No Stone Unturned!

When I completed the Bartle test and had my results say that the motto I live by in the Realms of Despair is "No stone unturned!" it straight away made me think of the Desert of Despair, in particular the fifth marker stone. I have briefly mentioned it in passing before but this stone is important to the whole area for three different reasons. You need to have a character with 25 strength and a lot of free weight to lift it up. If you're lucky you'll find a golden dagger underneath. It's a weird once per reboot area pop item. The dagger identifies as follows:

Object 'a golden dagger' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 50 treasure, weight 1.
Locations it can be worn:  wield
Special properties:  none
This treasure has a gold value of 100000.

This dagger is the key to the whole desert area, not to be confused with the golden dagger from Dragon Tower. Within the Desert of Despair there is a "Travelling the Sands" maze. Besides being lots of crap buried in this maze it also leads to the Barren Wastes area, a small oasis and hidden away (without being mentioned on the Rodpedia map) is the tomb of Ha'rach. To find this tomb the entrance is near the Barren Wastes and is nw from a room that starts its description with "Clear and cold". The entrance to the nw opens and closes on a timer. Be patient until it opens up and you find yourself here:

A bold monument
Here, in the center of the desert, a large monolith stands tall. Reaching for
the sky, the monolith reaches above a large troll and his steed. Set slightly
off to the south of the monolith, a half-circled rock has managed to remain
clear of the sand that has piled on everything else around. It is undoubtedly a
door that makes up the carved square that marks the center of the rock.
However, there doesn't appear to be any way to open it.
Exits: southeast

 Dig down and you will sucked into this room:

>dig d
You begin digging...
You dig open a passageway!
You are sucked into a swirling vortex of colors! 

Beneath the monument
The small chamber beneath the monument is a roughly hewn cave. The walls are almost too hot to touch. The geologic oven is marked by two glowing orbs on the walls. Beautifully etched golden rods are strapped across the eastern wall, protecting a heavy stone door. A distant sound of heavy gears working resound through thin slots in the wall above the door.
Exits: none
A pair of orbs flank the gold-bound door.

After waiting around for a while in this room and have a golden dagger on you will see the following message:

A small keyhole catches your eye above the bars.

Then put your dagger in the keyhole...

You put a golden dagger in a keyhole.
The golden dagger slides smoothly into the keyhole, creating an audible *click*.
You get a golden dagger from a keyhole.
The golden rods are slowly pushed out of the wall, eventually dropping to the ground.
As the bars strike the ground, the vault opens slightly. 

This opens the door to the Room of Death maze - a maze where if you make one wrong move and you've hit a death trap. Do not enter this place unless you know what you're doing - even then I use naked characters. There are clues to the maze hidden around the rest of the Desert of Despair. If you manage to get through the maze you will end up at this room:

Treasure Awaits
This room is very different from the rest.  One entire wall is covered with a
golden statue. The room glows with the light from the statue, drowning out any
other light brought in.  The ceiling here stretches much further as well.  It
seems it would be taller than the surface of the ground above. With such a
large statue in such a small room, the only place to put people is to stack
them on top of each other, otherwise any more than three would be very cramped.
Exits: west
(Glowing) An enormous statue rests in front of one wall.

 This is not the Statue of Ha'rach - but it is close. When you examine it you the following:

The brilliant gold of this statue is different than any you've seen before. It
almost looks like a fluid, the way it shimmers.  The statue depicts a large
man, a ruler or god perhaps. He sits in his magnificent seat, his hands resting
on his knees, palms facing the ceiling above, as if waiting to catch something.

 Drop your golden dagger here and if you have failed to do other parts of the area correctly then the following will happen:

You drop a golden dagger.
As the dagger drops into the statue's hands, the room begins to
glow with a vibrant light.
And then, a flash...!
The entire statue begins to change shape...
The hands begin to rise up and take the form of a serpent head!
The statue arches its back and the golden serpent comes after you!
You yell 'Help!  I am being attacked by the Golden Serpent!'
The Golden Serpent _demolishes_ you!

