My First 48 hours! - Shattered

[Rayzur]

(I write this because alot of this Shattered forum is what's bad, was bad, lack of population or dislike in general about Shattered. I figured Id revitalize the perspective of it today from my view in the first 48 hours)


First - Brief Detail on my GS Experience:

First started in the 90’s, GS3 - AOL - DIALUP - Hourly fee - accidental $1000+ Dialup Bill - UGH!! SHIT! GOD DAMNIT! The memories.

Quit in about 2000 - Sorc was 90ish - Boy was I a horrible sorc, but loved the thrill of the hunt. Young and dumb mentality.
Sold the Sorc and moved on in RL.

Since over the past 15 years I have been off and on - Post cap experiences - DR, EG, Role playing…you know the basic stuff.

Now Life is different. I don't have time to play as much consistently, and don't have the dedicated hours to put in leveling, grinding and enjoying what i really want to. So scripting has really improved over the past 20 years and i grow fond of the style.

I just don't always find the same enjoyment as I once did. I will always respect the rules and policies, Bend what i can, but never break a rule on purpose to get ahead. I want to do what I want, without having the police or FBI Informants watching over me. So I thought i would try something different, and see what else is out there. (I still have my prime toons for now)

(PS: I don't take anything away from Prime - great community and GM's- This is pure gameplay for me. People play for the RP/game style. This is just MY take on it, and no one else opinion by my own)
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THE START:

I have always had a want to try Shattered but was put off that it would be to much to start this late in the game. I was soon about to find out that was not the case. The Ability to stay Afk/active 24/7 is something that appeals to me today. Working longer hours, Kids, wife, and RL adult things get in the way of getting to where I wanted to in the game. So, why not give Shattered a shot. But I had some hesitations for the past couple years for playing shattered. I did not want to go into it as try and bounce, I wanted to give it an honest assessment and go a month minimal. So off i went!



MY First 48 Hours:

I did not know anyone who was on shattered. Nor have i ever spoken to anyone about shattered to this day. I was going in blind with only what i read on forums (which most are very dated and negative)


My first thoughts going into Shattered prior to logging in for the first time.

Pros:

-Scripting anytime i want, level at my own pace i choose.

-People can be themselves and not pretend Role-players or be afraid to ruin someone else's experience. I like to "lol" every now and then.

-Speak your mind without punishment(to a point of course)



My first thought on Cons:

-There may be aggressive PVP - I figured my head would be chopped off within the first 10 minutes.
You say - “Welcome Bitch”
Ambush Noob’s Head
-DEAD!
(Myth - Back in the day yes - Today NO)

-Hard to level - I thought people would always be messing with you, PVP while you are afk, just having a hard time until you are 80+ and can handle your own. So a year of pain is what I was expecting. (MYTH - Everyone is amazingly helpful)

-Lack of gear/money - With being a no rules world - how would i get geared up. All someone has to do is say they want to buy something from you, get the item, then kill you and keep the item. that worried me. (Myth - Money is super simple as you can overhunt with ease)


Overall thought going into Shattered was gonna suck for the first year.

Boy was it wrongÂ…..



Day 1:

I decided to make a rogue to start - I logged in.

I did not pay attention to any thoughts, or messages that came up, i was more concerned what i was gonna experience and who i was gonna meet first- the PVP King pin, or a group of thugs running around town thorning everyone they see.

So i started and ran the level1 script - boom, leveled up.

I then ran to TSC - And wait.... Immediately I realized that this was not the same world as prime. No one is there. I ran around town looking for people and nothing/no one was around. Then a witch came in town started prepping a spell, Oh hell no.... I booked it out of there.

I head down to rats, set up a script, and started to kill, kill, kill, get injured.. shit! I don't know where anyone is to get healed.

Went back into town, certain to find someone run and no one....

I hit stat...

38 people are logged in.

Damn maybe this game is only full of inactive scripters. FML

Or maybe they are all at places I cant go yet. Seems like WL is a ghost town, I said screw it, its a lost cause.

So back at it again, rats, rats and more rats.

An hour later, Im leveled up again - still figuring out what the hell to do, where people rest, the basic thoughts, I was clueless of what shattered was all about at this point. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. I now thought, This journey is going to take longer than i expected.

Two hours in, I finally see someone. Mitch was sitting at the bank. Got to be a scripter/ask I thought- But i tried anyway and whispered him. Sure enough he was alive! This shit is like finding life on Mars!

I explained that I am new and did not know where the proper resting nodes were and such. Instantly Mitch took me around and showed me what Shattered was all about. This was exactly what i needed. After running around and Mitch showing me all the in's and out's which took no time at all, he gave me the discord link.

Then I joined discord and come to find out many people were awake and helpful instantly.

I now know about the nexus (The main resting spot for any town), the buffbot commands, nexushealbot, and all the scripts needed, I was off and running. Day 1 turned out to be a good day.

After a couple hours, I was hooked! I took my 5 accounts and converted them to Shattered.


The grind was on!


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Here is what I have learned in my first 48 hours:

-There is no unwarranted PVP - Absolutely ZERO - The community wont allow it - This is outstanding. The community is policing it, not the Game-masters. This puts a feeling of control in the people hands.

