PDA

View Full Version : Bag Jesus died for your RNG sins.


Vyrik
03-26-2019, 10:25 PM
So I wake up this fine morning and say to myself "Seems like a nice day to farm some Shralok Packs and make a little newbie-friendly cash!"

I run to the zone, and of course someone is already there. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to be the first one here. It's no big deal, it's a popular camp after all. Very little effort involved, and steady drops! So I patiently wait my turn.

An hour or so passes, I ask the fellow how much luck he's had. He hasn't. Not yet. He hasn't had one drop since I've been there. Some more time passes, before I ask the fellow how much longer he'd be there. "Two more bags" he says. Not an unrealistic expectation in the least. I figure I have time enough to go make breakfast, eat, and take a shower. So I tell the fellow of my plans, to hold my spot, and I AFK. Midway through my modest breakfast of assorted fruit and a peanut butter bagel, a mild panic washes over me. "I've seen two Shralok spawns back to back pretty often, actually, now that I think about it. I probably don't have time for a shower if I don't want to lose my camp." Fully embracing the neckbeard within, I forgo personal hygiene for my chance at sweet loot in a 20 year old elf sim.

I come back to my computer and tell the fellow I've decided against the shower, as shaving takes time and that I often witness back to back spawns. "Haha, I wish!" said the dude. "Just watch, he'll spawn back to back right now!" I say, tempting the fates.

Fate does not like to be tempted.

Shralok spawns back to back, and we both exclaim our excitement and joy over the happening.

The fellow and I bid each other farewell. His watch has ended, as mine begins.

"I wonder how lucky I'll be today!" I think to myself. Before today, I usually averaged a little better than a bag per hour. "I doubt he'll spawn again. I've only seen 3 spawns in a row once before, there's no way I'll be that lucky."

Fate does not like to be tempted.

Shralok again greets me, brandishing his lightweight pack.

"Haha wow! Three in a row, alright! Awesome! .... There's no way in hell four in a row will happen, I'll go clean up a bit."

Fate does not like to be tempted.

Once again, Shralok appears. Taunting me with his magical pack.

"Well shit, my luck today is probably all used up... Four in a row! That's a new record, can't believe how lucky I am!"

Fate does not like to be tempted.

A sinister smile creeps across Shralok's face, as he once again appears before my nude and awestruck character.

"Five... five in a row.. I'm definitely paying for this later." I knew, I've always known. Luck like this cannot be enjoyed. For with it comes the foreboding sense of dread. The universe is chaos, and also balance. I would pay for this act of incredibly good luck with an equal act of incredibly bad luck.

And so it began...

An hour passes, no spawn. "No big deal, I've seen worse than this before. Nothing to be worried about. After all, I've had great luck already!"

Another hour passes, no spawn. "Hah, see! I told you I'd be paying for my luck earlier! No big deal, I'll just do something productive while I wait!"

I start lifting weights in-between spawn cycles. It's a good use of time, and I didn't plan on staying too long at the camp. "A few hours of this and I'll have some nice plat, and a decent workout! Win win!"

Another hour passes, still nothing. "Hah wow, I've never gone this long without a pack before, I'm setting all kinds of records today!" Still reeling from my earlier luck from before, and from the endorphins flowing through me due to the lifting, I stay positive.

Another hour passes, yet no sign of Shralok ever showing again. "I'm starting to get pretty tired now, I don't think I'll stay till I get a full inventory anymore. I'll just get one more pack for an even number then hand over the camp to the next person." I'm beyond the time I normally spend at this camp, and usually don't stay this long even with getting a full inventory.

Another hour passes, nothing. "Alright... I knew I'd pay for my earlier luck, but I didn't think it would be this bad. Just ONE more and I'm out! Hurry up already, geez!"

Another hour passes, like grains of sand in an hour glass. "Okay asshole, it's you and me now. I'm NOT leaving until I get another pack, and then another spawn because fuck you and your back to back spawns! I'm not losing out on that!"

The hours begin to merge. Time flows in 6 minute 30 second intervals. I lose track of time. "Damn, how long have I been here? 8 hours? FUCK! I've heard stories of people spending 8 and a half hours without a pack before, but I just thought they were trying to scare me out of the camp and take it themselves!"

Yet more time passes. The wait list exclaims their horror in reverence. They share in my pain, for it also is their pain, if only lessened. "You are the most unlucky person ever!" they say. Yes, today I am.

It has become a test of wills. I vowed to get my one more bag, and I'm here until it happens.

9... 10 hours pass since the last pack. I begin to crack. Boredom drowns me like a turbulent sea of mediocrity. My sanity wanes and I begin questioning.. everything.

"Why am I here? What am I doing? Why not just leave and do something else?"

"No." a voice says. "As soon as you leave, he will spawn and drop a pack. You know this to be true."

"You are right, mysterious voice in my head. I can't leave. I will stay here even if it kills me!"

11... 12 hours pass since the last pack. "At least I broke two records today... nobody could possibly have spent this much time between spawns. It's like a 1 in 100,000 chance to happen."

13 hours. Nothing. Just emptiness... darkness.

"Why am I still here, just to suffer? I'm just sitting here, nailed to this spawn point like some kind of martyr. Nobody else should have to suffer like this..."

