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The 5th of November saw Torn's annual Dog Tag competition kick off with a bang, albeit one which was apparently not loud enough to alert many of the city's drug-addled laggards, many of whom only became aware of the competition once their own tags were snatched from their necks. Although truth be told, the competition actually surprised everyone, with even the city's drunken leadership baffled by the sudden onset of jewellery-based carnage.
As ever the competition will run for the best part of a month, having kicked off on the same date as the United Kingdom's Guy Fawkes Night, and ending somewhat amusingly on the 25th of November, which just so happens to be the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; a charming way to mark such a worthy cause.
But, for those in favour of maiming both gentlemen and ladies for their identification tags, what exactly are the rules, and do they differ from those of competitions past? Well for those who took part in 2015's competition the answer is no, as once more just a single tag can be taken from each attack, with the value of a tag determined by both its original owner's level and the number of people who have taken possession of it since.
As each additional player grabs hold of the same tag, a single point is added to the value, meaning that if the tag of Level 28 rated Beef-Umbrella has been owned by three other players since it was stolen, it will be worth 31 points should you successfully acquire it. In this way, Dog Tags are basically the opposite of a lover, as the more they are passed around the more desirable they become.
This is only the second time the Dog Tag competition has been run according to these rules, as previous competitions allowed all of your tags to be stolen in just one single attack. It is thought that this version of the rules makes for a more frenzied competition, with more attacks occurring and a wider diversity of players enjoying success.
Some may scoff at this notion, but as last year's leaderboard showed, it was not necessarily the city's strongest who achieved the most; more so the lucky, the cunning and the most dedicated. 2015 saw Apo famously crash the top 3 in second place, and while I was not able to discern his level at the time, he is currently rated as an 86. This is impressive, especially with 100 level Kniv claiming overall victory, and 100 level Ra1der in third. Yet, for all his strength, Torn's toughest bruiser Bodybagger only came in at 5th place; respectable for some, but not so for the city's best.
So far this year's competition seems to be progressing well, and as of 4pm today there were 13007 active participants, with 73460 tag thefts taking place and 212 generously returned by kind hearted souls. As it stands, the top three tag collectors, who understandably remain anonymous, currently have 174 tags / 7686 points, 153 tags / 1790 points, and 148 tags / 1982 points respectively. That is the score which players must beat to top the leaderboards as they stand tonight, but what they'll need to win come November 25th is as yet uncertain.
To help you keep track of proceedings we will release the top three scores every week via the paper or the forums, but despite the obvious stat, defence and monetary rewards for participating in such a competition, some players have been complaining of their forced involvement, and are demanding the ability to opt out.
Other concerned citizens have also asked why they are unable to alert others when they've lost their tag; a move which would allow participants to focus their efforts elsewhere, and as such leave the city's losers alone to wallow in the stench of their failure. It is this reporter's opinion that those of such a delicate disposition may be interested in promoting the Safe Space idea postulated in last week's article, or, as an alternative, perhaps they could wrap themselves thoroughly in cotton wool and waddle their way out of the city to safety.
However, for those blessed with actual vertebrae, the discussion of tactics now becomes paramount. I myself am too frail to achieve anything close to a victory in this competition, having had my own tag taken off me within minutes of its commencement. But what of the rest of you weaklings? Is it even possible for lower level players to win? Possible, yes. Probable? Not on your nelly.
Unlike Elimination, there are no publically available leaderboards, meaning that the strong cannot be identified nor taken out en masse by weaker groups. And, even if they could, one individual would have to be chosen from the group to benefit from this, unless they agreed beforehand to share their spoils evenly. If not, it would require a monumentally altruistic effort on behalf of Torn's people to allow one person to charge to victory. Torn is many things, but charitable is not one of them.
So could a lone wolf do it under the radar? Conceivably yes. If a low to mid-level player systematically de-tagged lots of minor players, stayed low and kept out of the headlines, the anonymity of the competition means you could grind out a win through targeting inactive citizens. The latter part of this plan may not be a problem, but, since most people in Torn like drawing attention to themselves and their achievements, the first part may not be so likely.
