A 'clean' interesting rant.

[Drakeero]

This isn't a flame, it doesn't attack anyone. It's just an old grievance. It's just getting it out of my system, and hopefully providing something interesting to read for the older players.

About two years ago, no one had a mental level much over 10. Why? Because leveling mental didn't involving killing things, so the flamers, pk'ers, and lazy people two years ago didn't want to be bothered with it. Those that did, ran into the trouble of not knowing how to do much, or it being initially expensive to get started in leveling up mental.

I chose, alchemy. I got my cauldron, started alchemizing 7 waters at a time to make some spare plat, buying better ingredients from the Hirathia store, making better stuff. As my mental levels rose over time, the process became marginally profitable, and then profitable enough to be self-maintaining. Around mental level 12, it became as profitable as harvesting body parts from a HH.

I had spend thousands buying up all the books and recipes that I had seen cycling through during the several weeks I had spent, sometimes non-stop, sometimes intermittantely (gotta repair that house). Then, I began experimenting, yes, experimenting, that thing that serious people do to learn new things.

I am the person who discovered the recipe you all love that uses rubies. Yes, I AM THE ONE WHO FIGURED IT OUT. My weeks of work and hard effort. Someone accused me of scamming when my mental broke records and took first place on an old high-score chart (haven't bothered to see if its still around). One of the more corrupt admins at the time looked into it, found out that it WAS legitimate, but instead of doing the honorable thing and telling them to figure it out themselves, he broadcast it to everyone who he was buddy-buddy with and soon the recipe gets out, people buy out rubies by the ton, and start doing that age old trick of 'pushing' me out of the way to fight for ingredients.

Now, I don't have any grudges over having a now relatively low mental level, i can swallow being scoffed at by newer members when I say I found out the ruby recipe was so good at leveling, but what REALLY stings (and I THINK i can understand Stefan's reasoning behind it) but what still REALLY stings, is now, the game rudely informs me to "go learn the recipe" when I try to alchemize 7 waters. It just stings, after so much I know longer officially know a single recipe. Now, i'm going to have to spend who knows how many more thousands of plat to do all that what second nature to me.

Can someone please at least let me know if this major cutback inflicted on me and most likely others has really had ANY improvement on the playability of Graal?

EDIT: This may not count as constructive, and it certainly may have been much spammed and much flamed over in the past, I missed it. So please, for those polite ones out there, humor me. I don't want to open a can of words, I'm just looking for a little closure, for better, or for worse, over this gaping wound. (and please, no salt)