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Thread: Black Sunday. Read This.

  1. #1

    Black Sunday. Read This.

    Today I spent some time actually thinking about the MP profession. Don't get me wrong, I think about the MP profession all the time, but it's usually in regards to me. Now this is, at its core, a video game, so I'll myself that bit of selfishness.

    But in many ways it's more than "just a game" to many of us, because it's a source of entertainment and also a social output for us as well. Like it or not, it's become a part of our lives. And despite what the newspapers and funny pages say, that's not an entirely bad thing. How we spend our free time is our own business and in the final assessment, spending your lounging time playing a game is probably more healthy than the 9 years of life the average american spends in front of the television set.

    But when our free time, our entertainment time, is plagued with frustration and hardship, we have a problem.

    In particular, I'm talking about the difficulties of playing our class, the Meta-physicist, in its 'intended' form.

    Intended form. That's what struck me today.

    Granted, I do consider myself knowledgeable of our profession and knowledgeable about the game mechanics as a whole, but I will confess that I can be rather short-sighted when it comes to seeing the world with eyes other than my own.

    Over and over I've talked ad naseum about how much I enjoy my character and my profession and over and over I've said that any MP can accomplish what I've accomplished. That's what I mean by being short-sighted.

    The truth of the matter is that very few can accomplish what I've accomplished, nor should they even try. That's not me bragging or me saying that I'm an outstanding player or anything different than another regular Joe with too much time on his hands sitting in front of a computer.

    I've accomplished what I've accomplished because I play the game wrong. Now this is an mmorpg with endless customizations and one could say that there is no right or wrong way to play the game.....and they'd be true.....to an extent.

    But what I've basically done is I've thrown out nearly everything about the Meta-Physicist class and attempted to transform him into a solitus soldier with pets. I took the parts of the profession I liked and kept them and then completely threw away the parts I didn't like or were horribly broken. My focus for my Meta-Physicist has been backwards from the developer's intentions from the very start. I essentially bent and warped the game mechanics to my own will, ripping away from the designer's original intent.. (click that link and read it over again before you continue).

    So why in the world would anyone want to do that? Why would I, as a Meta-Physicist, want to deviate so far from the designer's original intent for our profession? If I wanted to be a soldier, why didn’t I roll a soldier?

    Well there’s a couple of answers for that question. First of all, when I rolled this char, I had no idea what the endgame was like. I wasn’t a new player, but I had no clue about things such as game balance or what other classes were like. Anarchy online is, by it’s own definition a “hack n slash” game. There is little to the game other than deal damage, heal and mezz. There’s precious little strategical play in Anarchy Online. Coming from a background of playing ‘hack n slash’, this doesn’t immediately bother me. But what DOES bother me is that it throws all 12 (soon to be 14) classes into three classifications: Damage dealer, healer and crowd control. Debuffing does not work in most PVM situations and this is something that was blatantly put into the game and ignored for two years.

    Where do the MPs lie in this? Well we’re a poorly implemented mismash of all three. We have tools for all three, but as we know, our tools for all three are poorly implemented or downright broken, requiring us to break our character profiles in order to be effective.

    What do I mean by “break”?

    Enforcers are damage dealers/tanks. They play their class effectively the way it was intended to be played, using the tools provided to them.

    Simplified, soldiers are ranged tanks/damage dealers and are effective using the tools provided to them.

    Adventurers use pistols/swords, as their profiles suggest they should and are effective using the tools provided to them

    Fixers mainly use SMG and grid armor and remain effective.

    Agents use sneaking skills to their advantage and fight mainly with rifles and remain effective.

    ETC.

    So how are we different? The difference is they are able to remain effective using their tools and their tools alone, we are not.

    Overview of the Meta-Physicist profession
    The Meta Physicist is one of the most specialised professions on all of Rubi-Ka, preferring to concentrate all of his anger into a tangible form. Without his pets he is harmless and defenseless, which makes the Meta Physicist a tricky solo profession indeed. The Meta Physicist has much to offer his team in the way of specialist nano buffs, and also instills fear in enemies through the use of his powerful debuffs. Meta Physicists attuned with Notum are known to possess the ability to fly, making the Meta Physicist an interesting profession
    MPs profile suggests that our weapons should be our debuffs and pets (we’ll throw in nukes just for argument’s sake).

