Philosophy of Aranock

In the end, what does having a Warlord mean? Does it mean you're immediately an expert in the game and you know all the mechanics behind it? or Does it mean that you've simply been more willing to put a larger amount of your time into penting? I hate it when people claim to have Warlord rank characters or multiple high rank characters of one race or another and use that as their reasoning behind acting like they know more about one character or use it to justify bashing other people for their builds. While I agree it takes a lot of time and energy to rank a character to Warlord, it doesn't show anything about your knowledge of that race or the game itself. It takes absolutely no knowledge to completely max out all your character's skills and shows nothing of the cost efficiency of your builds. It merely says, "Well, I have no where else to put this 100k xp, might as well put it here." Granted it may be easier to Noble a character with a good build rather than one that maxed Bartering at Major, eventually everyone will get there given enough time and determination.

While this may sound like a rant or that I'm complaining about players' behaviors on Aranock, I am only posting this to pose a question for some of you to answer. I am actually curious to know what the rest of you think.

What does having a Noble REALLY mean?

And for that matter, what does having a Necro mean? lol

Neko wrote:

In the end, what does having a Warlord mean? Does it mean you're immediately an expert in the game and you know all the mechanics behind it? or Does it mean that you've simply been more willing to put a larger amount of your time into penting? I hate it when people claim to have Warlord rank characters or multiple high rank characters of one race or another and use that as their reasoning behind acting like they know more about one character or use it to justify bashing other people for their builds. While I agree it takes a lot of time and energy to rank a character to Warlord, it doesn't show anything about your knowledge of that race or the game itself. It takes absolutely no knowledge to completely max out all your character's skills and shows nothing of the cost efficiency of your builds. It merely says, "Well, I have no where else to put this 100k xp, might as well put it here." Granted it may be easier to Noble a character with a good build rather than one that maxed Bartering at Major, eventually everyone will get there given enough time and determination.

While this may sound like a rant or that I'm complaining about players' behaviors on Aranock, I am only posting this to pose a question for some of you to answer. I am actually curious to know what the rest of you think.

What does having a Noble REALLY mean?

And for that matter, what does having a Necro mean? lol

Oh you people! Neko graces you with advice, how dare you not take it!?!

I cannot believe you actually accused ME of being full of myself...

There are plenty of baddies with warlords and other noble chars.

Lol this is why I build as I like as opposed to what advice others tell me. For example only yesterday I had 3 different descriptions of how I should be building my char etc. I ignored all

To me one or more noble characters says that your a veteran, youve been around long enough to be known in the community and you are far less likely to rage quit and never be seen again. Your also someone who likely does have knowledge about most areas of the game and have developed your own personal way of building your characters the way you like thru trial and error. There are those that have done this without reaching noble ranks, but very few have reached noble ranks without doing this. Thats how i see it anyways

There are some things about building that you will not know until you reach knight or warlord. Each of these things learned about a build cannot be obtained through building other classes. Example, As an AH once you can effectively B2 faster than you die, or C2 so effectively (or pro/ms) that you no longer take noticable damage, IMHO it is time to max brave, then will, then res. I could make 3 magen AHs and not have learned this if I did not pent my way through it.

Also as you grow, SS become more effective as you get better +s and more lasting armor, you will not see these effects as a smaller player.

As a warlord I can walk through nearly any area of the game at more than twice the speed (litterally, good bless helps). However, if I wanted to say learn U2 and the path and poles.. while this can be done at lower levels, its easier to learn it when you are not worried about dying. The higher your rank, the more likely you are to know.

As an FDM seyan I learned how worthless C1 is in pents as well as SH1, before attempting this I could not have known how effective it would truly be for the amount of XP placed into it. As long as you think about what you are doing, even a major with max barter that become Warlord likely knows more about class building than most other majors.

Just the same as someone who uses Word or Excel, there are some things you memorize over time unintentional, just because you do them frequently enough. Back in V2 the highest rank I ever had was major after months of playing. Now I could make Major in a day if I wanted to.

As a Warlord you have at least approached an apex of one area of the game. By the time you Warlord one of each you likely well know everything there is to know about the game before its done. In the amount of time youve spent online to make a Warlord, even if you didn't ask.. you've likely heard every formula about stats and how bless works and the differences between C1 and C2 and warcry.

Perhaps your a kind noble like jack, always lending a helping hand. Perhaps you are like Blade and leave the others thirsting for power like yours. Perhaps like Grim, set out on an impossible mission to do what hasnt been done before. Each of these figures leaves a path for those that come after them, to remind them of what they could be, have and do. But first and foremost, it means that youve actually been a part of the community.. and not just a passing guest. You are a part of the game and have made it what it is by your contribution.

Ive been playing V2 for well over ten years (perhaps a fair bit over if you count MoA origional) and ive never had a noble. The race to warlord has never appealed to me and when ranking got too time consuming and too boring I simply found other things to do. This means that as a normal player (pre admin) I had experienced every race to high officer rank, had built and run clans, participated in purple and pvp and explicitly explored all game content below general. Even if I discounted my staff/imp/god experience I'd like to think my knowledge of the game was still capable of matching anyone elses, after all there's no real 'end game' in Aranock after General...and so I dont feel that that ive missed out on not ranking higher.

I can appreciate the fact that there are different dynamics to chars at the highest spectrum of the rank order however

I guess in the end people can (and will) build however they want. I guess I focus too much on maximizing the power of a character in more efficient ways, but it really doesn't matter to a lot of people. Guess we all have our own preferred builds.

I still believe that you can pretty much reach Warlord rank without knowing the specifics of your build. Just through trial and error eventually every character will get to the same point given enough time.

Well imo this game is not forgiving at all if you mess up your build. On my seyan i was gimped from major-ltgen and could only pent at rank on a gpot. I gimped myself by trying to raise evenly...for example str/agil as much as will/int and spells as much as res/imm/2h. The result was i was a decent fighter and a decent speller but wasnt good at either. It took from ltgen to fdm to ungimp myself and now at almost baron i have "my build" the way i want it. If you walk into emmey cave or vod or ice pents or prison without a good build, your toast. And you really only get to design a build by playing it from private to noble ranks to see what to raise when to enable your play style. Not just character raising, but you know what attributes mod what skills for the main important skills, you know how to run areas, you know where all the hidden chests and poles are because youve run that area 100 times before on your main and the dozen alts youve made in the 6 months+ it took you to make noble, you know all the ins and outs of the game. The way i see it, until your a noble you dont know this game inside and out because after you reach noble you can say "ive been there, done that, and now im going back for more."

I've had a warlord for awhile, but make no claims to having great knowledge of the game. quite the opposite really. I have successfully blundered through the game forgetting more than I'm willing admit while at the same time trying not to humiliate myself by dying while doing something stupid. My take on the game is that I play to enjoy myself and try to have fun with those I encounter. I answer what I can when pressed, and I'm not shy about it when I don't have any idea. So what does it mean to have a Noble?

Beats me. I just like to play; and do some occasional sprite/sound FX work.