First, I apologize for the comic being forty-five minutes late. I made a miscalculation earlier that cost me. Thanks so much for the patience, readers, and I hope it’s worth a wait!
Moving on, I tried lots of new things in the art tonight. Now, unlike the rest of the week, the changes tonight are all in the running for being permanent fixtures in our art style, so I would love to hear people’s thoughts and opinions.
As for the script for today’s comic, this is another one of mine. See, when I picked up Cahotska and fell in love with the DK class, my then-main and highest alt both got put on hold. Maneo was that alt. I came back to her after a long, long time at either level 58 or level 60 and took her out to Hellfire Peninsula. It was mostly like riding a bike…except that I had forgotten the eensy-weensy, teeny-tiny detail about not stepping on campfires. I only needed to do that in the middle of a whole bunch of orcs once for the idea to be newly ingrained.
Poor Maneo.
A campfire that actually burns? I don’t think I’ve ever encountered that in a game. I was standing in one checking my inventory on DDO the other day.
My halfling rogue on DDO is a secondary alt, only up to level 4 so far as I’ve been focusing on my main (halfling wizard, level 7) and a new dwarf cleric (level 3). But when I do play the rogue in a party, I find my biggest complaint is what DDO folks call “zergers”. These are the people, usually melee classes, who insist on running ahead to find the next fight while their rogue is half a mile behind creeping along at sneak pace.
This generally results in:
1) Zergers triggering traps because they are out ahead of the rogue, and dying spectacularly, thus leaving the party bereft of a primary damage dealer till the next resurrection point. Usually, the zerger will then spend the interval to the next res point complaining for the party to hurry up and find a res point for him.
2) Zergers racing through trigger points for enemies and alarms, resulting in swarms of enemies on high alert mobbing the rest of the party. My rogue has pretty good stealth for his low level, but when 20 kobolds swarm all over a narrow tunnel around you, sooner or later one of them is gonna manage a spot roll and see you. And then they all see you. Then you die.
3) Rogues having to choose between leaving stealth to keep up with the party, thus risking their slightly squishy selves being targeted by enemies, or being forever creeping along behind the party and taking no part in the action.
I have a frequent chant, whether I’m playing the rouge or simply in a party where someone else is playing a rogue. “Never get ahead of the rogue.” In DDO, at least, no party member should be in front of the rogue except when tanks move to the fore in actual combat. Even then, a good stealth rogue will often be ahead of the party, because one of the more helpful things a rogue can do is sneak past the melee and stab enemy casters in the back. In low-level DDO there are few feelings so sweet as stabbing kobold shamans in the back.
Comment by Jonathan B — March 5, 2010 @ 12:35 pm
Really need to give DDO a shot now that there’s a free version… anyway, campfires are actually a big deal for rogues in World of Warcraft because stepping in them produces a big foom and deals a negligible amount of damage. Although the sustained burn effect in the comic was just because it cracked me up and I’m horrible to our characters, any damage will immediately break you out of stealth. Thus, a clumsy rogue who gets too close to a campfire in a crowded area is about to have a creative few minutes involving lots of running around screaming.
Comment by silkspinner — March 5, 2010 @ 7:34 pm
Siiiiillkk!!!! Get on Maneo more often (or any other toon, for that matter). It’s kinda boring to be in an empty guild
.
Also, tell Talthos that he should just stop being so moody about not being at level cap and just LEVEL… he’s almost there. I’ll help, even
Perdris.
Comment by Perdris — March 5, 2010 @ 7:47 pm
***Edit to previous post***
I understand if you guys are too busy to be on much right now… I’d imagine that getting ready for your first con is eating up a lot of time, energy, and nerves.
Comment by Perdris — March 5, 2010 @ 7:51 pm
This. I really want to be playing, trust me, and Maneo’s currently my character of choice. Also, there’s a big personal thing coming up for Tal.
I’ll do my best!
Comment by silkspinner — March 5, 2010 @ 8:45 pm
Aye, I know, he and Talesh are expecting their second. When is she due, anyways? I think that CA should do some big “Welcome to Earth, Tal Jr!” banner strip when he’s born… just because.
Comment by Perdris — March 6, 2010 @ 1:59 am
I woulda played WoW, but I can’t afford the monthly fee. So DDO being free to play has been a boon for me. Occasionally I’ll throw an extra few dollars into “Turbine Points” that let you buy some of the premium items, but you also very slowly earn turbine points in game through hitting favor milestones with the different factions.
I just reached 400 favor on my primary, a level 7 halfling wizard, which unlocked the drow race. Already got my drow sorcerer up to level 3 in 2 days. This is mostly because I teamed up with a really good group and hit a bunch of early quests at elite difficulty despite being a level 1/2 character. Strangest composition I’ve ever been in, but it worked like a charm: 3 sorcerers, 2 clerics, and a bard. When your tank is a cleric, you know you’re in a weird group.
Comment by Jonathan B — March 8, 2010 @ 1:24 pm
Addition: About halfway through the first quest series, one of our players suddenly asked, “Is it just me, or is this group entirely composed of casters?” We had an interesting moment of recognition and a laugh.
Comment by Jonathan B — March 8, 2010 @ 1:26 pm