Fun with kill stealers

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary

Well, tonight I had my first real run-in with a determined kill stealer.

I was killing spiders in Orchid Valley with my level 35 Barbarian, sharing them with the ~3 other level ~35ish players there, when dropping in from above comes some level ~70 Venomancer and her pack of cronies. She immediately runs up to me and announces, "Don't you try to ks!"

Sheesh. None of us were kill-stealing. Heck, I haven't kill-stolen a single monster from anyone, ever, and don't intend to. I think what she really meant was, "These are OUR monsters now, so get lost!" Insulted, I told her to shut up and left.

So of course she followed and began kill-stealing all of my kills, because after all, hypocrisy is the first recourse of the self-righteous.

Anyway, here's what I learned: Kill stealers are actually fun to play with. They make the game more challenging and amusing. Each kill isn't just a kill, it's a little victory, and you know the other person is keeping score.

When she'd try to steal my kills, I'd attack a "decoy" monster, which she'd attack, then I'd go for my real target. If she switched, I'd switch, which meant she'd eventually have 3-4 monsters attacking her and have to stop to kill them, at which point I'd get my kill.

When targets were slim, I'd jump around and pick up stray loot items instead. She started trying to scoop them up first, so I grabbed Herbs and such instead. There was always enough stray loot.

Another technique I found was to run behind a thick pack of mobs and attack a decoy monster. She'd send in her pet to try to kill-steal, and the pet would get aggro from 3-4 monsters and take a beating. After doing this a few times she eventually figured out I was baiting her and stopped sending her poor pet in to get pounded.

Another technique was to hit a monster for just over half damage, then stop attacking. If she finished it off for me, I'd type, "ty", then move on. When she realized I was doing this, she'd try to abort her pet's attacks and avoid finishing it off, but this worked in my favour because then the monster would aggro to her pet and sit there beating on it while I stood there doing nothing.

Finally, my last technique was to summon my own pet: my all-class pet Baby Huggy Hare. Useless, right? Well, if you've ever owned one you'll know that the constant chatter they make gets really annoying really quickly. Which makes them perfect for when you're running around in circles around a kill-stealer!

Anyway, so there's my story. The final score was about 4 kills for me for every 1 kill stolen by her. Overall, the whole experience was a lot more fun than just plain old grinding/questing.

Anyone else got any entertaining anti-kill-stealer strategies to share?

Drazo - Heavens Tear

On PvP servers, you don't have this problem as much. If you do, you can punish them. b:mischievous

Unfortunately due to lag and difficulty to cancel an attack once it's launched it's can be very difficult to avoid accidental KS even when someone else has already knocked half the mob's life out. If there are a lot of people about I just stay far from them.

Sir_walter - Heavens Tear

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary wrote: »

Well, tonight I had my first real run-in with a determined kill stealer.

I was killing spiders in Orchid Valley with my level 35 Barbarian, sharing them with the ~3 other level ~35ish players there, when dropping in from above comes some level ~70 Venomancer and her pack of cronies. She immediately runs up to me and announces, "Don't you try to ks!"

Sheesh. None of us were kill-stealing. Heck, I haven't kill-stolen a single monster from anyone, ever, and don't intend to. I think what she really meant was, "These are OUR monsters now, so get lost!" Insulted, I told her to shut up and left.

So of course she followed and began kill-stealing all of my kills, because after all, hypocrisy is the first recourse of the self-righteous.

Anyway, here's what I learned: Kill stealers are actually fun to play with. They make the game more challenging and amusing. Each kill isn't just a kill, it's a little victory, and you know the other person is keeping score.

When she'd try to steal my kills, I'd attack a "decoy" monster, which she'd attack, then I'd go for my real target. If she switched, I'd switch, which meant she'd eventually have 3-4 monsters attacking her and have to stop to kill them, at which point I'd get my kill.

When targets were slim, I'd jump around and pick up stray loot items instead. She started trying to scoop them up first, so I grabbed Herbs and such instead. There was always enough stray loot.

Another technique I found was to run behind a thick pack of mobs and attack a decoy monster. She'd send in her pet to try to kill-steal, and the pet would get aggro from 3-4 monsters and take a beating. After doing this a few times she eventually figured out I was baiting her and stopped sending her poor pet in to get pounded.

