The Totally NEW Team Corwin Thread

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I have already done as Alrik suggested for over a year, i. e. only playing until 3am or 3:30am. Usually I'm in a speed run group so I can get to bed earlier and not lose much content. If Alrik is fine with it he could be in the speed run group as well and cover as many quests as possible in about 2 hours. That means it's not time to do every optional. Instead we focus on quest completion and easy optionals. For quests we have run before it probably doesn't matter. Running for story is probably better to do on normal difficulty solo during daytime sessions where you can take the time to read the entire story.

I think it's possible for the rest of you to continue after the Alrik and I drop out. You just post what you completed so we can catch up solo before the next session if we want to. This works fine with old content and slayers / explorers / rares. For the newer chains and raids it's good to do those in a group while we're all together. E. g. last session I dropped out and you finished Carnival. I have run Carnival enough times before so I didn't lose out on anything. I have XP pots to keep me in sync. Alrik is often on a 1st or 2nd lifer and living at the XP wall. So we aren't left behind.

It gets very hard to stay awake past 3am when you're not young and if you do then next day becomes disrupted. Usually I have to sleep until past 12pm to get enough sleep. That's not the biggest issue. The big issue is that you will struggle to wake up in the morning for work the following Monday since you wake up so late in Saturday and Sunday.

However, with speed runs I don't feel I lose much by finishing a bit early so I have made a usable compromise by getting some play time without messing up the sleep cycle. I know not everybody want to do speed runs, but it's a possibility for Alrik at least. He can just tell Dm that he wants to finish early that play session and then the groups can be created accordingly.

 

[Cm]

I think Alrik wants to speed every time, finish early and get to sleep.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Well, actually, I'm more a flower-sniffer, so to say. That's why I'm always trailing behind . I'm always finding something interesting to find out ...
I'm not a speedrunner. I'm coming from the Adventure genre, where thinking and examining the environment is of most importance.
On the other hand, though, I'm not young anymore as well (even though I still feel so on the iside), which means that I get tired too much when I'm playing too late, as well. Thus, speedrunning is a way - or the only way - for me to get "properly" through content.

... Which makes me think ... Why do we have to be so fast with each session anyway ? Yes, I do know that you know the content almost overly much ... You know every pebble in that dungeon, don't ya ?
However, to me this doesn't necessarily imply to be speedy.
Or, trying to use a different example to express what I mean : It's like going fast bby bicycle : You get though the landscape fast - but you don't see the detauls anymore. Or, the inn along the road, so to say. In my case, I personally switched over to walking instead of going by bike, when I have my leasure time. For my part, I have noticed for myelf that I see so much more when I'm going more slowkly through a wood, for example. In 2020 or 2021, I actually stopped in a wood just to watch a tiny caterpillar climb up a tree stump. I found this so fascinating, how such a tiny animal used all of her power to get up that tree stump ... I find ... love in watching all these tiny details ... As a "running joke" I'm in fact finding paper clips everywhere within "my" firm - and even beyond ! Because I very often look on the ground, partly in fear that I might kill a small insect ... My most fascinating find was a paper clip on a broad, and well used, road within the local wood ! I really thought "this can't be ! No-one will believe me !" If I hadbn't found it myself, I probably wouldn't believe anyone who tells me he or she had found a paper clip there ... Well, now I would. I have found that almost nothing is impossible.

Back to topic : I'm more a "flower sniffer", and that's why I'm usually slow. But that's not bad, because this way I can take care of Corwin.

For this round, I'm still planning to get out of the session around 3 in the morning local time.

I had the idea to have 2 books - one for the first-lifers in the group, and one for the multi-lifers, but that's not a thing I'd see as practical. For me, it would be far too much work.

 

[Corwin]

I chuckle when I read you youngsters complaining about getting old!! Just wait till you're my age!!!!

 

[azraelck]

I chuckle when I read you youngsters complaining about getting old!! Just wait till you're my age!!!!

The good old days of the Triassic era?

 

[Cm]

After 10 plus years of running the quests, I have not only the pebbles memorized but I know what color huge they used, how many warts are on each troll, and what sound each one makes when I kill them. lol

 

[dteowner]

We already know what each flower smells like. For the majority of us, at this point, the attraction of the game is character development. Trying different builds and different roles, and seeing how those toons mesh with everyone else to form a good (or not so good) party. Well, that and the opportunity to torment JM over doing all the wilderness areas backwards...

Supporting that goal, I try to set us up to gain a level each week or two since that's when the characters develop and get to use better gear that we've collected. That's where you're putting me in a bind. You need to gain a certain amount of XP each week to keep up. I also need to keep you aligned with everyone else when there are flagging requirements. So you can run more quests quickly for a shorter session or fewer quests slowly over a longer session. Even with the advantage you have as a first lifer only needing half the XP as the rest of us, you still need to get thru a certain amount of content each week. Not sure there's a way to run half the time at half the speed and still get you across the finish line.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I understand that. I try out different builds as well, that's why I have so many alts. Most of them are low level, though, basically meaning that I have several "emergency characters" available, if I forget to TR like last time.

