Twinks...?

Nierro

Okay, well I resubbed recently and have been leveling like crazy( I'm a level 38 Mauler after like 3 days or so).  Basically my strategy was  to level a lot to Molvik so I learned enough about my class to play effectively in PvP, and than stay there until I cap.. and still maybe stay around for the fun.



Molvik sucks now; all it consists of is people in templates running around ruining normal players fun. Is it so hard to ask for balance so I can actually have a fight that lasts longer than a few seconds?



Here's a conversation I had with my guild after I fought a savage 1 vrs 1 who killed me in probably 5 seconds.



Me: Since when did people twink like this?

Guy in my guild: Why are you using a WoW term?

Me: Because I feel like i'm playing WoW...



When did people start to twink? I played earlier this year on my 50 hunter and 39 BD and twinking out BG toons was so rare it wasn't even something to mention.

JaggaSpikes

People twink because they can. Fun is a funny thing.

ImixZinz

Whats left of the older DAOc community have deluded themselves into believing "templating" is not twinking... they actualy believe that the better template you have the more skilled player you are.



I had a similar conversation to yours with a guild i was in before i quit not to long ago, pretty much boiled down to about 100 people agreeing that having good gear equals skill, yet they also all agreed that WoW was to gear based and required no skill.  

JulianDracos

Twinking is a term from EQ that involved giving higher level equipment to lower level toons to boost their chances of survival beyond what they should be.  So you have bonuses, strong armor, and strong weapons.  Given that you need certain levels to be able to use equipment in DAOC, twinking is not really done.



Templating is finding the best armor/weapons you can use for your class.  So there is a difference between the two.  Those closest to "twinking" you are going to get are level 50's giving their alts equipment. because that is one way to "twink" in other games.



The reason why people are templating is because many of the players you are fighting against play there a lot.  We are not talking I will play a couple days and level out, we are talking that they will spend days there or potentially never leave.  The same happens in Thid.  For these players, the BG is their final stop, or a long resting place. 



I would also suspect that the template is not the only issue.  Very few actually bother with perfect templates, but they do have good equipment.  I would suspect that you need much better equipment than you are leveling in.  I would also wonder about your spec and if you are solo/group, etc.  Maulers are a strong class, so if you are getting rolled all of the time, it is not just that they have perfect templates on their side, you are missing something as well. 

Nierro

Originally posted by JulianDracos

 Given that you need certain levels to be able to use equipment in DAOC, twinking is not really done.

No you don't. A level 1 can use a level 50 small shield. Granted he won't get any bonuses.. he can still use it. At level 39 you CAN use a level 50 small  shield and actually receive most of the bonuses. Also, I get rolled 1 on 1 with people who have 30g dyes, and gear obviously crafted by someone of legendary status, and I was complaining that there are MUCH to many of them about now.

JulianDracos

It is not just the bonuses that you miss, but the item degrades fast.  Further, the amount of AF/DPS, etc is capped per level.  In some cases there are actually penalties for using armor that is too high of a level.  So there is no need for a level 1 to use a level 50 item.



Equiping and item and using/benefiting from the item are two different things.



As for there being too many of them, have you played in years?  This has been the case since crafting was added to the game.  If you are dying fast, that has hardly anything to do with equipment.  It has to do with level 39 players having access to poweful spells and styles.  The higher up in level you go, then unless it is tank versus tank, the quicker combat is over.  This is just one of many reasons why Thid is so popular.  You can only have a few bonuses per item, you do not have access to the strongest spells/styles, therefore combat is going to last longer. 

brostyn

Umm, if you're using a lvl 50 shield at level 39 with +15 str, +15 quick. and whatever else,  you most definitely get 100% of that bonus. On all crafted armor you will always receive a bonus. Exactly how much of it depends entirely on your level (level X 1.5 for stats).



The smartest thing to do when playing in BGs is to use level 50 armor, because you can template easier since it holds more spellcraft. The little bit of combat in the BGs will not destroy your gear.





You do not "miss out" on bonuses that are on player crafter gear.

JulianDracos

It really depends on the items you are talking about.  If you read one of the last grad bags it said there were hidden levels in order to get abilties from item and this is in addition to the ones that say level 40 or whatever to use.



As for crafted armor, what does it matter?  Your abilties are caped at 1.5 x level so everyone at 39 will have the same max set of stats and skills outside of some having RR2 adding another +2.  The fact that people use level 50 armor does not matter because its AF is caped at your level.  The only benefit in this case is that you can SC larger gems into the items making it easier to max out everything.  Granted that is a nice benefit, but chances are, unless you just stay in Molv all the time, you are not going to build a perfect template, shell out plat for the armor and then more plat to have it SCed.  Very few people are like me with every LGM crafter so I can equip myself anytime I want.  Most people have to buy it and you are not going to spend a huge amount of plat to get item just to have to do it again in 10 short levels. 



Some items certainly are SCed.  Certainly there are some with better armor and bonuses.  But if you are dying in a few seconds it is because you are using equipment way below your level, you have speced wrong, or you are just experiencing high end RvR. 

daeandor

So you are complaining about getting rolled by a level 39 geared up for rvr in Molvik when you are a level 38 with cheap gear on?  Let me guess, you were solo and you didn't have any pots either?



And for the record, people "twinking" for BG's in DAOC has been going on since they introduced spellcrafting and alchemy.  Considering that was back when SI came out, I'd say you are a little behind the times.