Stolb Interview

Stolb The Master Executor of Damage Inc is a level one hundred Tarkhnarb Weaponsmaster

Race: Tarkhnarb Orc
Class: Warrior
Special note: As of now, Stolb is the character with most xp in the game: 177,545,168!

Yea, level 100 is cool and all, but this is a game, and even if you reach the highest level, it doesn't mean that you have to stop having fun playing it.

I always played for pk, exp and eq is just a bonus that comes along. Exp from mobs is such a dull grind, i wondered what makes people like Staub exp so much, it must be crazyboring from my point of view. Getting exp in pk is so much faster and so much more fun. Well some people just dont have the skill/nerve/decent group for that, so have to let them have the fun, but what is the fun in killing 32133412 gazillion mobs?

And also always had alot of fun when re-eqping after a death, it sets up much more aims in pk, to target and pick out the better eq'pped enemy in the group, getting low in process, risking dying just to get that eq, then do his shadow with enemies around and get the needed loot. The aim not to let that enemy get to safety, do all you can to spam him down gives much more fun/adrenaline/bloodlust etc than just dull walking around and going "meh" "whatever" when enemy gets to safespot. That was never the case with me, my targets had to work their ass off to get to the safety and even then they were in danger of being ambushed. The notorious amanrandil, shady, etc charges became a routine.

Reference stats:
Max hp i think were around 550, I just might say that Stolb became a max warrior with not max warrior stats (base str/con 19 instead of 20) since he has such bad per/int for tracking, thus i played him ALOT without track skill at all.
Give a brief description of your char (free format telling, class-wise, choice of weapons, style-wise, any other information you wish to include)?

Stolb is a brutal warrior with great offense, alot of pracs and hp becaouse of levels, so after level 60 i always had 3 weaponskills to play around with, i never had much defence, the most was probably 140 with slashing. My usual weapon choise always included SMITE (to spam people down in the open), pound/cleave (for closable fights) turned pound for cleave after indroduction of Mirkwood and the darkened orcish axe, and the ability to poison cleaving weapons (can't poison ornate), slash/stabbing (slash for defence when 2d weaponskill is cleaving/ stabbing as a poison weapon -blackened spear- and defensive -orcish standard-chanted)

I turned to carry the weapons in my inventory, for faster switching aliases. I switch them along with the pk situation changes around me (more/less enemies around/am i using poison/is anyone low/am i getting spammed/is it a closable etc).

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

Stolb is my 2nd character I think, created after Borodjavka (my orc thief). I started playing mume as a darkie and didn't have a white character for a year or more, same with my brother Vip. And I only made white because sometimes my friends I grouped on dark side with played their whities. As p(Azazello) introduced me and my brother to the game for most of the time we used to play always together. Sometimes Aza joining in when he had spare time. He also introduced us to his mume friends like p Roman (Grino, Mazai, Gazel), p(Ostu), p(Gray). Me and my bro got picked up by p(Grino) and p(Ostu) and been taken care of, lead around, taught the trapping, which usually included being led in some place we have absolutely no idea about, stand still and slow spam hit some target while bns (Grino/Astar) lure enemies in, work on doors and block the enemies inside.

After some time we also started grouping with p(Luke) - Smrtihlav/Smrtak/Mochomurka. He has always been an attraction for huge puke groups and we (usually a group of 5-10) had alot and alot of fun smobbing/finding/charging/luring/trapping/backtrapping/backportaltrapping. Most of the time it was just me and Vip loggin in every morning at 8-9am, going slag and every morning there was a group of 3-5, usually lead by Khird/Ellara (If I'm correct with names) doing pbs, fights usually resulted in every their follower dying and them running rd low. Back then there was no Vale, and noc area was a one huge bottleneck.

Later on we had this combo of Azazello, me, Vip roaming around, some time after Aza hit lev 100 I pked alot with Vardamir and Woland. Usually it was just 1bn+1orc roaming around, charging expers/smobbers.

What was characteristic to your career, were you especially known of something specific, or did you have some favourite tactics? Did you have somekind of eras distinctive of each other, favourite group mates, etc?

