Where did twinking go?

[Rattja]

Well, this is my first time doing this, but here it goes...

Back when I first started my adventure into the ralm of MMORPGs, I was introduced with the fascinating art of twinking in Anarchy Online.
For those who don't know, it is basically getting the best possible equipment for your character, that you may or may not be supposed to have.

You did this by stacking stats, to be able to equip better items which gave you more stats so you could equip even better items, like climbing a ladder of stats.
Some stats affected each other, so the trick was to know what stat did what, and by how much, so called "trickledown". Say 14 strength gave you 1 point 1-handed blunt or something.
You also had to know about, and hunt down all those strange items you needed, like a pair of pillows which gave you stats, and apparently tears has something to do with what stats a pillow give...

Some people could do some wicked stuff with their mains hunting down gear and funding it with their deep pockets.
Point is, I had a tond of fun doing this myself, and this is what is "true twinking" to me (if there ever is such a thing).
it was complicated as heck, yes, but you did not need to do it, but you could, and I loved it.

When I eventually moved on to WoW, I faced this new trend we have now, where all you need is the level and the item.
I am not going to argue if this is a good or bad thing, I just did not like it as much.

It was not until a few days ago I realised how much I missed this kind of twinking. I was playing Torchlight 2, and had to stat stack some items to get a shield on. A level 40 shield on a level 12, it felt awesome, like some sort of victory, and I had not even killed anything yet.

To me it felt like an added level of progression.

My question is this, am I the only one that enjoy/miss this?

From what I have seen, the stat distrubution and stats needed to wear gear model is more or less gone.

Also, is twinking as a term still in use? Do people still do this in some form or another?
Have not heard it in a while.

 

[Rawne1980]

Where did twinking go?

This is not the website you are looking for....

Adult sites are that way----->

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Also, people that don't know what "twinks" actually are while talking about this topic make me chuckle. It's like being a child and giggling when someone says "boobs".

 

[DoPo]

Yeah, twinking is still around as a term. I've certainly used it, I've also seen others do it. Now that I think about it, not so much on the Escapist, but then again, I've not been into discussions about character optimisation here, so there hasn't been much of a chance to crop up, either.

As for twinking twinking...dunno, really. I haven't played that many games recently that could plausibly have it (whether it was actually in the game or not). Actually, the latest game with twinking involved I've seen is Torchlight 2 And I agree, it feels godly to equip those high level items early. I haven't gone all out, but I've seen pics of people who did. You can apparently equip quite a high level gear with the proper setup.

 

[Zhukov]

Hang on, isn't "twinking" some kind of gay sex term?

I don't know exactly what it means, but that's the only context I've ever seen it used in.

 

[DoPo]

Hang on, isn't "twinking" some kind of gay sex term?

I don't know exactly what it means, but that's the only context I've ever seen it used in.

Well, obviously they've picked it up from games. I'm pretty sure homosexuals are quite good at character optimisation. Well, with all the "That's gay" thrown around it, they must be.

 

[Savagezion]

No game allows twinkling like AO. I am we'll aware of the pillows. QL10 missions could make you some money. He'll I had a lvl 60 Adv with a JOBE pistol equipped that wasn't OE. As well as lvl 100 mantis armor... Might have been 120. Getting my full auto up to equip the pistol was hard as hell. Anyways, the "tears" you are talking about are actually "tiers" as in stepping up you implants and stuff. A lot of calculations were needed in AO for twinking and you are right that no games out there twink like this anymore. I think it is a good thing though as it allows PVP to be based on play skill instead of math skills and item camping/shopping. I actually prefer it as it is over as it was. Now, it only takes me a matter of hours to twink, before it was a matter of days, sometimes weeks. This way allows more time to play the game rather than preparing to play. Sure you can't be an unstoppable god who shows up on the battlefield but I'm cool with that in the name of balance.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well damn I was sure the day has come where we talk some BSDM here.

But anyway that sort of things was only possible with intricate systems such as D&D, but with the dawn of WoW that all got forgotten because devs noticed the gear railroad track will keep people playing just as much, is ten times easier to make and a thousand times easier to control.

 

[Elois]

Hang on, isn't "twinking" some kind of gay sex term?

I don't know exactly what it means, but that's the only context I've ever seen it used in.

Its a term for a pretty gay guy in his teens or early 20s.

Urban dictonary;

twink 5572 up, 1075 down
An attractive, boyish-looking, young gay man. The stereotypical twink is 18-22, slender with little or no body hair, often blonde, dresses in club wear even at 10:00 AM, and is not particularly intelligent. A twink is the gay answer to the blonde bimbo cheerleader.

