Topic: Rings of Honor: 1 Year War ( OOC Write Up )

Nayun Takamine

Date: 2012-03-25 23:08 EST
Rings of Honor

Character Screename: Nayun
Joined Rings of Honor: 09 Aug 2011
Final Duel: 13 March 2012

Warning. This is from the point of view of a player who was new to the Duels. The information here may / may not help you in your climb for ranks.

Goal in Creation / Play: Having tested the idea / play style of the Duels on Seirichi; wanted to test how long it would take to gain 15-0 (On standings. Not necessarily maintaining them once Title was achieved) and a title in each RP Sport. 1 Year, starting at RoH name creation, was given.

This was completed in less than a year.

Duel of Fists

Emerald Achieved Date: 2/24 to 2/29 of the DoF Standings in 2012

Opal
Date: 13 March 2012
Attempts: 1
Nayun .vs. Roderick Douglas
Fight 1: 5-0 in 9 | Nayun
Fight 2: 5-2 in 9 | Roderick
Fight 3: 5-0 in 5 | Nayun

Tips for Others from this fight: Feints are your friends. By heavily using them you can confuse your opponent. They will be on guard for them, allowing you to sneak in fancies. I've seen many Emeralds who focus heavily on fancies. This does not include Matt Simon, who was the reason I began using feints in the first place; after watching the IceDancer match between Matt vs Wyh. But remember, everything is situational. I believe Nayun achieved victory in this fight simply because Roderick and I had never seen one another duel much in the sport. Like always, I believe Luck > Any "Skill" in the Duels. It's all about the gamble.

Still not 100% sure if two 5-0 shut outs is some sort of Challenge First for DoF.
By what I've read on the site / been told. It might be.
This made retiring the Opal and Nayun after the challenge a little strange.
The possibility of upsetting the community was high. I knew this. In the end RP > Everything else. The Opals, at least to me, are an RP tool. OOC achievements and bragging rights come second or even last on the list.

Choice for choosing the opponent
IC: Candy Hart spoke to Nayun about Dizzys idea of woman-only opal holders.
OOC: Lack of activity from Roderick at the duels. Meaning the fight would be up in the air at least for me. I like the unpredictable.

Protip: Roderick is Bro-Tier.
One of the best opponents I've ever challenged against.
I'm glad I ended Nayuns journey with their fight.

Duel of Fists all Together: Possibly the easiest sport of the three. At least to me. Glass vs Glass is straight forward yet the adding of Fancies / Feints once you reach Jade creates a metagame inside the game. It keeps you on your toes. The rules are streamlined and simple. It doesn't seem to benefit the title-holders like DoS does.

Tips for New Players: Do *NOT* fight anyone above your rank if you want to advance and compete for an opal. Keep to your rank or below. Sure, this will mean your opponent choices are smaller, but it also means you have more of a chance to rank up. This is what I did once Nayun hit 8 losses over wins simply because I wanted to duel anyone at any rank. Though I did stray from this to fight higher ranks two or three times during the climb when there was a lack of opponents. Others might speak of this as "Feeding" off lower ranks. Yet anyone who says that fails to realize that out of all ranks? A glass is the most with nothing to lose and are the trickier of the bunch. Unpredictability can be the downfall of anyone. That, and there is always the option for an opponent or you to decline an offer for a duel. There is no shame in saying "Sorry, but you're too high of a rank for me."

People to Watch if you're New: Matt Simon. The man, the myth, the legend.

Nayun Takamine

Date: 2012-03-25 23:33 EST
Duel of Swords

Warlord Achieved Date: The 2012/01/12 update of the DoS Standings

Barony
Date: 13 November 2011
Attempts: 1
Nayun .vs. Rhiannon D Harker
Fight 1: 5-3 in 8 | Nayun
Fight 2: 5-3 in 6 | Nayun

Tips for Others from this fight: Give off the impression that you're cut heavy. I did such a thing in fight one and it was switched away from in round two with two successful fancy sidestep attempts against Rhiannons thrusts. Switching play style between each fight is helpful, but like everything - can be a danger as well. Another thing that's a general tip for the whole sport; Don't fear trading. Trades make the fights go faster and will lead you quicker to victory if you're the one ahead.

Choice for choosing the opponent
IC: Rhiannon shared the same name as another Rhiannon. Nayun found this interesting and wanted to seek a duel.
OOC: My first thought was to have Nayun challenge Aya Hayashibara. The thought of Katana vs Katana sounded pretty great. Not only that, but Ayas player is one of the best DoS fighters around. The player was the main reason I started using Stophit -- a move I thought was completely useless at the start of this journey. In the end I concluded Rhiannon would be the best option to choose from. I thought Aya and the other Barons would be picked up faster during the Trick or Treat Challenge.

