Veracarnim

['tarako]

Where to start. So much awesome RP with this character it is difficult to start. First I have to give major props to Lithala and Dundon. It felt like we where just THE trio while we all still had the fire burning. Sadly some things stalling out a bit cost us some drive. I know I felt the frustration a few times towards the end, and I wish I could have done something to help. Alas I am but one illumian. Veracarnim was also probably some of my best journals ever. I tried to ease back on writing them to let the story come alive in character, but I think the ministry did too good a job being friendly. Our enemies vanished super fast, and all we had left where friends in every direction lol. Goodies really need to have some kind of oppressive evil force to really keep the char alive. It is boring running around being nice to everyone you meet.

Some thoughts about Psions. The recent changes to memorizing spells was probably in an effort to curb some of the power of melee psis, but I feel it impacts the other two paths (specifically the invoker path) far heavier. For the most part my path of psi was just about self buffs and murder rounds. And holy hell you could do some seriously crazy stuff to vuln races. I know the undead and vamps had to absolutely hate me. In short I think these changes impact the melee path the least, as I could easily fight for 2-3 game days straight without worrying about memorizing, where as the invoker path might make it through one engagement before needing to reset. I dunno if that was the goal, but that is just my opinion on how it plays out. Some of the spells require memorizing (like levitation) just meant I was stocking dragon orbs. I would never waste a slot on a buff. Same with the charmie skill. I just never used it because it wasn't worth the spell slot.

Church. I still dont really know how to feel about church. On one hand the eq looks INCREDIBLY overpowered, but its also offset by the fact you get 0 cabal abilities. So I dont really think church is stronger than a decked cabaled T char, the score sheet is just misleading because you seem more powerful, but have no cabal skills to supplement you so everything you get is directly measurable on your score sheet. The one thing I do believe is that all the church eq needs to have the Psi enhance flag already on it. My ac was ridiculous (around 820) without me really having to focus on it. I didnt buy the AC mod for any of my eq. Just psi enhanced everything.

There is also a new faction for you all to play with. it has no goal besides bringing knowledge of the Faith to everyone without forcing them to be in the church clan/cabal. It is a place where you can have theological discussions without it looking like you are trying to ick a fight with a church zealot. 

Was incrediblly fun, and I hope the response time for church related rp gets a slight boost. We had a huge amount of steam, but months waiting for T, and apps going unanswered because of everything going on with elsner, eq rebalancing, and other chars rp ideas things just started to feel repetitive and borderline desperate at times. 

Dundon, I love you but god damnit it was so frustrating to be putting out the best journals and rp I have ever done while being overshadowed by you. I am so glad you got the recognition you deserve though. You put a lot of effort into creating a character that has real feel to it, and I hope you go far.

Lithala, your evolution as a character has been great to watch. Seeing you go from an innocent "dreamer" type char in your rp to a hardened salty veteran was a pleasure to watch. Even though we disagreed at times, I hope you know that was just veracarnim's views clashing with your own.

[Lexi]

Veracarnim was an incredily well-made character, with both strong RP and PK. Well done!

Re: Church
It is a cabal where some combinations get a lot more out of it than others (the more eq dependant your class is, the more you gain out of strong eq). Classes with inherent eq restrictions (crusaders, monks, and blademasters) might get more out of Church than they do from cabals they synergize poorly with. And as the equipment rebalancing continues, the Church gear will only be getting comparatively stronger. I think it is a neat cabal, and although I can't really gauge its power level yet, I absolutely like the way it was designed. Some great ideas were imlemented here.

[Gifnab]

On behalf of the player of Dundon:

You were a clear RP force in the Church and I'm so glad that I had the time in with you.  The intense RP you had going is what pushed Dundon to be even more an inspiration and zealot.  Your ideas are what drove the group of us together, don't undercut your importance in that.  The very fact we now have a faction is mainly due to you pushing it.  I tried my best to inspire more and to add in the element of making the Church an enjoyable place, especially making you 'pay' for my friendship.  Tracking down and poking a sneaking elf.......  You started getting better in the end with your quick exits before I could get my pokes in.

The Church to me is still a wide open cabal with those who have the patience and drive to give it direction.  Ministry isn't Sigil or tranquility.  There was nothing stopping anyone from killing any evil as a good aligned.  Lithala did well is showing just that.  She stuck to her guns all the way through.  You still could have killed them anyways and I would have smoothed it over to the best of my ability, or just dealt with a war started over it.

As far as the Church EQ being Op, I still don't think it is even psi-enhanced.  The bonus you get from 800 ac isn't that great in comparison to say having temporal storm or chronoshield or even golden aura and ward of the crown.  You also sacrifice crucial stats in other fields for it and it takes up key armor positions.  There is one key protection missing from all Church gear that no one took advantage of yet.

-Dundon