Ut oh, Kenstrom’s had a taste of blood after the huge Landing invasion Thursday night. There were creatures even on the streets of town. Quote: “… definitely sparked my passion to continue to revisit just normal invasions. So yeah. Buy deeds.” Unquote.
I should be on tonight, and the next two nights. I’ve been doing some behind the scenes stuff and life stuff but it’s time to get back to some Landing love!
-GM Kenstrom- Waylayer of Wehnimer’s Landing Human Guru
I just wanted to say that I really enjoy things like the ballistas and putting out fires during invasions, as it gives me as a low level player the feeling of doing something to help and contribute. Most (all?) invasion critters I’ve seen would (and often do) squash me flat in a fight, so being able to run around with a bucket dousing flames made me happy that at least there was something I could do to help out. Last night’s invasion was really fun (I mean, they are always exciting when they happen!), I had never seen a vathor before, although my character only observed it flying in the sky as I’d die a million times over if I was in-room with it.
On a side note, are there any tips or general advice for low level characters in the best way they can help during times of invasion? As I mentioned I love manning the ballista and when the fires broke out Mayor Lylia immediately let everyone know water buckets could be grabbed from Moot Hall, but in general are there any sorts of things we could be doing helpful in states of emergency other than hide or try not to become another corpse to be raised? Would be genuinely curious in some kind of air-raid-drill sort of guide 🙂
Thanks again for all the fun and flames last night!
Date: 05/18/2018 10:54 AM CDT
From: FALAN
Subj: Re: Me
Last night was fun, but I think there might be a bug (seriously, no pun intended!)
Last night, one of your flame things pointed at me and somebody else in the room. We both died. However; while I was dead, I was still “in too much agony and pain” to talk or do anything for that matter. Same thing with the other gentlemen who was raised but could only just move from room to room but not do anything else. Thankfully Crux rolled my dead corpse over the dirt and eventually the flames went out (and I’m assuming somebody got the other guy taken care of). I just wanted to point it out in case you weren’t aware of it.
Hmm… 2 demons slain in the course of 2 weeks… wonder if Redding is watching? grin
__________________________ – Kobold in Disguise Falvicar, Blade of the Night
You swing a silver-edged black veil iron katana at Sevynne!
* Sevynne drops dead at your feet! * Sevynne just bit the dust!
Date: 05/18/2018 12:46 PM CDT
From: LEAFIARA
Subj: Re: Me
Got home last night feeling tired and not well and kinda just wanted to go to sleep. Ended last night feeling excited and energized and couldn’t get to sleep until like three hours later than usual because I had so much fun.
>On a side note, are there any tips or general advice for low level characters in the best way they can help during times of invasion? As I mentioned I love manning the ballista and when the fires broke out Mayor Lylia immediately >let everyone know water buckets could be grabbed from Moot Hall, but in general are there any sorts of things we could be doing helpful in states of emergency other than hide or try not to become another corpse to be raised? Would >be genuinely curious in some kind of air-raid-drill sort of guide 🙂
If you can feed mana to the healers and clerics at the triage centers (normally one at the Thrak trophyroom and Voln courtyard) that always helps. Or even healing wounds if you can. There were reports of fire ants around town and near the gates last night and I think in more recent invasions we’ve seen a greater mix of low-mid level characters along with the behemoths like the fire giants and the Vathor. Never a bad thing to pummel a wayward critter that might catch another young one napping.
But putting out fires and manning the ballistas is great. It can get tough for folks to break away from the middle of fights to take care of that and the fires can really do a number on the town and spread havoc. I do wish there was a mechanic for folks to gain experience for putting out fires. Imagine gaining a level for being a firefighter!
I have to say I loved last night. It’s nice to finally be able to contribute to the fighting, even if I need to be surrounded by a bunch of uber powerhouses when I do it to avoid a squishing :). I died right before folks engaged the vathor, but I doubt I would’ve lasted a nanosecond in the same room with that thing, heh.
