Saunic Distora, the Master of the White Robes

[Twinblades713]

I got over this character for a MYRIAD of reasons, it wasn't just an "I'm bored."

1. At the time, I had no interaction with most people during my playtime, which was limited. This is not a shot at the savants or anyone, for when I did have interaction, it was AMAZING. Lorthalas really showed me hwo good an Imm he can be. I just was set with the task of finding an apprentice, and for a solid month I couldn't find a single goodie savant possibility to even ASK. None were rolled, it was no one's fault. I knew WMs were logging on, but I got to interact with them maybe once out of every five logins.

2. I hate healers. I rolled the character just to get to pinn, and got enveloped in some RP plots. I tried to finish what was asked of me within them before I bailed, and I'm sure I disappointed some, but I tried to resolve all the notes to me before I disappeared. I felt I adhered to healer rules very well and didn't break RP or align, but I still hated it. Not being killed easily was nice. I even tried a Jesus model, letting some opponents kill me to see if they would, knowing I was letting them do so. People did, and looted. It was whatever, healers don't need a fur jacket to be viable.

3. The final 'straw' was no one's fault, but again real life issues. With a few problems coming up for me, this was the first thing to let go, and with the other reasons in place it was easy. I don't have a score sheet, and I definitely died more than a healer probably should.

Lorthalas, Master of Black and Grey Robes, you guys were awesome to cabal with. There was no cross align rage, and it was fun. I just couldn't get an apprentice.

Warmasters, fun fights, you guys were classy. I remember when Dagnab was a baby and couldn't get me below half health. Now, even as a healer I bet he'd rock my **** from what I've heard. Grylok, super fun fights, I never stood a chance. What blew my mind is when you let me recover my standard based on an RP session we had. You had the upper hand and you made it real. Thank you, and you deserve every second of Leader.

Geoffram and the Drokmar plot. That was amazing, and I think I ducked out on it early, but I tried my best to clean up my particular loose end to the story. I translated the note best I could, I figured it was all to be determined anyway.

Glad I was there for something interesting, as short as Saunic's IG life was. I like to think he just floated away, people wouldn't notice that would they? That's what Saunic's fear, and later aspiration was. To let the magics pulling him from the planet do their thing so he could find his way to the Timestream. Rest in peace little fella.

And Yes. Saunic the Hedgehog. He was blue, that was all yea.

[tassinvegeta]

I could really feel the Jesus character in you during one of our sessions. Was very touching and helped sway a decision that affected our cabals.

[Mindflayer]

This was a very interesting 'roleplay experiment' of yours. You character's unique personality lead to that turn of events with Grylok. I always struggled with how to approach our cabal warfare. Saunic wasn't aggressive and Grylok struggled as a gladiator to just mindlessly slaughter him, even though his affiliation demanded it. It was tricky. Well played. I always enjoy the characters that force me to think outside the box.

[Twinblades713]

I am using this thread as a reference point in time, Saunic was the last character I played and he was pure RP. Before him, the only serious characters I had were Ithelani and Oppressant over 6 months ago.

After a most recent effort to roll something up, I came upon a realization: I am not going to play anything for a long, long, long time if ever. A game shouldn't be 'work' to have fun. It's work. My reasons:

For being open RP, the ease of getting restrings or finding justifications for them is played VERY fast and loose. You ask, "How would it wear armor and weapons" and that is justification for denying the restring. This could be for winged dragons, birds, moles, squirrels which I have all had denied in the past. I ask (as referenced by Emp, heh) how a gnome can kill a Fire Giant and wear the same Titanium Fullplate to the same degree of effectiveness. Neither make sense but we suspend disbelief to make the game work, unless you don't want to for whatever reason. In my opinion, this squashes RP and the tradeoff for allowing this is not negative nor does it suggest a slippery slope possibility.

I have heard and do hope it has changed very much. But there are specific players that I have noticed intentionally work to be a thorn in my side when I play. As in I have been told OOCly by them they will work to make my characters miserable. This is an innate deterrent from playing and it sticks in my head. What's odd is I have next to no outlets to talk to people in this game anymore.

Something I also hope is untrue, but have been told directly and wish to dissolve is the likelihood or assumed idea that I have an anti-imm agenda, that I talk to people who hate imms or that I have some sort of plot.

And one thing that grinds my gears is the fact that everyone hates the facebook page, when I had in the beginning moderated it to a very tolerable degree which I would check multiple times daily. I can honestly 100% say the badmouthing about the flaming on the page OUTWEIGHED the actual flaming on the page. Everyone who spouted bad juju about it, literally did more work to hurt it than the actual flamers ON the page. I took this personally because I did work there and saw results. I am however, over the entire endeavor and no longer even a member.

Essentially, I have nothing here anymore. I realized this, as iterated earlier, after having rolled probably 3 characters in the last month and just felt absolutely nothing, no reason to play. There are some amazing players, but that quality does not outweigh the trouble of playing, the generally arbitrated attitudes, and the negativity that I could not overcome to find some enjoyment. I tried to work out several of my issues on the prayer forum and that didn't really work out. I don't want anything from anyone to change, or anything like that. I am just not an apt fit here anymore. I don't usually say goodbyes, and I don't think I ever have on this forum or any other FL outlet. But this is it, and this is me. Goodbye. Thanks to those who made it great.

Twinblades out!

[f0xx]

As in I have been told OOCly by them they will work to make my characters miserable.

I don't see how that can be a problem really... it's one's own choice to reveal who his characters are.

As for your points about restrings, I agree with you. We need a solid rule on what can one get and what he can't. "This can't wear armor" is the poorest excuse I have ever heard in a RP game, where you fight rats, puddles, dust particles and so on.

Not flaming the IMMs, just saying that when you come up with rules which are not stated in the help files, and then have different people who approve restrings and not all of them are aware of this rule you just came up with, then mistakes can happen, and they do happen. Then the person who was refused to get his chicken restring feels that there is favoritism when he sees a person with Hawk restring.

[Aulian]

Big loss to the community that still plays I guess..

What you said about work killing the game is 100%.

I can pin down the second I knew this game was done for me. Its Emp's fault really (but im not blaming you. - I actually consider you the complete and under-rated master of the game). When he had his psi and he showed me how effectively he was using consumables I KNEW that was the end for me and fun in FL.

He did nothing but play the game at 100% the level it should be played. By puttin in the hours of gameplay needed to become unstoppable. However thats not what I'm (and some others who used to play I imagine) are looking for in a game. I want to log on, go balls to the wall for an hour then log off knowing that when I come back on I can do it again and not have to spend 5 hours becoming competitive with that person who has collected 100 nymph hearts, 200 red and white staves and 3 scrolls from Tuo.

Its more of a player base mindset that has shifted us to the point we are at. I think this is the truest statement I can come up with for where the game is:

The playerbase has reached a level where time commitment is everything. The time to procure the best armor, supplies and weapons. The time investment has become so huge to be 'good' at FL that the risk of dieing (aka having fun) isnt worthy of the amount of time spent gathering what is at risk.

I can personally attest to feelings of rage and regret when I lost pk's on my last hero's. All that TIME wasted. Worth the momentary thrill of the hunt and possible victory? Not really. I can play game of DOTA2 or HON with the same level of intensity and that only takes me an hour from start to finish. Not weeks.

I love muds. I love FL. Do I have a cure for whats driving me from it? Nope.

EDIT: Sorry Twin, I derailed you a bit but I agree with your points in the second post and thought I would comment. Again the community is all the poorer for loosing someone of your calibre.