Another technique was to hit a monster for just over half damage, then stop attacking. If she finished it off for me, I'd type, "ty", then move on. When she realized I was doing this, she'd try to abort her pet's attacks and avoid finishing it off, but this worked in my favour because then the monster would aggro to her pet and sit there beating on it while I stood there doing nothing.

Finally, my last technique was to summon my own pet: my all-class pet Baby Huggy Hare. Useless, right? Well, if you've ever owned one you'll know that the constant chatter they make gets really annoying really quickly. Which makes them perfect for when you're running around in circles around a kill-stealer!

Anyway, so there's my story. The final score was about 4 kills for me for every 1 kill stolen by her. Overall, the whole experience was a lot more fun than just plain old grinding/questing.

Anyone else got any entertaining anti-kill-stealer strategies to share?

Brilliant, I like it

Grgumsh - Heavens Tear

lmao good job dude, sadly i have no KS stories to share with you. never been ks'd or ks anyone else (surpsrising considering im in RoC)

imnotachick

Must have been a very weak veno if she couldn't 1 hit those spiders ^^

Actually thinking on it more,are you sure she was even near 70?I'm light armour and at 70 1 hit them,so she shouldn't even have needed to compete with you over more than 1 or MAX of 2 hits,reading what you typed it seems you were able to almost keep up with her damage on each mob,lvl 35 barb...hmm

Twilae - Heavens Tear

Haha XD That's a pretty entertaining little story. Luckily (or sadly, perhaps) I don't have any little stories like this of my own that I can share. Good to see someone who doesn't let that kind of behavior get them down, though.

XAsch - Sanctuary

Awesome! I'm sure people will think twice about KSing you in the future. b:thanks

Nomaad - Heavens Tear

awesome, and funny as hell...b:victory

Miugre - Heavens Tear

Never met one so determined, so I can't share. If you were a blademaster or had any movement-enhancing powders, though, you could activate your skill/powder and run rings around the KSer just for annoyance purposes. :P

Here's a story from today:
I was on my Blademaster earlier and I decided to kill the Guardian Demonfires in the Secret Passage. As I entered I noticed a cleric in his boxers watching the room. Usually I squad someone in such a situation to help and get credit for shared kills. Today, however, I didn't particularly feel like taking the initiative... so instead I watched one of the spawn points and hoped the cleric would take the hint and either squad me or just watch the other spawns. After all, we all do have to share the monsters. :P

At least three times, I got KS'd by the cleric... he barely outdamaged me and I got no credit for the kills. I said nothing because I figured he'd be gone in a couple minutes anyway. Then, he told me to stop KSing him. Before I could say anything, he immediately followed up with "I neither want nor need your help." My BS alarm went off and I broke my silence by saying something to the effect of "yeah, I'm KSing you, because clearly I'm getting credit for these kills and you aren't." He responded by whining about me stealing his exp... on monsters which give out 135 exp apeice and of which he only had to kill 15 to begin with.

So what did I do, I tried anyway. Only succeeded in getting one kill, but I tried. I tried explaining to him the compromise I had in mind (I watched 1 or 2 spawns, he watched the others), to no response. Once he had his kills, he ran off, but not before saying something rather inflammatory - I forgot quite what, I only remember that I felt like PMing him as I left. We argued a bit until he stopped responding to me, saying only that I "knew what I did was wrong."

Seriously... he could've squaded me, or he could've left me just one (one!) spawn. Instead he felt it was best to chew me out over not allowing him exclusive rights to 100% of the exp from every monster in the room... leaving aside the fact that if he squaded me he'd get it done just as fast (if not a little faster) and could've made up the split exp from a couple kills outside the Passage. Hell, he could've made up those kills in the time he spent whining to me! XD

So yeah, not quite the same as the OP's story, but it's related. Kudos to the OP for outsmarting a character 30 levels higher than himself (not to imply that levels = intelligence, it's just awesome to waste a high-level's time in this manner :P).



On a side note: can we agree that KSing is defined as deliberately attacking a monster who's already being engaged by another player, and outdamaging them? Or is that not the definition used on this game? I dunno, my main (Archer) is constantly getting accused of KSing simply because melee characters fail to see him and we begin attacking the same monster at the same moment. I'm also accused of it in at least half the wraith army fights I go to, and I've even been accused of KSing Snowmen during the Christmas events. That's right, I've been accused of KSing something that dies in one hit.

