed her to go to a place where she felt comfortable and protected, down
below to reign. The world she observed from above was a distant dream of
possibilities and hope. She would watch and see how life offered more down
there, the world above in the clouds only chaos and disorder. Down below,
in this distant city, she could only see one thing: a great divide.
Her heart stirred, a life changed, it was time for her to be among the
disorder. It was time for her to spread her wings of death.
Vydra took flight and went to the Matron, a mother of all her kind - the
Dark One. She knew the ways of the Maelstrom, she knew the ways of Serin,
she knew what Vydra knelt before her for. She was all, she was one of the
Blood.
"I need you to say what you desire, Vydra." The Matron said. Vydra's wings
contracted and she knelt down before the Matron. Vydra said "I desire it
all, life or death." The Matron smiled and the world became black for
Vydra.
Vydra woke in a graveyard, a place known as The Mausoleum. A new world
around her surrounded with death but at the foothills of an idea she adored.
She felt strange though, deepened with pessimism and hate. Her body writhed
and agonized, the only relief coming from a body, a frame completely
consumed by pestilence and plague, almost unrecognizable. How deep her
hatred ran, how deep it pleased her, how deep she hated those who had ruined
her beloved city. There was one thing rang true, she would obliterate the
chaos that existed, she would rule with an Iron Fist.
Description (commended):
A shadowy wraith floats on an unknown source of air before you, its
height creating a shadowy apparition of death. Draping black shadows fall
about this being, cloaking the capability to see its truest characteristics.
An onyx black hood of unnatural magic cloaks the depth of its face, shadow
falling on a face that has seen disease and death. Swirling blue eyes come
to the surface of the hood to capture your attention, studying the depths of
your soul. The outline of this figure is one that seems natural to most
creatures who take air, however the wings of the shadow are mutilated and
disturbed, tainted by war and death. Plucked of their natural beauty, each
feather is basked in an unholy presence that resembles plague and
pestilence.
As the body transforms into your vision of sight, its characteristics become
similar to a female. She reveals herself in a way that exposes a thin body
full of strength and power. Beyond the cloak of shadow she allows that
presence of her physique to be seen, a display of living death, warfare and
dominance. Her movements are swift, keen and calculated. Every muscle is
her being anxious at the presence of another. The darkness swirls about her
with a sense of frustration and insecurity, restoring the impenetrable depth
that cloaks her unsettled presence.
This being is trapped between life and death. She simply exists.
Vydra yells 'NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....'
Vydra stumbles forward clumsily and falls to the ground.
Vydra's lifeless body drops to the ground.
Vydra has left permanently, never to return.
Vydra has lost her link.
The challenge has been forfeit.
something to do with being challenged? source: stream
Kalist19
0 , 0 , 0 .
My guess is that they had rare eq poof from not enough bloodshed. Prob not the first time that char/player has ever been deathmarked. Could def be wrong tho.
Just general frustration/annoyance really. Logging in to find my full suit of rares that I spent months getting/surviving to maintain was missing . I work over full time and have an otherwise busy life but thought I was playing enough to keep my eq but apparently not even though I still had a couple of uniques / rares which didn’t make any sense.
This was really the train of thought:
Log in, see a band of 50s on. Thought cool, some people to enforce the law on.
Shaghroth and Szveran are on and both have me deathmarked since the second I hit 50, all because I told Shaghroth no I didn’t want to duel (literally just that, no shit talk) b/c I had underwhelming eq and he was decked to the brim. He didn’t like that so he challenged me to death and invaded so I killed him. He deathmarked me which made him unghost a couple of mins after death so I killed him again the second he walked out of town. Szveran logs in immediately after and now from this point on I’m having to fight gangbanging warlords because “I dishonored them”. Was like meh, wtf ever, kept on going.
Looked at eq, everything was guild issue except for my dragonclaw ranseur, gold scarabs rings and Uhrig’s forge eq. Thought wtf, I played over 25ish hours last month and I don’t get how time vs rare purge works anymore and don’t have the time to invest anymore in getting my eq back just to lose it.
Szveran challenged me to death and him and shaghroth invade. Remembered reason why deathmarked and having to constantly fight Legions, I mean Warlords. Thought “this isn’t fun or worth it anymore, plus I’m tired of dealing with this new mentality of ‘fight me on my terms in my leet suit or get ganked ‘ warlords”
When you were level 25, you actively attacked Tearea who was a Warmistress and carrying Keeper relic to our cabal. This alone is grounds to Deathmark.
Secondarily, you spoke plenty of shit, actively trying to see if you can piss Warlords off so they would attack you in town.
Thirdly, when you killed Shaghroth and quit out, two hours later Shaghroth went to recover items from Vault and you magically appeared switching from another char seemingly because otherwise you were never seen unless it "fit" you.
And lastly, with full set of gear, you actively quit out 4 or even 5 times whenever I logged on and challenged you. You "fought" me once but every other time, it was blatant insta-quit or simply avoiding logging on.
You tried to play an extremely conservative (wimpy) character and I get that and that's fine, just don't play a poor victim when you are also an asshole evil Justice.
Ok I’ll bite. I don’t have an angle and this obviously comes down to perspective. From my seat this is just how I experienced the game after not playing for many months and questioning whether I even wanted to roll a character. Then having to deal with this new band of Warlords who literally do whatever they want as long as it pads their record and keeps them in their leet suits. You guys want to bitch about your honor being offended but then you turn around and cowar in Seringale under justices when they nuke your ass. Hypocrite much?
Shaghroth did this a couple of times, even you came in with your chest puffed up and I destroyed. You disappeared for a bit, DKN’s shield got silently tweaked and you two were back in cahoots again.
