G
Gypsy Keja Mimi
Guest
The night before my first big faction defense I went to bed very late. I was trying to get in that last bit of training, that last bit of practice in case the next day brought me no time to do it.
It was a surprise the next morning when I woke, after only about 5 hours of sleep, and I immediately rushed off to find out what was going on.
I found TorAnn alone. She had been up longer than I, and all of the sigils had already been stolen. I had missed witnessing that part even though I tried to sleep fast, but I recalled to the COM base, and there they all were lined up on the monoliths.
It was very early, and she expected to lose them any minute, as Minax normally are there to attack first thing in the morning, but so far all had been quiet.
So began a long wait. One by one members arrived and made preparations for the battle they knew would take place. People readied supplies for the battle: regs, necro regs, bottles, potions, bandages... anything the defenders could possibly use. People staked out their positions for the battle. Everyone checked armor and weapons.
Early in the morning it was realized that there was no available faction tinker to tinker a faction trap. For those who don't know, each faction is allowed to have up to 14 faction traps at a time. These can be either poison or explosion traps, unless you own the city they are placed in, and then you can also use a blade or spike trap. Faction traps do not harm anyone not in factions, or anyone who is in the faction that places the trap. Anyone of a different faction who walks over a trap, however, gets hurt. The person who actually sets the trap gets a small amount of silver, and if the trap actually kills a rival faction member, you get a little more silver. Once the faction tinker makes the trap, it is a deed, and anyone in the faction can then place it and collect the silver if it is triggered. Rival factions can remove the traps once they are found if they have a faction trap remover and an appropriately skilled character to remove them. Faction traps are expensive, however, because each trap costs 1000 silver to make.
To give people an idea of how long it takes to make 1000 silver, here is an idea. There are ways to make silver, such as faction traps and killing a rival faction member, but most factions make silver when needed from killing one of the patron creatures of a rival faction. The four patron creatures of factions are wisps, silver serpents, ogre lords, and daemons.
Council of Mages patron creature is the wisp, so COM does not kill them for silver, they can hunt any of the other three. Each creature killed that is the patron of a rival faction gives the one who lands the death blow 24 silver. That is right... 24. So it takes the death of 42 rival faction patron creatures to make one trap or 420 creatures to make 10 traps. That is a lot of hunting. But its fun. Gives you something to do.
Silver is used for many other things, so PvM is definitely a big part of factions still. I could do this part, and I spent a bit of time hunting silver.
The morning of the defense, it was discovered that there was no available faction tinker to make traps. Daemon DeMort came to the rescue. He spent 5 hours solid working tinkering to make his tinker high enough to craft faction traps. The traps ended up being a great part of the defense, and I know the other members of YAD were very grateful to him for all of his long hours of boring work.
Time continued to tick... Noon came and went and there was no sign of Minax. Members spent a bit of time sparring, talking about tactics. More members came. Some left and said they would be back. And still the wait continued.
Traps were set, more and more COM arrived, and still no sign of Minax. I was told this is often the case, nothing for hours upon end, and then suddenly Minax appears, kills everyone in 2 minutes, steals back the sigils and its game over for another day. Twelve hours past, and still no sign of a Minax.
Some members were there for the whole day, some part, but they were all important, and you can never tell when the attack will come. I would like to take a minute to list members of COM that I saw during the defense. Herb (a brand new COM ally joined that day), TorAnn, Odd, Lady Myrtle the Green, Obnaidys Ner'le, Didan, Manaman, Vontar, Silvermane, Tsythema Ner'le, Daemon DeMort, Moses Chance, Olga Jerwinkle, Taylor Bree, Aragorn Loreland, reggie, Katz Onyx II. So many came in and out that day it was hard to keep track, so if I missed you I am sorry.
Someone announced 9 and a half hours to go, then 8 hours to go. We had snacks, played games, told jokes and generally tried to keep each other awake for hour after hour. The sigils had been held for 16 hours, and still no sign of Minax. Not long after the 8 hour mark was announced, the first Minax showed up.
A Minax suddenly appeared on the screen, and messages flew through the air. Everyone who had been near to dozing from boredom was suddenly wide awake. I know my heart was pounding. This was it.
Spells were thrown and it wasn’t but a few seconds before it was announced she was dead. From the messages I got it was more than an impression that that had never happened before. Usually this Minax swept through and killed everyone quickly, sometimes alone. So far the defense was working.
Then there was another lull. No Minax appeared but we all knew they would. Someone said they were probably waiting out the dead member’s stat loss. Another note about factions is, if you die to a rival faction member, you take a temporary 20 minute loss of approximately 30% of your skills. It hurts for sure and makes you easier to kill. But you are in a group, and with a little caution you can easily get back into the battle.
Suddenly the Minax appeared and the real battle began. This was all out war. For 2 hours the air was filled with spells, arrows, messages and the sounds of the dying. Lots of COM members died, but for the first time even more Minax members met their death. On and on the battle raged, and though people died and supplies ran short at times, the defense was holding. Two hours later the COM defense was amazed, they still held the sigils and no Minax had yet gotten through.
