I never planned on giving up; I just had a lot of things to reconsider and think about. I will come back here eventually and make it work. By all means, come and see my new blog–there will be a link the moment its ready, today hopefully–if you liked what you read here.

BTW I finally posted my last entry that had just been sitting in my free write file. I never finished it. Well, it was mostly done anyway. Enjoy part two of my review of Perfect World below.

The game play and features in Perfect World are straightforward and often fun, though it has its own drawbacks as well. The character creation is one of the best I have seen for one reason alone. It is one in which you can make an avatar that looks just like you, or of anyone you want. I was able to create an avatar with a face very much like mine (it was eerie to look at). I also had a character that looked like my husband. Needless to say, it was fun to play around with this feature alone.

The first downside would be the limited selection of class, race and sex. You can choose from human, wingelf or werebeast. The humans had the classes of warrior and mage while the wingelves had the ranger and cleric classes. The werebeast race had the werebeast class and the werefox class. The werebeast class didn’t allow you to customize the face and only consistent of males; whereas, the werefox class was only female. The upside to the class system were the nice skills that each of the classes could get. Each had a unique skill tree, allowing 2 or more builds each.

Perfect World is a foreign game like many free MMOs. The translations are often barebones, literal, and dry. This makes the translation either awkwardly funny or very boring to read. Perfect World happens to be more on the boring-to-read kind. I’m sure I would be more interested in the plight of the denizens while questing if I didn’t feel like falling asleep. Therefore, I am sure I really missed out on some story as I never bother to read any of the text boxes anymore. Did I mention that no free MMO can seem to get their word wrapping to work right? (This includes Maple Story which I discussed in the previous entry.) The only text that is truly amusing are some of the names found on the map like Mount of Ant Gathering.

Perfect World is far from perfect, but it isn’t all bad either. The combat is one of its better features for a few reasons. The first is that you can fight in the air, on land, and in the sea! I was taken aback by this. It was so much fun to be able to fly at level one as a wing elf (humans and werebeasts get flying steeds at level 30). It’s also important to be able to battle well in all three mediums as the quests will have you going everywhere. The second thing is also something rather simple. You can’t go through the game relying on just your basic attack; in fact you begin to struggle (if you don’t know what you’re doing) around level 15. You must chose and level your skills effectively in order to stay alive. This adds challenge and interest in the day to day grind. The third reason is the pets that only the werefox class can have. In some builds, you can totally rely on your pet as a tank, while your avatar blasts them away with some of the second most powerful skills in the game. You can also tame nearly all the creature in the realm; you can even have up to 10 pets if you have the money.

There is something called an Ironblood Tablet Quest (or FB) in Perfect World. At level 20, and every 10 levels after, you will have the option to go on an FB quest–the acronym actually comes from the Malaysian translation. You will need a good party before entering the respective dungeon and taking out the resident boss or bosses at the end. There are many reasons why the FBs are so popular. First off, you get a really awesome weapon upon completing you first FB. Second, you never have to worry about finding help for these quests (I will cover this later). Thirdly, you get a really nice experience bonus for completing each FB (all party members receive the bonus). Fourthly, the bosses have a very low chance of dropping something called a molder which can be used to create a really powerful piece of equipment. These can easily be sold for a good bit of gold. Fifthly, they are a nice challenge and break up the otherwise repetitive grind.

This game is great for novices, but not so great for high leveled players. It’s great for lowbies because there is a lot of help that comes from the player base, and a good guild is usually not that hard to find. There are lots of quests to do in the lower levels and experience gain is pretty steady. When you get to level 60 or so the quests are not as plentiful and the experience gain begins to plateau a bit. The daily quests that you get at 30 and 60 can help with this though. At first, bosses are pretty easy to take care of on your own (or with a little help), but they become difficult very quickly. By the time you are level 50 it is very hard to get help killing the bosses that you need to complete your cultivation (in order to get better skills and stuff).

Perfect World has a typical but effective crafting system. You can make any weapon and armor that is sold in the game. There are also many useful items you can make through alchemy. All the raw materials need to be gathered. Sometimes you may see another player selling some (often overpriced). Herb gathering was the most popular choice for one main reason; you could create a grade 1 item that gives 50 health regeneration lasting 10 minutes. This item is crucial for some classes (this can be a good thing or a bad thing). Forging weapons, armor and accessories is beneficial as you can receive bonuses on the items you create. The downside to making your own equipment is the great amount of cost it takes, not to mention the time it takes to find the materials (or the number of forging attempts to get the bonuses you desire).

There are a few ways to travel in Perfect World. You can walk teleport or fly. Walking is a bit slow, but since the game is free roaming it’s possible to go almost anywhere on foot. Teleportation is the best and fastest way to travel. The first downside is how pricy it is between cities. It is usually more affordable in the lower level areas. The second downside is that you must first travel to new locations to activate the teleportation point for that area. All cities, villages and some outposts have teleportation points. Flying is the poor man’s way of traveling later in the game. You usually fly fairly slow but can make a b-line for your destination. You can fly faster for a certain amount of time, but you need fuel crystals in order to refuel your flying sword/wings/flying beast.