There are two major theories about the origin of this word, both of which probably have elements of truth to them.

a) Twink comes from an acronym T.W.I.N.K. "Teenage, White, Into No Kink."

b) Twink is a shortening of the name for the famous "TWINKIE" snack cake: a tasty, cream-filled snack with no nutritional value. The phallic shape of the "TWINKIE" snack cake should not escape the reader's attention.

Well damn I was sure the day has come where we talk some BSDM here.

Has nothing to do with BSDM.

 

[Vuliev]

Its a term for a pretty gay guy in his teens or early 20s.

Urban dictonary;

twink 5572 up, 1075 down
An attractive, boyish-looking, young gay man. The stereotypical twink is 18-22, slender with little or no body hair, often blonde, dresses in club wear even at 10:00 AM, and is not particularly intelligent. A twink is the gay answer to the blonde bimbo cheerleader.

There are two major theories about the origin of this word, both of which probably have elements of truth to them.

a) Twink comes from an acronym T.W.I.N.K. "Teenage, White, Into No Kink."

b) Twink is a shortening of the name for the famous "TWINKIE" snack cake: a tasty, cream-filled snack with no nutritional value. The phallic shape of the "TWINKIE" snack cake should not escape the reader's attention.

See, I have the complete opposite perspective--I've only ever heard "twinking" to refer to the process/strategy referred to in the OP. Granted, that's partly due to having several friends that were WoW nuts in high school and then using the strategy myself when I got into stat-based RPGs, but I've never heard the other use of "twinking" even among my non-gamer friends. Maybe it's a regional thing?

 

[zumbledum]

Well, this is my first time doing this, but here it goes...

Back when I first started my adventure into the ralm of MMORPGs, I was introduced with the fascinating art of twinking in Anarchy Online.
For those who don't know, it is basically getting the best possible equipment for your character, that you may or may not be supposed to have.

You did this by stacking stats, to be able to equip better items which gave you more stats so you could equip even better items, like climbing a ladder of stats.
Some stats affected each other, so the trick was to know what stat did what, and by how much, so called "trickledown". Say 14 strength gave you 1 point 1-handed blunt or something.
You also had to know about, and hunt down all those strange items you needed, like a pair of pillows which gave you stats, and apparently tears has something to do with what stats a pillow give...

Some people could do some wicked stuff with their mains hunting down gear and funding it with their deep pockets.
Point is, I had a tond of fun doing this myself, and this is what is "true twinking" to me (if there ever is such a thing).
it was complicated as heck, yes, but you did not need to do it, but you could, and I loved it.

When I eventually moved on to WoW, I faced this new trend we have now, where all you need is the level and the item.
I am not going to argue if this is a good or bad thing, I just did not like it as much.

It was not until a few days ago I realised how much I missed this kind of twinking. I was playing Torchlight 2, and had to stat stack some items to get a shield on. A level 40 shield on a level 12, it felt awesome, like some sort of victory, and I had not even killed anything yet.

To me it felt like an added level of progression.

My question is this, am I the only one that enjoy/miss this?

From what I have seen, the stat distrubution and stats needed to wear gear model is more or less gone.

Also, is twinking as a term still in use? Do people still do this in some form or another?
Have not heard it in a while.

a rather noble view of twinking. to the rest of us it is giving items to characters they couldn't of gained/shouldn't be allowed to either trivialize the content or more often ruin the PvP for people who don't cheat.

so no don't miss it but it hasn't gone either. nearly all MMO's allow or support it in some way and most single player games have mods or cheat codes that do the same thing.

as to the genesis of the phrase as far as i know that hails back to muds or maybe EQ and was just moving items from one to another character as they didn't have mail systems this would involve a second party trading items to and from or the drop an item in an out of the way place where another character is logged ready to come in and pick it up before it disappears.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

if I recall correctly in Borderlands 2 Claptrap says his secret stash(essentially it is just a small bit of inventory space that you can use to pass items to other characters you have)is for "twinking items between your characters"

I was unfamiliar with the term but I knew what he ment

 

[Elois]

See, I have the complete opposite perspective--I've only ever heard "twinking" to refer to the process/strategy referred to in the OP. Granted, that's partly due to having several friends that were WoW nuts in high school and then using the strategy myself when I got into stat-based RPGs, but I've never heard the other use of "twinking" even among my non-gamer friends. Maybe it's a regional thing?

I grew up with both meanings, played wow on the most LGBT friendly server.

