Looking for a way forward (in General)

Dear Blenders,

I have come to a decision that I want to reduce the time I spend on CB. I have under a month of NUB left, and I will probably "play out" that period, just to see if I can get any higher in the ranks by the end of 4 months. After that, though, I will want to back off to spend time on other things.

Now, I don't really want to leave this environment altogether. The community is incredible, I have a lot of respect for you people. So, I need a concept of how I stay involved without spending an average of 9 hours a week on CB2. Any ideas on how to do that? Obviously, I'd leave my clan... - perhaps I could become a provider of loans? Do the odd forging job? Do some mentoring in NP when I get on?

The reasons why I don't want to either continue to play my main char competitively or start an NCB are:

1 - The strategy is challenging, but to try an idea against the more active players (i.e. the top 100), means 3 months of work, and that's just too long for me. I would really like to be able to build a viable strategy in 2-3 weeks, which might be plausible in, say, a CCG like _Magic: the Gathering_, but not here.

2 - The environment (i.e. the combinatorial space) does not change often enough significantly enough. Given point 1 above, I'm not sure that more change would be practical, since it might render a lot of people's invested time/money ineffective. So, the frequency of change is appropriate to the game, but just not "lively" enough for my taste.

3 - Once you have picked a strategy and optimised your interface, the gameplay is 90% mechanical (i.e. "Hit Enter. Hit Enter. Hit Enter...").

Please note - these week points pale into insignificance compared to what Jon and the rest of the gang has created here. The features of CB show a deep understanding of the dynamic of MMO strategy games, and how to provide a truly fair, and truly competitive environment. I am very, very impressed at how much this game offers - it has held my attention for over three months, and that says something.

So, any comments? Are there good ways of staying involved instead of walking away?

Regards,
Negator

Bump (first and final).

Just keep playing when you can, stay in chat, peruse the forums, and save your cash. If nothing else, you can do a full-buy-BA NCB later on and have some great fun with it. Cash is always good, whether it be for you, for loans, for friends, or to sell for USD. So at least try to get on and burn a 160 once or twice a day.

It is mechanical, but it can still be fun, especially if you have the cash to spend (I keep coming back to that, I guess *smile*). So stick around, save your dough, still be a friend, and still tell your pals about CB. It's all good!

I chose to forge ... *shrug* I have never been a big chat guy anyway .. always in clan rooms talking with friends. I like keeping up with the strats and watching the guys I used to fight battle it out amongst themselves.. Freed and Jayuu are fun to watch along with NWO, Bast, Ranger, Shade, Lorenzo, Mikel, Dawg ... I didn't want to just walk away .. hell I didn't want to stop fighting in the first place. I did it ebcause I moved out of my apartment and all of a sudden didn't have a PC at home. Now I can only play from work so I can't be as competitive as I personally want to be as a fighter. I figure I can make a few bucks from forging and keep in contact with the CB way of life ... you never know I may get a PC again someday (undoubtedly) and possibly hook into a NCB of my own :)

Peace

heh, I'm an admin and chat op and I haven't been able to get in chat for more than half an hour on end for the past 7 months... :)

Thanks, guys - I like the idea of saving up cash, either to sell for USD, or an NCB if the mood should take me. I might even make a point of doing an extra bit of fighting during money times. Maybe I'll just keep forging an item until it gets to be the biggest of its type. My claim to fame could be that I own the biggest Heaume on CB2!

/me jumps on Negator and ties him to the walls

There we go, all taken care of.

/me walks whistling away