I guess i got carried away and answered this question above. Specifics hmm, guess no. I always joked that my tactics was just having 3 pedals - hit target, bash target, flee. Sometimes I got confused even between those 3. We pretty much used any tactic possible to get the kills. Most of the time it was just roaming/finding enemies somewhere, making a quick plan and charging in. Later on we barely ever made a plan beforehand, just go in and see what we can do. As we got introduced to the game, Aza said, that pukes suck, dark side is much more fun thats why we pretty much sticked to it.

Favourite groupmate were Aza,Vip,Grino,Ostu,Vardamir,Dragoth,Luke... Sorry if i don't remember all it was kinda long ago and it was alot, but these are the characters I grouped most with. Most fun is when you know what your groupmates are going to do, what they are capable of, this makes pk much easier.

What was the one thing you loved in your char that made you play it all the way?
I guess it would be the ability to survive alot (Usually with Vip's sanc) and deal out tons of dammage. People usually said before charging - sanc Stolb or Dragoth and let them in, enemies will drop like flies. Which they did.
Describe the best, the worst, and the funniest memory you have with this char?
Heh, there are so many, that I can't remember any specific one! :-) Usually p(Vip) was the one who made us all laugh, he cracks me up all the time with his antics both in-game and in-rl.

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

- 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?
I consider myself a hardcore pkler, It is much more fun than dull grinding exp, gives adrenaline rushes, and pushes you over your limits, (what you understand usually after the heat of battle). Never felt any comparable feeling, especially when chasing your target, forseeing its next move etc.
- Question by Ypsilon: What did you do after reaching lvl 100? After quitting MUME? Any new "poisons" to your life?

After reaching level 100 I didn't stop playing, since it means nothing to me, not a "barrier" "aim" or whatever, its just another level, exp for was always a bonus for decent amount of kills, nothing more nothing less. I play HoN (Heroes of Newerth) from now and then, it has some sort of similarity to what MUME group fighting is (or would be if there'd been an "arena" here), but all happens much faster.

I don't consider gaming as "poison" just freetime killer or "hobby", for me MUME has been a way to "be" with my rl friends, being apart after school, making new friends, hanging out together, waking enemies and having fun. If you add labbing and beer it becomes even more fun! :)

- Question by Staub: If you could start all over again, would you? and what would you do differently?
Definately, but I would get max warrior stats on Stolb, to have even more hp! :)
- Question by Vardamir: When did you start to play this game and how come you started?
It all started from the visit of p(Azazello)'s place back in Riga in 2000, in our graduation summer, and finally showed us this game he's been playing and telling us the stories. We drank lots of beer that day and I came up with a name for an orc thief (Borodjavka) and we created an account for me. I exped it even to level 5 i think, with Aza's help ofcourse.
- Question by Salazár: Why there are barely any players playing MUME nowadays?
I think I'll answer this in the question further below about "how do you see MUME now compared to what is was back then"
When was the primary playing period irl of this char?
Not sure, could check the warlord list on er probably for that, id guess around 2001-2008
What is your relationship with MUME nowadays?
All chars retired, but friends make me logon from time to time, to wreak some havoc.
How do you see MUME now compared to what it was back then?

Much less skilled players who can kill, much more players who can't die, much more wimpyness, much more safespots, retarded 4x4 zones, weather destroying fresh tracks, all that made a good hunting party fail - alot of great pklers thus left - since they didnt have satisfaction in their lust for blood anymore.

The wimps and exp grinders were left, thats why there is barely any pk action anymore now compared to back then. From time to time you can see some oldies come back, but not for long.

Any hints, advices, greetings to MUME community?
Yo ppl, dont get the exp/eq loss stop you from having fun, its just a game, enjoy it for what it is, a clean kill is much more fun that 10 hours of exp, trust me. Once you understand that, you'll get hooked forever.
Other characters you have:
Zomb Borodjavka Kazadoe Koroviev Aratha Pampa Tatanka, and much more...
Real life name and nationality?
Andrejs. No idea about nationality: I was born in Ukraine, left when i was 2, lived in Latvia for 16 years, now in Germany for 10 years. Mume people call me/Aza/Vip Russians, guess it fits...
This interview was done in October 2010 by Antti.

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Last updated on November 2021.