The Pyroto Observer
an entirely unofficial take on current events in the land of Pyroto
The Standings
No wizards have traded up to a Magenta robe in the last 10 days, but in a development that no one predicted, Imazians Nimby and Kirin have retaken the lead in the race for the pinnacle, by a long shot. Pyroto emigre Souldance will shortly be joining Imaz's Magenta ranks as well. Meanwhile, former front-runner Zeno has not only defected to another mountain but pretty much dropped out of the standings altogether.
The Imazians' closest competitors are their Pyrotian neighbours, namely Jimbo, Noodle Dwarf, Zelda, FFTobago, Ninjalicious, MsMittens, Mingus, Andreus, Jekyl and Thargor, all of whom are hovering between 280 and 290, as well as Fionn Mac Cumhail, who will shortly be trading up to a Magenta robe.
While Restlech has yet to enter the Magenta age, it is acquiring an ever-growing number of Indigoes and Blues.Quality Control
As a vast horde of new wizards descended upon the mountains in the past week, high-level wizards on all three mountains considered implementing various sorts of quality control.
On Pyroto, the land of "tough love", FFTobago, Ninjalicious, Mingus, Jekyl and Thargor proclaimed a new rule against mass promotions in an attempt to reintroduce some vague correlation between a wizard's contribution to the mountain and that wizard's levels. Thus far, the primary loser from the new rule has been PrPrincess, who has had multiple promotions from her climbing partners undone by Ninjalicious and Jekyl, as well as being docked further levels by Bison for whining.
On Imaz, Kirin considered adopting a similar policy, but concluded that everyone on Imaz who has been promoted (that is to say, everyone) has deserved their promotions.
On Restlech, Soup has lead a campaign to increase quality control. Trawarzer (who recently posted a long, identical "esteem experiment" in six different bands), Dethbuny and MrBuny2U have also been accused of spamming or overposting for esteem, and have faced drains and demotions from Soup.Fourth Mountain Opens For Business
In the last edition, TPO reported on Odinsday's premature move to, and subsequent removal from, Broppsfar Mountain. Now it appears that settlers are welcome, as new recruits have begun to be assigned to the mountain.
A few wizards from Imaz and Restlech have also migrated to the new mountain and made it their home. So far, the most senior wizard to do so has been former Imazian Zeno, who shed about 200 hard-earned levels in the process.
Broppsfar is far -- even stopping in for a simple visit from Pyroto will set you back almost 1000 manna.KKKub Scoutin'
In what is either a peculiar (but not out of character) attempt to gain strength (and attention) or a brilliant scheme to generate esteem by launching a "project" that requires incredibly verbose multiple postings, Imaz muckraker Mr.Gene has decided to adopt.
Figuring if you can't beat the Mentors, join 'em, Mr.Gene has offered to impart his vast and deep knowledge of Pyroto strategy to the most eager and convincing supplicant. Offering live telephone support if the mentee lives in Vancouver, and promising to teach efficient manna farming as well as "how to make friends", Mr.Gene's ward will also have the added benefit of learning firsthand how guilt by association works. To field the predicted avalanche of "Why I Should Be Mr.Gene's Protege" essays, Mr.Gene has created his own Ether channel for this so-called "Koach the Kiddies Kampaign". Unfortunately, the Ether was down as usual on the eve of the contest's close, but TPO has no doubts that Mr.Gene's pied-piper-like following will remain clamoring at its' .asp spell until they find their voices heard. Mr.Gene is scheduled to announce the "winner" of his contest today, Pyroto day 5580.Servants With a Smile
Tombo, Servant of TSOTL sent through this message about responses to support requests (or the lack thereof):
"Well. This sure is a tough one. I often see complaints from people that we never respond to support requests. Well, I guess they're right and in a way, they're wrong. I do read all incoming support requests (via the contact us form). It is also true that I choose not to respond to a great many requests.
"Simply put, many requests are very difficult to respond to without a) giving something away about the system; b) taking some sort of side; c) tainting the experience.
"We still haven't decided the best way to deal with this. Possibly some sort of 'support received and reviewed' reply is best. I do think a reply is the least we can do. We just have to create one that doesn't upset the person too much. Let's face it, with a response of 'Well, I'd answer that, or I'd comment on that, but it would ruin the experience for you' no one would be happy. We'll have to think on this a bit more.
