Author Topic: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/06/01
lazykbys 
Registered: Oct '04
Date Posted: 2/6/08 4:48am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [replies to readers] - Date Edited: 2/6/08 4:49am (1 edits total) Edited By: lazykbys
VaderLVR64: Another great update! I really like this journal! grin

Thanks! Although I have to say I have no idea what you like about it. grin



KELIA: I certainly hope Mmorgan isn't allowing his slowness at leveling up to push him into getting into a suitation that is over his head.

It's not mentioned in the blog/journal, but most people venture out into the Yellow around Level 12. And besides, wandering off into areas where the monsters are at least twice your level is part of the fun of RPGs, yes? tongue

I'm glad to see he is a MedEvac. I'm sure he'll be of great help to someone.

One thing I've found about MMORPGs is how helpful everyone is. Quite touching, really.



Thanks for reading, everyone! The next update will probably be posted by the time you're reading this. happy

- lazy


EDIT: Oops, posted a reply with this sock. Dang.

 

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lazykbys 
Registered: Oct '04
Date Posted: 2/6/08 4:53am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [Chapter 9: Jedi Helpers] (Wed)


2008/02/06: Level 16


When I logged on today, there was a party (that's "team" to you non-RPGers) of hunters soliciting members. Their levels were close to mine so I asked if I could join and they said sure. On the way to the hunting ground, a Jedi came up and asked if she could tag along. I checked her level and she was thirty-seven.

In TRoC, the XP you get on bagging a Vongbeast depends on the VB's level divided by the number of Player Characters. Sort of. High level PCs get a bigger share than low level ones.

So anyway, here was a 37 asking to join our merry band of 14~17s. There was a slot open, sure, but there was no way we were going to let her join and take away the lion's share. When our leader told her this, she said she didn't want to join. She had an hour to kill before her usual party logged on and was offering to medkit.

It was intense, let me tell you. Thanks to her Force Heal, we didn't stop at all between battles. When the hour was up, I felt like we'd been at it forever and that only a couple of minutes had passed.

Yeah, I know how that sounds. But believe me, that's how I really felt.

We thanked her for her help, she thanked us for a fun time, and she ran off to hunt whatever it is level 37s hunt. Our party sat around chatting, trying to decide what to do next. Turned out nobody wanted to continue. We all wanted to savor the experience.

So we said good-bye and disbanded. I went solo for a while, but I realized I was just going through the motions and logged off.

Like I said, it was intense.





66:2:6


Jedi are a weird lot.

I mean, they spent most of the War hunted by Vong and Peace Brigade scum. People like me who were supposedly neutral weren't much help either, to tell you the truth. We didn't do any harm, but that's about all you can say in our favor. If the Jedi decided to carve out a piece of the galaxy for themselves and told everyone else to stick it, I wouldn't be surprised.

And yet here they are on Coruscant, pitching in wherever they can.

There aren't that many, of course. There never were, even during the days of the Old Republic. But you can still see a few here and there, saving the skins of people who would have betrayed them to the Vong for half a credit.

Which isn't to say their motives are purely altruistic. I had a talk with one who told me he was doing it to restore the New Republic's trust in the Jedi Order. I think he was under the impression the public abandoned the Jedi because they couldn't prevent the Vong Invasion.

I haven't seen him around lately, come to think of it. I hope he didn't get himself killed trying to save someone.

 

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VaderLVR64 
Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots
Registered: Feb '04
40219_Obi- Wan<br>and Beru
Date Posted: 2/6/08 6:32am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/02/06
Jedi are a weird lot.

I mean, they spent most of the War hunted by Vong and Peace Brigade scum. People like me who were supposedly neutral weren't much help either, to tell you the truth. We didn't do any harm, but that's about all you can say in our favor. If the Jedi decided to carve out a piece of the galaxy for themselves and told everyone else to stick it, I wouldn't be surprised.

And yet here they are on Coruscant, pitching in wherever they can.


Loved it! applause

 

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KELIA 
Title: The Pretty In Pink Fan Fic Manager
Registered: Jul '05
47293_2008 NFL Playoffs
Date Posted: 2/7/08 6:37am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/02/06
Jedi are a weird lot

Indeed but it's wonderful to see a few around here and there pitching in to help whenever they can.

Glad to see Mmorgan survived his "intense" hunting trip.

