The True Story of Black Sparrow

[Black sparrow]

Like I said, my mentality does not really fit PK mentality but in fact, I was expecting to see it working as a Pirate guild.

Although I am always interested in catching the latest news - I am not that updated on what PK has done or not. I am mostly informed through the forums. I have kept some messaging alive but truly, it is hard for me to understand what exactly is going on there, especially now. I think Hellfire did a great job and so did Pandah. I am sad that they are both inactive now. Luffy - Pandah have been pretty good in my time in PK. I always keep communication with every PK leader.

There was a time that quite a few players left (including yourself). This seemed like a crucial point but the guild survived. Right now, I can see some great players there (like Rolando - you might have your frictions, I don't know in particular- but he seems like a very competitive player to me) that can carry the guild on their shoulders. I believe that PK will stand the test of time no matter what - the legacy of the guild itself is already too great to dissipate. (I wonder what kind of ranking system the guild now uses - has the squad system been maintained?).

I must say that what led me into creating this new guild (as I was on the verge of joining one of the existing ones) alongside with SHM and Cpt Dungeness, is my hope that I can live similar moments like the ones I enjoyed in PK. The best in PK was the daily chit chat we had with each other and the great cooperation whenever an issue arised. There were people taking good initiative with great results. Conflicts and success in war was a important, but a bonus, not the real deal.

[Roileon]

There definitely are players in PK like Rolando who keep the old spirit of PK alive but also bring new energy and new spirit. But, at the same time there are players that can do just the opposite, and those are the ones who are a threat to PK, and recently, it has been a struggle between those old values of the veterans, and the new values of newer players.

I have to agree, when I left PK, my goal was to create a guild that had that same type of chit chat and that same type of activity in chat. I see that as the best part of a guild. Those talks are definitely something I'm going to miss. Sadly, the squad system never really took off, we didn't have enough players to make it work to the best of it's abilities, and it slowly dissipated and now it is completely gone. At the end of my time in PK, Pandah and Luffy were very interested in a rank system change (one of the reasons I left) that inflated the power given to ranks and added more "unique to player" ranks and it went from the squad system to this really complicated and almost non-existent rank system. Currently, 2 people are at 99 power, and 3 people at 98, and after that it's sort of a mess in my opinion. 98 power is the council, 99 are the heads of the council. And currently these 5 members are the make up of PK and their actions, and they take democratic votes.

Along with these new players, there is still that core of what is now called "The Old Guard" that stays loyal, and still keeps those old times, alive.

So there's going to come a day, where people will go, "Who is Black Sparrow? What did he do to help the game and what did he achieve?" And this leads into my question of, what are your biggest achievements or your most valuable achievements in your time playing the game?

[Black sparrow]

Well, you ask me a question that it should be better answered by those that got to meet me but I will try to satisfy you. If I really had to pick off my greatest achievement, I would say that it wasn't even mine as for what I feel great is on what we all achieved in PK (here goes PK again).

As far as combat feats, there have been some great moments but in courtesy to the opponents, I wouldn't want to single out any of them - although I have no problem discussing any in detail.

I feel I have made some crucial contributions in combat tactics. I am very interested in this part of the game. Even now, I am scarcely involved with trade (although I can say that especially with the forthcoming cards, there is going to be a whole new world of strategic options for this as well) and my focus is mainly on war preparation. I hardly make much gold per day and this has never been my focus. I try to fight wars for profit (for the win too).

There are also the so-called survival tactics which I also enjoy. I have spent much thought towards this direction/ Survival is important because a stronger/more organized opponent might appear and defeat you. Then, it is crucial to have the ability to emerge back fast. This is -I believe- the most important part in this game. And this starts from what I call a good "backbone". Or a good "warchest" to ensure you have the needed war resources. Back in the day, it was quite difficult, Treasure feature has made this easier.

So, in the bottom line this is what I have been mostly; a strategy maniac who always enjoy a good mechanics discussion. If some people or the game has benefitted from me - I cannot tell (I can only hope). The sure thing is that this is my main characteristic.

[Roileon]

While the sol on sol broadside type battles may be disappearing now, the new strategies today, are definitely amazing, especially as voodoo evolves. But even through all this change the game has gone through, what is the core reason you keep playing, and what challenges do you see ahead with HELM, self growth and in your growing life as a player?

