The RealmLocke Chronicles


#1

Howdy Realmers! This is a little experiment I decided to kick off, both as a new way to play and experience this game that I’ve loved for several years and as a little log/documentation of the process. I started this experiment on the RotMG Sub-Reddit and was suggested to post the series here as well, so this is what I’m doing. I’m not entirely familiar with the RealmEye interface just yet, so if I make some mistakes along the way, bear with me as I figure things out.

There is more detail on what exactly this is in the threads below, so read on if you’re interested in a new-ish perspective on playing Realm of the Mad God. Thanks and I hope y’all enjoy!


#2

Chapter I - A New Kind of Challenge

Good evening, ladies and gents! (Morning? Afternoon? Whatever time zone y’all elect to play in…) Welcome to the first entry in a log of updates that I will be making both as a public tracker of a quest I do not believe has been done before and as a personal goal to see what heights in Realm of the Mad God I can achieve. While this log will mostly be a chronological update on the many misadventures I go down as I take on this challenge, I do plan on keeping it as lively and as entertaining to read as I possibly can. So thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this installment and many installments to come!

But what exactly is it that I’ll be doing? Well, it won’t be your standard PPE, NPE, OPE, or any other fill-in-the-blank Pro Player Experience. This is a challenge that requires a brand new account to be made, truly beginning from scratch. But I already hear your interjections. “Oh dear LaDesh, this is only starting over! There’s nothing truly special about that!” But what if the experience was more than just starting over? What if…I turned everyone’s favorite unforgiving MMO Bullet Hell RPG…and turned it into a Nuzlocke?

For those who don’t know, a Nuzlocke is a style of gameplay usually attributed to the Pokemon series that heightens the difficulty by only granting a single life for each Pokemon you catch. If they faint, you can no longer use that Pokemon, pretending as if they’re dead for good. There are other factors and inhibitors that go along with this, but this is the main selling point. And this is all you need to know, dear reader, to understand what the challenge in RealmLocke is. Every time I die in Realm of the Mad God, I will no longer be allowed to play that specific class. This means I have fifteen lives in total to go as far as I can, obtaining as many white bags, stars, and glorious, glorious fame along the way.

So let’s lay down some of the ground rules for this challenge. It’ll go as follows:

  • I will only get to play as each class once. If I die, I am no longer allowed to play as that class.
  • I will treat this similar to a Pro Player Experience (PPE), meaning I will not trade for or ask for any items from other players. All items must be obtained organically through fighting the enemies in the realm, picking up items that haven’t been dropped by other players, or by happening upon items in quest chests.
  • I will allow myself the use of marks, collectibles, and daily quest rewards since this is a brand new account with absolutely nothing on it and these are inherent features within the game itself.
  • I will allow myself the use of Realm Gold (or in-game currency), but ONLY for the purpose of buying Character Slots, Vault Unlockers, expanding the Pet Yard, or any Vanity Item I wish to place on that account (Dyes, Cloths, and Skins). I will NOT be using Realm Gold for purchasing bonus loot tier potions or clovers, max leveling potions, pet eggs, feeding pets, keys, items (who does that anyway?), or any other things I forgot to mention that may make the process of playing the game that much easier.

There may be some rules that I came up with that slipped my mind (mostly cause it’s late at night right now and I’m tired), so if you have any questions about what kind of limitations I’ve placed on myself for this challenge, reply to this thread and I will get back to you.

There is also a series of goals that I’ve set for myself (because why do this if there isn’t something to work towards?). There are some standard goals that are going to be set here and now, but I will probably add more going forward, depending of if I think of them or if you readers suggest one that I am willing to take on. But here are my goals for starting out:

  • Obtain a grand total of 100,000 fame on the account.
  • Complete all Class Quests (Earn that White Star, bb!)
  • Get five characters up to 8/8 (Maxed stats).
  • Earn at least 50 White Bags.
  • Successfully traverse every dungeon (To Include Belladonna’s, Mad God Mayhem, and Battle for the Nexus, among others).

If you think of any good ones, let me know below and I can add them to the list.

Now that all the preliminary stuff is out of the way, let’s go on into the actual log itself!


Session 1 - December 19, 2019

The game begins as it does for everyone first discovering Realm of the Mad God…popping into the Nexus with a Tier 0 Staff and Tier 0 Spell. I pop into USWest 2, which is a mad haven of selling and buying gear, so much so that you become extremely thankful the chat bubbles appear over the characters and not strictly in the ever revolving five line scrawl of text that fly by so fast you barely have any time to register what anyone said. And good luck receiving messages for Guildies and DMers, by the way. Fortunately I don’t have to worry about any of that…at least, not with this account.

The name I chose for my new account was RealmLocke, as it seemed both fitting to the mission in mind and rather catchy on the tongue. And it was very strange to see myself as the basic Wizard Skin once again. My personal favorite is the Stone Wizard, simply because it’s a blank canvas for whatever cloths and dyes you wish to put onto it. I find certain combinations to be quite fascinating. But again, I don’t have to worry about that.

