Rumour Has It - Part 4 Analysis

First of all, thanks to those who filled out the questionnaire. It wasn't that many of you, but then it was lots of work with only a few replies. I suspect that quantifying questionnaire results is something of an art in itself, but here goes..

The general trend is that I confused the hell out of you by being too obscure! Oops. Then again, perhaps the questionnaire was too long because the DUNNO was used increasingly often as you progress down the list. Surprisingly enough, our warlock community seems to be significantly (if I dare say so for such a small survey) better informed than the mages. How can that be? Does this imply that knowledge does not equal power in the game? Or are explorers just slackers when it comes to scoring points?

I'll first go over the questions where the majority answered dunno, then those the majority correctly answered, and finally those question that most got wrong. I'll try and add some extra hints to make the rumours a little less cryptic, and generally prod you towards experimenting.

Most unsure

Q1. I stumbled across a useful trick with the ogre the other day. The ogre had just dispatched the thief. Curiously enough it wasn't carrying its club, nor any weapon of any sort! Now how can that be ...?
I was very excited to find this trick, but in practice the ogre's not so hard to kill and he's worth a bit. Still useful as a lowlife though.

Q5. Archways or the vampire costing you your site? Not to worry! A certain item of attire to be found in the west of The Land will put a stop to it. All for a cost of course, which you should still find acceptable.
I'm sworn to "no comment".

Q7. I thought I was going to win the fight. That is, until my foe upturned a boatload of rats on me! Now how did they manage that?!
A great idea. I've still not tried it against another player. Worth doing just to be able to laugh about it afterwards.

Q10. Pesky wizzes interfering? Gone and deafened your hero again while you were doing the hedgehog? Not to fear! You won't hear the notes to "Love Story" but the next thing you'll hear is bound to be the rushing of water and the creaking of evil trees.
Not too many people seem to know about this. Granted, it is rarely that useful.

Q13. Regal it may be, but an illusion it is. Provide it a fish and it will abandon its valuable pelt.
The words "regal" and "fish" respectively refer to a description of something and something portable. This one is worth doing in bashes with too few players in them - or ones in which Footpad is swamping too much t rather than joining in ;).

Q15. Short on time? That dusty tome with its' strange oriental characters never did mention the adjective "water" now did it?
I'm saying no more on this one. Just that it can be necessary if someone appears to have "messed it up for you" already.

Q16. It's annoying to extricate, but the osselesu is the same to the majority of dwarfs as some things are to vampires.
Almost the biggest challenge here is to get the object out without breaking it. Read: not much of a challenge.

Q17. After that tome with your grubby little hands? Who ever said you had to fight for it?!
I didn't know how to write this one without giving it away completely. Then again, some people might think that what I am hinting at was very obvious to begin with.

Most correct

Q3. Here's a hint for all those "help pc" whiners. There are two ways in that are big enough for you to fit through, and most everybody knows them. To add to that though, there are multiple entries to two ways in that you won't fit through - or at least you won't survive them if you try. These can be utilized with any of five different objects to gain access. Enough said! Get thinking!
Yay! Perhaps I'll be one step closer to keeping my tea warm now. One funny answer was: "... take note Darkmage!" :D

Q11. Our furry friend bays for twice the points if his bane is placed at his feet. Not only that but the bonus increases proportional to the number of players at its location. The bonus is shared though, so you do have to be somewhat altruistic.
I wasn't aware that so many people knew about this one. I can't say that I've ever snooped anyone utilising it.

Q14. Skeleton not taking kindly to your attempted advances? Not a problem, you just need protection. A common liquid can be blessed by pouring it into a certain stone of saintly life. A suitable vestibule is required, apart from that it's easy. Just be sure to have it on you before you get into trouble. This same trick can be used to inflict damage on any undead. The key is to work out the exact time at which it will break on impact. Don't do this unless you're happy to start a fight of course!
This one is, on the whole, too much effort. Hopefully the next update to MUD2 will fix this. Still worth doing in small groups for bashes though - again only when the bash is underpopulated.

Most wrong

Q9. One of the best conduits to places you can't otherwise reach, also doubles as a host for a dilapidated garden, gallery and mansion.
Yeah, this was way too vague. To make it useful in practice, you need to have magic. Just what "hosts" places?

Q12. Thief runs off with your kit? He's all tooled up, leaving you with no hope of pulling off steals or a fight? No matter! Turn a vice of his against him, and you'll be collecting up all your kit risk free.
A good trick. I use it. You need magic in practice - to stop him wandering into the swamp. So if it's the amulet he stole, then you need to steal that away first. This is also good as a preemptive tactic. Enough said.

Q18. Too lazy to dispatch our pavonine-skinned friend in a fight? All sorts of beasties can be effectively summoned to do the dirty work for you. They just have to all had one thing in common.
One answer was: "Dunno. It IS partially true but they won't really be able to do 'the dirty work for you'. Those who know the beast in question well enough know why.". They weren't thinking what I was thinking. This is something I found out for myself, that eventually (if not already) people will snoop me doing and find out that way. See if you can find it out for yourself first.

That's all!