CPK Basics: Awareness

Once you type “Y” and enter CPK you need to have a much greater awareness than you normally would of everything that is going on around you.

You should always keep your HP high enough to insure that you aren’t killed in 1 hit, and so you can live long enough to adapt to the unexpected (you get tripped, a mob walks in, the zone repops, etc).

You also need to monitor “who -z” to keep an eye out for people who may be coming to kill you. As a newbie in CPK I would probably check where every 20 seconds or so. If you use a mud client that supports events, set up an event to do this for you.

One of the easiest things to neglect is keeping your spells refreshed. Make sure to recast your spells before they run out, ESPECIALLY your sanctuary spell. Sanctuary should never be down when you are in CPK.

Once you have developed an understanding of the individual zone layouts you should pay attention to doors and searchable exits being open when they should be closed, doors being unlocked instead of locked, and so on. Blood in a room indicates something was killed there, did you kill it? Or was it somebody else. A shielded room or a mob struggling in a trap that you didn’t set are obvious indicators that somebody else was/is nearby. Make sure that you don’t overlook small details.

December 5, 2011  Tags: ,   Posted in: CPK Primer  No Comments

Where to get potions and utility items

**** NOTE: This page is in progress
Items available for purchase:
  • Menthol potion – casts teleport. Sold by Sendaria in Trellor. (5n 6e of recall)
  • Godlike potion – casts armor and bless. Sold by Satchwatch in Medievia city (3e, 2n of recall)
  • Cloudy white potion – casts invisibility. Sold by Sendaria and Satchwatch
  • Potion of truesight – casts detect invisibility and sense life. Sold by in Mystical Forest (3w, s of recall)
  • A flask filled with a translucent violet liquid – casts god sanctuary. Sold in Elven Caravan.
  • Rose scented potion – level restricted potion casts quick. Purchased in haven
Equipment that has to be popped:
  • veil of white mist – provides you with detect invisibility, sense life, and infravision while it is worn. Loads in Shadmire onВ a tree spirit .
  • a ruffled-feathered headdress of an owl – regenerates cure blind. Found on owls in Rydordhel woods (only load at night).
  • a jug of bright green liquid – casts refresh and quickness on you. Component eq that is purchased in the caravan.
  • bracelet of life – allows you to drink without ever getting full. Necessary if you make a jug. Loads on Horneg, in Horneg’s Keep.
Consumables that have to be popped:
  • a flask of holy water – casts sanctuary. Loads on “a quiet monk” in the Graveyard.
  • quickness staff – on wandering damage in Crystal Lake.
  • staff of sight – on gasherbraum in warrens of the moshata.

December 2, 2011  Tags: ,   Posted in: CPK Primer  No Comments

Suggested spells to have inside CPK

The following information applies to all of Medievia in general, but is more crucial inside CPK. For more experienced players reading this section is really not necessary, however for newer players this information is extremely important.

  • Detect Invisibility – Most players inside a CPK zone are going to be invisible, and depending on the zone mobs may be invisible as well. This is a spell that you should always have cast on you any time you are playing the game.
  • Sense Life – If a player is hidden they won’t show on where, so it is a common practice for CPKERS to hide all the time. Being able to see hidden life forms is important, and this is another spell that you should always have cast on you.
  • Teleport – this spell instantly teleports you out of the zone you are in and places you in a random wilderness room nearby. Even if you can cast teleport it is crucial that have some MENTHOL potions. I recommend you always have one of these in your inventory (use ndrop, nstore, ndon, nauc flags on it). A potion cannot fail like a spell can and if you are sitting (for instance after you have been tripped) you need to stand to cast a spell, but a potion works just fine from this position.
  • Sanctuary – this is the most important spell in the game. It reduces all incoming damage by half. If you can’t cast this spell you need to watch auction for orbs, or kill monks in the Medievia graveyard for flasks of holy water.
The above 4 spells are what I would consider the absolute bare minimum to venture into CPK. The next spells I wouldn’t personally run around without, but they aren’t as crucial to your survival.
  • Quickness – If you are being chased by another player they will undoubtedly have this spell. If for any reason you have to walk out of the zone, or are trying to run away from somebody not having this spell will likely get you killed.
  • Invisibility – There are many aggressive mobs in the game that don’t see invisibility. This allows you to bypass fighting them if you so choose.
  • Bless – 5 hitroll and -1saving spell, a mainstay that should always be up.
  • Armor – modifies your armor by -30, another spell that you should always have on.
  • Refresh – if you run out of movement points you are a sitting duck, for both players and mobs.
  • Cure blind – If you have not been a cleric then you should seriously consider not going into CPK unless you have an item that casts this. Blind people are unable to attack, cannot see exits to maneuver (although you can use map to bypass this, which is probably a bug or oversight). You can also not see items in your inventory (like that menthol potion you have… you do have one, right?) and are prevented from using them.

