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Moldy oldbie looking for some guidance
Ulrike
Maryland
Hi there, Achaeans. Been a while.
A bolt from the blue brought me back: Arcrisius' player messaged me to let me know that there are changes for the Naga, and the Dracrotalus lineage is becoming some Game of Thrones-flavored noble house, and didn't I own a sprawling manse in the Mhaldor subs that I could log on real quick and unlock?
After a few conversations with Mycen, Herenicus (I know, I know) and sundry others, I decided to come back for a while and help see this transition through, as a fitting coda to the legacies I cherish in the game. To do that, though, I need to get my study on, especially if I want to be helping n00bs again (which I very much do).
It's been five years since I set the game aside. I used to know it very well; not so much, now. Once-familiar things are bewildering.
Here's kind of what I do know:
- Shaitan/Apollyon became Sartan again and decided the Sarapin sacrifices were, like, so last era
- Shallam got nuked and now there's some risen-from-the-ashes analog called Sargasso or whatever
- And the eternal dagron that nuked Shallam also snacked on a bunch of gods, and Lorielan flipped everybody off in hilarious fashion
- Quisalis Mark et al. got expanded in some nifty way?
- There's now an Alchemist class with a parallel set of curatives or something?
- There's no more Action in Hypnosis?
- Curing isn't even hard anymore?
- There's some cool-sounding thing involving artifact assembly?
- Somebody who thinks "orientate" is a cromulent word was allowed to recode org logs
- The default client is all snazzy now and there are lots of convenience changes
- I seriously don't even know what's going on with the "artifact packs" on the credits page
I'd love to get some opinions from players, private or public, because help files and news posts only get you the official story, and only so much of that. I'm making a new thread because I'd rather engage with players directly than wade through 9999999 forum posts, and also because I'm lazy (big surprise there).
Here's what I'd like to know, in broad strokes:
- What's the shape of politics on the continent?
- What client do people primarily use now, and what system(s)?
- How has combat changed? Which classes are OP right now and which are crap?
- Are ships actually used much anymore?
- How's game population compared to several years ago?
- Which gods are active lately?
- Is there some kind of FAQ for relapsing addicts to peruse that I'm totally missing?
PM me or post here, or tell/message me in game, or seek me out elsewhere, as is your wont. Any help is appreciated.
Attitude-wise, I'm not quite the same as I used to be. A little mellower, a little less griefery, no less prone to giggling at imbecilic image macros or a bit of the ol' snark. If I stole your journal or killed your pony lo these many years ago, mea culpa; nothing personal. 
Cheers,
Ulrike
18
Comments
Hi Ulrike.
Welcome back.
Album of Bluef during her time in Achaea
@Ulrike, fuck yeah! Comin' again to steal the motherfuckin' gold yeah!
@Ulrike : They killed thievery. You can no longer hypnotize someone into handing you stuff. Now you pickpocket at random, or target items with near zero chance of success. Welcome to a new age.
And welcome back, I missed you
Welcome back.
It hasn't been THAT long since I came back myself from an albeit shorter dormancy, but I'll see what I can share.
1. There's no more Team Red vs. Team Blue. Each city-state is on its own to varying degrees, with Mhaldor and Ashtan usually playing the villains both with each other and with each city-state.
2. Mudlet is the client of choice, afaik, and many people use SVO which is the new system from @Vadimuses. There is also Omni and Wundersys? floating around, I believe.
3. This isn't my area of expertise, but classes have been pulled to a middle ground across the board in PvE in terms of damage against denizens, so there are no more 'terrible' classes. As I understand it, it's not about utility and defense, and Runewarden is touted as the best bashing class. @Sena will be able to answer that one better!
4. Still used! How much so, I'm honestly not sure. They are looking to change things up though, according to a certain Dais thread.
5. Lower these days, honestly.
6. In Mhaldor, Sartan. In Ashtan, Vastar. In Hashan, Twilight and Ourania. In Eleusis, Gaia. In Targossas, Aurora and (sometimes) Deucalion. In Cyrene, Scarlatti. I might be missing a couple.
7. Not as far as I know.
"Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that [everlasting] life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man."
Welcome back @Ulrike! You were a terror of my novicehood and much-beloved in Mhaldor, so always very great to see old faces making a comeback.