-The community is as helpful if not more helpful than Prime community. The discord is active, the people I’ve met and talked to are down to earth, and flat out enjoy love of the game.

-You can make money very simple. I made about 100K+ day one without effort.

-There is one room (the Nexus) where everyone goes to for spells, boxes, free gear (And not cheap gear either). The whole nexus is automated with bots which makes things so much easier IMO. There is even a automated Cleric that will come to you if you die, rescue you back to town and raise you. These guys are brilliant!

-Everyone made a world where everyone works together. No drama, no one complaining, no one crying about cheaters. It’s as free as it states in the description.

-I like the player govern part of it most. Sure you could come in and wreck people up, but it will be a very lonely world for you after the regulars get done.



My first 48 hour progress:

Day 1 - level 7 - 100K+ in bank

Day 2- level 10 - step 9 voln - over 2mil in bank total.



Now today Day 3 - level 12 - step 14 voln and still rolling strong.


At this pace - 100 CAP will be achieved in 5 months - 27 days.



My first 48 final thoughts:



Is shattered worth it?



If you like to RP, and the family/romances, controlled environment where you are playing with caution to not get caught afk scripting or violate any policy, hanging with your in game sister/brother/mother/wife, sexting in the inn, ….then NO shattered isn’t for you.



If you enjoy scripting, the love for the grind, gearing up, don’t care about social group hang outs, not chasing spell-ups, freedom of speech, 24/7 healer at your service, many automated scripted bots, no role playing, making loads of silver fast, don’t care about pvp, and just enjoying kicking it with the people, going balls out hard core killing mobs…and just standing in town telling the world to go F themselves....Then YES Shattered is the shit.


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Is it worth $20 a month? Yes and No.



-Yes, because for $5 more, play it your way with no rules and community ran environment. There is no looking over your back for the police to check up on you. Easy money making and from what I’ve seen so far, you get gear fast that takes people years to make/find.

-No, (from what I’ve learned so far) lacking some of the prime things that keep the manual gameplay attentive. If they would even make it $10 we would see more active players. This isnt the core foundation of GSIV - but it does satisfy that itch a lot of people may have to grow in the game and enjoy RL as well.

But if you ask around, active groups are easy to be made from what i understand, Shattered folks do interact with each other, and the more that sub and play, the more they will come out of the caves to help, assist and make your stay pleasant.

And with the right people in play, growth is possible to 200+ toons with 100+ active players.

So I say, if you enjoy scripting, the love of the game, leveling and want to stop watching over your back, while still enjoying what you like about GS and have an Life outside the game, why not join the Shattered Community?


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To the Devs-
There could potentially be more return on investment by lowering the price to shattered Only players. Yes- Your paying a premium to have no rules- but this is also less work for GMs I would assume. It’s a set it and almost forget it community.

Make maybe another option for the $20

Make shatter and premium both playable on same account? Play normal on prime and run a shattered also scripting. That could take away the need/desire to script afk on prime accounts.

Or just make shattered it’s own sub $8-10 a month. I’d still spend $100 month for 10 chars rather than $100 on 5.


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Hope everyone enjoyed my thoughts- Shattered is alive with great people, I hope others make the jump as I did and found a new world of freedom.

[Gelston]

The correct term is "Shittered". It used to be way better.

[SonoftheNorth]

Make shatter and premium both playable on same account? Play normal on prime and run a shattered also scripting.

This

[Gompers]

I'd pay $5/month for a shattered sub, easily. Hell for that price I'd make 3 accounts that all script and hunt with each other.

[mgoddess]

I'd pay $5/month for a shattered sub, easily. Hell for that price I'd make 3 accounts that all script and hunt with each other.

This. Would totally pay $5/month for just Shattered access... hell, would *rather* Shattered be a $5/month single sub, instead of having to be tacked onto a Prime sub.

[Gompers]

This. Would totally pay $5/month for just Shattered access... hell, would *rather* Shattered be a $5/month single sub, instead of having to be tacked onto a Prime sub.

We're speaking the same language. $5/month no prime membership required. That's what kills it for me specifically. I'm not spending $20/account just to script up a character.

[Astray]

Shittered wars have long since passed. Those were the days of unwarranted PvP.

[doughal]

Thanks for your thoughts! I sometimes miss the crazy early days of shattered, but not that much. The way things are today is really great. Everyone is amazingly helpful, and active, but you have to be on discord to interact because the characters are all scripting.

Upsides for Shattered - you can do things you'd never be able to do in Prime. My main hit TrueCap (completely max'd skills, no place left to spend points). Took around 5 years, but the same feat would have taken 20 or 25 in Prime. After that I got bored and quit for a long time. Now that Ascension points are a thing, I'm back and working on those. Probably take 20 years to max ascension. Doubt that will happen, but it's interesting to have something to work towards again.

I will echo the others above, I wish shatters wasn't tacked onto Prime subscription, I'd rather be paying 5 a month for Shattered, hell even 10 a month than the cost it currently is. I'm not sure how long I can justify spending the money.

