The overnight maintenance didn't add any fixes or changes, other than the start of Cariae's week of 600% experience and skill exp... and one day of the same bonus for the other servers too, it was announced. So, my plans to do some heavy work over on Cariae got postponed for a day, and I brought forward my project to level up my ranger rogue Rage (or RAGE to be accurate) on Auzura a bit.
Opening some upgrade boxes in search of extreme stones, when I was getting all her 70/72 armour pieces up to +13, had given me five platinum refining stones, which upgrade an item, risk-free, by +1, +2 or +3 - the only catch is that the effect only lasts for a day, when applied. So, I opened the five stones, and found I had two each of the +1 and +2 type, and a +3. I used a +2 "prs" on Rage's +13 crossbow, to make it temporarily into a +15 one - and then headed for the Forgotten Temple.
I knew that during the morning I would have a lot of interruptions, so that seemed the best place to go - the end room has just enough Jumping Devils, and some safe areas off to the side where I could easily leave Rage when I got called away. I got her a solo party with my royal knight Galahad... he did actually go to Prokion Temple, but only did a very little fighting, and at level 35 didn't really get much experience and skill exp, as he didn't have a lower-level party member within compass range.
Keeping clear of the end boss Blood Terrain, I fought the jumping devils when I could, and, thanks to the boosted experience, added 33.78% by lunch time. The skill exp was quite good, at six times what it normally is, so I actually used the 18 skill point boosters Rage was carrying, picked up at events over recent weeks - and that helped me to add 190 skill points in all.
After lunch it was "all systems go", and Rage and Galahad both went to the Tomb of Theos. The idea was that Galahad would stay well back, out of compass range, and provide the solo party - but Rage would visit him when his Concentration buff, which improves the chance of her Snare working, needed renewing. Rage used platinum adrenaline, berserker, power, and crit potions, which all lasted for an hour.
That was how the first hour went, and Rage went up by 505.92%, fighting the screaming zombies and using the experience point boosters each time - from level 73, where she had been stuck for many months, to level 78. Her drake got 919 pet points, too. But it didn't seem to me that Gal's buff really helped all that much, and Rage was having to use a few health potions, so I decided after that first hour to switch from him to my level 67 archer Kaerella.
Rage and Kaerella started in a general party, as they were now eleven levels apart, but, by Rage not using an "xpb" per kill for a while, I managed to get Kae into level 68 before Rage reached the top of 78, and so they were able to change to a combat party, which meant that, while skill exp was equally shared (and it was just 6 skill exp per kill at that stage), Rage would get a slight boost on average to her experience gain, and Kae would get some free experience.
By the end of the second hour, 347.69% more had been gained by Rage, and 900 pet points; there was time for a third hour before the food break, and that, using an xpb every time, added another 329.86%, and 995 pet points. I did invite the titan D1ablo into the combat party for a while, which was useful for both of us.
The Tomb of Theos hadn't been very busy on Auzura-4 during the afternoon. Rage and Kaerella stayed down there during my food break, in the safe area back by the teleporter, and when they returned to the screaming zombies, things were a bit busier - and as the evening progressed, they got busier still. The level 97 rogue GIZMO might normally be expected to go rather further into the Tomb than the starting area, but she was getting some skill experience, and levelling her polar bear pet, which, she told us, tended to die if she took it further in. So, she was busy in the middle of the first room, which made things a little awkward for the rest of us.
Kaerella did give the odd healing, and was able to resurrect a cleric called eLdeRyna666, who registered for a combat party so that we could temporarily add her to our team. Sadly, the party she was down there with didn't have very good luck, and when she died again, she left. She was a similar level to my Cariae-based cleric, so that rather suggests that my cleric ought to level up a bit more before she dares to go to the Tomb.
The first hour of the evening session saw Rage go up from level 85 to 88, adding 254.88% and 910 pet points. The number of xpbs used was about average, at 110. Each new level is a little longer, so hour two added 209.82%, moving Rage into level 90, and bringing another 903 pet points, with 109 xpbs used - Rage had even added 9 skill points by then, as the screaming zombies started to give a small amount of skill exp each. The final hour brought in another 109.50%, so Rage finished in level 91, plus 869 pet points and another 11 skill points, so that, briefly, Rage's skill point stash reached the 8k mark.
I think perhaps there may be a limit to the difference in levels in a combat party. Normally when it starts, you have to be a maximum of ten levels apart, and it doesn't matter if one character levels up, but perhaps Rage and Kae ending up 23 levels apart was pushing things - I noticed that, while Rage still seemed to be getting as much experience per kill as one would expect, around 120 million per kill, Kaerella ended up getting very little, and she wasn't getting the same skill exp... when Rage got 942 from a kill, Kae just got 42. Still, we did get her up from level 67 to 68, adding 94.06% experience and a couple of skill points, which, considering that she just stood around watching and doing the occasional Party Heal, doesn't seem unreasonable.
Back in Randol, Rage was able to learn levels 7 and 8 of Mental Defence, to increase her magical defence by 8 per level; levels 7 and 8 of Detect Weakness, to increase her hit rate by 75 and 80; level 6 of Critical Increase, increasing her rate of critical hits by 15; Reinforce 2 level 3, to increase her physical attack by 12; Fatal Attack level 6, to increase her physical attack while wielding a crossbow by 50; and, as an attack skill, levels 8 and 9 of Piercing, increasing its power from 350% of a normal hit to 470%. Between them, they used up 3450 skill points. There's a further level of Reinforce 2 to get at level 92, for 300 skill points, but after that, skills tend to get a bit sp-expensive, at 1000 or so sp each, so Rage's future skill=learning may be a bit limited.
So, instead of my Auzura character being led by a level 73 rogue, now Rage is level 91. Of course she is still wearing the level 70/72 armour set, and using a level 73 weapon, so it looks as if it will be rather expensive to get her set up properly again. A level 90/92 set would be nice, if Rage at some point, after the next week, can get the further 80% that needs, but I suspect that, if plussed a bit and with good seals, that will be awfully rare and costly. Her reaching level 90 means that there is the possibility of starting a level 90 night shadow on Auzura. The other three character slots are just used for storage characters, so finding space would not be a problem.
Still, the focus, after this one day featuring Rage, must now move from Auzura to Cariae. Barbarienne, Keerella and SkrappY (archer, wizard and cute cat-like pet) may well do some skill point farming and pet-levelling in the Tomb of Theos themselves... and as for my Cariae cleric Kaerella, well, she needs to work off that rollback deficit with the elite sphinx speer man, and maybe move on to visit the Forgotten Temple herself before the week is up.
Anyway, like many people, I suspect, I have totally ignored the "rock paper scissors" event today, where twenty applicants per server whisper a GM which their choice is, which seems a slightly clumsy way of playing. With all the bonus experience and skill exp on offer, perhaps it is just as well that we don't have our usual events to divert us.
And, when last seen, SirDarth had just got his pale blue horse a third of the way through level 33, with a little help from the local bandits.
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