Yes I attacked Tearea and we also roleplayed it out. We came to a mutual agreement on it and would have had our duel at 50 but she unfortunately ended up deleting. You made an assumption here but again, you can do and say whatever you want as long as you pair it with some vague statement about honor being disrespected.
Yes I talked shit, but ONLY after you guys had invaded/attacked me multiple times. Again, you started your same ol same ol sense of entitlement thinking people owe you a fight and then beyond all reasonable explanation “your honor being offended”. I mean how do you even defend against that statement, it’s so vague and open ended that you can then do whatever you want, which let’s be honest, is to be able to have free range to use all of your OP Cabal skills without limitation (looking at you forms, part wave + wild attack is 100% damage bump, then you dual wield a flail/whip for free lash lags, so dumb). Anywho, I digress. Plain and simple - my response was simply no because I don’t have an obligation to you fight you, appease you or make the game more fun for you. Even worse only one of you guys have to be pissy before you drop a deathmark and the rest of you can join in. I don’t get this change and it goes against everything a warlord has been over the past 25 years.
I’m not sure what you’re referencing here. Shaghroth went OOC and said something in game about this too. It was a coincidence, plain and simple. Also - before you go accusing people of OOC you should take a look in the mirror. You and Shaghroth obviously know each other outside the game because you both would log in within minutes of each other, be synced up immediately and gangbanging again. Or one of you would invade to spike adrenaline and the other one of you would log in. This happened too many times for it to not be coordinated.
Your attitude and perspective here is that “I’m wimpy or avoidant”. No I didn’t want to have to fight you over and over, yes I had a terrible taste in my mouth about DKN’s getting tweaked after what felt like every time I fought you. Again - why am I obligated to fight you? Justice has no obligation to war with any other cabal and as I said before, you guys are choosing to “be offended” so no one asks questions, not even you guys. I did try to roleplay with Shaghroth and you but might as well been talking to a rock. That’s no fun for me and I don’t want to spend what little time I have to play frustrated with logging in and dealing with that bullshit.
I’ve been around and playing for almost the entire life span of the game and my experience with Vydra was underwhelming and just left me like “WTF” after every time I’d have to log in.
You accuse me of assumptions and yet dish out even more far fetched ones? I could not give a flying fuck about DK tweaks even if I was aware of them. Coordinated OOC logins? Sure, is that why I am always a hour late and dollar short? Padding record? Is that why I am always lenient on people who feel unprepared to PK?
You don't seem to know much about Warlords if you think any of the Deathmarks have ever been unwarranted. You succumb to dishonorable actions such as bottomfeeding on naked Warlords and act surprised when you get Deathmarked?
This is a bunch of whiny shit, so far gone from reality I can't even comprehend your perspective.
Davairus
0 , 0 , 0 .
So, disrespect is really easy to understand. If the Warlord feels angry, it means he just got disrespected.
Lets do an example from the forum post:
"might as well been talking to a rock" = insult
insult = feeling of anger, thereby identifying a valid reason exist to look for. we may not know right away why
After brief consideration, conclusion = disrespect i.e. dishonor
The Warlords are free to deathmark whomever they please after being goaded. I do ask them to just shut up on the forum and deal with things in-game (we ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want the hate to leak OOC) but evidently this is really hard to hold back. The feelings run high in this game. It is still wrong and hopefully leading to sufficient embarrassment to discourage keep doing this.
If you look at a Justice dark-knight, here you have a character (DK) which is supposed to be this glowering ball of anger, hatred and frustration and at the same time constrained by the rules of the Justice cabal to do absolutely nothing about that. (i.e. not allowed to attack in town) So there is nowhere for any of that energy to go. They can do nothing about these frustrations, they will be seething with them. Maybe once in a while they delete, citing these frustrations, blaming it on the player who town-sat even, but it was always the Justice's own cabal rules to blame for that. Only other people who have played a Justice DK can really understand. My first Justice DK was quickly rage-deleted after getting repeated ganked by some random dumbass storm giant warrior, but on reflection, it was loads of fun so I rolled another.
As far as getting "ganked" by Warlords, we can discuss that at greater length, but any nerf to equipments is going to impact just about everybody at this point. A dark-knight would stand do benefit more from an overall hitroll nerf since the spell damage (fireballs) would become a more significant factor. I do not believe the Warlords are intentionally "ganking" but there is a wide gulf between uber-rares and gambled stuff which I think is worth more time spent working on. But you want rares to matter enough that there is still something to fight over. If someone is coming after you with actual RP reasons that you caused, thats something we want to encourage, not flame as ganking. In the Justice cabal case, they have been spamming evil Justice inducts all trying to goad Warlords into getting wanted. That has been going on a very long time now.
Davairus
0 , 0 , 0 .
Actually going one further than that, the idea behind the Justice cabal is to literally store a record of your misdeeds (which they conveniently also define) and its so they can judge you for them. Add fines for wearing wild weapons and other things that cause aggravation. A lot of people won't like a dark-knight Justice if it is being played like a typical scummy DK.
Vydra seems to think that Warlords only exist to be duel bots for entertainment. Let me clarify to you what is the purpose of a Warlord.
The goal for a Warlord is to find and fight the most fearsome monsters, toughest fighters and the most powerful magi of Serin, beat them and claim glory in being victorious.
What would a Warlord hate then? He would hate those who would try and oppress his progression toward those achievements, whether it is by subjugation of Laws or being hindered by Keeper's forceful suppression toward the above-mentioned goals. Or perhaps Legions tyranny or Knights crusade may stand on a Warlords way. E.g. if anyone thinks they are powerful enough to attempt to force their views on a Warlord, a Warlord who solely answers to their God and Warmaster/Warmistress.
If you talk tough, strut and puff about then a Warlord is inclined to battle you, because you seem yet another challenge to conquer. Therefore to avoid such butthurt whines, it is always a good idea to remember not to write checks your ass can't cash.
