I am with Aiakon. If I am in the mood for it, it's fun as hell, and great to do. But when I just want to bash/forge/do something for the order, it's only a damn annoyance.

I love the combat. Group and single. I love the strategy it takes for a good group offense against dug in raiders and I love the adrenaline of one on one fights-specially the ones where you know the other person well enough to know how they fight and they know how you fight-those are a LOT of fun! Takes good strategy to win in fights like that.

Also, I way agree with the wish that more RP would be in fights. Dunno how it could be changed, but maybe someone more inventive than me could figure something out! And Bards are a good start, I like they're songs and how they write them themselves, good stuff!

I agree with Talkan, the adrenaline thrill you get from fighting is great, provided you aren't a noobie to it and get the shakes like most do. If you can conduct yourself oocly enough to lay on the heat it's great. Creating a system by yourself and trying to outsmart your opponents with numerical logic is also half the fun.

Love straight up combat, dislike demesnes greatly because I dislike that any one thing that vastly sways the advantage so significantly.

I don't mind losing, as long it's not because of some leading error on my part, or because of a foolish mistake on the group's part.

I think the thing that bothers me the most is stagnation. After you've fought for a while, there's nothing new. Ever. Fighting for me now is just the same situations repeated over and over again. Pretty much every action by the enemy is expected. And, while certain idiocies such as lusting into guards is changed, I don't see such differing anytime soon.

I love Lusternia combat. It is significantly more strategy based than other forms of IRE combat given the power system and various other features. I also feel combat is more balanced in Lusternia than Aetolia or Achaea. Imperian is iffy. Pretty much any class has a great chance because -everyone- has powerful abilities.

I disagree with the notion that to "be good" you must make a "huge" investment. This all depends on what class you are (some classes require more secondary abilities to effectively pull primary abilities such as contemplate, discern, etc).

I'm fairly certain that as a Moondancer/Shadowdancer with two trans abilities Wicca/Hexes with Moon to Waning -or- Night to Choke, I could kill pretty much kill everyone in Lusternia with ease except for top tier combatants (which would be less than 10 people).

yeah, you don't really need a HUGE investment. I've only transed planar and I think I do pretty well for what I've got. I plan on transing more soon though, and hopefully it will make a difference though!

You really don't need a huge investment. I've bought less than 400 OOC credits. Just takes a little work. Having a good system helps, too. Also helps that mages are really cheap to fight with.

That's probably true, but keep in mind the number of hours you've spent perfecting strategies with those exact skills, and the time put into learning to cure and anticipate what your enemy will do. It's still a big commitment, even if it wasn't in credits.

Sorry I found that cute It's like the angry baby!!

I like the combat, I prefer 1vs1 because 10vs10 seems to lag almost any system... but mine first

Problem is no one will fight 1 vs 1 or even 2vs1 they all (Magnagora included) call out for help.... Then again if I have lets say Talkan using web and hangedman every chance he can while I am trying to kill Merkada I call for backup too. Since you cant do much while writhing


I wish we had as many skills as other places... our skill lists are really quite few for the amount of "credits" you spend on transing them

A "huge investment" is not always $ related, though it certainly helps to have $. One can make a huge time investment as well, and again, to be good, you'll need to.

Please remember that not everyone has that kind of time to devote to the combat aspect of Lusternia, or even -any- aspect of Lusternia. Please remember that not everyone can code, or has the huge time investment needed to figure out how to do so. Not everyone can invest the time needed to bash/quest up enough IC gold to buy credits IC to supplement the inability to to purchase them OOC.

As much as some people would like to believe, not everyone can be good at fighting within IRE's combat system. It does require a certain committment level that not everyone can give to a game, and, as such, it isn't going to be fun for everyone.

I'm a magbard.

(Does that answer your question?)

Personally, 400 OOC credits is a huge investment for me.

It's easier for me to jump into combat when I take a moment to consider how my target might feel. For example, if I'm worried about stepping into someone's demesne to get them, I imagine them thinking to themselves, "I'm afraid of this person finding me before I find them. I mean, they're using a protection scroll and they can just shield to ignore all the demesne effects. I feel a bit useless here." Heh. I know it's usually not what they're really thinking, but it makes me feel better going into the situation.

In Achaea, dying was never fun for me. The PK rules there really suck, and the people who "PK count" are even worse. In Lusternia, even with the Avenger status, I find combat much more accessible from a roleplaying perspective. I won't be issued and punished for chasing after someone who just chopped a tree down.

I have nine trans skills. You can do pretty well with much less than that. Look at Torak.

As for systems - there are a few ones you can get for free that aren't exactly advertised.

Forren...you are level 95...and we are watching you creep towards 96. You have a lot of time on your hands for hunting. You likely have much more gold than many people!

Heh, true. I'm just saying you don't need nine trans skills to do it. A lot of combatants aren't even past level 80.

From the perspective of a new player and hopeful combatant, the skills and choices seem overwhelming to me. Overwhelming is not fun. I don't even know where to begin to start. This can be good or bad, as self teaching usually comes to better results in the long run. I will probably end up learning just enough so that I don't shame myself and the organizations I would be fighting for. (Glom, Harbingers) With Bhiele being so poor too, I am daunted by the sheer amount she would have to spend preparing to even test in the arena.

Combat is what keeps me coming back to Lusternia. I enjoy every aspect of it, even losing (hey.. I stuck with Celest since the beginning.. I'm used to losing..!).

The real fun for me, though, was creating my system. Now, every time I log on I have something to tweak. There's always something I can add or work on. That's where I derive a lot of my enjoyment from.

Combat's the only real reason I play, I'd get bored if it weren't for it (and I've been getting bored since there hasn't been a lot of it). The entry-level investment really isn't huge though it does depend on the guild (guardians need all three skills at near-trans, wiccans need two transes and one at least around fabled or so, whereas druids by contrast can fight with a single myth skill).

Systems aren't as necessary as people make them out to be. I don't really have a system at all and I do pretty well except against classes that are aff-heavy like wiccans (wiccans do tend to own me).

I totally agree. If it weren't for the combat suggestions that Amaru put up in our guild clan, I'd still probably be confused. Having a helpscroll that identifies my primary strategies made it not as scary.



Well Ild, I'm game for fighting 1vs1. Problem is that off Prime fighting 1vs1 isn't common (unless you're jumping) and no one really wants to fight on Prime since praying blows. Guess that's why we got the arena, right? Send me a tell, I'll give you some entertainment. Been too shy to ask non-Celests to arena IC.