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History continued...

By this time, Lady Vorpalita, then around #8 on the ladder, had made super fast spellcasting rates all the rage and fly-by-night copycats across the realms were swearing that the "Tweaker" style was the only way to build a "good" sorceress. Funny thing is, the only fast cast items Nepthys had used for most of her life were her incomparable +85 mana fast cast ring [see her items] and Spectral Shard, itself blasted by the Tweaker mobs for its steep 51 dexterity (dex) requirement. Nepthys had met this dex mark in her young fighter-sorc days and was obviously doing just fine without any more fast cast. She tried Magefists at lvl 82 because she had plenty of mana by this time, but switched back to Frostburns from lvl 85 through the end of her Izual hunting days in the middle of lvl 87. Also very late in the game, she picked up a nice rare amulet with +skill, one resist, mana, magic find, and fast cast as just an added bonus.

On October 29, 2000, with many friends and battle-acquaintances watching in suspense, Baroness Nepthys-ofJANG, level 87, broke into the #10 position on the USWest sorceress ladder.

The moment of truth

With 133 natural strength, 132 points in vitality, 901 natural defense, less than 1100 mana even when wearing a Stone of Jordan, and only +2 skills in items, Nepthys was not a tweaker, a Kristova or anything in between. Her stats were bizarre, her career moves unplanned. She donned a pavise when other sorceresses hadn't half the strength to do so. The player who created and trained her had a full-time, senior-level job, a social life, a live-in girlfriend and a host of hobbies. Against all of these "odds," Baroness Nepthys-ofJANG emerged a winner in every way.

The End of an Era

Nepthys tried hard to continue her momentum, fighting up to the #7 ladder position in what would be her final week of active battle. Battle.net realm outages and congestion exacerbated by thousands of overseas users logging in during peak hours had transformed the excitement of online play into an aggravating, unfulfilling chore.

Nepthys retires

After thrice watching herself die in chatrooms (having exited games during lag spikes -- the game server didn't register the fact that she had left), losing 20 million experience in the process, Nepthys decided to call it quits. She had nothing more to prove. She had accomplished far more than she had ever dreamed and the paltry condition of the realm servers made it useless to go any farther. Younger sister Isis had proven herself a better combattant by this time, having actually planned her route through life, and Nepthys had grown a bit bored of the Act IV landscape. Sadly, all great things must eventually come to an end.

In the wee hours of the morning of November 7, 2000, Baroness Nepthys-ofJANG officially retired. When the ladder was reset nearly two months later, she was still #11 in her realm. See the news page for final words.