[doughal]

Oh, and my bard has completely customized gear and spell preps. I love running around as Darth Celebros, in Sith Robes, and holding a sonic Lightsaber (tower shield). The GMs might not be as active as they were in the early days of Shattered, but they don't balk at giving you ridiculously custom alters that would never be approved in Prime in a million years. I give you my favorite example:

You are wearing a severed gungan head pack tatooed with the runes for "Meesa Jar-Jar, Meesa dead now."

[Bhaalizmo]

Nice write-up Rayzur, I enjoyed it. Kinda made me miss the years I spent scripting in Shattered.

It wasn't all negative back in the origins of Shattered but I can see how you might get that impression from these forums. Yes, there was alot of group based PVP going on, the Marlu conflict as I remember it, but honestly being a part of the player teams that rose up against it and eventually crushed it remains one of my fondest memories of Gemstone, even though I've played on and off since the 90s so I have a wealth of GS memories. The PVP was pretty hardcore back then and some players felt it was their right to make Shattered their own personal pwn noob playground. It was merely a challenge presented to the rest of us, and we for the most part had somewhat of a good time combatting it.

Tillmen was the shattered MVP and probably still is. Lich was a huge part of it and the script repositories within. He helped me to build out my auto rezz script bot that I ran on Teras and successfully auto rezzed anyone that died there for years probably around 2011 -2012. Mofuggah my cleric and Beelzebub my wizard were in game 24/7 pwning Teras hunting-grounds and giving out free spells to anyone that asked.

I still miss it just a tad, but the price is prohibitive. Not sure if I'd still put in the effort for 5 or 10 bucks a month. Not for $20 though.

Edited to add my last character descriptions captured from Shattered.

You see Ju Talkin' Ta Me Mofuggah the Archpriest.
He appears to be a Giantman.
He is very tall and appears to be very young. He has piercing green eyes and alabaster skin. He has very long, bright red hair worn in a single braid. He has a square-jawed face and a thick mustache and beard.
You can hardly recognize him covered in all that soot and ash!
He is in good shape.
He is wearing a thick rolaren-buckled bandolier, a wickedly thorned crown woven from the splintered bones, broken dreams, and crushed spirits of the vanquished cult of Marlu, a scratched mithglin aventail, a glittering blue dreamstone torc, a flowing ebon spidersilk cloak, a bloodstone inset mithril pin, a delicate ora stickpin, a tooled garnet stickpin, a simple white starstone stickpin, a deathstone studded silver pin, an onyx-inlaid platinum pin, a can of whoopass slung over his shoulder, a gold-threaded hide runestaff harness slung over his other shoulder, a gore-splattered black leather executioner's pack riddled with barbed hooks and chain, some pitch black brutally sculpted leather armor of beatdowns and pwnification, a stiff white linen shirt with tomb jade buttons, some super awesomesauce gloves of uber pwning, a gold filigree pink tourmaline band, an intricate gold ring, a world heavyweight champion belt with a blinged out gold buckle the size of a turkey platter, a sturdy dark leather gem pouch, a large black sack, some dark grey spidersilk pants, a gruesome anklet of tendon knotted fingerbones, each one etched with the word "Marlu", and some polished black leather boots with bone clasps.

You see Beelzebub the Slayer.
He appears to be a Dark Elf.
He is very tall and appears to be very young. He has large jade green eyes and ebon skin. He has very long, straight white hair with a black streak running through it. He has an angular face, a sharp nose and a pronounced jawline.
You can hardly recognize him covered in all that soot and ash!
He has an evil eye in the middle of his forehead.
He is in good shape.
He is wearing a 3-foot wide black woven mesh rice hat that hides the wearer's head to the shoulders, a lapis-inlaid pewter headband, a jade-inlaid garnet earcuff, a lustrous pearl-string necklace, a triple-strand faenor necklace connected by sapphire shards, a frosted diamond necklace, what appears to be a cloak made of swirling greasy smoke and glowing embers, an antique segmented owl brooch with large googly eyes, a gleaming pink dreamstone pin, a tiny piece of dung, a dirt-caked skull pin, a bone-inlaid blue dreamstone pin, a ruby-inset gold alloy clasp, a gleaming star emerald stickpin, an opal and fire opal pin, an enruned mithril stickpin, a malachite-set mithril alloy stickpin, a garnet-eyed pewter skull brooch, a glyph-etched chrysoberyl pin, a big hairy camel sack slung over his shoulder, the mythical bottomless runestaff harness of legend slung over his other shoulder, a constantly shifting buzzing swarm of blood-gorged flies, a skin tight shiny patent leather shirt covered with an exceedingly complicated looking array of straps and buckles, a flame-cut pink topaz bracer, a chased gold ring, a cat-shaped onyx ring, a braided gold ring, a scale-incised pitch-hued leather belt, a dark grey leather scroll case with an onyx clasp, an intricately woven mithril and spidersilk pouch adorned with a single fist sized black diamond on the clasp, some skin tight black leather breeches bristling with silver studded straps, buckles, hooks, chains, buttons, clasps, flaps, and so on, a chain of tiny rattling black skulls, a gold-inlaid dark green anklet, and some polished black dragonhide boots with serrated obsidian shinguards.