ZarathustrA's Diary

[ZarathustrA]

Hello all, I have never done anything like this before so forgive me if I am a bad writer.

Yesterday in the early morning I told myself "You have to do a 100ped skill hunt". I've never done one before, always 50ped through my jester or less. But with the slowdown I've now reached at 1,500 rifle it seems neccesary. 2,000 is too close to be slacking off.
So I put on my uber pixie armor, bought 100ped of rifle ammo and 10ped of handgun ammo (mph finisher kills... gotta be effecient!) and left Port Atlantis to rid the world of Combibo and Exarosaur scum!
A 22ped Combibo came rather early on in the hunt and made my whole time much more pleasant. Suprisingly, the hunt went pretty fast! I forgot to check my skills before the hunt but afterwards I had 1,575 rifle! Also I had only lost 14ped from 102ped of ammo spent, 3 full axes, and tons of FAP'ing!

I logged off for awhile then logged on a bit later after being told by Spider over AIM that he was going down to PK at the rig. I've never really tried PK'ing because this game is so darn laggy.. I just seem to waste too many shots.
I decided to give it a shot this time though. Svetlana was nice enough to lend me her FF8k (Thank you!) and off I went. I planned on running down their with Kalashi and Jove but I lost track of them when I TP'd off to grab the FF8k.
I headed down their anyways after much atrox dodging and found a pretty empty rig with lots of newbs running around... so I decided to fire.
I quickly took down 2 of them who really didn't know how to dodge but the third was more tricky. He kept running left and then right over and over... then I finally picked up on his patterns and shot way to the right of him after he had dodged left for a little while. Next thing I know he dropped because, as expected, he "dodged" right into the shot.
Before I could celebrate my decent shooting with a 'not really built for pvp' gun an AOA(Atrox Old Alpha) came up and bit my arse.

I quickly healed up and took off for PVP again... this time with a couple newbs running along side me. I'm not an evil person but I have my evil days. After we had ran into PVP a ways, with me occasionally having to slow myself down a bit to "keep up", I opened fire. They definetly seemed to be expecting it because instantly they both split up and started jumping around and dodging like monkeys! I took down one of them rather quickly since he would dodge left/right in way too big of lines... so right when he started a direction I would just lead him a little. Only took 3 shots to get him. The second guy was too much, he was crazy! This definetly was not his first time being shot at.
He was running and jumping very randomly and apparently we both weren't paying attention to where we were going because a second later we both jumped right into an AOA. Ouch.
This time when I revived all the newbs were just hanging around chatting. So I ran back to the rig alone. When I got there there was some better suited up people PK'ing all the newbs. The only name I recognised was JustMental. Nobody was shooting at me though, which actually, bothered me. I wanted to have a real fight vs someone with a gun!
After watching them kill newbs for awhile I finally had been 'trigger happy' for long enough!! I typed in "WRAAA!" and took off towards JustMental with guns blazing. It probably looked pretty funny with me in just clothes with a FF8K chasing down a person in Nemesis with a Jungle.
We ran around each other in circles for awhile shooting away and for a second I had hope that I, the armorless newb, would take this guy down! I had hit him five times with the ff8k and he had barely any life left - he had hit me once! Then the worst thing happened, he pulled out some kind of uber FAP. I gave up. This isn't PK'ing to me. I ran around him in circles trying to make him waste as much ammo as possible before he finally killed me. Needless to say I was dissapointed. I may not be a better PK'er than him overall but that duel was mine! Stupid FAPs.
I ran back to the rig after the death of another newb along the way -- Which reminds me. Sorry to everyone I killed, i was just trying to be evil for a bit, forgive me!
When I got there Moonear was there killing everyone. This was someone who I didn't want to shoot. I would have fought my ass off if he shot at me but I know that's a fight I would be losing. I watched him kill quite a few people and then finally their was one newb left, running circles around the rig. Moonear had hit this guy once before he started running but could not hit him again. He shot over and over and over and then finally I decided to see if I could hit him.

Watch this video to see how that went.
http://zastari.acunett.com/Kitty-PK.avi
( If you can't see the video download/install any Xvid codec off this page http://www.divx-digest.com/software/xvid.html )

You can see by where I shot and where the guy died how laggy he was.
Moonear said right after my kill "nice", that made me smile.
That was enough for me.

After that I told everyone that PK'ing was too expensive for me and that I was leaving. I was suprised when even the nice little newbs I had PK'd said "bye kitty" in the middle of dodging bullet fire right above their heads.
I had spent 30PED in that short amount of time. This is a small amount to some but for me, that was crazy. Fun.. but crazy. I can't belive what others were spending spraying their jungles like they were 2201's!