    However, anyone that’s played the MP profession past level 150 will realize quickly that our intended tools are simply not effective. You CANNOT provide a real benefit to either your solo or your team play using your nukes and your pet alone. Your debuffs are useless. Your stun is easily resistable. Your mezz pet has never worked. Your attack pet is weak and feeble. It will not hold agro, even if you do nothing but sit there and watch. Your creation weapons require huge amount of IP to wield for a paltry gain. Your dominate debuffs are nearly worthless on anyone with org benefits and towers. Your nanoshutdown has been rendered worthless by nano resistance boosting items. Your level 179 pet is in most ways better than your level 200 ‘tanking’ (laughs) pet and the powers that be feel that is just fine and dandy.

    Meta-Physicist, your only viable option to not be entirely worthless to yourself an those around you is to turn yourself into a half-assed soldier with crappy AR, crappy nukes, crappy debuffs and crappy pets and hope that the sum of three crappy parts will meet or exceed that of one ‘good’ part. And it does. You can dish out insane damage for a “non combat” class. At the cost of everything that WOULD have made you unique.

    With Notum Wars, a well equipped individual now has as much as 60 more nanoskills than they did before Notum Wars. This effects you in the sense that you’re

    A) needed less for your buffs
    B) your debuffs are less effective because your opponent has 60 more nanoskills than they used to (e.g. there are doctors that can CH while dominate+MQ is running)
    C) or your opponent used the extra nanoskills to implant a shining Nano Resist head imp, making debuff landing MUCH hard than it used to be.

    Nanoshutdown *should* be a terrifying prospect and it is, but not on our intended target, but on us. 160% nanoresist with 3 nanoskills required to cast. 9.3 second cast time, 6 second recharge. Whether or not it lands boils down mostly to luck. I don’t wish to play a crapshoot, I want to win using my skill, not the lottery of NR checks.

    “Wait for shadowlands” is what I’ve been saying, but I’m not sure I want whatever surprises are in store for us just sprung upon us without some interaction. Look at the urn pet and how we can’t even get the EAT flag removed? Look at the nasty, ugly, CRAPPY pilgrim armor. I have the utmost respect for the devs, but that armor is pure junk. It’s worthless in the face of the other armor out there, with poor hp mods, poor AC and sickly ugly textures. Take it back and think a bit harder about what MPs *need* and *want* and you’ll see that the armor addresses neither.

    Only thing that matters in terms of armor mods are AC, NCU and HP. This is a hack n slash game. HP is what keeps you alive, so there is no better mod. We’re a class strapped for hp and ncu. Emphasize on filling our weak spots (AC, NCU, HP) instead of adding more onto what we already have too much of (nanoskills and nanopool/init)

    They almost had it right with the luxurious rubber armor, except for the part where they made it grossly inferior to the other armor that drops from the same set of mobs. Azure. If you’re going to make MP armor drop from Ian Warr’s lackeys, make it at least as good as the azure, or it feels like a slap in the face.

    All of this is brought up time and time again, yet nothing is addressed for the 90% of the population that doesn’t have access to the resources that I do (read: phat lewt).

    We’re neutered. Our voice, our pleads have fallen on deaf ears for so long, I’m worried that our weaknesses will only become more apparent in the upcoming expansion pack.

    Now let me re-iterate that if nothing was done with the MP profession from here to eternity, I'd still keep playing with the same enjoyment that I am now. But I didn't always feel that way, so what's changed?

    that changed, along with the addition of four of the highest QL towers you can possibly place plus the best org contracts plus ql200-225 implants geared toward things like SMG attack rating and ranged init, all the things NOT metaphysical.

    Wannabe soldier. I can stand toe to toe with a level 200 real soldier and kick his ass back to reclaim WITH tms and behemoth running on him. So why am I not happy about that anymore? Because I didn’t fight him like a Metaphysicist, I fought him like a soldier, using equipment, weapons and armor better suited on a different breed and profession.

    I’m an anomaly, not a Meta-Physicist. I’m not someone to look up to for my skills, I’m someone to look down upon for selling myself and my class out.


