Genka Interview

Genka Beardless, Party Animal of Durin's House is a level one hundred Dwarven Hero

Race: Dwarf
Class: Warrior, what else?

Special note: As of now, the youngest / newest level 100 character in the game, in terms of character creation date, March 2009.

Your first visit at level 100 lasted less than 12h rl until you died at Khuzur, that must be some kind of record! What happened?

LOL I knew this one would pop up… Well, after reaching level 100 I logged in the next day and the first feeling was: „What now?“ I was somewhat bored thus all it took was a little bit inspiration from Zakuzka in form of yells about being wimp etc, so I decided to make my day slightly more attractive. Like most people know I am not very good at PK (see further down)... so what happened just happened! The full story about that rip is available as ER log if you want to see all the details. Actually, now when writing this, I have already managed to die one more time at level 100!

Many people associate L100 dwarves as pure xpers. But, your trophy contains lots of PK trophies, lots of good aligned trophies and actually lots of all kind of trophies. Any comment on this?

Hehe, I don’t actually have so many PK trophies but I can agree with the trophies of good aligned mobs and all kind of trophies. I probably tried to combine exp and PK in some way, although I really don’t want to mention all the times I died in PK between levels 90-100, including 1 mobrip! The following 3 lines explain it all:

On the thirtieth Wedmath, 2935 of the third age, you gained level one hundred at the Gate Cave.
On the 27th of Foreyule, 2937, you gained level one hundred in the Great Library
On the 10th Astron in the year of 2943, you gained level one hundred in thick fog in the Central Anduin Vale

I don’t have Lorien and Ingrove mob trophies, too bad I was not involved fully in raiding business at the time it was possible to raid towns. As I already said I am not a PK’er, but if PK comes to me I won’t skip my chance to get some PK trophy raised up, or ironically speaking won’t skip my chance to lose some exp in PK!

And the trophy itself:
Mobs: Total kills: 83182 (1293 distinct).
PK: Total kills: 562 (363 distinct).

Reference stats:

Base abilities: Str:19 Int:9 Wis:8 Dex:15 Con:19 Wil:15 Per:10.
Reference abilities: Str:19 Int:9 Wis:8 Dex:14 Con:19 Wil:16 Per:10.

Give a brief description of your char (free format telling, class-wise, choice of weapons, style-wise, any other information you wish to include)?

I used mostly 2 weapon classes, that is I was usually wielding axes or ornate. After level 60+ I managed get some slash and from that point onwards I used sword as a defence weapon until level 100. I never used smite, tried it once or twice but didn’t like it and trained it off. I used 90% OB ring. Definitely, defence is not my key! *Agree self*. I may post my OB and HP later because right now I don’t have shining metal set.

How would you summarize the career of your char, how did it all happen?

I never planned to have a level 100 character. After my whole account was demoted (the one I was using from ~1999 to 2005, I don't remember exactly when but my chars are present in ER logs during that era) I had a break from MUME, and I didn't really plan to start playing MUME again.

Then one day, I made a decision to create a pure Balrog warrior (Genka) and exp it to level 50, join a Balrog group, get Balrog onto the trophy, get a shining metal set, drink 4 beers, retire and go to sleep. I think that at the time I reached level ~50 Jimmy was the one who was doing Balrog raids, but unfortunately I was never accepted to the Balrog team as I was unknown/untrusted in MUME. Well, I still am.

I took another break because I died a lot between levels 40-50 to PK and was tired of rips. After some time I logged Genka to see if there are any news in MUME, new zones, maybe they had actually built Saruman’s tower! Then I met Abel (Tollin) who taught me a lot by dragging me over Arda, helped to exp and showed some quests; that really made the game more attractive and interesting for me to play. Many thanks to him!