We are not pushovers for you to toy with. We are here to conquer challenges and start wars with the oppresive regimes.
What you may have known from Warlords 25 years ago may not apply 1:1 to the modern Warlords under my command.
What I am trying to do here is to promote PK to ensure there's plenty of action in Serin for those who enjoy PK. Whether it is by teaching a newbie or a returning player how to fight or smacking up some bottomfeeders, PK is PK. Warlords make war. Deal with it.
Mogu
6 , 0 , 0 .
"The goal for a Warlord is to find and fight the most fearsome monsters, toughest fighters and the most powerful magi of Serin, beat them and claim glory in being victorious."
Didn't you just kill a drunk monk playing poker and a pacifist Herald healer?
Davairus
0 , 0 , 0 .
There was disrespect in the healer's case. I didn't investigate the monk. But anyway, here's how that goes down. The concept to be aware of is "fighting words". If you've said something to a Warlord to sufficiently offend them, it means he is going to settle the score by getting into a fight with you. While that may sound ridiculous at first, think about boxing or the UFC.. there is often trash talk before the fights. While a lot of it probably for show and to generate engagement (i.e. fighter paycheck), there is a psychological element of fighting words where you choose them to get under the opponent's skin and throw them off-balance a little. Words are part of combat. So Warlords dont take words lightly. Its probably total BS tht Warlords are out looking for a reason to take offense and deliver a fatality, with a trigger finger. What more probably is the case is that people nowadays have forgotten what is even rude anymore. if you tell a warlord that fighting (which he dedicates his life to) is boring or stupid or a waste of time, those are actually all great examples of fighting words. It is the person who said those words that started the fight
Mogu
2 , 0 , 0 .
To Vydra's point a Warlord will justify any sort of refusal as dishonor. Refusal = deathmark. 1-0 added to record. Next.
Mogu
2 , 0 , 0 .
Pacifist Herald started the fight with Szrevan. Got it.
Imagine speaking so much shit out of ignorance that it makes the whole in-game RP worthless to pursue thanks to people like Mogu.
Majority of people have refused duels due to various factors. Some are undergeared, some don't have time, sometimes a necromancer needs a zombie. I either help them or leave them be for when they are prepared. IF I wanted to get my +1 to record, I would not be doing that, would I?
The shit you talk is making me disgusted with the game and the idea of playing it. I hate when people make assumptions based on ignorance and then try to smear it all over the place simply because they feel like they have the high ground to talk down to everyone.
You are wrong and it's revolting to read and deal with this bullshit. Honestly, fuck off and keep your petty 2 cents to yourself next time if you got absolutely fuck all useful to say.
Mogu
2 , 0 , 0 .
Your actions are never consistent with your words. And you can do no wrong in Dav's eyes. Ever. That's pretty convenient. And it's always the player base is wrong in every instance and your decisions to kill someone are infallible. It's a lot for anyone to swallow, not just me.
Davairus
0 , 0 , 0 .
There was a player by the name of "Bladefurry" who was constantly accused of cheating or wrongdoing to try to get him in trouble. However never much *evidence* provided. It got to the point I would just set his character to log to file as soon as he rolled a new one (which he often did, after deleting over usual horseshit). He played most of his AR time fully logged by me, knowing he was under total FBI like surveillance, while being innocent of all charges. Imagine that? Then, when the next round of accusations came out, I would simply read the entire log and see that people really were crying wolf. It was a lot worse than anyone would believe unless they saw for themselves just how bad it was.
A complete investigation was done of the healer, privately. The issue was dealt with when it came up, and then we move on. There is no value in that as an example of the warlord cabal being overly aggressive. Its literally an example of "crying wolf". Its a story I have seen before.
You get to decide for yourself whether they are telling the truth or lying, based on what you are allowed to see. And I get to decide based on what I am allowed to see. Neither of us are omniscient. And actually yes, the playerbase can get things completely wrong. Just as the story of "the boy who cried wolf" goes, the people start by just gullibly believing everything they are told. However, there can only be so many times before those same people begin to realize they have been lied to. You hope the truth eventually always come out. Unfortunately there is a propensity for people to just keep believing bullshit without that truth right under their noses, and brigade against a common enemy. That can lead to the desired outcome of the players reputation being ruined and ultimately them leaving with no intention to ever return.
prodmage
2 , 0 , 0 .
I won't accuse someone of cheating and it doesn't sound like Mogu is either. Vydra has questions regarding OOC but I don't feel qualified to weigh in on that. Szrevan is without a doubt an excellent player and a champion of the realms. Is he beatable? Not sure, and I honestly don't have much interest in trying to be the one to take him down. Certainly not in the arena. You also cannot expect the playerbase to not respond to dynamics which exist within the game world including living under a warlord cabal which dictates your participation in playerkilling.
There is an imbalance in Serin at the moment and I imagine the pushback will continue until that dynamic changes. That isn't to say it's bad necessarily but people fighting back in the arena, through words as Serra did, through harassment like thieves do, through cabal conflict (RIP keepers), and also here when actions do not appear to be in line with our understanding of warlord values is gonna happen.
Currently, it feels like the bully in the playground. Friendly if you play along and otherwise pushing your head in the mud till you know your place. I get that isn't the intention but that certainly is the experience. Promoting pk and teaching people is valuable and I don't necessarily know a better answer. The current one just feels like I might as well say yes and stand still to take my whooping until I can return to other activities.
I empathize with Szrevan and hope he keeps playing. I also hope someone takes him down either through direct combat or other means. It's hard to be the apex and I imagine it is tiring but it also comes with the territory. The realms are meant to evolve and currently they feel pretty stuck.