In fact, I don’t have to worry about all that much, which is an unfamiliar feeling. Whenever I start up a new character, I have a routine I follow: Go to the Vault, equip some decent leveling gear I don’t mind losing, throw on one of my several backpacks, run over to the Pet Yard to pick up my Legendary Heal/Magic Heal Polaris Pet, then head into the guild hall to grab some HP/MP pots for the road (cause ain’t nobody got time for that), and finally head on my way. If I’m lucky, I have an XP Booster to speed things up. If I’m truly lucky, I have a Max Leveling Potion to just skip the process entirely. But I had no reason to do any of the sort. I had no guild. I had no pet. I had no backpack or XP Boosters. I didn’t even have convenient items waiting for me in the Vault. And as I hopped into Ghost, I realized that I was truly starting over.

So remember when I said I had fifteen lives back when all the rules were being laid out? I may have been exaggerating just a tad. And by tad, I mean I only had one life to work with. If I didn’t get to Level 5 before my Wizard died, the run would be over. If I didn’t get to level 20, the run would be severely impacted as the classes of Necromancer, Assassin, Sorcerer, Mystic, and Trickster would all remain locked forever, taking away five of my lives right off the bat. And starting off as a Robe class makes you as squishy, juicy, and tender to the Realm enemies as you can possibly be.

Fortunately, range and easy-to-dodge shots were my ally in the beginning as I hurdled through the first barrier. In no time, I saw that I progressed to the point where, worst case scenario, I would at least have a second chance:

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That would do for now, but I had to reach level 20 before I could truly celebrate the longevity of the RealmLocke Run. And so I went to work, grabbing gear as it was provided to me, grinding through the lowlands, then to the midlands. Progression was slow, as I had to worry about dodging, managing my health, and doing sufficient damage to the enemies so they’d stop firing their hoard of projectiles. I was looking for Forbidden Jungles. I dunno if y’all heard, but there’s a semi-decent item that can drop from Mixcoatl the Masked God and works great on a Wizard. The Staff of the Crystal Serpent is a good item to have until you can get your hands on a Tier 9 or Tier 10 staff. It makes for a good transitional item.

So I started searching for Coiled Snakes and eventually I found one with this leveling Rogue who had way better gear than I did. We go in, he traverses the dungeon like any Rogue would…alone and mostly invisible. I had basically the same gear you see in the picture above and couldn’t kill anything as a result, so I waited until the Rogue was at the boss and I teleported. Killing Mixcoatl was an ordeal for me and significantly less of one for him as he made short work of the the low-level boss and I survived with just under half health.

There was no orangey-purple staff waiting for me, but there was a Tier 6 Robe I would’ve loved to have at this point, despite the ever powerful Robe of the Apprentice doing it’s best. The robe, however, was swiped by the Rogue before I could nab it, even though he had Upper tiered weapons (we’re talking T11 dagger, T12 Leather, etc.) and was an entirely different class. My only assumptions are that he reckoned I was leeching (which I kind of was since I would’ve been a useless companion anyway) or he was teaching me a lesson about the brutality of the game and that it would take a long time before I escaped the “noob” status of Light Blue Star.

Either way, I raged a little, forgot to take a screenshot, and moved on with the understanding that I’ll likely find that robe again soon enough.

And that I did (Tier 6 Armor is more common than Tier 4, nowadays). I also found a Tier 5 Staff, a Tier 2 Spell, two Tier 2 Rings, and a re-surging fear of dying as I came to terms with the Realm closing.

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That’s right, Luchini… that expletive, indeed.

So this is a scary place for a newcomer to be. You’re playing the game, searching for better gear, doing your best to stave off the constant bullets in your direction with…mixed results. And then the screen starts shaking…and you’re suddenly whisked away to a dark and scary place called “Oryx’s Castle”. The enemies are strong, the walls are stronger, and it’s a common ground of death and destruction for characters at or around my current level. And if you have no idea what you’re doing, you can join that number of dead and continue the stigma.

Fortunately, I introduce to everyone the perfect solution for running through Oryx’s Castle alive…cowardice! Enemies appear in front of you? Hide behind those thicc walls and let the Level 20s with decent gear take 'em down! Staying at the back of the pack or even in the middle is usually good strategy for any dungeon you aren’t prepared for. Your chances of dying go down dramatically, especially if there’s a Priest or two chilling among the crowd.

As for me, I did my share of hiding and even shot some of the Oryx Minions from afar. And I even came close to dying a couple times:

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Needless to say, I went to Oryx and took care of him like everyone else…and I definitely didn’t do Oryx 2. Maybe later though…

One Vault dump later, we were back in Ghost. I ventured into the Highlands with my newfound confidence and killed enough Dark Elves and Urgles to earn myself a Tier 3 Spell and the following:

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I had done it. I had continued the longevity of the RealmLocke by achieving Level 20 and potentially unlocking five additional classes for me to mess around with in the near future. This was a vital step towards succeeding in the future. I decided to celebrate by checking in with the old reliable Realm Eye and see how good this champion of a wizard was.

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…yay.