____________________ Roa’ters gonna roa’ter.
Date: 05/18/2018 01:58 PM CDT
From: LEAFIARA
Subj: Re: Me
Oh, also want to reply to this:
>I just wanted to say that I really enjoy things like the ballistas and putting out fires during invasions, as it gives me as a low level player the feeling of doing something to help and contribute. Most (all?) invasion critters I’ve seen would (and often do) squash me flat in a fight, so being able to run around with a bucket dousing flames made me happy that at least there was something I could do to help out. Last night’s invasion was really fun (I mean, they are always exciting when they happen!), I had never seen a vathor before, although my character only observed it flying in the sky as I’d die a million times over if I was in-room with it.
IMO, don’t be too concerned about getting killed in a fight or else you’ll never be out there whether you have 1.5m experience (almost level 37) or whether you have 15m experience (almost twice cap). People with way more experience than that can and do still get slaughtered out there, which… I mean, for one thing, to me that’s the entire fun of it. 😀
But for another, even if you don’t want to be killed, it’s not going to happen unless the creature attacks you–so you join the biggest invasion hunting group you can find. Say it’s a group of twenty, then every swing only has a 5% chance to target you. That’s what I did at fresh cap, at 70, at 50, at 40…
And even at far post-cap it’s still usually what I do. (Not last night, admittedly.) Invasion groups might be safer than you think as long as you don’t expect to be invincible! They’re also fantastic opportunities to get an awesome toughest foe slain for your profile, even if you can only get a mild hit in on some post-cap creature!
(Caveat: if you aren’t capped, you’re going to need at least one non-CS attack to do this–melee, ranged, bolting, or brawling.)
I also want to stress that the dynamics of every invasion are different, since you asked this…
>On a side note, are there any tips or general advice for low level characters in the best way they can help during times of invasion?
…and there’s not really a catch-all plan for invasions and we’re often learning on the fly as the night progresses! There’s almost never a completely generic invasion where we get swarmed by nothing but level 115 trolls and a single strategy works. People often to have take on different roles throughout the night too–it’s a very fluid thing.
And I know that’s vague, so to make it a little more concrete, here are just a few situations that could come up and what a low level character might do about them:
* Tons and tons of corporeal enemies are swarming around the Landing within range of the ballistas – take aim and fire! In this case it might be too risky even to join the big group, if there are just so many creatures that you’re likely to be attacked.
* Throngs of deaders are everywhere because of a burst of deaths – get those white flasks ready and send mana to clerics and empaths if you can.
* Lots of fires on the streets are making it difficult for rescuers to drag deaders back to the square – stock up on buckets (unless you’re a wizard) and get those fires out.
* Some creatures are wandering with 900 AS but they can only attack one target at a time – go out and fight. In the best case, you do some damage and contribute to the victory! Worst case where you die: well, someone was going to die and need a cleric’s help either way, so it’s better that it was you than the 19m exp empath. 😉
I know I’ve gone on and on. What can I say–I love invasion chaos. 😛
I’ll just conclude by saying that one thing you can do, if absolutely nothing else, is run around TSC and the trophy room (and Voln if the path there is clear) and give status reports on the amunet–as often the people who are fighting, healing, and raising are too busy to keep up with live updates about the situation.
When Beld first started three years ago he used to group up with all the older folks and he actually didn’t die that much. Got involved in the storyline with Drangell (spitS) and rysus (although some stupid people took that away sort of) cough Also was involved in stealing plinite from some thieves on a ship and helping coordinate it’s return will most of it. I was definetly lower levels then. Now I can go out at 100 and survive a lot. However eventually in KST everyone dies
Buy Deeds!!
Where’s my fishing title?
