More Skill Points

LordDarth got back into action with his pet-levelling activities at breakfast time, after some stock was swiftly moved around, mainly in the direction of MistressDomina on the Cariae server. While Darth kept busy in Maargadum Jail, MD got some more selling done - while I was busy trying to finish my left-over work from yesterday downstairs.

So, again it was not a very adventurous morning... and the afternoon session had a bit of a late start, too. Still, I was able to link up my new RedRyder on Hatzring with LordDarth, so that he provided the solo party, and Red headed for Prokion Temple, where she fought, at level 21, the level 19 mummies, and a few level 17 ghouls. It's strange that, while the Temple has monsters at levels 17, 19, 23, 25, 27, and 29, it doesn't have any level 21 types - still, while the experience per mummy killed does decline a bit, the skill exp holds up pretty well.

RedRyder started on the stairs, and moved on to the small room at the top of the stairs - often having to share it with someone else, as, well, it is the weekend after all, and the place does get more crowded. The room a little further in with just a selection of mummies and a single orc soldier was already in use, and I didn't want to barge in... but finally when I checked for the third or fourth time it was clear, so I ended up in there for a while.

By the end of the afternoon session, RedRyder had levelled up twice. I had bought her the 25/27 armour set in Randol before setting out, and reaching 22 meant that she could wear it all, adding the hood and boots, which cut down the damage that ghouls and mummies inflicted quite a lot. By the time Red left the Temple, she had added 216.07%, along with 303 skill points. Back in town she spent 302 skill points easily enough...and completing a few local quests got her another 19.02% experience.

If RedRyder hasn't maximised all her passive and general skills by the time she reaches level 27, she will end up doing a "suicide run" session or two, but she isn't a character who'll have the "special" skills maxxed as well, I need her to level up faster than that.

For the evening, for a (less than) complete change of pace, I switched over to RedRydeR on Cariae-5, my level 35 phoenix character and ranger rogue, and slogged away in my favourite back room with the orc axemen and orc sergeants. I was lucky to take possession of a vacant room; I did have some visitors; at one point three people rushed in together, which was a bit off-putting, but as usual their efforts didn't last all that long. One of them left fairly soon, and another had a couple of disconnections, which just left the mage Vermithra, and she was just level 15, which isn't the ideal level to be standing around in the middle of that room. I did say that she could "ks" me a bit, but that, since monsters do prefer mages, and healers, as targets, that might not be safe for her. Finally she headed off to try the ghouls, as being nearer her own level.

An archer called xRAVEx came in for a while, wearing a gang costume (which looks more like a bathrobe than anything else), and a very shiny bow which must have been +15, and we chatted a little. She even tipped me off that my Elizabeth's Enhancement buff had expired, so I had to go back to Randol to get it renewed. When she asked if she should leave, I had to say that having us both in that room meant that, really, we were both only going at half speed...

LordDarth had kept going on Hatzring, so Red had joined a solo party, when one became available, and indeed became its leader for the last 40 minutes or so. I got further along with the skill points than I'd expected, but then, it had been a marathon session. By the end RedRydeR had gone up by 13.40%, along with gaining 165 guild points - and added 627 skill points, taking her over the 17k mark, and higher than she'd been before spending 2,500 or so sp on the level 30, 32 and 35 skills when she'd turned phoenix and zoomed straight from level 29 to level 35.

And that was the end of the excitement for the day. By then LordDarth had got the pale blue horse up four levels, to level 23, and over on Auzura-5, MistressDomino went into merchant mode...though she doesn't have as much stock available as MistressDomina on Cariae.

I had considered going along to watch the "Statues of Pain" event at the Dratan "proving grounds" arena, on some conveniently-timed server, but MistressDomino looked so comfortable in merchant mode I didn't want to disturb her. The idea of having two teams, each defending their own statue and attacking the other one, sounds like a nice idea, if they have a way of making sure that you can't attack people on your own side, either by mistake or for "fun". Apart from 8-man parties, or guild membership, I don't think they can manage to do that trick, at least not in a PvP arena, but I may be wrong.

Tomorrow brings the Sunday Quiz, as usual, and also... "Name that Food"? As ideas for a trivia quiz go, that sounds a bit weird, but, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.