    Key skills

    Nano Energy Pool

    Nano Execution Initiative

    All nano formula skills

    Computer Literacy

    Nano Programming

    Nanos
    Combat pet

    Combat skill debuff

    Nano skill debuff

    Direct damage

    Healing pet

    Nano execution buff

    Nano skill buff

    Pet buff

    Root
    My pet, nanoskills and debuffs, the 'Key skills' (see above) listed on our own profession description page, took a backseat to having the best armor, the most hp, high weapon AR and the best evades possible, thus creating (taken from funcom's own game dictionary) A 'Tank mage'

    Let's look at the description:

    Tank Mages - a term originated in Ultima Online, where mages could become so powerful it upset game balance, because they had both good armor, and good offensive weapons.
    We're a pet class, yet I'd also consider us to be a 'mage' of sorts. So by their own words, a tank mage upsets game balance. And oh how true that is....

    Support Class - Used to refer to a profession that may halp a team in a variety of ways, and is not focused on one specific task such as healing or doing damage. Examples of a support class are Bureaucrat, Enginner and Meta-Physicist.
    We’re not a support class. Why? Because the mechanics of pvm and pvp are so overly simplified that we are reduced to the level of damage dealers. There is no strategy, just hit, hit, hit, heal, mezz, hit. Since our mezzing tool is broken, all we can do is deal damage and in order to even accomplish that much, we are required to use tools foreign to us, the same way MAs had to do with the River 6s and shotguns. They got their fix pre-shadowlands, while we’re still hoping and praying that the suprises in store for us will amount to more than the usual crap we’re getting now. For all we know, our ‘fix’ will be larger nanoskills buffs and another pet with a 500 attack rating and 6000 hp.

    I no longer want to be ‘surprised’ by what’s in store for us. We’re owed explanations, interactions and feedbacks, not +8 to mat met and a pat on the head.

    Since we’re viewed as a ‘powerful’ class using the tools that Funcom gave us and since they feel we are fine and working as intended (without pulling a deacon and ripping apart your char’s profile and rewriting a new one) and not in desperate need of help, I want to stage a quiet protest in the form of a walk from one end of the map to the other.

    Why a walk? Because I want to show the friends we meet along the way the REAL state of our profession. This means I want us all to lay down our conventional weapons and only use the tools that we’ve been given as Meta-Physicists. Since the devs obviously want us to be melee users for some god-awful unknown reason, we will use melee weapons, creation weapons, our mezz pets, our nano interrupt buffs.

    If at all possible, when we do this, I would like all of you to imagine how your implant layout would look like if our debuffs worked in pvm and our pets were in the great shape that the devs think they are. That means 1h blunt for the creation weapons, max nanoskills, etc.
    Nanomage: The OTHER other white meat

  2. #2
    RULES

    -We’re going to fight pvm and pvp using our hands, sticks, creations, mezz pets, nanoskills debuffs and gimped pets only. I want the powers to be to actually see with their own eyes what are tools are, or ARENT (as the case may be) capable of doing.

    -Absolutely NO funcom bashing or insults. You may express your frustration as much as you wish, but understand that the developers are people and players just like us, with their own feelings and families. They are just trying to do their job the same as us. The goal of this walk is to demonstrate what we want changed and improved, not to deliver personal slams.

    -There will be a chat group formed. I’ll take a registration of names starting on June 1st to June 6th that can be given to me via email at xcaliburpc@yahoo.com. I ask that you don’t flood me with tells, as I’m quite often attending raids or PVPing and am unable to chat or write down names. E-mail is the best way to get ahold of me.

    Metacons do not work. I don’t wish to have my questions and feelings filtered out and subsequently ignored any longer. I appreciate all of the hard work that our professionals have given and give them the utmost respect that they deserve, but I must say that we’re not getting the answers or the responses we desire. If we’re to be listened to, a direct action must be taken by US, the playerbase. It’s far more easy to ignore 2 voices than it is to ignore 2 or 300 voices.

    Wishlists do not work. Look at all the BRILLIANT suggestions that we've come up with. Our talent for coming up with ideas rivals that of any game developer in existence. http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...hreadid=80205. ALL of those items simply incredible, viable, balanced and a welcome addition, yet after all this time, nothing in the wishlist has been added.