I want to mention that Szrevan (and all of the other Warlords) have generally been very patient with me when I just ask if it would be okay to try to raise a strong army first? They seem to not mind, perhaps because of the additional challenge, or possibly because it's not refusing outright. There were two or three monks, including the previous Warmaster Tearea, whose patience was very commendable (and I'm not sure I ever fought Tearea). Don't get me wrong, I can understand being frustrated about the situation of being asked to duel immediately at 50, but there's plenty of ways to deal with it. I suppose initially I was doing things like Penelope in the second of Homer's works (the Iliad and the Odyssey; I forget which was second but I think it was the Odyssey?), and essentially dodging a situation through excuses which I could redo over and over like she redid her weaving or whatever it was to avoid the suitors' demands. Quite often my would-be challengers would leave before I was finished raising my army!
And as prodmage says, there's many ways of handling the "issue", if being asked to duel at 50 is something you see as an issue.
Davairus
0 , 0 , 0 .
Its possible for anybody to have a "fair" duel with any Warlord. That is because they can both spar you first (which doesnt go on the record) and handicap themselves. They may do so all the way to 1 hp, which means you would win with 1 dirt kick of damage. We dont know what the fair number is, but there is clearly a number between 1 and 100 where the fight is even, and you should be able to get on top of it with 5-6 tries tops, if not faster
e.g. a series of sparring duels could go like this
first duel = no handicap (loss)
scond duel = 50 (win) ..ok the ideal number is between 50 and 100
third duel = 75 (loss) ..the number is between 50 and 75
fourth duel = 62 (win) .. the number is between 62 and 75
fifth duel = 68 (loss) ..the number is between 62 and 68
sixth duel = 66 (win).. and now you have an even chance to win and you can
at any point in there you can stop sparring and do a real duel with the right handicap. claims of warlords padding records is false accusation, because thats 100% in your control
Ozaru
0 , 0 , 2 .
What was the difference between thoom and Szrevan? He's dueling you to the death instead of the stun. Thooms record was 104 and 22, szrevan is 227 and 28. I killed Thooms warlords in the arena with my justice, no invasion and they refused to fight me because I did not have honor. Szrevans version you kill my warlords I wage ehhhh wait for it WAR. You guys were all crying about how boring warlords were with just mindless fake fights with thooms group now u get pks and ur crying lol. And the same babies that are crying here are the same jerk offs who run constantly in pk and then quit out. WHy do you even bother logging in
Mogu
0 , 0 , 0 .
For someone with 20+ rage deletes I wonder why you bother logging in either.
twerpalina BANNED
0 , 0 , 0 .
For someone with only whine posts I wonder why you bother logging in either.
Mogu
4 , 0 , 0 .
In no particular order:
- The amazing depth of AR, carefully cultivated over 20+ years by an impassioned staff of Imms.
- The impassioned community (to a fault, at times).
- Nostalgia.
- To try to make the game better by contributing feedback where I feel it's warranted.
- I learn something new nearly every login.
- The lore. Wtf is up with this demon invasion. Gotta know.
- The continual balance changes.
- Different RP angles. I've seen some brilliant shit and I want to see more.
- The rush of the PK. Unlike any other game I've played to this day.
- To bring new people to AR and help them learn the ropes so they stay.
- To escape and lose myself. It's like a drug. Yum.
Plenty more but that's what I've got off the top of my head.
I agree with Mogu in general. To put it as one of my friends does (he doesn't play AR, but used to play MUDs), MUDs are like an escape from the modern-day troubles. Some previous generations had Lord of the Rings for this before the movies came out... One of my other friends said that the movies didn't seem anything like she had seen them in her imagination for years, but she really liked the balrog (and if given a choice of reincarnation, the balrog would be one choice).
PKing can definitely be a draw for some people. Balancing it with RP helps a lot. I like to have some RP with all characters (this one is a former grain farmer... General lore inspired somewhat in part by a section of the Christie Golden book "Arthas" ).
The balance changes can be good and bad, but the changes in general are nice since they make things interesting. I could go on with agreeing with Mogu but you get the point.
One other thing I want to say, and this is to Szrevan... I know you were most likely after the trophy during our duel in Emerald. I have some regret that the duel ended the way it did because it denied you the proper glory and victory you sought. It was unfortunate that I had chosen to use vampiric touch on a sprite when several others were nearby and you managed to nearly finish me off.
just to make sure this doesnt get lost in the noise- Vydra, the bulwark (i.e. the shield) change to do 25% damage reduction is because it has really bad feel to be plugging away at a guy for mangles damage and doing absolutely nothing with no idea when it will run off. It was balanced for invokers specifically and we are leveraging that DK already have a big AC from unholy armor as well. What you probably overlooked is that the shield itself is only depleted by 25% of the damage taken now, instead of taking all of it. that means bulwark can be maintained easily and doesnt need heavy fell sparks. if it does not feel very impressive we could consider putting some afflictive saves on it. ATM i believe we actually have a very strong DK class. its possibly overpowered to be able stack both bulwark AND protection. your beef seems with a fight where protection was unavailable though
I was hoping Vydra would have stuck around for a long time. I felt that you had a lot of promise and skill to excel. Even though I wanted to take you down at least once, I was rooting for you against the Warlord Szrevan. You took the Avian DK in an interesting direction, much farther than the lack of investment I had with Tepyr. You would hide in town a lot, but you're an evil Justice. Good character overall.
Szrevan is getting a lot of unnecessary heat. This is a great presence from a great character, so when I sought out to hit the gauntlet and eventually fight him, he was the only person who offered to help me hit those last few ranks. So I thought, "Wow, thats nice of him. He has to know I'm going after him at some point, and I will honor his duels, even though I am way under-geared compared to his."
I did better fighting Szrevan with red dragon and a handful of decent rares than I did with Shaghroth's suit of gear. I believe it was 6% at the end, Szrevan? And I even messed up a few things, He's not unkillable. Difficult fight, for certain.