(NOTE: This will actually be a two part post since I continued the session much longer than this and this particular post is already getting long and wordy. The Christmas season is a busy time, so don’t expect another post until either Christmas Day or the day after. I’ve already played Session One and Session Two in advance, so any advice you can give going forward from this point may be in hindsight…just keep that in mind. You can check the progress of RealmLocke through RealmEye if you wish, but…y’know…Spoilers. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!)


#3

You are only able to catch the first item you find in each route and if a character dies it dies

But on-topic, this is epic.
also, you should name every character to get closer to it (totally didnt think of that when you said nuzlocke)


#4

(NOTE: Please keep in mind that the initial two posts were written on the RotMG Sub-Reddit on December 20th and December 25th respectively. As a result, the posts may reference old dates. Just something to keep in mind going forward.

Also, since this account is technically considered as a “New User”, I won’t be able to post more than one picture until the time when that status is removed from the RealmLocke account. Don’t ask me how I managed to do so in Chapter I. I have no idea. If you want to see all the visuals to go with the text, I’ll link the Reddit post correlating to each entry at the end of each Reply. Apologies for the inconveniences and thanks for understanding!)

Chapter II - Something to be Cheerful For

Howdy, folks! Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kwanza, Boxing Day, whatever y’all Realmers choose to celebrate…but more inclusively, Merry Oryxmas! If you’re just joining us, the RealmLocke is a gameplay experience similar to the Nuzlocke from Pokemon where I get ONE life with every character class to obtain the most fame, stars, and white bags I can on a brand new account. Again, sorry about the small hiatus between now and the first post. I was in transit for the Holidays and I was typing that first post the night before I took off. I’m back now, so let’s pick up where we left off…


Session 1- December 19, 2019

Level 20 is an interesting point to be at in the game. If you’re a first-time player, you’ve probably been noticing that green bar above the health bar, watching the levels add up as you tear through the lowlands into the highlands. You’ve likely died a couple times as you got used to reading the bullet patterns the enemies shoot out. But you’re starting to get the hang of things. You’re starting to understand. The Horned Drake gets easier and easier to deal with. The Ent Ancient’s projectiles do a TON of damage, but they’re slow. And you start to understand the progression of the game as you work your hardest to obtain the first mile marker…get to Level 20. And then you do. The green bar turns Orange and you’ve maxed your stats to the furthest point EXP can take you. And then the question pops into your head…now what?

The answer: The real game begins.

The road to level 20 is like the tutorial beyond the tutorial. It’s the fundamental barrier to understanding what Realm of the Mad God is all about from a gameplay perspective. Y’know what I mean? You get to Level 20…and you’ve probably got a good idea how this game works, what bullets are, what the Space Bar does, all that stuff. Y’know…the works. But now it’s time to play the game, to fight some of the real enemies and likely die several times over in the quest for good loot…like everyone else.

And this is probably why the game has such a steep learning curve as it does. Every experience a player has had up to this point has been hinting progression…like there’s a natural difficulty curve that you are taken on the more levels you get. And it leaves the impression that this concept will continue into the future until you reach a point where either the game ends (like in most video game franchises) or the game becomes free roam, where it drops you off after the main quest and you can explore some optional harder quests if you so choose. Realm of the Mad God is the latter of these two, but here’s the twist:

Level 20 is the drop-off point. And you haven’t even seen half the game’s content yet.

Everything RAMPS up in difficulty after this point. Enemies taking a quarter of your health with each shot they land becomes common. The five beginner’s dungeons you’ve previously had access to become cakewalks in comparison to the dungeons you become exposed to, even those like the Snake Pit and the Sprite World, which are the easiest. And you start to notice all these quests popping up on your screen that people in the realm flock to in droves. And people who don’t know what to do, because they’ve never seen this content before and are just following the progression that’s been laid out for them, go with these people and ultimately lose their characters because they get shot nine times by Pentaract Eyeballs in the span of three seconds.

Am I rambling too long about Level 20? I might be. TLDR, Level 20 is the turning point and everything you know about the game gets shoved down your throat and you have to learn about the game all over again.

For my dear first and ONLY Wizard on the RealmLocke account, I already knew what to do. I have that advantage. The next step is to start maxing some stats. I do that by getting and drinking stat pots until I can’t drink anymore. I get stat pots by playing the game. Everyone has their strategies on how to max stats, but I always shoot for Speed and Defense first, since they greatly impact the longevity of the character. There’s a big chunk of health difference between a character with unmaxed defense and a character with maxed defense. And being able to dodge projectiles because you’re fast enough to is pivotal to survive this game.

So off I went, my “super strong” Wizard with a Tier 6 Robe taking on the Godlands (also known as the mountains). And I start getting into a groove of dodging and weaving through enemy bullets. They hit hard, but are distinguishable and easy to recognize the pattern. Ghost Gods have slow, tightly spaced bullets that spread out wide. Ent Gods predict where the player is moving and fires in that direction. Medusas (the beginner slayer) aim solely where you’re at and throw a high-damage bomb. Djinns move a few feet at a time and toss out white balls in a star pattern. White Demons throw strictly 45 damage shots. Slime Gods are like Ent Gods, but shoot faster and can throw stars that slow you. The examples go on.