My idea was simply : Why not lessen the amount of xp a little bit per week ? We'd still have a fun time together, I think.

 

[Cm]

I will put my 2 cents in here. Lets just settle this one. Dte you have the book. Set us out a track to level as we have been. Only thing you need to do is run chains first. Anyone leaving early is responsible for playing catch up on their own. Group activities can not be centered around an individual and Dte you should not feel you need to. As Peter said, he has short timed it for a while now and ran solo to keep up. That is how it should be. So says the queen, so says the book. lol

 

[azraelck]

Year of the Dragon at DDO. They're giving away a bunch of stuff, something each month. This month is the Dragon Lord archetype, a Fighter archetype that has it's own tree and a slightly modified Barbarian Ravager tree instead of Vanguard and Kensai. Sorcerer's Dragon Disciple is later in the year, looks like something akin to the raider's box in August, two other boxes that are probably the same with different raid loot no one wants anymore, a green dragon mount, wings, etc...

I'm more interested in the Dragon Disciple. If it's out by the time we TR, it's my next character probably.

In March VIPs get daily gold rolls; that's probably the big one for me other than the Dragon Disciple. It might be worth it for Corwin and Alrik to drop a dime for the month of VIP, just to stockpile XP stones for the month. The raider's box/dragon's lair/horde of discovery depending on whats in them. My guess is the Lair and horde one aren't raid loot; maybe one is regular gear from various packs, while the horde is consumables.

Alrik, remember that you're a first lifer this time around; you're going to be hanging at the wall the entire time, and can probably pick and choose what content you want to hit with us. It's really not going to be an issue until you run a third lifer; even a second life character will have tons of excess experience the way we run Reaper 1 constantly. As long as you hit the chains with the good loot you'll be fine, and we can adjust what we run to make sure you do. Given that your character list accounts for half the characters on Khyber, you probably have a good 10-15 years before it'll become a problem.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Group activities can not be centered around an individual

I agree to that.
It might mean that I might get some difficulties in higher levels then, though. But, as you said, this will be my own problem.

Alrik, remember that you're a first lifer this time around; you're going to be hanging at the wall the entire time, and can probably pick and choose what content you want to hit with us. It's really not going to be an issue until you run a third lifer; even a second life character will have tons of excess experience the way we run Reaper 1 constantly. As long as you hit the chains with the good loot you'll be fine, and we can adjust what we run to make sure you do. Given that your character list accounts for half the characters on Khyber, you probably have a good 10-15 years before it'll become a problem.

Well ... yes. I have several alts which are at lower levels so that I can put them in when a new round starts.
My problem will be the ones with several lives, like Alrih, for example.

On the other hand, I've rarely had problem so far, apart from Epic levels.

 

[azraelck]

Ultimately, if we have to double run stuff, because someone's behind, or run extra and hold levels, it doesn't matter, because we play together primarily because we like playing together. Some of the group have been playing since the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and computers came with 64k of RAM. It's been 14 years since I joined up on DDO; 14 years of constantly playing the same game is extremely rare for me. So push come to shove, we can always run some more and hold levels to keep you and Corwin with us; it's no big deal.

 

[Cm]

We have been playing together for 16 to 18 years. Man oh man! You can always play catch up in slayer areas with a hireling or two. Run quests that are lower level or run on Normal. And like Azraelck said, we will just do what we have to do.

 

[Peter Stauffenberg]

We have been playing together for 16 to 18 years. Man oh man! You can always play catch up in slayer areas with a hireling or two. Run quests that are lower level or run on Normal. And like Azraelck said, we will just do what we have to do.

Some of us started playing together more than 20 years ago. We started with Neverwinter Nights, then Neverwinter Nights 2 before moving to DDO.

 

[Peter Stauffenberg]

It might mean that I might get some difficulties in higher levels then, though. But, as you said, this will be my own problem.

Not necessarily. The main thing is to catch up XP wise and it can be done via explorers, slayers and rares. Quests can be run on casual or normal when playing solo. Playing catch up is mostly a matter of playing time effort. You need more effort if playing at lower difficulties since you get less XP, but it's still doable.

We're usually running on reaper 1 and that's not so easy to do solo unless you have many past lives. We are running for regular XP and not reaper XP so you don't lose out much having to run solo sometimes.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Regarding that long play time : Remember, I ran with the group something between 2010-2024 or so, somewhere in 1014 I moved to SWTOR, which i enjoyed greatly because I was a Star Wars fan (part of me still is, but that has gone to sleep to great parts).
I still remember how difficult things were back then, and i still remember one particular Meridia run, from which I still have the voice of CM in my head (to this day !) of her surprise that a (relative) newbie like me ( I played the ranger Alrikadaram then) managed to shoot down a gnoll in Meridia. She just couldn't believe it.