The player base in Perfect World (in my experience) is very helpful and nice. There are many guilds with all kinds of people willing to help you, especially if you are new to the game. There are two main things you will need a party for in the game. One is the FBs and the other is the various bosses that must be defeated to complete certain quests–there are a lot of these. Since the experience reward from completing an FB tablet quest is quite helpful for leveling, there is a never-ending list of very high level people willing to help you complete yours. My first level 20 FB party consisted of nothing but level 60 to 70 players. Some people level up simply by helping others complete their FBs. I like to call them FB fanatics. There are some that get rather pushy though, so you should be careful if you ever decide to ask for help outside your guild. Getting help to complete the boss quests is a little more difficult. All you really need is a guild with a wide range of levels and you should be fine. Otherwise, you may need to shout for help, or get lucky and join up with another party that is ready to take down the boss you need.

Every online community has its issues to sort out, and Perfect World is no exception. It can sometimes be difficult to find a good spot to grind, especially if you are hunting a creature you need to complete a quest. Competing for kills is fairly common, but only in certain areas. One example is the west field outside of Ancient Dragon City (or ADC). There are three newbie areas, and when you reach level 20 you begin questing in this region. ADC is the melting pot of Perfect World. If it gets really bad in a particular spot, consider joining a party. Sometimes you will be invited without even having to ask.

Bots can add to this problem of competing for kills. Fortunately there are three options to this. Move to another area (sometimes this is not possible). Report the bot and feel good about yourself. Or…wait until you are level 30 and unleash hell on those selfish bots! (Unfortunately, the third option is the most effective). When you reach that level, you are free to kill other players. Though be warned, your name will turn pink (and eventually red) inviting other Pkers to take you out. The higher the PK (player kill) status, the greater chance you will drop a random item. So just be very careful if you feel like taking down those dreadful bots; also, they will come back after about 10 minutes. Killing monsters also helps to lower your PK status faster. But enough about those evil bots.

There is another unfortunate side to PvP (player versus player), at least the kind you will most commonly encounter. It is PvP camping. This breed of player gets really bored and they decide to take out their boredom on lower level players. There are two likely spots for them to camp: near bosses and outside of Fishing Village. The former is obvious. Players often need to wait for a boss to respawn, and if you come alone to ‘wait in line’ you’re making yourself an easy target. Though this actually doesn’t happen that often. Fishing Village is probably a prime spot for campers because there are a lot of level 35-40 quests around there. Also the place is very small, remote and out in the open. This makes it really easy for people to spot you. The good news is that you can spot them easily too, and, hopefully, just avoid the situation altogether.

While I am on the subject of the Fishing Village, let’s talk about boss luring. This is either very funny or dreadfully annoying depending on what part you are playing. Basically, bosses will follow you as long as you keep them interested. There is a high level boss by the name of Zhang not to far from Fishing Village. Remember I said how open everything was? This makes luring Zhang to Fishing Village child’s play. My suggestion is that if you are ever idle near there–stay in flight! Every now and then you will see this ginormous thing lumbering toward the town. The next thing you know, everyone who was standing around is now dead. Zhang happens to have a devastating AOE attack (area of effect). I find it quite humorous when he uses it and ‘Immune’ appears above all the NCPs (non-player characters) sandwiched in the small village. I have heard people luring Zhang as far north as City of Ethersword (the human novice area) and as far south as ADC west (the greatest gathering of players anywhere in the game).

ADC west is the place to be for many reasons. Nearly everyone sets up shops there. This can be nice if there is some hard to find item that you need (or you could also try the auction which is also there). It can also be annoying when you are trying to wade through the sea of cats (your avatar becomes this weirdly-stuffed-bright-colored-cat thing when you set up shop) to get to another part of the city. The NPCs that give out the daily quests are also here. Since you must wait 10 minutes before you can claim your quest reward, there are usually many afk (away from keyboard) players hanging around–some right on top of the NPC you need to talk to! It is safe to say that the lag can be impossible for some computers in this location. I heard from one player that it took him 1 hour to get out of ADC.

Random Encounters: MMO Players (Part Two)

What follows is a list of creatures you may or may not encounter if you ever play Perfect World and other such MMOs. They are the ‘advance nussiancry’ of evil MMO players.

NAME: Newbies
DEFEAT/DISABLE: There are too many of them!
EXPERIENCE: Tolerance to the nth degree (if you’re lucky).
WEAKNESS: The ability to give up easily at any point during newbiedom.
ABILITIES: Question, Random Party Invite, Random Friend Request, and Avatar Hop.
ITEMS DROPPED: <Insert worthless item here>.
DESCRIPTION: Newbies on their own are seldom evil; it is in great numbers that they can do you relative harm. Furthermore, there is little you can do about their numbers. Most take a page out of the book of tolerance. Even then, patience tends to fail. After countless silly questions, random party invites and friend requests, who would not be sunk? Avatar Hop is the best skill they have, allowing thing to make new character after new character without ever leaving newbiedom.

