Now and then

[Reunegade]

PL seems to have changed a lot since I first started playing (End of Ao2). In this thread I will compare what PL is now and what it was back then when I started playing.

[Reunegade]

NOW AND THEN: PVE
PvE back in the Ao3 days were very fun. I did many runs with my few best friends online. We used to compare whose weapons were the best. Then the first annual Winter Festival came. It cost 10 platinum to join in on the fun.

One of the things I liked back then was the fact that 90% of PvE games were team games, as opposed to the 99% of the games as "omgineedztogetto76nao" games that we have right now. The game actually needed skill and patience. Now all we have are thrasher runs that only takes 2 shots to kill just a single Humania yeti. And that's not all; in BSM, if you were wearing the top quality gear, you could probably run a whole level of BSM without attacking once and you won't die because of the HUGE dodge factor. Back in Ao3, the only way to survive Gurgox's major attack, you needed to run to an orb before he screams. Now, all you have to do is spam skills and auto-attack and bam; the boss is dead. Back then you could also only have 5 skill ranks for each skill, as opposed to 9 nowadays. This I think was the worst decision STS made because if you had 9 skill ranks invested in blast shot on a bird with high dps and a thrasher, it could easily OHKO any BSM enemy that isn't a boss or a mini-boss.

Then came Balefort Sewers, arguably the best campaign that was released. This was released back in February of 2011. It gave PL VERY balanced new items. The orange, green, and purple items could be used effectively as if it were a pink. A Drainer's Gemstone Recurve could be compared to a Raid Roach's Gemstone Recurve. The bosses also included strategy as well; such as the Garbage guy (forgot name), if you destroyed all of his garbage bins, he will restore his health. And some of the bosses rely on smart thinking, such as the Bandit King and Queen. They were to hard to take on when they are together, but if you somehow lure one of them out and fight them separately, it could be a very easy job. Again, teamwork was also needed. You wouldn't want to wander the smelly sewers by yourselves. This was probably the turning point of PvE, or maybe even PL as a whole.

THINGS THAT COULD CHANGE NOW
-Remove thrashers from platinum store, or raise the price of thrashers.

-Lower the dodge and hit percentage of the BSM and upcoming campaign's equipment.

-Make the bosses harder with more strategy involved. (Not just a 1000 HP improvement: I mean real strategy)

-Lower the maximum skill rank. (9 as maximum skill rank?)

-Give non-premium players a chance.

-Make other items besides only the top quality pink gear able to use without dying way too much.

-And most important of all, listen to all of your fans STS!

[Reunegade]

NOW AND THEN: PVP

Back in Ao3 when I started playing, PvP was getting to be very popular. At endgame, most people sported the absolute best gear combinations that they could find. The most popular choices were the void, cosmos, and rift sets. That all changed when a new campaign for level 50s only came out; Shadow Cave. The rarest sets were unaffordable by most. The enemies in Shadow Cave were WAY too tough. The bosses were a nightmare. It took the most skilled people with the best sets to even have a shot at facing the enemies. Even now, level 76's were still having trouble.

The release of Balefort Sewers was the best campaign series to get orange items that could be useful in PvP. Kiting, tree hugging, and trapping were all techniques that were used by PvPers. That wasn't the case now; If you were to tree hug, you would be told that you were a total "noob" and couldn't fight like a proper man. Cyber-bullying was one of the reasons why I quit PvP. It wasn't a major problem, as I don't read the chat box in PvP that often. Those kind of people liked to bully people because A. the person was bad at PvP B. the bullier hated rushers or C. the bullier just hates the person in general. Another reason why I disliked PvP now was because of the plain and simple fact that everyone says "go". And if I were to rush someone, the person would say a variation of "u rusher gimme free or else u die nub". I'm playing PvP the way I want to and you can't tell me I can't. PvP nowadays at endgame isn't fun at all either. All it is is whoever spams their skills quickest wins the match. Or whoever dodges the most attacks win. I swear, this is 100% of all 1v1 fights. If you were to be hit by a debuff, you would be dead because you would need the time for your skills to reload. The insane dodge goes into the hundreds, and a bird's hit percent goes over 200. Oh and did I mention the skill rank when the skill is at 9? Yeah......part of the reason why each 1v1 fight lasts 2 seconds is because of that.

THINGS TO CHANGE NOW
-Lower dodge on all BSM equips

-Make all classes more fair

-Lower hit percent on all BSM equips

[Reunegade]

NOW AND THEN: POPULAR TWINKING ITEMS
Twinking is a very popular part of PL. Twinking is a set character at a certain level that fights people around the same level. For example, if I made a 56 twink, I would want to have the top gear, and I would want to be very skilled at that level.

Here is a chart of the most popular items by twinking levels:
Level 10-20: (ALL CLASSES)
Weapon: Sniper's Avian Talon, Jewel Thief's Avian Talon, Winter Fest Tinsel Talon, Sniper's Auto-Crossbow, Conqueror's Board and Nail, Ghoulish Reaper Blade, Fiendish Monkey Paw, Gruesome Pumpkin Chunker, Forgotten Bow
Armor: Artisan's Reinforced Leather, Expert's Reinforced Leather, Sniper's Leather, Jewel Thief's Leather, Dark Forest Leather, Winter Fest PJs
Helmet: Sniper's Avian Helmet, Jewel Thief's Avian Helmet
Shield: Winter Fest Pepperment Wing, Winter Fest Runner Sled, Fiendish Haunted Doll, Gruesome Evidence Bracer, Ghoulish Bone Cage

Level 21-34: (ALL CLASSES)
Weapon: Dreamer's Earthquake Wand, Jewel Thief's Earthquake Dagger, Conqueror's Earthquake Hammer, Dreamer's Onyx Staff, Jewel Thief's Onyx Bow, Conqueror's Onyx Battlesword, Dreamer's Crystalline Wand, Dreamer's Crystalline Staff, Jewel Thief's Crystalline Bow, Jewel Thief's Crystalline Dagger, Conqueror's Crystalline Sword, Conqueror's Crystalline Axe, Iceberg Frozen Longsword, Iceberg Frosty Hatchet, Brain-Freeze Ice Wand, Brain Freeze Ice Staff, Shivering Ice Auto-Crossbow, Shivering Ice Talon, Ghoulish Reaper Blade, Gruesome Pumpkin Chunker, Fiendish Monkey Paw, Forgotten Bow
Armor: Dreamer's Earthquake Wraps, Dreamer's Crystalline Wraps, Dreamer's Onyx Cloak, Jewel Thief's Earthquake Jacket, Jewel Thief's Crystalline Leather, Jewel Thief's Onyx Leather, Conqueror's Earthquake Platemail, Conqueror's Crystalline Platemail, Conqueror's Onyx Platemail,
Artisan's Reinforced Leather, Expert Reinforced Leather, Iceberg Frost Knight Plate, Shivering Leather, Brain-Freeze Robe
Helmet: Dreamer's Earthquake Crown, Dreamer's Crystalline Crown, Dreamer's Onyx Crown, Jewel Thief's Crystalline Helm, Jewel Thief's Onyx Helm, Jewel Thief's Earthquake Helm, Conqueror's Onyx Helmet, Conqueror's Earthquake Helmet, Conqueror's Crystalline Helmet, Sniper's Avian Helmet, Jewel Thief's Avian Helmet
Shield: Iceberg Frosty Shield, Shivering Frosty Snowbird Wing, Brain-Freeze Eye, Conqueror's Ironrock Shield, Fiendish Haunted Doll, Gruesome Evidence Bracer, Ghoulish Bone Cage




Level 35: (ALL CLASSES)
Weapon: Mamboza's Voodoo Pin, Mamboza's Master Staff, Mamboza's Voodoo Staff, Ghoulish Reaper Blade, Gruesome Pumpkin Chunker, Fiendish Monkey Paw, Copperhead's Swampy Trident, Forgotten Bow
Armor: Mamboza's Voodoo Robe, Jewel Thief's Croc Scale Leather, Copperhead's Croc Scale Armor
Helmet: Mamboza's Voodoo Helm, Jewel Thief's Helm, Copperhead's Helmet
Shield: Mamboza's Doll, Fiendish Haunted Doll, Gruesome Evidence Bracer, Ghoulish Bone Cage, Copperhead's Swampy Shield





Level 36-55: (ALL CLASSES)
Weapon: Pink Ballista, Red Scarab Bow, Fire Wand, Mega Blaster of the Void, Sunblessed Bow of the Void, Cyber Blaster of the Void, Laser Wand of the Cosmos, Sunblessed Sword of the Rift, Sentinel Shotgun of Death, Hax of Hate, Wand of Shadows, Raid Roach's Auto-Bow, Raid Roach's Recurve, Custom Auto-Bow, Custom Recurve, Fury Fighter's Gemstone Sword, Fury Fighter's Gemstone Axe, Fortified Gemstone Sword, Fortified Gemstone Axe, Mega Mage's Wand, Mega Mage's Staff, Enchanted Wand, Enchanted Staff, Sewer King's Scarab, Drainer's Gemstone Recurve Forgotten Bow
Armor: Mynas Armor, Scorpion Leather, Leather of the Void, Platemail of the Rift, Robe of the Cosmos, Sentinel Armor of Death, Armor of Hate, Armor of Shadows, Raid Roach's Leather, Custom Leather, Fury Fighter's Plate, Fortified Plate, Mega Mage's Robe, Enchanted Robe, Sewer King's Leather, Sewer Queen's Robe, Royal Sewer Plate
Helmet: Scorpion Helm, Mage Helm (sorry I don't do level 45), Warrior helm, Void helm, Rift helm, Cosmos helm, Sentinel Helm of Death, Helm of Hate, Helm of Shadows, Raid Roach's Gemstone Helm, Custom Gemstone Helm, Fury Fighter's Gemstone Helm, Fortified Gemstone Helm, Mega Mage's Gemstone Tiara, Enchanted Tiara, Sewer King's Helm, Sewer Queen's Helm, Royal Sewer Helm
Shield: Mynas wing, Blinking eye, Eye shield, Gurgox Eye of the Cosmos, Big Reptile Face Eating Shield of the Rift, Cyber Mage Shield of the Cosmos, Cyber Shield of the Rift, Hate Shield, Voodoo Doll of Shadows, Fury Fighter's Gemstone Shield, Fortified Gemstone Shield, Mega Mage's Bracer, Enchanted Bracer




Level 56-65: (ALL CLASSES)
Weapon: Glyph X-Bow, Glyph Mace, Glyph Wand, Demonic X-Bow, Demonic Mace, Demonic Wand, Lilith's Wand, Chiroptera Sword, Sanguine Chiroptera Bow, Crafted Wand, Crafted Sword, Crafted Sanguine Bow, Forgotten Bow
Armor: Glyph Leather, Glyph Robe, Glyph Plate, Demonic Leather, Demonic Robe, Demonic Plate, Lilith's Robe, Chiroptera Plate, Chiroptera Leather, Crafted Robe, Crafted Plate, Crafted Leather
Helmet: Glyph Helmet, Glyph Crown, Glyph Helm, Demonic Helmet, Demonic Crown, Demonic Helm, Lilith's Tiara, Chiroptera Helmet, Sanguine Helm, Crafted Tiara, Crafted Helmet, Crafted Sanguine Helm
Shield: Glyph Wing, Glyph Bracer, Glyph Shield, Demonic Wing, Demonic Bracer, Demonic Shield, Lillith's Bracer, Chiroptera Shield of the Dead, Crafted Bracer, Crafted Shield




Level 66-76: (ALL CLASSES)
Weapon: Tiki Wand, Crafted Tiki Wand, Bling X-Bow, Crafted Ahoy Matey's Action Figure Crossbow, BSM Wand, BSM Crafted Wand, BSM X-Bow, BSM Crafted X-Bow, BSM Scythe, BSM Crafted Scythe
Armor: Tiki Robe, Crafted Tiki Robe, Tiki Leather, Crafted Tiki Leather, Tiki Plate, Crafted Tiki Plate, BSM Robe, Crafted BSM Robe, BSM Leather, Crafted BSM Leather, BSM Plate, Crafted BSM Plate
Helmet: Tiki Helm, Tiki Helmet, Tiki Crown, Crafted Tiki Helm, Crafted Tiki Helmet, Crafted Tiki Crown, BSM Helm, BSM Helmet, BSM Crown, Crafted BSM Helm, Crafted BSM Helmet, Crafted BSM Crown
Shield: Tiki Bracer, Crafted Tiki Bracer, Tiki Bongo, Crafted Tiki Bongo, BSM Shield, Crafted BSM Shield, BSM Bracer, Crafted BSM Bracer


Those are the most popular twinking choices.

[Chopper]

Why do you start a thread and then reserve a bunch of spots? Do you want to reply to yourself a bunch of times? :distrust:

[maneatingtree]

To add more details, or points he wants to make

[Walkhardd]

Good points. The walls of text make it a little tough to read, but not a big deal.

I loved that non pinks were viable in sewers. Drainers noob!!

[frostine]

I remember that first winter festival! Still have my antlers...

[Suentous PO]

The bosses in bsm aren't that easy that you can just spam and kill them. Koal and red dragon do take teamwork or some skill. It is too elixired I agree but try an fight red dragon without and test your blood pressure.
I think saying take thrashers out is a bit too late as we now get combos for free. AO and sewer bosses are still the best ones made IMHO.

[Reunegade]

There is no boss in bsm that anyone two hit kills on thrashers, not sure where that came from, lol. It is too elixired I agree but try an fight red dragon without and test your blood pressure.
I think saying take thrashers out is a bit too late as we now get combos for free. AO and sewer bosses are still the best ones made IMHO.

I said that ISN'T a boss or mini-boss.

[Suentous PO]

I read a bit too fast, you quoted as I was fixing.
Seems like they make some bosses ALLMOST too difficult to beat without lixers but hey at least we can get them for free now.
Skill spamming won't kill Koal or red dragon.

[Norbert]

Yes, elixirs rule now. However, there's kind of a basic flaw to the gurgox argument. I was around before ao came out and part of the challenge then was that 50 was the cap. There were no 76s to come nuke any of the bosses, just like in BSM there aren't any 101s to come nuke Koal for you.

However, saying that skills shouldn't go to 9 because it's too easy for a 76 to come kill ao3 bosses is like saying there should be no new level cap raises. Or it's like in them olden days of yore, the 50s could come and just nuke dark forest bosses. Therefor you shouldn't have skills that go to 5... etc.

I just loved playing through AO -- it was hard and scary. I think a lot of players miss that now when they call to guild members to come help kill the bosses. If you play through with a team of dungeon-appropriate level players, you can get the same experience though, but I guess that would be rare.

I do agree that people are generally in too much of a rush to get to end game. You miss a lot of good content and then will be complaining that there isn't a new cap. :P

[Multibird]

detailed