Learning these patterns and understanding how to avoid them is one of the first main steps to surviving Realm of the Mad God. Easy to recognize bullet shots means easy to dodge. Ent and Slime Gods? Do a back and forth motion right before you believe they fire their bullets. They won’t even come near you. Ghost Gods? Keep your distance and hit 'em with all the range you got. Medusas? Simply run around them in a circle. If the Godland enemies cluster up, then it gets difficult. But that’s what the Nexus Key is for. No regen from a pet means I’ll be hitting that Nexus Key a lot. And I did several times this session.

But patience is the key. I stuck with large crowds. I only entered dungeons that had at least two or three players running them. I didn’t run dungeons I wasn’t prepared for (Oryx 2, Tombs of both kinds, and other End Game dungeons) I only went to events that I knew were going to gather a large crowd I could hide in. Sure, this severely lowered my chance at getting loot, but I kept at it. Because surviving is better than loot…even White Bags sometimes.

My target was Snake Pits (for Speed), so I naturally targeted Medusas. Something else worthwhile about Snake Pits is that they have a REAL good chance of dropping Greater Rings and if you’re looking for an upgrade to the Ring of Health, then one or two of these dungeons should warrant you a Greater Ring of the same variety. In my case, it did this, but it also warranted me something more important than the next ring tier…a Pet!

Pets, regardless of your stance on whether they should be nerfed/deleted or not, are a valuable asset of surviving this game. It is worth it to have a pet and feed it every once in a while (yes, in real life too). They do things like Paralyze Enemies, attack enemies from three varieties of ranges, draw enemy fire, and nullify Vitality and Wisdom stat pots.

My first pet on the RealmLocke account would hopefully nullify one of those stat pots, as the Charmeleon could Heal. The other two abilities were Savage and Electric, so not bad, but no Mana Regen. I would be looking for a replacement for Stewart soon (Yes, I name my pets. Don’t judge me).

But it was at this point that I realized something dreadful. Pets require Fame to level up. This meant I would have to die at least once before my Pet would start being useful and heal more than 10 health in a span of 6 seconds. So…this was the kind of hell I was subjugating myself to…glamorous…

But that’s a problem future me can solve. Right now, back to the grind. 10 health every 6 seconds isn’t completely insignificant, so I make do and start getting some speed. Fortunately, there’s an event going on at this time for Snake Pits and Abyss of Demons, so there happens to be a lot of people searching for the same dungeon I am. In fact, the Oryxmas events are quite crucial to getting some above sub-par gear. It’s surprisingly easy to collect 40 of those broken Ornaments and get the first legitimate weapon I could ever want…Frosty’s Walking Stick.

So, truthfully nothing eventful happens at this point for a little while. Maybe that’s a product of me disappearing for a week and all the information I had regarding this wizard going out the door in that timeframe. Just know it’s most likely a bunch of stat pot drinking, Broken Ornament collecting, and Elder Warlock Robe obtaining (I think it was Esben).

We flash forward to the most absurd place to obtain my very first white bag. Maybe I placed my spellbombs right or maybe DECA luck was just smiling down on me…

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Okay, so maybe it wasn’t DECA luck…

Actually, maybe it was. It’s gonna take a long and arduous session with the Sword characters before they have enough defense to properly tank shots and I’ll need range until they get to that point. Reskinned Crystal Sword isn’t as bad as you think, especially if you’re learning how to play the class and need a safety net at the same time (like me…)

Going into this with a positive mindset and hyping up the stuff most people would consider feed power, I ventured onward, continuing my quest for speed, vitality, and those broken ornaments (which were broken in more ways than one). It is a shame that any kind of event I take advantage of will personally depreciate from the difficulty of the RealmLocke experience, since it only took 80 shards to get the staff and reskinned Tier 13 robe that I needed. But I remembered that being an opportunist, while seeming like the easy way out, is a whole mindset towards this game and how it should be played, especially early on while you’re getting your bearings. Going into dungeons that were populated and even oversaturated, sticking with the crowds and letting them take all the damage…even a menial thing like logging in every day. You take any advantage you can get. Because even then, you might die sometimes…even if you’re completely maxed.

I know running through Ice Caves and Ice Tombs are far cries from what I preached about earlier, but if there are enough people in the group, it doesn’t hurt to tag along, stay back, and watch how others approach the enemies. Maybe learn a thing or two about how they shoot and how you can dodge. You can’t learn if you don’t experience, after all…

Anyway, that about wraps up the first session (lol, like a Christmas gift…). Nothing too eventful happens from here and I am ultimately left with the following results.

Characters:

Wizard - 471/800 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Goal Check:

Total Fame Accumulated: 471

Stars: 3

Maxed Characters: 0

White Bags: 1

Dungeons Traversed: Abyss of Demons, Cave of a Thousand Treasures, Cursed Library, Davy Jones’ Locker, Deadwater Docks, Forbidden Jungle, Ice Cave, Mad Lab, Magic Woods, Mountain Temple, Ocean Trench, Pirate Cave, Puppet Master’s Theater, Snake Pit, Sprite World, Toxic Sewers, Undead Lair.