NAME: Noobs
DEFEAT/DISABLE: Find the loop hole in their reasoning.
EXPERIENCE: You will often feel like you are special after dealing with one of these.
WEAKNESS: Circular logic.
ABILITIES: Brag, Proclaim, and False Reasoning.
ITEMS DROPPED: Parchment of Self Proclaiming
DESCRIPTION: Noobs set themselves apart from their genuine newbie counterparts. They often proclaim that they are not newbies at all, bragging that they know everything there is to know about the game. Noobs will go on about this or that managing to say very little of anything. If they do manage to, it is usually untrue. There is one way to stop them in their tracks. Simply say, “Prove it,” and watch them tear their previous statements apart with circular logic (this is actually quite unnecessary as the majority of the statements they make are outrageous).

NAME: Gumuz
DEFEAT/DISABLE: Veto.
EXPERIENCE: Carpal tunnel from fast typing (or red in the face from shouting if you have voice chat).
WEAKNESS: Blatant stupidity.
ABILITIES: Facade, Mislead, and Misdirect
ITEMS DROPPED: Honorary Bush Medal
DESCRIPTION: Even though gumuz can easily lead you into a situation similar to what an agroer can do, they are so much worse. Gumuz are only ever leaders of parties, guilds, ect; therefore, they can get you into even more trouble. Their facade will lead you to believe that they are competent leaders right up until the moment trouble strikes from misleading commands or misdirection in the field. Be prepared for failed mission* after failed mission if your gumuz is tolerated (this has happened to me). The only sure way to deal with them and their very bad leadership ability is to vote them out immediately.

*can be replaced with quest, scenario, dungeon, ect.

NAME: Leetists (1337ests)
DEFEAT/DISABLE: Do not feed the ego.
EXPERIENCE: A mix of entertainment and irritation.
WEAKNESS: Lack of people to impress.
ABILITIES: Extreme <insert activity here>, To the Limit! and Ego Blast.
ITEMS DROPPED: Gold Earnings
DESCRIPTION: Leetists constantly push the boundaries of the game and will typically outrank you in every way. They are the ones with all the flashy gear, the ‘cool’ names, and other fancy stuff. Sure, it’s great to watch them pull amazing stunts like run to Droknar’s Forge (it’s like running a gauntlet a mile long) or take on 20 enemies at once. You might be saying to yourself at this point, “Well what’s wrong with that?” It’s their ego, and they get paid for it. How do you think they got all that flashy gear? These people pride themselves on being the best at what they do, and will even throw in a freebee to prove that they can do it from time to time. Having them power level you or run you to places that are hard to get to for a small fee may seem reasonable, but it feels like cheating to hardcore gamers like me.

NAME: Cyberers
DEFEAT/DISABLE: Block or mute.
EXPERIENCE: Visions of pink bunnies and bouncy things dancing in your head.
WEAKNESS: Anything revealing or anything in a skirt.
ABILITIES: Cyber.
ITEMS DROPPED: None.
DESCRIPTION: Cyberers do show up from time to time in highly populated areas. It may be that they go for the nudist mosh pits made of dancers and air guitar musicians or the nudist botters roaming the landscape. Either way, they are attracted to showing epidermis like sharks are attracted to surfers. Consequently, eventually you are going to get bit. Their calls range from, “Any1 here a girl?” to strait up, “Do you wanna cyber?” More often then not though, they are content to join the nymphomaniacs at the local mosh pit and, thus, out of your hair.

NAME: Rpers (Role-players)
DEFEAT/DISABLE: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
EXPERIENCE: Geek senses tingling; you might find the geek inside of you (or lose all interest in gaming).
WEAKNESS: OOC conversation.
ABILITIES: Role-play, Dice, and God mode.
ITEMS DROPPED: Character Sheet
DESCRIPTION: …

I apologize for the time it took me to post another entry. Many things have come up in the past several weeks that desperately needed my attention. I decided to take the commentary a step further. First I discuss the worst MMO I have ever played in the paragraphs below. Part two of this entry will be on the best MMO I have ever played. Keep in mind that when I say MMO I mean free MMORPG (I tend to specialize in those since I have no money–really, no money). Below is a detail of my time with Maple Story, like I promised in my last entry.

The gameplay in Maple Story was occasionally fun and interesting, but had some downsides as well. The first thing you will learn about the game is that it is a 2D platforming MMORPG. Overall the platforming made travel by walking a little more difficult and time consuming (as you could fall and would have to start all over from the beginning of the map.) It made finding new areas difficult as not all exits were highlighted by a light blue glow. Some places were more discrete such as doors (some led to places and others were just decorative.)

