Tarquinus

Happy birthday, dudeface.

I recommend you find a mentor in the fighting system. A little knowledge will serve you well. Also the fight logs are more detailed and easier to comprehend now than they have ever been, so I strongly encourage you to review your fights and analyze them. The main advantage to staying at MP3 is that you will find opponents [b]mostly[/b] of equal strength to your own. There are a few major exceptions, as some players choose to remain at lower mind-power levels for quite a long time. I personally have never really appreciated the attraction of doing that. I was MP4 before I beat the Loreroot Guards; once upon a time, that was quite common, and people managing to beat them at MP3 were somewhat rarer than they are now.

Maybe I should. It was meant to be a joking reference to my advanced age and cantankerous nature.

Part of the fun of last year's carol was that it was, in fact, a song that was mutilated not only in how it was worded but in how it was "sung". Master B and Toten sang in their own... special... ways, and it added to rather than detracted from the comedy. So to your spoken carol I say: bah, humbug! *shakes walker at Windy*

[quote name='dst' timestamp='1291763499' post='74803']LE: I will delete all the posts that include only RP (including Darigan's) LLE:if pash<insert full name here> thinks that it means he has been feed bits of information. I wonder who did it. I might be terrible wrong but I am under the impression he was loreroot applicant. If I am wrong then I will retract my words. If not... [/quote] 1) Thank you for removing Tipu's post. 2) I believe the great pashweetie was in fact a LR applicant, and perhaps even citizen, at one time. His quotation above references "[u]our[/u] Tribunal lands", however, so it appears his loyalties remain very flexible and at the very least open to interpretation. To all: to the best of my knowledge, Loreroot players (as well as their characters) deplore what the hated tourist Logan Marquis did to Knatty, which Tarq describes as "our national shame" for a reason. I expect people who say "LR hates KC" to understand that they are offering strong provocation to Loreroot.

I will hire you, too. I have two minor tasks for you that might take a while.

Happy birthday, Sunny.

Happy birthday, man.

[quote name='Ravenstrider' timestamp='1291154320' post='73857']Quests that change the world are always more special than those that require you to solve riddles on clickies. That was my point.[/quote] I certainly agree with that. Story-based quests - that is, quests around things that "actually happened" in the game - are something I'd like to see more of. But it's often quite hard to write quests around things people care about, since so many players (as distinct from their characters, which I will always maintain is a useful distinction) have investments in one aspect of the game or another. It's not common to find a player who is willing to give up his/her possessions, freedom, or part of his/her role for the sake of crafting a fun interactive story. It is further very difficult indeed to write a roleplayed, story-based quest that uses symbols in a manner appropriate to, and commensurate with, the use of symbols in MD as a whole. Though I have been thinking about how to do just that for a while now.

[quote name='Ravenstrider' timestamp='1291070856' post='73734']My take: I really don't care about any of this (spell and lair related), but I do care about the direction of MD, and I agree with Kafuuka on this one. Making the game more automated and focusing on that part has made it less "special" lately.[/quote] I have to say: I reject this line of thinking absolutely. You say MD is less "special" but you admit you weren't around to know what it was like before, and you provide no evidence at all, for example by citing similarities in other games, to support your opinion. And Kafuuka seems to be attacking a "straw hat man", to use his words, by claiming that WP for days (which I can only assume is his basis for saying this) will soon make Wish Points "common", and thus MD is "regressing toward the mean". From my perspective, MagicDuel has improved steadily in almost every way since I joined it in the early fall of '08. No, not everyone has liked every change. No, not everyone has benefited equally. But this is a fairer and more open game than the one I joined. Don't talk to me about the good old days, which had different and in many ways uglier problems: the appearance of favoritism, the dominance of very exclusive cliques, and a far less balanced and more exploitable combat system. I'd like to hear more constructive criticism from people who wish to raise problems. Don't merely say "this needs to be fixed" and append an emoticon - give a concrete suggestion so we can subject it to the relentless and wholly pitiless peer review of the forums. One thing on which I can agree with you is that it is the fault of the players if the game has seemed less special. Mur has gone [i]out of his way[/i] to try to clue people in to what he is trying to do. The experiment of MagicDuel is as audacious as it is crazy. If conceiving and playing quests in a world of allegory sounds difficult, it is. Rise to the challenge.