Breaking down your questions:
-Politics have radically changed over the last five years. All of the old alliances (team red and team blue) have more or less gone down the crapper. Most cities stand on their own two feet, though of course some are more wobbly than others. Mhaldor has had its up and downs but is currently on a population boom and generally handling itself very well since Sartan's return. Shallam died, lost a lot of deadweight in the year of being citiless refugees, and the hardened citizens have become the city of Targossas. It is a militant Good version, much stricter rulers, and even cooler Gods found in Aurora and Deucalion. Eleusis is still in the middle of their own changes, and has become a contender on the world stage with their own philosophies, as well as in combat. Gaia has returned to head the village as well. Hashan has been struggling a bit but it slowly becoming what many hope to be the city of Darkness, with Twilight's return and now patronage of the city. Cyrene had a very long boom in activity, then a slow decline, and now another boom with their recent Houses all redone, with Scarlatti (not officially, but more or less) leading the city forward. Ashtan unfortunately had Babel disappear (he would have been new when you left I think), but Vastar has taken up the reins, and Ashtan stands as Achaea's most well-known hard-hitters in combat. All the cities are more or less opposed to one another, some more than others.
-Most people these days will either use the Mudlet client and SVO (Vadimuses' newest system) or Wundersys (Nemutaur's system that is based off of server-side curing - oh yes, Achaea got in-game curing!), or work off html5 (the main website client) and server-side curing. Mudlet/SVO are still the reigning champions at the moment for older players, but a lot of newer players and tinkering coders have been working on creating systems around server-side since it offers some very nice amenities. Then there are those of us who are lazy (hi there) and just do what's easiest.
-Combat has changed in that it has become more accessible, but to be a top-tier still requires a great amount of skill and deep knowledge of the classes. For mid and lower tier, though, you'll see more people involved than ever before. Conflict on Achaea is a daily activity, and few hours go by without someone dying to some other person (whether via Marks, open PK areas, city raids, shrine conflict, whatever). A lot of changes have gone into place into redoing how many of the classes work, as well as the creation of Blademasters (I think you were there for that) and Alchemists, which as you said, introduces a second and similar curing to forestal stuff. Alchemists aren't super popular right now despite the changes, but as always there's lots of testing and tinkering to see how everything works. Monks are still considered one of the top classes to use in combat, Occultists had a huge re-do that makes them fairly strong, the two grove-users are more popular and usable then ever. I wouldn't say any one single class is super op (monk would be the closest), nor any single class that is just utter crap, but there is still definitely some variation and personal like depending on what you enjoy (1v1 vs. group combat vs. utility).
-Ships are still used, though a lot less than in the past. Ship events don't really happen, and other than meeting pirates at sea, fishing, (some) deep sea diving, and trading, there's really not a lot to do. Worry not: There's a huge thread in the Golden Dias section where ideas for improvements are being taken and will hopefully be worked on within the upcoming real year or so, once many of the very big changes going on right now happen. We're all keeping our fingers crossed for the re-invigoration of ships!
-Population from several years ago would be generally lower, though in the last 2? years there has been a general boost to the population in the form of new players, and old players (like you and I!) returning. It's an ongoing theme to make the newbie life easier and more interesting to bring more lifeblood to Achaea, and the newbie changes have been some of the biggest since I've begun playing, honestly. Lots of great things for them nowadays.
-Active Gods depends. ICly (meaning Gods who interact within the game world) includes Aurora, Deucalion, Gaia, Scarlatti, Twilight, Ourania, Valnurana, Vastar, Sartan, Pandora, and maybe Thoth? Not sure on the last. Some of the Gods who are still around and help OOCly include Tecton, Sarapis (he came back!), and then coders like Makarios, and many others who work behind the scenes but aren't known by name so much. There's always more coming back bit by bit, and a lot of us have hope to see some returning faces over the next several months.
-I think @Sena had a general list of "things that have happened" somewhere, but really unsure if it has been updated. Otherwise not really! You posting this thread was likely to be the best way to find things out OOCly. Of course bugging your people IC will get you deeper info on Mhaldor and etc.
Again, welcome back, we really look forward to having you around more!