Session Two will come out a bit later and then we’ll be caught up with the present. So thanks for reading! Hope you’ve enjoyed it! And have a Merry Oryxmas!


#5

Chapter III - The Second Character

Howdy Realmers! It seems that my new player status has been removed and I now have free reign over the links and pictures I can post! Which is good! This means I can post here in the same format as I post on Reddit, giving you dear readers all the content! There are some differences that I still need to attone for, since Reddit entries are in post format and RealmEye entries are in Thread format. I’ll think of something for the next Chapter. In the meantime, thanks for reading and I hope y’all enjoy!



Session 2 - December 20, 2019

Warping into the realm for the second time, I realized what kind of progress I was going to have if I continued on this path of using a single character slot for an extended period of time. Long…arduous…boring…painful…so on. I’m the kind of person who wants to play characters based on what I’m feeling and being held down to one medium just wasn’t going to do it for me. Keep in mind that on my original account, I have eight character slots and each and every one of them are filled with at least a Level 1 Character ready for Realm Romping. So the sudden restriction down to one really got to me.

Now I’m sure not everyone likes to spend money on a game. Some of us were pushed to the game because it was Free-to-Play. But I’m certain that at some point, you dear readers have had the question pop into your mind: if I do elect to obtain Realm Gold, what should I buy with it? Well buckle up, ladies and gentlemen because I’m about to lay out the most optimal path for shopping in the Realm of the Mad God Nexus Mall! (NOTE: If you don’t have a buckle, you’re clearly not riding in a car right now.)

The thing that should be paramount for new players to try and get, should they actually drop some money, is Character Slots and Vault Chests. The Character Slots makes playing the game significantly more manageable as you can suddenly have the character diversity to build characters for specific situations. Some dungeons are optimal for some classes, like a Trickster in a Sprite World. And if you’re like me, you just want the power to play whatever characters you want at the tip of your finger. The Vault Chest make storing items way simpler, as you don’t have to worry about prioritizing items as you run out of room. And you will run out of room. Very quickly. Yes, you can wait for the Daily Log-In Rewards to grant you the Vault Space and Character Slots you need and if you don’t want to spend any money, that is the strategy. But RealmLocke don’t have that kind of time.

Here are other things to look out for in the Nexus Malls. Pet Eggs are generally not worth it to me, unless you’ve already found a Pet that you like and have brought it to the Rare tier or higher. Pet food isn’t really worth it until this point as well (you obtain enough from the Daily Log In Rewards). The Loot Potions/Lucky Clovers/Backpacks/Leveling Potions can all be obtained through the Daily Log In Rewards, but could be bought if you’re looking for a jump start. Class Items (Weapons, Abilities, Armor, Rings) are simply NOT worth it as these can be found in the Realm fairly easily. Skins…go for it if you really like it and you’ll wear it often. Keys…good for a Guild Pop or an Event, if you’re feeling frisky. And Cloths and Dyes…see Skins above.

Now there’s one other thing I haven’t covered yet and that is the Mystery Box. It’s basically this place where you can play the lottery and hope you obtain both quantitative and qualitative amounts of whatever box you want to open. The Mystery Boxes are generally tailored towards events going on in the game. For example, if there’s an Ice Cave Event, there will be a Mystery Box to obtain Ice Cave Keys. But the Mystery Box can be optimized to get the most out of the game for the lowest price…and it isn’t just for those with Realm Gold…it’s a good thing to keep your eye on in general. Sometimes, you might see a Mystery Box that uses Fame instead of Realm Gold. Sometimes you might see a Package on the third tab that grants you a bunch of free stuff because it’s Halloween or Christmas or some kind of holiday. And it’s also where you go to claim rewards for any Point-based event going on in the realm (like the current one with the Broken Ornaments).

So why ramble on and on about spending Realm Gold in a series about not killing my characters? Well I’ve received a lot of comments One Comment about people using this as a guide to starting out fresh and new in the game and this is a pivotal step in that, I believe. Also, it puts you in my head on what I’m thinking as I drop 20 bucks (2600 Realm Gold) on the account and immediately approach Merlin the Mystery Box Guardian (Wow, he really let himself go since Arthur became king).

The optimal approach to this was simple math. 600 Realm Gold on the first Character Slot, two 799 Gold spins in the Mystery Box for Character Slots. This is done because at worst, it grants me Four Character Slots to work with at a discounted price that I wouldn’t have had if I’d just bought the Character Slots from the Menu Screen. And at best…I get more than what I asked for.

And wouldn’t you know it, DECA Luck was smiling down on me:

First Spin = 1 Character Slot

Second Spin = 6 Character Slots

Needless to say, I was overjoyed when I learned I now had nine character slots to work with:

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Playing Wizard was fun, but I felt like I was ready to begin a new character. And since I already revealed what that character was going to be in the snapshots above (Not that it was much of a reveal anyway. There’s only one other character I can play right now), let’s get to know our valuable Priest, Barty.