I play with the group for fun as well, and meanwhile I don't particularly like going to bed at 5 in the morning, I still have that satisfying feeling of fun group play in my heart when finishing the session.



I wanted to leave some notes about her name, the dragonborn Paladin called Grimmaramma. And yes, she's female. I don't know why, but I have grown into not liking to play big and bulky male characters. I'm not like that (big & bulky) myself.

The first part of the name comes obvioisly from the word "grim".
The second part comes in ine half from the word "ram", but the second part is more complicated.
"Ages" ago i once saw a newspaper article about the "Trümmerfrauen" in Bavarian language. You know, after WWII, with most of the men dead, injured or in prison, mostly women remained to "tidy up" the ruined towns. Dresden is one example, but Hamburg and Cologne were others.

The word "ruins" means in German "trümmer", always plural, no singular. The word "Frau" means "woman"

The Bavarian title of that movie was "Rama Dama". Which is Bavarian for - I can translate this only roughly - "tidying up we do". "Rama" is a typical Bavarian fusion of two words - here "räumen" ( = tidying up ) and "we" ( indicated by the suffix "a", as far as I can tell ), both in Bavarian language, of course.
I can mostly understand Bavarian language because of my roots, but I can't speak it, mind you !
"Dama" is better = more easy for me to translate : Again, it's a fusion between "tun" = "do" and "wir", indicated by the "ma". My guess is that the "ma" is roughl like "me".
As far as my feeling goes - again, I'm not at all fluent in Bavarian language ! - the "rama" is meant to be plural, so "dama" is meant to be plural as well, even although it can be singlular ("me") as well - if there wasn't the plural in "rama". The verb seems to indicate that it is mean to be in plural - "all of the Trümmerfrauen are tidying up".

So, the second part of "Grimmaramma" is inspired by that. Although grammatically not correct, she is also "tidying up", and in her case this means she is "removing all that's evil from this world (of Eberron)".

 

[Corwin]

Thanks Alrik, that was interesting. It's always good to learn more about the background to a name.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Be glad that I'm not Tolkien !

Besides, I'm always surprised by the name "Pynchelstyne", if i recall that correctly. Pichelstein is known through Erich Kästner's "The Little Man", a fun novel for children. It even has a second part "The Little Man and the Little Miss".

About Erich Kästner, who received several German prizes : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Kästner
More on him on the German-language page : https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Kästner

I don't quite recall whether there is an actual town called Pichelstein in Germany or not. Wikipedia doesn't give me hints towards that.

"Pichelsteiner Eintopf" is a meal. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pichelsteiner , English : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pichelsteiner

Pichelsteiner Eintopf from the German-language web site of the main Bavarian broadcast station : https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sen...teiner-eintopf-rezept-originalrezept-100.html
It says that it was probably invented in Regen, a town in Bavaria, located at the river Regen, or in "Kerschbaum am Büchelstein", about which i know nothing, apart from the Büchelstein apparingly being a mountain. Funnily, "Regen" also means "Rain".
It also says that there's a "Pichelsteiner feast" every year there.

Quotes from Erich Kästner via the web page of Geo (Geo is a German magazine which is a bit like National Geographic) : https://www.geo.de/geolino/mensch/19188-rtkl-sprueche-erich-kaestners-schoenste-zitate

 

[dteowner]

After Alrik left, our side finished all the side quests, so we've got 3 "main" quests remaining. All 4 of us are sitting in rank 48 (half way thru 10). Since we've made so much more progress than I expected, I'm going to do a major rewrite to the book. Slavers and ToEE are out. We'll finish Dread (which should get everyone close to the wall if not already there). Then we take 10 (the last Dread quest is actually lvl8 so we could get people off the wall before running that one). Then we run VoN1/2. Then we take 11. Between VoN3/4, the Dread saga, and maybe some fill-in, I think we can get everyone to toon level 12 at that point. Run the VoN raid and then see where we're at.

We haven't run Slavers in forever so I'm disappointed to skip that and I actually like ToEE now that it's been revised (the "new" loot is pretty solid and there's lots of it to get) but we'll just have to pencil those in for next life.

 

[azraelck]

If you really want to run them, we can still do them a level above a get full XP, just no bravery bonus (or less, whatever). It won't hurt to bank a little XP for the dry spot in a couple of levels too, given the doldrums in the mid heroics. Might not get both TOEE and Slavers, before hitting the wall or having to go to two levels above, but we could get at least one.

Our side finished the entire chain, so there'll be some rerunning of quests I guess. Not a problem since the loot is nice out there.