Successful Mudder Advice

Do you want to be a successful mudder? Here's some advice. Not all of these tips apply to everyone, so pick and choose the ones that work for you.

Develop a social network

Try and befriend as many people on the game as you can. The more people you're friendly with, the more people you can tap for knowledge and xp/eq/fame runs. It's pretty simple to net people. Here's an example of a good opener:

You tell Conan, 'Hi, wanna be friends? If we work together we can get a lot accomplished!!'

Group often

Grouping is a great way to achieve success, but be advised, it is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, grouping is a good way to develop your social network and build trust with others. It can also get you a lot more xp/fame/eq than you would solo.

On the other hand, grouping tends to stifle your abilities as a solo player. It shuts down your capacity to be creative, to take initiative and to problem solve. If you don't poses these basic qualities then you will probably never be a successful mudder. To counter this dilemma, when you do group make sure that you spend at least half the time being the group leader. Practice leading newbies around until you get good at it.

Be nice to everyone, even assholes

Here's an example of the wrong way to handle an asshole:

You tell Conan, 'Hi there, would you like to be friends? :)' Conan replies to you, 'go suck an egg you wanker' You reply to Conan, 'jesus, get a life jerkwad!'

Now, here's an example of the right way to handle that same situation:

You tell Conan, 'Hi there, would you like to be friends? :)' Conan replies to you, 'go suck an egg you wanker' You reply to Conan, 'heh, i'm not gay but I can take a hint:). I'm sorry that we got off to a rocky start but I was just trying to be friendly and would still like to be your friend. If you need help with anything just give me a holler and I'll see what I can do to help you.' Conan replies to you, 'yeah okay. thanks. sorry for being a jerk.'

The moral here is don't take things personally, it's just a game and successful players treat it as such. In addition to that, people who are successful in life don't take things personally.

Don't use profanity or explicit language

There are a decent handful of christians and social conservatives who play this game and some of them are really good players. Using profanity and explicit language on a channel that they might be listening to is a guaranteed way to alienate yourself from them. Conversely, If you're in a group with a bunch of mudders who enjoy that sort of talk then don't be afraid to let loose. It lets them know that you're "one of the lads" and builds comradery.

Pretend to be a girl

Is this unethical? Yes. Is It dishonest? Yes. But, if you're willing to do it then you'll have gained a huge advantage over everyone else. If you understand anything about the psychology of a nerd then you'll know that by pretending to be a female you will be able to manipulate your fellow mudders into bending over backwards to help you. You may even want to create a fictional myspace account with a attractive (yet believable) photo of yourself to further entice the nerds. But be careful, if your lie is ever exposed the consequences will be severe.

Don't go PPK. Don't go PPK. Don't go PPK.

[Editor's Note: Permanent player killing has been removed from the game since the writing of this article, but this section has been left intact for its historical value.]

I can't stress this one enough. There are a few different reasons for this advice.

1. If you go PPK then you are creating automatic enemies for yourself, Not only that, but if you tangle with someone and make an enemy out of them, then you make an enemy out of all their friends as well.

2. It limits the number of groups(and clans) you can join, if even just one of your enemies is in a group then you won't be able to join that group. Or, if you're in a group and you're a weak player and one of your enemies who is a stronger player wants to join the group, then the leader might trade you out for your enemy.

3. You have to constantly watch your back. This may be exciting for a while but eventually it begins to infringe on your mudding experience.

4. The experience of dying in PPK can be emotionally traumatic in a way that just doesn't exist in temp PK or in a regular death. You often find yourself feeling frustrated, angry, bitter and depressed. These feelings can blind you with negativity and cause you to lash out at those around you.

5. When you kill somebody else in PPK the victory can be thrilling but in the end all you've done is created an unnecessary enemy.

A safer way to satisfy your PK urges is to use one of the many temporary PK options that don't generally result in making permanent enemies. If you're really sure you want to go PPK anyway, make sure you read the PPK help page first.

Be willing to spend some cash on eq

Some people say this is unethical, and it kind of is, but, if you're willing to do it then you'll have gained a huge advantage over everyone else. Some people say that eq doesn't make the mudder, that the mudder makes the mudder. And this is true, but let's be honest with ourselves here, this is an equipment driven mud and having the best of the best helps a lot. What would you rather do, spend a few hundred bucks arming yourself with excellent eq or spend a few thousand hours running eq that isn't even that good?

Learn how to build golems and other pets

With even a small number of golems you'll be able to solo all kinds of mobs that would otherwise crush you.

Learn how to brew/bottle potions

If you're the right level, bottling and throwing brewed potions can be greatly advantageous to you as well. You can also brew and bottle poisons.

Take advantage of the resources on the Alter Aeon website

There are lots of articles and maps that will greatly increase your knowledge of the game.

Run gold

Despite some of the cynical things that high levels say about gold, it is actually a fairly valuable commodity and if you can run lots of it then you'll be ahead of a lot of other people.

Join a clan

Even if you join a lame clan, it sets you up with a large network of people who you can mine for knowledge and xp. For a list of existing clans and links to articles about clans, see our online clan list.

Explore as much as possible

Use the maps on the Alter Aeon website also. It's in your best interest to know how the mud is layed out. You'd be surprised at the number of mid/high levels who don't even know how to walk to Zin by themselves.

Buy a weightless

The game is much more enjoyable when you're not having to worry about heavy bags or storage characters or having your Tensor's floating disc pop. Weightless containers let you carry around a lot of gear without it affecting your encumbrance.

Take advantage of UUIDs on objects

Using item UUIDs is really great for building equipment sets. Read the UUID help page for more information.

Use in-game aliases

You can use client side aliases too, but you don't ever have to worry about losing your in-game aliases, and they will work no matter what client or computer you use.

Learn how to use the editor

There is nothing more certain to make you look like a newbie than writing a post on the board or in an email and not formatting it. People will also be less inclined to take you seriously if you don't format your post or use poor grammar/incorrect spelling.

And finally, don't be afraid to ask for help

If you've been able to figure out how everything on this mud works by yourself then you should consider yourself a genius. For the rest of us we need to ask questions if we want to be successful. For some people the fear of looking stupid is so overpowering that they never ask questions. These people often develop into what's known as a "highbie". These people are cripples and I for one feel sorry for them. So, if you're reading this and you don't understand what the difference between 5d11 and 11d5 is then you need to go and ask someone.