[Princess]

Hi everyone,

It is time for me to leave. It seems I have quite many enemies and it does not feel good that the guild should bear any consequences.

I just want this guild to continue strong and I hope it will. That's all I care for.

For now, it cannot bear the pressure from all these directions.

New leader will be Hellfire, as he is just the next in charge. Support him as he is very experienced in the game and can really take you forward.

Thank you for the company
See you around

This was black sparrows post before leaving.

[Black sparrow]

I think the primary reason for any player remaining in a game, is the game itself. I mean the game as a whole with all the challenges it offers.

Community is obviously a big chapter but it comes after the game. I mean, I have joined some great communities over the internet in these years and I have not lasted more than 1 or 2 weeks to each one of them. And they were filled with friendly people, eager to chit chat about anything.

In this community, there may not be friendly people everywhere, waiting for the daily chit chat about anything BUT we all share a common interest - the game. We have daily events created from scratch, new people flowing in - a real community. The bonus is that most people here are smart; I have met some great people here.

For HELM, here are some of our objectives:
a)Building a bond with each other in the guild - It boosts everyone's activity and I enjoy the game this way more.
b)Slowly train a new batch of players.
c)From the players we will train, some will stay in the guild - the ones that will fit guild mentality. To understand our mentality as a guild, just think me, SHM and Dungeness and our common traits. Then you will have the answer.
d)The rest, that don't fit, will be forwarded to other guilds that will fit their mentality.
e)By that time, we will already know the next step which does not mean much necessarily. Most probably, it will be a game objective and a chance to show to the rest of Avonmora what progress we have done. Time will tell.

As a player now, I have achieved a lot of things. I do enjoy some recognition already and I am happy about it. I think this is one of the best things that can happen for you in this game. But I will admit I am a bit restless. I am eagerly awaiting for the new voodoo and then all the other promised features which I believe will turn me from a restless player to a restless addict. The country feature of the game is great and hopefully it will become a lot better with nation control; I cannot hide that I have plans in this direction too.

I am not interested right now for the top spot and I will be emptying it once the new voodoo comes out (Politician Speech anyone? - what a terrible name for this brilliant card btw). In fact, I was never interested in the top spot - I mostly am after a place in top20.

But truly, all these are just what makes me happy. What keeps me here... is WAR. When WAR comes... it is simply always the greatest moment.

[Roileon]

So you keep saying one of the best things that keeps this interesting is war. The tactics that the game requires you to employ and just the simple adrenaline, war in this game is definitely something different. Some of us devote ourselves to discovering new tactics with fewer cards and using them for new purposes unknown ie. When Mindbar became an offensive curse due to Skyhawk or when fugitives became for pin point and deadly weapons. With each war, a boom of new tactics come with it. Would you say that war is one of the things that progresses the game and it's overall development, as we learn these new things, and ask for new things to combat, and defend?

[Black sparrow]

Definitely, you touch it greatly. Simply put, in every war, the parties involved roll out their tactics. So both parties get to know the tactics developed by the other side. This also increases the value of an opponent; the more original and unknown tactics he uses, the better as these will be harder to defend to.

One question for you now, why you left PK?

[Roileon]

This is my letter to the guild,

I figured it was my time to take a break. Maybe I will see you guys later when it is not corrupt.

This is the letter I sent to Hellfire,

The guild is corrupt not in the huge big meaning like "This country is corrupt" or the banks are corrupt. I mean corrupt as in the way things work and the setup, the values of why we do things the way we do and how we grow. The guild needs a re-birth to survive in this new age. Because still only in the beta form of the game the Golden Age of Piracy has already ended. We need to adapt. And that is what I mean by corrupt. I will come back when it has adapted to the times. Because if it doesn't it cannot survive. You see it yourself that things are not working. I cannot help much because I started off in this guild and I was raised in the guild wrong. So I left to go be reborn from another guild so that I may bring knowledge back to this guild so our corrupt can end, and our full rebirth can happen. I hinted it a little in my description paragraph. I will be back after I have finished my quest. If Eirian needs help or has any questions with her new job tell her to message me.