Ehhhhh. -_-

Deathsscion - Sanctuary

Only have two stories about KSing. They were both bosses and the KSers failed both times. The first was when I was killing Krixxix and after I did about 15% damage to it a full squad showed up to KS it. They had a high level with them but he just watched as they hit him but did nowhere near the amount of damage I was doing. The second was when a 60+ barb and I were both helping a member of our respective factions kill Eido. That fight was over in three seconds and we got the kill. We were there first and I was not about to let him kill Eido first.

Ieeemap - Lost City

carebare stories. join LC, you would have been dead before she even said no ksing b:chuckle

Sir_walter - Heavens Tear

Ieeemap - Lost City wrote: »

carebare stories. join LC, you would have been dead before she even said no ksing b:chuckle

here comes the PvP trolls

Arthiex - Lost City

Drazo - Heavens Tear wrote: »

On PvP servers, you don't have this problem as much. If you do, you can punish them. b:mischievous

Unfortunately due to lag and difficulty to cancel an attack once it's launched it's can be very difficult to avoid accidental KS even when someone else has already knocked half the mob's life out. If there are a lot of people about I just stay far from them.

PvP - World FTW :Db:laugh

Ebini - Heavens Tear

When she'd try to steal my kills, I'd attack a "decoy" monster, which she'd attack, then I'd go for my real target. If she switched, I'd switch, which meant she'd eventually have 3-4 monsters attacking her and have to stop to kill them, at which point I'd get my kill.

Finally, my last technique was to summon my own pet: my all-class pet Baby Huggy Hare. Useless, right? Well, if you've ever owned one you'll know that the constant chatter they make gets really annoying really quickly. Which makes them perfect for when you're running around in circles around a kill-stealer!

i especially liked these 2 warrenb:victory b:chuckle

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary

imnotachick wrote: »

Must have been a very weak veno if she couldn't 1 hit those spiders ^^

Actually thinking on it more,are you sure she was even near 70?I'm light armour and at 70 1 hit them,so she shouldn't even have needed to compete with you over more than 1 or MAX of 2 hits,reading what you typed it seems you were able to almost keep up with her damage on each mob,lvl 35 barb...hmm

She was able to nearly 1-hit them, while her pet would need 2-3 hits. I'm estimating ~70 because she was using level 8 equipment.

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

We argued a bit until he stopped responding to me, saying only that I "knew what I did was wrong."

I kinda suspect that what happened was this person jumped to the conclusion that you were a kill-stealer, then took it upon himself to punish you. Once he got it in is head that you were guilty, he became blind to any other possibility.

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I dunno, my main (Archer) is constantly getting accused of KSing simply because melee characters fail to see him and we begin attacking the same monster at the same moment.

I don't have this problem simply because Barbarians don't do a lot of damage and so I can abort any accidental attacks of other people's kills, but I've had archers accidentally kill my target all the time. I don't mind, because I know it's just a lag issue. To me, they're not kill stealing.

Sigr - Heavens Tear

Ieeemap - Lost City wrote: »

carebare stories. join LC, you would have been dead before she even said no ksing b:chuckle

I doubt it. Something I learned from playing on PvP servers: there's almost always someone bigger who carries a bigger stick, and it's always in the back of your mind that if you kill person X for whatever reason, that person with the bigger stick will come and nail you with it either once or repeatedly.

Yugoslav - Heavens Tear

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

On a side note: can we agree that KSing is defined as deliberately attacking a monster who's already being engaged by another player, and outdamaging them? Or is that not the definition used on this game? I dunno, my main (Archer) is constantly getting accused of KSing simply because melee characters fail to see him and we begin attacking the same monster at the same moment. I'm also accused of it in at least half the wraith army fights I go to, and I've even been accused of KSing Snowmen during the Christmas events. That's right, I've been accused of KSing something that dies in one hit.

Ehhhhh. -_-

couldn't agree more.. When I accidentaly hit someones target (and I do that a lot if there are more than 3 people hunting the same thing, I back up and let him have his kill)
but I've met a couple of "good" clerics that didn't want to join me, have seen me charge the arrow and still went for my kill... I usualy go hunt somewhere else then..no point arguing with vicious people..

