What am I doing wrong?

[Nightshadow]

For a long time now on this server I've dreamed of having a successful character, someone people talked about, someone that had an impact on the server. I've made dozens (probably more like hundreds...) of unique characters, and worked hard at each, yet each time, I've failed to have any kind of an impact, no matter how hard I try. My problem, from what I'm seeing, is that I simply lack the strength to do anything. The only reason I play here, and not on some more higher-end game, with better graphics, less glitches, and is in many ways more appealing, is because of the role-play and how I can actually make a difference here, that freedom is nice... to look at, that is, but I can't touch it.

How is it that people manage to hit level 10 when I can't even hold down level 4? How is it that people have tens of thousands of gold when I feel rich to be able to afford a barkskin? There is something I am doing horribly wrong, my characters often have strong builds yet also have things that make sense for their background, and I take every possible opportunity at getting more supplies and better gear, yet everything I have pales in comparison. I've tried to join DM factions, and even joined the Pallid Mask and House Sharboneth in the past, only to have it absolutely destroy my characters, and my fun, it leaves them with nothing but more enemies and no real allies, it leaves me dead within hours of joining, without fail.

In the last few days, two things have happened that have absolutely killed my mood to play, and I want to know what I can do to make it so that it never happens again, because I like this server, and want to continue playing here, but soon I'm just going to abandon it entirely. A few days ago, I was doing the goblin quest as Felix Cross, who I've now given up on due to what happened on this quest. Myself and another just went through most of this quest like it was nothing, then a DM stepped in and buffed them up a bit, and it was pretty nice, now the quest was a challenge, and we had to try a lot harder to keep up. However, at the last part, it got ridiculous. I had thought my character to be well equipped, and more than ready to handle any nasty surprises this DM could throw at me, but I was wrong, I burned through 3-4k worth of gear trying to stay alive, and still failed in that, dieing twice, losing over 10k xp, and gaining NOTHING in return for hours upon hours of work. Has this ever happened to someone, not just in a game, but what about in real life? Have you ever worked for hours, days, or weeks on something, the whole time hoping that in the end, all those hours will be worth it as you'll get something worthwhile in return (even a pat on the back and a 'that was a nice character, dude, looking forward to your next one!') only to have it all thrown in your face, to lose everything and have to start all over? It's happened to us all at some point with something. I complained to the DM, as clearly what he did during this quest made it impossible for us to achieve anything close to victory or even a tie, but he ignored me. So I quit the character, there was nothing I could do, I'd lost everything and had no allies and a ton of enemies on the server.

Then today, believe it or not, something worse happens. I don't use quite as much stuff here, but lost a bit more xp, and it was even less fun. My new character, Adam Corona, a sorcerer with fire magic, goes on the gnolls quest. He dies to a minotaur that randomly decides to charge past the tanks and go for the wizard who was about 100 feet away and doing pretty much nothing at the time. Now, this sucked, but isn't the main thing here, you see, I died, but everyone else lived, of course, and went on to kill everything in the area, I'm told that it is safe, and so I respawn. As I respawn, there's a horrible, horrible glitch, as I respawn so do the enemies, and a minotaur is standing over my corpse, which kills me AGAIN! I try going to IRC and asking politely for a DM, but no one is around. Oh well, level 4 isn't so bad, I can get back up to 5 and be somewhat useful again, it'll just take a few hours, and then after that getting up to level 6 will just be a few days, once I get some healing supplies.

But it isn't over yet, we go on to fight the boss, at this point I"m pissed, and I want to look like a badass, so I pull out some scrolls, and use an Evard's Black Tentacles spell, killing a good half of the gnolls in the boss area, though my party soon gets stuck in a nasty fight with something, I don't have time to check on them and help, though, as the boss has decided to chase me. He chases me outside, into the area which, oddly enough, has a bunch of enemies which my group had just spent the last half-hour and almost all hour healing supplies killing. I am chased down and killed, even when I pull out a stoneskin scroll it isn't enough as a good half of the monsters have respawned, and they swiftly cut me down.

So I try getting a DM again, and thankfully one answers, gets online, and helps me out, though in the end did nothing but confirm that it was a glitch that killed me. He tells me to respawn, so I respawn, and there's a gnoll crossbowman right infront of me, one that respawned as I respawned. It kills me, again, so he does some DM magic and tells me to respawn, and I do so, then he gives me back some of the xp I lost from that last death and tells me to continue on my way. I'm left with no healing, no loot, minus 11.5k xp, and all the work I put into this character is lost.

Things like this happen all the time to me, and I try my best to just ignore it and just keep on trying to push past it, to just get back what was lost if possible or make a new, better character if the one that had just lost something can't recover.

I've been playing here for almost 2 years now, and as you can tell from my signature, I'm fine with losing, but this is ridiculous, I've never 'won' a single time in 2 years (and by 'win' I mean that I have not been able to look back on a single character and say to myself 'yeah, I did good with him').

I doubt anyone even remembers any of these characters, they all took part in major events in the server, and I tried hard to make them be remembered, but in these events, their existence seemed completely unnecessary:
Coatharo Demonsbane, Ephido Falconsight, Ameni Holin, Valerie Lifeshadow, Windwolf, to name a few.

Sorry about this rant/complaint/whatever, it's just I'm tired of trying so hard only to fail miserably.

[Ebok]

If you want me to help you with this. Find me on irc. I'm free for Q and A later.

[Caddies]

I've always thought you were quite a good RPer and can definitely see you reaching your goal of playing big-name PCs, given time. It is true that EFU:A is hard, but if you persevere I think it will eventually pay the dividends you desire.

