I did manage to get the rest of SirKit's armour set late last night, so that he is now wearing the full blue-named, five evasion sealed level 85/87 "Abyss" armour set. The three pieces he didn't already have cost 1.63 million, so my gold reserves are once again pretty low on the Cariae server...but two pieces are the full +15, two are +14, and one is +13, so he shouldn't have much trouble in the Tomb of Theos.
Over on Katar, Kaerella moved her recent loot across to MistressSabina, who at the moment is acting as my merchant character there. She then did her five spins of the LacaRette wheel - and got the top prize, only the second time I've managed that - fifteen gold tokens. So, that was enough tokens for five goes on the "gold course"...which got me 25 item drop boosters, 75 (three times 25) skill point boosters, and a platinum blessed iris. Those goodies were also moved across to MistressSabina; I'm not sure about Katar prices, but that's got to be at least 100 million's worth of items.
MistressDomino, who on Katar is a level 22 mage set up to farm skill points in Prokion Temple, with plenty of skill point boosters, platinum super skill pills, and even seven of the now almost impossible to find "platinum skill pills" or "platinum training spells", generally known as "the blue and white one", with a 50% skill exp bonus for an hour which does stack on top of the 200% extra from a pssp, also passed across most of her sales stock to MistressSabina - she had been doing the selling before, which was difficult, inventory-wise, to combine with actually playing.
MistressDomino then had a quick look at the armour available in Roy's merchant mart; she was wearing the "Dark" set already, but only at +3, or no plus at all on the Dark Tiara, so finding that QUEENofWARS was selling all five pieces at +4 for 300,000 gold each was too tempting, and she spent 1.5 million gold to buy this better set. It increases her physical defence from 464 to 492, which may not seem like much, but ought to make fighting in Prokion Temple a bit easier for her. There wasn't a better "event weapon" Rhine Order mage wand available than the +6 one she already has, however.
Over on Auzura-4, MistressDomina set out for the Tomb of Theos in good time for the eleven to twelve "dungeon time" hour - and, with the older computer back in action, my level 92 archer Kaerella was able to go along too, in a combat party. The Condition of the place was a bit marginal, I saw when I checked the bars before going in - but 70% seemed do-able, particularly with Kae along to provide some healing.
One of the two places in the first anubis spear man room was open, but I went a few yards further to the bend in the corridor, since that spot works well and is less likely to tempt anyone else to compete for its pair of spear men. MistressDomina began fighting the spear men - and Kaerella, equipping her drake rather than the polar bear cub, targeted the sphinx fighters that were just within range. A couple of times someone came from the main room to gather up all the nearby fighters, but Kae managed to keep busy; she did have to do a little healing sometimes.
Without using any pots or boosters, Kaerella added 7.20% and 993 pet points during the session. MistressDomina used 41 experience boosters during the hour, which shows that the Condition had slowed down her kill rate a little, and added 35.79%, taking her comfortably into level 96. Including the few kills before, and one after, she added 36.01% experience, and 1143 pet points; they each gained 2 skill points. And then it was time to log out for lunch.
I was back in good time to make use of the next boosted hour, from two to three - and to celebrate the return to dual-computer playing, I decided to try having both my cleric Kaerella and my royal knight SirKit on Cariae playing, as a combat party, in Cariae-4's Tomb of Theos, which, to my relief, was set to 100% easy.
They headed for the room with the ancient grey mummies, which may not give as much experience per kill as the anubis spear men, but are easier to handle. In fact I noticed that sometimes the experience per kill was as much as the spear men gave in a solo party, so the difference wasn't too much. When the hour of 50% extra experience gain began, SirKit started a platinum adrenaline and a large crit potion, plus a platinum blessed iris when the first ancient grey mummy was almost dead, and the first of 45 experience boosters... and Kaerella also began a "power hour", with all those and a berserker potion too, using the level 85 bow that Barbarienne had passed across.
Both Kit and Kae gained a lot more experience than I'd been expecting; Kaerella added 97.93% in all, including a kill or two before the hour, using 39 experience boosters, which was just enough to get her into level 92. As he was, at least at the beginning, three levels lower, SirKit did even better, and those 45 experience boosters gained him 281.06%, which meant he reached level 91. Kae's drake, SirFrancis, added 1234 pet points, and Kit's drake gained 1239; they each added 7 skill points.
