I'm at a crossroads

[Sandbox]

I'm starting to think the learning curve is too big for me. I tried alot of characters and started to get decent at the game I started beating caballed players uncaballed and learning gear. The second i think im doing good i get 3 rounded by a qrace. I really don't know anything I can do differently and I'm starting to think i'll never be good enough to compete with qraces. I've seen logs of psi avatars doing annihilates through sanc and i've been 3 rounded by vamps who literally only had to type in 2 commands to kill me... Either I'm doing something completely wrong or something is really broken. that being said I'm at a crossroads between quitting and staying and I really dont know what to do because i feel like i'll never be able to compete with certain combos. I watched twinblades kill 5 people in a row one day without stopping on one of his qraces ( i have a lot of respect for you twinblades just meant to be an example.) ... I'm not trying to flame anyone or any character, just reaching out for some words of wisdom because I need something to motivate me to keep playing, it really can be overwhelming at times.

[Nekky]

I think the people you are struggling with would be very difficult for all but the toughest combos, or the most decked/caballed characters.

Speaking of the four main qraces I see around they are:

a) Very tough classes to kill, and even to survive against, even when qrace

powers are not taken into account.

Very high in their cabal, all at least (T), most (E).

c) Pretty much super decked.

d) Players who've been around for years.

e) People who've been at 50 for a long, long time and spent that whole time

fine tuning their gear, tactics, and character in general so everything is

becoming second nature.

I wouldn't worry too much, because I am sure they are giving everyone trouble.

[Nekky]

Double post, yay.

[Grishnak]

Well, here are my thoughts:

Every qclass has a bane, and most qclasses are very strong when well-prepared/played and very weak when not. Having had vamps, they're the ultimate example of this. There are countless logs showing Vamps being absolutely dominated, but when well armored and ready for the fight it's a tough win. I will say that a staff wielding giant-sized warrior is ALWAYS tough for a vamp to beat, and a Storm Giant Crusader is like walking death for one.

This game is about more than just "x beats y" though, and that's what keeps people here (and some of us coming back after multi-year absences). Said Qclass keeping coming in and spoiling your party? Get together with five friends and go hang out somewhere. I can guarantee he isn't coming after that many people at once. Don't have five friends? Pick a place where you can shape the battlefield to your advantage.

You're always going to have situations, though, where you've got zero to no chance of coming out on top in this game. I don't care how good your thief is, that's not a winnable fight if EQ is on even terms. What can you do in this scenario? Unless your roleplay demands that you are the most honorable fighter in the world, be a dirty bastard. Offer yourself as bait for a trap for one of the banes listed above. Or, when all else fails, log off and play a different character for a bit.

It's always frustrating to take a loss where you don't feel like you had a chance, but look back over the PK log and see what happened, try and figure out where you slipped up (were you not well-equipped or prepared?), and prepare to fight another day.

Remember though, PK isn't the only piece of the game. Enjoy the other elements as much as you do PK and you'll be able to shrug off those annoying deaths much easier. That's always a hard lesson for a player to learn.

[The-Nameless]

Then how about this sandbox. Please take my post as constructive, and nothing is a flame/veiled flame

Stop playing to try to win, I know it is hard, you may not know the diff yet. But play a char to play a char, and have fun. You are going to take deaths, and horrible ones. You are going to have things happen that make you want to dropkick a small child. Get over it. That really is how you have to look at it. I just got assassinated/nearly full looted as a pinned char, because I helped the same ninja who assassinated me get pinn. Soon as they got pinn, i got assassinated. YOu know what I did? I got angry like no other, then thought about it and said "Yea, I may had done WAY worse in my time" and that was it. Being atatched to armor/lives in FL is stupid. Your best bet in having fun here, is making a char that your happy with. Do not roll to "wreck the pbase" cause you will fail. Noone here beats everyone (some of you ****ers come close). I have been here 8 years. I feel I am a mediocre level pker typically, and there are some people who just undeniably eviscerate me. It is part of the game, so I cannot really tell you a way around it. I can say that making a char to fulfill needs outside PK is going to make you much happier than grinding through combos geared towards PK.

To cut it short, it would be a shame to see you go Sandbox, but on the same note I can completely empathize your standpoint. If you need to go, best wishes. But if not then smoke a joint, and roll a trib.