Life has been brought back into the Warlords that I wish consistently breathed into all the Cabals at once, let's not push this guy away with sour grapes. This is what Warlords SHOULD be.
With this being said, change is inevitable, and it doesn't have to necessarily be a bad thing.
Running around being a badass is one thing. Taking advantage of levels to stomp someone.... meh ok. Plaguing someone, chasing them to town then threatening to fine them for your plague is being a dick.
Rothak
4 , 0 , 0 .
Unfortunately I didn't have any 50s when Vydra was around, but plaguing them and then threatening to fine them for being plagued in town IMO is badass. That IS an evil justice. Good job from what I've heard Vydra, keep it up!
Xenyar
1 , 0 , 0 .
You are 100% correct, Rothak. Glad to see you back btw.
It's called being played like a typical scummy DK.
If you want to be a scummy evil Justice, then don't be a whiny bitch when someone wants to PK you for it? I woulda loved Vydra to actually fight me instead of picking on newbies/lower ranked people and instantly quitting out when I log on. The char was great the playstyle and the whine afterwards was hypocritic.
Davairus
0 , 0 , 1 .
its called method acting
Phostan
0 , 0 , 1 .
Ah yes, I attended the Garden Grove Methadone Acting Clinic myself as well.
Ashlyn
0 , 1 , 1 .
Theres a difference between doing evil shit and being a jackass. People get this confused all the time.
Xenyar
3 , 0 , 0 .
Being a sinister evil bastard isn't for everybody. It was a beautifully evil tactic, in my book....any many others. Meh, to each their own...
Rothak
1 , 0 , 0 .
Yup, I'm with Xenyar on this one.
BlackWidow
0 , 0 , 0 .
I thought that being caught with the plague in town was a full out WANTED flag because it would count under the third law (it endangers others around you)? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it can and even has been interpreted that way before...
[reply to Ozaru]
Vydra says 'Lovely.'
Vydra yells 'NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....'
Vydra stumbles forward clumsily and falls to the ground.
Vydra's lifeless body drops to the ground.
Vydra has left permanently, never to return.
Vydra has lost her link.
The challenge has been forfeit.
something to do with being challenged? source: stream
Kalist19 
0 , 0 , 0 . My guess is that they had rare eq poof from not enough bloodshed. Prob not the first time that char/player has ever been deathmarked. Could def be wrong tho.
[reply to twerpalina][reply to Davairus]
This was really the train of thought:
Log in, see a band of 50s on. Thought cool, some people to enforce the law on.
Shaghroth and Szveran are on and both have me deathmarked since the second I hit 50, all because I told Shaghroth no I didn’t want to duel (literally just that, no shit talk) b/c I had underwhelming eq and he was decked to the brim. He didn’t like that so he challenged me to death and invaded so I killed him. He deathmarked me which made him unghost a couple of mins after death so I killed him again the second he walked out of town. Szveran logs in immediately after and now from this point on I’m having to fight gangbanging warlords because “I dishonored them”. Was like meh, wtf ever, kept on going.
Looked at eq, everything was guild issue except for my dragonclaw ranseur, gold scarabs rings and Uhrig’s forge eq. Thought wtf, I played over 25ish hours last month and I don’t get how time vs rare purge works anymore and don’t have the time to invest anymore in getting my eq back just to lose it.
Szveran challenged me to death and him and shaghroth invade. Remembered reason why deathmarked and having to constantly fight Legions, I mean Warlords. Thought “this isn’t fun or worth it anymore, plus I’m tired of dealing with this new mentality of ‘fight me on my terms in my leet suit or get ganked ‘ warlords”
Delete delete.
Szrevanooc 0 , 0 , 6 . What a poor victim! How about the truth?
[reply to Vydra]When you were level 25, you actively attacked Tearea who was a Warmistress and carrying Keeper relic to our cabal. This alone is grounds to Deathmark.
Secondarily, you spoke plenty of shit, actively trying to see if you can piss Warlords off so they would attack you in town.
Thirdly, when you killed Shaghroth and quit out, two hours later Shaghroth went to recover items from Vault and you magically appeared switching from another char seemingly because otherwise you were never seen unless it "fit" you.
And lastly, with full set of gear, you actively quit out 4 or even 5 times whenever I logged on and challenged you. You "fought" me once but every other time, it was blatant insta-quit or simply avoiding logging on.
You tried to play an extremely conservative (wimpy) character and I get that and that's fine, just don't play a poor victim when you are also an asshole evil Justice.
Cheers.
Shaghroth did this a couple of times, even you came in with your chest puffed up and I destroyed. You disappeared for a bit, DKN’s shield got silently tweaked and you two were back in cahoots again.
Yes I attacked Tearea and we also roleplayed it out. We came to a mutual agreement on it and would have had our duel at 50 but she unfortunately ended up deleting. You made an assumption here but again, you can do and say whatever you want as long as you pair it with some vague statement about honor being disrespected.
Yes I talked shit, but ONLY after you guys had invaded/attacked me multiple times. Again, you started your same ol same ol sense of entitlement thinking people owe you a fight and then beyond all reasonable explanation “your honor being offended”. I mean how do you even defend against that statement, it’s so vague and open ended that you can then do whatever you want, which let’s be honest, is to be able to have free range to use all of your OP Cabal skills without limitation (looking at you forms, part wave + wild attack is 100% damage bump, then you dual wield a flail/whip for free lash lags, so dumb). Anywho, I digress. Plain and simple - my response was simply no because I don’t have an obligation to you fight you, appease you or make the game more fun for you. Even worse only one of you guys have to be pissy before you drop a deathmark and the rest of you can join in. I don’t get this change and it goes against everything a warlord has been over the past 25 years.