This  serpent is impossible to kill since the room it is in a non magic room which if you flee from it back into the Room of Death maze you will either die or the Golden Serpent will disappear. If however you have done the other parts of the area correctly first then the following will happen:

You drop a golden dagger.
As the dagger drops into the statue's hands, it quickly morphs and
is absorbed by the rest of the gold.
A brilliant flash of light consumes the room!
> look
Thoth's Rune on Vertic Avenue
Walking down the cobbled roads of Vertic Avenue, you come to a section
of road which widens into a square.  A massive rune of teleportation has
been engraved deep into the ground here, symbol of the scriber's might.
Walls surrounding the castle and church are to the east and west,
while Vertic Avenue ranges to the north and south.
Exits: north south
A large man, scarred in battle, strides boldly and hefts a large axe.
Harakiem is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
Harakiem is surrounded by a mix of ice-shards and sparking flames.

Meanwhile your other characters who were waiting Beneath the Monument will be transed through to here:

A ledge above the temple
Standing on the edge of an underground canyon, the floor drops away to the
front. Some distance below the ledge, the glow of gold illuminates the
brilliant stalactites that take careful aim at their victims below.  A small
temple is the source of the light.  From this height, the temple does not
appear to be very large.
Exits: down 

From here it's a short run past the albino goblins, through no supplicate rooms, one tricky puzzle and you'll be at the Statue of Ha'rach... More about that some other time, but to me the fun part is there is a lot to find in a big area like the Desert of Despair. There are hidden clues and secrets - much of the most important information is missing from Rodpedia. Don't be scared to explore - but be careful to avoid unnecessary risks. Most of all leave no stone unturned.

Goodbye Guild of Vampires

Two days ago I logged on to see the following:

Welcome to Realms of Despair, Vilexur...
You were last online on: Thu Sep 19 20:10:36 2013
Thoth's Rune on Vertic Avenue
Walking down the cobbled roads of Vertic Avenue, you come to a section of road which widens into a square.  A massive rune of teleportation has been engraved deep into the ground here, symbol of the scriber's might. Walls surrounding the castle and church are to the east and west, while Vertic Avenue ranges to the north and south.
Exits: north south
A large man, scarred in battle, strides boldly and hefts a large axe.
Harakiem is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
Harakiem is surrounded by a mix of ice-shards and sparking flames.
There have been 3 news items posted since you last logged on.

A change in the Realms has affected you personally:
Warning:  the organization Guild of Vampires no longer exists, and therefore you no longer belong to that organization.

Following this I found the new Guild of Spirit to join with the other vampires, paladins, nephandi and clerics in our new guild. So far everyone has been great to meet and worked well together. I will miss the Guild of Vampires but change will hopefully lead to a new and improved era for the Realms of Despair.

If I was Supreme Entity...

I genuinely believe that the immortals of the Realms of Despair do a pretty good job of administrating the game. Some of the recent changes such as pre-authed names and questlines have been great. Overal the immortals have shown a commitment towards the game and the community of players/builders/smaug developers which is appreciated. However there are certain areas of the game I would like to see changed. Some of these I am sure that the immortals would like to change too but haven't got the resources or time to have done themselves. So in no particular order here is the list of things I would do if I was Supreme Entity of the Realms of Despair.

1. Change pre-auth.
What I hate about pre-auth is when I make a new character and see the following:

Path of Sages                                                   
A tunnel beneath the Sunless Sea leads directly to the far side of the distant mountain. Here there is no distraction from the goal ahead. While the tests of identity and of life choices yet remain, the test of ability is bypassed. Those who walk this path are confident in their ability and know their own destiny.
Exits: up
Dblojqgaazya the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Sbhysvpgmhmo the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Iiheksnhovmx the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Jvvufqgqnmow the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Jyninhhojffr the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Ymawvduepllh the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Ccmxlkrxmoka the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Corsyysvbcus the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Qaimtwmjmcfv the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Edbbxurncfox the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Cqhewurmoahp the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Irjtcenyhezg the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Ikwcnbjnuhwe the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Rzetwmpdfxac the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Ybuzsyhpmqtf the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Rjzjrvlxwajy the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Offotyidwupp the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Gmfngsypmwox the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Beygxmerqiqe the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Arxwddwggzqr the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Oezzlkvigpsx the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
Xlunxrcpjgsp the Fledgling of Blood is standing here.
You hold a glowing beacon as your light.
A burlap sack filled with equipment materializes in your inventory....