When horde would hit a losing streak in battlegrounds, people would often ***** about how its cause we have to many bottoms playing tonight. xD

 

[FrozenCones]

I don't remember why Twinking left WoW but it had been fun

but then again, everything related to WoW in it's first three years was fun.

On my old realm (Illidan - Alliance) I have my 29 hunter twink still sitting there. He had the best possible in slot blues with the best enchants money could buy. I dont want to think of the amount of gold I dumped on him. I used to love doing WSG and being able to 2 shot a flag carrier.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'd rather play the game to have fun than to max my stats through something that would probably add to my diagnosis of OCD.

It's the one thing I always hated about D&D.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Guildwars2 killed it because you MUST be a certain level to equip certain items and there aren't any ridiculously powerful items that matter at low levels.


An Atrox Fixer Twink in Mk1 grid armor tried to Pvp me once on my Martial Artist. DIMACHE killed him XD

 

[Twilight_guy]

I'm guessing your version of twinking doesn't exist since it relies heavily on unintended side-effects of game design. It's essentially exploiting things that feel through the cracks. It's something that designers try to avoid and players try to find.

Also twinking does exist as a term but its meaning is a bit nebulous. I've heard it used in the term of WoW where its trying to get the best possible stats/items/etc. on a character for a certain level (usually a cut off level for multiplayer). I've also heard in reference to creating a highly specialized character designed to do one thing very well and possible suck at anything else.

 

[DeltaEdge]

snip

Hm, if I have interpreted what you said correctly, then twinking is still alive and well in the MMORPG I play (Latale). Twinking, as you call it, is pretty much the thing that separates the good/ OP players from the average/bad. In Latale, just having the level + the equipment won't do all that much for you. Sure, having great equipment helps, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. You can put down up to 3 enchantments on pretty much each and any equip in the game. Each of these types of enchantments (Stats, like str, stam, and even speed for your shoes/boots) can be leveled up from level 1 to level 12 depending on the equip itself, how much durability it has, and how good you are at enchanting. Enchanting your equipment is pretty serious business in Latale.
There are success rates for enchanting equips. It's set to 95% as the standard, and if the enchant fails, then the item is destroyed. No salvaging it, it's gone forever. There are some ways to increase it to 100% success, but they are pretty difficult to come by, especially early on, such as a special expensive title, and enchant remedies, that increase the enchant success rate, or an enchanting mask, all of which increase the success rate by 2-3% respectively. And if an items durability falls below 105, then the base success rate starts to drop. The amount of dura an equip will have is completely random. You could be farming a boss for hours to a a particular mantle you want, and then after all that, it drops one, but with shit durability (pretty much anything below 180 is considered fodder. As for what fodder is, most special equips require that exact same equip, along with some miscellaneous items to upgrade the item to a higher level. Fodder equips are used solely for upgrading the good dura equips). The amount of boosts you get from upgrading varies as well. Like I said before, the enchants go up by level, so lets say, someone is enchanting their pair of gauntlets with strength. They enchant them to strength Lv.3. They could also enchant their mantle with strength up to Lv.3, but they numbers could be completely different. The gauntlets may have Str Lv.3+15 while the mantle may only have Str Lv.3+10. (By the way, the name of the items you use to enchant are called puzzles)
To add even more variety, there are items called super puzzles which give a greater increase in stats compared to the regular puzzles. That same lv.3+15 gauntlet, if enchanted with super puzzles could be even higher, and be at something like Lv.3+29 with super puzzles.
You can get some serious boosts by enchanting your equipment, and even further so when you use super puzzles. Most people will try to enchant their weapons with min/max damage as the enchantment options, which increase your dmg by a percent. A good/great enchanted equips will usually have at least 40% min and max damage increase at lv.10 by using super puzzles. I've even seen some as high as 70%min damage and 80% max damage. Your attack power can potentially be nearly doubled by having good enchantments on your weapons and your stats can be nearly through the roof.
So in other words, twinking the equipment can be the difference between you barely even being able to survive killing monsters that are at the same level as you, and being able to wipe the floor with a boss that most people need a four-man party to kill, solo.
tl;dr Twinking is very essential in Latale, and it can mean the difference between a character who barely kills enemies that are at the same level as him/her, and a character who kills bosses that most people consider to be way over powered even in a 4-man party with ease, solo.

 

[Fluffythepoo]

Uhh yeah fuck twinks.. theyre the people that think theyre good cause of their gear. The majority of twinkers ive met are people who suck too much to win at max level so they gear up their low levels to compensate for their lack of skill (theyd never admit this of course). Wow did a good job of killing them off with boas