TERRITORIAL WAR: OFFENSE VS MOBS

During the few times that I have had the opportunity to join a clan in their territorial bid on a land that is uncontrolled, the monsters or mobs as some are fond to call them are of the level that would have been hard to handle if the clan I was with was not as organized as they were. Truth be told, the clan I was with was not the strongest in the lot, but they made sure that they had field commanders who knew what they were doing, and was creating a sense of purpose to the advancing army. the situation was simple enough, three lanes filled with monsters lead to a fortress guarding a major boss creature. All the monsters act individually and do not provide any support to one another. Though mindless, the individual monsters are already a chore each at their respective levels and capabilities. As a group, they would be invincible as the attacking force is only allowed 80 soldiers to their 300. The solution is simple enough to anyone who has studied a little warfare and have read up on Sun Tzu.

The 80 are divided into groups of six each as this is what the game allows. They are further divided into three flying columns that take one lane each until they reach the gate, where they merge as a singular force to clean the inner court and eventually strike at the final Boss.

Simple enough, but organization is paramount in the early stages, each column must have a fair amoung of Tankers, Nukers, and Healers. They have to attack as a focused force, individually, the groups of six focus fire on one creature at every encounter, and provide support for the other teams. They have to stick together and move forward as one. If one strays, they're dead. If one is left behind, those in the front will be compromised. The final assault is manageable enough as long as the teams are under strict orders to not touch the boss until all his troops are done for. Easy enough if they are eventually able to kill the final boss, and no one is afraid.

INSTANCE DUNGEONS

Having been a Dungeon Master for many years before I finally had to retire my Dungeon Master's Screen makes me view the world of Pangu a little differently than most players. I see a lot of the common storylines and the running quests as parts of the whole. I actually read the lines in the quest and see if I can find any clues to what the quest entails and what it is for rather than just reading the final requirement of the quest which may be the reason why I view the game a little bit more seriously than the other players. This is not an advantage when you think about it, because instead of being out there, finishing the quest to get my XP, like the other guy, I'm busy trying to make sense of mhy I am doing this specific quest, and why I am running around for this NPC. It is nice to see the whole community using the terms and words of the RPG genre though. Here we thought that with the advent of CCGs in the early 90's, our cause would be lost to the sands of time. Now, 8 year olds over the world know whan an RPG is and what an NPC is, all without ever holding a d20.

What I find very interesting are the instance dungeons as some of the Token Boss quests are called. Everytime a group enters these dungeons, the game provides them with a fresh copy of their own, rather than sharing with the other people in the neighborhood. This is as old school D&D as this MMORPG gets. Sans the dice and the Mountain Dew.

WHY I TRY NOT TO DUEL

First of all, my apologies to those who have been reading this blog, I will try and put entries more often than I have been.

I have given up dueling when I reached a certain level, I think it was 32 (I'm Level 63 as of this writing). Dueling is the safer alernative to Player Killing, and everyone from Level 1 can duel with other characters in Perfect World.

I decided to give it up because I always ended up either apologizing to those I beat or being insulted by those who beat me. Surprisingly when I made my announcement in the Clan Chatroom, I think I said "AMP ayoko na! Hindi na ako magdu-duel!"(Dammit! I quit! I'm never going to duel again!) the Clan Master also piped up: Ako din, ayoko na. (Me too.) We were surprised, and he proceeded to explain that he found it bad for his morale. He hit the nail on the head so to speak.

Since then I duel for only two reasons: friendly practice with friends, or beating up bullies. With friends, its a laugh-out affair, not unlike horse play. With bullies, its a pleasure.

There was this incident when I was in Near-Water Town and I was minding my own business, checking my bank. I noticed a loudmouth Yao Shou who kept dueling with everyone in the area. He was beating everybody as he was obviously higher level than those who were in the town on their regular quest rounds. I was there for a DSQ. I wanted to kick this guy's butt for blatantly rubbing everyone's face in it.

Knowing bullies as well as I do, I knew it was only a matter of time before he tried me. I was in tiger form so he couldn't really see my armaments unless he checked it before starting the duel. He didn't. I accepted with glee and as the count began I transformed in front of him. He got to say "Uh-oh" before I ripped into him. I drew it out when I saw he wasn't really making a dent. When I eventually humiliated him enough, I ended the duel with a flourish.

He immediately went into a tirade about me cheating, pretending; obviously trying to save face. There was a smattering of insults and approval from the crowds. All I said was, "Nice Game." He stormed off and teleported out of town.

I may not duel anymore, but that doesn't mean I won't battle.