From the Withered Aegis' Perspective
Have you ever considered how the Withered Aegis must view Istaria? Imagine a rotting tavern deep in the Eastern Deadlands . . . a zombie cleric and a wraith lord sitting at a table, downing shots of Pickled Worm Juice . . . .
Cleric: Yeesh! What a day! I ran into that named Human boss, Carinde. Bam! Two hits and I'm flat on my back countin' stars!
Wraith: Yeah, that Gifted and Personal Justice are two bosses I steer away from. Both have got really long aggro ranges, too. Shoot, I was in a raid on Bristugo last week and got aggroed by Personal Justice all the way from Aughundell!
Cleric: Yeah, tell me about it! And have you noticed how the Gifted are aggroing now? I mean it's nuts! I went with a couple Ogre Bodyguards in a pickup group to check out the new outpost the Gifted built. So I see this Elf Mage all by his lonesome and start pulling him and WHAM! Next thing we know we've got ten--count 'em TEN--Gifted all over our arses! Worse yet, as soon as we managed to kill off one of 'em, this bloody Gifted cleric rezzes him asap. Now how fair is that? It's just freakin' impossible to hunt 'em these days. I don't know why I bother . . . .
Wraith: You think you've got it bad? You hear about Khar?
Cleric: No, what about that old skele?
Wraith: One guy--one freakin' guy--in Kion mentions his name and all of a sudden every ******** Gifted in Istaria is all over his arse. And I'm not talking about the young Gifted. I'm talking every elite veteran Gifted in the Land! Shoot, I've seen 'em sitting at Khar's respawn area for HOURS just to whack the poor bastage. No surprise, but the Withered Casualty Company has cancelled his health and life insurance . . . . To top it off, it's not like he gets to recall and respawn a minute or two after getting shellacked like you and me. The poor guy has to wait six whole hours before he can get back into the Land, and then for all of like 5 whole minutes before some Elite Gifted knocks him into next Thursday again. Jeez! It's a wonder he even bothers to respawn anymore.
Cleric: So now Khar knows what Kaa goes through daily . . . . By the way, is it just me or has the Gifted drop rate gone to hell in a handbasket?
Wraith: Pffft! I spent six hours hunting elves the other night and didn't fetch a single Elf Dropping! I remember a time when all I had to do was kill a couple of 'em, search their underwear, and I'd come back with six or seven Droppings. Not now. These days if I want to make Blighted Gear for my clan I gotta go pay Nudgia's outrageous prices for Droppings and other components. Fifty silver for a bloody Sslik Spleen is just insane!
Cleric: Another thing--have you seen how you can't keep aggro with the Gifted these days? Just this morning I was wailing away on a Sarus Chaos Warrior. He's bleeding all over the place and couldn't have had but a few more breaths in him when next thing I know he's 15 meters away and out of both my melee and spell ranges. I ran for hundreds of meters after him til he suddenly went poof and disappeared. That CAN'T be right!
Wraith: So what are you gonna do about it? Send a complaint or two to the Withered Council? Pfft! Last time I moaned about something to those clowns I got a "We'll look into it" and never heard another word!
Cleric (raising his tankard): Yeah, well, a toast then! Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die . . . . .
