Ya, so we've got a billion threads about this or that, so I got to thinking.

just -how- are/did people screw it up.

My knowledge of astral hunting is this. there are a limited few natural mobs wandering around, not many, and then are only about half as powerful as the ones that spawn if you link.

Nodes slowly but naturally regenerate their links. (Question one: Is the speed constant, or does it increase it's rate at differant stages? so is it 1 link per Hour; or 1 link per hour at stage 5, 1 link per 2 hours at stage four, ect)

people "drain the nodes" thus making people angry

To my knowledge there is only 1 skill to drain nodes, or nexuses "Link -thing-" and as many spawns are made as people on the sphere at the time.

(Question two:Are people angry because someone will link 10 times with only themself on the sphere, thus depriving them of more spawns if more people were on the Sphere instead? Or is there some way just to drain the node and not kill the things? do they link while serpanted? can you even do that? do they fill the whole sphere up with spawns so no one can hunt there, and then eventually the additional spawns just poof? (yes I know that was longer then 1 question, but it's all related ))


This thread IS FOR INFORMATION for those of us who don't hunt up there but would like to know what is going/went on to start this whole thing with Astral

This thread IS NOT FOR "I hate so and so, because..." "so and so is full of crap because..." "well they did it first" "well 4 weeks ago in another thread so and so said..." and so on

The point is that at the lowest stage, the nodes regain (say) 5 power an hour. At the highest, 50. In the middle, 25. People wanted to leave it at 25 so it was steadily at "motes", but the people drained it to 0 which means it recovers REALLY SLOWLY so there's bugger all power/beasties to gather/hunt in the nodes at any given time, and they keep it drained (fairly easily, 'cause it only takes the 5 links) so that no one else can get hold of the things.

The mobs that spawn after you link to a node are just as strong as the few that repsawn around the astrosphere.

People aren't angry because they're not getting enough spawns (if you -did- link with too many people on the plane, you'd all die), but people are angry because the nodes were drained fully, without letting them go back up to normal.

From what I understand, the more energy a node has, the easier it is to recharge, and the less it has, the slower it recharges.

Not sure about when links to the other spheres come, its fairly often though.

And no, they don't fill an astrosphere with creatures, the problem again, is that the nodes are dry. If you do one link with only yourself on the sphere, you get one mob, which you go out and kill. The real problem is that since the nodes were drained all the way, no creatures can respawn, other than the few natural ones. So, no more semi-infinite bashing grounds, no more hunting in the same area for hours, no more easy exp.

Think of it like this. You want to bash in the same area for hours, because its a waste to run around looking for other mobs. There's a button you can push that will spit out something for you to kill, and then you repeat. The thing is, if you push the button too often, it won't work, you have to let a little time go in between.

hmm, and what total power are we talking here? 300? 500? 1000...? has a node ever been -full-?

Yes, they all started full. And then they were all full after the Kethuru event.

Shiri has it right (and so good to see him again!).

Before, hunting each Astral sphere included the 5 creatures that spawn naturally, plus a certain number of the more difficult extra creatures you can summon by linking to the node. It meant that even if someone had just been through, you could usually find a sphere that had a highly-charged node so you could create some creatures to hunt yourself.

Now, its basically just the 5 creatures that spawn naturally per node, plus maybe 1 link per day. The nodes are all drained within inches of empty, so that they will take a -long- time to regenerate each point of power.

It's fine for those with cubixes who can catch the plane right after respawning, but it really made the plane a lot less useful for everyone else.

I believe the last tests put it at around 1 real life week for a ndoe to go from empty to full without being drained.

However, a node can go from motes to full in a couple hours (10?).

I think it also damages the background story of Lusternia. I mean, wtf is up with the Gorgogs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Astral creatures. It just seems silly to me. Astral is super pansy land right now.

I like Astral being super pansy land! It means we Faelings can hunt there!

I don't have a problem with the strength of creatures, the ones that appear when you do link are pretty difficult for me... its only the fact that you'll almost never see those.

Draining a node from crackling to motes is about 200 (up to 300) surges, from motes downwards is 100+. So you could gain about ~500 Astral mobs if you drained a node from crackling to zero.. if you stopped at motes it wouldrecharge back to halo quickly enough to privide you and other people with endless hunting ground.

Except that people got too greedy or thought Astral drives the credit market too much.. so they drained it. And because people are still greedy or don't want it to recharge it won't happen.

Hmm, since Astral has been drained out, shouldn't the cities start performing another Project Hope to locate a new power source? It was the need for power that brought the Basin to Astral in the first place and it's power that should bring more searches for power.

Not to say that there should be a new Astral popping up. Just saying that the cities should be looking for just that (and probably finding other planes, or just causing more trouble, or just more RP opportunities). In the least, Magnagora should: Celest might still be hurt over what happened last time.

It would be some interesteting roleplay.

And you're right, Astral is superpansyland right now. Imagine if the Project Cosmic Hope people went up there and just drained the nodes, and killed all the stuff, then where would we be? Astral wouldn't be scary like it should, it would be lame, like it is.

Of course, this is no fault of the administration, but of people that won't let the nodes recharge or knocked them down to zero in the first place.

But remember that we're all a heck of a lot stronger than they were way back then. Ladantine became amazingly powerful after touching that node, yet a semi-newbie aquamancer can walk up and kill him.

Astral was scary last time because:

* they didn't know those goats would be there;
* they didn't know linking == more critters;
* they didn't know Kethuru was lurking

Kethuru isn't lurking. Therefore, astral isn't scary.

it still shouldn't be pansyland...

If I remember the histories right, it was not only they didn't know they were there, but they were a serious threat, each individual goat was a serious threat and wounding to the group even though there were more then a few ur'guard warriors with them in addition to the rest of the group

yeah, but karma wasn't about then, so you couldn't get these whorishly overpowered knights.

or something. I mean, a single uber goat can hurt an unprepared ur'guard. And Kethuru /was/ around.

I'm a bit curious here.

You say Astral should not be pansy land. You claim astral is pansy land because the nodes are dry or because the mobs are too easy to kill?

Why are 5 easy to kill goats any more pansy than an infinite number of easy to kill goats that you decide when they come and when they don't.

Assuming you're talking to me,

Does it matter? Players emptied Astral. Players are the only people who can "fill" Astral. It doesn't matter if its pansy land or not. People here keep talking about events, skills, etc, to "refill" astral. Its not needed. The histories don't matter, the comparitive strengths of us/ladantine/goats don't matter: Kethuru was around at that point, I can only assume His essence had as much of an effect then as they did during the event where he was actually released. (Didn't the astral critters become really damned powerful?)

Anyway. Get back on topic. Astral is screwed because players won't bind together and fix the problem. The Divine have said, more than once, that players have to fix this.

It's not that the players won't. They really can't. No matter what ammount of policing there's always going to be that time when someone has to go and there is no one to take the next shift.

Or if by some act of the gods some treaty gets passed between cities someone(s) will not honor it. And we can't tell whom it was. For all we know you could be doing it Morik and preaching of banding together to stop it.

It's just hard to tell.