Jet, practice is the only way to improve. Time and practice.
Solifuge: Why did you never respond to my vote or question?
Toaster, I've had other things to worry about, and I didn't see the point you were getting at, nor that it was terribly important right now. Nevertheless...
Webadict and Toaster, what is the most reliable affinity to pick, and why? Also, when is the optimal time to reveal your Affinity?
Most reliable? If you're a combat role, something with synergy to your personal boost. Otherwise, probably fire- IMO when people are unsure which attack to use, they have a tendency toward picking fire. Also, it boosts attack boosts on you. When to reveal? When the boosts you would receive would outweigh the danger of being opposed by your opponent. By that logic, at endgame is when it is most dangerous to have your affinity known.
As to your "most powerful" question, I'm a speed freak, so that'd mean air.
More seriously, Jim was right on the ball about it from the get-go, but I notice it took three analytical posts on me for you to notice the Webadict thing. Also, I was rather expecting you to get you all up-ons my jokingly calling you "Town" rather than "Scum". Vote stays for now, for the Toaster bit.
What me bit? You mean the RV question?
Vote stays. Nothing personal.
Though other arrangements would be ideal, I am actually okay with this.
Why are you putting this wine in front of me? I'll vote Solifuge if you like being voted.
The only non-rhetorical question there was "What 'Me Bit'?". If that's the one, then yes I did mean that you hadn't gotten back to me yet about the Random Vote. I was waiting for that.
If your question was "Did you mean to make that WIFOM?" then no, it wasn't the intent. Had I wanted to be in the Arena, I'd have voted myself. When I said that, I acknowledged that me
not being in the ring would be ideal, but I also know that I have a Role/Affinity combination and the acumen to be able to make decent guesses at my opponent's Affinity, such that I could hold my own were I thrown in. Maybe it's arrogant of me, but I think that I have a decent chance at winning an Arena match, by default, and in either case I'm not the sort of Role the Tower would sorely miss if I fell... so thus, I was in a way okay with going into the Arena. It's not the best solution, but it's probably second best... at least above the possibility of loosing an Archivist or Justicar or somesuch.
This, of course, was before Org got some Wolverine-Tier healing factors going on. My chances look pretty dismal right now, but such is the nature of the risk I was willing to take.
As for the rest of you, tell me what of your suspicions I haven't addressed, and I'd be happy to... though at this point I'm struggling to find something I can say that anyone will actually consider. I'd like to think Org's actions speak for themselves here, in relation to mine... I've been active, submitted topics for discussion, pressured players, been logical and deductive, and so on. I've been trying to root out scummy behavior, and have done so. Meanwhile, Org is sitting back silently in a King's Castle, protected by people who are arguing that Vector's behavior is scummy, but rather than directing attention toward her, they claim that she somehow makes me Scum by proxy, and decide to fall in line against me... and with Assists that will effectively render this Arena Match completely useless to Tower, for finding evidence of the boosted Cabal Stats, by Org's combat effectiveness.
If you're not convinced I'm Tower, at least consider this: do you think Org has been more useful to the Tower than I? If nothing else, are my actions at least more helpful to Scumhunting and to the Tower's efforts to organize and find Cabal? Have my arguments and contributions made less sense, had less substance to them, or had less value than Orgs? In short, would you rather have me around (judging by my present contributions), or Org (judging by his)?
If you asked my opinion, to support Org is, by it's very nature, Anti-Tower. Supporting a player who has nothing of substance or value to contribute, and who's been trying his damnedest to confuse what discussion there is, is IDEAL for Cabal; their goal is to squash any semblance of Order that the Tower is able to construct. Moreover, I fully expect Org to get shoved back in the Arena after I flip, by the same people who supported him this round.
Cabal has not only the advantage of being able to remove one person from the Tourney per day, but they also have knowledge of who is who, and an innate advantage in combat itself, with their increased Stats and access to Dark magic. This lets them, should they be so inclined, to back a suspicious-enough player in combat, get them to kill the first Tower Mage to start trying to organize efforts to root them out, and then push the blame off on their chosen combatant the next day, for killing a Tower player.