[Croyvern]

The fact that they are qclasses says alot about their familiarity and utilization of the specific class or special skills they are using. Do NOT let yourself believe that you are doing anything wrong in the fight other than running the wrong way. Hesitation, even for a single round, can be all the difference in the battle. Now if your attacking them and getting 2 rounded, its time to alter your strategies. They are not too powerful Sandbox, but surviving takes skill, and beating one will take more than a couple of tries in most cases.

[Sandbox]

Thanks for the posts guys, I love the game, but I really let it get me down when i get steamrolled, I've always told myself that if I'm not good at something then perhaps its not meant for me. There can only be one tiger woods(etc.) but it really sucks to always be in their shadow. Its hard for me rp when i know if "billy badass #1-5" log on I can do nothing other than prepare for them and wait for them to attack or log off, and in most cases if I do prepare i'm still going to get rolled so it feels rather fruitless. For me rp is nothing without the pk to back it and pk is nothing without rp to keep the character interesting... if my pk is lacking I lose the desire to rp, if my rp is boring i loose the desire to even log in.

[The-Nameless]

You get better Sandbox, you have since you been here. I figured out who you play, and they are much better at least PK wise than the likes of Emertis, and Gladea.

[Ali_gmud]

There is a few, (one in particular) that are dominating at the moment. I've been here for 8 years or so and I'm getting savaged on a daily basis by them.

[tassinvegeta]

I dropped plenty of combos simply due to imbalances and I'm not one to roll a power combo just to win. It happens you'll just have to accept it or move on.

[-Totenkopf-]

Well, I don't know what prompted this. If I killed you and you feel willing to reveal who you play (here or via PM) I am more then willing to offer you some insight into where I think you went wrong. This does not by any means guarantee you'll win next time but it may help.

However, I am thinking it may not be me you are talking about, as I find it very seldom that I 'completely streamroll' and there are many things I have issues against. It isn't all straighforward fight, half the time I do not even out damage my opponent and must revert to other tactics. There are far more things then the things Grishnak mentioned that I considered a pain for vampires, dependant on their level of equipment. Equipped clerics are another PITA for vampires. With access to a certain vamp skill the odds can be made a bit better, however, use that one excessively and you'll find it'll make like the dodo.

If you are talking about Valkynsra or Oppressant, yes, they are awfully tough! I've had Oppressant waste me even when I've had killer maledicitive saves. With Philantees its obviously not too bad, for the obvious reasons.

If you are talking about Valkynsra, they are not infallable. They've got like a god suit on at the moment and don't make many mistakes, but there are combos out there that will still be able to kill them. They'll have to equip though to try and defend against that certain qrace skill though.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with the nameless. For a while (not anytime lately) I was playing to win. If I took a single death in a character, I'd delete. I believe this all stemmed from Ghaerk and being granted the title "the unscathed master". I had a clean record of no deaths, and a decent number of pkills. Ever since then, I considered that dying was a step backwards, that I was getting worse and I'd be looked down upon.

Now, I am rather alot more chilled. You'll notice when I get killed and full looted, I don't sprout my mouth like alot of people around here. I don't go borderline OOC complaining about why I perished. Usually, I don't even log off, I just go about getting some basic EQ and preparing again. There are alot of things about this game that still give me the royal ****s, however, dying and losing my EQ isn't one of them.

Good luck with it.

[f0xx]

Ah, my friend, seems we are talking about Philly here?

My last serious character who had something like 100 win/10 lost challenge ratio was two rounded by Toten's vamp

I've said it before, Philly is the strongest Vamp I've ever fought. I've fought Valadar and Alestim and have had no problems killing any of them, but then comes Philly and destroys everything childish in me.

Lets be honest about it, Philly is the strongest character out there at the moment. Comparing yourself with a character like that is like comparing your dad's car with a F1 bullet. After a time, instead of getting frustrated over your deaths you simply learn to respect the player behind the character.

[the_nightmare]

Sandbox PM me what class race you play and I can give you few advices.I doubt that you will own Toten's char but I can guarentee you that you will not get two rounded.

[Celerity]

Two rounded with a warmaster dwarf blm? How much HP is that per round again?

[Elfrosto]

I've said it before, Philly is the strongest Vamp I've ever fought. I've fought Valadar and Alestim and have had no problems killing any of them, but then comes Philly and destroys everything childish in me.

Alestim was terrifying. [shudder] Philly is tough...join Syndicate?

[the_nightmare]

Yes join Syndi and coup him ;P

[Croyvern]

After a time' date=' instead of getting frustrated over your deaths you simply learn to respect the player behind the character.[/quote']

As it has been written, This!