Back in Randol, Kaerella was able to learn level nine of Fast Heal, for 550 skill points, bringing that skill's healing power up from 580 to 660 hp. Level ninety's passive skill for SirKit was level seven of Two Hand Control, increasing his attack by 28 for, again, 550 skill points. Kit has to pick and choose his skills carefully, but that one did seem worth getting.
After that there was time for MistressSabina to spend an hour in Maargadum Jail with the beast flyers, using a platinum super skill pill. RedRackham had gone first, heading for level five to do some pet-levelling - and when he saw that level three was free, Sabina quickly followed, forming a solo party. The hour there was pretty hectic, rather harder work that Kaerella and SirKit's outing, but it gained MistressSabina 140 skill points, 4.83% experience, and 1011 pet points.
RedRackham was able to have quite a substantial session, continuing through the food break and beyond, so that his drake got comfortably into level 40 without any problems. As often happens on a Tuesday, my break was a lengthy one, but finally there was time to play again - so this time MistressDomina headed for the Tomb on Auzura-5, and, once she'd found that the Condition had improved to over 90%, MistressBlaze joined her there. If the Tomb had still been a bit dodgy, Kaerella would have been in the party, to supply some healing when needed - but this seemed like a good opportunity to move MistressBlaze along a bit.
There were some familiar names at the start, and gradually MistressDomina acquired her own group of assistants, not just MistressBlaze. MD of course didn't add much over the course of the evening, but by the time she left she was up 1.79%, 11 skill points, and 1662 pet points. MistressBlaze, helped along by the eight to nine o'clock dungeon time hour and the Elizabeth's Enhancement buff, went up by 124.43%, and gained 1121 pet points. As she was near the top of level 57 at the start, MB reached level 59 before the end of the session.
There were at least a couple of people who sometimes lured groups of infected grey mummies and screaming zombies onto the lower-levels in the starting corridor, so I had to be careful to have MistressBlaze run right back when any such mob approached, and keep an eye on the health of MistressDomina's drake. But we survived. MistressBlaze can now learn the sixth level of Freeze Arrow, which came available when she reached 58...but her skill point stash is a bit limited, so I'll need to do some advance planning before I commit 302 skill points there. As the skill includes a "debuff", it isn't really suitable for the Tomb, anyway.
So, MistressDomina, MistressBlaze, Kaerella on Cariae, and SirKit all levelled up today, which can't be bad.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Monday, 6 September 2010
Back at the Double
I didn't manage to do any playing in the morning; I had hoped to get MistressDomina to do the eleven to twelve dungeon time hour, but other things I was doing took more time than I'd expected. My only appearance in-game was fairly brief, when Kaerella, my level 29 archer, logged in on Tairen-5 to try to help somebody who'd come into the forum shoutbox with the "still in a party" bug after a fairly recent disconnection there. He did manage to recruit me into a party, once I'd found him, and did find himself able to join parties after kicking me again, so it seemed to work.
The two to three o'clock dungeon time hour was a different matter, though. MistressDomina went to the Tomb of Theos on Auzura-4 in good time, joined a solo party, and took up the spot just after the spear man room, on the first bend on the corridor. She started killing the anubis spear men right away, and when the hour began, popped the platinum adrenaline, berserker, and crit potions, followed by the experience booster and, when the current spear man was almost dead, the platinum blessed iris.
The hour went smoothly enough, with the usual solo party experience gain of 510.8 million experience per kill. I think I only forgot to use a booster on one kill, because I was involved in the forum shoutbox, and the pbi's time ran out mere seconds before the last boosted kill was made. 46 experience boosters were used, and 38.81% experience was gained.
As Saturday's "Turbo" event had been left running, there was still 50% extra experience and skill experience to be had, even if it didn't stack with a pbi, so MistressDomina continued with the spear men for the rest of the afternoon, unboosted. The alternative would have been to try an hour's sp-farming with MistressSabina, but the 50% extra experience gain was enough to put me off that idea. By the time MD logged out, her total experience gain for the session had reached 41.15%, and she'd also added 6 skill points and 2722 pet points.
For the evening, starting at six, we were promised double skill experience and double pet experience, so Keerella went to the Tomb on Cariae-4 to fight the screaming zombies, and farm a few skill points - 32 skill points in all. She went up by 2.33%, and Greedo, her drake, added 6034 pet points.
The Tomb's starting area was generally all Kee's; it was convenient, as I could easily retreat down the corridor if I got a phone call...and I was expecting the computer repair shop to call. They did phone to let me know that they were almost finished working on my older XP-running machine, and then called again about an hour later, as arranged, to say it was all done. And then they drove round and delivered it, saving me having to drive down along a very bumpy and narrow service road behind their store.
