(Suzhou, a wretched hive of scum and villany, entrance to the first instance, second most active city, kidnapper paradise)

Some of you may have seen that other post,

Some of you probably didn't. This isn't about that, this is about the flip side of the coin, being the bad guy in the age of Wushu. This isn't a scholars point of view but the view of one of those less restricted schools.

 Being the bad guy is fun, profitable and honestly all those damn constables are one mine node kill away from coming over to the dark side anyway. Lets face it even the so called "good guys" take part in a lot of shady stuff, assasins in the dungeons, going spy on other schools...they are not that innocent.  In wushu however there is bad and then there is Bad.

The Likable Rogue

 Lets be honest, crafting is hard work. Farming and mining is a grind and even when you do try and be upstanding about it some idiot grabs your ore right out in front of you like they didn't see you standing one foot away getting off your horse. Oh "haha" indeed, idiot meet my wushu.

 But there are plenty of possible ways to take advantage of other people for actual profit, not just to get revenge over some slight that probably wasn't intended. Oh it was intended? Never mind that I have a story to tell.

 Kidnapping is a tried and true method of making money, still practiced all over the world, however in the Age of Wushu it was apparently much easier to find a buyer as you just walk over to the nearest person who needs cheap labor and boom, free money for you. Real Silver that you can trade with other players. Sure I average 10 liang a pop but its better than nothing which is what you earned not kidnapping! Kidnapping people who have been offline longer gets you a bigger reward, unfortunately you never really know until you turn them in. All you have to do is visit the groccer for some powder to knock out your victims. Truley a victimless crime...except of course for the victim.

 If you kidnap and ANYONE sees you with the large bag over your shoulder and the purple icon over your head, you will be attacked. The shadows are your friend, your only friend. That bag is heavy and will slow you down and they get rewarded if you fail, in some cases you can have a village full of fair weather do gooders on your back in the blink of an eye.

(This young businesswoman is always looking for more girls to help out around the shop)

You can only kidnap once an hour however, so you will have to find other things to do in that time, make jewelry practice your fighting skill, maybe go team practice at the school...

 ...Then of course you could always rob a convoy of goods....

(It all mine)

Escorts protect these goods, well they are suppose to anyway. There are two types of cargo convoys the small one offs that happen whenever some guy is wanting to start one up, as in the above picture, and a large type that happens at certain times when large guilds get together and the game sends out invitations for robbers. The small ones are easier to deal with but you never know when you will run across one. The large ones are more of a challange but you get a group of fellow highwaymen to help you out.

 In the above picture, I ran across this poor buggy destroyed it, no one came I even had time to snap the picture before its defense FINALLY showed up. Cue epic chase scene, they chased me for 10 minutes across the lands of Suzhou and even into the town itself. They nearly had me as well but in the end...I got away...and they invited me to the guild. I have not experienced such adrenaline in a long time in a game. I could hear them whistling for a horse, risked glancing back as I sped away on my trusty steed, ran up walls, jumped across roof tops. All for some boxes of stolen goods! I think they overracted.

The True Evil

 There is another type of bad in Wushu, one I am not going into very much. This kind of person goes around killing other people for no real reason. You can do it, and hope they don't have 10 liang on them...because if they do and you pissed them off enough you will end up with a bounty and in jail. You can clear your bounty...by killing lots and lots of constables. Constables can not set bounties, they signed up for that when they became bounty hunters so feel free to attack them all you want...however most of them signed up because they also want to fight so good luck. Don't forget they may not have radio's in the age of wushu but word gets around if you have a bounty and stay put too long. people will come for that silver on your head.

 Eventually your going to end up in Jail however and that means spending real time in a small box and that isn't my idea of fun and I am not doing it!

However I think there are plenty of ways that don't involve random acts of killing people to satisfy most people in Wushu...sometimes however it is worth getting the bounty as you loose yet ANOTHER node to that idiot with the mining pick...

(Stealth is alive and well in the Age of Wushu)

Tried to kidnap an emei last night, found one that was away from everyone sweeping quietly. Someone around the corner was already using his powder so I watched and waited to attack and when I successfully ganked him someone from the roof jumped down and picked her up. This ended up being a bit of a merry-go-round involving 5 different players trying to capture this one offline player, whilst two people were fighting each other I went to go snatch her but I accidentally rescued her.

It was a bit ironic actually.

