May 2002 - Nazgúm

Lochdale: Well I am here with Nazgúm. Why don't you take a moment to introduce yourself and perhaps some of your characters.
Nazgúm: ok, I started mume about 5 years ago and stuck to it because the thief class was better developed then anywhere I'd seen. I started making thieves by the dozens (My early ones being Tears, Nites, Razu, and a bunch of other useless garbage) until I managed to roll a really good one in mume 6 named Nazgúm. I played him for about 2 weeks til I died at some cabin at level 10 to a group of pukes, and then started playing him again about 6 months later.
Lochdale: How did you first happen to visit mume? It seems that you were a regular "mudder"
Nazgúm: I was on some site and it was saying how mume won some award for the best mud or something so I tried it, the prompt and everything looked wierd so I quit, then I got sucked back like a year later after I reread tolkien and p(malak) wanted to try one
Lochdale: So it seems safe to say that Nazgum is your primary character and that your forte on mume is the scout class.
Nazgúm: yea definately
Lochdale: Do you not think that it is somewhat limiting to only play one class? does it not lend itself to one particular type of play style?
Nazgúm: yea it is but I always enjoyed the style of a thief, and I find anything else I try ends up boring and I miss thief. I think playing just one class has advantages as well though
Lochdale: To your credit, you do seem to have "mixed up" the classes some what with the war-scout. Was the character created through trial and error or did you copy an earlier player?
Nazgúm: the war-scout started as a joke when me and drengist used to pk and he was making fun of my pierce damage, so I practiced smite and started carrying a warsword... It ended up working out good. To my knowledge I was the first one to do that (Although bashing thieves existed before)
Lochdale: Interesting, personally, I have tried to copy the Nazgum model.
Nazgúm: I can list over 30 players who have tried also :) most seem to not like the character though, and can't seem to play it, even the better players who are often warlords.
Lochdale: Why do you think that is?
Nazgúm: probably to do mostly with level since most people who want to 'copy' the char either start a new one or reroll their level 25ish thief... I think splitting the classes doesn't work well under level 40 or so
Lochdale: Normally the scout class tends to hunt and kill solo, you, however, seem to have garnered a reputation as a trapper, one who lures and traps a lot. A deserved reputation?
Nazgúm: well, when I first started pkilling a lot as nazgum me and my friends all had around 400-600 ms links on like 14.4 modems trying to fight those like 20 ms swedes... Trapping wasn't too popular back then (There were the ocassional traps but nothing like today), and we realized that inside closables link doesn't matter, so we started to trap constantly, we warlorded and killed many good players, and earned awful reputations ;) area knowledge was much worse back then also' as most people didn't know all the secrets like they do today, and there was no [] around doors so it was a lot easier to trap and get kills
Lochdale: Then have you moved away from trapping or has it simply become too difficult so you have stopped?
Nazgúm: in mume 7 I warlorded with backstab, smite, and poison, when smite flee was really powerful, stab someone to bad and 1-2 smites they die, was easy to warlord this type of char... now smite sucks ;p
Lochdale: You post on the boards a lot and on the various websites regarding game changes, I am not sure that we have the forum for a lenghty discussion but if you could, what are some of the things you would change in MUME.
Nazgúm: well the major fault in the game I see is that there simply isn't enough to do once you hit legend other then supermob or playerkill, the game is too dry. I think they should try to implement more options for players like allowing players to create items through trades, do more invovled quests, earn something other then levels or warpoints like fame or prestige... The more to do the better. I think if management takes up Ajax's idea from the warpoint thread and adds it (gaining fame) that would help as it is more involved then just warpoints and it could add a lot more to try and attain as a character
Lochdale: Well, again, you have posted a lot on game changes and whatnot yet you have not made an Ainu. Why not?
Nazgúm: I made an ainu, I asked and asked for six months to be allowed to do something, finally one maia answered me and said that if I go and map out all the rooms for the road from bluemountains to bree so they could make hardened rangers walk the correct path I would gain nothing but it might help me get a job in the future. I remorted the ainur and let him delete afterwards.
