RevengeKiller

You've got class. I see you training again I leave you be kk

Not true. You're confusing mutually exclusive events with collectively exhaustive events. You either succeed or fail according to the original post... 25% to succeed, 99% to fail. The two are mutually exclusive... therefore must add to 100. Each chance is 1% success, 99% fail. The total probability of success/fail over 30 iterations may well be 25% success - but the fail would be 75%! Eh, it's getting petty but the statement which I said wasn't true - isn't. Given the premise that there are only two potential events then yes, the probability of either of those two collectively exhaustive events occurring, (which also happen to be mutually exclusive), would of course add up to 100% given of course that an event transpires. However, the fact that they are mutually exclusive in no way dictates their collective likelihood of occurring. Revi's statement was an isolated assessment of the rules of probability which is simply incorrect. Cheers

Not true. You're confusing mutually exclusive events with collectively exhaustive events.

Throw in my .02 that this seems likely as well. The day after advising str8jacket to start a forum thread for his fledgling custom clothes service, (which he as well as Fuze have been advertising), a thread appeared by Fuze complete with examples of the work which I had recommended doing. They were also each members of *CO* at one point in time and finally there was the concern Aislinn had with Fuze's various forum accounts. It'd be a good idea to be on the lookout for either as I can tell you from several conversations I've had with str8jacket - he's hellbent on scamming/luring/bagjumping/etc. He claims to have been the old player behind the Shultz character.

For the record, I at least do not consider it sad that such players exist. In the first place, if I can divert for a minute from what I have considered it necessary to repeat on occasion in game - that it is in fact a game... there are still real people behind the characters who are influenced in real life by actions within the game. While they may be capable of learning patience from grinding their way to the top so too are there lessons to be learned of a different variety concerning subjects such as those expressed here. And lessons in EL come cheap. Lunch money cheap. A hamburger cheap. Even in the case of one recent, relatively-profitable case - that of Spartan Warrior's various exploits, we're still talking a night or two of heavy drinking on the town. In the second place, concerning real life in it's most direct form where valuable lessons are generally far more costly, (monetarily or otherwise), without discrediting the role non-zero-sum circumstances have played in the development of mankind it is still competition which has driven life forward - be it amongst communities/nations/individuals/etcetera. Some competition is more palatable, and some, as in the case of scamming/luring, (which rely on the transgression of trust) - not so much. Nevertheless, without competition of various forms you would soon see murky waters - a result of their stagnation. As such, regardless of the effects people of a certain nature may have on their selected victims - they do still benefit the system as a whole in their own way.

Few tips. Likely most of the people reading these posts will be those already relatively-secure in their knowledge of the game and its players but perhaps if you are a GM or simply a fellow player you could take it upon yourself to make new players aware of these general best practices: 1. If you are a low-level player, or even a recent, high-level char-buyer imo - expensive armor/weapons don't belong in your storage nor on you. Were they given to you - sell them, don't leave around the temptation of wearing something that you shouldn't at this point. Get yourself a few nice pairs of augs and train to your heart's content. If in doubt as to whether or not given armor/weapons are appropriate at this point in your development, rest assured - they're not. Don't bother about PvP/PK where such armor/weapons have become mandatory until much later in your character development. Train on creatures as has been detailed in several helpful guides already. 2. Figure out the current going rate of rostos. Double this amount. If whatever you are carrying/wearing ever exceeds this newly doubled amount - carry a rosto. If you don't have one and/or can't afford one - don't carry/wear the stuff... simple. There are finer points to this practice such as taking into consideration the likelihood of someone coming across any potential db, or whether or not you expect that someone you particularly dislike will be around (in which case you may prefer losing a rosto rather than items of even less value to them), but in any event the basic idea, (double the value of rosto = carrying a rosto), will suffice for most situations. As far as no-drop PvP/PK - see point 1. 3. Breaking a bit from the above simple rules but... spend some time reevaluating your ability to make decisions which rely on variable data. In this case - other players. Consider that they're out to get you. Consider that they're not. Consider what you stand to gain/lose from either of the above possibilities (in this case 10k and BD armor/MoL/etc. respectively). Finally, consider what the likelihood of either being true/false is given what you actually know (e.g. - he said DPa was ok and now he's stating a strong preference for NC - sounds fishy, etcetera). There will undoubtedly be errors in judgment along the way but if given a certain focus you will at least minimize your losses and maximize your gains (whether this be concerning friendships, gc, or whatever you consider of particular importance). Any of these 3 points would have been helpful for DarkWizard in this situation. But there will be similar situations to come and of course this is not strictly confined to new players. Long-term players are taken advantage of as well, generally resulting from their failure to make such reasonable assessments as point 3 is meant to address. You likely do not seek company with birds of prey but rest assured - they seek you... so be prepared. If any of this caution seems a bit overly-pessimistic for you I will only say that I believe it ultimately promotes optimism and good-natured relations. Better to employ certain strategies for keeping those at bay who are best kept there than forfeit degrees of trust to those worthy as a result of having been taken advantage of. Cheers

SOLD

Likely a reflection of the value players place on certain activities over others (e.g. - fighting > hauling to storage, 10pps > buying from NPC, etcetera). No sense assuming your/whoever's preferences would necessarily be acquiesced by the aggregated interests of the community. Incidentally, the NPC also sells empty vials @ 5gc and potions of feasting @ 12gc (if you're willing to sell me either of the aforementioned in bulk quantities at NPC prices - I buy... no problem).