Basically I learned that PVP is fun but damn expensive, and that some people are either rich... or insane... well either way the're insane.
It was a fun day. Good skills and good kills!

Hope you guys enjoyed the(way too long) read. I didn't realize I had so much to type! *insert laughing face here* (It won't let me use any more smilies!)

I don't know how often I'll be posting but I don't belive every day. I don't do too many exciting things in PE.

Cya! *waving hand face.. LoL*

Edit: I would love to hear some feedback in a PM or maybe even a +reputation.. *cough*... =D

 

[ZarathustrA]

Hello again, so much to say ... I don't know where to start.

To get the first point out their.. I don't like this new VU, at all.
I think it attacks the spirit of the game and takes out part of the games uniqueness that kept me here.

I am sad to say I have never felt like quitting this game (and even said I would never quit) up until this last VU. I have put up with changes I felt were bad because they were simply that.. changes, not total re-workings of the game.

Part of the reason I stuck with this game was the fun in managing my PED, the fun in getting a return rate of 90%+, and most of all the fun in watching my avatar grow. It wasn't just one of these three things but the combination of all three as one.
I enjoyed the rewards of being patient and skilling on low level mobs for less loss, of course I loved hunting bigger things and even PK'ing too but all together what I wanted to do with my money was skill! It was fun, and that is what people are not realizing.
Sure, some people have fun by hunting the biggest mob they can and don't give a shit about their skills, I understand that. I also find it fun at times.. but lately people have been putting down those concerned about skills as being people who want to "profit" and be "uber". I am neither of those.
My fun is had in advancing my avatar the most economically that I can! Yes, skilling for 5 hours straight with a Jester while listening to music in Winamp was fun for me! I can understand how other people enjoyed their time in PE .. why is it so hard to understand how I enjoyed my time?

With the new skill system I feel like we are forced to spend more and more money to see our avatars advance. This works in a game where killing things is free and you pay a monthly payment but in a game where the bigger things you kill.. the more money comes out of your wallet, that is not fun. Esspecially for someone with not much money at all who was having tons of fun with the game before the VU killing what they could afford.

I have been through many, many MMORPG's and PE was the only one that stood apart from them all. It was the least linear of any MMORPG I had played and had the best, most mature community ever. The reason it was so non-linear was due to the skill system and being able to hunt anything you wish with skills advancing due to shots landed, not size of mob killed. You can choose what you want to kill, not follow a path set in stone by the developers! I feel this VU is a leap towards what every other game already is like, and with that a huge part of the uniqueness in this game is lost!

For anyone who has played any other MMORPG they know that experience lessens on mobs the more your character advances, sticking with lower level mobs for the measly experience they have been reduced to was suddenly worthless. You would be a fool to stick around and waste your time (or money) killing these mobs for a tenth of the experience they once gave you. So you move on to the bigger stuff.. as I said, this works in a monthly payment game not one that costs more and more money.
When I said I enjoyed getting 90% return earlier that would be off a 50PED or 100PED hunt or sometimes even more, that's 5-10ped loss, my wallet was happy when that was the case. Now moving on to bigger things means spending more money to get the skills I once used to get. Now that 90% back turns into 90% of 400 or 500ped spent! Am I supposed to be happy now when I lose 40-50ped a hunt? Seeing as that's almost the entire amount I used to use on a normal hunt, no, I wouldn't be happy. This is all only with 90% back, which isn't that common anyways nowadays. When the return rate is dropped to the 70%, 60%, and (increasingly common) 50% levels then I would be tearing my hair out after every hunt. Like I said, I enjoy skilling and seeing my avatar advance so don't feed me bullshit about "if you're having fun on exarosaurs, then kill exarosaurs!"..

"Part of the reason I stuck with this game was the fun in managing my PED, the fun in getting a return rate of 90%+, and most of all the fun in watching my avatar grow."

As I said, to me this game has lost a large part of what has kept me here and fallen into the boring linear path that has caused me to abandon tons of other MMORPG's. What is left? The community, and that is why, if I do plan on quitting, I will still be here for a long time to come.
I love EF, I love PEChat, and Terra's exciting revival of PE Radio is something I look forward too! I love the people here and I love the lack of idiots in our community when every other community is mostly idiots.
I will always be here to help with community related projects but from this point on I can't say, with confidence, that I will always be ingame.

Quitting is still fresh on my mind.. and it worries me. Without the community this game would have been uninstalled yesterday. Goodluck to everyone still playing right now. Sorry for the gloomy post.. I had to let it out.

 

[ZarathustrA]

Yes! I am finally 21!