Happy birthday!

Looks like the quote tag slipped. The message isn't empty. Jester's comment appears to have been: [quote]Me and Awiiya were talking, I decided to mess with him. 5 min after I "uprooted" him I put him back where he belongs. Learn to listen.[/quote] not trying to backseat mod. This piece of information is germane to the current discussion.

I'm not going to nominate people who have already been nominated, so I'm skipping a few categories. [b]Best Quote/PL Entry[/b] dst - "Another challenged player." I can't remember whose PL this is in, but it still makes me smile. [b]Best Spell Caster[/b] Jester. Imaginative, evil, and occasionally very funny. [b]Elite Evil Villain of the Year[/b] Ivorak. Sure, don't vote for him. Sit with your back to the door. Wake up dead. [b]Fossil of the Year[/b] Firsanthalas. Truly a wonderful player in many ways. [b]Helper of the Year[/b] Mya Celestia [b]Best Backstory/Paragon Papers[/b] Pamplemousse [b]Most influential[/b] No one (the player/character, not the pronoun) [b]Pre-eminent Roleplayer[/b] Innocence, the best (and most underrated) roleplayer I have ever known. I wish I could list her alternate personae, because that would surely make my point. [b]Rookie of the Year[/b] Eon [b]Superior Orator[/b] Awiiya. Not only a skilled debater, but an extemporaneous storyteller [i]par excellence.[/i]

[quote name='Vicarious' timestamp='1290196066' post='72604'] Excuse me? Up intil earlier this week, I have not been able to attack anyone without being wiped out period. Let alone battle experienced players. And the fact that you claim that I "hit you every regen cycle" is ludacris, and an outright lie. I have seen you once in the past 2 months, and attacking Keith Moon has only begun recently, as in the past week.[/quote] And you hit him every. single. cycle. Sometimes you even won. It's annoying, but it's part of the game. Quit whining. [quote]As for moving to the Drachorn Layer, I knew that it was closed off, but like other hidden places, I figured that if RJ had access to it, according to the general rule(If there is a way to do something, it's allowed unless its a bug, then you're allowed to abuse it until its fixed), we were allowed to enter it. It's not like you can recruit from the Layer anymore, so what is the big deal?[/quote] I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are pretending to be incredibly dense. The big deal is that the vast majority of players in the game can't get there. If Marind's Balcony was a problematic spot for your group because of the access codes, how much worse is the Drachorn Lair? The simple fact is that your group has tried to preserve itself and protect its activities by removing itself from the mainstream of the game. That's not cool. Don't do it. If you can't defend yourself through means available to regular players, you're too weak to survive.

I support this idea. I'm really busy and run two fairly developed characters, but I'd like to try to help out.

I don't see anything wrong with a training method as long as it is used in public. That said, there's really no excuse for complaining about rituals being broken in the case of a non-xp-gaining/non-damaging training exercise, especially at MP5, where everyone should have at least one tree and know to set multiple rituals in case of accidents and interlopers. In MagicDuel, I think every player has a responsibility to know this is a game at least partly about dueling. If you don't want to duel, as some do not, there are steps you can take to stay out of that part of the game. As someone pointed out, the world is a dangerous place. Nobody should be surprised if people show up and attack without warning or even courtesy. As far as courtesy goes, it is far too often unobserved or even tried. If you are trying a training exercise of a certain kind and someone wanders in with a different view, you should at least try going the civil route to see if you can work things out. What seems to be at issue here in both cases (Marind's Balcony and the Drachorn Lair) is that a location is being used that is restricted or otherwise difficult to reach. That's not acceptable. Training in the MDA basement was a good idea - it's at least out of the way. If your complaint is that dst ruined things for everyone, my response is that dst and players who agree with her are part of the hazards of the world. If your training method is really fine and above-board, why not use it at the GoE? Because people will hit you every ten/twenty minutes? Please. Not enough MP5s hang around in public, and those who do get battered more or less constantly. You don't see us all complaining... I grumble a bit, but when one of those same people hitting me every regen cycle is Seigheart, I have trouble finding sympathy for his training group being vulnerable to brigandry. Using non-damaging rituals to gain wins is a bit weaselly, using something I consider verging on using a bug exploit, and I say this as someone who has used and benefited from it a fair amount. When someone responds to weaselly behavior by being trollish, who is calling the kettle black? You can justify your behavior any way you like, but in the final analysis we are all using our combat knowledge to try to get ahead or otherwise enforce our will. If your complaint is that someone bounced your group using sendtogazebo, your response is to move to [i]the Drachorn Lair?[/i] That's a hugely disproportionate overreaction. If you use the method, be prepared to assume the risk. Burns, Peace, and others have proven that GGG-type rituals and groups are not necessary to be competitive in MagicDuel. I might accept the argument that such groups help the poor neophyte MP5s survive in a hostile world, but some of the people in this particular group have maxed angiens. In general I accept the maxim "that which does not kill us makes us stronger", and overall I think much more can be learned from Burns' Fight Club than from any amount of non-damaging ritual training.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Congratulations to Clock Master for winning the MP5 division. Yala Sviseusen and Moon Spirit Dancer were the only fighters to show up for M4 and MP3, respectively, and were awarded the shop credits by default. Strength and honor!

The final rules: [list] [*]Loreroot creatures only [*]Each round is the best 2 of 3 duels [*]No spells [*]Bursts and boosters allowed [*]Tokens allowed [*]Any slider setting allowed [*]Submit fight logs to Tarq or Amoran [*]If anyone cheats against you with non-LR creatures, please take a screenshot [/list] I may increase the rewards for MP3 and MP4, depending on how many people show up.

I believe the fuss is not so much about the abilities [i]per se[/i] but the wish points. As dst pointed out, look what MR Alyon did with items. If item creation inflation isn't a big deal, say, because every crafter is as principled as Udgard, then there is no problem. I take a rather cynical view that if a thing can be abused, it will be. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see Keith have lots of spells as well as Tarq. I'm just a bit wary of seeing wish point inflation caused by WPs being given out to people with large numbers of alts.

As someone who spends considerable amounts of time maintaining two accounts/characters, I would like to say I do [u]not[/u] think WP for days should be given to alts. Though I can think of at least two alts (not my own!) who are very well played and demonstrably separate from their players' main accounts, they are exceptions. I think the potential for abuse is simply too great to give alts WP for active days. It's a hell of a gift as it is - players should be grateful to receive it on any account. I don't even think it matters if the account with the most active days is automatically the one to receive the WP bonus. I can think of many vets who have proved conclusively that a persistent and determined player can get anything in the game s/he could reasonably want; though some players may whine that all their accounts "deserve" bonus WP, I don't see that extra accounts are [i]entitled[/i] to anything. We're lucky they're permitted at all. I agree also with those who favor pushing certain kinds of wish back in the shop. It makes good sense to make certain wishes harder to get than others. Fyrd, I understand your concerns but I think the potential benefit (more magic) outweighs the potential hazard (unbalance).

Writing contest times updated. Tournament rules clarification: tokens allowed, any slider setting. To keep things simple, no spells.

No need to register, but things will be [i]slightly[/i] easier on me if you do. We'll get things rolling one way or another. It might be easiest to forbid all spellcasting before fights. I'm thinking it over. Mike, I understand your point about tokens, but the idea is for things just to be as simple as possible. If that means outlawing tokens, so be it. I will review this point. One further bit of clarification: the tournament is open to [u]all[/u] players. You don't have to be a Loreroot citizen, alliance member, or even a fan to participate.

Rhaegar: Tokens are permitted, and there is no mandatory influence-slider setting. Most spells will be discouraged: while some minor spells are acceptable (boostdefense, etc), the more powerful ones such as weaken will not be permitted.