Then something no one could have foreseen happened. A GM appeared and demanded the defense break up due to an unknown technicality. It was abrupt and it caused the loss of the battle right there. There was no way to regroup since half the defenders were made to recall away. That is as much as I will say about it in this article.
To say the defenders were disappointed and angry is an understatement. They had held the sigils for the first time for over 18 hours. Against all of the seemingly impossible odds, they had finally been winning, and when victory was in sight, it was snatched away in an instant.
But I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed in this game. As hurt as they were, as angry as they were, they merely resolved to beat Minax another way. They did not publicize their defeat, they quietly petitioned their case to the people who have power over those things, and left it in their hands. Not one member, as horrible as the defeat was threatened to quit or leave or stop trying with all of what they have to defeat the enemy.
It is days later, and the members of COM still have that will power. Not 5 hours after that defeat there were already members out training, out getting silver, out looking for more gear. They are helping each other grow stronger, helping to train, helping to teach, and trying to come up with new tactics. And all this they do for the people of Sonoma. So that all of the people of Sonoma can enjoy the faction vendors.
As frustrating as this was, as heartbreaking for some of them, not one of them has given up. The odds seem impossible to beat. But they want the victory very much. I am honored that I could be a part of this battle, that I could share it with the people of Sonoma. The spirit of the Paladin is alive in some people, and this is proof. To give everything you have for someone else against an enemy you can not beat and refusing to give up no matter how battered and bruised you get. It is a wonderful and special thing to see.
I wish that I could end this series of faction articles with a huge victory article. I could then go on to tell you how faction vendors are set up and even where they are so you can get some cheap resources yourself if you wish. But that part of my series will have to wait.
However, I have seen enough to know that I want to be there the day victory is won.
My skills are still not that great, my equipment is still not that great and I know that I will die 800 gabillion more times. But the victory is something I now want to see first hand.
Everyone says factions are broken. Yes, it is. Everyone says PvP is broken and very out of balance. Yes, it is too. It’s frustrating. But it has been a great experience for this 'Trammie' to see one group of people so willing to fight for something they know is right, and to not give up when most others would. This is not just PvP; it is PvP with a purpose. If they don’t fight there is no one else who will, and they refuse to give up no matter how bad it gets, and last Saturday had to be the all time worst moment in this shards faction history.
But I have seen that factions is like a giant game of 'Capture the Flag' only with much more reward. It is broken, and the sides are definitely not even. But if there is a way to win against overwhelming odds, this group is going to find it.
And when they do I will finish my series.
Good Fortune All.
For more information on YAD, visit their <a target="_blank" href=http://members.cox.net/yadsl/>website</a>
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It was a surprise the next morning when I woke, after only about 5 hours of sleep, and I immediately rushed off to find out what was going on.
I found TorAnn alone. She had been up longer than I, and all of the sigils had already been stolen. I had missed witnessing that part even though I tried to sleep fast, but I recalled to the COM base, and there they all were lined up on the monoliths.
It was very early, and she expected to lose them any minute, as Minax normally are there to attack first thing in the morning, but so far all had been quiet.
So began a long wait. One by one members arrived and made preparations for the battle they knew would take place. People readied supplies for the battle: regs, necro regs, bottles, potions, bandages... anything the defenders could possibly use. People staked out their positions for the battle. Everyone checked armor and weapons.
Early in the morning it was realized that there was no available faction tinker to tinker a faction trap. For those who don't know, each faction is allowed to have up to 14 faction traps at a time. These can be either poison or explosion traps, unless you own the city they are placed in, and then you can also use a blade or spike trap. Faction traps do not harm anyone not in factions, or anyone who is in the faction that places the trap. Anyone of a different faction who walks over a trap, however, gets hurt. The person who actually sets the trap gets a small amount of silver, and if the trap actually kills a rival faction member, you get a little more silver. Once the faction tinker makes the trap, it is a deed, and anyone in the faction can then place it and collect the silver if it is triggered. Rival factions can remove the traps once they are found if they have a faction trap remover and an appropriately skilled character to remove them. Faction traps are expensive, however, because each trap costs 1000 silver to make.
To give people an idea of how long it takes to make 1000 silver, here is an idea. There are ways to make silver, such as faction traps and killing a rival faction member, but most factions make silver when needed from killing one of the patron creatures of a rival faction. The four patron creatures of factions are wisps, silver serpents, ogre lords, and daemons.
Council of Mages patron creature is the wisp, so COM does not kill them for silver, they can hunt any of the other three. Each creature killed that is the patron of a rival faction gives the one who lands the death blow 24 silver. That is right... 24. So it takes the death of 42 rival faction patron creatures to make one trap or 420 creatures to make 10 traps. That is a lot of hunting. But its fun. Gives you something to do.
Silver is used for many other things, so PvM is definitely a big part of factions still. I could do this part, and I spent a bit of time hunting silver.