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Barty the Priest is the kind of person who likes to wear his Priest robe to the gym with a headband. A man who’s so intense, he carries a stick that he clobbers people with. Yeah, he can shoot magic out of it, but why do that when he can beefcake his way through the Realm enemies? It is rumored that at one point the top of his head flexed so hard, the hair fell out. Barty like to borrow clothes from Nameless the Wizard and enjoys long walks in the ocean (but not on walkways, like those other Priests). Despite his dedication to the Lift Life, he’s a pretty weak fellow and can easily get ripped apart by even some of the highlanders. Fortunately, all he needs to do is pray to his god using this square with a math symbol on it and…BAM! He can now get ripped apart slower and more painfully by the enemies of the Realm. Such is the Gym Rat Lifestyle. Regardless of all this, Barty starts his journey akin to that of Nameless (who’s the Wizard, by the way)…slaying some lowlanders.

You may be wondering where this stick came from and the answer to that is simple. How I started finding my success through Realm was to save items for other characters I would be using in the future. That made getting to Level 20 faster, which made getting through the Godlands Grind a lot better as I was more prepared. Despite the Priestly status, Barty had no trouble finding his way to Level 5 and continuing the RealmLocke run for another character.

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And so here’s where my tactic starts to unfold. Ideally, I want to keep playing the Priest and dedicate the entire chapter to his misadventures…kind of like how I did with the Wizard. And by kind of, I mean exactly. So that’s what I did.

From the lowlands to the midlands Barty went. There’s nothing too awesome that happens here, at least nothing that hadn’t already been said when I was reaching Level 20 with the Wizard. I did get pleasantly reminded that buffing the Ent Ancients can lead to some mild rewards:

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I did what any good Samaritan would do and gave it to the Wizard. That’s about what an Elder Warlock robe is worth nowadays, right?

Anyway, we’ve reached the point where the obligatory level 20 is met and the fourth character class joins our ranks…the Necromancer:

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And now the real challenge begins. To truly succeed as the Priest, you have to be patient. You have to be opportunistic. The Priest as a class doesn’t have a lot of Attack or Dexterity to help you kill things faster. It doesn’t have a lot of Defense or Speed to dodge bullets and tank hits. As a Priest, you have to solely rely on your Mana recharge and your Ability to instantly heal. I waited until I had at LEAST a Tier 3 tome before Godland trekking. That’s how important the ability is to the survival of that class. You have to utilize the Range of the wand to stay away from the enemies you fight. You have to be accurate with your shots, else you won’t get any equipment to progress. You have to hang back from the rest of the pack…because it’s safer. Because just as quickly as you can heal, you can get popped by almost anything at this point. As the definitive support character of Realm of the Mad God, you sacrifice so much of your own stats for the instant heal of not only yourself, but the others around you. This is a class that works best in a public realm with many people around. They take the hits. You allow them to continue taking hits. Wash, rinse, repeat.

So when I spotted a character disappearing into the Abyss of Demons, I decided to hop on in. Worst case scenario, I notice there isn’t more than two people in the Dungeon and I leave back to the realm. Best case scenario, I finagle a Vitality and a Defense Potion and perhaps my second White Bag, if I’m lucky.

Well…that wasn’t the worst case scenario.

I entered the Dungeon, heard the death of the character that had entered before me, and before I could do anything about it, it was my turn:

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The first death on the RealmLocke account. I was heartbroken. I figured the possibility of death before the lofty goals I’d set were very high, and I thought I was mentally prepared for it. But even so, the shockwave that hit me when it happened…I was thinking, “He went like that ?” I recognize that this is my fault, despite the circumstances. Maybe it was my mentality on the character as a healer that gave me the strength to step into the red archways. Maybe it was my hubris on the class in general. The Priest was my very first successful class I ever had on my main account, so I had already considered him to be one of my better characters by default.

All the same…one miscalculation…one risk…meant the end of perfection.

Achieving Level 20 at least means I don’t risk losing access to characters, thankfully. However, I can no longer reach the white star on this run. The most Class quests I can complete now is 72. And that’s a sad realization. So that that I became demoralized to doing this challenge. And with that being said, I regretfully renounce my RealmLocke Challenge and proclaim this run as…Dead.

Just kidding.

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Meet Oswald the Archer. He’s an optimist through and through. A natural talent to the point where he can shoot three arrows from a bow at once in rapid succession. Once again taking equipment from the kindness of Nameless, he runs gung-ho into any kind of situation, trusting his spread shot style to riddle the Realm enemies with arrows before eventually killing them. But that’s not to say he isn’t practical and resourceful, either. Even though he had the best of the best in quivers, he picked up a standard one to swap with for certain situations. He’s a bit naive and a bit gullible. He doesn’t even realize it’s Barty’s garment he’s wearing. But that’s what makes him so enjoyable to be around. He’s a good time and a faithful companion. See? He’s already recruiting a Rogue to the cause!

Unfortunately, that’s all he seems capable of recruiting.