Hitching the new monitor up to the XP-runner again, plus its old mouse and an old keyboard, and plugging the USB lead from the modem in, I switched on, and...things worked. I was able to set the screen resolution to the correct size,, Last Chaos patched perfectly and started to run...all was well. MistressDomina, my Cariae merchant mage, even joined the solo party that Keerella was leading, for the last few minutes, before Kee returned to town, and passed some loot across, at last. Barbarienne was able to pass the level 85 bow she used to use across to Kaerella, so that she'll be able to test out whether she kills more quickly with that, instead of a cleric's wand - and Kae also took charge of that cheap Eyes of Spirit accessory from MD, to use with the bow.
There was also some trading-about to be done on Auzura; I logged MistressDomino, my merchant there, in ready, but decided to get this entry finished before moving armour pieces to MistressBlaze, and various loot to MistressDomino. It's a relief to have the two LC-running computers back in action side by side, and, hopefully, better than ever, thanks to the new graphics card.
The two to three o'clock dungeon time hour was a different matter, though. MistressDomina went to the Tomb of Theos on Auzura-4 in good time, joined a solo party, and took up the spot just after the spear man room, on the first bend on the corridor. She started killing the anubis spear men right away, and when the hour began, popped the platinum adrenaline, berserker, and crit potions, followed by the experience booster and, when the current spear man was almost dead, the platinum blessed iris.
The hour went smoothly enough, with the usual solo party experience gain of 510.8 million experience per kill. I think I only forgot to use a booster on one kill, because I was involved in the forum shoutbox, and the pbi's time ran out mere seconds before the last boosted kill was made. 46 experience boosters were used, and 38.81% experience was gained.
As Saturday's "Turbo" event had been left running, there was still 50% extra experience and skill experience to be had, even if it didn't stack with a pbi, so MistressDomina continued with the spear men for the rest of the afternoon, unboosted. The alternative would have been to try an hour's sp-farming with MistressSabina, but the 50% extra experience gain was enough to put me off that idea. By the time MD logged out, her total experience gain for the session had reached 41.15%, and she'd also added 6 skill points and 2722 pet points.
For the evening, starting at six, we were promised double skill experience and double pet experience, so Keerella went to the Tomb on Cariae-4 to fight the screaming zombies, and farm a few skill points - 32 skill points in all. She went up by 2.33%, and Greedo, her drake, added 6034 pet points.
The Tomb's starting area was generally all Kee's; it was convenient, as I could easily retreat down the corridor if I got a phone call...and I was expecting the computer repair shop to call. They did phone to let me know that they were almost finished working on my older XP-running machine, and then called again about an hour later, as arranged, to say it was all done. And then they drove round and delivered it, saving me having to drive down along a very bumpy and narrow service road behind their store.
Hitching the new monitor up to the XP-runner again, plus its old mouse and an old keyboard, and plugging the USB lead from the modem in, I switched on, and...things worked. I was able to set the screen resolution to the correct size,, Last Chaos patched perfectly and started to run...all was well. MistressDomina, my Cariae merchant mage, even joined the solo party that Keerella was leading, for the last few minutes, before Kee returned to town, and passed some loot across, at last. Barbarienne was able to pass the level 85 bow she used to use across to Kaerella, so that she'll be able to test out whether she kills more quickly with that, instead of a cleric's wand - and Kae also took charge of that cheap Eyes of Spirit accessory from MD, to use with the bow.
There was also some trading-about to be done on Auzura; I logged MistressDomino, my merchant there, in ready, but decided to get this entry finished before moving armour pieces to MistressBlaze, and various loot to MistressDomino. It's a relief to have the two LC-running computers back in action side by side, and, hopefully, better than ever, thanks to the new graphics card.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
A Juno Wedding
There is a slightly low-level "tiered spender" event going on this weekend, and to unlock the first tier, all you have to do is spend a single aeria point, so one thing I had to do this evening, once I was able to log on and log in, was go on to each account and purchase a 1 ap limited-level platinum blessed iris. Then later I had to log onto each account on the website, and grab the level one tier prize - which wasn't huge, but two platinum adrenaline and one large crit potion for just one more aeria point was well worth getting.
When I was on the appropriate account, I was able to take my rogue Memree along to the ebony mine on Katar-5, so that she could quickly die a few times, and lose her 21.76% experience in her current level. Hopefully that got her some entries in the current "Give Your Life For Iris" raffle. The monsters in there are high enough to hit pretty hard, so it didn't take long.