Duel of Swords all together: I said Fists was the easiest sport, yet the same could be said about this one. But there's one thing that sets Swords "Easy" from Fists "Easy". Swords is completely up in the air. With a smaller grid, there is less thought involved. It's more a priority based choice system where you try and guess what you're opponent is going to do with the lack of grid choices available to them. Opponents Thrust is on cooldown? Should you waste yours or cut instead and hope for the 50/50 chance that they'll screw up with their parry or pick sidestep? Screw it! I'll pick highcut and pray! Swords, at least to me, is luck-based. I can see why it's the most popular of the sports. One thing I find disappointing is how the rules, something that made me seriously want to post " TL;DR ", seem to favor the title holders. All and all; the sport isn't so bad. Just have fun hitting Warlord and then having to work even harder to get the right to challenge a Baron! As for RP / Screwing around? Swords is the best sport.

Tips for New Players: Select High Cut and pray during the first round (Joking, or am I? 80% of my wins up to warlord was because of HC selection first round). Most of the other tips are covered above. Unlike Fists, there really isn't a risk in fighting those who are higher rank. As defenses in this sport give .5 to even the newest of players. It's more balanced for Newbie vs Oldbie fights. Also, for the love of God, don't be thrust paranoid. I've seen so many players lose, myself included, because of it.

Example of New vs Old: The first duel ever fought on the Nayun screen name. It was against a warlord who had been around the dueling scene since I believe the late 90's. 5-0 in 5 was the end result. Nayun gained her first achievement that night: Perfection. This is a perfect example of how Duel of Sword fights can go. So don't psyche yourself out when you see the date on your opponents profile or the achievements by their name.

People to watch if you're new: G. G is one of the best players of DoS. He rarely comes around from what I've seen, but if you get the chance to be around when he duels? Watch him.

Nayun Takamine

Date: 2012-03-25 23:34 EST
Duel of Magic

Mage Achievement Date: 01/27 - 01/31/2012 of the DoM Standings

Key / Tower
Date: 18 January 2012
Attempts: 3
Defeats: Nayun .vs. Rachael Wynter x2 (Keeper of Air)
Successful Challenge Below
Nayun .vs. Kalinda Acheron
Fight 1: 5-4 in 13 | Kalinda
Fight 2: 5-0 in 5 | Nayun
Fight 3: 5-1.5 in 6 | Nayun

Tips for others in this fight: Preparation. I went around the duels after posting up my challenge knowing that others would be watching and possibly scouting for details to my playstyle. I gave them what they wanted; in the form of spamming the move "Displacement". By spam, I seriously mean I spammed that ability whenever I could (I was lucky since it seemed many didn't know how to deal with displacement spamming and I gained 11 wins that cycle and Nayun was granted the Ring of Klytus for the second time) It could just be me over-thinking how people play, but I know scouting is something many of the older members of the community do, so I had to cover all my bases. Let's say, when I saw many anti-displacement tactics being used during the first fight, I knew I didn't waste my time. Though this is still me purely speculating.

Choice for choosing the opponent
IC: Kalinda was the keeper of fire. Fire, at the time, was an element Nayun wanted to explore. Kalinda was also the strongest of the current Keepers who weren't on challenge-cooldown.
OOC: Just like above. Kalinda was the strongest on the list of keepers who wasn't on the 30-day cooldown. Though it wasn't air, something I wanted Nayun to have simply because it'd be cool if she could do aerial acrobatic moves with a lack of gravity working against her, fire was still an element I could see my character using. On top of all this -- Kalinda was the complete opposite of Nayun. Kalinda (from what I've seen) wore revealing clothing, she was comfortable with her sexuality and was just an all around exotic woman. Nayun on the other hand was a young girl who held her virginity in the highest regard as something that needed to be maintained. Mostly wore modest clothing and kept her mind far away from anything sexual-related.
Yin vs Yang is always the best.

Duel of Magic all Together: The magic community by far is the greatest. Neo seems to always be seeking to make his sport better and is an all around nice guy. Plus he's a fighting game fan, and that's like 100+ cool points in my book. Though magic isn't the most popular, it is worth the time to check them out. I'd say, out of the three, this is the hardest sport. AND the one I'm the most terrible at. You need to pay more attention to your choices and make heavy bets on what you're going to do.
Don't let my Mage-rank fool you. I'll repeat - I'm terrible at this sport.

Tips for New Players: FOCUS BOMBING, FOCUS BOMBING, FOCUS BOMBING! I repeated this THREE TIMES so you can get it into your mind. Seriously, fight people your own rank! 3 successful focus bombings could seriously make the score 4-0 in 3 rounds. It just isn't worth the risk unless you don't care about ranks. One *good* thing about DoM is that the rules seem to favor the newer players instead of the old. You gain the ability to challenge for a Tower at 2-0 Wins over Losses. Sure, your opponent might have focus and be able to bomb the hell out of you, but the small chance that you pull through? Worth it. Plus it's a great way to test stronger players out without having to worry about wins over losses being effected.