A whole screens worth of spam from people rolling new characters. I have no problem with people logging a heap of characters and rerolling them in the hopes of getting the perfect base statistics for a thief or vampire. What I don't like are the gibberish names filling up a whole screen. I then think if I don't like this then what does it say to new players for whom this is one of the first rooms they see? I believe it would be better if people could go to one particular room to reroll where their names do not show up to others or the reroll process is done in the new character section before they get into the pre-auth rooms.

2. Rerolling
The above room filled with rerolling characters could be avoided by making it easier to get the statistics you want. If they could make the reroll command accept an argument of which statistics you want most.
i.e. for a thief: "reroll dex str luck" that would only generate characters with those 3 statistics higher than the other statistics.

3. Bring back the lizardmen.
I've already posted enough about this but please bring them back.

4. Housing/apartments
There have hardly been any houses or apartments for sale this year. Apartments are a lot less expensive than houses due to the reason that items in apartments do not save over reboots. This is crazy to me. Houses will always cost more due to them having extra rooms in them which is how it should be but still...

5. Some banners to advertise with
On the Realms of Despair promote page it talks about "Coming Soon - Sample banners for promoting us on your blog or webpage". I've got a blog here and am trying to promote the game. I understand making these things takes time but if it could be done soon, I'd appreciate it.

6. Tank potions
One area of the game I find unenjoyable is having to organise tank potions. Sorting out empty flasks, setting up brew scripts and then waiting around is not fun. One of the best moves made in recent years was the lowering of the price of heal potions. This removed the problem of having to brew heals yourself. What I'd like to see are some cheap tank potions sold in Darkhaven. For 100k if you could buy a single potion that cast all of the longer tank potions and another potion that cast all of the shorter ones it would remove a less enjoyable part of the game and speed up the fun.

7. More quests
The recent addition of the questnews command that advertises quests that run over several days and add to the storyline of the game are great. Would love to see more of them.

8. More class differences
Sometimes it can feel like the classes are too similar. I would like to see the magic classes especially have more of a focus on different areas of magic - fire, cold, electricity, draining etc. If more mobs were made with particular weaknesses i.e. some new dragon was susceptible to cold then that would make that class more useful against it. Scatter some hidden clues to what weakens what mob would go well with it.

9. A better trade system
I don't like the idea of having to make trading bots to sell equipment. If there was some easy system where we could get a mob to hold an item until it sold at a price set by the seller and list all items to be sold it could save people problems with unreliable bots, connection, problems, etc.

10. More solo challenges
It can be hard to get together a group big enough to kill some mobs. Having an area that needs people to be able to solo mobs without help from other players/alts would be a fun challenge.

11. Bring back Tagertale
One of my favourite mobs in the old days was Tagertale. He could transport characters below level 20 to suitable areas for levelling after answering a riddle. I found it great as a new player to get me started in exploring new areas that were appropriate for my character's level. Now all he does is transport people to their racial nations.

Eleven ideas on how to improve the game. Feel free to agree or disagree but hopefully at least if anyone reads this it will get them thinking.

Cheers,
V.

Dragon Ore

It seems as though the movement towards the guild mergers is speeding up. This has been shown in the last week by quests exclusively for members of the various guilds with a storyline around first a plague needing dragon blood to create a cure followed by one now where the dragons are getting angry in turn seeking revenge. To counter this the aim is for the guild members to find dragon ore to create different weapons with. The quest starts at Duke Luther:

