Friday 11 December 2009

Level 29 In Three Days


The Vista-running computer managed to catch me out again with an Update-related restart during the night, so ColonelScarlet only had half a night's pet-levelling. Still, he went back to the gnoll lancers at breakfast time, and during the lunch break the pony reached level 15, its last level before it grew up into a relatively full-size horse. It will still be quite a while before it can be transformed into a mount and rode about on, though.

I had coffee slightly early, to get Kaerella to her usual part of Prokion Temple on Katar-4 before things started to get busy; the hour went smoothly enough, pveronica passed through once, and a rogue called Blackhawk did start to kill in the same room until I said "please, I am on a pssp here". I ended up doing what I've done in the back room with orc sergeants sometimes, and ignored a couple of orc fighters who followed me around, to concentrate on the orc soldiers. Exactly 300 skill points were gained in the pssp hour, and just 3.39% experience.

There wasn't quite time for a second hour there, so instead I switched over to Cariae-1, and my original level 49 cleric version of Kaerella. Even with today being a mad pk-ing free-for-all in the PvP sub-servers, as people attempt to get "raffle entries" for today's prize, I decided that Dratan desert was quiet enough for me to be unlikely to meet anyone roaming with evil intent. So I rode out to the giants and akane giants, with the Elizabeth's Enhancement buff applied (the reason to be on Cariae-1, rather than a non-PvP sub-server), and set to work.

Previously I've tended to forget to bloodseal Kae's level 53 +15 Peaceglory Wand, but this time I stayed alert and managed to add the last three seals, so that it now adds 4 to intelligence, 18 to hit rate, 10 to magical hit rate, 3 to attack, and 2 to magical attack. And we passed the two-thirds point in level 49 at last, with 7.29% experience gained, along with 45 skill points, which means that Kae has over 8,000 unused skill points at present. I see that the passive skill Magic Research, which she can learn all five levels of at level 50, will take 573 skill points - but will increase Kae's attack by 70 and her defence by 130, which sounds useful - not far short of 10% more of each. Kae's drake, SirFrancis, added 649 pet points, as well.

I was just approaching the end of the session when the raid boss, or road boss, Kamira arrived, so I announced that on the forum shoutbox, and ValentinaR said she would come on down. It took her a few minutes to get there, but her assassin-type rogue SiousieR rode up, and immediately attacked Kamira. I commented "mmm, going down quickly", watching Kamira's health bar, and she replied "I'm 92, lol", which rather explained it.

Even with SiousieR being 22 levels above Kammy, the usual minor drops appeared when the monster was vanquished. There was no rare accessory, however. "Nothing good. And yeah, I will keep killing it on this character till I get drops, lol." She kindly let me have the minor items: 10 great healing potions, 5 lucky scrolls, 33,180 gold, a medal of honor, 10 medium mana potions, 5 scroll of memorising, 5 moon stones, a crystal of experience (greater), 5 tool aids, and the usual relatively lame Hero's Necklace - this time offering 10 to magical resistance and 1 to magical defence.

So, perhaps next time Kamira shows up over Kaerella on Cariae, I'll swap over to my mage Keerella, and see if I get any drops.

During the afternoon Memree managed to fit in two one-hour "beginner pssp" sessions in my favourite back room in Prokion Temple on Katar-4. The first one added 46.37% and 418 skill points, plus 1114 pet points; Unlike the true pssps, which give 200% extra skill exp for an hour, the five "beginner" ones a new character gets just add 150%, but they are still useful - more useful than the "beginner" platinum blessed irises, giving 150% extra experience gain for an hour, as really up to level 35 one is focussed on gaining skill points, not zooming up the levels. Like the "beginner" resurrection scrolls, they can't be used after level 35.

The second hour gave a further 38.43% - a smaller percentage, as Memree had levelled up, reaching 28, early on. 411 skill points were earned, so that, back in town, Memree was able to maximise the last of her pre-level thirty general and passive skills. 1105 pet points were just enough to get Memree's drake into level 21. It was strange, after the session, running back to the Temple's starting area, I didn't see anyone else fighting, and the entrance hall itself was empty too; perhaps everyone was off on the PvP-enabled servers, indulging in a bit of pk-ing.

After the food break, a third similar hour added 36.81% and 398 skill points, along with 1081 pet points. There was an announcement of a "Pharaoh's Treasure" event on Auzura-4, but I didn't really fancy riding around Juno trying to find which spots (with their coordinates announced) had got masses of sphinx warriors, and which spot had had some hands of loot spawned, so I stayed with Memree. After the pssp ended I noticed that the "happy hour" with 50% extra skill points was finally under way, and that kept going for just about an hour, which was just long enough to get Memree finally to level 29. So, now she would be able to use a level 33 crossbow...

I logged ColonelScarlet out, on the older computer, and Kaerella logged in instead. She got Collector Ryl to convert her +15 level 33 archer's bow into a crossbow, and remembered to buy 5 bloodseal gems; she registered to join a Combat party, and Memree picked her up. Kae headed for Prokion Temple, to meet up with Memree in that back room, and trade the crossbow, and bloodseal gems, across. Memree equipped her new weapon, and we had a little look at what a Combat party between two level 29 character would do, with Memree doing the fighting, and Kaerella standing near the doorway. As Kae didn't have a weapon now, she relied on Memree to pick off any orcs that spawned far enough back to attack her.

It wasn't quite as good a ratio of skill exp to experience as Kaerella had been getting fighting the orc soldiers solo, but it was simpler to set up, and didn't rely on having access not just to a central room but three ways leading off it. Kaerella triggered a pssp, and over its hour, plus the brief experimentation beforehand, she went up 8.57%, while adding 359 skill points. So, slightly more skill points per hour, with a little over twice as much experience gain. I think we can live with that!

Memree's hour while the "happy hour" continued, plus the brief bit while Kaerella was in Randol, and the hour of Kae's pssp, added 82.35% experience, and another 341 skill points. The two level 30 skills she can learn will take 445 skill points; I suppose the surplus skill points can be "banked" in special skills like weapon-crafting and mining, though I don't know if I will want to maximise all Memree's special skills. The priority is to get her to level 31, anyway, and then as a ranger on to level 32, when three passive skills will need 879 skill points between them. She has certainly come on well since she started on Wednesday; reaching level 29 on her third day can't be bad.

So, ColonelScarlet was able to log back in, and before long the horse reached level 18, with the Colonel fighting a gnoll lancer down in south Merac. And tomorrow Memree and Kaerella may well team up again, if there is room in Prokion Temple. I see that a "Storm the Castle" event is scheduled for Auzura-3 after lunch, though; with those "epic event" reprises, it has been a while since we've been able to do one of those. We never did get a repeat of the final event, though, the one in the Tomb of Theos. Given that it would involve fighting one's way deep into that place, with extra nasties added on top of the regular inhabitants, which start at level 100 anyway, that is probably just as well.

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