The second thing to take note of is the surprisingly good and simple class system in Maple Story. This was one of the few reasons I played for as long as I did (about a month). Everyone starts out as a vagrant (or whatever it was called); from there you can chose to become a mage, fighter, rogue, or archer. From there each class splits again and then the next class change is more of a further specialization for each of the 8 advanced classes. The skill and stats systems were typical of most free MMOs but still pretty fun. Each class appeared to have helpful skills (though some were better than others). I personally was a mage; then, I became a cleric. I didn’t get past level 40 though.

Grinding in Maple Story became complicated after leaving the novice area. It’s after you get your first class change that you first struggle to find a good ‘spot’ in which to level. You could usually spot the popular areas pretty quickly by the incredibly fast spawn rate. In some places there would be 10 or more people (usually many parties as well as individuals) vying for relatively small pieces of land. As often as not you would have to share your ‘spot’ with another player and kill stealing or ksing became a common occurrence. If you did manage to get a spot to yourself, someone could easily come in and claim it as there own–that they ‘went back to get more potions.’ It was not better going to a place where there was no one as the spawn rate would be so low that even after clearing out the whole area, creatures would come back relatively slowly. It was even harder to find the right monster for your class and level, you usually had to ask. Grinding became an art form and a matter of ‘negotiation.’

Fourthly, questing in Maple Story was also an issue for many reasons. First off were the platforming quests. It was easy jumping from platform to platform at first, but got progressively harder. When you missed a jump, the progress you lost was often major. It was back to the days of Mario Brothers, but much, much, much less entertaining. Quest availability was determined by level, and you found your quest log filling up faster than you could complete them. You were often never told where to get these quests, only who to get them from. It became very difficult to track such a great number of quests. Often the rewards were not even worth it. For killing 99 of a monster you could get 50 good quality potions, and for killing 999 of the same monster you would get 30 potions of less quality than the first set. There was one quest in particular that really bugged me, and I will get to that after talking about travel.

Travel was a major monetary issue in Maple Story if you refused to dish out real money for perks. In game gold was hard to come by if you didn’t regularly sell decent items on the player market. Teleportation scrolls were fairly expensive and quests had you traveling between the five major towns regularly. Walking was doable only if you had the patients for platforming your way along the main ring of roads. The worst part of travel was between the main island and other continents. You had to wait up to 15 minutes for a boat to arrive that would take you to the next area and that ride itself could last 5 minutes. It was worse if you needed to travel two continents away; that could be up to a wait of 40 minutes in all. It gets even better when you must complete a certain quest on one of these voyages. The quest item you need to complete the quest (actually only one of three) is dropped by a boss that you encounter during the voyage from the main continent to the next one. There is only a chance that he will appear. Even then, you would need a party to deal with him as your level is so low when you get the quest that it is best to stay out of the battle altogether. Needless to say, I didn’t even bother with this one and stayed inside, away from the flying demon.

Lastly, there is the market system in Maple Story. Even though shops are regulated to one giant market area, it’s just chaotic as any other individual vendor market. There are many rooms to explore, but you still have to wade through overpriced goods looking for the one thing that you need (often a quest item, as some are just a pain to get). The biggest nuisances are all the people hawking their wears. Everyone is inputting their text so fast that you can’t even read the messages in the chat box. Therefore, since everyone has speech bubbles, it becomes more of a matter of whose bubble takes up most of the screen. The typical message would be something like, “WTS [insert item here], best offer, whisper [person's name]!!!!!!1@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@.” I like to call it the atat syndrome.

The ‘best’ part about Maple Story is its memorable community. It all began back in my newbie days when I first left the ship from newbie island. I spend a few minutes exploring the port and meeting all the NPCs there. I catch a fellow walking by, and the first thing to escape his lips is, “i want to lick ur boobs” (punctuation is intact). I had hoped that this would be the last I would have to hear of such inanities. I was very wrong; it was only the beginning. So, here are my memoirs from those times. Some are mere examples of what go on in this place called Maple Story, and others are the real deal.

Maple Story has a faming system where most games would have a reputation status. Fame was sometimes gained for doing quests (very rare), but the majority of your ‘fame’ came from other players. You could fame (or defame) one person of your choosing each day. There were minor benefits to having fame, but that is something else altogether. Fame possessed the citizens of Maple Story to act in ways that under normal circumstances they would never do (at least I would hopes so). One of my favorites was people randomly defaming you ‘just because they could.’ Another was offering 5,000 gold for each fame point given. And then there were those ‘innocents’ that would say, “OMG, someone famed me! [Imma rock star now!]” Er, that last part was my own take. Anyhow, moving on….