    The only thing that might help to get us the answers, attention and fixes we desperately desire is to humiliate ourselves by showing our full toolset in all of its lackluster glory and hoping that the right people will watch how our tools work or do not work and gain us enough attention in our bold movement to get the powers that be to watch us. If we walk all day and find ourselves ignore and none of our questions answered, I will no longer play my Meta-Physicist. If I cannot play him as I intended to play him and still do a good job of it, then I’d rather not play him at all. If I have to further butcher the MP profile in order to be of benefit to my guild, my team, my faction, then it just isn’t worth it. If we give up our own free time, a piece of our lives that we will never get back with and leave empty handed, I will play my other chars from here on out until something is done or answers given.

    Be forewarned: You will die many times on our journey. But your loss in time will be made up for the opportunity to share your plight with others that can relate to your problem.

    When do I propose we do this? The second Sunday in June at 1pm Central US time, which falls on the 8th. For the sake of lag and zone crashes, there will be three separate groups that will start at different locations (to be decided later) and meet in one common spot.

    Here’s the thing: I want EVERY Metaphysicist on RK1 (Im hoping another MP can coordinate a similar walk on RK2 and RK3) to join us. Active or inactive, level 1 or level 200. I’m asking for tower battles, unique raids and XPing to cease on that day out of respect for our fellow players that wish to join, and for all of us log onto our MPs and walk. Call it a walk for a cure, because essentially a cure to our plight is what we seek.

    I’m going to be more ambitious and volunteer to freely give every last credit on my character for 1 hour of developer time in an honest to god REAL question and answer session. I won’t tell you how many credits that is, but we all know it’s a high amount.

    Why? Because I’m just another player like all of you and I really *do* care about the other players and my fellow MPs. I know that my char is good as is, but I want ALL of us to be good without breaking our backs and breaking our chars to do so.

    So let me make up two years of indifference by sacrificing everything for the sake of our profession. Please accept my apologies for warping everyone’s perspective on MPs and join me in our own walk for a cure for us all, and not just the ones with access to insanely imbalancing towers and equipment. I’m banking that this will pay off in the end and that someone out there in the upper echelons will care enough to walk with us and experience first hand the problems we are having. I don’t really care if the devs have MP chars, because I can almost guarantee you that none of them consider their MPs as ‘main’ chars and that all of them have ‘broken’ their char the same way that I broke my char, in order to make them a desirable addition to a pvm or pvp situation.

    Waiting for Shadowlands to find out if we’ll really be fixed is just not acceptable anymore. If we’re going to be considered, then we need to act while Shadowlands is still being developed, not hope and wait again for fixes after shadowlands has been released. It’s been two years and I’ll be damned if I’m willing to wait another two years.

    I’ll have more details soon and I hope enough will join us to make it worthwhile.

    Until then, feel free to keep this thread bumped and I will contact some of the major fan sites as well. MANY of the players in AO do not read this forum, so the responsibility falls upon all of us to mention this in our guild chats, to our friends, to our teammates, to random people. Add links to this thread in your signature and FORCE this day down the throats of anyone that will listen.

    We’re supposed to be masters of channeling our anger and hatred, so I’m asking all of you to channel your anger, your rage, you frustration, your humiliation, your will, your determination into the LARGEST mp protest ever in the history of AO or Rubi Ka, an even that will now be known as “Black Sunday”. Out of respect for the bleak outlook and the sheer tenacity and patience we’ve shown as Meta-Physicists, I would wish that the skies be blackened as they were for Halloween to represent our plight. If this cannot be done, I’ll understand, but a sunny day in our darkest hour is a misrepresentation of how we all feel.

    I’m no longer blind to the plight of the MP. My eyes are now wide open and my ears are listening and pity the soul that ignores the entire population of MPs united in a common cause. I'm hoping that we gain the attention and the ears of the entire population of Anarchy Online and that every player of every profession will take their time out and show their support. The walk is limited to MPs and only to MPs, but every player can help by spreading the word and thanking their MP friends for showing the tenacity to stick with a troubled profession for the good of us all.