Auctioning 20k health essences. Starting Bid: 170kgc (8.5/ea) Buy It Now: 190kgc (9.5/ea) Min. Bid Inc.: 1kgc Auction will end on Wednesday, November 17th. Post here or PM me in game. RevengeKiller

Couple things... first, while the (allegedly) false accusations of certain people may have brought rutu over the edge and led to him doing what he does now - I'd say that he was on the razor edge of being willing to do so anyway. Certain people accusing you of being something you're not does not lead to you, in response - becoming that - unless you were already inclined to do so imo. Second, the whole business of luring in my opinion is radically-different from many of the other activities spoken of here. The thing distinguishing it from bagjumping/bombing/etc. is the trust it requires between the person who would attempt to take advantage of another and their victim as it were. In this light, it is similar to scamming, and, like scamming - helps promote a community of people who are less inclined to help others, trust others, etcetera. Judge accordingly but, to be sure, while bagjumping/bombing/etc. may level the playing field a bit regarding those gc's saved on rostos/time saved bag-mixing/pps gained on One perk/et cetera - the typical attempt at luring, as is evidenced here, only punishes people for their more generous instincts.

Interesting thread. My apologies for diverting from the most immediate concern of boycotting Learner, I do not understand his exact motives, but there are a couple recurring points made in relation to this that I would like to address. First, while attempting to generate sympathy for your cause is understandable, it is disingenuous to say that noobs will be among those negatively-affected by this recent price hike. On the contrary, from everything I have witnessed, the average noob - who uses few (if any) rostos, and by contrast, shares at least an equal (if not greater chance) of finding a rosto on account of the relatively-high value of harvesting to the noob, (unlike those capable of farming yetis/drags/instances, making high level items in given skill for profit, etc.) - should be glad that their rare finds are now capable of giving them such a return in gc. Secondly, for all those claiming that players are greedy who have chosen to follow Learner's lead and dramatically increase the price of their rostos, I am curious if you have ever purchased something, in game or otherwise, below the actual price you would have been willing to purchase it. Similarly, I am curious if you have ever sold something, in game or otherwise, above the actual price you would have been willing to sell it. In either case, did you graciously donate the remainder of what you would have actually paid/received to the buyer/seller? But perhaps you will say - our (greed?) has only been modest and our profit has only been marginal/reasonable. Okay, so you have chosen the warm, fuzzy feeling you were able to generate from these modest transactions over additional gc/cash/whatever. Fair enough, and I do not criticize that any more than those whose (greed?) is more substantial, but in any case - while I concede I have done no thorough analysis of economic trends, it seems to me that in a relatively-unregulated economy prices will have a tendency to approach slightly below the cost people are willing to pay for them. In this way both the buyer and seller feel they are getting something of a "good deal" (that is - paying less / getting more than they'd be willing to). Consider for example, the last time you visited given store... did you leave enthusiastic as hell about your amazing deal? Perhaps, in rare circumstances - you did, but typically you will likely have felt that you paid a reasonable price - and as such - you will be satisfied, nothing more. Thus far, as is evidenced by the prices people of late have been willing to pay for rostos - it has been what seems to me a "buyer's market", which is to say that buyer's who may have been willing to pay 35-50k were paying <30k for rostos (and complaining about that no less). If, after the initial shock of the price hike has subsided, prices drop dramatically - then one of two things will be responsible... either those attempting to change this recent trend will be significant enough to actually do so (unlikely), or the perceived value (the price people are willing to pay for rostos) will prove itself to be somewhat less than the presently-advertised rates. In any event, to criticize some people's degree of ROI is odd. Why should the price assigned to rostos/serpent stones/silver/etc. be X? Simply because it was X? And if, given player can make more than Y on X, why shouldn't he/she?

-- Removed Bid --

My experience: I took skeptic recently and appreciate it for two reasons. Firstly, I no longer feel the need to consider what I ought to do on any given day in response to my astro. Secondly, I am no longer angry with somewhat unusual [fails/breaks/no rare items made/no stones found] on good astro days - for me at least that was also something worthy of consideration in taking the skeptic perk. Prior to taking it I waited for good astro days to do certain things and had high expectations on those days... when the expectations were not met I was annoyed and when they were I was, well... satisfied. So overall, it has been good for my peace of mind. Now I have fewer expectations so when unusual levels of breaks/fails occur I am more understanding and when I make rare items/harvest stones I am more appreciative. Considering what Korrode was speaking of in relation to a/d training it seems to me that Mr. Skeptic there will ultimately have a somewhat higher a/d level than Mr. Astro in the long run... due to Mr. Astro deciding against training when his astro is particularly bad. Conversely, (without getting into all the possible considerations of what each person w/ somewhat different a/d lvls will be training on and how much money they'd be making from their respective mobs)... it seems likely that Mr. Astro (if he follows the expected behavior of not training on certain days, etc.) will have somewhat more gc in the long run than Mr. Skeptic due to fewer breaks. That aside, if Mr. Astro did not pay attention to astro and did as he pleased when he pleased - it would all even out in the long run. Cheers

Animal Removal Stone Start Bid: 420k Buy It Now: 600k Min. Increase: 1k Auction Ends: 11/09/09 Post here or PM me in game (RevengeKiller)

Starting Bid: 300k (50gc/each) Min. Bid Increments: 1k Buy It Now: 330k (55gc/each) Ends - 10/24/09