CabalSEA, this is the final straw

Signed, sealed and delivered by Kevin Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I officially, and I really do mean officially wash my hands off of this game.

For possibly 4 years of playing this game on and off has got me realising one thing - I'm going nowhere. Since I'm going to quit, I might as well come clean and say all that needs to be said about the game.

I started this game sometime around March 2008. Yes, that has been a pretty long time ago. That was when CabalSEA first came out of Closed Beta. I have started off playing this game with friends and I have seen them all go before me, pretty much explains how this game turned out.

What had been the major attraction of this game was how the game revolves around skills, not just our own but the in-game feature of it all. Coming from games like RO and the likes of Helbreath, physical brute type classes like warriors or sword wielding whackos are usually swinging weapons in what we called 'normal attacks'. For CabalSEA case, there's no such thing as 'normal attack', well they do but it's crappy once you've attained some attacking skills. The whole grinding process of RPG has never been so much fun where the ideas of gnashing buttons to see awesome skills being dished out as attacks. Furthermore, the combo-ing of skills allow faster skill execution, all the more fun of the game and by attaining a chain of combo that is at least 15, the people in the vicinity will be able to see this as it will be announced by the game.

The game started off with 6 classes, fairly balanced and have stayed true to that theme. That happens to be one of the few things in CabalSEA I have seen that has not changed, thankfully for them. As for me, I've played every single class and had decided to stick with Force Blader as it was seen to be an 'imbalanced' class at the earlier parts of the game. This holds true up until about Episode 2 of Cabal. Aside from how much this class needs to be reworked and I will not touch on that issue, we can see them in all Cabal Online gaming forum on this any way, the game in itself is bad from many different perspectives on this.

They say it takes two hands to clap, two people to tango. A poor community reflects on how poor the managing team is, so as to vice versa. CabalSEA has fallen from grace, plummeting into a vortex of neverending disappointments. Those who have played in CabalSEA for as long as I did would only be able to see such changes, constantly deteriorating rather than evolving. Not to put all the blame on faults with the management, the community plays a role in making the game so much more of an abysmal than it is.

Year 1 of CabalSEA, it was still going great. Hacking and botting were miniscule as everyone is still comparably average. I still remember how people use to go amok when they get PKed and it becomes such a major issue that from what seem to be a 1 on 1 vendetta into a mob riot, it's a MMO after all. Everyone was still exploring the game and how to maximize their potentials, this too has not changed till date though the significance of this for the stronger players have dwindled.

Most of my friends then gave up playing this game due to the insensitivity of players constantly brooding for a PK. Despite the numerous amount of channels back when the game was all the rage that were made available to us, they were all so full. You would think 48 different 'plains' would help even out players and give every players a chance to enter the game, you're wrong. I still remember the times when my friends and I had to like stalk channels and constantly spamming the channels to just get into it. Given the chance we are allowed to do so, we would never want to relog for the fear of unable to enter the game looms. Some friends left due to that said reason, while some left because to them, the game has lost its appeal.

In the period between Year 1 and Year 2 of CabalSEA, I have made a total of 2 quits or being inactive for the game due to complications in life and how I was unlucky in game, scoring myself a very unfit position in a competitive environment that is CabalSEA.

Year 2 of CabalSEA, everyone has gotten stronger, smarter. Strong players hurdles into a guild, joining nation wars and whooping player's arse at a grandscale. Hacking and botting has gotten far more serious as the game was still under the use of X-Trap. Though it may not have provided much of a protection, it has been a very light add-on to the game, making it playable still by the older generations of PC. That however has reached its toll when everyone (including myself) complained about the security issues X-Trap was giving out. Asiasoft heard our pleas, and that is when they injected the venomous Gameguard. Aside from this huge mistake made by Asiasoft, the game was updated with a new featured called "Runes". Players were able to learn them, giving passive attributes alongside what we can find on pets and equipments.

That alone brought me back to the game, in hopes that I will be able to enjoy the game further. I did, for even the smallest trickle of moment in the pool of sheer fun I thought I had been in.

Year 3 of CabalSEA had been one of the most interesting times that I would consider myself to have been in. 2010 was a year where CabalSEA was more than just the game itself. I got to meet players from both Malaysia and Singapore regions. It was fun to bring the game out of just the virtual environment and getting to know the people behind their pixels. Aside from Asiasoft Game fest that happened in 2009 which I had partake for the Forbidden Island dungeon run challenge, I too joined in the 2010 Asiasoft Gam Fest (ASGF in short) for the 3 on 3 pvp. I was in LasNoches back then where I grouped with 3 other locals which became a trend setter on how we managed our team for the 3 on 3 pvp.

We took home 3rd place but knew that there were hanky panky business for the runner-up which I will not get into details, you know who you are and what you did. The game did not look all that bad, seeing as I thought this victory would be the start of change for the game, I was wrong.

Over the course of gameplay, I have spent not less than 10b alz on cores for upgrading, another 10b alz for crafting and God knows how much more for the equipments I have. Crafting has not yield me any income as by the time I got to where I am (Mithril Suit currently), I was not able to catch up with the competitors let alone the demand for them has been lower than expected. This is just virtual money, right? No.

I have spent not less than RM 8,000 on this game alone, which I have now looked and reflect how stupid this is. This has to stop. About less than a quarter goes into Asiasoft 'legitly' by purchasing @-Cash for their in-game products, and the rest on what else? The in-game currency of course, alz! I can actually say any players who are pretty decently equipped till date will have at any time bought alz, hacked or both. It's a sad fact how this game is turning out. Rich gets richer and all tricked out, poor gets poorer, shrinks and will eventually withered out of the game.

With that much expense you would think I am recognised for my strengths or valor? Far from it I say, far from it.

It had been my final straw yesterday where I spent on cores to upgrade my freakin' equips. The failure rate was fucking abysmal where using enhanced cores dropped my +11 blade to +5. All for the cost of, 1 billion alz, ding ding!

Regardless of who's at fault here; ESTSoft, Asiasoft or the community, one thing is crystal clear - this game has gone off its deep end, and it is about time I hightail as far away from its impending doom as soon as possible.

This will be my last 'quit' from this game. I will never as to so close to step foot into the virtual environment that has caused me to waste my last remaining moments with my late father, my late uncle and my late grandmother, spent a fortune in which I could have used it to make a down payment for a car or pay for tuition fees in otherwise saved me from the trouble of applying for a loan, graduating with a better degree and in otherwise, sanity.

There is more that can be said about how much fail that goes on in this game, but I will spare you from this until I have the time to document my biography. Goodbye CabalSUCKS, it was nice when it lasted.

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