The Throne Room
Castle Darkhawk's glorious Throne Room is an immense hall, reminiscent of Notre Dame de Sioux design.  A high ceiling of stained glass depicting Odin's might allows the sun's light and warmth to filter into the room.  A host of small, brilliant balls of light float about at the commands of the Duke, aiding numerous peasants to read their declaration or request.  A dozen rows of wooden pews allow the citizens of Darkhaven to sit as they wait patiently for their turn to speak.  A throne of solid gold, adorned with rubies and jewels, is where the smiling, seemingly trustworthy Duke normally sits.
Exits: north south
Duke Luther is sitting here, cloaked in a majestic cape.
Duke Luther welcomes you.
Duke Luther says 'I have a task for you guild member... please ask me about the quest if you are up for it. The future our Darkhaven is at risk...'
>say quest
You say 'quest'
Duke Luther exclaims 'Welcome my valorous Guild member, It is time that we begin to put together our forces... it appears the dragon's are angry!'
Duke Luther sighs loudly.
Duke Luther says 'So, to that end I've requested Farrar, my faithful armorer, to gather ore and smelt it to make weapons to fight these beasts. The metal is a special one, made from dragons themselves...'
Duke Luther grins.
Duke Luther says 'Go see Farrar for more information.'

It's good to see Duke Luther doing some leadership. Farrar then says to you:

The Castle Darkhawn Forge
This small hut has been hastily put together to allow the Duke's personal armorer to smelt ore into metal. Located just outside the castle, due to the fumes, a simple foundry, anvil and table and chairs are the only things within the room of note.
Exits: southeast
The Castle Darkhawk foundry burns brightly as it converts ore to metal.
Farrar, the Duke's personal blacksmith, aids in the defense of New Darkhaven.
Farrar looks up as you enter.
Farrar says 'Well met Guildmember. Are you here about the Duke's request?'

>say quest
You say 'quest'
Farrar nods solemnly.
Farrar says 'Yes, the duke has requested that I stop everything and begin smelting ore into metal so that we may make more weapons to fight a possible dragon attack.'
Farrar looks at you.
Farrar says 'I am told that the Duke is only trusting Guild Members to aid in the collection of metals for me to smelt. I see you are a member, so if you would like further information, please ask about 'smelting ore'.' 

>say smelting ore
You say 'smelting ore'
Farrar says 'The dragon ore is all over the Realm. Just dig it up! Once you find some ore, put it in my foundry and it will create bars of metal that we can utilize to forge dragon weapons.'
Farrar says 'As I've taken on the duty of smelting the raw ore, Irdrak in New Darkhaven has taken on the task of forging the weapons. You will need 3 bars of dragon metal to get him to forge an appropriate blade.'
Farrar says 'Depending on the quality of the dragon metal bars, she may be able to make lesser or better weapons for our use. Once you get the weapon, come back and see me for your reward.' 

So I first went and found myself a shovel item to improve my chances at digging. My personal favourite is the small pick axe from the Desert of Despair. It is hidden in a crate within that area. I like it because it has a weight of 1. After picking up this it was time to go digging in the dragon packed areas. My first success was in this room in Dragon Pass:

Nearing the End
The trail you follow has widened significantly and you feel the tension draining from your shoulders. The signs of other travellers fills your heart with joy knowing that safety should be close at hand.  Your pace quickens when your eyes catch a glimpse of a tall stone wall far to the north.
Exits: east northwest
>dig
You begin digging...
Your dig uncovered a large rock filled with dragon ore!
>g ore
You get a large rock filled with dragon ore.
>exam ore
You take a closer look at a large rock filled with dragon ore in inventory...
This large rock appears to have dragon ore throughout it. This would be ideal to smelt down and make into dragon metal bars.
>c id ore
Object 'a large rock filled with dragon ore' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 2 ore, weight 5.
Special properties:  none
This ore has a gold value of 1000.
>save
Saved... 

After looking around I found five more pieces of ore between Dragon Pass, the Village of Edo and Ocean Keep. Once I had 6 pieces of ore I started smelting in the foundry back at Farrar's room:

 >p ore foundry
You put a large rock filled with dragon ore in the Castle Darkhawk foundry.
Heat radiates around the Castle Darkhawk foundry as the ore is smelted into its base metal.
The Castle Darkhawk foundry launches a bar of dragon metal out onto the floor.
You get a bar of dragon metal.