Great update

applause applause applause applause

 

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A Light In The Darkness: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28150602/p1/?8
Undue Circumstances: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28530583/p1/?10
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lazykbys_left 
Registered: Feb '05
Date Posted: 2/12/08 5:39am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [replies to readers]
VaderLVR64: Loved it! applause

Thanks! grin



KELIA: it's wonderful to see a few around here and there pitching in to help whenever they can.

Very true. Still, I can't help but wonder: Just what exactly is a Jedi's job?

Glad to see Mmorgan survived his "intense" hunting trip.

I attribute it to beginner's luck. Next time, though . . . devil



Thanks for reading, everyone! The next update will probably be posted by the time you're reading this. happy

- lazy

 

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It didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done.
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lazykbys 
Registered: Oct '04
Date Posted: 2/12/08 5:45am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [Chapter 10: Macros] (Tue) - Date Edited: 2/12/08 5:45am (1 edits total) Edited By: lazykbys


2008/02/12: Level 17


I spent the weekend writing macros for TRoC.

For you non-geeks, a macro is a program that automatically does small tasks without making you actually open windows and choose commands every single time.

Some MMORPGs come with this feature; others don't. And even if a MMORPG doesn't, there are third-party tools that will. Some even let your character hunt 24/7, although this is frowned upon by most MMOPRGs because a) it slows down the server and b) is unfair to other players.

(BTW, I did a google search for these 24/7 macros, a.k.a. "bots", and found a few that sold for $50~75. Which means there are people willing to pay actual money for this sort of thing. Astounding.)

For example, switching blaster modes during a fight requires that you a) open the weapons window, b) select the blaster you're using, and c) changing the blaster mode. Oh, and d) try not to be killed, too.

With a macro, you can a) open the macros window and b) select "change blaster mode: wide spread" or whatever you named it. You can even configure keyboard options so that Shift+F6 will do the same thing.

It takes a while to get used to the programming language, so to speak, but once you get the hang of it you find yourself wondering how you managed without them.

I hear there are archive sites for TRoC macro scripts. I should go and have a look one of these days.

'Course, with my luck they'll require payment.





66:2:12


It's amazing how quickly people adapt to things.

When I first came here, my combat experience was mostly against ground troops and commandos. I had never shot at things that were smaller than me, that moved in ways no humanoid ever would. It was all I could do to keep my blaster pointed in the right direction. Now I can track and shoot, replace tibanna cartridges, and carry on witty banter while keeping an eye out for approaching Vongbeasts.

Well, maybe not the witty banter. They tell me I'm lousy at that.

Then there's the economy. As they say in the Outer Rim, New Republic credits are no good here. Actually, most of the shops in the spaceport area do accept credits. But since a hunter's income is based on the Vongparts he can bag and what the bioware companies are paying for them, a dynamic bartering system has emerged.

It took me a while to get used to this, too. I thought it was going to be a matter of going out into wild Coruscant with a blaster and selling what I brought back for credits. It turned out that you traded Vongparts for processed Vongparts (or rather, galactic biotech enhanced with Vongtech) and other goods because it was cheaper in the long run. Which means, of course, that you're actually exchanging Vongparts you don't need for Vongparts you do so you can trade those in.

There are also middlemen, people who buy Vongparts from hunters for selling in bulk. There aren't that many hunters - or ex-hunters, for that matter - in that business because it's pretty much speculative in nature, and you need a lot of capital to stay afloat. Not to mention specialized storage space.

 

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VaderLVR64 
Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots
Registered: Feb '04
40219_Obi- Wan<br>and Beru
Date Posted: 2/12/08 6:22am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/02/06
When I first came here, my combat experience was mostly against ground troops and commandos. I had never shot at things that were smaller than me, that moved in ways no humanoid ever would. It was all I could do to keep my blaster pointed in the right direction. Now I can track and shoot, replace tibanna cartridges, and carry on witty banter while keeping an eye out for approaching Vongbeasts.

Well, maybe not the witty banter. They tell me I'm lousy at that.


I LOVE your OC! applause

 

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KELIA 
Title: The Pretty In Pink Fan Fic Manager
Registered: Jul '05
47293_2008 NFL Playoffs
Date Posted: 2/13/08 8:54am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/02/12
'Course, with my luck they'll require payment

Such optimism tongue

Glad to see Mmorgan improving in all areas. Maybe he'll survive this adventure after all

Great update

applause applause applause applause

 

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A Light In The Darkness: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28150602/p1/?8
Undue Circumstances: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28530583/p1/?10
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lazykbys_left 
Registered: Feb '05
Date Posted: 2/14/08 8:05am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [replies to readers]
VaderLVR64: I LOVE your OC!