An alternate strategy would require someone of a mid to high level picking off other successful mid-level players and benefitting score-wise from the previous owner bonuses by striking late in the game. This strategy tends to be the preserve of best players only, but it is not out of the realms of possibility that a 50 to 80 ranked player could storm home as the victor because, as we saw with Apo, this almost happened last year, and he wasn't the only one punching above his weight.
Rainbowsaurus, who is ranked level 55 today, came 18th last year with her 441 tags garnering 6218 points, and the year's other high achiever was Xiphias, who is a 69 level today and who took 13th place with 769 tags and 7608 points. Indeed, Xiphias also held the highest number of tags in all of the top 25, even beating Kniv with his impressive haul. However, it is at the other end of the spectrum where our concerns must lie, for out of the top 25 of last year's Dog Tag competitors, one man managed to place 17th with just 88 individual tags scoring 6749 points.
That man was Duke.
Duke currently has 30 tags in his possession, including his own 500 point tag plus those of Doc-Holliday, Chesapeak, bumblebee1974 and Renots worth 50, 40, 40 and 36 points each. He has already been inundated with cash offers to bring down powerful collectors and others from the weak begging for permission to group attack him. Duke is a very rich man to whom cash means little, but an act which lies firmly within his modus operandi would be him participating just to spoil the competition for everyone else.
This year Duke informs me that an increase in muggings related to failed loan payments means he is currently enjoying something of a tag-collecting boom, as he currently sits on 5624 points, which at the moment gets him 2nd place, and he expects to surpass this total by Tuesday afternoon without any additional effort.
Faced with such a devastating foe, it is pertinent to ask what other players can do to prevent his victory. Is anyone waiting to put grudges aside and team up to take Duke's valuable tag and relegate him down the table? Will Bodybagger perhaps go it alone on such a quest, or are other players secretly banding together in order to snatch Duke's haul? With tags not guaranteed from a single attack, and Duke holding so many already, players would be advised to start pummelling him soon, lest the outcome of Dog Tags 2016 become something of a foregone conclusion.
As ever the competition will run for the best part of a month, having kicked off on the same date as the United Kingdom's Guy Fawkes Night, and ending somewhat amusingly on the 25th of November, which just so happens to be the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; a charming way to mark such a worthy cause.
But, for those in favour of maiming both gentlemen and ladies for their identification tags, what exactly are the rules, and do they differ from those of competitions past? Well for those who took part in 2015's competition the answer is no, as once more just a single tag can be taken from each attack, with the value of a tag determined by both its original owner's level and the number of people who have taken possession of it since.
As each additional player grabs hold of the same tag, a single point is added to the value, meaning that if the tag of Level 28 rated Beef-Umbrella has been owned by three other players since it was stolen, it will be worth 31 points should you successfully acquire it. In this way, Dog Tags are basically the opposite of a lover, as the more they are passed around the more desirable they become.
This is only the second time the Dog Tag competition has been run according to these rules, as previous competitions allowed all of your tags to be stolen in just one single attack. It is thought that this version of the rules makes for a more frenzied competition, with more attacks occurring and a wider diversity of players enjoying success.
Some may scoff at this notion, but as last year's leaderboard showed, it was not necessarily the city's strongest who achieved the most; more so the lucky, the cunning and the most dedicated. 2015 saw Apo famously crash the top 3 in second place, and while I was not able to discern his level at the time, he is currently rated as an 86. This is impressive, especially with 100 level Kniv claiming overall victory, and 100 level Ra1der in third. Yet, for all his strength, Torn's toughest bruiser Bodybagger only came in at 5th place; respectable for some, but not so for the city's best.