 

December 2, 2011  Tags: ,   Posted in: CPK Primer  No Comments

How NPK and CPK differ

Aside from the obvious (level loss and looting of equipment) there are some other major differences.

The first difference is death. In NPK you don’t generally mind dying. You just heal back up and run in. If you are fighting with a few friends and you get NPKED it isn’t that big of a deal, you will be back in the fight in a few moments. If you die in CPK not only do you have to deal with the chance of losing a level and some equipment, but your team is now down a man for the duration of the fight. Any healing or damage that you could have contributed is now taken away.

In a group situation dying can also have much larger consequences just from the reduction in morale of seeing a comrade die. Many times less experienced (or less disciplined) groups have lost winnable fights when their side in a large fight is the first to lose a player. People panic, some flee or teleport, while others just sit in the room waiting for instructions. In this brief time the more experienced team capitalizes and quickly follows up with another kill or two, completely demoralizing and breaking all resistance.

Another difference between the 2 pk types are the rules regarding looting other players mob kills, and engaging players or mobs that are already fighting. In NPK you cannot engage a player who is fighting a mob, nor can you loot the corpse of that mob once he kills it. You are also not allowed to engage the mob and steal the killing blow. In CPK if a player is fighting a mob it is legal to engage both the mob and the player. Once a monster dies it is completely legal for anybody to loot the corpse.

The last major difference is that you cannot be summoned out of CPK. You have to either walk out, cast teleport, or cast word of recall. In an outdoor CPK area you could call a dragon and fly away, but generally you would teleport first and then call the dragon.

December 2, 2011  Tags: ,   Posted in: CPK Primer  No Comments

What is CPK?

CPK is simply a type of PK area in which you can loot other player’s items if they die.

There are many risks to entering into a CPK area. Obviously losing your equipment is foremost among them, but there are other things you can lose as well. If you die to another player inside of CPK your character can lose a level (the percentage chance of this happening is displayed when you enter the are). Any time you die inside CPK either to a mob or a player all of the gold you have carried on you (not in the bank) will be lost.

So why would anybody bother risking so much, you ask? The answer is simple: profit. Nearly all of the high end equipment zones require you to spend time in CPK. The highest value solo trade runs in the game are typically through Dark Woods CPK to the Naermae trade post. And then there is the chance that if you find and defeat another player in CPK you have the chance to loot their hard earned equipment.

These are the main reasons most people first venture into CPK. After awhile some players find that they enjoy the thrill of risking their equipment more than the monetary rewards. These people become collectively known as “CPKERS” and are generally detested by the rest of the game.

This primer was written by one of these players. My first character (Brahmus) was created in 1997, and as soon as I reached level 124 I joined (the now defunct) Legion of the Shadow Knights, the premier CPK clan at that time. Over the years I have fought and killed a number of players, and been relieved of a fair amount of my own equipment. I am writing this page as an introduction to CPK to try and help the new player avoid being killed. I feel that this aspect of the game was much easier to learn when I was a newbie, and I am hoping to share some of the knowledge I have learned from playing with the best players in the game.

I hope that this is of some benefit. If you have any tips to suggest, or if you find any errors in these pages please let me know.

Best,

Brahmus

December 2, 2011  Tags: ,   Posted in: CPK Primer  No Comments