Also, I really have to mention Tomas (Elestir) and say thanks to him! He helped me a lot by explaining details of MUME like telling about movement, mobs, some tricks and so on. I can say that every time I played with him I learned something new and that really inspired me. Well, if you play with level 70+ characters that's cool in itself. But like you already know I had my own plans about Balrog… So, one time I somehow managed to get a Balrog team together, with Tollin’s and Elestir’s kind help. At this point I became, erm like people say: „an organizer“ (hehe). So I did Balrog, got him onto the trophy and the first step was completed! And the next step was to get my shining metal set! That took some time as I had to do some more Balrogs to become more useful and more wanted for Balrog teams, and to enhance that I also exped to gain levels and to become stronger. During this time I mostly exped with Tollin and Elestir.

So, somehow I managed to get to level 60 or around it, and by that time I had reached the point of achieving everything I had planned to achieve, including the shining metal set and beers. To keep me motivated I decided that my next goal is to reach level 70 plateau, to be level-wise close to all big-level Balrog dwarves. When I reached that, the next thing to motivate me was to beat Bogger in levels, he was level 85 at that time. I remember leveling very quickly from 70 to 85. After level 80 I mostly played and exped solo. During that time I discovered ways to do many hard mobs as a solo warrior and gained lots of xp. For example, doing solo Waulfa or Fangorn trees, or solo Ushurg, or MA; those mobs were always challenging and gave good exp as the reward!

I still didn't have a plan to hit level 100; I just played, exped and tried PK if it came to me. At level 90 I found out that my trophy is so overloaded that a faster, safer and more balanced exp came from Fangorn’s small roots and plants. I tried to avoid PK after level 90 because the exp loss was so huge and hurt a lot… still my PK did not go so well. Fangorn was a suitable choice also because Lorien was near, and one can always get his rent cash easily from there.

What was characteristic to your career, were you especially known of something specific, or did you have some favourite tactics?

Nothing much to add to previous answer, I just exped, learned, motivated myself, found fun, exped, learned, motivated, found fun etc!

Did you have somekind of eras distinctive of each other, favourite group mates, etc?

I don't really care with whom I exp, PK or group. It can be Snakr, Tollin, Elestir, Robal, Vehement, Muff or some newcomer level 13 who wants help with his basic set and some exp. It's just happening as it happens, although with some people I group more often, with some others I group less.

What was the one thing you loved in your char that made you play it all the way?

Its OB and HP was all I needed! I loved the contradiction how the enemy characters were afraid of my OB/HP and from another point of view not being afraid of me as a RL person due to my low pk skills…

Describe the best, the worst, and the funniest memory you have with this char?

The worst: Zakuzka killing me after leveling to 100? Nah, that was one good memory. Probably the worst thing of MUME is the total amount of time I have spent playing it. I also miss some players who don't play anymore.

Speaking of that, there are a lot of good memories about people who I have met in the game and I just have to mention some of them here: Elestir, Muff, Shaml, Radikas, Bunnud, Voiin, Aldon, Drawde, Bogger, Kaldae, Amarant, Bigger, Jessy, Antti, Timodeus, and many, many others who I would like to mention but cannot because this web page would run out of space!

The best: Meeting Tollin! Since then, we have also met in real life. Another player I can mention is Ypsilon, I am sure he doesn't remember me, but who cares…

The funniest: There are 3 funny moments I want to share:

The first one happened at Lord zone’s randoms. I walked with Tollin and we had some third mate in the group (name forgotten) who was an experienced player but didn't have mapper, so we were telling him dirs where to go to pass randoms. As you know you can reach Lord’s entrance using different paths. So, when he asked dirs we answered at the same time, but my answer was to go EAST and Tollin’s answer was to go WEST. That mate was like: „Are you two playing with me!“ Was really funny…

The second one happened not long so ago. Me, Voiinskreiz and (I think it was) Benedictus were sitting and chilling in Bree. Then, someone narrated that he had mobdied at Ushurg (Mirkwood zone), was pissed off and was going to rent. Anyone who wanted to have his eq and 300 gold from his corpse could go there and loot. The race started! Me and Voiin made the decision to use eagles to reach Ingrove while Benedictus ran solo using BOB. The best part was that when we reached Ushurg, me and Voiin entered there like 0.3ms before Benedictus did!

And the last story happened after I reached level 100. I will post it here as a small log:

A moment one can get only after reaching level 100:

Insane tells you 'hi, could you help a startup get a metal set and weapon :)?'
!. CW>who new
Newbies
-------
1 such ally on.

!. CW>tell Insane maby
Insane tells you 'wow, level 100 :)!'
Insane tells you 'i read level 1 at first'

!. CW>whois Insane
Insane is a Hobbit.
Is playing.

!. CW>whois genka
Genka Beardless, Party Animal of Durin's House is a level one hundred Dwarven Hero.
Is playing from *.ee.

!. CW>nar lol Insane!
Unildun narrates 'what is'
!. CW>nar you made my day!
Gamdur narrates 'Share your wisdom'
!. CW>nar i should log it
Insane narrates 'sigh, dont :P'
!. CW>nar probbly will be my best memory in mume
Ok.

Each level 100 character is asked to present one question to other club 100 members. Kindly submit your question here, and answer to it yourself too:

- Question by Genka: Some people stop playing after reaching level 100. If you are one of them, what will you do with your account’s password? And if you don’t stop playing, could you give you MUME account password away in the future before you become very old and retired?

I’ll give my password to a friend I trust to have spirit to play and learn MUME.
[editor’s note: Oh no you won’t, let him find his own adventures! Besides, how would you check out Isengard then?]

- Question by Tan: Considering that you leveled to 100 with a specific race/class and playstyle, which would have been your least favourite race/class to play with similar playstyle?

Some combo warrior. No matter what race.

- Question by Dragóth: Do you still try to explain and describe mume to people irl? Or even show it?

My advice for them: DO NOT TRY THAT AT HOME!

- Question by Ypsilon: What did you do after reaching lvl 100? After quitting MUME? Any new "poisons" to your life?

I will stop playing MUME. And try to spend my time for more useful things in life.

- Question by Stolb: Why do you think that most of puke lev 100's are hardcore expers while darkie lev 100's are hardcore pklers? Which way did you pick and most important - why?

It is easier for pukes to smob and there are always players who want to group for exp; thus pukes don't need to concentrate on PK to get re-eq etc. The are less players on the dark side, thus there are more targets for darkie PK’ers, and because there are less darkies they have to stick more together in PK, that's the key for them. An example: I got locked in bars by Zongan who was bad/awful SD. I had no key. I was sitting there like 3-4 mins while Zongan was regening. I asked for help and not a single puke replied. Meanwhile, Zongan got some lowbie Orc to spam from NOC to SD to help him to finish me. Respect to that Orc from my side.

- Question by Staub: If you could start all over again, would you? and what would you do differently?

No! No way! Never! Probably this line will be cut away by Antti, but I hope that nobody is going to spend as much time on MUME.

- Question by Vardamir: When did you start to play this game and how come you started?

I started around 1998-99, not sure anymore. Don't remember how I started.

- Question by Salazár: Why there are barely any players playing MUME nowadays?

Some people just start drinking beer…

When was the primary playing period irl of this char?

~2010-2013

What is your relationship with MUME nowadays?

You kidding me?

How do you see MUME now compared to what it was back then?

As long as Snakr and Elestir are alive MUME will never die.

Any hints, advices, greetings to MUME community?

After I reached level 100, for the first time I read an interview of MUME administrators. I became to understand way better how much effort it has taken to get MUME to the level where it is now. I know they have done a huge job, and that they will do more. Big applause and thanks to MUME management.

My personal opinion is that the following things should be changed in MUME:
1. I'm sure I will log back as an orc when Saruman’s tower opens.
2. Remove SOD.
3. Change Anduin river for better PK environment.

Other characters you have?

Devostator, Komprento, Théobald, Wulfram, Kivi, Spagetina, Trash, Worag, Woraj, Xaref, Xefar and that’s it.

Real life name and nationality?

Nationality? I don’t know myself... Name? Who know my name they know it, who don’t they don’t. Kind regards! Genka.