When seven o'clock was approaching, MistressDomina logged on, to find out if the wedding was due for seven or eight, since the guild message wasn't clear, using "gmt" when, in fact, it did mean "bst". So I moved across to Auzura-4, and was recalled to a charming spot close to Randol's moat, and a wooden bridge, and a waterfall... and the entrance to ebony mine was pretty near, too.
There were three gamesages present - Elfnastysfriend, though on a different character, Greengem593, and Hunniebeenikki, who performed the ceremony, even though the character on Auzura is only a level one knight. The bride was Sterre, and the groom was Eflyy...who I think is Elfnastysfriend's knight. The speech from Hunnie, while based loosely on a marriage ceremony, is a bit tongue-in-cheek, thankfully. Greengem593 did mention quitting, but I don't know if that involved just one character, or being a gamesage, or playing the game. It would be a shame to lose her, certainly. And yes, Elfnasty himself was there.
The quiz went smoothly on Auzura-2 for Kaerella, though there was a report of a mass disconnection elsewhere. After that, there was time for a short session with the Katar version of Kaerella, in Maargadum Jail on Katar-5. She managed to make use of the last few minutes of dungeon time, and continued for half an hour afterwards, gaining 10.02%, 42 skill points, and 324 pet points.
There should be plenty of time for playing tomorrow, anyway...and hopefully the return of a second LC-playing computer before too long.
When I was on the appropriate account, I was able to take my rogue Memree along to the ebony mine on Katar-5, so that she could quickly die a few times, and lose her 21.76% experience in her current level. Hopefully that got her some entries in the current "Give Your Life For Iris" raffle. The monsters in there are high enough to hit pretty hard, so it didn't take long.
When seven o'clock was approaching, MistressDomina logged on, to find out if the wedding was due for seven or eight, since the guild message wasn't clear, using "gmt" when, in fact, it did mean "bst". So I moved across to Auzura-4, and was recalled to a charming spot close to Randol's moat, and a wooden bridge, and a waterfall... and the entrance to ebony mine was pretty near, too.
There were three gamesages present - Elfnastysfriend, though on a different character, Greengem593, and Hunniebeenikki, who performed the ceremony, even though the character on Auzura is only a level one knight. The bride was Sterre, and the groom was Eflyy...who I think is Elfnastysfriend's knight. The speech from Hunnie, while based loosely on a marriage ceremony, is a bit tongue-in-cheek, thankfully. Greengem593 did mention quitting, but I don't know if that involved just one character, or being a gamesage, or playing the game. It would be a shame to lose her, certainly. And yes, Elfnasty himself was there.
The quiz went smoothly on Auzura-2 for Kaerella, though there was a report of a mass disconnection elsewhere. After that, there was time for a short session with the Katar version of Kaerella, in Maargadum Jail on Katar-5. She managed to make use of the last few minutes of dungeon time, and continued for half an hour afterwards, gaining 10.02%, 42 skill points, and 324 pet points.
There should be plenty of time for playing tomorrow, anyway...and hopefully the return of a second LC-playing computer before too long.
Saturday, 4 September 2010
A Visit to the Temple
Before MistressDomino, my merchant mage on Auzura, went into merchant mode on Auzura-5, I had a brief look around the shops, mainly as I'd decided to sell a few tower boxes and recovery boxes, and wasn't sure what price they sold for. I didn't find anyone selling them, however, or even any for sale in Roy's merchant mart...but when looking through what xBLAIRWITCHx was selling, I found the level 62 mage circlet and boots at what seemed good prices: a Hytin Circlet +14 for 100 million, and Seian Boots +12 for 80 million. I quickly switched across to MistressBlaze to check what she was wearing, and she was, as I thought, just wearing +8 ones. I had been tempted to upgrade those, so, given that a chaos smelting stone can cost as much as 90 million to add one plus, I swiftly switched back to MistressDomino, and bought them both.
Both items have a single socket, which is in use; the circlet has a Jade level 2, to increase mana regeneration by 20%, and the boots have an Opal level 2, to increase the magical hit rate by 2%. And I only just noticed when checking the details now that the Seian Boots +12 have not had an extreme stone used on them, so they have now easily been moved on to +13. When MistressBlaze goes on somewhere dangerous, the extra defence will be very useful I'm sure...and then, in time, MistressSabina, my witch, will inherit the items.