P.S. - Almost forgot. Everyone is currently going through the "House Renaissance" to redo the Houses in many different ways. Targossas of course already had new Houses, but the rest of the cities needed some work. Cyrene just had theirs done with three entirely new Houses, which is why they're currently in such a boom (besides just being the lovely Cyrene). Mhaldor is up next and should be undergoing their own very, very soon. After that we have Eleusis, then Hashan, then Ashtan. How the Houses will be changed depends entirely upon the city and their desires - we've been told there's not to be any "cookie cutter" way for things to get done, or Houses in general. Some of the other big things upcoming include splitting tradeskills off from classes (and putting in new skills in their place) to make those tradeskills available to everyone, as well as (way down the road) muti-classes, a weaponry rework, and many other things.
That love soon might end You are unbreaking
And be known in its aching Though quaking
Shown in this shaking Though crazy
Lately of my wasteland, baby That's just wasteland, baby
wow 5 years.. I remember you as Nagarini so well.. The good old days.
Welcome back!
There is still Action in hypnosis, theft is just less free-form and creative these days. Still very viable, however - the Naga recently held a theft contest and raked in over a million gold collectively in about a year or two, I think.
Politics is interesting - plenty of RP/espionage work to be done in and between most cities right now, I think.
I can't speak to all the classes but serpent has undergone some big changes - illusions no longer work effectively because of server-side curing (the new freely available curing system delivered straight through Achaea itself), so flays can now deliver venoms as they strip shield/rebounding, gecko (slickness) strips sileris, bites were sped up, and hypochondria was buffed. Most serpent skills are also actually dependent on a stat now, Dexterity - it determines how fast you phase, backstab, flay, garrote, and other stuff. I have never been much for 1v1 but I like the changes a fair bit for small-group combat and ganks.
Game population actually isn't that bad. Also Mhaldor's population is pretty high these days and that's what I care about the most. And Sartan's cool, who needs other gods, man?
Hi, Ulrike.
I can't believe it's been 5 years since you played. It seems like just yesterday we were chatting in Mhaldor about how to oppress our noobs.
For you the biggest change will be Mhaldor being less 'hardcore', and that favoritism is both more and less prevalent than before, and it's more OOC than it used to be (even in the Cowbell days). This is both a good and bad thing, but overall it seems to be working OK. Tons of new names moving up.
Just act just like you used to with a touch less of the 'unapproachable' aspect of your character.
Welcome back!!
Rise, take up thy bow, and snipe.
Always pleased to see old names coming back, Ulrike. @Sabiru would be ecstatic if HE WERE PLAYING.
Stories by Jurixe and Stories by Jurixe 2
Interested in joining a Discord about Achaean RP? Want to comment on RP topics or have RP questions? Check the Achaean RP Resource out here: https://discord.gg/Vbb9Zfs
Be sure to look at stuff like traits and race specializations
2. I think you're referring to talismans. Basically, certain denizens drop talisman pieces, and you combine certain pieces to form talismans that do various things (a permanent bonus, some powerful item, maybe with a limited number of uses, a special pet, they can be lots of things). For example, the first talisman set released were the dragon talismans. Several denizens in high-level bashing areas drop pieces, and there's a talisman for each dragon colour that lets you transform into that colour. Once you have the full set, you become an elder dragon, able to transform into any colour and dragonform faster, plus special enter/exit messages.
3. One important thing that hasn't been mentioned is that ranged combat was nerfed a lot. Most area-range abilities were reduced to either a 3 room radius or line-of-sight, and bows get a lot less accurate the farther away the target is, forcing people to fight closer together and move around more.
GIVE MY STUFF BACK @Ulrike, YOU THIEF!
i.e. Welcome back!
Amusingly, on the MUD that led me to create Achaea, I was the admin/immortal Lazarus, God of Pain.
Svof
Mudlet Discord join up
Welcome back.
You were before my time and all I got were stories that made me convinced that if you had shown back up while I was still Nagaraja, I was screwed and would abdicate immediately.
IN WHICH I ATTEMPT TO RESPOND TO MANY POSTS WITH MUCH CONTENT, IN NO LOGICAL ORDER
I promise you I will never die.
Hi Vadi! Systemspinning as always, I see.
Unless you are mysteriously Karloptimux's alt, this would have been most unlikely, I assure you.
Aww, thanks!