Finally I can drunkingly gamble all my money away!
Actually I don't do either of those, but I am very happy that I can finally stop missing all kinds of great 21+ concerts! Finally! If somebody good is coming to Portland I don't have to cry everytime I see "21+ Only", I don't even have to look anymore.

..and I can finally see what that Suicide Girls Cabaret show is all about...

Have a great day everyone!!

 

[ZarathustrA]

Hello again everyone.

Today I decided to write another entry because something is really pissing me off right now and I need to talk about it before I explode.

An outdoor Drum'n'Bass show was busted last night in Utah by the National Guard.

These quotes are from the DJ/Producer "Knick" from the group Evol Intent.



"At about 11:30 or so, I was standing behind the stage talking with someone when I noticed a helicopter pulling over one of the mountain tops. I jokingly said "Oh look, here comes big brother" to the person I was with. I wasn't far off.

The helicopter dipped lower and lower and started shining its lights on the crowd. I was kind of in awe and just sat and watched this thing circle us for a minute. As I looked back towards the crowd I saw a guy dressed in camoflauge walking by, toting an assault rifle. At this point, everyone was fully aware of what was going on . A few "troops" rushed the stage and cut the sound off and started yelling that everyone "get the fuck out of here or go to jail". This is where it got really sticky.

No one resisted. That's for sure. They had police dogs raiding the crowd of people and I saw a dog signal out a guy who obviously had some drugs on him. The soldiers attacked the guy (4 of them on 1), and kicked him a few times in the ribs and had their knees in his back and sides. As they were cuffing him, there was about 1000 kids trying to leave in the backdrop, peacefully. Next thing I know, A can of fucking TEAR GAS is launched into the crowd. People are running and screaming at this point. Girls are crying, guys are cussing... bad scene.



It's sickening knowing crap like this can happen. You go out for a fun night and get chased off by suited up soldiers with guns.
Most people may not know this but DnB events are never filled with "E-tards" and drugged up kids like alot of house/trance raves are. I know this from experience. (There's not much worse than smelly ravers asking you if you're selling drugs)

The cops didn't have a warrent and the guy running the event had permits (AND a 2 million dollar insurance policy). The promoters spent $20,000 putting this awesome night together for everyone. They had 3 huge headlining DJ's (Spor, Knick, and DJ Craze) and it was all ruined thanks to some power hungry fascists looking to ruin a good night.

Here is some information from the promoters about different things that happened that night.



"- One of the promoters friends (a very small female) was attacked by one of the police dogs. As she struggled to get away from it, the police tackled her. 3 grown men proceeded to KICK HER IN THE STOMACH.

- The police confiscated 3 video tapes in total. People were trying to document what was happening out there. The police saw one guy filming and ran after him, tackled him and his camera fell, and luckily.. his friend grabbed it and ran and got away. priceless footage. That's not all though. Out of 1,500 people, there's sure to be more footage.

- The police were rounding up the staff of the party and the main promoter went up to them with the permit for the show and said "here, I have the permit." The police then said, "no you don't" and ripped the permit out of his hand. Then, they put an assault rifle to his forehead and said "get the fuck out of here right now.""




Here is the first video, hopefully of many, that has been released from the event.

http://homepage.mac.com/apexgrin/FileSharing2.html
Mirror http://gruwelijk.com/~oxymoron/facism.wmv

It's scary that they found it neccesary to show up looking like this.
The video is just surreal to watch..

If I am in a bad mood for awhile, atleast now you know why.

 

[ZarathustrA]

http://www.utrave.org/showthread.php?t=20630



Justice is on its way!

 

[ZarathustrA]

Well... never thought I would be making this post.
There's not much more to say that hasn't already been said.

In one day two of the greatest friends I have ever had have (very wisely) left what I expected to be the best forum I have ever taken part of.
Two of the ones who have contributed the most in making this place friendly, peaceful, and an all around fun place to frequent.
I'm very dissapointed with the things MB said and the way he handled the situation. Not so much dissapointed in the fact that it happened but more of the fact that it came from someone I expected better of..
I never saw a reason for that thread to be locked and instantly wanted to talk about the story in the NYTimes... as did others I have talked too. I was very confused by the lock but when I heard about the other stuff and the ban that followed... I felt a sick feeling in my stomache. The same feeling I felt when I started hating EP. A feeling of huge dissapointment and a loss for something which I loved and maybe even obsessed a little over.
I had to read the story of the situation over and over again and read the name 'Mindbuster' repeatedly till it finally sunk in.

I enjoyed my time here.. as I did at EP before it "went sour", But I don't hang around places where I don't agree with what's going on. It's my time to depart too.
I will still read posts from time to time, and spread reputation to those that continue to help those in need and post useful information. But that's it... my posting is done for now.

I'll see you all on IRC.

P.S. My PM box still works.