Date: 05/18/2018 04:49 PM CDT
From: FIREPHOENIX
Subj: Re: Me
Had a great time as well. I feel this one isn’t over so I’ll see you folks tonight 😉
-Geijon
Date: 05/18/2018 07:46 PM CDT
From: N2PLAY
Subj: Re: Me
I say, do what you want. Just know, that if you die, you may or may not be rescued. However, this applies to all deaths, so it’s just up to you. Shinann would advise less experienced people to hang out around town and the triage, but Shinann isn’t me, so go for it, if you want! I used to hate feeling stuck in town, but it just depended on what was happening.
Shinann usually doesn’t stay in triage. She does check on them and people think to her that things are under control or they’ve moved. I felt like Shinann’s place last night was with a group of amazing defenders because she can’t touch elementals (warding only empath) and she just healed them, as needed. Since this was a surprise, we had no way to set up plans, like Shinann and Stormyrain have tried to do in the past. She just locates and sees who is where. She also knows there are capable people around in the triages that know when to move indoors or call for help.
Also, my lag was sort of bad, so apologies if she missed getting anyone while vertical and breathing.
All in all was lots of fun. She would have liked to live to see the vathor (since she’s never seen one). Alas, it was not meant to be!
B aka Shinann
Date: 05/18/2018 07:49 PM CDT
From: N2PLAY
Subj: Re: Me
Gah, ignore a few “justs”.
Date: 05/19/2018 12:40 AM CDT
From: GS4-KENSTROM
Subj: Re: Me
I won’t be on tonight, Fri. Sorry. Super exhausted.
I did enjoy last night though and I’m glad you all did too. I haven’t done a lot of invasions lately that don’t tie into storylines. Hell the entire Kestrel storyline had almost nothing.
But this definitely sparked my passion to continue to revisit just normal invasions. No storyline hook. No cross over. No seven degrees of Grishom Stone, hah. Just invasions. So, yeah. Buy deeds.
-GM Kenstrom- Waylayer of Wehnimer’s Landing Human Guru
These parts probably did not make the log. For the sake of posterity and all…
(1) Choose The Form of the Destructor
Lylia whispers aloud, “Go get her, Rae…”
Speaking to a fire-wreathed red-orange vathor, Raelee calmly states, “Vathor of Glatoph. Good evening. As a duly designated representative of the Hall, protectorate and town of Wehnimer’s Landing, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension.”
Pukk says, “That outta do it, thanks Rae.”
The fire-wreathed red-orange vathor hisses, “Are you a godddd…..?”
Lylia nods eagerly at Raelee!
Raelee carefully says, “…. Yes.”
(2) Balrog of Glatoph
A fire-wreathed red-orange vathor arrives, its membranous black wings spreading slightly.
Xandalf yells, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!”
A fire-wreathed red-orange vathor gestures into the air. A wave of crimson ethereal ripples moves outward from a fire-wreathed red-orange vathor.
Xandalf is buffeted by the crimson ethereal waves, and knocked to the ground.
Xandalf whispers aloud, “Fly, you fools!”
A fire-wreathed red-orange vathor suddenly slams its huge clawed foot down, sending out a rippling shockwave that blurs and contorts the air around you!
Ardwen is caught by the force and goes soaring up…
Legolass is caught by the force and goes soaring up…
Merry is caught by the force and goes soaring up…
You are caught by the force and go soaring down…
[Upper Trollfang, Foothills] A lone modwir stands on this bare slope, its gnarled branches swept bare by the winds that whistle down from the mountains. You feel dwarfed by the huge tree as you climb past it. You also see an oaken shield and a mithril corselet. Obvious paths: up, down
(3) Mount Doom
[Glatoph, Arch] You’re perched at the very top of the stone arch, overlooking the lava pool. It’s hotter up here than you’ve ever imagined any place could be, without actually being on fire. The porous lava rock under your feet is covered with rusty brown stains. Also here: Smegil. Obvious exits: northeast, southwest
You glance down to see an etched gold ring in your right hand.
> But this definitely sparked my passion to continue to revisit just normal invasions. No storyline hook. No cross over. No seven degrees of Grishom Stone, hah. Just invasions. So, yeah. Buy deeds. These can be super fun. I’d vote for mini story arcs, too. Like, 3 acts, 3 invasions, 3 nights.