I’m not sure what you’re referencing here. Shaghroth went OOC and said something in game about this too. It was a coincidence, plain and simple. Also - before you go accusing people of OOC you should take a look in the mirror. You and Shaghroth obviously know each other outside the game because you both would log in within minutes of each other, be synced up immediately and gangbanging again. Or one of you would invade to spike adrenaline and the other one of you would log in. This happened too many times for it to not be coordinated.
Your attitude and perspective here is that “I’m wimpy or avoidant”. No I didn’t want to have to fight you over and over, yes I had a terrible taste in my mouth about DKN’s getting tweaked after what felt like every time I fought you. Again - why am I obligated to fight you? Justice has no obligation to war with any other cabal and as I said before, you guys are choosing to “be offended” so no one asks questions, not even you guys. I did try to roleplay with Shaghroth and you but might as well been talking to a rock. That’s no fun for me and I don’t want to spend what little time I have to play frustrated with logging in and dealing with that bullshit.
I’ve been around and playing for almost the entire life span of the game and my experience with Vydra was underwhelming and just left me like “WTF” after every time I’d have to log in.
Szrevanooc 0 , 0 , 4 . You accuse me of assumptions and yet dish out even more far fetched ones? I could not give a flying fuck about DK tweaks even if I was aware of them. Coordinated OOC logins? Sure, is that why I am always a hour late and dollar short? Padding record? Is that why I am always lenient on people who feel unprepared to PK?
Davairus 0 , 0 , 0 . So, disrespect is really easy to understand. If the Warlord feels angry, it means he just got disrespected.
Davairus 0 , 0 , 0 . Actually going one further than that, the idea behind the Justice cabal is to literally store a record of your misdeeds (which they conveniently also define) and its so they can judge you for them. Add fines for wearing wild weapons and other things that cause aggravation. A lot of people won't like a dark-knight Justice if it is being played like a typical scummy DK.
[reply to Vydra]You don't seem to know much about Warlords if you think any of the Deathmarks have ever been unwarranted. You succumb to dishonorable actions such as bottomfeeding on naked Warlords and act surprised when you get Deathmarked?
This is a bunch of whiny shit, so far gone from reality I can't even comprehend your perspective.
Lets do an example from the forum post:
"might as well been talking to a rock" = insult
insult = feeling of anger, thereby identifying a valid reason exist to look for. we may not know right away why
After brief consideration, conclusion = disrespect i.e. dishonor
The Warlords are free to deathmark whomever they please after being goaded. I do ask them to just shut up on the forum and deal with things in-game (we ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want the hate to leak OOC) but evidently this is really hard to hold back. The feelings run high in this game. It is still wrong and hopefully leading to sufficient embarrassment to discourage keep doing this.
If you look at a Justice dark-knight, here you have a character (DK) which is supposed to be this glowering ball of anger, hatred and frustration and at the same time constrained by the rules of the Justice cabal to do absolutely nothing about that. (i.e. not allowed to attack in town) So there is nowhere for any of that energy to go. They can do nothing about these frustrations, they will be seething with them. Maybe once in a while they delete, citing these frustrations, blaming it on the player who town-sat even, but it was always the Justice's own cabal rules to blame for that. Only other people who have played a Justice DK can really understand. My first Justice DK was quickly rage-deleted after getting repeated ganked by some random dumbass storm giant warrior, but on reflection, it was loads of fun so I rolled another.
As far as getting "ganked" by Warlords, we can discuss that at greater length, but any nerf to equipments is going to impact just about everybody at this point. A dark-knight would stand do benefit more from an overall hitroll nerf since the spell damage (fireballs) would become a more significant factor. I do not believe the Warlords are intentionally "ganking" but there is a wide gulf between uber-rares and gambled stuff which I think is worth more time spent working on. But you want rares to matter enough that there is still something to fight over. If someone is coming after you with actual RP reasons that you caused, thats something we want to encourage, not flame as ganking. In the Justice cabal case, they have been spamming evil Justice inducts all trying to goad Warlords into getting wanted. That has been going on a very long time now.
The goal for a Warlord is to find and fight the most fearsome monsters, toughest fighters and the most powerful magi of Serin, beat them and claim glory in being victorious.
What would a Warlord hate then? He would hate those who would try and oppress his progression toward those achievements, whether it is by subjugation of Laws or being hindered by Keeper's forceful suppression toward the above-mentioned goals. Or perhaps Legions tyranny or Knights crusade may stand on a Warlords way. E.g. if anyone thinks they are powerful enough to attempt to force their views on a Warlord, a Warlord who solely answers to their God and Warmaster/Warmistress.
If you talk tough, strut and puff about then a Warlord is inclined to battle you, because you seem yet another challenge to conquer. Therefore to avoid such butthurt whines, it is always a good idea to remember not to write checks your ass can't cash.
We are not pushovers for you to toy with. We are here to conquer challenges and start wars with the oppresive regimes.
What you may have known from Warlords 25 years ago may not apply 1:1 to the modern Warlords under my command.
What I am trying to do here is to promote PK to ensure there's plenty of action in Serin for those who enjoy PK. Whether it is by teaching a newbie or a returning player how to fight or smacking up some bottomfeeders, PK is PK. Warlords make war. Deal with it.
Mogu 
6 , 0 , 0 . "The goal for a Warlord is to find and fight the most fearsome monsters, toughest fighters and the most powerful magi of Serin, beat them and claim glory in being victorious."
