Server Crash II

SirPerivale tried another overnight pet-levelling session with his new pink dragon hatchling, but the computer decided that it desperately needed to install a new Microsoft update or two in the early hours, and have a restart, so some time was lost before I discovered that and was able to send Peri back to Merac. Still, by coffee time the hatchling had reached level 12, while CaptainScarlet, who had rejoined the fray before breakfast, had by then got his horse 60% of the way through level 34.

As I was hard at work downstairs, Peri and Cap kept going throughout the morning, so by the time the lunch break was over, the hatchling was safely into level 14... but once again there was a suspicious lack of numbers floating up from the Berserkers' heads, and I noticed that on Peri's screen Cap appeared not to be fighting but just standing there, even if on his own screen he was apparently still in action.

So, it was another server crash for Auzura, though this time it seems that all the other servers kept up. The two accounts that had been busy pet-levelling were again locked out, but I switched over first of all to Enchantrella on Cariae, to make sure that she hadn't died yesterday. Her health was too high for a death, so all was well there - though I didn't feel like taking her back to Prokion Temple, in case yesterday's history repeated itself and Cariae crashed again while I was fighting Orcs.

The Katar version of my archer Barbarienne signed in, therefore, and by battling berserk wolves and dire wolves managed to get up from level 6 to level 8, while I kept an eye on the ShoutBox for news. As usual a lot of people were concerned to find the "account already logged in" message, and had to be reassured that it was "just" a server crash. The GameSage dinosue2 kept matters under control, while Aeria's Kelrya again put in a ShoutBox appearance or two. It may have been early in the morning for the technical people over on the US West Coast, but at least it wasn't quite as early as yesterday.

Finally at about a quarter to three, UK time, Auzura got rebooted, and I was able to send JohnWellington along to Auzura-4's Prokion Temple, swiftly followed by Galahad. I didn't make it a long session, though, keeping in mind that the evening was liable to be a bit of a marathon, and logged off early; John had added 6.13%, 41 skill points, and 69 guild points, while Gal had added 4.34%, 40 skill points, and 71 guild points. Just another 570 guild points now, and Discipline will be able to learn an "expension of the guild" skill, to increase its maximum number of members by five. Not that that's exactly vital, but hey, it's the next guild thing to do.

CaptainScarlet logged back in for some pet-levelling, after Chuck stocked up on medium mana potions; I didn't restart Last Chaos on the older computer, though, as an anti-virus scan was under way, and it moves along a heck of a lot faster if LC isn't running. Cap did open a Pandora's Box that appeared close to him, and got five Magical Attack minerals. And before the end of the usual food break, his pale blue horse reached level 35.

MistressDomina logged in, and Kaerella logged in beside her, to pass over some crit pots and other useful stuff. She also sent MD an item mall "30 Day package", so that for the next thirty days MD will have a party recall card, and also a card that, if she clicks it, will very possibly allow her to see the health percentage of people not in the party. Oh, and four 7-day potions to increase MD's maximum health and mana levels.

Kae logged out after that - and so did MistressDomina, briefly, as otherwise the flashing "gift parcel" animation, which alerts one to the arrival of a gift from another player, tends to return as soon as one teleports to another area. MrChuckNorris logged in on the older computer in Kae's place, and Ratel, who had been doing some farming on his level 20 sorcerer Elvastar in the Juno map, moved to join us on Auzura-4.

We met at the entrance to the Tomb of Theos, and I told Ratel that I'd got recall, but he still absent-mindedly paid the fee to enter. I at least saved having to pay to get Chuck in, using my recall card for that.

We didn't really start off very well - Ratty used his teleport skill to bring in a level 100 Screaming Zombie, and I think it was on that very first one that he died. Another group were in action there, including Duendesa, and luckily a kindly rogue helped us out by using Snare on our targets a bit. We had both started a blessed iris and a 3-hour 30% elixir (well, MD and Ratty had, I never got round to setting Chuck up that way), so we were in it for the long haul, but the conditions of the Tomb seemed pretty harsh.

MistressDomina had started one of the 7-day health and mana increasers, which was just as well, as she often got down to pretty low health, especially early on. She also started a crit potion, to greatly increase the number of "critical hits" she made on the zombies, and before long Chuck started one as well. They certainly helped, and we also got into the rhythm of things, with MD using Curse to attract the zombie, then retreating, while I got Chuck onto the target, and Ratel used his Shield Stun, followed immediately by Shield Stun 2. Once the timer of Shield Stun 2 was down to its final seconds, Chuck would use Smite. And hopefully the stuns would continue, with MistressDomina retreating, spamming Terra Spear as much as possible, using health potions, and if necessary standing by the wall.

Eventually the other group left, and we had the place to ourselves - until a level 51 witch called XDarkMagician appeared, and attempted to solo kill a Screaming Zombie. She did ask to join our party, but Ratel was adamant that we couldn't expand the party, as that would dilute the experience that the blessed iris and the experience elixir multiplied. It might have been better if we had let her in, as it was she either died or gave up, and while we were fighting our own zombie, the one she'd lured also came back and attacked us. Both MD and Chuck died in the confusion, so that was two resurrection scrolls used up - but Ratel was able to keep fighting at least one of them, so we'd get the experience from it, and it dropped a heaven stone for me, which subsidises the cost of a pair of res scrolls quite well.

We did keep going for the whole three hours; with the late start to the first one-hour crit potions for both Chuck and MD, and a gap before I started second ones for them, it was not quite worth starting third ones, but the lack of the greatly increased number of critical hits did slow us down towards the end, and Ratel wondered what had happened, until I explained. Next time perhaps all three of us will use three each, and really get moving.

At his higher level (61), Chuck just added 25.14% over the three hours, but, with the 130% boost from the iris and the elixir, MistressDomina added 122.99%, getting her well into level 54, and Ratel, a level lower, did even better; the Tomb isn't, at that sort of level, the place to come to for skill points, and we didn't get any, but Chuck's drake added 1066 pet points, and MD's added 1135.

Ratel decided to go to the outdoor Sphinx types for a few minutes before logging out, and MistressDomina joined him there - as did MistressBlaze, after Chuck logged out. With Ratel on level 53 and MB on 43, a Combat party was still just possible, and Ratel changed it to that when I suggested he could, but I'm not sure it did him any favours. A temple knight and a wizard make a great team, with his stuns, buffs and armour and her powerful attack, but the way experience is allocated in a Combat party depends, apart from the bonus for just being there. on the amount of damage done, it doesn't take into account the importance of stuns.

Still, Ratel soon decided that it was time to log out, as his eyes were starting to hurt, and I didn't stay much longer, once the buffs he'd left me with had expired. The few minutes there did add 3.93% for MD, plus a skill point and 185 pet points, while MistressBlaze went up by 5.75%; the last few minutes were in an Equal party.

It was time to set up CaptainScarlet and SirPerivale to pet-level once more, but there was a bit of a scare at just before ten o'clock, UK time, when once again there were no numbers rising above heads, and each screen showed the other character just standing there. Occasionally a number would appear, but after a couple of minutes the "disconnected" window popped up. The ShoutBox did show that other people were having lag problems, but, although I did get "unable to connect to server", "account already logged in", and Peri's first reconnection got him into a Randol with only people and NPCs in the central area, followed by another disconnection, before long I did get both Cap and Peri back to work, and some people in merchant mode survived the problem, at least. And then at 10:25 the same symptoms returned, sigh, though an actual "disconnected" window is better than just standing there I guess. I got back in, though if there are any further disconnections, that will be the lot for tonight. It's just lucky that this didn't happen while we were in the Tomb of Theos...