    Mark your calendars my friends, because this is our one chance to make a big difference all at once, or at least give us a bit more attention than what we "appear" to be getting. At the very least, we'll have a better opportunity to meet each other and learn from each other and support each other than would otherwise be possible. Throw aside your apathy and hold your head up high, for Black Sunday is soon upon us.
    Last edited by THEDEACON!; May 25th, 2003 at 09:35:49.
    Nanomage: The OTHER other white meat

  3. #3
    and yea know... even tho i disagree with you on some points.. and such.. you've really been one of the extremly few (maybe 2-3) "high level" MP's that actually try to do more than complain.

    i've always wished for us to have a more direct contact with developers.. but i just dont see this realistically happening.

    maybe this will help us.. maybe they'll laugh at us. what else can we do... when all logic fails, you must go with the illogical... i think someone famous said that.. fictional or not.

    ah wel... i'll have to reread what you posted tomorrow when i'm fully awake and erm.. yeah.. fully awake i think.

    also, if sallust is motivated by this essay.. him and i might beable to do the coordination for the events on RK2.

    and also again.. anything you want me to post on frontpage of my MP website deacon? would help to spread the word more.. since well.. i get quite a few hits/daily maybe even just a link to this thread i suppose?

    Level 1 to 300 in 8 Years! Pwn!
    - Join us on Discord! -
    AO WIKI!
    Arcanum!


  4. #4
    im gonna follow u goes and be like "/s MOOOKIIIEEESSS"

    no, seriously, ill offer my surpport as a non-MP if u need it, its for a good cause

  5. #5
    I should check that description page from time to time. Seems they took the easy way out with the Mez pet and added "Root" to our ability list... which is what the mez pet does right now.

    I'll do what I can to advertise the event to FC but my workload for that weekend is going to be very high as it already includes a family on-line get together, DNW Meta-Kon, RK1 Meta-Con, HoC and a major event on Test - so I'm not going to be able to commit to actually being there.

    X
    Xtremtech: MetaPhysicist currently resident on Test. (209 + 21 AI Levels).

    Various other test MPs of differing levels and builds available.

  6. #6
    Il bring LT out of the closet and be there. Will be nice to log him on again.
    GalxandJoan "Toxinator" Rox :: 202 Doc
    He "Tearspoint" Totem :: 215 Nano Tech :: Equipment :: Perks
    General :: Band of Brothers :: Band of Brothers Forums

    Account Created
    2001-08-23 04:59:27

    Account Status:
    Open

  7. #7
    I don't know if this will do us any good at all, but it sure is worth a shot. I'm in.
    Archelan, Ancarim Iron Legion

    Vandreren (Adventurer) - Arctech (Engineer) - Egori (Fixer) - Sherringham (Bureaucrat) - Kurtwood (Trader)

  8. #8
    Very nice post Thedeacon and I agree most of the parts.

    I would very much prefer to play my MP using creation weapons, pets and nukes/debuffs but as it is, they are mostly inferior when it comes to comparing them against other options.

    I never imagined I would be wearing Azure and using SMG/AR or Pistols to remain even semi-effective.

    Zarch and da chars

    PS.

    Your item list shows you wearing 2x reflect bracers which to my knowledge is impossible without using exploits and even if you somehow did manage to get them (maybe before patch etc) it is still against the game "rules"

  9. #9
    I'll read this thread tomorrow afternoon. Very late here.
    MP's should be FEARED.

  10. #10
    Count me in it and I'm absolutely willing to help organize and promote it with SG. Hopefully we can use the Metaphysics site for it.

    I hope everyone in the community can put aside personal differences and support this.

    I'm sure many may think this extreme for "just a game", but for many of us online communities have become our way to get rid of stress, frustrations (in theory... I often accumulate more when playing), and can be our "home" for whatever reason (I travel and move frequently due to work, so this became a stable social life with many real life friends). Then realize we deserve just as much respect and to be treated equally by Funcom as by any restaurant we might eat out at.

    No taunts, no jeers, no complaints nor insults and I hope any ARK or FC employee would feel free to join us whether publicly or privately.

