But you can't say that for everyone. Some people don't think it is fun
taking the long way. They like shortcuts (and being able to cheat and
exploit - I am not one of them by the way). I have a friend that I work
with that won't even buy EverQuest because he can't cheat. He is the type
that looks on the Internet for cheat codes for a game and then buys the
game. If he can't find any cheat codes - he won't buy it. Asinine? Yes.
But that is what he enjoys. Does that make us any better because we don't
like to cheat? No way.
I agree with some of your points - however I can tell you that twinking will
not ruin the experience, especially if it is a second character. With my
primary character, I have been to every single zone in the game except for
Solusek A and B and Kedge Keep. Twinking a second character does not
detract from the experience of the game - it just makes the monotony of the
lower levels a little bit easier, and may cut down on the deaths that you
would normally get from learning experience.
If this is a first time character for him, even being in full bronze at that
level will not matter much. Full bronze is only 1 point greater than
banded, and alot heavier. Also your AC is directly related to your Defense
skill (and other modifiers.) He is still capped at Level * 5, so at the
most he would get maybe a 20-25 point increase in his AC rating.
> ----------
> From: John Kim[SMTP:kim@...]
> Reply To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 1999 7:39 PM
> To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Subject: Re: [eqbards] Re: Blackened Iron (meta)
>
> From: John Kim <kim@...>
>
> 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@...
>
>
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