After that excitement, MistressDomino settled down into merchant mode, selling a few heaven stones, mainly two at a time, and two or three each of the tower and recovery boxes, so the price I'd ended up setting must have been about right for them. If they'd all vanished within minutes I'd have known I was being a bit over-cheap. After an hour, all the berserker potions had gone, and quite a few health and mana stealers...so that the gold spent on the two armour pieces had been recouped.
At around a quarter to eleven, MistressDomina logged on, as I was hoping to squeeze in a "power hour" during the eleven to twelve dungeon time. However, some Twisted guildies told me that, which the Tomb of Theos on Auzura would probably get reset in about an hour, it was currently down to 50%, which would have slowed down MD's kill rate, and meant that she took quite a lot of damage too. Other people who'd been intending to do a bit of levelling then were unhappy about that, as well.
So I moved across to the Cariae server, where I logged my level 98 mage Keerella in - but when I reached the Tomb entrance there, it too was at 50%. Still, Keerella's armour is better than MD's even if her weapon isn't as good, so I went in. It didn't seem worth doing a "power hour" with the Condition like that, slowing things down, so I just fought the screaming zombies at the start, without any potions or boosters. I got into a solo party - one other member must have been on boosters, either with the ancient grey mummies or the anubis spear men, as he had gone up from 81, I think, to level 86 by the end of the hour.
The titan Supraklr, wearing a soccer costume, ran past me, heading deeper into the Tomb, and soon joined the party, so there was a bit of general chat, not all of it concerning bloodseals. But, once the hour was over, I logged out, as lunch was approaching. By then Keerella had added just 0.72% and 5 skill points, plus 1047 pet points - so, still another 8.57% before she reaches level 99.
MistressDomina on Cariae tried some selling through the afternoon, but only sold a single health stealer. For the evening. I was slightly interested in the free "Give Your Life For Iris" raffle, which means some people will win goodies just for dying. For me that generally means a skill point farmer in Prokion Temple earning sp, then spending them on a special skill or two, after which they die a few times to get back to the start of the level. So my level 31 rogue Memree went out on Katar-5 to the temple, and got enough skill points for the second level of advanced energy gathering, and the third level of zeta wave processing.
I was surprised how busy Prokion Temple was, but eventually I found a space in the "mirror" half. It wasn't a long session, and Memree gained just under 14% while getting the 88 skill points she needed to get her total to 105. Back in Randol she got the two skill levels - the next step would be to die a few times to get back to the start of level 31, but the qualifying time for the raffle doesn't start until tomorrow, I think. Still, it was good to visit Prokion Temple, it had been a while...
The main evening session was just my level 95 mage MistressDomina fighting the screaming zombies in the Tomb of Theos on Auzura-5, where the Condition bars were now at 80%. There were some familiar "helpers", and some new ones. It doesn't get MD all that much experience or skill exp, but the "Turbo" event turned out to be 50% extra on both of those, and there was the 50% boost to experience gain from a "dungeon time" hour too. Ideally MistressDomina would have done a "power hour" then, but the place gets busy in the evenings, so I doubt if a good spot would have been free. And without a combat party with, say, Kaerella, the experience gain would tend not to be as much as, hopefully, it can revert to by the middle of next week.
By logging-out time, MistressDomina had added 3.59%, 16 skill points, and 2050 pet points.
Tomorrow I'll only be able to play in the evening, as I have my "busy day" to get through first. That will probably mean just an hour or so somewhere before the Quiz; there may be some sort of Twisted Guild get-together, but the timing is a little vague, as someone insists on using "GMT" for it...who can tell if they really mean British Summer Time?
Both items have a single socket, which is in use; the circlet has a Jade level 2, to increase mana regeneration by 20%, and the boots have an Opal level 2, to increase the magical hit rate by 2%. And I only just noticed when checking the details now that the Seian Boots +12 have not had an extreme stone used on them, so they have now easily been moved on to +13. When MistressBlaze goes on somewhere dangerous, the extra defence will be very useful I'm sure...and then, in time, MistressSabina, my witch, will inherit the items.
After that excitement, MistressDomino settled down into merchant mode, selling a few heaven stones, mainly two at a time, and two or three each of the tower and recovery boxes, so the price I'd ended up setting must have been about right for them. If they'd all vanished within minutes I'd have known I was being a bit over-cheap. After an hour, all the berserker potions had gone, and quite a few health and mana stealers...so that the gold spent on the two armour pieces had been recouped.
