User:Valandilv
/
Who am I?
An 18-year-old student at Exeter University. And, at the moment, thoroughly unsure as to what to write here.
Oh, I know what to put here: When I can afford it, I will commission someone to make me a real-life plexiglass pocket watch (i.e., metal clockworks and hands, but plexiglass casing). It would be so badass.
/whois Valandilv
Derived from Valandil, from the Lord of the Rings series. The "v" stuck on at the end is due to the fact that the name on its own is usually taken. The reason I chose a "v" as the distinguishing letter, rather than the oft-used "Tack a number on the end" system, is that a "v" gives an illusion of symmetry to the entire name.
Life
Account created after being introduced to the game by Jookums the Skerry (#672170). I'll have to ask her how she found the game; I've forgotten. She burnt out for a long time but has recently resurfaced and started ascending Hardcore; which rules.
First major event that occurred for me was the Great Time Catastrophe, which occurred only two weeks after my account had been created. So, really, I was rather lucky that I'd not been playing longer. The one thing I did lose that came back to bite me in the ass five ascensions later was my Levitating Potato; luckily, though, I managed to get a replacement in the first three adventures of the day's Daily Dungeon.
I immediately ascended Hardcore once I had defeated the NS. (Which took some doing: I managed to blow virtually all of my Meat on potions for it, because I forgot to read that little section of helpsites that says "The NS debuffs you". Smooth.) However; and this is a real shame; I lost my bottle on my first ascension when I made it up to the HitS. I was actually doing rather well; if I'd had more foresight I could have gotten a few skills to make it possible; but I was inexperienced at that time.
Indeed, my inexperience showed itself when I went from one extreme (Dropping Hardcore when I was close) to another. Thus, my plexiglass collection had begun and remained incomplete for over a year. After this, and after a relatively speedy No-Path run (To get the most out of the Air), I went Teetotal for a while, before reasoning that if I wanted to get onto any of the leaderboards that I'd need to get skills; and in order to get skills quickly I'd need to take the fastest (in terms of days, rather than turns) path I could; which, obviously, was none.
This worked well, for a while, and I was invited shortly after my path-change to join Hardcore Nation. Clan-based shenanigans to be described later. Here, I learnt the concept of Stasis; and began to build up the skill-set required.
Unfortunately, given my inexperience (And the lack of Hero-Stasis) at that time, I quickly found myself burning out. This resulted in an 80-day, 801-turn ascension. It's a shame -- I took two attempts to kill the NS that run. If I hadn't, it would have been a very neat 10-turns-per-day ascension.
After I finished my burn-out period, I returned to play a few Oxycore ascensions to ease myself back into the game. This resulted in my Plexiglass collection almost being completed, but Christmas '06 got in the way of it. (Seriously. Some of the collectable items were the coolest things ever (See makeshift char-sheet at the top.)
At present, and for the most part, I've ceased using Stasis after the Noodle Nerf and Nerf-Nerf. I use the technique up to and including the Cyrpt. This area and the Copse are two of the best Stasis areas of the game, especially with the intrinsic elemental resistances of Pastamancer and Turtle Tamer. I doubt I will use Stasis much as a Moxie class any more. Hero-Stasis is still semi-lazy. I won't be able to meta-game to the extent that I could use Moxie for Stasis any more. The time it would take would drive me insane.
Ascensions and Leaderboards
It was always my intention to ascend Hardcore. I've never seen it as practical to ascend Softcore, because ultimately I would want to have every skill (HP). It seemed, therefore, a waste to spend time in Softcore, (P)ing skills that I would eventually want to (HP).
In my pre-Stasis era, I managed to gain quite a bit of consistency: I had a string of four 8-day HCT runs, which quickened into 7-, 6- and 5-day No-Path runs, before I burnt out. As I've said, the point at which I began to burn out was, unfortunately, going to be a 4-day HCNP with no Path lead-in. I'm sure that it would have been leaderboard-worthy.
Since returning from burn-out, I've not really had very much consistency. Oxycore, and this new-fangled Manor thing with massive statgains from the Gallery, provided me with the opportunity to sink beneath Ronin, which I succeeded almost immediately. My first Oxycore run since returning ran long because I wanted to set up myself nicely regarding moons. Unfortunately, my plans to get through all of my Oxycore runs in a row was undermined by Christmas. My speed at Oxycore was always bordering leaderboards: When I hit an 11-day, everyone else was at 10. When I hit 10, everyone else was at 9; and after that they went far too much faster than me: 9 quickly turned into 8 then 7 -- At the time of writing, I am trying a 7-day Oxy run. I'm not sure I can even succeed in doing it without the old Stasis with noodles. Certainly an uphill struggle. Now, I'm worried that I won't even manage to get on the leaderboard with my attempt: brilliant ascenders like eit_brad, FishyBug (Whose ascension table layout I so need to steal) and Lord Mackerel are attempting 5-day Oxycore attempts every pair of Muscle days (Even in spite of the Noodles nerf).
The break from Oxy, though, did enable me to get on an item leaderboard; and I'm proud that my collection of 'vector plotters has superseded that of two "1337" collectors. Additionally, following Christmas, I'm proud that I was the very first person to complete a Hardcore 100% Evil Teddy Bear ascension. It took me over 100 turns to get the two Lowercase Ns I needed, but there we go. My time was then beaten by Jesus_Fish, by 50 turns and a Path (Mine was No Path, his was Teet). I am, therefore, always at war with him. After my 7-day attempt, I will be using the Air as a lead-in to Teet-drop and kick his ETB run into the dust.
I do have the ability to go fast: I managed to get a 3-day HCNP with no Path lead-in. I just have very little will to be consistent, I think.
Clan
HCN summary:
- Ivan sucks;
- I hate Jesus_fish;
- Hawkthorn's liver must be sacrificed to the RNG, for the benefit of the world;
- Bricks, pies, and TP.
Remained in HCN until recently (mid-January 2007) when I got generally annoyed with its sister clan. In a strict sense I'm clanless at the moment, apart from creating my own very small social-based offshoot clan and also joining "people whose opinions don't matter" -- a protest clan against the dismemberment of Stasis. NB: Nerfing Stasis would be fine, if it were actually done properly (i.e., by making Jabañero Saucesphere a dead skill), rather than just making it more meta-gamey, which is Jick's whole argument against the tactic.