Miugre - Heavens Tear

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary wrote: »

I kinda suspect that what happened was this person jumped to the conclusion that you were a kill-stealer, then took it upon himself to punish you. Once he got it in is head that you were guilty, he became blind to any other possibility.

Except he was KSing me before he even talked to me. :P

WarrenWolfy - Sanctuary wrote: »

I don't have this problem simply because Barbarians don't do a lot of damage and so I can abort any accidental attacks of other people's kills, but I've had archers accidentally kill my target all the time. I don't mind, because I know it's just a lag issue. To me, they're not kill stealing.

Not a lag issue, just bad luck. People think Archers have some kind of magical vision power bordering on clairvoyance because they attack from a distance, and can therefore see more of the area around an enemy. We do, but it's not nearly enough.

BearHunter - Sanctuary

I'd be honored to remember your name now because you sound like very good and resourceful tactician planning your action 2-3 steps ahead. I hope you don't mind if I once in a while PM you for your opinion which course of action to take in some unusual or underpowered situations.

Edit: Your story was brilliant.

Purple - Lost City

No shots fired, no bloodshed, no inevitable GvG?

They all lived happily ever after....

BearHunter - Sanctuary

Yeah, unbelievable , isn't it?

It's almost like inhabitants some servers have risen above the basic instincts and tribal customs and formed something that can almost be called civilization.
And solving their issues in other ways than big pool of blood. b:pleased

Yes I know, it amazes me too. b:chuckle

ShiroiAurion - Heavens Tear

Great story from the OP! b:victory

I have a rather funny one myself!

I was in the secret passage killing Ancient Evil for a quest and in one room, there are two guarding a chest and a third one in the middle. A BM runs in and kills the middle, then charges at the two mobs next to the chest. Since the Evils are scarce and the quest drop is uncommon I decided I could kill the one of the two he wasn't fighting. Since he already was fighting he got attacked by them both until I got aggro of the other. He was now severely poisoned and I just managed to heal + purify him before his health ran out. I left the room again to look for Evils outside and when I stood there, not even in the same room as him, I got this PM: Pls don't ks.
I explained him I had saved him from a double aggro, purified him, healed him, and thus literally saved his life. But instead of thanks he answered: "nono, I was allright, I have items and stuff."
I answered: "Well, it sure looked like you were dying to me."
Before I could send it though, he had already done exactly the same thing. Attacked the two poison mobs and guess what? He died in an instant! b:bye
Lol, he was gonna be alright? Guess he quite misjudged his own capabilities.
And then the fool just pressed 'go home town' instantly with a cleric standing almost next to him. Even though he didn't thank me and acted high and mighty, I am a helpful cleric full of forgiveness who knows how it feels to die, so I would consider reviving him.
Of course when I met him at the orchid temple soon after, I gave the poor guy some buffs. He had surely entertained me very well after all! b:chuckle

Khristine - Heavens Tear

ShiroiAurion - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Great story from the OP! b:victory

I have a rather funny one myself!

I was in the secret passage killing Ancient Evil for a quest and in one room, there are two guarding a chest and a third one in the middle. A BM runs in and kills the middle, then charges at the two mobs next to the chest. Since the Evils are scarce and the quest drop is uncommon I decided I could kill the one of the two he wasn't fighting. Since he already was fighting he got attacked by them both until I got aggro of the other. He was now severely poisoned and I just managed to heal + purify him before his health ran out. I left the room again to look for Evils outside and when I stood there, not even in the same room as him, I got this PM: Pls don't ks.
I explained him I had saved him from a double aggro, purified him, healed him, and thus literally saved his life. But instead of thanks he answered: "nono, I was allright, I have items and stuff."
I answered: "Well, it sure looked like you were dying to me."
Before I could send it though, he had already done exactly the same thing. Attacked the two poison mobs and guess what? He died in an instant! b:bye
Lol, he was gonna be alright? Guess he quite misjudged his own capabilities.
And then the fool just pressed 'go home town' instantly with a cleric standing almost next to him. Even though he didn't thank me and acted high and mighty, I am a helpful cleric full of forgiveness who knows how it feels to die, so I would consider reviving him.
Of course when I met him at the orchid temple soon after, I gave the poor guy some buffs. He had surely entertained me very well after all! b:chuckle

I like this one... and slightly off-topic, but there's a lesson to be learned here, one that SHOULD be common sense, but as we all know, common sense is not that common... And that lesson is:

...wait for it...

