Hello there

[synderfin]

Hello! I thought I should do an introductory post on the new forums since everyone else is. My username is synderfin, which is a combination of Cydanquil (my fav mon) and my old username; sharkfin1997, which I changed for obvious reasons. I have been a member on this server since July 28th, 2011, and in that time have been a builder, gym leader, police sheriff, sugarcane entrepreneur, cultist and more! I have a bit of a habit of writing stories of my adventures of the Server, usually for my anniversary posts each year. The first can be seen here: https://www.pokemonserver.net/forum/index.php?topic=1732.0

I thought, to make my introduction post special, I would retell the story of my first week on the newly released server:

So I didn't see the release coming, not exactly. The date was a mystery and I remember waking up that morning and seeing Discord had exploded with discussion and pings. Upon seeing the announcement I logged on immediately. After calling 1ce a beautiful bastard, I contemplated my region choice. I had given this some thought beforehand and chose Kanto. While Hoenn is my favourite region and the one I spent the most time building in, Kanto seemed like a more central hub for events and was more familiar to play in after my time on the Old Map.
The beta release was an exciting experience and it was great to see so many veteran players return on the first day. Seeing the first newbie to ask where all the Pokémon were, on the New Map, was actually super amusing and nostalgic for all of us online at the time. When the first new player joined I was able to bring back my old introduction post, with some modifications, but managed to typo it on the first try... Alas, I spent most of the day trying to collect all the fly-points on the map for universal flying. Having spent most of my time on the server the last few years building, I was used to having creative mode and OP. As such, adjusting to permanent survival mode on the map I was so used to flying around on was tough at first (not to mention, all the minor mistakes I couldn't fix), motivating me to achieve global warp as soon as I could. In the morning I was able to gain all of Kanto and Johto before logging off.
I logged on again, in the afternoon, after seeing my old pal Hobo4Chompy on Discord. Hobo had the same goal as me and we both wanted to visit Hoenn and gain its fly-points. However, with the trans-regional ship being blocked behind a voting token paywall for 3 days, it was going to be a challenge to get there. Knowing the map, I showed Hobo the best route; swimming south from Cianwood City. Together we embarked on the epic journey, swimming south to the large, forested island in the middle of the passage. I recommended we try and skirt around the coastline due to the thick trees and deadly mobs within, all the while reminiscing about old times with the other veterans online. Eventually, we foolishly tried to cut through the middle of the island and got attacked by mobs. With no food and the maze-like forest, it was starting to look like we might fail our journey. However, out of nowhere, we were found by Daniel_Stephen, who had traveled from his home region of Hoenn to save us. He had already acquired diamond armour and gifted us a full set of iron armour each, along with food and weapons. Together we journeyed through the deadly forest, up and over a great ridge until we met the coastline below. Back into the water, we swam towards Hoenn, arriving on the northern shores at Fallarbor Town.
It was especially weird for me to journey through Hoenn on foot, and we made our way towards Mauville City, as a good central point to explore the rest of the region from. We had to be especially careful, however, as if we were to die, we would spawn back in Kanto and have to make the journey all over again. This was problematic when we were swarmed by mobs on Route 112, north of the Fiery Path entrance, as we attempted the journey by night. I climbed onto a ledge and tried to huddle behind my shield when my health ran low but a creeper snuck up behind me and exploded, causing my immediate death.
Spawning back in at Pallet Town, I made the frustrating trek back to Cianwood to commence the sea passage again, while my friends waited. However, in my haste, I didn't bring any food and my health ran low as I attempted to retrace my steps through the forested island, all the while getting attacked by hostile mobs. Eventually, I climbed up into the canopy of the trees to avoid the mobs but navigating the tree tops was deadly for my dwindling health and at one point I was hanging from a low branch with half a heart. Hobo tried to journey back to bring me food, however, I thought I could make the jump to the forest floor without injury but I was wrong and died once again. At that point it was like 1am in the morning for me, with us playing into the night. I decided to let Hobo go on without me and went to bed. Regardless, the whole experience was super fun and reminiscent of the adventures we used to have back in the day.
In the coming week, I would continue my journey with the help of the trans-regional ship, meeting up with Hobo again in Sinnoh, who had managed to achieve all fly-points on that first night, pulling an all-nighter. He tried to help me through the cave north of Jubilife City so that I could get to Floaroma Town. However, we were swarmed again by mobs, given the deadly cave spawn-rates and blinding darkness. Awkwardly, I had to take a phone call while in the cave and so huddled in the corner, behind my shield, as mobs continued to swamp us. I was mostly safe, except for the withering effect of the bats that would by-pass my defense. Once my phone call was done, Hobo called the retreat and I attempted to follow him out of the cave entrance on half a heart but was killed right before I made it. Fortunately, with the SS Ticket, returning was not too difficult and I eventually managed all fly-points within the first week. Hoenn I completed last, having to dodge the deadly elder guardians in Hoenn's seas, and eventually reached my final fly-point of Pacifidlog with the help of borrowed iron armour from Hobo.
Block-glitching made collecting the fly-points easier, especially as it let us avoid the deadly caves. Later in the week, Hobo and I block-glitched our way to the summit of Mt. Coronet, where we waited for about half an hour for the legendary mob Dialga to spawn. While we waited, we had awkward small talk with everyone online, where we went around asking eachother's favourite colours and whatnot. In the end it turned out Dialga was turned off...
Also interesting was the newly reformed Team Rocket, led by JonnyTheGreekGod and TristanStarfox, who were infamous in the first week for camping people on routes with invisibility potions and leaving only roses which they had nametagged as 'Jame's Rose.' The TM Foresight had to be introduced to counter their impressive, invisible trolls. While everyone still had basic gear and low mcmmo, their unarmed disarms were deadly, accompanied by humorous roleplay.
Overall, the first week back was lots of fun. I got to finally take gym challenges again, getting to share my new course with many old friends, who's heads I had added into the adventure map course as characters. It was clear my pvp skills were out of practice as the only challenge I won was against MelancholyMelody, who had no armour or weapons. Even that fight became null as I accidentally used spawned-in poison arrows from my course. They did create some sweet tunes on the note blocks in my course, which was cool. As of writing this, I still haven't won a proper gym fight. On the positive side, I have been able to go around claiming a 100% gym rate (without specifying which way...)!
Moreover, it was great when the builder rank was eventually re-introduced and the build team was able to return to building Kalos. But that is a story for another day!

Pic of Hobo, Dan and I swimming to Hoenn:

[tenebrae]

Wow this is long. Guess I'll read this eventually too with your 7 year anniversary story (which I still haven't read)