Davairus 0 , 0 , 0 . There was disrespect in the healer's case. I didn't investigate the monk. But anyway, here's how that goes down. The concept to be aware of is "fighting words". If you've said something to a Warlord to sufficiently offend them, it means he is going to settle the score by getting into a fight with you. While that may sound ridiculous at first, think about boxing or the UFC.. there is often trash talk before the fights. While a lot of it probably for show and to generate engagement (i.e. fighter paycheck), there is a psychological element of fighting words where you choose them to get under the opponent's skin and throw them off-balance a little. Words are part of combat. So Warlords dont take words lightly. Its probably total BS tht Warlords are out looking for a reason to take offense and deliver a fatality, with a trigger finger. What more probably is the case is that people nowadays have forgotten what is even rude anymore. if you tell a warlord that fighting (which he dedicates his life to) is boring or stupid or a waste of time, those are actually all great examples of fighting words. It is the person who said those words that started the fight Mogu 
2 , 0 , 0 . To Vydra's point a Warlord will justify any sort of refusal as dishonor. Refusal = deathmark. 1-0 added to record. Next. Mogu 
2 , 0 , 0 . Pacifist Herald started the fight with Szrevan. Got it. Szrevanooc 0 , 1 , 0 . Imagine speaking so much shit out of ignorance that it makes the whole in-game RP worthless to pursue thanks to people like Mogu.
Mogu 
2 , 0 , 0 . Your actions are never consistent with your words. And you can do no wrong in Dav's eyes. Ever. That's pretty convenient. And it's always the player base is wrong in every instance and your decisions to kill someone are infallible. It's a lot for anyone to swallow, not just me. Davairus 0 , 0 , 0 . There was a player by the name of "Bladefurry" who was constantly accused of cheating or wrongdoing to try to get him in trouble. However never much *evidence* provided. It got to the point I would just set his character to log to file as soon as he rolled a new one (which he often did, after deleting over usual horseshit). He played most of his AR time fully logged by me, knowing he was under total FBI like surveillance, while being innocent of all charges. Imagine that? Then, when the next round of accusations came out, I would simply read the entire log and see that people really were crying wolf. It was a lot worse than anyone would believe unless they saw for themselves just how bad it was.
prodmage 2 , 0 , 0 . I won't accuse someone of cheating and it doesn't sound like Mogu is either. Vydra has questions regarding OOC but I don't feel qualified to weigh in on that. Szrevan is without a doubt an excellent player and a champion of the realms. Is he beatable? Not sure, and I honestly don't have much interest in trying to be the one to take him down. Certainly not in the arena. You also cannot expect the playerbase to not respond to dynamics which exist within the game world including living under a warlord cabal which dictates your participation in playerkilling.
Mirtolda 2 , 0 , 0 . I want to mention that Szrevan (and all of the other Warlords) have generally been very patient with me when I just ask if it would be okay to try to raise a strong army first? They seem to not mind, perhaps because of the additional challenge, or possibly because it's not refusing outright. There were two or three monks, including the previous Warmaster Tearea, whose patience was very commendable (and I'm not sure I ever fought Tearea). Don't get me wrong, I can understand being frustrated about the situation of being asked to duel immediately at 50, but there's plenty of ways to deal with it. I suppose initially I was doing things like Penelope in the second of Homer's works (the Iliad and the Odyssey; I forget which was second but I think it was the Odyssey?), and essentially dodging a situation through excuses which I could redo over and over like she redid her weaving or whatever it was to avoid the suitors' demands. Quite often my would-be challengers would leave before I was finished raising my army!
Davairus 0 , 0 , 0 . Its possible for anybody to have a "fair" duel with any Warlord. That is because they can both spar you first (which doesnt go on the record) and handicap themselves. They may do so all the way to 1 hp, which means you would win with 1 dirt kick of damage. We dont know what the fair number is, but there is clearly a number between 1 and 100 where the fight is even, and you should be able to get on top of it with 5-6 tries tops, if not faster
Ozaru 
0 , 0 , 2 . What was the difference between thoom and Szrevan? He's dueling you to the death instead of the stun. Thooms record was 104 and 22, szrevan is 227 and 28. I killed Thooms warlords in the arena with my justice, no invasion and they refused to fight me because I did not have honor. Szrevans version you kill my warlords I wage ehhhh wait for it WAR. You guys were all crying about how boring warlords were with just mindless fake fights with thooms group now u get pks and ur crying lol. And the same babies that are crying here are the same jerk offs who run constantly in pk and then quit out. WHy do you even bother logging in Mogu 
0 , 0 , 0 . For someone with 20+ rage deletes I wonder why you bother logging in either. twerpalina BANNED 0 , 0 , 0 . For someone with only whine posts I wonder why you bother logging in either. Mogu 
4 , 0 , 0 . In no particular order:
Mirtolda 0 , 0 , 0 . I agree with Mogu in general. To put it as one of my friends does (he doesn't play AR, but used to play MUDs), MUDs are like an escape from the modern-day troubles. Some previous generations had Lord of the Rings for this before the movies came out... One of my other friends said that the movies didn't seem anything like she had seen them in her imagination for years, but she really liked the balrog (and if given a choice of reincarnation, the balrog would be one choice).
[reply to Szrevanooc]Didn't you just kill a drunk monk playing poker and a pacifist Herald healer?
Majority of people have refused duels due to various factors. Some are undergeared, some don't have time, sometimes a necromancer needs a zombie. I either help them or leave them be for when they are prepared. IF I wanted to get my +1 to record, I would not be doing that, would I?
The shit you talk is making me disgusted with the game and the idea of playing it. I hate when people make assumptions based on ignorance and then try to smear it all over the place simply because they feel like they have the high ground to talk down to everyone.
You are wrong and it's revolting to read and deal with this bullshit. Honestly, fuck off and keep your petty 2 cents to yourself next time if you got absolutely fuck all useful to say.
A complete investigation was done of the healer, privately. The issue was dealt with when it came up, and then we move on. There is no value in that as an example of the warlord cabal being overly aggressive. Its literally an example of "crying wolf". Its a story I have seen before.