"I did decide to buy some customer service software to help with the ton of e-mail we get. It should be in next week. Hopefully I'll have a few minutes to set it up."
TPO hopes Tombo manages to set up his software without requiring any tech support.Meet Your Overlords: Soup
While Soup is not the most powerful wizard on Restlech (that honour has been variously held by Pogue and Odinsday), his active playing style has allowed him to do more than anyone else to shape the character of Restlech so far. Now that Pogue is giving up Pyroto with a recommendation that Soup be regarded as his "heir", Soup seems destined to assume an even more dominant role in mountain politics.What were your first experiences with Pyroto like?
I first signed onto a mountain called Camelot based in Toronto sometime a long time ago. The WizOp there was an odd lady, and decided that meddling in mountain politics was a fair thing for a WizOp to do. I then found Erlenstar mountain, and had a fantastic time.When you started playing web Pyroto, what were the most significant differences you noticed?
Two major differences: The lack of the FEED and STARVE spells (and presumably Seismoros), and the loss of the ability to embed private and "exclusive" messages in posts on the various message bands. I miss these features a lot.At what point did you decide to leave Imaz for Restlech?
Climbing Imaz was a lot of fun. There were a lot of intelligent higher-ups there, and as a result, good conversations on all the higher bands. Once I reached Indigo, I realized that Imaz was pretty well established and protected. I saw that Restlech had only one Indigo wizard, and I thought that I could do more good there than on Imaz.What are your hopes and aspirations for the mountain?
I'd really like to see Restlech continue to evolve as a place where intelligent wizards can feel free to speak their minds, and engage in interesting conversation on any topics they wish. The use of force, in my opinion, should be limited as much as possible to weeding out the spam and garbage, and "deterring" undesirable wizards from flooding the message bands. That being said, I don't feel it is in the best interest of a mountain to have the higher-level wizards stepping in everytime there is conflict on the mountain...Regrets -- have you had a few?
I've had one or two. When I first started climbing Imaz, Mr.Gene appeared, and I think I was a little hasty in judging him. I demoted him a few levels and started talking a little self-righteous trash in CONTACT. I guess rediscovering Pyroto had me all fired up...What effect, if any, do you think the opening of Broppsfar will have?
Broppsfar will add another dimension to the range. It's hard to say exactly what effect it will have, as it all depends on who decides to migrate there and head up the mountain. My gut tells me that more mountains = good, but I have no evidence to support that. Personally, I'm looking forward to it.Trivia Contest Update
Though he didn't face too much competition, as readers were surprisingly timid about entering last edition's Trivia Contest, Jimbo was the clear winner of the contest, scoring 17 out of a possible 18 after two unfair questions were stricken. For those who are interested, here's a recap of the trivia questions with the answers supplied:
Plea For Submissions
- Who originally created Pyroto? Tim Campbell
- What company originally marketed Pyroto? Pinnacle Software
- In what year did Pyroto first appear? 1986
- In what city did Pyroto first appear? Montreal (Technically Cartierville, Jimbo notes)
- To what scribe are Pyroto's scrolls attributed? Denachu Gochelpif
- To what scribe did Pyroto's scrolls used to be attibuted? Llebpmac Mit
- Who are the four current Servants of TSOTL? Mojo, Tim, Tombo, Wizzy
- What is the absolute maximum manna a wizard can have on Pyroto? 25650
- What is a wizard who exists mainly to hold manna for other wizards called? Manna Cow
- What is a dummy wizard illegally controlled by another wizard called? Zombie
- What did Minions used to be called? Zombies
- What did Mentors used to be called? Guardians
- What elemental used to cause earthquakes? Seismoros
- What elemental used to eat manna at midnight? Midmanmo
- What elemental's name was an acronym for what it did? Lycasrotl
- What two elementals never agree with TSOTL? Malignos, Nihilos
- At what value did a wizard's manna used to "flip" from positive to negative? 32768 (And, Jimbo notes, 0)
- What was the second-ever Pyroto mountain called? Mortar Mountain
As before, if you'd like to contribute a news item, a commentary or even a regular column to TPO, please send a contact message to Ninjalicious so we can talk it over. I'm especially eager to recruit some wizards from Imaz, Restlech and Broppsfar, so this newsletter doesn't wind up being too Pyroto-centric.