Hacking in Maple Story was supposed to be prevented through a state of the art hacking prevention program that took just as long to load as the game itself. Then, I heard about the ‘third wave of hacking’ and realized that the hacking software meant nil. Hacking was more of an annoyance and an inconvenient than a real threat. But every now and then you would see one person in a corner of the map and no enemies would be in the area. Then one would spawn and immediately fly away…to that corner. Usually I would switch channels if I wanted to grind in that area, otherwise I would just be passing through. The problem was this: those flying monsters became projectiles that could hurt you and potentially kill you (especially if you were a low level mage). But I digress. The real stupidity were those that would accuse you of hacking if you were either of a high level (like level 40) or if it appeared that you were never hurt (or just that good at playing). Some would even threaten to report you. I was never worried, but it becomes impossible to tolerate so many levels of stupidity at once.

It gets better after you have braved all these fellow citizens of Maple Story. There are also the people who can’t talk, beg, or try to scam you. What I mean by people who can’t talk are those whose understanding of the English language is so limited that they speak in one word sentences. I have the perfect story for this. A player came up to me saying only the word ‘friend.’ It must have been at least three times before I decided to add her (hoping she would leave me alone). Next she asks, “party.” Note the lack of capitalization and question mark. I must be psychic to understand these people. I shrugged and say to myself, “Why not?” Then she says, “follow.” I can’t remember what happened after that, for I must have hit my head on the wall a few times. People who talk in this manner also often beg. It can be for items, potions, or money. You name it, they would probably ask for it. The more ‘creative’ beggars will often strip down to nothing and ask you to follow them to an undisclosed location. These people are the scammers that think they have it all figured out. They will ask you to drop up to five items ‘of high value’ just so he can ‘check them out.’ I should be able to ‘trust him.’ I mean, after all he’s naked and would never steal them, wink-wink. (Note: I imagine that they are naked to get you to think that have absolutely nothing, and that you would give them stuff out of the kindness of your heart. Or they are just immature.)             

There are other common occurrences in Maple Story in regard to conversation. There are the awkward conversations that you find all over Maple Story. Such as a Spanish speaking person trying to talk to a French speaking person. Or 13, 26, and 60 year olds having a conversation with each other. There are also people that will randomly come up to you and call you ‘hot’ (if you have a female avatar). Though, I find it odd that a big headed freak with limited customizability could be considered that. Since there is a marriage system in Maple Story (I am told) this same person may also ask you to be his girlfriend. I’m sure it can work the other way too. They often do this without knowing anything about you! It is just so absurd I think I split my side laughing as these poor players. Ultimately, it is the player base that kills this game.             

What sets Maple Story apart from other games is its 2D platforming nature and its horrid player base. This is a double whammy for some people, and I would recommend that if you know what’s good for you, you will stay away. Though I am sure my words will invite the morbidly curious to experience it for themselves to see if what I say is truly valid. I doubt anyone will have the same experiences that I had, but I can safely say your own will be… memorable.

Random Encounters: MMO Players (Part One)

What follows is a list of creatures you may or may not encounter if you ever play Maple Story and other such MMOs. They are the ‘bread and butter’ of evil MMO players.

NAME: Whiners

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Ignore or spend all your patience to help them.

EXPERIENCE: You can vastly increase your patience skill from helping them.

WEAKNESS: Attention

ABILITIES: Whine, Complain, and Cry

ITEMS DROPPED: Essence of Tear Drop

DESCRIPTION: Whiners are a special breed of beggar that often complains about no one thing. They have questions that ask nothing specific at all. They crave attention, but it can also be their downfall as they are not use to getting it. You can choose to ignore them, but, chances are, you won’t get a thing from doing so accept maybe some peace and quiet.

NAME: Beggars

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Ignore or give them what they want.

EXPERIENCE: You gain nothing from helping them save empty pockets.

WEAKNESS: Spare change (only temporarily stuns them).

ABILITIES: Beg, Whine, and Complain.

ITEMS DROPPED: Alms Cup

DESCRIPTION: It is not so much that there are many types of beggars, there are simply degrees. Some only know how to beg, whereas others have also learned to whine and complain. With these more advance skills, it is easier for them to get attention. It is best if you level up your ignore skill before approaching one (or let the wax build up in your ears). There are very limited ways in which to deal with them as giving them things only encourages them. If you are unfortunate enough to give in to one, you may find yourself with a new ‘friend.’ Now he or she can contact you remotely!

NAME: Leecher

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Kick from party.

EXPERIENCE: The joy of normal experience gain.

WEAKNESS: AFK

ABILITIES: AFK, Rest, Excuse, and Stall.

ITEMS DROPPED: Scroll of Experience Rate Normalcy

DESCRIPTION: Leechers are party members that do absolutely nothing. Well, they do watch you work hard, beating enemies senseless. Thus, they leech a percentage of your experience, your hard work. They will do anything to stay in your party. They will pretend to be busy, and assure you they will get back to fighting. They stall, make excuses, or say they need to rest. Often, they will be afk–that’s your chance to strike and kick their sorry rears out of your party.

NAME: Ksers (Kill Stealers)

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Pre-empt or get even (become a kser yourself).