At around a quarter to eleven, MistressDomina logged on, as I was hoping to squeeze in a "power hour" during the eleven to twelve dungeon time. However, some Twisted guildies told me that, which the Tomb of Theos on Auzura would probably get reset in about an hour, it was currently down to 50%, which would have slowed down MD's kill rate, and meant that she took quite a lot of damage too. Other people who'd been intending to do a bit of levelling then were unhappy about that, as well.
So I moved across to the Cariae server, where I logged my level 98 mage Keerella in - but when I reached the Tomb entrance there, it too was at 50%. Still, Keerella's armour is better than MD's even if her weapon isn't as good, so I went in. It didn't seem worth doing a "power hour" with the Condition like that, slowing things down, so I just fought the screaming zombies at the start, without any potions or boosters. I got into a solo party - one other member must have been on boosters, either with the ancient grey mummies or the anubis spear men, as he had gone up from 81, I think, to level 86 by the end of the hour.
The titan Supraklr, wearing a soccer costume, ran past me, heading deeper into the Tomb, and soon joined the party, so there was a bit of general chat, not all of it concerning bloodseals. But, once the hour was over, I logged out, as lunch was approaching. By then Keerella had added just 0.72% and 5 skill points, plus 1047 pet points - so, still another 8.57% before she reaches level 99.
MistressDomina on Cariae tried some selling through the afternoon, but only sold a single health stealer. For the evening. I was slightly interested in the free "Give Your Life For Iris" raffle, which means some people will win goodies just for dying. For me that generally means a skill point farmer in Prokion Temple earning sp, then spending them on a special skill or two, after which they die a few times to get back to the start of the level. So my level 31 rogue Memree went out on Katar-5 to the temple, and got enough skill points for the second level of advanced energy gathering, and the third level of zeta wave processing.
I was surprised how busy Prokion Temple was, but eventually I found a space in the "mirror" half. It wasn't a long session, and Memree gained just under 14% while getting the 88 skill points she needed to get her total to 105. Back in Randol she got the two skill levels - the next step would be to die a few times to get back to the start of level 31, but the qualifying time for the raffle doesn't start until tomorrow, I think. Still, it was good to visit Prokion Temple, it had been a while...
The main evening session was just my level 95 mage MistressDomina fighting the screaming zombies in the Tomb of Theos on Auzura-5, where the Condition bars were now at 80%. There were some familiar "helpers", and some new ones. It doesn't get MD all that much experience or skill exp, but the "Turbo" event turned out to be 50% extra on both of those, and there was the 50% boost to experience gain from a "dungeon time" hour too. Ideally MistressDomina would have done a "power hour" then, but the place gets busy in the evenings, so I doubt if a good spot would have been free. And without a combat party with, say, Kaerella, the experience gain would tend not to be as much as, hopefully, it can revert to by the middle of next week.
By logging-out time, MistressDomina had added 3.59%, 16 skill points, and 2050 pet points.
Tomorrow I'll only be able to play in the evening, as I have my "busy day" to get through first. That will probably mean just an hour or so somewhere before the Quiz; there may be some sort of Twisted Guild get-together, but the timing is a little vague, as someone insists on using "GMT" for it...who can tell if they really mean British Summer Time?
Friday, 3 September 2010
Two Mistresses
It was the turn of my Cariae merchant, MistressDomina, who confusingly shares her name with my top character over on Auzura, to stay up overnight in merchant mode, selling chaos balls, item drop boosters, and runes of protection 2, plus a few lucky spell books, health stealers, strong medicine and berserker potions...and generally not selling experience boosters, runes of protection 1, and large defence pots. She continued through the morning and well into the afternoon, as I was too busy to do anything more active, and didn't sell much more for a while, except for the occasional chaos ball - but then the remaining item drop boosters sold. That took MD's gains up over the 600 million mark, so, I guess, it won't be too long before SirKit is fully "kitted out" in his 85/87 armour set, if there are actually some suitable pieces for sale.
The evening session was set to give double pet experience from six o'clock, so that it seemed a good idea to hop across to Auzura's more active MistressDomina, and take her out to the Auzura-5 Tomb of Theos again. It was a pretty long session, making good use of the double pet experience - and MistressDomina's drake did just manage to level up, reaching level 44 and adding in all 4159 pet points. MD herself is level 95 now, so just fighting unboosted didn't give her a whole lot of experience; it did add 4.14% though, along with 17 skill points.