Once I had my six bars of metal I took them to New Darkhaven's weapon seller Irdrak in the Daring Attack:

The Daring Attack
Racks line the walls of this tent, each filled to the brim with weapons. You grin evilly at the items of destruction, and try out a couple on the practice dummies hung from the ceiling.  A counter in the center of the room is where the keeper of this shop does business.  To the west is the Solid Parry, while an opening in the tent to the north leads back out onto Market Street.
Exits: north west
An important looking scroll hangs from a wooden board.
A man hammers at a steel blade here, cursing under his breath.
Irdrak looks at you.
Irdrak says 'Welcome Guild member... if you're needing to turn in some dragon-metal simply say 'I am here with dragon metal for you to forge'. 

>say I am here with dragon metal for you to forge
You say 'I am here with dragon metal for you to forge'
Irdrak says 'Welcome Guild member, let me have a look at the dragon metal you've had crafted.'
You give a bar of dragon metal to Irdrak.
You give a bar of dragon metal to Irdrak.
You give a bar of dragon metal to Irdrak.
Irdrak says 'Ah, yes... these will do nicely. Let me see what I can make with them.'
Irdrak begins to heat up the dragon metal.
Irdrak hammers the dragon metal and sparks fly off in many directions.
Irdrak looks upon his work, a satisfied grin upon his face.
Irdrak says 'This metal will work nicely and I'll be able to create a sturdy blade with it.'
Irdrak gives you a dragon metal sword.
Irdrak says 'There you go... now take it back to Farrar for a reward.' 

Once I had the sword (and a dagger too) I took them back to Farrar and for the reward:

You give a dragon metal sword to Farrar.
Farrar exclaims 'Ah, Vilexur, I'm glad to see you back. I see Irdrak was able to make a nice sword for you. This will come in handy in the coming fight!'
Farrar smiles at you.
Farrar puts the weapon safely away.
Farrar exclaims 'Your first weapon returned... well done. This sword will be a good addition to our armory. Please bring more!'
Your glory has been increased by 2. 

It  was great to see a quest like this and to earn a small amount of glory too. A big thank you to whichever immortal made this quest.

Bartle Test

One of the best parts of the Realms of Despair community is the production of the Cry of Despair. Basically this is a newspaper/magazine produced in game by the players on a semi-regular basis. The most recent edition discusses the Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology. This test divides a game like the Realms of Despair into 4 different areas - exploring, achieving, killing and socializing and asks the player which order their prioritise them. My results were as follows:

I'm not surprised that I came up mostly as an explorer. Finding hidden little secrets that no-one knows is a great feeling. I have been a little too busy on the achieving side to do any exploring of late - finishing off levelling characters and equipping them takes up time. Hopefully I'll be able to get back onto exploring more soon. I was however surprised that I came up as more of a killer than a socializer. But with the new guild restructures I'll be able to have opportunities to do a lot more socializing soon.

The Deck of Many Things

One of the most mysterious items in the game is The Deck of Many Things. This item can bring all sorts of unpredictable results - some positive and others negative. If you're the first person to find it following a reboot there will be a key and card in it. I've had a handful of run ins with the deck, but today while wandering around the Village of Edo I foundd it with a key in it. When this happens you have to make two decisions - "Do I pull the card or not?" and "If I pull what character do I pull it with?" My decision today was to pull it with my vampire alt Viledri... The results were:

A Path in the Rice Fields of Edo
Exits: north south southeast southwest
The Deck of Many Things lies in wait for a brave soul.
The Deck of Many Things says 'If you can find a card within me, you might be lucky enough to draw something of value.
However, once you submit to chance, you put yourself at the mercy of the cards.
The Deck of Many Things winks suggestively.

>g key deck
You get the Key to the Deck of Many Things from the Deck of Many Things.
The Key to the Deck shudders menacingly.
You drop the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Vl'aresch gives you one gold coin for your sacrifice of the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Be Forewarned : You could lose all that you own.
Viledri has been given the chance to draw from the Deck of Many Things. 