Lochdale: Well this leads us onto another issue. Promotions within the game. You do accept that there are a limited number of "jobs" available for ainu? Do you think that there is some favouritism amongst the management?
Nazgúm: I accept that for quality work to come out of the game they have to do it slow and a limited number of jobs is available, perhaps the time period I was asking for work was a poor one, in either case I missed my chance and am no longer interested in it. Like anything competitive there is always favouritism, I have experienced both for the good and the bad.
Lochdale: How would you expand the mume player base and is expansion necessary?
Nazgúm: well mume is very well advertised atm, if you type in Lord of the Rings in most search engines it comes up. Unfortunately the average mudder seems to favour things that mume doesn't (Like massive amounts of skills and power eqiupment) so its not as popular as it should be. Expansion is tricky because some days mume seems crowded with pukes everywhere, other days it seems empty. I only play the dark side really though, which is the lower player choice by far, so its hard to say...I would like to see enough players to populate each area with a couple people or so though if possible. Unfortunately once too many get on they seem to just clump towards one area like warrens or noc
Lochdale: I would agree. Now for some lighter questions, what is your favourite thing about the game? What brings you back to it?
Nazgúm: hmm that's not a lighter question for me ;p My favorite thing was the old warpoint system ;p But to avoid that subject I guess the way the thief class is laid out in mume is my favorite thing. I like the low amount of equipment and the balance as well. The best part of the game I find is the delays too (mobs don't insta hit like some muds and spells/skills aren't instant)
Lochdale: I am not going to mention War Points! if you were advising a new player, what would your main points be?
Nazgúm: well since I'm mostly on as orc the few new players I meet on this side I try to get them to look at some of the neat/roleplay aspects of this side, like the decap and drain corpse features, and I try to get them to roleplay a bit
Lochdale: How does roleplaying help them figure out what is going on?
Nazgúm: well generally I find that if you roleplay a little (Like snarling lets drink his blood while using the drain corpse command) it makes the game more fun for them, they are more likely to continue playing, and will then learn more. Just telling them what everything does i find bores most new people
Lochdale: Interesting. Lets do some quick questions and quick answers, ready?
Nazgúm: sure
Lochdale: Favourite player?
Nazgúm: Drengist
Lochdale: Favourite zone?
Nazgúm: abr
Lochdale: Least favourite player?
Nazgúm: Grang
Lochdale: Labs, ban them. yes or no.
Nazgúm: no
Lochdale: Sub 100ms link still the key in this game?
Nazgúm: Well i think most people have decent connections now so its not as important, but if u do have less then 100ms its a lot harder to die and a lot easier to kill
Lochdale: Outside resources, like Grays page, a good thing or a bad thing?
Nazgúm: horrible
Lochdale: You disapprove of new players having access to maps, door names etc,?
Nazgúm: very strongly against
Lochdale: One of the greatest thinkers and writers on socio-economic thought and development of the past 100 years, Homer J. Simpson, once referred to Canada as "America Junior", your thoughts, as a Canadian Nazgum.
Nazgúm: lol, personally I ignore as much as possible of what is happening in the world/news/anything outside my little town, so I don't really mind what anyone calls canada :) I'd say canada is much different from america though
Lochdale: Before we leave, will you tell the readers a little something about yourself, that is, outside of MUME?
Nazgúm: well i'm taking web design at college, and I enjoy travelling and raves. I also like to read about ecstacy and do it on occassions
Lochdale: Ok well, nothing like admitting to a Class A misdemeanor on a website, Mume in 5 years, is it still here?
Nazgúm: yea mume will always be around I think
Lochdale: Thank you for your time Nazgum, I can say that you are one of the people I have most enjoyed meeting on MUME. Any final thoughts?
Nazgúm: Yea I think that the ability to comment on logs and the discussion boards have brought out nothing but bad karma to mume, but everyone is addicted to it anyways so ;)
Lochdale: I do some of my best work on Elven Runes...thanks again Nazgum.
Nazgúm: yea your comments rock but I mean the whines
Lochdale: Ahh that is better, I will leave that in.
Nazgúm: see ya


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