Yes, Level 20 for the Archer didn’t warrant any new Class Unlocks, but that’s okay. The Archer is good enough to make up for it. A decent mid-range character with the potential for high damage, a good amount of defense provided by Leather Armor, and the ability to Paralyze enemies with a high-damage shot from a distance is a pretty good combo. It’s no wonder why he’s my favorite class to play as. But if this level of hubris has taught me anything, it’s that it can kill at times. And in a challenge where Permadeath means slightly more than what it usually does, that’s not an ideal consequence to face. I vow to myself, then and there, that I won’t make the same mistake twice.

And with that, I concluded the second session. A bit of a somber note to end things on, unfortunately, but with the promise that things will be better going forward. I will learn from my mistakes and I will advance with more caution. Because an important step in the RealmLocke challenge, and just life in general, is to press on, even when things don’t work out or things don’t go the way as you expected. It’s in the past, now. Taking what we learn from our past and applying it to the future is the fundamental force of evolution. And I know that while Barty the Priest has since perished, I will rise up and become better because of his sacrifice. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! And have a good night!

Summary

Characters:

Wizard - 471/800 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Priest - 294/400 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Archer - 22/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Goal Check:

Total Fame Accumulated: 787

Stars: 6

Maxed Characters: 0

White Bags: 1

Dungeons Traversed: Abyss of Demons, Cave of a Thousand Treasures, Cursed Library, Davy Jones’ Locker, Deadwater Docks, Forbidden Jungle, Forest Maze , Ice Cave, Mad Lab, Magic Woods, Mountain Temple, Ocean Trench, Pirate Cave, Puppet Master’s Theater, Snake Pit, Spider Den , Sprite World, Toxic Sewers, Undead Lair.


#6

this is such a fucking cool idea, id love this to become the next big trend after ppes


#7

Chapter IV - The Christmas Day Massacre

Howdy Realmers! For those just joining us, the RealmLocke Chronicles is a running series of posts on Reddit and RealmEye detailing the process of a specific challenge to complete as much of the game as I can using only fifteen characters, one for every class. This is based off of a specific style of playing Pokemon known as a Nuzlocke where each Pokemon that faints in battle cannot be used again. For more information, please take a look at the forum thread on RealmEye or the first Reddit post . Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!


Session 3 - December 25th, 2019

I’ve been regretting the day I write this.

So let me give some context leading up to this session. I had just returned from a four-day vacation. Still, one of the first things I did when I returned was type up the second log of the series. I was ahead of schedule in terms of entries since I knew the second chapter was only going to be the second part of the first session and I had already completed the second session before I left. If I wanted to, I could take a step back, relax, enjoy the holiday, maybe play on my regular account with a lot less on the line. And then I could start again in the new year, bring this idea of a challenge to full swing and just have at it.

But that’s not who I am.

After playing some Samurai and finding some success with that DECA Luck, I decided that it would translate over to the RealmLocke account. I fell for what could be considered the “hot hand” fallacy. It’s a ideology in sports, typically basketball, where one person makes bucket after bucket after bucket. Everyone around them believes they have the hot hand and that they will continue to have it until the streak is undoubtedly broken. So, they put their faith in what they believe is a constant. And by that, I mean what they believe is a fact.

The truth is, there are two likely outcomes if the player with the hot hand is susceptible to believing the “hot hand” fallacy. They will become confident enough to try more big plays…and they will become confident enough to try more risky plays. And this was my first mistake.

On top of this belief, I was going to play Oswald the Archer. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Archer is my favorite class to play as. My true fear initially was never making it to the point where I could play Archer and that I would die as the Wizard and the Priest first. And well…I was half right. But more on that later. Right now, Oswald is the savior of the run, the champion of the RealmLocke account, the one that stood the greatest chance of going the distance. He was the most reliable character at my disposal.

So I started things off with a little warm-up from Nameless the Wizard. After doing a little Godland farming, I happened upon a Permafrost Lord and acquired this little bell:

And if you’re looking carefully, you might notice a little bit of yellow on the right middle portion of the screen. 1/8 was a reality. And in one of the better stats too…Speed is a magical thing in a game all about dodging.

So the “hot hand” fallacy continues. And having accomplished something already for Nameless, the next course of action was to bring Oswald up to his level. I mean, if I could achieve this with a character class I had yet to reach 800 fame on my original account, then the Archer would be no problem.

There were two factors that led to my downfall.

The in-game factor was my misjudgement on how far the Wizard had come. As you can see in the snapshot above, I had already consumed half of the required defense pots to max, not to mention the vitality pot quota was almost maxed out, too. This was technically a discounted 3/8 Wizard, and I mean a severely discounted 3/8 Wizard. Still, it was more tanky than a 0/8 Archer.

The out-of-game factor…was liquid courage.

I rarely drink alcohol and play this game, but it was Christmas and I was in a relaxed state of mind. For those that are too young to touch the stuff, alcohol has a tendency to slow down your reaction time at a certain point. And the specific drink I was having was a sleeper, meaning I didn’t feel the alcohol until I was already well past this previously mentioned point. But those are just excuses.

There were even warning signs, as I had hopped into a Sprite World while a cavalcade of Godland enemies were firing upon me. But the damage wasn’t too collateral:

I even got my second White Bag out of the ordeal…an EP Staff, but it still counts:

However, instead of playing it safe and returning it to base, I ran into the heat of battle, tested my luck…and got rocked.