The morning of the defense, it was discovered that there was no available faction tinker to make traps. Daemon DeMort came to the rescue. He spent 5 hours solid working tinkering to make his tinker high enough to craft faction traps. The traps ended up being a great part of the defense, and I know the other members of YAD were very grateful to him for all of his long hours of boring work.
Time continued to tick... Noon came and went and there was no sign of Minax. Members spent a bit of time sparring, talking about tactics. More members came. Some left and said they would be back. And still the wait continued.
Some members were there for the whole day, some part, but they were all important, and you can never tell when the attack will come. I would like to take a minute to list members of COM that I saw during the defense. Herb (a brand new COM ally joined that day), TorAnn, Odd, Lady Myrtle the Green, Obnaidys Ner'le, Didan, Manaman, Vontar, Silvermane, Tsythema Ner'le, Daemon DeMort, Moses Chance, Olga Jerwinkle, Taylor Bree, Aragorn Loreland, reggie, Katz Onyx II. So many came in and out that day it was hard to keep track, so if I missed you I am sorry.
Someone announced 9 and a half hours to go, then 8 hours to go. We had snacks, played games, told jokes and generally tried to keep each other awake for hour after hour. The sigils had been held for 16 hours, and still no sign of Minax. Not long after the 8 hour mark was announced, the first Minax showed up.
A Minax suddenly appeared on the screen, and messages flew through the air. Everyone who had been near to dozing from boredom was suddenly wide awake. I know my heart was pounding. This was it.
Spells were thrown and it wasn’t but a few seconds before it was announced she was dead. From the messages I got it was more than an impression that that had never happened before. Usually this Minax swept through and killed everyone quickly, sometimes alone. So far the defense was working.
Then there was another lull. No Minax appeared but we all knew they would. Someone said they were probably waiting out the dead member’s stat loss. Another note about factions is, if you die to a rival faction member, you take a temporary 20 minute loss of approximately 30% of your skills. It hurts for sure and makes you easier to kill. But you are in a group, and with a little caution you can easily get back into the battle.
Suddenly the Minax appeared and the real battle began. This was all out war. For 2 hours the air was filled with spells, arrows, messages and the sounds of the dying. Lots of COM members died, but for the first time even more Minax members met their death. On and on the battle raged, and though people died and supplies ran short at times, the defense was holding. Two hours later the COM defense was amazed, they still held the sigils and no Minax had yet gotten through.
Then something no one could have foreseen happened. A GM appeared and demanded the defense break up due to an unknown technicality. It was abrupt and it caused the loss of the battle right there. There was no way to regroup since half the defenders were made to recall away. That is as much as I will say about it in this article.
To say the defenders were disappointed and angry is an understatement. They had held the sigils for the first time for over 18 hours. Against all of the seemingly impossible odds, they had finally been winning, and when victory was in sight, it was snatched away in an instant.
But I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed in this game. As hurt as they were, as angry as they were, they merely resolved to beat Minax another way. They did not publicize their defeat, they quietly petitioned their case to the people who have power over those things, and left it in their hands. Not one member, as horrible as the defeat was threatened to quit or leave or stop trying with all of what they have to defeat the enemy.
It is days later, and the members of COM still have that will power. Not 5 hours after that defeat there were already members out training, out getting silver, out looking for more gear. They are helping each other grow stronger, helping to train, helping to teach, and trying to come up with new tactics. And all this they do for the people of Sonoma. So that all of the people of Sonoma can enjoy the faction vendors.
As frustrating as this was, as heartbreaking for some of them, not one of them has given up. The odds seem impossible to beat. But they want the victory very much. I am honored that I could be a part of this battle, that I could share it with the people of Sonoma. The spirit of the Paladin is alive in some people, and this is proof. To give everything you have for someone else against an enemy you can not beat and refusing to give up no matter how battered and bruised you get. It is a wonderful and special thing to see.
I wish that I could end this series of faction articles with a huge victory article. I could then go on to tell you how faction vendors are set up and even where they are so you can get some cheap resources yourself if you wish. But that part of my series will have to wait.
However, I have seen enough to know that I want to be there the day victory is won.
My skills are still not that great, my equipment is still not that great and I know that I will die 800 gabillion more times. But the victory is something I now want to see first hand.
Everyone says factions are broken. Yes, it is. Everyone says PvP is broken and very out of balance. Yes, it is too. It’s frustrating. But it has been a great experience for this 'Trammie' to see one group of people so willing to fight for something they know is right, and to not give up when most others would. This is not just PvP; it is PvP with a purpose. If they don’t fight there is no one else who will, and they refuse to give up no matter how bad it gets, and last Saturday had to be the all time worst moment in this shards faction history.
But I have seen that factions is like a giant game of 'Capture the Flag' only with much more reward. It is broken, and the sides are definitely not even. But if there is a way to win against overwhelming odds, this group is going to find it.
And when they do I will finish my series.
Good Fortune All.
For more information on YAD, visit their <a target="_blank" href=http://members.cox.net/yadsl/>website</a>
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