I'll be sure to tell him, then. grin

Mmorgan is really fun to write. Basically, he's an OC written by a fanboy who is rather more enthusiastic about SW than me and has fewer concerns about continuity and staying in character.



KELIA: Glad to see Mmorgan improving in all areas. Maybe he'll survive this adventure after all

He'll be all right as long as he stays out of the Red areas. Three cheers for MedEvac, eh?



Thanks for reading, everyone! The next update will be posted in less time than it took to write this post. Really, I'm not kidding. *sigh*

- lazy

 

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It didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done.
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lazykbys 
Registered: Oct '04
Date Posted: 2/14/08 8:08am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [Chapter 11: PK?] (Thu)


2008/02/14: Level 18


Today I met someone who might have been the victim of a Player Killer. I say might because the circumstances are a bit ambiguous. You see . . .

I was hunting in the Yellow today with six other guys when we heard a map-wide shout for help. We did a quick search and found a total noob on the other side of the map. He died before we could get to him.

Now, when I say total noob, I mean total noob. He was just a Level One, for crying out loud!

There was absolutely no way in all nine Corellian hells that he could have gotten this far by himself. Which means someone must have accompanied him here, and then disappeared.

I can think of a few innocent reasons why this might happen. The oldbie might have had a server connection problem. He might have died protecting the newbie. The noob might actually have been unbelievably lucky, though I think he should have used that luck in buying a lotto ticket.

Or it might have been a PK who persuaded a noob into following him where noobs should not set foot and abandoned him, knowing full well what would happen.

I know this is just conjecture. All I know for sure is that a Level One character became incapacitated in the Yellow Zone. But if I ever come across a party with low- and high- level characters, you can bet I'm going to keep an eye on them.

Gods, this is one hell of a topic for Valentine's Day.





66:2:14


Today I had a brief conversation with Caern, a bounty hunter. He told me he came here for a break from tracking down wanted men and didn't expect to be working in that capacity on Coruscant. But it's funny how things turn out.

In the square just outside the spaceport, there's a holoscreen for official announcements. One of the things it shows is a list of Vonghunter criminals - thieves, murderers, con men, and other assorted scum. There's a number attached to each face. That's how much Coruscant will pay for us to bring them in.

They don't have the personnel or resources for an official Security Force, you see, so they've resorted to using bounty hunters. Not that I have anything against them, of course.

It still irks me, though, that they should be necessary here on Coruscant. But I suppose I'm being unrealistic. For every man willing to work his butt off to make an honest credit, there's probably another willing to sell his soul for a dishonest one - and to hell with anyone who gets in the way.

I just wish this wasn't the case.

 

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KELIA 
Title: The Pretty In Pink Fan Fic Manager
Registered: Jul '05
47293_2008 NFL Playoffs
Date Posted: 2/15/08 12:36pm Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/02/14
Oh the poor noob!!

cry cry cry

How unfortunate he...ended up where he did, however he got there.

For every man willing to work his butt off to make an honest credit, there's probably another willing to sell his soul for a dishonest one - and to hell with anyone who gets in the way

That's how it is everywhere sad sad

Great update

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Undue Circumstances: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28530583/p1/?10
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VaderLVR64 
Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots
Registered: Feb '04
40219_Obi- Wan<br>and Beru
Date Posted: 2/16/08 6:02am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/02/14
Or it might have been a PK who persuaded a noob into following him where noobs should not set foot and abandoned him, knowing full well what would happen.

I know this is just conjecture. All I know for sure is that a Level One character became incapacitated in the Yellow Zone. But if I ever come across a party with low- and high- level characters, you can bet I'm going to keep an eye on them.

Gods, this is one hell of a topic for Valentine's Day.


Valentine's Day is overrated! tongue

applause

 

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lazykbys_left 
Registered: Feb '05
Date Posted: 2/23/08 4:05am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [replies to readers]
KELIA: How unfortunate he...ended up where he did, however he got there.

They can't all be heroes with Solo-class luck. plain

Still, a Level One character doesn't have that much XP to lose. And in most games, there's no penalty for a low-level PC death.