It was quite an eventful evening. Quite early on a level 31 healer, who I think I know better as their sorcerer character, asked to be in a party...well actually they just applied to form a party, and as I was trying to type at the time, the request got accepted. They said they just wanted to get up to 90% of the way through level 31, which was okay with me - you are supposed to choose to become either a cleric or an archer before you reach level 32. I really don't know if there is a penalty if you leave it until you are actually level 32, but it is possible that you may lose three or four stat points.
She hung around too long, anyway, and ended up getting into level 32, though I had told her to leave - especially as someone was bringing in a group of infected grey mummies and screamies! Hopefully she will at least get some skill points in Prokion Temple before she tries to power-level again, she intended to become a cleric and a cleric without the proper skills could be a bit of a disaster.
For a while after that I was in a combat party with the royal knight Gluecksbaer, who still has the vivid green "LastChaos Newbie" title, for having been started within the last seven days, although he is now level 91. He did have a slight tendency to bring a few zombies in on the people in the corridor, too. He is in the Castle-owning guild "Elite", so he has come a long way in a short time.
There was a speed-hacking ranger-rogue around, who left after a night shadow, DARKGARDIANANGEL, challenged them. Her attack certainly was suspiciously fast, though with a crossbow it isn't as obvious as with most weapons, as the crossbow doesn't move much when it is fired. Dark assured me later that he had sent in a ticket about it, with a screenshot. As I'd been active in the forum shoutbox, I'd known who it was when someone came in to report it. Ideally a GM or GS would have come to see, but none was around at the time.
Giving people the link to the forum thread about the main current bug, which has some people failing to load the game when they click "start" on the launcher, as well as the other usual queries, was slowing down my fighting a little, but MistressDomina was never in trouble, even if her drake did lose some health a time or two.
So, there wasn't a huge amount to report today... normal service will be resumed, but not until after the weekend...
The evening session was set to give double pet experience from six o'clock, so that it seemed a good idea to hop across to Auzura's more active MistressDomina, and take her out to the Auzura-5 Tomb of Theos again. It was a pretty long session, making good use of the double pet experience - and MistressDomina's drake did just manage to level up, reaching level 44 and adding in all 4159 pet points. MD herself is level 95 now, so just fighting unboosted didn't give her a whole lot of experience; it did add 4.14% though, along with 17 skill points.
It was quite an eventful evening. Quite early on a level 31 healer, who I think I know better as their sorcerer character, asked to be in a party...well actually they just applied to form a party, and as I was trying to type at the time, the request got accepted. They said they just wanted to get up to 90% of the way through level 31, which was okay with me - you are supposed to choose to become either a cleric or an archer before you reach level 32. I really don't know if there is a penalty if you leave it until you are actually level 32, but it is possible that you may lose three or four stat points.
She hung around too long, anyway, and ended up getting into level 32, though I had told her to leave - especially as someone was bringing in a group of infected grey mummies and screamies! Hopefully she will at least get some skill points in Prokion Temple before she tries to power-level again, she intended to become a cleric and a cleric without the proper skills could be a bit of a disaster.
For a while after that I was in a combat party with the royal knight Gluecksbaer, who still has the vivid green "LastChaos Newbie" title, for having been started within the last seven days, although he is now level 91. He did have a slight tendency to bring a few zombies in on the people in the corridor, too. He is in the Castle-owning guild "Elite", so he has come a long way in a short time.
There was a speed-hacking ranger-rogue around, who left after a night shadow, DARKGARDIANANGEL, challenged them. Her attack certainly was suspiciously fast, though with a crossbow it isn't as obvious as with most weapons, as the crossbow doesn't move much when it is fired. Dark assured me later that he had sent in a ticket about it, with a screenshot. As I'd been active in the forum shoutbox, I'd known who it was when someone came in to report it. Ideally a GM or GS would have come to see, but none was around at the time.
Giving people the link to the forum thread about the main current bug, which has some people failing to load the game when they click "start" on the launcher, as well as the other usual queries, was slowing down my fighting a little, but MistressDomina was never in trouble, even if her drake did lose some health a time or two.
So, there wasn't a huge amount to report today... normal service will be resumed, but not until after the weekend...
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Onwards With Kaerella
MistressDomino on Auzura-5 spent much of the day in merchant mode, and did take in about 130 million, making her, and me, slightly richer than she was before. The price of heaven stones seems to be falling there, perhaps because of the LacaRette wheel prizes - I don't think that I sold any at 2.79 million, while 2.95 million used to be a reasonable price.