>exam deck
You take a closer look at the Deck of Many Things on the ground...
The deck takes the appearance of a very finely wrought and veneered wooden card case, yet the strong magical aura surrounding it offers proof that this artifact is not simply what it appears to be.
The Deck of Many Things appears to be full.
The Deck of Many Things contains:
     a card 

 >g card deck
You get a card from the Deck of Many Things.
A mystical being appears and points at you. Your senses reel as you are flung through the void to another place.
The card twists and wriggles in your hands.
A great flash of light envelopes the room, blinding you momentarily.
When your vision returns, you see that the Deck of Many Things lies before you once more.
It is highly recommended that you examine the deck before drawing from it. When you are ready, simply take the card.

>exam deck
You take a closer look at The Deck of Many Things on the ground...
The deck takes the appearance of a very finely wrought and veneered wooden card case, yet the strong magical aura surrounding it offers proof that this artifact is not simply what it appears to be.
The Deck of Many Things appears to be full.
The Deck of Many Things contains:
     a card
The card contained within the deck can bring you great joy and happiness, or ultimate peril and despair. Either way, having already placed yourself in the power of the Deck, the only option would seem to be to draw the card and face your fate. 

>g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Wheel of Fortune.
The card holds your gaze and try as you might you cannot look away.
As the wheel moves inexorably towards its final position, you realise that the tiny figure depicted clinging to it is a perfectly drawn illustration of yourself.
The wheel stops, leaving you sitting securely atop its highest point.
You are filled with elation as you realise Fortune favours you this day.
A large bag of gold appears in your hands.
The cold winds of never rush through the void, whipping the card from your grasp and returning you to the mortal realm.
 

The end result was I got given 20 million gold coins from the deck. I'm not totally sure if that is how much I made as I don't know how much I had before I took the card. While 20 million (or was it 30?) is not a huge amount of gold, I'm happy with that results as I have had negative pulls before or had to sit and wait an hour for an immortal about level 57 to log on and take the next step without any success.

Overall I enjoy finding the Deck. It's something you can search for on your own with a chance of getting some real positives out of it. Plus it certainly adds some excitement to the game.

Dragon Tower and more Pop Rates

Over the last couple of weeks the main project I've been working on is finishing off levelling my newest thief. I chose to make this thief a dwarf as I wanted a good aligned thief and I had a couple of pieces of equipment sitting around on storage doing not much that would be perfect for a good thief - an iron hand of kargoth and a cloak of the eternal wanderer. Before hitting level 50 I chose to stock up on a pair of ring of the dragons from Dragon Tower.

My earliest memories of Dragon Tower was as a level 20 being sent for a guild quest to get a pair of leggings of dark dragonscale. Very nice leggings for a level 20 character but difficult to get on your own without any avatar characters to help. From memory it took me seven attempts and my first ever run in with a death trap. Since then it has been modified to include the rings. These rings are not that hard to make but rather time consuming to get all of the parts. I tried killing Tiamat 12 times before I figured out that my thief only had 10 luck. I changed around some equipment and got it up to 17 then managed to pop 2 settings in the next 3 kills. Coincidence or the affect of the enigmatic luck statistic? It's always exciting making items. To make the rings you need to hand them to the wizard in the tower as follows:

You give an empty ring setting to a powerful mage.
A powerful mage gasps in astonishment.
A powerful mage tells you 'I made this once long ago for the great dragon Tiamat.'
A powerful mage tells you 'If you have the five stones, I can make the ring once again.'
You give a snow-white opal to a powerful mage.
You give a radiant-red ruby to a powerful mage.
You give a blazing-blue sapphire to a powerful mage.
You give a pitch-black onyx gemstone to a powerful mage.
You give a gleaming-jade gemstone to a powerful mage.
A powerful mage carefully fits each stone into one of the claws in the setting.
A powerful mage drops the ring of the dragons.
You get the ring of the dragons.
Saved...

The ring is nice for pretty much any character. There are alternative rings for a good thief which I will work on later but for now these will do. After making the two rings I finished the final level and ended up with a hit point base of 745 - my best thief by far.

Next on the list of equipment needed is more good scales of alpha & omega... More grinding... I always seem to need more of this. I've done another 10 kills since my last post and interestingly I ended up with the exact same results from 10 kills - 2 good scales, 2 evil and 6 neutral.