Date: 05/19/2018 01:01 AM CDT
From: LEAFIARA
Subj: Re: Me
>But this definitely sparked my passion to continue to revisit just normal invasions. No storyline hook. No cross over. No seven degrees of Grishom Stone, hah. Just invasions. So, yeah. Buy deeds.
Leafiara’s eyes suddenly flash with a fiery red glow. Leafiara gets an excited look on her face, and her body begins to shake as her smile stretches from ear-to-ear. Leafiara lets loose a loud whoop of delight.
— Walsor Gryhm says, “Hmm, a most impressive weapon of note. I’ll give you 16 silver coins for it.” You think to yourself, “This deal is getting worse all the time.”
Date: 05/19/2018 01:31 AM CDT
From: LAWRONIUS
Subj: Re: Me
Thanks for all the invasion tips folks, I appreciated reading them and they definitely gave me more food for thought for next time. Thank you for going into such detail. I’m amazed I didn’t think of some of the simple things like mana sharing and white flasks, it’s funny what basics you forget when the sky is raining fire. I really appreciated the helpful tips, and I also read through the Invasions folder on here which had some interesting stuff in it too. In the meantime I’ll do some rounds and make sure there are enough sharpened logs stockpiled by the ballistas for future troubles 🙂 My thanks to Kenstrom for always making the Landing interesting, but also to the staff and GMs that created the mobile towers and rooftops and treetops for lower-level characters to utilize during invasions. They are really clever and useful mechanics. I can’t wait to try more of that out soon, and maybe even join a big hunting party blob and roll the dice on getting squashed/immolated/etc just for the experience of it. One thing I love about this game are the many different ways it has of surprising you or keeping you on your toes, I look forward to more of whatever Kenstrom has up his sleeves in the near future.
Date: 05/19/2018 01:37 AM CDT
From: LAWRONIUS
Subj: Re: Me
<i>But putting out fires and manning the ballistas is great. It can get tough for folks to break away from the middle of fights to take care of that and the fires can really do a number on the town and spread havoc. I do wish there was a mechanic for folks to gain experience for putting out fires. Imagine gaining a level for being a firefighter!</i>
Haha I would totally strive to earn a title of firefighter or fire chief. Maybe a shiny badge or cool hat to go along with it. Dalmatian animal companion…
Date: 05/19/2018 09:51 AM CDT
From: CLUNK24963
Subj: Re: Me
<i>But putting out fires</i>
is great until an iron water bucket falls on your head
Clunk
(Buy your swords at CBD weapons in Zul Logoth.)
Date: 05/19/2018 03:28 PM CDT
From: UBERWENCH
Subj: Re: Me
Every invasion should have blooper reels and outtakes. 😀
— Lauren, Lylia’s player
Date: 05/19/2018 03:30 PM CDT
From: GEHAYI
Subj: Re: Me
>IMO, don’t be too concerned about getting killed in a fight or else you’ll never be out there whether you have 1.5m experience (almost level 37) or whether you have 15m experience (almost twice cap). People with way more experience than that can and do still get slaughtered out there, which… I mean, for one thing, to me that’s the entire fun of it. 😀
How can getting killed be fun when all it does is cost you money, cost you deeds, and pointlessly punish you for dying with Death’s Sting? Maybe it’s me, but I’m missing the fun part.
>* Lots of fires on the streets are making it difficult for rescuers to drag deaders back to the square – stock up on buckets (unless you’re a wizard) and get those fires out.
1) Where do you buy buckets? There were none in Moot Hall on the Night of the Vathor so far as I could see. 2) How do you fill buckets if you are a square? Can you fill from a spring, a lake, the waters of Darkstone Bay, etc.? Or do you have to have a specific spell involving water? And if you can fill the bucket from an in-game water source, which one? And what verb do you use? Is it FILL BUCKET or something else? 3) What verb do you use if you have a bucket with water and find a fire? Do you POUR BUCKET? POUR BUCKET ON FIRE? POUR BUCKET IN FIRE? THROW WATER ON FIRE? EXTINGUISH FIRE? There are a lot of possibilities and an invasion is not a great time to experiment.
