A Little Story

[BlueMeenie]

Hey Guys,


Just a little story,


As you all probably know, i had put a lot of effort into Maxnano, getting him to 200 and getting some decent equipment, equipment that would make any other profession "uber" but for max, this just made him playable and no more, this experence was not enjoyable.

I was getting rather upset about playing a lvl 200 gimp, and started selling all my good equipment, with the intention of leveling my trox adv.

But while selling all of my Prized posessions, i got a tell from Delphinus a lvl 208 NT from Wen-tzu Enclave, asking:
"what was wrong, why are you selling all your stuff ?", as it was obvious that another NT was quitting his character from all the NT equipment that apeared on the Shopping channel that night.

I then progressed to explain why i was quitting Max,

not being able to solo anything,
not being able to stand toe to toe with any green SL mob for longer than the durration of nullity, all the usual NT Whines.

Then to my suprise, Delphinus then spent the next 30 minutes telling me everything that he has done to lengthen his life expectancy, and i was amazed at how little i knew about NT's

Perks, Armor, Tactics, nano's .....

Delphins said he went through the exact same thing about a 6 months ago. and all these changes in tactics , and items and perks made a huge difference, to the point where he said "NT's were one of the most Powerfull professions", which i now agree with

Durring this Chat he made a very significant point,

He asked if i read the AO Forums,

In hindsight, i think he allready knew what my answer was going to be.

I read all forums in depth, i sometimes dont admit it, and i very rarely post, but this was his point, there is so much negativity in the forums in general, and so many NT's quitting, its causing a chain reaction.

Everyone is demanding the NT gets "Ballanced"
and so many people are disgruntled with the NT's role in SL.

This was probably the Catalyst for me dropping max,

I now look at the NT forums in a difrent light,


I now know why so many NT's are quitting, i can see their point of view,
but i now understand that that there are 2 types of NT, those that know how to play with great success, and use all the tricks that even the old hats are not aware of,

then there are the rest, those that do not have access to "expert" guidence, these are the people that will quit,

NT's are easy characters to play, But very Hard to play sucessfully

Ive learned a lot from this experence and the Chat with Delphinus,


1) you never know it all

2) only selectivly read the OA Profession forums

3) review your equipment setup, perk allocation, and play style, more so when you get to 200+

4) use all the tools at your disposal.

5) Following the crowd is not nessacerly the right thing to do


Thanks a lot Delphinus, you saved another NT falling, and pointed out
a lot of areas that can be improved,

I recon max has only filled half of his potential at the moment, and im looking forward to all the changes i have lined up

/salute Delphinus

[trgeorge]

Nice to hear that Blue
But there's a small difference at succesful playing and fun playing. Hope both aspects will apply to Max

[Freuty]

Thats great to hear Max... seemed a shame to see him dissapear after sooo much effort

BTW, care to share the tips/tricks that Delph shared with you?

[BlueMeenie]

i wil be putting the list together tomorrow,

will take a while

[BlueMeenie]

i wil be putting the list together tomorrow,

will take a while

[rahmorak]

Hmm... well, as NT professional and responsible to a degree for the general tone in the AO forums I will tackle a few things:

1. There is a lot of flaming on the NT forums of late, because people are so dejected with the NT. I have been closing numerous threads and have recently taken a zero tolerance approach to personal attacks.
2. I love my NT, and as much as I grumble (and am probably one of the less desirable group you refer to ) I continue with it cos I find him more fun to play than MP, Agent, Advie etc.
3. In the Maze dungeons (beneath the temples) I can be an asset, with an NR debuff and my calms I can save a team from certain death, with Layers and blinds I can help Freuty and I get Tier 2 parts.
4. I dont know anyone who can farm Novictum as fast as an NT (and it is possible to make 20-70k sk/hour doing it).
5. Del, Satenia, Gothique and others have all posted on how to make an NT viable. Using Quark Containment (TR root) or Burden of Atlas, or the debuffs from Starfall etc. it is possible to solo, but the problem is that any MOB with 40m range will tend to eat us for breakfast. Satenia has an impressive AddAllDef setup, HP etc. using blinds, layers, roots, perks they can solo the Cranky Golem.
6. If there are other viable tactics, why don't people like Delphinius post them to the official forums?
7. In an RK raid, using 'decks we will hammer just about any profession damage-wise, except on high NR mobs like Eel (and apart from MPs, SMG fixers and maybe MAs ). RK raids are FUN as an NT.

The problem is in our capabilities compared to others in SL. TL7 docs can solo 250 dynas, MPs can solo most Inferno bosses, 'crats can solo penumbra dungeon. etc etc.

Gunnandhalf, 220 NT failed to solo an Adonis heckler. A lot of profs do that in TL6. Our damage output (excl. the 220 nuke) has plummetted compared to other professions as new nanos get introduced while our nukes are left with numerous issues, not least of which the attack time seems to use the old nano init rules. Our calm/roots are drastically reduced in effectiveness, spec1+2 has 4x the nano cost of TK nukes and yet nano regen is virtually unchanged at those levels. etc etc.

What I am trying to say is that, yes, you can make the NT work, but the effort (and COST) required is far greater than for just about any other profession. It can definitely be rewarding but when you ask to join a team and the umpteenth reply is "no we are lookign for damage" it starts to get depressing.

So while everyone whinges, they whinge because they care so much for the NT, because every expansion that comes out is meant to fix the NT and we are then told to wait until the next expansion. It is not because the NT is a bad profession.

Urg, I didn't mean to come across all negative again so I will summarise:

1) If 90% of people are unhappy with a prof it generally indicates that something IS wrong with a profession.

2) The day I stop playing Rahmo is the day I stop playing AO.

3) If you have a concern with NTs, with the NT forums or anything NT related I would really like to hear about it. It is only by people talking to me that I can do my job as professional.

4) The NT can work, but that doesnt mean we don't have issues that need to be addressed.

I guess I have taken this somewhat personally, but I really hope you can enjoy your NT again. (and I am looking forward to the list )

[Sidarion]

erm...

NERF NTs!


and... uhm... erm...

Can I have your stuff now, please?


Sid

[Legrandchef]

Can hardly wait for your list, Blue

Chef

[Volais]

I went through the same thing with Volais. I like soldiers now,....cept the fact I STILL cant get a damn team

[BlueMeenie]

here is the list

http://cerberus.kauler.com/phpBB/viewto ... 3586#13586

[rahmorak]

Nice one max, I have added some comments as well.