You get to decide for yourself whether they are telling the truth or lying, based on what you are allowed to see. And I get to decide based on what I am allowed to see. Neither of us are omniscient. And actually yes, the playerbase can get things completely wrong. Just as the story of "the boy who cried wolf" goes, the people start by just gullibly believing everything they are told. However, there can only be so many times before those same people begin to realize they have been lied to. You hope the truth eventually always come out. Unfortunately there is a propensity for people to just keep believing bullshit without that truth right under their noses, and brigade against a common enemy. That can lead to the desired outcome of the players reputation being ruined and ultimately them leaving with no intention to ever return.
There is an imbalance in Serin at the moment and I imagine the pushback will continue until that dynamic changes. That isn't to say it's bad necessarily but people fighting back in the arena, through words as Serra did, through harassment like thieves do, through cabal conflict (RIP keepers), and also here when actions do not appear to be in line with our understanding of warlord values is gonna happen.
Currently, it feels like the bully in the playground. Friendly if you play along and otherwise pushing your head in the mud till you know your place. I get that isn't the intention but that certainly is the experience. Promoting pk and teaching people is valuable and I don't necessarily know a better answer. The current one just feels like I might as well say yes and stand still to take my whooping until I can return to other activities.
I empathize with Szrevan and hope he keeps playing. I also hope someone takes him down either through direct combat or other means. It's hard to be the apex and I imagine it is tiring but it also comes with the territory. The realms are meant to evolve and currently they feel pretty stuck.
And as prodmage says, there's many ways of handling the "issue", if being asked to duel at 50 is something you see as an issue.
e.g. a series of sparring duels could go like this
first duel = no handicap (loss)
scond duel = 50 (win) ..ok the ideal number is between 50 and 100
third duel = 75 (loss) ..the number is between 50 and 75
fourth duel = 62 (win) .. the number is between 62 and 75
fifth duel = 68 (loss) ..the number is between 62 and 68
sixth duel = 66 (win).. and now you have an even chance to win and you can
at any point in there you can stop sparring and do a real duel with the right handicap. claims of warlords padding records is false accusation, because thats 100% in your control
- The amazing depth of AR, carefully cultivated over 20+ years by an impassioned staff of Imms.
- The impassioned community (to a fault, at times).
- Nostalgia.
- To try to make the game better by contributing feedback where I feel it's warranted.
- I learn something new nearly every login.
- The lore. Wtf is up with this demon invasion. Gotta know.
- The continual balance changes.
- Different RP angles. I've seen some brilliant shit and I want to see more.
- The rush of the PK. Unlike any other game I've played to this day.
- To bring new people to AR and help them learn the ropes so they stay.
- To escape and lose myself. It's like a drug. Yum.
Plenty more but that's what I've got off the top of my head.
PKing can definitely be a draw for some people. Balancing it with RP helps a lot. I like to have some RP with all characters (this one is a former grain farmer... General lore inspired somewhat in part by a section of the Christie Golden book "Arthas" ).
The balance changes can be good and bad, but the changes in general are nice since they make things interesting. I could go on with agreeing with Mogu but you get the point.
One other thing I want to say, and this is to Szrevan... I know you were most likely after the trophy during our duel in Emerald. I have some regret that the duel ended the way it did because it denied you the proper glory and victory you sought. It was unfortunate that I had chosen to use vampiric touch on a sprite when several others were nearby and you managed to nearly finish me off.
[reply to Davairus]
Szrevan is getting a lot of unnecessary heat. This is a great presence from a great character, so when I sought out to hit the gauntlet and eventually fight him, he was the only person who offered to help me hit those last few ranks. So I thought, "Wow, thats nice of him. He has to know I'm going after him at some point, and I will honor his duels, even though I am way under-geared compared to his."
I did better fighting Szrevan with red dragon and a handful of decent rares than I did with Shaghroth's suit of gear. I believe it was 6% at the end, Szrevan? And I even messed up a few things, He's not unkillable. Difficult fight, for certain.
Life has been brought back into the Warlords that I wish consistently breathed into all the Cabals at once, let's not push this guy away with sour grapes. This is what Warlords SHOULD be.
With this being said, change is inevitable, and it doesn't have to necessarily be a bad thing.
[reply to Tepyr]
"mom i just wanna be a badass evil justice lynching people and asserting dominance but these guys are bullying me"
[reply to twerpalina]
Rothak 
4 , 0 , 0 . Unfortunately I didn't have any 50s when Vydra was around, but plaguing them and then threatening to fine them for being plagued in town IMO is badass. That IS an evil justice. Good job from what I've heard Vydra, keep it up! Xenyar 
1 , 0 , 0 . You are 100% correct, Rothak. Glad to see you back btw.
Szrevanooc 0 , 0 , 0 . If you want to be a scummy evil Justice, then don't be a whiny bitch when someone wants to PK you for it? I woulda loved Vydra to actually fight me instead of picking on newbies/lower ranked people and instantly quitting out when I log on. The char was great the playstyle and the whine afterwards was hypocritic. Davairus 0 , 0 , 1 . its called method acting Phostan 
0 , 0 , 1 . Ah yes, I attended the Garden Grove Methadone Acting Clinic myself as well. Ashlyn 
0 , 1 , 1 . Theres a difference between doing evil shit and being a jackass. People get this confused all the time. Xenyar 
3 , 0 , 0 . Being a sinister evil bastard isn't for everybody. It was a beautifully evil tactic, in my book....any many others. Meh, to each their own... Rothak 
1 , 0 , 0 . Yup, I'm with Xenyar on this one. BlackWidow 
0 , 0 , 0 . I thought that being caught with the plague in town was a full out WANTED flag because it would count under the third law (it endangers others around you)? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it can and even has been interpreted that way before...
[reply to Ashlyn]It's called being played like a typical scummy DK.
[reply to Ashlyn]