Bryceldri tagged four of my alts (Ilhanna, Barrayaran, Squishballz, Tauranine) six times. I'm not even sure I have 72 facts to tell about myself nor are there people willing to read them, so I'm going to ask for guild discount and do only 36. Here goes:Originally Posted by Bryceldri
1. When I was lvl 35 (at cap lvl 36) I told a mythic rogue in guild I wanted to try running elite.
2. She asked me to put on my best gear so she could see my stats.
3. I had only the one set, so I said, "You're looking at it."
4. She said, "You're gonna get ripped apart."
5. But someone invited me to an elite run not 48 hours afterward. Noone got ripped apart. It was only Ydra but I was thrilled they took me along.
6. That was how I got hooked on elite run
7. Not many people in Trinity Knights ran elite at the time. Only a handful of officers did.
8. One time Isianl, Alxe, a warrior officer named Cagix and me tried elite Arcanum Grounds. I couldn't remember what went wrong but after an hour we reached boss only to get mobbed and finally give up.
9. After that incident I said on officer chat I was never running elite again.
10. An officer named Strainzz laughed and said, "Hanna, we did Arcanum Grounds yesterday, remember?"
12. So Strainzz started a pt and we ran the map. It took only 16 minutes. I felt silly for saying I was giving up on elite.
13. One time when we were running for elite Mardrom achievement, someone I kicked from guild spammed me with pm. It destroyed my focus and I died at the stairs to the next level, mobbed by pigs. Every time I revived they killed me again. My party didn't track back to retrieve me. I finally killed my device. It was that or go on dying.
14. The first time I did Skull Cove elite it took almost two hours.
15. Getting to boss alone took over half an hour. We killed every mob; every crab was a nightmare. I didn't have plat so what I remembered the most vividly about that run was the run back.
16. And yet I went back there again to help fellow officers and guild member get AP. And of course we got massacred again. We made it but it was a hellish ordeal.
17. Then one day some officers went to do Skull Cove elite with two pro runners, and they took just 21 minutes. So I asked them what did they do differently. They only said, "Maybe it's only because they're really good."
22. That kind of attitude, the keeping of tactical knowledge that would have benefited more people if shared, always always always always always annoy me.
23. So getting to know Isianl and Warhorseman was a godsend really. These two love elite as much as I do and was just as eager as I was to get new APs and have always been willing to learn and help.
24. I did my first elite Oltgar and Valheim with Isian, War and Ocharles. To give you an idea how good they are: it took another party of officers almost 3 hours to complete both maps. In fact they were telling me on /o not to start because guild meeting was about to start in an hour. Isian, War, Charles and me finished both maps in less than an hour. On /o the others were saying things like "You can't have finished yet!" But we did.
25. The thing is, at the time, the other group of officers believed that elite is supposed to be hard and time consuming, so completing it gives you more sense of accomplishment.
26. Isian, War and Charles showed me that yes, elite is hard, but there are other ways to do it than bashing your head against it hoping it will crack before you. You can be smart about it and it will actually be more fun than frustrating to do.
27. I was told that to do elite Inan (at cap 36) you need mythic rogues. Only the then TK GM had the AP and Valkin at that time and he won it with the help of three mythic rogues.
28. One day while leveling a pet in normal Ashral I met a mage who had Valkin. We started talking. He told me only one in his party was mythic when he got the AP. But they used Ribbits and took turns using its AA.
29. I was so excited with this discovery I told War about it and we were so pumped up to go but noone else wanted to. We agreed to try on the weekend. But I couldn't come in game because of RL and War spent the weekend watching football.
30. In the end I got my Valkin with a team of two mythic mages, one legendary warrior, and me in my Tarlok gear and McCraw.
31. Others in guild run an elite map to get AP and then never set foot there ever again. So when they get all AP they didn't know what else to do and get bored.
32. I run elite maps over and over while helping guildies get AP, hoping I could do it better, faster, smarter. Also for a time I was mad about looting Shadowfang and Amy I would run elite Kraken and Undim Fields at every opportunity.
33. So as stressful as Tour of Arlor might have been, I was actually happy about it because we were running every map more than once trying to help everyone who needed it. I think one gratifying moment was when I saw someone else confident enough to give instructions like "Run", "Here" because they had been on that map many times before.
34. I wish I could be better than that rogue who told me I would get ripped apart in elite. I try my best to be encouraging. But I've died too many times trying to help unprepared guildies, I had to be more firm about turning down requests for elite help until the person asking it is truly ready.
35. Yes I know some people hate me for it.
36. But at least I try to help them get ready with respec, gear giveaways/loans, practice runs, etc. Sometimes the result is amazing and I gain new running partners. Sometimes it's heartbreaking. But at least I tried.
No more tagging please. It's cruel and inhuman punishment...
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