I've been playing for just over two weeks now, so I've been getting good and socialized. But I still can't get a handle on this one thing in Glitch culture: Why do people go to Cebarkul to die? What's so special about the place?
Mostly, there are usually a lot of people there, so it's easy to get mourned after you die. You need to be mourned to get Wine of the Dead, which among other uses kills resources on your home street and in your backyard.
So — plenty of people go to Cebarkul to die because plenty of people go to Cebarkul, period. Was the tool vendor the reason they started going in the first place? I must know more! O__O
I think that was the reasoning. I know that Cebarkul has always been one of the main hangouts in Ur, along with Gregarious Grange back in the day, and somewhere in the firebogs... was it Jutuan Central? Wherever the old candy parties used to take place- someone who's been around longer than I have and knows early Zilloween history could probably remember.
Yes, people used to hang out in Cebarkul before the mechanism of being mourned/celebrated after you die was in the game. People came for the tool vendor and stayed to socialise.
Yup, it's kinda circular thing. Cebarkul became popular because it was already popular, but it started with the tool vendor. There are other tool vendors, but I think the colorful fun nature of Cebarkul helped some, too.
Yeah, the log is good for the jumping badges. The tool vendor typically gives the best prices when selling stuff. If you're mining in the deeps, the tool vendor is typically the closest with the best price. The vendors in the deep don't give full value.
I am pretty sure that Cebarkul originally became a gathering spot of people who were running auction snipers to grab goods that were underpriced to the tool vendor's price. So the script would do all the hard work while the player idles in Cebarkul until returning to sell the items grabbed by the sniper - easy money. This probably still goes on to come extent, although I imagine that with more people selling from towers, the whole easy making progress on the dying badges while AFK thing is now a bigger draw.
The place where people used to gather in the bogs was Somewhat Sump in Shimla Mirch. That was where people first gathered for candy exchange. [EDIT: Wrote that while Voluptua was posting.]
There are two tool vendors who will pay 80%. The other is at Level 4 East in Ilmenskie Caverns, which was also a popular place back when we had to buy our houses and mining was the way a lot of new players earned the currants to do that.
For those not involved in mining, Cebarkul has the advantage of being close to several things, including a crab, a mailbox, spice trees, Flipside (high value qoins), and Uncle Friendly's Emporium.
In the earlier days, hell was a simple place where you went to stomp grapes until you returned to life. The multiple streets, Hell Bar, and tickets for wine of the dead were added later -- as was mourning. In the old days, you could come back to life and dance on your own grave because the tombstone would still be there.
I often go to Lev 4E to sell when Cebarkul is very crowded (Zilloween). Beware though, the vendor at Lev 4E offered me 350 for my Diamond a few days ago - Yikes! Be sure to pay attention to what a vendor offers to pay! Also be warned that during Zilloween, Cebarkul is extra busy. Sometimes I can't even find myself :0
For months and months I couldn't find Cebrakul on the map and it wasn't until one day in global chat when I finally( and at this point very confused ) asked why it wasn't showing up on my map.
I thought my map was broken. Only to discover it was CeBARkul :D I thought for months it rhymed with zebra.
So. Aside from revealing my mild dyslexia... relieved me that my map in fact worked properly. I still read it wrong often but at least I can find it on the map when I need to!