[Sandbox]

I have nothing but respect for the player, i'll talk to the person who plays them an hopefully they can give me some tips. Now if i can just make the nightmares go away... lol

[Enethier]

if it makes you feel better i got 4-rounded by krusk through every possible defensive spell/ability i had, even sanc.

[f0xx]

Two rounded with a warmaster dwarf blm? How much HP is that per round again?

Well, she caught me meditating and vamp skilled me, so I wasn't at full HP and stance and sanc fell, but still 741 flew away in 2 rounds

(741/1051hp  731/731m  391/520mv)  (23420Ntl)  (51390gold)  (12time)  (D) 


Philantees's lag DISMEMBERS you!

You snap back into reality.

Philantees is in excellent condition. 


Dagoneto: [===|===|==-|---]

(684/1051hp  731/731m  391/520mv)  (23420Ntl)  (51390gold)  (12time)  (D) 


Philantees's pound DISMEMBERS you!

Philantees's syndi skill grazes you.

Philantees's pound DISMEMBERS you!

The Power Hammer adorned with a glowing ember does something.

Philantees's something grazes you.

Philantees's sting LACERATES you!

Philantees's pound LACERATES you!

The Power Hammer adorned with a glowing ember does something.

Philantees's something grazes you.

Philantees's sting DISMEMBERS you!

Philantees's sting LACERATES you!

You dodge Philantees's attack.

You feel poison coursing through your veins.

The Power Hammer adorned with a glowing ember sears your flesh with flames.

Philantees's flaming bite hits you.

You are shocked by the lightning from the Power Hammer adorned with a glowing ember.

Philantees's shocking bite injures you.

Something emits an aura of terror!

Philantees's poison scratches you.

Philantees dodges your attack.

Philantees parries your attack.

Philantees dodges your attack.

"Rokujan" the Dark Dagger digs into Philantees's body.

Your wrath wounds Philantees.

"Rokujan" the Dark Dagger digs into Philantees's body.

Your wrath grazes Philantees.

Philantees has a few scratches. 


Dagoneto: [===|=--|---|---]

(304/1051hp  731/731m  358/520mv)  (23420Ntl)  (51390gold)  (12time)  (D) fe

[H&R]

fe?

[f0xx]

Flee east

[mya]

I see a hasted Vampire. This unfortunately is a common occurrence due a certain piece of EQ. This said piece of EQ should never exist for balance reasons.

Nameless, if I was assasinated like you, I would have fallen out of my chair laughing. And I would take it as a compliment.

As I do when someone takes the trouble to prepare/lure a trap for any of my characters.

Anyone can bash lock, but it takes a diferent mentality to use treachery.

Sandbox, Play for fun. You will die a lot, but somewhere in between you will learn to use Social Engineering to aid your defense. I have yet to see a character beg for his life in this game. But I have seen some other interesting stuff...

About Philly... I think I only fought him once. And died Laughing as my Cleric became haggard. I was having to much fun to remember to watch moves.

Frankly I do not plan to fight a Vampire on any character, other than a Good Cleric or a Paladin. For I think they have to many advantages to be worth the risk.

I once had a Paladin Die 5 times in a Row to Valadar. And frankly I would have been happy to condeath the character on him, cause we both were having immensely fun.

Worry less about PK-ratio and more about having fun.

About 4 rounding you, well sometimes we get a lesson in humility.

I have had Valadar 2 round my almost naked under ranked ninja. I did not backtalk to him. But some time latter Valadar died to some Knight and was wondering naked in Winter with a PK flag. Let's say that carma got back at him.

[jibber]

Time for me to roll another halfling healer and rape the Vampire player base. Because honestly, I'm tired of seeing them dominate.

[Grishnak]

Well, she caught me meditating and vamp skilled me, so I wasn't at full HP and stance and sanc fell, but still 741 flew away in 2 rounds

741 in two rounds without sanc is easy. At least half the classes in the game, if they are equally prepped, can pull that kind of damage. Most of those can do more. The strength of the vamp comes entirely from being able to do so many different things, offensively. They still have a damn hard time against someone who is sitting in a big area, far from the entrance, waiting for them to show their faces and is preparing specifically for them. Don't get caught off guard when the #1 pker is online.

You may not always win, or even most of the time, but you have to be aware of the threats and know when he's most likely to strike. He will find you, you just need to be in an advantageous place when he does.