I am kept going only by the infrequent cheers of those that I suffer for. All hope for that fourth pack has gone. I am left with nothing but my pride, unable to concede until I get what I have been nailed to this spawn for, like some kind of Bag Jesus.

k9quaint
03-26-2019, 10:29 PM
Same thing happened to me.

Madbad
03-26-2019, 10:30 PM
if i read this right you spent 18 hours looking at shraloks

vroomfondel
03-26-2019, 10:47 PM
I've born witness to this. The only thing worse than camping for packs with no Shralock spawn for 14+ hours is being the one in line BEHIND the guy camping for packs with no Shralock spawns for 14+ hours.

I kept checking back, saying to myself "There's no way that same guy is still there. He must have bailed without saying something..." Nope. Still there. If this game wasn't from 1999 and could keep all the models in memory, there he would be standing atop the corpses of 125 spiders with a look of utter disappointment in his eyes.

If you assume Rek is a 10% spawn chance, then 5 spawns in a row is a 0.1^5 = 1/100,000 chance. Going 14 hours without a spawn is a 0.9^126 = 0.00019% = less likely than 1/100,000 chance. You've broken the record for both luck and unluck in the same day.

Honestly I'm just enjoying the ride at this point.

Vyrik
03-26-2019, 10:49 PM
14 hours later, on the fucking dot he spawned. Fuck you and your packs, Shralok. I have half a mind to just /destroy them you green, wrinkled, halfling fucking son of a whore.

Madbad
03-26-2019, 10:50 PM
19 hours?

America
03-26-2019, 10:59 PM
Pretty good post. I think you kinda fumbled it with the title. I would have just named it "Bag Jesus". But I endorse the post, it's a pretty good post it's long and I read it.

d3r14k
03-26-2019, 11:15 PM
Excellent OP, liked the humor in this storytelling. This bit made me chuckle:

The wait list exclaims their horror in reverence. They share in my pain, for it also is their pain, if only lessened.

Like your style, sir.

Akg49
03-27-2019, 12:20 AM
Yeah, he can spawn at about 10 other spider spawn locs, including pathers, to the west of that spot. Someone killed a spider and he was up all those hours, just walking around. Then on your 14th hour someone checked track and killed him, and he (luckily for you) popped in the normal camp spot.

Level a ranger or a pet class, will save you grief :P

fungame
03-27-2019, 01:16 AM
What a great post, thanks for sharing. I like your writing, and your humor.

Akg49
03-27-2019, 01:25 AM
That said, as someone who did camp it as a tracker class, you can get unlucky for a couple hours, it happens, but if you go more than an hour without a pop he's probably up somewhere else in the zone. I also got 5'ers here and there. I'd say his chance of pop is more like 25%.

This is all based on experience from someone who took place in the great Shralok market crash of 2015.

Tethler
03-27-2019, 02:07 AM
That said, as someone who did camp it as a tracker class, you can get unlucky for a couple hours, it happens, but if you go more than an hour without a pop he's probably up somewhere else in the zone. I also got 5'ers here and there. I'd say his chance of pop is more like 25%.

This is all based on experience from someone who took place in the great Shralok market crash of 2015.

Unless he camped it in Highpass, in which case, it only spawns at the orc camp near kithicor zoneline.

Akg49
03-27-2019, 02:30 AM
This would be a whole different kind of RnF thread if a noobie was holding highpass for shralok packs for 14 hours :P

Bardp1999
03-27-2019, 02:47 AM
14 hours for 800pp of elf bags...

NO REGERTS

Tethler
03-27-2019, 06:18 AM
This would be a whole different kind of RnF thread if a noobie was holding highpass for shralok packs for 14 hours :P

A newbie holding it is much preferable to a 60 farming raid clickies.

maskedmelon
03-27-2019, 08:07 AM
fun read! thank you, OP and sorry for your suffering :c

Rygar
03-27-2019, 09:26 AM
14 hours for 800pp of elf bags...

NO REGERTS

I didn't even realize people think actively farming the bags is a worthwhile camp anymore. Even years ago tunnel rats gave me them for free when I was a noob asking to buy starter gear.

DMN
03-27-2019, 01:59 PM
Who even read this?

Oleris
03-27-2019, 03:55 PM
Reminds me when I camped my elder beads or almost broke down camping an EOE in Kunark.

bigjeff100
03-27-2019, 04:02 PM
+1 Good post.. We look forward to the next storytime!!!

indiscriminate_hater
03-27-2019, 05:00 PM
sorry you didn't get {{ thread.topic }}

Bardp1999
03-27-2019, 06:55 PM
I didn't even realize people think actively farming the bags is a worthwhile camp anymore. Even years ago tunnel rats gave me them for free when I was a noob asking to buy starter gear.

I wouldn't have thought of it myself either. Almost anywhere else in the game is a better camp. I've probably pulled 30k out of Chardok the last few weeks alone from mediocre drops and gems.

Llandris
03-27-2019, 07:39 PM
A+

jolanar
04-06-2019, 06:02 AM
This is actually a pretty deep post into the psychological aspects on holding down a camp.

'If I leave it will spawn'

Phenyo
04-06-2019, 07:30 AM
"No." a voice says. "As soon as you leave, he will spawn and drop a pack. You know this to be true."


Truely lynchian

DMN
04-06-2019, 09:53 AM
One day you'll even camp something worth talking about.