Really good to hear this about newbies. I think I'll run through the intro once or twice or thrice to see how Achaea's presenting itself to the world these days. That'll be helpful, seeing it from the ground up, so to speak. Can you set the help files to not pop out of the default client?
Good idea, thanks!
Wow, I really dig both of those changes. That'll be fun to play with.
@Jhaeli, @Melodie, @Ruth et al.: It's interesting to hear about the demise of Red vs. Blue. I'm ambivalent. It'd be good not to have to deal with ludicrous dogpile alliances and dodgy RP justifications for same, but it was always really cool to see how those alliances shifted over time. Hopefully the current political/RP situation is not so dogmatically atomized as to prevent occasional cross-org alliances. Especially if the playerbase is growing smaller, it might be good to maximize contact.
It probably decayed sometime in the first half of Obama's first term. Womp womp.
I still think of him every time that verb comes up on the Japanese review list.
@Jhaeli, @Melodie: systems and clients -- thanks! I'll have to find out more info on the specific advantages and disadvantages of each. Sounds like we're spoiled for options lately; that doesn't bother me, though. I take it Zmud/Cmud fell by the wayside?
The bit about nerfed range combat makes me most sad.
Cooper! Five years! That means you probably look like this now:
Anyway. What do you mean about Mhaldor being "more OOC"? Less roleplay, more casualness...?
Glad to hear about newer players carrying the torch, though. It was always hard to strike a good balance between Ulrike's "MHALDOR IS SRS BSNS" persona and my own sincere desire for people to freely approach me for help/RP.
+++: Winona Ryder
----------: Resurrection is not a real movie that happened
Hi and thanks also to @Bluef, @Morthif, and @Santar. This thread has been very helpful so far.
"Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that [everlasting] life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man."
It's hard to say whether cross-org alliances will happen again, considering the current climate from city to city. The tendency and possibility for cities on 'Team Blue' side to do it is higher/easier, however, should they ever consider cross-org assistance, even if for a little bit. It's a bit hard between Ashtan and Mhaldor to do that now though; each side believes they are better than the other, which means our pride/ego would be a great hindrance to any team-up.
You can see this happening if you asked around about the Reckoning. Ashtan, Mhaldor, Cyrene, Eleusis and Hashan originally picked Maklak to side. Targossas went with Yudhisthira. Some RP things happened and Eleusis switched, followed a while after by Cyrene after being PKed by Ashtan and told to piss off. So it became Ashtan/Mhaldor/Hashan vs Eleusis/Cyrene/Targossas.
Further, to prevent complaints about 'Team Red' forming up again after a unofficial joint strike on Targossas after a hoarding issue, Ashtan claimed they would accept no other help in the event from then on. So while both of our cities were on the same side, this is about as close as an alliance we likely will get in the future, where each city is working with their own people for their own goals, but being left alone for most part on the battlefield by Ashtan.
I imagine they tried to make it the same for the other side, in order to even things out. The results didn't matter in the event though, if you were only looking at the interactions between city vs city.
@Ulrike. Haven't seen your name in, like, forever.
Also, you missed one of the new things in Achaea - the blademaster class. They're highly mobile iaijutsu(draw-from-the-scabbard-slash-and-resheathe-in-one-motion) bundles of awesome that you see in anime and samurai films.
They're like an unholy combination of monk, knight and serpent, and you can do a quest to get your own named blade(the name is random though, so you can get something like Eternal Mercy...or you might end up with Holy Cats).
Anyway, welcome back!
http://www.achaea.com/banner/mycen.jpg
So great to see you back! Looks like a lot of old players are returning.
Illusions are still useful, you just have to work harder to find out what works against different people. A lot of illusions are nullified by server-side curing, but that still leaves other types of illusions you can use, and not everyone uses server-side curing. Anti-illusion in client-side systems has gotten better too, which also defeats a lot of illusions.
Using illusions for RP hasn't changed, you can still do that just fine.
You think you have it weird coming back to all these new things? I came back and ULRIKE WAS NOT THE NAGARANI! WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL!? THAT AIN'T RIGHT!
Welcome back @Ulrike.
Doubt you'd remember me, I was just an ickle Nagaling when you went dormant, but I remember you! You were part of what convinced me to become a thief haha
Need to be more proactive: