On Wed, 21 Jul 1999, Adar wrote:
>
> First of all, having better equipment doesn't mean you explore *less*. It
> means (for instance) being able to go to High Hold, or the Eastern Karanas,
> a level earlier than you normally could. Nor does it affect knowledge of
> equipment- at level 13, you're either wearing leather, banded, or bronze,
Having better equipment means you will have an easier time
against mobs - there's no denying that, otherwise there'd be
no point to getting better equipment. When you have an easier
time against mobs -> you rack up experience faster -> you
level more quickly -> you have less time to explore areas
appropriate for your level -> you explore less. Unless of
course you refrain from fighting, or enjoy exploring areas
where everything is green to you and afraid to attack you
(which I had to do with most of Paw and all of Blackburrow -
and which is why I don't give others advice on how to play
there, except for location information).
> with a quest item or two mixed in (again, the quests are made MORE fun
> because, just maybe, you can now solo the mob that's eluded you for the last
> two levels, not less.)
This gets back to what I said about there always being
something bigger and meaner than you. You do not get more
quests, you simply get different (higher level) ones. The low
level quests that would normally mean something to someone
your level are now worthless because your equipment is already
better than what you'd receive as a reward. In the end, it's
a washout. Yes you get to do your L10-L15 quests in a hurry,
but now the quests that were supposed to sustain you from L16
to L25 have to sustain you from L13 to L25.
> Second, 250pp is not 250,000. Yes, that will buy you a set of bronze, but it
> doesn't mean you must immediately stop looking for better stuff until you
> make 10 more levels. On the contrary- it means you can save up money for the
> *truly* useful items, like some elf hide gloves (if you're not an elf, that
> is <G>) or a battle drum. It's not exactly a godly plate of the whale-
I don't follow your reasoning at all. You can keep the crown,
and save up for banded/bronze. If you run across someone
selling elf hide gloves or a battle drum, you can sell/trade
the crown then. If you aren't so fortunate, then you still
have the crown. Like I said, the crown is rare enough that
you can get trade-only items for it. That gives it the edge
over saving platinum IMHO.
> actually, every one of my characters after the first have made at least a
> hundred pp by level 15 (fairly, I might add, without using any trade skills
> or even camping for lore items like everyone else), and some have gotten
> much more than that.
So if money is that easy, why sell the crown? I hit 100pp at
around L13 by the way. Accounting for all the stuff I gave
away, I probably hit 250pp around L18. I had 250pp in the
bank at around L20.
> Finally, why is having a full set of bronze, a dirk, and money in the bank
> (i.e., not having to worry about where your next song is coming from- that
> was a very real concern to me at that level) somehow less 'noble' or 'fair'
> than wearing all patchwork except for an admittedly very nice crown on your
> head?
When did I say it was less noble? In this thread, I said it
was robbing yourself of experience. In a previous meta-issues
thread I said it upset the balance of the game. I have never
criticized twinking because I felt it was unfair or ignoble.
I've only criticized it because I felt it caused problems for
the twinker (which doesn't really matter because it's his
decision to deprive himself) and for the non-twinker (which
does matter since he doesn't have any control it).
> other. But using a fairly gotten reward to make the next few levels less
> painful- to, perhaps, get to see High Hold or Unrest a few days ahead of
> time- isn't exactly cheating, at least in my opinion.
Let me use your example. Would it be wise to do something
which lets you, say, see Mistmoore a few days ahead of time,
*before* you've had a chance to thoroughly explore/experience
Unrest and Highhold? If you've seen it all already with
another character, then I completely agree with you. But I
got the impression that wasn't the case here.
If you want to fully experience the game, don't take
shortcuts.
--
John H. Kim
kim@...