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Chris:

Update - (Mondayish): Jeebus Tapdancing Crisps! It's the up!

Due to a hissy fit Mark had earlier, I've moved the write up on the Last Call to it's own home, linked through the Stuff page. We finally have a little more stuff.

A-and, the other stuff.

The second annual AV Connection. What words can I use to describe it?... Well, it was most certainly on.

So I'll just be off to AJAS for once. The debriefing's happening today... STRA-AY!

Chris:

This is more than likely to be taken up in the next day or so, but while it remains empty, I'll say a few things about the experience of being a Priest in Ragnarok Online.

Now, this would be the PERFECT profession for an extrovert. A social butterfly. An attention whore. If you are a bitter, twisted husk... an introverted loner, this isn't the one for you. Become a Wizard or a Hunter. These classes are hated with a passion, so there should be no problem in the transition.

My downfall was the shred of compassion I still have. ((WARNING: Exaggeration present.))

As an Acolyte, it wasn't so bad. I'd get asked for a heal every now and again, but most of the time I'd level in an area that had next to no people that used it as a leyline, and barely more that knew where it was. I'd spend my days happily bludgeoning the hell out of anything that came in my way, and FWing away when it became hairy. My stays in towns were brief, and the occasional asks for a heal, or a Warp could be complied with, in the case of the former, and blown away in the case of the latter. Warping's a waste of skill anyway, as every other bloody Acolyte does it.

Anyway, all that changed when I made the transition to Priest. With my newfound ability to regenerate SP: I became a friggen' med-bot. I felt like some heal station off a FPS. It was worse than spam mail. Of course, this wouldn't have been a problem, but my little oasis was no longer paying off on the experience side of things, so I had to go to overpopulated dungeons if I had a hope of leveling further. OK: so the premise of playing a game just to become more powerful is pathetic, granted: but I enjoyed Dungeon Hack and Diablo/II as well, so I can't say much.

Entreating to the public eye spelt a whole new word. The word was long, painful, and described the sensation of thousands of people seeing you stumbling out of the shower, with an unfortunately positioned loofah. There was no such thing as privacy anymore. The only people that wouldn't ask something of me were bots. And even then, I wouldn't have been surprised if there was some pathetic subroutine that made them ask for an AGI+ or a Blessing whenever they entered my range.

I began by being my usual charming, hateful self, but all that caused was people to respect and love me. Stupid lovable bastard syndrome. And the harder I hated at them, the more extreme the reaction. Most of the time, it would end up with a Guild invitation: my bane. Of course, after a while, I wizened up, and as soon as someone posed that they were going to ask a question like "what lvl r u?" or some other nonsensical drivel that would have them committed if they spoke like that in public, I would just reply "Not interested."

This works to a point.

Now, to my chagrin, I've become a cog in the horrible world of RO. I've tried to compromise with it. I'll heal when I'm outside, I suggest. The world answers by having more people asking me to Warp than anything, wasting the time that should be used to help people that are actually in need. Of course I heal outdoors, because indoors I'm much more interested in using my SP to keep me alive: what with being a support character. This fails too. Not only do people ask of me when I'm in a pack of creatures: obviously busy - they mob train me at the same time, and then have the audacity to ask if I NEED HELP! Screw you people! Buy some *expletive* reds and *expletive* help your *expletive expletive* selves!

*pant pant*

So, I suppose the irony inherent in this is that I actually like helping people, but they are so disruptive in my pursuits to offer a better level of service, that they actually sabotage any chance of me helping them at all. So here I hope to offer a clear, concise list of how to:

Deal With a Loner Priest:

* Ask once for the service, and once only.
* Ask politely, and with correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and use of caps.
* Wait patiently for his/her reply.
* Offer compensation for his/her generosity.
* Understand their reluctance to help.
* Avoid asking them for service when they are obviously indisposed, (Using storage, fighting, etc.)
* Do not ask for service after endangering their lives.
* NEVER ask them to party or guild with you. If they ever want to, they'll ask you.
* Choose your words carefully. An ill-worded question will only warrant a witty retort.
* Just like in rape: no means no. Don't ask for explanations, because you aren't going to like what you hear... see.
* Don't try to socialise when he/she is hunting. They wouldn't talk to you normally, why now?
* In fact, don't socialise even near them. At any time.

* For any other do's and don'ts, apply this simple Litmus rule: if it would enrage the creepy guy that lives down the street that curses at you just for walking by, don't do it.

Oh, and don't even approach "Krieyn". Unless you mention his webcomic. Then you'll be safe.