...For crying out loud, people, no matter what MMO you're in ALWAYS BE NICE TO THE HEALERS, for they are generous with buffs and will save your tails in a scrap.

And good on you, Shiroi, for trying to help the guy even when he was being a jerk. Look me up anytime you need a tank. b:victory

Edit: Also, I don't have any good KS stories. The only time I've been KS'ed has been due to range attacks. Used to annoy me till I finally accepted that they've most likely targeted it at the same time, or before me, and so in a sort of delayed way I'm KSing just as much as they are. In those cases, I just move to the next area... aside from some specialized bosses and a few odd mobs, there's usually plenty to go around.

Although there was this one time I was grouped with a wolf barbarian and a veno, and an identical barb ran into the area and started attacking... I mistook him for our own barb, and went to 'assist'... hehe. Didn't go so well. I appologized and he took it well, so all's well that ends well.

Warmaiden - Lost City

WarrenWolfy, I enjoyed your story immensely. I especially loved this quote from you - "Hypocrisy is the first recourse of the self-righteous." It's such a shame that you are not on Lost City server.

Daoso - Heavens Tear

Warmaiden - Lost City wrote: »

WarrenWolfy, I enjoyed your story immensely. I especially loved this quote from you - "Hypocrisy is the first recourse of the self-righteous." It's such a shame that you are not on Lost City server.

I was going to pick that SAME quote. It's gonna be my sig now!

Tawarwaith - Sanctuary

I must admit I really enjoyed the funny KS stories! Personnaly I don

Smexxyfox - Heavens Tear

I'm glad some ppl see the lighter side of these things.

I totaly agree with the BM, its so annoying to always take the initiative and BEG others to party, wouldn't it be great if players could just put 1 and 1 together and realise the other guy also needs the same mobs and partying wouldnt mean u have to kiss the guy and become **** or something.

Oh and yes, quoted once more for great justice: "Hypocrisy is the first recourse of the self-righteous." Exactly the reason why I left my guild a while ago.

Morayine - Sanctuary

ye good story,
Last night i was helping a friend round 10 lvl lower to kill some piranhas in the sea. We were grouped with 3, and then i saw someone also killing stuff, so i said to my friend, maybe he likes an invite, as she was leader.
I swa him kill some, and as he was low lvl, and i was waiting i put in some dmg to help his kill fast.
Then he says " hey whats with the KS ing " , jeeeeeee, so i replied, "wow you are rude", and so a few words were exchanged were he was so certain i was deliberatly killing his mobs, which i never did, and even tried help him, or thought of inviting him at first.
Was annoyed still, stupid idiot. I think nxt time i just wont bother to respond at all, just waaste of energy and time.
If i am grinding i just see a mob and attack, if someone else is out of my view also grinding it, i dont see it, and it doesnt disturb me somewwhen else does it with me, i just go move a bit other direction.
So my advice to all those a..holes out there who think they are sooo important that i really need there kills, get a life.
And perhaps nxt time i might try indeed instead of starting a discussion start a real KS party as posted here first, seems like fun b:laugh

Tawarwaith - Sanctuary

I see my post was cut off. But it doesn't matter, since when I posted it, I haven't dealt much with kill stealers. I would just test their patience by meditating.

However, I just had KS situation with my veno. I was killing trees around the west gate of Archosaur, when a BM of minimum lvl40 started to kill wathever I attacked. Thinking of this thread, I came up with a nice tactic. This will only work for heavy veno's though.
Since the BM ran at the mob my tauroc attacked, I just send it to attack mob while attacking another one myself. This way he couldn't steal my kills: no other class is able to attack 2 mobs at the same time with a large distance between them. It was really funny, since then he started to attack the trees I went after, making the kill of my pet count! It costed me some pots to keep up the kill (not many hp), but it was really worth the fun.

BearHunter - Sanctuary

Well I've seen few KS's in Yansheng site. However Yangsheng was repeatedly generous to put at least 1 team member to bed before they overcame him. So crime and punishment was done in the same action.