Torn City Times

IIIlusionist [253384] — Over the years of Torn there have been few factions that people can say were the outright strongest faction at the time. There is normally a mix of factions fighting for top spot, which isn't a bad thing. In the past, the likes of BH, SUN, Inquest, Plague Family, Secret Service, PT-Family and 39th Street Killers have claimed, or were close to claiming, top spot for a time. However, there are even fewer factions that can say they have shown they are class above the rest for a long period of time, perhaps only two. Some would say HT dominated the faction scene in the early faction days, and now Just Fer Killin (JFK). Outkasts was where JFK stemmed from. In 2007, Outkasts were a mid-sized faction that didn't have the strongest players. Lacking the big stats and having a fair few members, made them a big target for larger factions to war and extort. So it wasn't long before Outkasts members came to the realisation that having a faction with only a few...

IIIlusionist [253384] — Obsession: the domination of ones' thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire etc. Everyone suffers from it at some point in their lives. It can be over women, men, food, work, education, thrills or games. It can be a dangerous thing, often hard to notice before you have been sucked in too far, with the claws of obsession clasped tightly around your mind. They can persist for years or vanish in an instant. Gaming is an addictive endeavour which can often turn into somewhat of an obsession - Torn is no exception. But the question is where is the line between playing a game with a passion, and becoming obsessed with a game? This is a tough question to answer, and views will differ greatly among players. Looking at Torn; there are some players that begin to twitch when they know they are on full energy and who set alarms to train. Is this obsession? Or is it just trying to progress in the game quicker - after all, training takes just ten seconds...

IIIlusionist [253384] — PT has been one of the strongest factions around since the very start of factions, and this has not changed much to this day. We will start with how PT gained independence. PT is short for Portugal and was created in 2005 by Badwolf [5736]. At the beginning of the year 2005, Badwolf joined a faction called The Family which was headed by Duke and Therah. By the time he was level 8 he co-led The Family 2, a sub faction of The Family. PT started as a Portuguese only faction, and Badwolf started recruiting whilst at The Family 2. He recruited Portuguese players from another game; the same one 201 members of HT came from (see HT article). Due to the amount of players he was able to recruit, he decided to create his own faction. Borrowing $700,000 from Duke, a hell of a lot of money in those days, he created the PT-Family which had the fifteen strongest Portuguese players. The loan to Duke was repaid and PT-Family gained Independence. So upon gaining independence, i...

IIIlusionist [253384] — For the next article we are going to be heading to the beach, so put on your speedos and bikinis. Long have players sat watching Itsi Bitsi Bikini members running around in their skimpy beach ware, and wondered what they do in their exclusive beach club, and now we shall find out. Itsi Bitsi Bikini was started by Pinky_Bikini [343323], and the number of days she has spent in the faction represents how long Itsi Bitsi Bikini has been around. The name was chosen as a bit of fun: "Imagine a faction gang wearing bikini and speedo chasing you down the street." Leaf_Bikini [351290] Itsi Bitsi Bikini were ranked around the 2000 mark when the ranking system came in to place. The faction was built on the idea that weak members could stick together and ward off stronger factions. They didn't start climbing the ranks straight away, instead practised chaining and working together to get stronger. Whilst honing their skills, they found that other stronger fa...

IIIlusionist [253384] — The Torn Easter Egg hunt marked the start of the new competition system, and was the first official competition since the RESPO update (excluding Christmas/community events). Competitions will now start on the 5th of the month and continue for 21 days. The "Scavenger Hunt", as it was first introduced, started way back in 2010, 1st April to be exact (13:15:08 to be even more exact). In 2010 you only needed to collect 6 eggs! This number was increased to 9 the following year, and some players continue to circulate rumors about an increase to 11 eggs - including a rainbow egg that will provide a special boost - yet to be officially announced. The new competition system introduces a new rewards system, building on the original idea of receiving exclusive rewards. Previously, the 9 different colored eggs were exchangeable for one golden egg collectible, points, and an honor bar. Under the new improvements, in addition to these rewards, players now gain t...