So far this year's competition seems to be progressing well, and as of 4pm today there were 13007 active participants, with 73460 tag thefts taking place and 212 generously returned by kind hearted souls. As it stands, the top three tag collectors, who understandably remain anonymous, currently have 174 tags / 7686 points, 153 tags / 1790 points, and 148 tags / 1982 points respectively. That is the score which players must beat to top the leaderboards as they stand tonight, but what they'll need to win come November 25th is as yet uncertain.
To help you keep track of proceedings we will release the top three scores every week via the paper or the forums, but despite the obvious stat, defence and monetary rewards for participating in such a competition, some players have been complaining of their forced involvement, and are demanding the ability to opt out.
Other concerned citizens have also asked why they are unable to alert others when they've lost their tag; a move which would allow participants to focus their efforts elsewhere, and as such leave the city's losers alone to wallow in the stench of their failure. It is this reporter's opinion that those of such a delicate disposition may be interested in promoting the Safe Space idea postulated in last week's article, or, as an alternative, perhaps they could wrap themselves thoroughly in cotton wool and waddle their way out of the city to safety.
However, for those blessed with actual vertebrae, the discussion of tactics now becomes paramount. I myself am too frail to achieve anything close to a victory in this competition, having had my own tag taken off me within minutes of its commencement. But what of the rest of you weaklings? Is it even possible for lower level players to win? Possible, yes. Probable? Not on your nelly.
Unlike Elimination, there are no publically available leaderboards, meaning that the strong cannot be identified nor taken out en masse by weaker groups. And, even if they could, one individual would have to be chosen from the group to benefit from this, unless they agreed beforehand to share their spoils evenly. If not, it would require a monumentally altruistic effort on behalf of Torn's people to allow one person to charge to victory. Torn is many things, but charitable is not one of them.
So could a lone wolf do it under the radar? Conceivably yes. If a low to mid-level player systematically de-tagged lots of minor players, stayed low and kept out of the headlines, the anonymity of the competition means you could grind out a win through targeting inactive citizens. The latter part of this plan may not be a problem, but, since most people in Torn like drawing attention to themselves and their achievements, the first part may not be so likely.
An alternate strategy would require someone of a mid to high level picking off other successful mid-level players and benefitting score-wise from the previous owner bonuses by striking late in the game. This strategy tends to be the preserve of best players only, but it is not out of the realms of possibility that a 50 to 80 ranked player could storm home as the victor because, as we saw with Apo, this almost happened last year, and he wasn't the only one punching above his weight.
Rainbowsaurus, who is ranked level 55 today, came 18th last year with her 441 tags garnering 6218 points, and the year's other high achiever was Xiphias, who is a 69 level today and who took 13th place with 769 tags and 7608 points. Indeed, Xiphias also held the highest number of tags in all of the top 25, even beating Kniv with his impressive haul. However, it is at the other end of the spectrum where our concerns must lie, for out of the top 25 of last year's Dog Tag competitors, one man managed to place 17th with just 88 individual tags scoring 6749 points.
That man was Duke.
Duke currently has 30 tags in his possession, including his own 500 point tag plus those of Doc-Holliday, Chesapeak, bumblebee1974 and Renots worth 50, 40, 40 and 36 points each. He has already been inundated with cash offers to bring down powerful collectors and others from the weak begging for permission to group attack him. Duke is a very rich man to whom cash means little, but an act which lies firmly within his modus operandi would be him participating just to spoil the competition for everyone else.
This year Duke informs me that an increase in muggings related to failed loan payments means he is currently enjoying something of a tag-collecting boom, as he currently sits on 5624 points, which at the moment gets him 2nd place, and he expects to surpass this total by Tuesday afternoon without any additional effort.
Faced with such a devastating foe, it is pertinent to ask what other players can do to prevent his victory. Is anyone waiting to put grudges aside and team up to take Duke's valuable tag and relegate him down the table? Will Bodybagger perhaps go it alone on such a quest, or are other players secretly banding together in order to snatch Duke's haul? With tags not guaranteed from a single attack, and Duke holding so many already, players would be advised to start pummelling him soon, lest the outcome of Dog Tags 2016 become something of a foregone conclusion.
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