>* Tons and tons of corporeal enemies are swarming around the Landing within range of the ballistas – take aim and fire! In this case it might be too risky even to join the big group, if there are just so many creatures that you’re likely to be attacked.
Um…I don’t know how the ballistas work. There are instructions, yes, but I still don’t know how to aim them or fire them. I’ve never been able to practice aiming or firing them–and I’ve tried repeatedly–and I wouldn’t know how to start during an invasion.
Date: 05/19/2018 03:56 PM CDT
From: LEAFIARA
Subj: Re: Me
>How can getting killed be fun when all it does is cost you money, cost you deeds, and pointlessly punish you for dying with Death’s Sting? Maybe it’s me, but I’m missing the fun part.
The fun of dying in an invasion is from all the things that you can’t and won’t ever get from everyday hunting. It’s when you can see how much further along you would have needed to be to survive, when you talk afterward about how you joined in an epic battle, just discussing it in general, or having a good laugh over how badly you were killed.
But if you don’t like any of that, then there’s always the other cases where you don’t die. You can get a great new creature for your strongest foe slain, like I said before, or talk about the amazing things you saw in battle. Sometimes the 20m experience characters next to you get killed and you survive by some crazy stroke of luck, whether it’s just that you didn’t get attacked or the creature hit you for 108 damage but you survived because it hit your leg. You can also gather up a ton of loot that people tend to leave on the floor while they’re occupied with the fighting.
All kinds of unexpected things can happen out there!
>1) Where do you buy buckets? There were none in Moot Hall on the Night of the Vathor so far as I could see. >2) How do you fill buckets if you are a square? Can you fill from a spring, a lake, the waters of Darkstone Bay, etc.? Or do you have to have a specific spell involving water? And if you can fill the bucket from an in-game water source, which one? And what verb do you use? Is it FILL BUCKET or something else? >3) What verb do you use if you have a bucket with water and find a fire?
Buckets are free on the table just inside Moot Hall (entry room) or just inside the Raging Thrak Inn (entry room) and they’re free. Simply GET BUCKET and keep piling them into your containers or disk–they come with two pours each and there’s no way to fill them up further. (And for some reason the syntax to get rid of an empty bucket is a bit weird… I believe it’s drink my bucket.)
To put out fires, it’s pour my bucket on fire.
>Um…I don’t know how the ballistas work. There are instructions, yes, but I still don’t know how to aim them or fire them. I’ve never been able to practice aiming or firing them–and I’ve tried repeatedly–and I wouldn’t know how to start during an invasion.
I’ll have to defer to someone else on this since I don’t remember.
It isn’t so much that death itself is fun, but that it’s the unavoidable outcome of taking risks — which can be fun. Being able to get that last lick in to kill something or performing a daring rescue is worth the occasional death. I don’t find it expensive because I generally just depart, and a little salve can fix that (I buy it with the bonus monthly Simucoins). You can also ameliorate death’s sting with the daily login bonuses; removers are one of the things you accumulate naturally, so spend a couple of those and you’re golden.
I announced it in-game/IC on the amulet when fires started, but if it wasn’t clear, buckets are at Moot Hall and at Raging Thrak Inn on the table just inside each place (there are probably others, but those are my go-to locations). They are free; you just go in and GET BUCKET, and you can stash a bunch of them in your containers of choice. Find a fire, and then POUR MY BUCKET ON FIRE. You get two pours per bucket, and then you’re left with an empty one, which you can refill some places where water’s accessible, but I’m not sure of the command there because it’s way more cumbersome than just using another bucket. To get rid of the empty bucket, you can just drop it and make sure you GET BUCKET from MY [CONTAINER] to pull out the next one.