Example of New vs Old: Chythraul The Vile, who is currently the Keeper of Earth (as of this post), was without rank at the time when he was challenged by Tasslehofl; an older player who is also a high rank. The challenge lasted 3 fights but in the end Chythraul kept his Tower. This is an example of when focus usage means little in the end. So, even as a new player, you can win a tower and keep it as well. Just be ready to work hard for it.. but who doesn't like being the underdog?

Players to watch: Did I mention Neo? Because I think I mentioned Neo. I've already listed two current sport heads as people to watch - so I might as well do it a third time. I'd also suggest watching Shadowlord and Kalinda as well.

Nayun Takamine

Date: 2012-03-26 00:18 EST
It should be stated that retiring Nayun from the duels had nothing to do with this "Speed Run".

Nayun Takamine

Date: 2012-03-26 04:34 EST
Role Play Perspective: There's no reason to sugar coat it. There seems to be a real lack of roleplay in the room. Most of the time it's players doing the same thing over and over which all ends in one thing: Dueling. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's the complete opposite. The Red Dragon Inn was a place I knew wouldn't fit Nayuns character, yet it was quite easy to play her within the setting of the duels. You go in there and get what you want. There's no skirting around trying to get on someones good side so them and your character can have a meaningful conversation over beer. No, you just go in character and say "Hey. One of you folk duel me." and the fights on. From this point on, the ice has been broken. You can easily go from there to interaction. This is something the dueling community seems to excel at.

Out of Character Perspective: I've had a lack of contact between players OOC. I can say that I've only spoken with 4 or 6 players outside of character interaction. Some acted even surprised when I did not act like my characters. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm not a complete b*tch like Seirichi or a recluse like Nayun. But from what little experience I've had with OOC interaction -- I will say this. It was excellent. Not only had they been friendly, but they even offered tips and tricks to the dueling scene to help me along. I must say, without some of them I would not have gotten this far in such a quick time. From move combinations to "Don't LP after a highcut" which is totally obvious to me now. All and all the experience was fun for the most part. Though, like everything, there are problems that arise. Yet these problems haven't been severe enough to cause any real discomfort. You cannot expect everyone to like you, and coming into a new situation with that in mind makes it easier when the problems happen. You can either say that the negative view of others is created from jealousy or fear of the unknown. Yet it would sound egotistical of me to even use that as an example. Especially over a text-based role playing game. Who knows. In the end I can only wish that any of those who might have had a problem with me or my characters would do just one thing. Contact me. OOC will be OOC and IC will be IC. Whatever is said will not effect any way between the two.

My Speed Run with Nayun may be over - but that does not mean my time at the duels is. I will continue to hop around on alts and play the ranking game. Hell, I might even challenge for another opal or tower when I feel like it. The Diamond is around the corner too.

217 Days.
7 months, 4 days.

That is the time it took for me to gain 15-0 and titles in all three sports.
If I, a complete newbie to the sports could do that, anyone can.
So come to the duels and try it for yourself.
The community sure as hell needs new blood. How else is it going to survive without it?

Nayun Takamine

Date: 2012-03-28 04:52 EST
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/MasaoRyu/tuzki-bunny-emoticon-033.gif ♪ Music to Win Challenges with! ♫ http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/MasaoRyu/tuzki-bunny-emoticon-033.gif

Warning: Not Safe for Work, if your work doesn't allow the most godlike music.

Real music that was looped during the challenges.
You must remember. Sure, you have a tactic to beat your opponent with in your mind.. but what is more important?
Music. Music raises your luck factor by 30%.
Along with lack of sleep + muscle relaxants during my Old Temple Challenge.. (That raises luck by 20%, but I don't recommend it*)

The Fall of Old Temple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8ZHkbnHNMw Samurai Champloo - Battlecry (Because you can't start without this in swords)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbvrM6Nj2Ok : Clams Casino - I'm God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG6zsHUCum4 : Lil B - I'm God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVp5sJX2z2Q : Lil Wayne - Fly By Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AQr06ZUlR0 : Zeds Dead ft. Omar Linx - Out For Blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjL-3Rlwh8U : TI feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne - Swagger Like Us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig4k3TKONa0 : Master P - Hoody Hoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJW-1TrGVHQ : M.O.P. - Ante Up Remix (featuring Busta Rhymes, Teflon, and Remy Martin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4wJGWcHzVA : Brown Eyed Girls - Abracadabra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryuupMSLV9A : Girls Generation - Gee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgabSyAePyM : Portal 2 - Want you Gone ( Guitar Cover )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx8_w8hAySA : XV - When We're Done (Played for the last 2 rounds of the fight 2)

"Taking over the game, give it back when we done."