IIIlusionist [253384] — Subversive Alliance, commonly referred to as SA, are next on my hit list. Subversive Alliance is another faction that formed from a merger between two factions, Viking Legacy and CBB. Viking Legacy was a Scandinavian only faction, and sister faction to HT. In 2008, Viking Legacy and CBB merged and voted for a new name. "Subversive" to represent their new found strength, "Alliance" to represent the joining of the two factions. Daffy_D [110530] led SA and Htr [89581], SA's current leader, pays tribute to her: "SA would not be where it is today without the effort she put in to the faction." However, current leaders are just as important as old ones, and Htr [89581], 007 [370359] and Midknight [332505] have also done a great deal for the faction. The faction was built from 30 or so members to what it is today. Interestingly and unlike most factions, who opt to make use of committees and IRC to discuss faction business, SA uses the...

IIIlusionist [253384] — RESPO updates have been rolling out for the past couple of months, from the new interactive city map to the more recent Medical 2.0 update. Company 2.0 is now rolling out and seems to be going smoothly so far, with developers aiming to update 5 new companies a week. However, with more than 15,926 players (approximately 94% of players) in factions, perhaps one of the more anticipated updates is Faction/Warring 2.0. At the moment, players feelings about factions and warring are rather mixed. Some are excited for the upcoming changes to the war system and can't wait until it is implemented. On the other hand, other players hover over the "logout" button contemplating whether it will be for the last time. The current faction system seems to have been exhausted by many factions; the ranking system largely thought of as redundant or antiquated. In the current system, wars can last a mere few hours, and faction's respect keeps building up. However, ...

IIIlusionist [253384] — Back to HOF, and we will be looking at what used to be Merc Inc, before the merger with Subversive Alliance. Merc Inc was one of those factions that caught the attentions of many as they were climbing up the ranks. Think it was safe to say, with the members they had, they were going places. Coffindancer [253934] started the faction around 2 years ago. Some of the older players might remember a faction called Goodfellas, and it was from this faction that Coffindancer and a few others that ex-Goodfellas started Merc Inc -the name chosen to represent Goodfellas. Merc started off with only a few members, but the more they fought, the more attention they attracted, and it wasn't long before they attracted some more members. After they built up a strong member base, they started their journey to the Hall of Fame. In the early days, Merc Inc provided a lot for its members including drugs, points and even rehab fees. They wanted their members to grow and build the...

IIIlusionist [253384] — Today let's talk about faction wars. The most common mode of warring in Torn today is a one on one battle between two factions. A faction might fight multiple wars at once, but each against a single opposing force. On a rare occasion, however, multiple factions agree to all fight each other at the same time in one big fat war. The most grand and glorious war occurs when seven factions meet at once - the 7-way war. A 7-way war is no small feat to organize. Under the current warring system, each war base has a 500 member cap. Typically, this limits the larger factions (averaging 75 members) from warring with each other at the same time. Besides the most recent one, the last 7-way war took place in December 2013 and was between 39th Street Killers, Evolution, JFK, HT, Mercs Inc, PT-Family and Subversive Alliance. The terms were kept simple: - All wars should be ranked wars - Members over 3bil total will use Desert Eagle only. - Rosters locked after the war b...

IIIlusionist [253384] — My last adventure led me to discovering a seemingly abandoned building with some rather unusual stuff inside. Upon speculation, what I stumbled upon must be some sort of testing facility for the newly released blood bags. If perhaps the citizens can manage to figure out how to stick a needle into themselves correctly, I see this addition benefiting the city greatly, though I will wait a little longer before passing judgement. The good news is that it has nothing to do with vampires - though if they do indeed exist, I get a feeling Torn will become somewhat of a hot spot for them... My next adventure started when I was walking along the shores of the city, admiring the rather large collection of private islands and yachts. What I found unusual were the large number of red boats that were docked at the city. I had so many questions already; Why the sudden increase in red boats? Who owned them? Why now? Naturally I had to investigate - activate detective mode! I ...