Review Submitted By: Ken
Author Status: Player
Started on Kingdoms of the Lost: April 2007
Submission Date: Oct 20, 2008
TMC Listing: Kingdoms of the Lost
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Ken]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Kingdoms of the Lost is a well thought out and developed mud that
continues to evolve. Active Implementers and coders make improvements
and modifications a few times per year.
Like most muds, there are a variety of classes and races, however
included in those are racial evolutions and class tiers which allow
for a wide variety of different skills and spells. While two
characters may both start out as Wild Elf Scouts, they can evolve
quite differently through game play, making one eventually a Siltha
Dragonslayer with hunting skills specific to dealing deadly blows to
dragons, another may choose to become and remain as a skeletal Grey
Elf Druid with very different skills and spells from the Siltha.
Simply reaching level 200 (the highest level in KOTL) does not in any
way ensure that you will have a strong character. While it is true
that you will have obtained all of the skills and spells possible for
that character, you may not be very good at using them. Improvement of
skills and spells is done entirely through their use, with only the
very basics of the skill being practiced with a trainer. Not only does
rushing to level 200 (which is actually 500 levels, 1-50 at first
tier, 1-100 at second tier, 1-150 at third tier, and finally 1-200 at
fourth tier), it may prevent you from fully exploring the detailed and
extremely interesting areas designed for specific level ranges.
As with most other muds, questing is required to obtain the strongest
equipment possible for your character. And while quest equipment is
far better than any mob equipment available, the greatest equipment is
built by the user, following strict rules on the creation of custom
equipment at a very high cost in quest tokens. These quest tokens must
be obtained from multiple kingdoms as each kingdom's quest tokens are
required to add different aspects to the custom equipment. There are a
total of 8 kingdom questmasters and and 2 special quest masters,
therefore 10 different color quest tokens. Questing for a full set of
custom equipment can take well over 2000 hours of playing, ensuring
that those who enjoy questing have plenty of opportunity and need to
continue questing for years.
If questing and grinding out levels really isn't your thing,
roleplay is encouraged and rewarded with roleplay xp (rpxp). RPXP is
used to advance in your chosen profession within your kingdom or to
advance within your religion (of which there are 5). Religions also
provide a range of spells to their followers, how many of those spells
you get depend upon your rank within the religion. Like the kingdoms,
these religions are run by players, and one can be recruited,
promoted, or banished depending upon ones in-game interactions.
RPXP can also be used to learn new languages so that you may speak to
other races and hide your conversation from eavesdroppers. By default
everyone knows the Common Tongue and a language specific to their
race. Learning a new language requires not only the required amount of
rpxp, but also requires that you find an instructor for that language,
something you are likely to miss if you attempt to level as fast as
possible as many of the instructors are in low to mid level areas.
Between four and six times per year, the Immortal staff runs
Festivals in the different kingdoms. Some of the features of these
festivals include the ability to buy runes and quest tokens if you
have enough gold. Generally you cannot purchase quest tokens or runes
with gold, however gold can be extremely useful during these
festivals. Also at the festivals there are contests of strength,
bonuses to all, and sometimes other themed contests such as a
Halloween costume contest. Additionally, near the end of the festival
there is often a blind auction, where a bag of unknown contents is put
up for auction and can contain anything from a worthless lump of
hardened dung to a Legendary Stone, the most rare and sought after
item in the game.
A Legendary Stone is generally obtained by fighting the most powerful
mob in the game, currently that is the Grand Master Assassin. While it
is possible for an individual to defeat this foe, it is highly
recommended that he be fought in a large group. If you are extremely
lucky he will drop a Legendary Stone, an item which can infuse any
piece of your equipment with a personality which will grant you
additional spells and skills unavailable in any other way. Don't feel
bad if you defeat this foe and do not receive a Legendary stone, they
are exceedingly rare and many have fought him repeatedly without ever
receiving this most powerful of rewards. These Legendary personalities
also have levels, which require a great deal of xp. If you truly enjoy
grinding out levels, you can continue to try to level your legendary,
even long after you have reached level 200 yourself. Each Legendary
has 11 levels from 0 to 10. To my knowledge no one has ever reached
level 10.
With 25 races, as well as the ability to become a vampire, ghost, or
skeleton; and 8 final tiers for each base class (scout, mage, fighter,
priest, or rogue), many people choose to create multiple characters to
try out the different possibilities (only one may be logged in at a
time). Of course between quest equipment, rare runes, roleplaying, and
Legendary equipment, there is also plenty to keep you busy for years
on any one character. While it may seem overwhelming to new players at
first, the Imm staff, extremely helpful and friendly playerbase, help
files, and websites devoted to providing game information and
suggestions for improvement will have you feeling comfortable with
your character and building your first custom piece of armor in no
time.