Hellfire accepted my resignation, and said that I could return when I was ready. Upon leaving the guild I was attacked by Pandah a lot, and went on a solo war against PK, which of course didn't end well. With failed talks between me and luffy (they were more war starting than war ending)

To explain as I touched on it earlier, I did not see PK going in the direction that it should of been, and that it was crumbling and getting weaker both on the inside and outside, not in fighting power, but as a bond as a guild. And my plan of recovery was different that what Pandah and Luffy saw. But what Pandah commenced on doing was destroying most of the things I worked on in the guild before, for a very long time. Pandah was moved above me in the power scheme and was then able to move my rank to whatever and pandah, as jokingly as he is, found it as a joke to delete guides and forums and mess with the rank system and other in guild clashes so it was basically, Pandah's jokes and games, that really made me mad, and really made me leave. The final straw was when pandah decided it was okay to use hostile voodoo on me even though we're in the same guild, when I went to Hellfire to talk about it, he wrote it off. So internal conflicts with Pandah and my own conspiracy theories on PK's downfall are what caused me to leave, and looking at the inside of PK today, and observing what goes on, I can certainly say most of these conspiracies that I was predicting to happen, took a while before they became obvious to everyone, but they are definitely known to the old guard of PK now, and it feels more of an "I told you so moment."
All it took was looking crazy for a bit. So the main reason, is what I saw as corruption, and this corruption, like a oxidizing steel, is just now becoming blatantly obvious, and I thought, that it was eating away at the foundations of PK, and now I think, well it's oxidizing even faster, and everyone can see the rust.

[Lefty]

This is my letter to the guild,

I figured it was my time to take a break. Maybe I will see you guys later when it is not corrupt.

This is the letter I sent to Hellfire,

The guild is corrupt not in the huge big meaning like "This country is corrupt" or the banks are corrupt. I mean corrupt as in the way things work and the setup, the values of why we do things the way we do and how we grow. The guild needs a re-birth to survive in this new age. Because still only in the beta form of the game the Golden Age of Piracy has already ended. We need to adapt. And that is what I mean by corrupt. I will come back when it has adapted to the times. Because if it doesn't it cannot survive. You see it yourself that things are not working. I cannot help much because I started off in this guild and I was raised in the guild wrong. So I left to go be reborn from another guild so that I may bring knowledge back to this guild so our corrupt can end, and our full rebirth can happen. I hinted it a little in my description paragraph. I will be back after I have finished my quest. If Eirian needs help or has any questions with her new job tell her to message me.

Hellfire accepted my resignation, and said that I could return when I was ready. Upon leaving the guild I was attacked by Pandah a lot, and went on a solo war against PK, which of course didn't end well. With failed talks between me and luffy (they were more war starting than war ending)

To explain as I touched on it earlier, I did not see PK going in the direction that it should of been, and that it was crumbling and getting weaker both on the inside and outside, not in fighting power, but as a bond as a guild. And my plan of recovery was different that what Pandah and Luffy saw. But what Pandah commenced on doing was destroying most of the things I worked on in the guild before, for a very long time. Pandah was moved above me in the power scheme and was then able to move my rank to whatever and pandah, as jokingly as he is, found it as a joke to delete guides and forums and mess with the rank system and other in guild clashes so it was basically, Pandah's jokes and games, that really made me mad, and really made me leave. The final straw was when pandah decided it was okay to use hostile voodoo on me even though we're in the same guild, when I went to Hellfire to talk about it, he wrote it off. So internal conflicts with Pandah and my own conspiracy theories on PK's downfall are what caused me to leave, and looking at the inside of PK today, and observing what goes on, I can certainly say most of these conspiracies that I was predicting to happen, took a while before they became obvious to everyone, but they are definitely known to the old guard of PK now, and it feels more of an "I told you so moment."
All it took was looking crazy for a bit. So the main reason, is what I saw as corruption, and this corruption, like a oxidizing steel, is just now becoming blatantly obvious, and I thought, that it was eating away at the foundations of PK, and now I think, well it's oxidizing even faster, and everyone can see the rust.

Roi is a spy. Was born a spy. Will die a spy. He cannot be trusted. He caused all of the events he foresaw to come true with his lies and false innuendo. He deserves all the attention he gets, because he needs it to continue to feel. There is no justification for his methods, just a sad fact of gameplay that has to be accounted for. Just my opinion, what do I know!