    Thank you for doing this Thedeacon and on Rimor I'll be following behind you 100% on Black Sunday.
    Clan Elder of The Pilgrims

  11. #11
    I agree with you deacon. Many of our tools we have is broken. I have vowed never to use a weapon..IE rifles or pistols...so I use a Xbow. But yet, I would rather use the weapons we were inteaded to use. But alas I cannot. I am able to cast the highest shield, but yet, even with it it in hand, I have no other weapon to use. I would be pummelled to death in pvm, let alone speak of pvp. Is this what they meant for us to be ? I read the MP description, It swayed me to be a MP. Hell I have the original description.. (X its at my office and I'll check the wording) but yet I see no MP's that follow that route once they reach the 130 lv.

    What really bother's me though, is that verytime I see Arks and GM's they are always MP's. Why is that ? They do look impressive with the huge staff's and flying around in QW, but what really bother's me the most is that if the Arks and GM are MP's in the game, how can they not see we are broken ? Do they even have the core toolset we use ? But alas they do not actually "PLAY" a MP, the just borrow that guise while they manafest themselves on rubi-kai.

    Deacon I will walk with you. I will even level so I can put some points in my 1hb, and take up our creation weapons. There are so few of us left now on the higher end game. I hope that this will achieve something for our class.
    Shadow Lv 13 Deity. Mp Warrior.
    I am The Master of Shadows. I am here to help you...
    We are L E G I O N for we are many.

    Teh Layout

    “One should be as humble as the dust he treads upon...
    But do not mistake my Humbleness as Weakness.”


    The light battles the darkness.Who we are decides which side will prevail.

  12. #12
    ARKs aren't allowed to actually do anything in game - so they never use the toolset in anger. Bug-Hunters and GMs are more likely to but they all have mega super buffing armour and can equip any item they want at massive skills levels which kinda skews any view they might have on what it's really like to be an MP. With 2000 weapons skills/inits even the creations do pretty decent damage I'm sure....

    X
    Xtremtech: MetaPhysicist currently resident on Test. (209 + 21 AI Levels).

    Various other test MPs of differing levels and builds available.

  13. #13
    Allthough I agree that the MP class is compareitively weak, and the DEVs discription of or class ( which is what made me choose this class when I first bought this home wreking game) arent even close to RL gaming, I submit to yall this, This game and how its designed closely resembiles the millitary, and how its designed. You have combat arms folks, Infrantry ( proudly served 7 years) Tankers (cdats, if you servred youll get that) and Arty. These are the AO equivelent to ENF, SOL, ect. They are the damage dealers. Then the support folks, supply, who provide beans\bullets= Ao buffs. Medics\docs, patch the team back up ( with focus on the nanomage MP of course) In short, the game ( like the millitary) promotes team work, a co dependency if you will, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am a support class, and I play that role, Ive rolled a twinked trader for my pvp, a doc for my need to feel wanted "} And My 135 mp so I can throw my flat screen across the room after I lose 4.6 mill when a ql 150 mob aggs on me ( not my no NR resist haveing meatsack w\ wings
    and then counters CoC and kills me w 2 crits in a row cause i cant afford the duck ip) Anyway, I would certainly like the to see the MP class become the true Godlike class they should be, but if not,,hey SWG is OTW!!!!

  14. #14
    Deac, this post is excellent. You have stated things I've realized since I first started my MP. The problems with attaining the creation weapons nanos is what bugs me.

    If I can get to RK2's Black Sunday, I will. I'm proud of my little MP, even if he is still little. For now.
    Support the Social Aspects!!

    I'm not a b!tch, I just don't like your opinion.

  15. #15
    Adventurers were dissatisfied with the Ride Executioners.

    We wanted to know why the mezz pet didn't work.

    They were given the SOL Fire swords.

    What did we get?

    Advys wanted more healing.

    MPs wanted better heal pets and they wanted to know why suddenly the pet heals for less than it used to.

    Advys were given complete heal nanos.

    What did we get?

    Advys were dissatisfied with their attack rating.

    MPs were dissatisfied with our creation weapons.

    They were given a host of new nanos for 1h edged, multi wield, pistol, calms, nukes and AOE nukes. Not entirely what they asked for, but it was something.

    What did we get?

    Adventurers were dissatisfied with the range of pistols in game.

    MPs were dissatisfied with the AR of our attack pets.

    They were given the Pain of Patricia.

    We got a 24 second ar buff with a long recharge period and still keeps our highest pet's AR *under* 900.

