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I would have to disagree with the boast that AR doesn't have bottom feeding "vets"... its part of the "Seven Stages of Mudding"....
(long post, may wanna just scroll)
1 - Complete newbie: You barely know how to move around and still use abbreviations such as plz coz thx and so on and so forth. You can spend many hours bewildered as you read the help files for a bunch of "cool" spells. The greatest thing in all the world to you is a fiery dagger.
2 - Complete trash: Now that you have mastered the art of walking around you rank up to 15 with your stone giant warrior. Immediately upon reaching rank 15 you bash the first thing that moves. Possibly a gnoll. This stage usually lasts a few months, with the person making several characters between 20-35, getting progressively higher with each guy.
3 - I pwn j00: You are the greatest thing to have ever blessed this game. No one who has come before you has ever been as badass as you are right now. You don't even have to be level 50, it doesn't matter. You rock, everyone else sucks, and even if you haven't killed everyone before that doesn't matter either, because you know you can. You talk #### and laugh at the vets who have been here for 6 years when they call you a dumbass.
4 - Semi-competence: You've realized you're not the greatest thing since sliced bread and have toned down your antics a bit. Between phase 3 and phase 4 you lay low a bit, trying to distance yourself from the reputation you earned in phase 3. You try a new class, or perhaps enter an almost cabal. Like heralds.
5 - Competence: Congratulations, you don't suck. This is what newbies aspire to, and with a lot of hard work and a little luck some of them even make it here. You don't flame much, you try not to toot your own horn, and you can die without bitching about it for a week. At this point you are ready to enter your first real cabal. Probably Knights or Legion. For most players this is where they will stay for the majority of their time here at AR.
6 - Elite: One day you sit down and try to calculate all the time you have spent on AR and end up punching yourself in the forehead. You've played AR religiously for 6 years. You've had 30 some level 50's, dozens of cabaled characters, been leader in almost every cabal, had quest classes (vampires), had custom titles, had restrung items (aberdour's yam bags comes to mind) and pretty much know almost everyone and everything to do with AR. In most cases it takes years to go from phase 5 to phase 6 but sadly if you take a break from AR it has shown that you rapidly slide from 6 back to 5. There are very few people in AR who are elite, and even fewer still will reach phase 6 in their mudding time at AR.
7 - Retired Elite: Ah yes, you have been playing AR non-stop for almost as long as you can remember. It's time to take a break. After a few months of no AR you visit the forum or chat room and get hooked again. You make a new character. Nothing is as you remember it. Ranking takes longer. Training is harder. You die to someone at level 35 and spend 5 minutes resting in the temple because you are staring at the screen blankly in amazement. This never would have happened "back in the day" but your breif hiatus has cost you dearly. You will be lucky if you ever again regain your glory of old. Some immortals claim to be retired elites. Don't you believe it.
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