On the other hand, I hope this didn't put him off the game or make him paranoid about other players. That would be a shame.



VaderLVR64: Valentine's Day is overrated! tongue

Really? Gosh, I never would have thought. grin



Thanks for reading, everyone! As always, this includes lurkers. happy

- lazy

 

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It didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done.
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lazykbys 
Registered: Oct '04
Date Posted: 2/23/08 4:10am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal [Chapter 12: Bring Them Back Alive] (Sat)


2008/02/23: Level 19


As I mentioned earlier, the biotech companies have two types of bounties for Vongbeasts: a) body parts or b) captured alive. As you can probably guess, it's a lot harder to do the latter.

In fact, I heard doing it solo is practically impossible so I solicited members for a Bring Them Back Alive team and five people joined up. I don't know what I did wrong in my previous life, but none of them had any experience in BTBA.

So we went into a huddle and talked tactics. Because we were all noobs to this, we decided to target Vongrats in the Green using low-power weapons. One guy said we should use drugged bait instead of mechanical traps. Since none of us had experience with traps of any kind, we agreed to go with his idea.

The first step in catching a Vongbeast is, of course, finding the dang thing. This was a bit of a problem because rats are common targets for noobs, both solo and team. So if we went where we knew there were rats, well, so did everyone else. And when two teams are in competition for a Vongbeast, TRoC etiquette says the higher level party should cede to the lower.

So we did. Over and over again, until someone suggested that maybe we should aim a little higher.

So we did. And wouldn't you know it, the same thing happened. And would keep happening, it seemed, as long as we were going for low-level Vongbeasts.

We went into a huddle again. Two of our six said they wanted out. Since an hour had passed already with nothing to show for it, we couldn't blame them. We apologized, they said don't worry about it, and we parted on good terms.

The four of us who remained talked things over and decided to hunt Vongbeasts like we usually would. And if we were lucky and managed to weaken one enough to catch it alive, then we would thank Lady Luck - and later, Lord Lucre.

At least, that was the plan. It might have worked, too, if only we'd stuck to it.

But I guess we kept thinking of BTBA, because after the Vongbeast was down to a quarter of its HP, everyone switched to low power shots. There's a TRoC saying about Vongbeasts' HP: half is worse than full. In other words, an injured Vongbeast is a lot more dangerous than an uninjured one. We got to find out how true this was first-hand. I almost died twice, and that was just the first Vongbeast.

It might have been worth it if we managed to bag something alive, but several hours and a dozen dead Vongbeasts later, all we had for our pains were a bunch of Vongbeast body parts and depleted supplies. It would have been better - a lot better - if we'd been planning a hunt-to-kill session.

Next time, I'm going to find a few oldbies who know how to do this sort of thing. Until then, I'm shooting to kill.





66:2:23


I saw on HoloNet News today that Caaq-Modo Pharmaceuticals is joining the Vonghunt. This isn't something I'd normally mention, but the story behind it intrigued me.

The reason CMP stayed out of the game was because Rym Caaq, co-founder and ex-CEO, lost his wife in the Vong War. After the war, when all the other biotech companies were jumping at the chance to get cheap Vongtech, he decided he didn't want anything to do with the scarheads.

Caaq stepped down about a week ago for health reasons and his son, Rym Jr., took over as CEO. Turns out that entering the hunt was his idea. Not that he likes the Vong any more than his father. No, he thinks the Vong owe him for his mother's death, and this is his way of getting revenge.

Now, I understand where both of them are coming from. I can't say I agree with either of them, but I can sympathize. I lost a few buddies in the War myself, you know.

The thing that makes me sad is that, according to HoloNet News, Rym Sr. has officially disowned Rym Jr. and is filing a lawsuit against him.

And to think I thought the Vong War couldn't claim any more casualties . . .


One more thing: CMP is offering a lot more for live Vongbeasts than the other companies to make up for their late start. I'm not sure how long this will last, but you can be sure I'm going to take advantage of it.

 

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VaderLVR64 
Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots
Registered: Feb '04
40219_Obi- Wan<br>and Beru
Date Posted: 2/25/08 7:01am Subject: RE: A Hunter's Journal (MMORPG / post-NJO / OCs / Dear Diary Challenge) UPDATE 2008/02/23
Loved it! applause

 

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