It’s weird, but you can also make the bucket “evaporate” using DRINK MY BUCKET when it’s empty. You will see that it’s empty and set it aside instead of leaving it on the ground.
Incidentally, it’s not a big deal if you’re trying guess-the-verb during the process. While I agree it’s not particularly fun to do and can get a little frustrating, experimentation is usually pretty quick with a simpler mechanic like that. It’s not like fires will actually consume the town if you type POUR BUCKET and find it doesn’t work. No one sees it if you’ve tried a couple of verbs that didn’t work, and there’s no need to stress over something that won’t affect the fate of thousands. 🙂
The ballistae and the pylons, when they’re functional, are a bit more complex. Usually, someone around them knows how to use them and will tell others what to do. I’m afraid I don’t know myself how to use them as I’ve not been on ballista duty during invasions, but we have a number of people who are very keen on overseeing the defenses who can shed more light. There’s also this Wiki page:
>Speaking to Zyllah, Alyias says, “See? Raelee knows all.”
Date: 05/19/2018 07:29 PM CDT
From: LAWRONIUS
Subj: Re: Me
The ballistas I believe are locked until a GM unlocks them in an invasion. Once they are unlocked you either TAKE LOG or GET LOG (provided there are sharpened logs already stocked and prepared) and it will load one in the ballista. There is a 35-40 second roundtime when I did it. Then you have to PULL BALLISTA in order to crank it up. That took me about 90 seconds of roundtime. You PEER BALLISTA to see where it’s aiming, and if there are enemy creatures there FIRE BALLISTA to shoot it. With luck you’ll see a message that your log struck one of the creatures. I’m not sure what this looks like from the ground, but hopefully helpful and awesome. If you want to position the ballista at another window then I think it’s TURN BALLISTA and it will rotate it, this also takes quite a bit of roundtime. I’ve only ever manned them solo, but I would guess with a small group it might cut down on all the roundtimes, I’m not sure. You can peer into three different areas outside the gate from the windows in the tower I think.
You can also fire arrows through the slits/windows in the archery towers and from the rooftops etc, and apparently cast spells down as well, although I’ve never tried either of those things.
Next invasion I want to try and hop along the rooftops or run through the treetops in the DragonsClaw.
And yes, Leafi and Lylia explained the buckets above clearly and well! Another mechanic I found I really enjoyed! As there was a practical and immediately visible result of extinguishing flames that made me feel like I was doing something productive to help. Yay!
And again, I have to restate how much fun I had during the last invasion, and thanks again to everybody who helped answer my ‘younglings-in-invasion-guide’ questions above. I also need to fear death a little less I think, the setbacks aren’t so big or bad vs the fun of adventure.
Date: 05/19/2018 09:26 PM CDT
From: INIQUITY
Subj: Re: Me
Invasions feel like pointless-certain-death at low levels and epic high stakes gambles at high levels. There will sometimes be creatures in different areas at other level ranges, but something bigger might wander into town or rain from the sky. It is the only time basically where we get to stand off against demons or do larger scale heroics, like shooting down airships and flying pyramids or burning ships, or rare disasters like Melgorehn’s Reach magically erupting or the Red Forest catastrophe or so on.
You have somewhat reasonable chances of taking hits and living when your DS is what it would be in the 50s Levels. (Example: Sheruvian harbingers can swing near 400 and massive troll kings claw up to low 500s at Level 63.) The level vs. level stuff like major elemental waves is still savage until the 80s or 90s, and some things are universal death traps. I was trying to tank my way through to Drangell’s lair with a dozen Blood Bursts running and Sign of Staunching. Totally covered in Rank 3 wounds before crit killed.
– Xorus’ player
(Basically: Getting killed by an ordinary Level 97 fire elemental e-wave is boring. Having to disconnect and taking over 300 damage upon returning from an “enraged frightened velnalin” with an 1140 AS is memorable and worth losing a deed. And the level of them can go high, so you can get a more exotic “strongest foe” vanquished.)