Looking back on the decisions that I do remember from that night, it was my hubris that killed off this character. My decisions to play through my inhibitions and ignore my sleep-deprived state and drunken stupor led to the downfall of what I believed to be the easiest character of the run.

Needless to say, I was angry. Y’know…the kind of primal rage that enters the body when you realize permadeath is a thing and all progress that was just made was squashed…the kind of feelings this game is known for bringing out of people. I legitimately had to take a step back and not pick up the RealmLocke challenge for a little bit. I went back to my main account to relax for the rest of the day and grind some stat pots (which went about as well as you can imagine).

Truthfully, I’ve been writing this for about a couple weeks now, trying to find the words that describe how I felt, what I did, and how it went going forward. I’ll be honest, this did discourage me from continuing the RealmLocke Challenge. I’m already down significantly from where I wanted to be starting off. And I’ll be honest…it is fun having the super overpowered items that you’ve worked for years to collect rather than having to struggle and grind to reach that point again. And I think that is the true struggle of the challenge. To go from everything from nothing and then try to gain everything…in fifteen characters or less…that’s a hard sell in a perma-death game.

But in that vein, you realize…that’s part of the fun. How far you truly can go. How much further you have left before you can successfully say you’ve mastered the game. Get the White Star? Get all the White Bags? Get a Divine Pet? The limit is only set by you. It’s up to the player to determine the limit they wish to go to. That’s true in every game.

And this is all reflection and maybe a little hyping myself up to continue this. Because I believe it to be a cool idea and I think it’s a newer way to play Realm…definitely a harder way. Much harder than PPEs, NPEs, OPEs, or even starting a brand new account, all by itself. And that’s interesting. It changes the way you think, the way you approach challenges, allows you to see the game in a new light and develop not only your instincts, but your judgement.

And that is the true magic of the RealmLocke.


Session 4 - December 28th, 2019

So that’s exactly what I did. I changed my strategy. I decided not to rely on any one character and work on developing them all. This challenge is not about cheesing your way to the best results. This is about developing and honing your skills and instincts to achieve the best results. Each pot will be earned by their own character. Each white will be earned by their own character…okay, maybe that’s a little too far. They are rare. But you get the idea. One character cannot carry the rest of them to success. Everyone has to pull their own weight. It’s part of the challenge.

It’s part of the fun.

I had eight or so character slots and I chose to use them, so here they are! Cue the montage music!

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#Don’tClickThisLink

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So with that, I concluded that Session with 0 deaths and a whole lot of optimism (but not a whole lot of time, since this session was before the new year and this post is coming out…two weeks later? Something like that). I’ve given into the naming theme as requested by one of the RealmEye users (LudwiGa), so expect that to be a thing going forward, if ya haven’t noticed already. (Oswald, Barty, Nameless, etc.) But not right now. Each character will get it’s own chapter in the saga.

So, before I conclude this post, I wanted to ask y’all something. As you’ve noticed, I’ve only used 8 of the 9 character slots I have remaining (yes, I know I don’t have a screenshot for leveling the Huntress up, but I didn’t unlock any new characters with her). Meaning I have one slot remaining. As I go through the other classes and start leveling them up, I’ll pop the question to y’all: What class should get the final spot?

Right now, I have a choice between four. I have a preference, but I’d rather wait to hear what y’all want me to do before I pick it. The remaining classes to pick from go as follows:

  • Mystic
  • Paladin
  • Sorcerer
  • Samurai

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Let me know in the thread (if on RealmEye), in the comments (if on Reddit) or through DMs on either (If you choose to not be publicly judged for your opinions). You can explain why if you’d like. It may help influence my decision.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for the hiatus. And I hope you enjoyed it.

Summary

Characters:

Wizard: 529/800 Fame, 1/8 Stats Maxed (Speed)

Priest: 294/400 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Archer: 102/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Rogue: 116/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Warrior: 25/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Necromancer: 25/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Huntress: 75/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Assassin: 33/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Knight: 22/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Ninja: 23/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed

Goal Check:

Total Fame Accumulated: 1,244

Stars: 13

Maxed Characters: 0

White Bags: 2

Dungeons Traversed: Abyss of Demons, Cave of a Thousand Treasures, Cursed Library, Davy Jones’ Locker, Deadwater Docks, Forbidden Jungle, Forest Maze, Ice Cave, Mad Lab, Magic Woods, Mountain Temple, Ocean Trench, Pirate Cave, Puppet Master’s Theater, Snake Pit, Spider Den, Sprite World, The Crawling Depths , Toxic Sewers, Undead Lair

(NOTE: Most of these screenshots have captions underneath them that simply don’t work in the RealmEye thread style, so you can view the Reddit Post to examine those. I’m trying to figure out a way to liven things up here, format-wise. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to let me know. I’ll take them into consideration. Thanks again!)


#8

Discontinued or wut? Been a month already smh


#9

No valentine special ?


#10

No Mardi Gras special?


#11

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