That does sound like a miraculously awful series of events, though. Its happened to all of us once or twice I think, you just need to keep truckin'. :(

[derfo]

I think every 'veteran' can relate. We all rage every once in awhile. I can think of a thousand cheesy quotes people will fling to make you feel better, but time will probably be the best healer.

[Ebok]

NightShadow, you've been having allot of late night conversations with me over the last two days, so I knew much of this already. However, I would like to state for the record, Felix Cross (for the single day I knew him) Was a great PC. ^_^

You werent world-changing, but you definitely kicked ass. I -can- help you with the survival + survival aspects of some of these things, simply because I've been killed by them enough time to understand how to avoid it. Damn near everyone whose ever played here has gotten the shit kicked out of them glitchwise at least once in the past. Its the cost of an epic server.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

Night, lets team up.

[Disco]

Yeah life is a big pice of shit, and every day you have to take a big bite man.
Dont give up.
A tip could be. Try to find the "right" quests to do. Some are worth ALOT more supplies than others.

[ScottyB]

Don't feel bad. I'm a DM (maybe in name only, these days...) and the majority of my characters don't get past level 4, either.

[SkillFocuspwn]

Most people are shit at this game when they start <_< Keep on trying, it may take years, but you'll get used to the system, the setting, the mechanics and the atmosphere. And remember, your level and your gold aren't everything. I know they have a lot of effects, but you can do amazingly without!

[Ideal_Misconception]

I know that feeling. Most of my deaths cross the line far enough to be funny, but I bet that'd probably fade after a good two years. I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping someone puts up a 'how to not die' thread somewhere soon. I'd like to see level six outside of an ineffective ranger leech.

Also, yeah, for what it's worth, Felix was pretty cool, for the short time I saw him doing quests alongside the Brotherhood. Pity Tei plays silent half the time. =/

[Yalta]

I would consider tagging along on the next concept of some experienced players (people like Ebok). Not only are these guys good RP'ers but they will also help you in surviving, what is, a tough game.
 
But yes as has been said, keep on trucking!

[Ebok]

Teamwork is win tbh

[Porkolt]

As far as I've been able to determine, co-operating with players both OOC and IC is not only win, but completely vital if you ever want to get anything done.

[scrappayeti]

I am playing one of the few lvl 10s who is around at the moment.

If it's any help, I really struggled to stay at level 6 with any of my other characters. Two things changed this.

A) I rolled a character with both invisibility and stealth, and all I focused on in QAs was not getting seen. I still exploded sometimes, but not nearly as often, and on average I went up in xp.

B) Several vets on the server said "This game is too hard for you to level on unless you play with the powergamers". I took this advice on board and surfed on a wave of powergamy goodness the last half of the way to 10. This may sound a bit cynical, so if you like a more friendly way of saying it, I suppose it could be "Pick your groups carefully".

And one final piece of advice, if the spice looks too hot, get out of the kitchen. Especially now Wiggyboy is roaming the corridors, if you look at the spicy challenge then look down at your supplies and think "this isn't going to work" - just walk away.

[Mort]

You have to take pleasure in small victories.

It can be:
 - A sweet RP session with someone you didn't know about.
It can be:
 - Converting someone to a faith.
It can be:
 - living through some dm event.
It can be:
 - Winning a battle over a nemesis of yours.

I remember Coatharo Demonsbane, level 3 paladin, few minutes old into the server, walking around the city demanding the evil that he saw to repent or they would be killed by his blade and subsequently engaging them in battle.

That's really cool, but extremely suicidal. You need to pick your battles. If you are low level, dont go walking to Lord Infernus of the Ninth and duel him... Your character should be aware of his limits, and know when he is outmatched.

That's similar to being mugged. Usually a bandit will ask you for coins before attacking. Should you fight, run or submit? Doesn't hurt to submit... give him a 100 coins, act frightened and continue to walk. Not only will the bandit probably respect you for being intimidated by him -- You will probably save a lot of coins. If the situation was fun to roleplay, than you both win... who gets the meaningless 100 coins isn't important. But let's also observe what would happen if you didnt give the coins:
 -Fight it off. Use some potions that will be EXTREMELY likely worth more than 100 coins... 100 coins is like so cheap. That's 1 barkskin potion. Maybe you'll win... Maybe not... But you had an easy way out of the situation, and if the bandit wins, he will likely take that 100 coins and whatever he had to use to bring you down so he can make a profit out of you.

 -Run away. Use an invisibility potion that's again worth a 100 coins at most npc vendors and you are not sure at all to get away should the guy have dudes in backup.

* * *

The fact you have a 100 PCs kinda explain part of your problem. NEVER quit. So long as you are not perma'ed... keep on going, unless you find the ending satisfactory. Also, play a SINGLE character at any one time. Stick to him through sunshine and rain.

This is important as I did witness a LOT of your characters as a DM. But from the time of me witnessing you, learning who your character is, thinking of some quest I could run for him to reward his proactivity, making customized loot, seeing myself online at the same time as you, and running the quest for you. You'd be gone to the next character.. and the next.. and the next..

So you did make an impact.

I've played EFU a lot longer than you, and I've played 22ish characters, outside of those that I quit in a few days. A small fraction of those got some fame and accomplished something in the life of the server... The rest died and were forgotten. So yeah, that's my biggest tip... Stick with 1 character at any one time.

Making a lot of characters that you quit after 2-3 days out of boredom or bad luck is the route to dissapointment. Making characters with the ambition of 'winning' is also the route to dissapointment.

Similarly, You can also decide to play 1 character that is an explorer, an adventurer at heart, a troubadour, treasure seeker. Someone who gets along well and nonconfrontational to learn the hoops of the server (the harder hoops; level 7+). Once, you've done that, feel free to step up your game.