EXPERIENCE: Competitive spirit.

WEAKNESS: A taste of their own medicine.

ABILITIES: KS and Complain

ITEMS DROPPED: Consolation Prize (because you’re now a kser too).

DESCRIPTION: Ksers are the bane to basic combat. They come in claiming your spot as their territory and they proceeded to take your kills as there is only enough room for one to hunt there. Leaving is not an option (at least for me). Therefore, you can either finish the kill before they catch up, or begin taking out their marked creatures. Either way, you will end up enriching your competitive spirit. Just be warned if you choose the latter path. You will become a kser yourself. The road is filled with its own dilemmas. Choose wisely (or be a chicken and give them your awesome hunting spot).

NAME: Looter

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Fast reflexes or auto pickup.

EXPERIENCE: A possible agility or dexterity increase.

WEAKNESS: Lack of treasure.

ABILITIES: 5 Finger Discount

ITEMS DROPPED: None

DESCRIPTION: Looters are more bold versions of their kleptomaniac scavenger counterparts. Rather than going after abandoned loot, they target more resent drops instead, hoping for something good. They become stalkers and don’t give up even when it’s apparent that you pick up your stuff long before it becomes available to anyone. They still pathetically try to pick up stuff they cannot (beware of mistaking bots for simple looters!). Sadly, there is little that can be gained from these sorry creatures, and even less that can be done about them.

NAME: Agroers

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Their own demise.

EXPERIENCE: A good laugh with a small chance of party defeat.

WEAKNESS: Pretty Monsters.

ABILITIES: Mass Lure

ITEMS DROPPED: Essence of False Bravery

DESCRIPTION: Agroers should be labeled and ostracized–for their own safety of course. They have absolutely no sense of self preservation and often lead unsuspecting parties to their doom. They are also known as agro retards (often warriors) that run about agroing everything in their path. Then, the agroer usually brings this wave of monsters right back at the party, thinking you will save them. This is where you do absolutely nothing. Set back, get out some popcorn, and enjoy. Warning: When going into a dangerous situation with a party, make sure that everyone is ready or you may be mistaken for an agroer.

NAME: Farmer

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Gaming update.

EXPERIENCE: You notice the prices going up.

WEAKNESS: Game balancing.

ABILITIES: Farm, Farm, and More Farm with a side of Botting.

ITEMS DROPPED: None.

DESCRIPTION: Farmers are creatures that affect your gaming experience indirectly. They often take advantage of glitches or good drop rate, ever in search of easy gold, items, and experience. These people are usually the first to exploit and glitch. If you have ever played an online game you know this is a very bad idea. It is often hard to tell who is a farmer, and who is not. Ultimately, it is up to the developer to take care of this type of creature. In this sort of situation, nobody wins. When the game is ‘balanced’ to prevent farming, it becomes harder for legit players to get certain things.

NAME: Griefers

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Ignore

EXPERIENCE: The urge to put them out of their misery.

WEAKNESS: A good PvP system.

ABILITIES: Grief, Whine, and Complain

ITEMS DROPPED: None.

DESCRIPTION: Griefers are a type of pker. This type specializes in–you guessed it!–griefing. This often happens after a defeat at the hands of a fellow pker. Rather than directly blaming the one who killed them (which sometimes they do), they blame the system or various game features instead. They will use anything as an excuse in order to hide the truth. Griefers often have no one but themselves to blame for their utter lack of mad skills.

NAME: Campers

DEFEAT/DISABLE: Relocate or bring friends.

EXPERIENCE: Revenge is so very, very sweet.

WEAKNESS: Lack of fresh meat.

ABILITIES: Camp, Bully and One Shot; One Kill.

ITEMS DROPPED: Essence of Self-Esteem Boost

DESCRIPTION: Campers are another kind of pker. They often lay in wait in various low level hunting grounds waiting for the ideal target that they can take out in one kill. Campers will hardly ever be anywhere near the level of the person they target. The good news is that they are easy enough to avoid by moving to another hunting ground. If one is attacking you, it’s easy enough to run away as a camper will seldom follow. Feel free to come back with some friends and exact your revenge–or prevent future attacks.

It was a dark and stormy night; I was at my computer writing away furiously.  Suddenly, I looked up and realized my quest! And so begins my third and final installment of this introduction. What follows is my life as a role-playing game which will be the motif of Ideholic Impressions. I will start by answering some questions. Since there is currently no one to ask questions, I took it upon myself to ask them. Below is the list of questions concerning my journey, tucked neatly into FAQ form.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is your quest?

In every RPG there is a lofty quest that the hero or heroine must complete. My own quest is to become an RPG writer either in pen and paper games or a lead writer for a game developer.

What are my starting statistics and abilities?

