Kardas calling it quits

[Kardas]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been thinking about this a long time, and I feel at the end of the year is the perfect time to stop. So on January 1 2018 I’m uninstalling the game.
Why? Well, a lot has happened. When I started playing LotB in June 2016 I was still a university student struggling with his thesis and a developing anxiety disorder with a lot of time on his hands. Since then I’ve been able to complete my thesis, graduate, confront my anxiety problem, get a job that I like, and move in with my girlfriend. I have developed a lot over the past 18 months. And at this point, I feel LotB is only holding me back, as most of my free time goes into it. I’d like to play a different game for once. Finish StarCraft (1 and 2!) for instance, or try out a new mod for Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds. Be a real Dutchman and do all my commuting by bike Find a theater group where I live, and/or get involved with one of the political parties here. All of which would conflict with LotB obligations. That, and our apartment still needs some work.

What isn’t helping is that all the events make it very hard to decide to take a break, as there’s always some character that isn’t normally available to be gotten. And I’ve noticed that I simply can’t play casual. Got to burn those Sands, always. So LotB is something I can’t afford to do anymore. At least I have all the characters I really wanted (not to mention, Aces is the only day1 toon I don’t have yet), and PVP was always a means to an end for me, so I have no problem about never having been Eternal. It’s been a fun ride at least, and it was cool to see the game develop itself. Too bad I’ll never play Night City. Ah well, I should check out those comics maybe. ‘Sides, it’s not all bad. I’m sure NF will be happy that they don’t need to worry if the game will run on my poor old phone anyway.

Before I go, there’s still a few issues I’d like to get off my chest.

First off, female character representation. When I started playing back in the Roadhouse days, I was actually really happy that there was a female character in a game with a big role that wasn’t sexualized. Plus the way the Harpies were designed felt very Maiden-ish and appropriate for the world. I did have a bad gut feeling when the Eternals were redesigned and Clairvoyant got an obvious boob-and-butt pose for her artwork, but I shrugged it off. “Fine, you can have one time”, I thought. So imagine how disappointed I was in the Valkyries’ designs. And I’m not the only one. Even now they still get referred to as “hentai” toons. And then again with the Mayan Priestesses and Lady Azov. I was hoping to prove NF wrong with the Priestesses, but unfortunately there is next to nothing on ancient Mayan clothing on Google. At least I can say with certainty that Azov’s stilettos are stupid and not at all period-appropriate. Look, I like this game, but the way it’s going, it’s gonna end up on bikinarmorbattledamage , I’d rather not see it get slagged, even if there is a great reason to. NF, you think you’re being creative here? You’re not. All the male and mechanical characters in this game get to be cool, funny, menacing, badass, etc. but the female characters are consistently stuck in one square on the board: being sexy. So do me a favor and remember that there are more women out there than pin-up models. This game, Iron Maiden, and metal should be for everyone. And the way it’s going, it feels like you’re only catering to ‘horny teenagers’.

Second, you all know I’ve written a lot of reference threads. Of the many I wrote, there’s a few I still regularly update: Character drops, Healers, Immunity & Cleansers, Buff removers, Marks & Burns, Talismans, and Permadeath (also XP Runes but that one doesn’t need updates). Considering NF’s high pace of releasing new characters, it’s probably best to let the Healers, Immunity & Cleansers, Buff removers, Marks & Burns, and Permadeath rest, or you’re gonna be swamped with edits every update. But the Talisman and Character threads are still really important resources, and I’d rather not see them go out of date. So I suggest someone here copies what I’ve written there and makes new threads out of them so they can be kept up to date. Beware though: almost every single reference post I’ve made is only a few words away from the 10K character limit so it’s best to split some of the posts up some more. Especially if more characters and Talismans are being added at the rate they are now.

Finally, for kicks I made a chart showing all my 5* drops in the past 18 months, and I wanted to share it with you considering how lopsided it is:

Additional highlights include:
PDK was my first 5*. And my second. And my third.
It took me a full year to get a 5* from a Rare Gun/Assassin Soul (Rainmaker). It also took me half a year to get a 4* from them.
It also took me a full year to get a 5* from a Legendary Soul (PDK, surprise).

Other than that, it’s been a fun ride. I want to thank everyone for their contributions on the forums, and I wish you the best.
Cheers,
Kardas