The lyrics had been correct. I did give Old Temple back when I was done. I enjoyed the storyline, at least my own part in it. It gave me a character from the Old Temple District to use as Nayuns first assassination target. Few other things had backfired, there was cross-roleplaying involved and silly OOC threats made by other parties. I just went "FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS" and walked away. Some thought I left because I was upset with the current Overlords usage of a champion. Naw, I expected it. Who *wouldn't* do that? If I was the Overlord? Hell yeah I would. I planned that if it did happen it gave me a valid excuse to have Nayun retire her Barony and walk away, while giving me a clear way out of the OOC drama that had been created. After all, the barony was what I wanted. The Overlord status would of been icing on the cake for this speed-run. Not only that, but it gave Nayun more reason to be leery about duel of swords and allow me to play on alts more. I guess just the fact that I was able to challenge was good enough for me! It also gave me more stuff to write about RP wise.

I should of put down Bro-tier: Britania Grey when I wrote up the Duel of Swords part.. Oh well, I can at least do it here. FYI: She's purdy nice.

Snuffing of the Tower of Fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=updoMIHMBbU : My Chemical Romance - Teenagers (A song I can easily say sums up Nayuns relationship with RhyDin locals)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djJb5iSL0Do : TVXQ! - Keep your head down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPAN5dGbmc : DJ Fresh - Gold Dust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3j7rvNfvTU : Evolve - Theme of the EVO Championship Series 2k11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oX-Kcx2BAc : The Prince of Egypt - The Plagues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TeeJvcBdLA : Miss A - Bad Girl, Good Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBjETYX1awQ : Ke$ah - Run Devil Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_gfD3nvh-8 : Girls Generation - Run Devil Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbwL8kSpEk : Girls Generation - Oh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcej5RU2Dwo : Skrillex + Ke$ah - Blow (Dub Mashup)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY30jaKhC7w : Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (Jakwob Remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VurnfrJonPg : Susumu Hirasawa - Byakkoya - Live (Thanks to Dyarhk)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODwVfcYv-jE : Kalafina - sprinter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25YWZWLLEU : Chromeo - Fancy Footwork
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncXMkiwOZF0 : Skrillex - Breathe ft. Krewella
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V71xhU6Wv4M : Dir en grey - The Final

"Anything Childs Prey and after is terrible." - A good friends take on Dir en Gray

Shattering of MoonBeryl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODwVfcYv-jE : Kalafina - sprinter (It returned!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fj5iIkQ-YE : Hollywood Undead - MY TOWN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih1GM8Qf6t8 : Nujabes - Feather
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9PASK8iaTk : Sybreed - Ego Bypass Generator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVEQ2WrlJU : 3Oh!3 - Hey feat. Lil Jon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UePtoxDhJSw&ob=av3e : Wiz Khalifa - Black And Yellow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4weajfqm0 : Kritikal - Green and Purple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r9G9DOfv2I : Bullet for My Valentine - Dignity (Thanks to Harris for linking me this)
Then, thanks to that song (and Rodericks pimpsmacks), I lost the second round. It is now officially an unlucky song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvc-8e6eYNk : Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind (feat Alicia Keys)
This was then played on repeat non stop till the third fight ended.

"Why are you listening to this sh*t." - A real quote by Dyarhk-mun for 90% of the music I just listed.

* = Seriously. I don't recommend it. :(!

Nayun Takamine

Date: 2012-03-28 05:00 EST
Time to hit that Wrap-it-up-box.

Main Website for the Duels if you don't have it already: http://www.ringsofhonor.org/index.php

Duel of Swords rules: http://www.ringsofhonor.org/dos/index.php
Duel of Fists rules: http://www.ringsofhonor.org/dof/index.php
Duel of Magic rules: http://www.ringsofhonor.org/dom/index.php

Other Websites of Note
http://duelingzone.com/

Duel of Swords Practice Tool: http://www.duelingzone.com/dz/games/DoSv2/index.cfm (Like Harris told Dyarhk who then told me. "If you can beat the Overlord twice on this in a row, you should be able to duel fine enough" or something like that.)
Duel Matrix for all 3 Sports: http://www.duelingzone.com/dz/tools/ (FYI: PDF is the best in my opinion.)

Shout Outs aka "Why isn't this over yet?" http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/MasaoRyu/tuzki-bunny-emoticon-023.gif

Dyarhk for introducing me to the duels.
Harris for giving me a reason to stay around.
Candy Hart for being adorable IC and OOC
Roderick for being bro-tier
Shadowlord for mentoring Nayun in DoM
Matt & Neos players for being themselves
Mistys player for not getting mad when I hounded about the DoF standings
I must of forgot people but yeah, you know who you are if you ever helped me!
and more importantly: YOU for reading past all my rambling BS and getting to this point.