Originally posted by tommy-xx

Tried to kidnap an emei last night, found one that was away from everyone sweeping quietly. Someone around the corner was already using his powder so I watched and waited to attack and when I successfully ganked him someone from the roof jumped down and picked her up. This ended up being a bit of a merry-go-round involving 5 different players trying to capture this one offline player, whilst two people were fighting each other I went to go snatch her but I accidentally rescued her.

It was a bit ironic actually.

I should have mentioned that quest giver that gives you certain targets at certain times of the day, slipped my mind...he must go off the least populated school in the area because it is different in each city and it is always someone hard to find.

Originally posted by GrayKodiak

Originally posted by tommy-xx

Tried to kidnap an emei last night, found one that was away from everyone sweeping quietly. Someone around the corner was already using his powder so I watched and waited to attack and when I successfully ganked him someone from the roof jumped down and picked her up. This ended up being a bit of a merry-go-round involving 5 different players trying to capture this one offline player, whilst two people were fighting each other I went to go snatch her but I accidentally rescued her.

It was a bit ironic actually.

I should have mentioned that quest giver that gives you certain targets at certain times of the day, slipped my mind...he must go off the least populated school in the area because it is different in each city and it is always someone hard to find.

Yep, found that out the hard way when I first tried to kidnap someone, go to the guy and he tells to come back in 4 hours.

Originally posted by Sal1
Nice post GrayKodiak. I think the evil side players have a huge monetary advantage being able to do the kidnapping and caravan escort raiding. Will people figure this out and soon there will be only Tangmen and Royal Guard characters?

The only real monetary advantage comes from kidnapping, escort raiding is more of an exp thing. That being said you could probably make more money crafting in the 10-15 minutes it takes to kidnap someone if you know what you are doing.

 For instance silk goes for 300 wen normally or monkey skins for 200 in todays market (just checked), you can easily get the skin or silk to make that much liang, and it is more steady some kidnapping brings in only 600 wen....my lowest was 484 wen.

edit: that being said a few more "Good" options wouldn't really be hurting anything.

Originally posted by kitarad
Wonderful GreyKodiak you make the game come alive with these and other posts. I wish I could play a game with open PvP because this game sounds awesome.

You should seriously consider trying it. Its open pvp yes, but probably not like what you're expecting.

Originally posted by tristanryan

Originally posted by kitarad
Wonderful GreyKodiak you make the game come alive with these and other posts. I wish I could play a game with open PvP because this game sounds awesome.

 

You should seriously consider trying it. Its open pvp yes, but probably not like what you're expecting.

Yea I was afraid it would be darkfall 1 style open pvp but this is extremely well managed. Probably the most innovative system of doing so that I have seen.

"The likable rogue"

*sniff* This is my story. 

" But there are plenty of possible ways to take advantage of other people for actual profit, not just to get revenge over some slight that probably wasn't intended. Oh it was intended? Never mind that I have a story to tell."

This right here. There are some real crooks out there. In a strange way it adds to the immersion. People are always a little on edge, and FREE is like saying hustle lol.

Originally posted by bcbully

"The likable rogue"

 

*sniff* This is my story. 

From what you've written about your outlaw lifestyle I wouldn't describe you in this manner. lol Just saying. Everyone approaches an MMO in a different manner and I'm not saying your way is wrong or incorrect.

Great post - makes this game sound really interesting.  I'll be downloading tonight*.  Please don't kidnap me while I'm away.

*I tried to download last night, but my connection took a poop and it would have taken about 3 years.  So I'll try again when I get home and dl it while at the gym getting rid of my beer belly.

Originally posted by jdlamson75

Great post - makes this game sound really interesting.  I'll be downloading tonight*.  Please don't kidnap me while I'm away.

 

*I tried to download last night, but my connection took a poop and it would have taken about 3 years.  So I'll try again when I get home and dl it while at the gym getting rid of my beer belly.

 

 

I recommend downloading the 6 pieces of the game rather then the 1 giant file.

Originally posted by Sal1

Originally posted by jdlamson75

Great post - makes this game sound really interesting.  I'll be downloading tonight*.  Please don't kidnap me while I'm away.

 

*I tried to download last night, but my connection took a poop and it would have taken about 3 years.  So I'll try again when I get home and dl it while at the gym getting rid of my beer belly.

 

 

I recommend downloading the 6 pieces of the game rather then the 1 giant file.

Thanks for the info - just got home, about to download.  Hopefully be in game sometime soon.