Some of the nuts and bolts of any RPG are character statistics or stats and character abilities. Before one can know the stats and abilities, one must first know what class that character is. My class is writer and my subclass–which can be thought of as a secondary class or an off-shoot of the first–is linguist. These are the only two professions I have ever had any level of passion for and the ones that I will pursue for the course of my natural life. Additionally, there is a third class which is my tertiary class: Artist. It has mostly been a hobby for me. Even so, I have gained some valuable skills through this pastime.

My stats would then be four things: professionalism, creativity, technical, and knowledge. Every writer needs professionalism such as good proofreading skills and polished writing skills. Any writer could use some creativity, but a fictional writer definitely needs this. Creativity is my highest stat and professionalism my lowest. A writer also needs technical knowledge and skill of all manner of things from forms of writing to knowing how to use a word processor. Lastly any decent writer needs basic knowledge, and a creative writer needs extensive knowledge of most anything under the sun. Anything that I would ever be interested in writing about or using to make Idehol that much more believable.

Abilities are the natural extension of most character stats. Some are dependent on them and others simply stem from them. There are many abilities that I have already learned, and some I am close to mastering. What follows is a list of some of them: program mastery (such as learning to use Microsoft word), typing speed, research, reading comprehension, reading speed, critical thinking, phonetics, and astronomy. Of course there are many others I have learned and many more that I will need to. A detailed list may be found on the Status Page.

All stats and some abilities sometimes come with levels of mastery. For any such abilities, one will find the level of mastery next to it on the Status Page as well.

The eight levels of mastery are: poor, fair, below average, average, above average, superb, and master.

What items and equipment do you have?

An adventurer cannot begin a quest unprepared. I will need all manner of items and equipment to complete my task. My equipment is what I will mainly be using and anything else I need is in the item list below. My starting equipment is rather rudimentary and the items I currently have available are few in number. Nevertheless, as my journey continues I am sure to find a great variety of items and more powerful equipment.

Starting Equipment

Weapon: Capless EXP 1.0 Ball Point Pen -1

Primary Equipment: Scratch Sheet of Paper

Secondary Equipment: Outdated Computer of Age -1

Accessory #1: Instant Coffee

Accessory #2: Worn-In T-Shirt of Comfort

Book #1: A Practical Introduction to Phonetics (J.C. Catford)

Book #2: The Atoms of Language (Mark C. Baker)

Book #3: The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)

The pen is mightier that the sword, so it is a pen I shall wield! And the only real equipment a writer needs after that is something to write on. My computer is the backup. My accessories are just random things to help me, like caffeine and comfort. Lastly, a writer is always reading, reading, and reading. Consequently, I am never far from my current reading material.

Items in RPG are generally classified into groups. In this case the items fall into the following types: consumables, battle items, other, key items, read books, reference, and unread books. Consumables are just that, gone in a flash. I only list the special foods this writer needs to survive on a quest. Battle items are special consumables that can only be used during random battles (see the questions below). Other items are just things I need or are helpful. Key items are special and usually have no purpose other than sentimentality. The read books are only ones that have really inspired me; whereas, the reference books are something I will never read through. The unread, for the most part are books I own but have not been able to get around to. The list would be much longer if I put down the others that I want to read but can’t afford.

Consumables

Pepsi

Tuna Sandwiches

Battle Items

Red Bull

5 Hour Energy

Gummy Worms

Other

Worn-out Grey Blanket of Fuzziness

Current Drawing Pad

Red Folder of Durability

Sturdy Bookshelf

Cheep Filing Cabinet

Key Items

Various Used Notebooks

Scrapbook of Doodles

Seldom Used Journals

Read Books

Robert Jordan

            New Spring

            The Eye of the World

            The Great Hunt

            The Dragon Reborn

            The Shadows Rising

            The Fires of Heaven

            The Lord of Chaos

            Crown of Swords

            Path of Daggers

            Winter’s Heart

            Crossroads of Twilight

C.S. Lewis

            The Magician’s Nephew

            The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

            Prince Caspian

            Voyage of the Dawn Treader

            The Horse and His Boy

            The Silver Chair

            The Last Battle

Anne McCaffery

            The White Dragon

            The Harper Hall Trilogy

            First Fall

            The Masterharper of Pern

Guy Gavriel Kay

            The Fionavar Tapestry

J.R.R Tolkien

            The Silmarillion

            The Hobbit

            The Fellowship of the Rings

            The Two Towers

            The Return of the King

Mercedes Lackey and Joshepha Sherman

            Castle of Deception

Terry Brooks

            First King of Shannarah

Raymond E. Feist

            Magician: Apprentice

            Magician: Master

            Silverthorn       

            A Shadow at Sethanon

Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

            Daughter of the Empire

            Servant of the Empire

            Mistress of the Empire

J.K. Rowling

            Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

            Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

            Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

            Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

            Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

            Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

            Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Rand Miller

            Myst: The Book of Atrus

            Myst: The Book of Ti’ana

            Myst: The Book of D’ni

Gordon R. Dickson

            The Dragon and the George

Lois Lowry

            The Giver

Homer

            The Illiad

            The Odyssey

Reference

Earl Mindell

            Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible

Marc McCutcheon

            Descriptionary, 2nd ED: A Thematic Dictionary

Barbara Ann Kipfer

            The Order of Things: How Everything in the World is Organized into Hierarchies, Structures, and Pecking Orders

Unread Books

Lancelot Hogben

            The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages

What is your starting level?

