The Nice, Flowery, Rant-Free Istaria Thread!

[Pharcellus]

I had an epiphany!

Yes, I know, even old veteran curmudgeons like myself get them from time to time.

It seems to me that one of the problems is that we don't have a place for people who like Horizons to talk about the game without the likes of the Evil Pharcellus butting in and ruining it for everyone.

Well, now we do. Since this thread is in Club Tropicana, you can post your game updates, post your flowery praise, and talk about it without worrying about the Evil Slime icking it all up for you.

This won't mean that the Slime will sneak in from time to time and steal a topic of discussion and try to drag it back to its lair in the Badlands to make something vile and contemptuous of it but, at least here, it will stay squeaky clean.

I would even suggest the mods make this a sticky, like the other HZ thread in the Badlands.

[FrithRae]

done and done!

So Deth, keep those updates here as that is a positive thing .

And good idea you ol'bitter bastard...

[Drae]

I had this dream about Horizons/Istaria whatever last night that I came back to it and it gave me nostalgia but it was also a crappy dream because two good friends were ignoring me/telling me to go away.

To be honest I do kinda miss it but if I went back I'd either be bored out of my mind or sit on my ass for hours on end. But man I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss looking at my huge dragon's ass towering over everything else.

[FrithRae]

Aww that's a crappy dream . And again, love the avatar - lol.

But yea that's why I stay with it. Right now its my only dragon option. Even if Its a once a month dragon fix .

[Drae]

Yeah, if there was some other MMO where you could be a dragon I'd find it really hard to resist. Just gets so boring playing the same races over and over, you know? Human, elf, orc, etc. Too bad the guys over at Shadowpool or whatever ceased development on their game but that's kind of going off topic heh.

And thanks.

[Takora]

After I quit Istaria, I sweared to me that I don't ever touch a MMO again, for the money and time it eats, and you get really nothing out of it in the end. If they plug the servers, you are screwed. I had that already one time with Unity. It as not funny.

But since I have played Rift, the MMO bug has bitten me very hard again. And now I am still pondering if I should give the game another shot for a month, see what changed and if my friends are still around.

Its just around 8 € here for a month without plot, and I bet sooner or later I will probably give in. But for now I have to concentrate on my new job, maybe in a half year when I get some days off I can take a look again at the game. And when I play, I will probably play till I pass out, lol.

[FrithRae]

Well Tak they have the "free play a human forever" option so that you woudn't even have to spend the 8 pounds to check it out.

Unless like me you couldnt stomach playing anything but a dragon, then you'd have to fork over the cash .

But yea whenever I pick up a new MMO if I really like it I'll play till I pass out - or when I take a break and come back a few months later I'm all into it again.

But depending on each MMO the break may be longer or shorter, and the time played until I break again may be longer or shorter too .

Byut this is the happy Istaria thread - so I can only say I keep my sub active because I want to keep the work on my lair. IF that was lost I know I'd never have the motivation to pick it back up again.

So even if I'm absent for 6 months, I still know I'll go back at some point. And I really feel my monthly sub makes a real difference for such a small game, vs. say in EQII or WoW where they could probably not care less.

[Takora]

I am exactly like you in that dragon mentality then. Yeah I could peek in as human, but well I rather play my character, since it feels more "home". So I rather shove that 8 € over, even it is for a month.

If I wanted to play a humanoid I would have stuck the crack needle aka Rift in my arm lol.

Due the Unity transfer I sadly lost my whole lair and the money I spent so it, I buyed myself a Lair on Order, but I never got really again into the lair digging groove again due other reasons. If I had a fully developed lair, I would have kept my sub active. But since I had only 2 chambers done, I did not want to leave back a half empty lair, and so packed my things to make room for the other players that want it.

Edit: Oh god my grammer today is again crappy as a dead fish.

[FrithRae]

oh mine is far far far from finished, I do have the top level done (cuz well that's like all hallways and tier 1 silos with just a couple of tier 1 rooms) and I've got couple full chambers done on level 2, and started placing stuff on level three.

And that's "progress since lairshaping was put in game" total..lol. And none of those chambers are lairs, Halls, or Grandhalls lol. Just various crafting chambers of Teir III or lower. I've started placing stuff ont he Tier IV chambers on the 3rd level but none of those are complet.

And I've got like 4 levels below that, including like a Tier V lair or something in the middle.

So years to go. Its just taken me years to do what's been done so far that if I lost the lair, for any reason, I don't even have half the energy to redo it all - even with novians. Heh.

Its why I wish the game didn't reclaim plots after 3 months - I don't feel there's such a high demand that its necessary to reclaim them that fast and I really feel that if plots were arond longer others would feel more inclinded to return than to have that gone. *shrugs*

But ONE DAY!! ONEDAY! It will be complete! Eventually...one...day...I ...swear...lol

[Kulamata]

IIRC, when reclaimed, buildings are stripped?

[FrithRae]

I forget the exact rules cuz it varies on wether or not the "community" reclaims them or you sell then to someone else or your guild or whatever.

I believe that yes, if you stop paying your sub, when the plot gets reclaimed by the game then the plot is wiped and everything you built gets put into your bank as novians at an 80% converstion rate (I think). Also apprently whatever money you spent o buy the plot in the first place gets returning to you as well (I had no idea this happened but someone else recently told me that you get a refund - however as I got my plot at the first lair plot auction I'm not sure I would get a refund; but normally you do.).

Whereas I THINK if you transfer/sell your plot yourself before letting your account lapse then the structures and such stay built.

I THINK.

[Pharcellus]

heh.. that would be interesting; that would mean that my account has like 16 gold on it right now, since we lost Miyuki because no one in the guild could take it on when I quit.

Of course, almost no one in the guild plays anymore, and I wouldn't blame any of the remaining active members if they didn't leave to join another active guild.

We lost a lot when we lost Miyuki. Thousands of components, techs, formulae, etc. Unless it all got dumped into my vault, which I doubt.

[Kulamata]

And I would suspect that the losses associated with Axe 'n' Anvil were even greater. What a tragedy to see that industrial mini-city reduced to nothing (with one brave building added last time I was past) even if only a loss to morale. Although I'd guess much material was lost as well. I realize that losing old items with their memories and traditions is supposed to be the game's gain, but I'll be damned if I'll ever believe it.

[Pharcellus]

Yeah, AnA had done quite a bit more than most guilds, but they also were a haven for cheats and exploiters, which explains part of their so-called success.

I had a love-hate relationship with AnA. There were a few good members I counted as friends, but the rest of them I wouldn't have minded if they disappeared into the bit bucket from the get-go.

[Kulamata]

Oh, I didn't care for AnA at all; rigidly rulebound, hierarchical, arrogant, etc. Didn't know about the exploiters. But was impressed with their guild village.