    Adventurers were dissatisfied with the insane MR requirements on pistols.

    MPs were dissatisfied with not having a pet target key and the short duration/long recharge of evocations.

    They had the droprate of Blue bracers increased and were given the Reign of Patricia which adds a second damage type and lower MR requirements. I might add that they got this new pistol *immediately*.

    What did we get?

    The important thing to note is that all of these fall into the profile of the Adventurer. They don't *have* to use a weapon that's foreign to their profile in order to be successful.

    Enforcers were dissatisfied on the range of weapons available to them.

    MPs were dissatisfied about our attack pets as a whole.

    They were given the Enhanced Queen Blade. They were given Improved Tango Dirks. They will be given the Frost Scythe in Inner Sanctum. They were given Blood Bats. They were given an entire line of new weapons buffs.

    We got a one-time use only pet that must be camped endlessly. We can't even get the attention needed to remove the EAT flag from the urn.

    MAs were in a similar situation to us. They were dissatisfied with having their crits halved.

    MPs were dissatisfied with having our heal pet cut in half.

    MA crits were restored.

    What did we get?


    The list goes on and on and on.

    While other classes received official word, fixes, additions to their toolset, we can't even get information.

    Wait for Shadowlands?

    Wait for what?

    Look at the history of our class. We can't even get acknowledgement, let alone answers or fixes. What makes you think that our profession revamp in Shadowlands will be as good or better than the other 11 professions?

    Given our history, looking at the excellent suggestions from us that were blatantly ignored, what makes us think our toolset will be revamped and fixed in Shadowlands?

    All we know for sure is that while we will receive new pets in SL, our focus will shift from pets to something more metaphysical.

    Oh really? And what might that be? Absolutely no answers. What you all must realize is that if our "fix" is buggy or downright broken, it might take ANOTHER two years for them to give our class attention once more.

    We know that we will get buffs to make out heal pet heal better. Another 9 second attack/10 second recharge buff that lasts for 20 seconds? No thank you. Up the base heal rate of the pet. A temporary buff is just another thing we have to watch, monitor and fuss about.

    TALK TO US. That's what we want. We want answers, interaction, a sign of attention and caring at least comparable to many of the other classes.

    We want to know what's in store for us ahead of time, so we can give our feedback and suggestions based upon that. We want to know that *someone* out there knows about our plight.

    Next patch we get a melee energy weapon with no specials. Excuse me? When did anyone ask for a melee weapon with no specials that uses a weapon skill that we cannot implant for without gimping ourselves? Somehow upon reviewing the wishlist, I must have missed that.

    The mp only weapons and armor are poorly designed and downright ugly even. We're real people, it hurts our feelings to see this kind of apathy to our situation. We've been good customers and we only ask for good customer service in return. What did we do to deserve this? We picked the wrong class so now we're shunned and ignored by our creators? It makes no sense.

    Show us that our words do not fall on deaf ears. On Sunday, the 8th of June, BLACKEN the sky to show us you care, to show us that you know we're still here.

    It's up to all of you, all of us, to spread the word of Black Sunday to every man, woman and child on Rubi Ka. Let our shame be presented to everyone and one of two things will be accomplished:

    1) the sky WILL darken, showing that our event and our pleas have been heard and acknowledged, as well as a polite one hour Q & A session be given to myself.

    2) nothing will happen.

    If #2 occurs, that's not entirely a bad thing either. If word of this event gets around enough, support for us from the other classes will only increase as a result. We had a simple request, it was ignored, and hundreds of MPs wasted their time. The rest of Rubi Ka will see and take note of this and pour their support in for us.

    So either way, our journey will not be wasted. At the very least, we will have shown ALL of rubi ka, in every zone, how broken and uncared for we really are.

    Once more I must re-iterate that this will NOT be a flame session. I want us all to be respectful of the game's creators during this event. I'm also asking for the respect of everyone on Rubi Ka and give us a moment of silence. I'm asking a large favor when I ask that the entire playerbase of Rubi Ka show grace and respect for their teammates, their friends, their guild mates that play the MP profession and to cease tower battles for just that one day so that we can all walk in peace without having our towers destroyed while we do so.