A young writer would start at level one on his or her journey, but I already have been seasoned a bit. The early grades of school were just my training. My real experience began in college, so it’s safe to say I ‘gained a level’ for each of the six years I was there. It has been some years since I graduated and my studies and experience has not been near as consistent as it was. Yet, with all I have been through and all that I have found, I have obtained at least one more level. All in all I am about level 7, but this is more of an approximation than anything.

How much experience do you need until you level up?

A level is a passive thing, the result of a certain number of accumulated experiences. I have no way of knowing when I will ‘level up.’ But upon reaching a certain point I will simply know and report it. My current level can be found on the status screen.

What random encounters will you face?

I have been faced with many of these already. Some will come back to haunt me and some will not go away, while others are gone for good. These random encounters are simply problems that life throws at you in oh so many ways. Life really is a lot like an RPG. Furthermore, these problems that are hindering enough to be called random encounters can be anything from a personal issue to something from the outside like my daughter’s occasional outbursts or dinner. Whatever they are, I’ll face many of them nearly everyday and they will either wear me out or make me stronger. Additionaly, a list of these can be found in the Bestiary.

What kind of bosses will you deal with?

Similar to random encounters, bosses are major issues in my life. These are the things that make me or break me. There are just as many major problems in the past as there are in the present and future. Each one will require a different approach and sometimes I may see one coming and other times I won’t. A major problem or boss of the past is my relationship with my family and one in the present is a stable job. The latter is one of those problems I believe all writers face for we all understand that writing full time is something that is very hard to do or achieve (at least to make a decent living from). A list of these can also be found in the Bestiary.

What abilities will you need to learn?

I will need to learn many things, much less than those that I want to learn. What follows is condensed list (a detailed one can be found on the status screen): various ologies, further studies in linguistics, faster typing speed, better proofreading and grammar skills, further reading, more program mastery (writing software, editing software, indexing software, technical software), indexing, technical writing, researching (beyond the internet), and further world building and conlanging arts.

Will there be side quests?

Oh, yes! I am one to ramble about this or that and it may have little to do with what I was talking about before. Something similar is bound to happen here. Rather than naming a category potpourri or uncategorized, I will call it ‘side quests.’

Is there going to be a bestiary (log of random encounters) and a status page (a way to track your progress and goals)?

Yes, this way, readers that are curious can easily track my progress on the Status Page or read about my past encounters logged in the Bestiary.

What is a blog without a proper introduction? I decided to divide it into three parts. This first installment is on the definition of Ideholistic Impressions itself.

What is ideal?

An ideal is often considered something that is perfect; other times it is an ultimate objective like some one in search of his or her ideal self. Sometimes an ideal is thought to be unobtainable and exists solely in the imagination. My ideal is reaching my full potential only as I see it, and not fretting about others’ expectations. Everyone’s ideal is different. It’s hard to say whether humankind shares an ideal or not, but that can be left for another time.

What is holistic?

Holistic or holism is the sum of all parts. The focus is on the whole picture rather than all the details. It seems that somehow the idea of holism has been lost to us. Everything around us has been categorized into basic components in the simplest form that we can understand them. In doing so, we have forgotten not only the interconnectivity of those pieces, but the importance of the whole as well. It can be seen everywhere from school subjects to philosophical ideals. It is here at least that I bring all things together. I cannot specialize or ‘find a niche’ without leaving out something important. Therefore, holism is the only logical course.

What is an impression?

An impression is many things. For the purpose of this blog, it is the effect produced from everything around me and inside my own mind. It can be first impressions or lasting ones. Anything that has imprinted itself on my memory has the potential to be engraved here. I am not about to limit something that is limitless in nature contrary to what ‘experts’ might say.

What is Idehol?

Idehol is my world. My universe. It is as much a playground as it is a reflection of everything I am. It is ideal and it is whole. I cannot impart what Idehol is in pieces. I can only present the whole. And that has always been what I wished to do. Ideholistic Impressions is as much a journey through Idehol as it is about me accomplishing my dreams which will be brought up in the next installment.

Thus, Ideholistic Impressions is a place for me to express myself, expand my horizons, and offer my impressions of things. Which means nothing if you don’t know who I am.

I am Shyshaeia. Some call me Shy.

Who is Shyshaeia?

She is me, but I am not always her. It is best to say that she is me when I am at the computer, maybe it was a way to hide. Nevertheless, I am no longer hiding. Shyshaeia is someone who I could not otherwise be in ‘real life.’ Her words are my own. Therefore, I feel it best that her name be my own when writing here.