    We will not be at our top form, but rather at our lowest, using only the MP toolset as our weaponry. We're going to play our class the way it was designed to be played for just that one day. Please everyone, clan and omni and neutral, inform your guild leaders of this.

    Black Sunday will roll, or I will fold. Spread the word and I'll see you all there.
    Nanomage: The OTHER other white meat

  16. #16
    Excellent post Deacon. All really good points. At this stage in the game, the dev's might as well eliminate the MP, and put Moochies dispensers in all the shops. That way we can just re-roll as Enforcers and be done with it.

    I'll pull Enock outta hibernation for this event and be glad to join ya.
    Enock - Level 105 Clan MP, Atlantean
    Zackarias - Level 42 Clan Advent, Atlantean
    Enock - Level 6 Clan MP, Testlive

  17. #17
    I agree. I will make every effort to join the Rimor walk. I am level 161 and I use creation items.
    Sir, are you classified as Nanomage?

    Negative, Im a notum popsicle.

  18. #18

    We need an in-game reason for the black sky

    You can count me in. And I will help in whatever way I can in this event. I will be spreading words to especially my guild, Guild of Meta-Physics, and other guilds that I belong to.

    As for blackening the sky, I agree that will be a great acknowledgement from the devs. HOWEVER, we will need a storyline reason to accomplish that. We will need to come up with an in-game reason why all these MPs gathered and why the sky was darkened.

    So deacky, what are we exactly doing? Just a pure walk? If so, utilizing existing storyline materials, we can call it "The Great Pilgrimage" or "The Calling" (in the history text and among the MPs) and "The Black Sunday" (as a Rubi-Ka slang and among everyone else on the planet). Where all of the MPs on Rubi-Ka had a meta-physical calling to gather. Possibly because of the impending opening to the Shadowlands. We were told to gather and show our powess to the sky in preparation of our real pilgrimage into the Shadowlands.

    (edit: typos)
    Last edited by Votary; May 25th, 2003 at 22:25:42.
    Joseph "Votary" Zodiac - RK1 Clan Atrox MP
    I can summon pies (now mochams infused!)

    "Holy Mocham!" - Votary

  19. #19
    Well, for some reason this walk as OOC as it is, inspired me to write something IC

    A Meta-physical Calling

    I encourage fellow storywriters to give this event as thick of an IC coating as possible. The more IC it is, the easier time it would be for FC to acknowledge its existence.

    I am not so sure about the one-on-one chat time. It's simply not possible for FC to arrange something like that for us to set a precendence. But it would be acknowledgement enough for me if the sky was darkened
    Last edited by Votary; May 26th, 2003 at 01:13:05.
    Joseph "Votary" Zodiac - RK1 Clan Atrox MP
    I can summon pies (now mochams infused!)

    "Holy Mocham!" - Votary

  20. #20

    Re: Black Sunday. Read This.

    Interesting read, although I'm a bit too tired right now to digest it all. I'll give it more attention tomorrow at work. I do have a question though... if the sky darken, and you get an hour of attention from e.g. Gaute, how often will we see something like this? Every second week? Every week? There's 11 (soon 13) other professions, and then there's the sides, and the role-players, and the PvPers, and... you get my point? When you do it this way, how can we show up, without having to do it twice per week?

    My apologies for updating the Dictionary this weekend. I actually removed many of the things you talked about, as I really don't see them used much in AO these days, e.g. "Hack'n'Slash" and "Tank Mage". So if anybody try search for them in vain, you know what happened.

    Originally posted by THEDEACON!
    I essentially bent and warped the game mechanics to my own will, ripping away from the designer's original intent.. (click that link and read it over again before you continue).
    "Designer's original intent"? I think you're a bit misinformed there.

    Those profession descriptions are 18 months old, written by the community team in a few hours as the older descriptions were even more off, and was an attempt at showing what the professions were at the time. If they show anything that needes fixing, it's assigning somebody the time to actually update the manual.

    It seems people are using those descriptions more and more for debates which they are hardly suitable for, and I'll consider just removing them altogether, or try get time for rewriting them completely.

    Anyhow, tomorrow... when I have slept a bit.

    PS: Deac... no PM or e-mail to me about this yet? You really ought to notify me of such things.

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