As well as preparing for the coming weekend, what took a fair amount of my time was the arrival of a new Windows 7-running computer. It started up with a high-speed clicking noise, but eventually the phone support guy had me wrench one fan sideways a bit - don't you just love high-tech solutions? So now it's all silent and handsome, proudly displaying the Windows flag on its desktop... but basically useless, as I can't connect it to the internet. Trying to use my broadband supplier's disc just gave me the exhortation to upgrade to a more modern operating system, such as XP or Vista - and looking on their website, the client is not available, though I could leave my details so that they would email me when it is ready for release.
It looks as if a new modem will be needed, my current one isn't 7-capable it seems, just plugging the USB connection in was useless. Why don't they make these new operating systems at least a little bit backwards-compatible...?
Kaerella on Katar got out to Maargadum Jail twenty minutes or so before the end of the two to three o'clock dungeon time, anyway, and fought the dire spike canines, two-headed canines, and beast spears for a while. A level 41 specialist sorcerer, DangerDemon, recruited Kae and a level 44 rogue, AngelsofSouls, into a combat party, and we moved to the third room on floor two to fight the beast spears there, with some success, though I had to take a few minutes off to try and make a telephone call to my computer supplier's support centre.
Inevitably, DangerDemon suggested a move to the sphinx fighters, so we went across to Dratan and began to fight them - but before long I got a telephone call back, and when I was free again the rogue had left the party and DangerDemon was just sitting behind the fence close to where I was, so things had come to a fairly natural conclusion. It hadn't been a massive session by any means, but Kaerella had added 14.76%, 56 skill points, and 375 pet points.
The early evening break was a bit long as I visited the local computer store, taking in my poor broken old XP-running machine - the fact that they promised to ring me back later with their diagnosis rather influenced what I could do in the evening, too. I was back a bit too late for the start of the Auzura "mid level mad monster spawn", but took MistressBlaze out about 25 minutes after the announced starting time, to see if it was still going on - the location was the low-level one, but by then it was deserted. I switched to Katar, as that was next on the list - but when I mentioned on the shoutbox that the location for the MMS seemed unnaturally quiet, was informed that the event had been cancelled, with just double experience and skill exp switched on instead.
What seemed best was to take my Cariae cleric Kaerella to the Tomb of Theos, to fight the screaming zombies. Most of the time I was in a combat party, with at different, or slightly overlapping times, a level 90 night shadow, CURSEDDRAGON, a level 90 rogue, and a level 81 rogue, Deathtrap5. It was the level 90 rogue, jq178, who tended to need the most healing, and she agreed when I said that I suspected that the 85/87 armour set she was wearing wasn't b5e +13.
We also helped a titan to level up, and I think he reached level 51 - he had said he was aiming for level 57, as he had a level 61 +15 weapon waiting, but he left rather suddenly to go and kill Baal. He gave Kae a one-hour platinum pet pill, which was very kind, for her help, and also some magical attack minerals... but I think jq178 helped him more, albeit relying on some clerical healing.
Towards the end another cleric arrived, though as she was using a bow, I didn't realise she was a cleric at first - she didn't stay long, as a monster combo party needed her. I had been considering having Kae try using Barbarienne's old level 85 bow, and she said that using a bow does help her kill more quickly, so it is definitely something to do, when the bow can be traded across. There are certain passive skills for bow use that only an archer would have, but, well, we'll see how hard Kae can hit using it.
Towards the end of the evening, Kaerella levelled up, rather to my surprise - and jq178 levelled up a couple of minutes later. By the time Kae logged out, she had added, thanks to the "happy hour" and a "Dungeon time" hour, 27.65%, plus 16 skill points and, for SirFrancis, 2020 pet points.
The computer shop seems to think that a new graphics card, and probably a new power supply unit, may return the XP-running machine to fighting fitness next week. Getting the new 7-runner to actually be useful may be more complicated...
As well as preparing for the coming weekend, what took a fair amount of my time was the arrival of a new Windows 7-running computer. It started up with a high-speed clicking noise, but eventually the phone support guy had me wrench one fan sideways a bit - don't you just love high-tech solutions? So now it's all silent and handsome, proudly displaying the Windows flag on its desktop... but basically useless, as I can't connect it to the internet. Trying to use my broadband supplier's disc just gave me the exhortation to upgrade to a more modern operating system, such as XP or Vista - and looking on their website, the client is not available, though I could leave my details so that they would email me when it is ready for release.
It looks as if a new modem will be needed, my current one isn't 7-capable it seems, just plugging the USB connection in was useless. Why don't they make these new operating systems at least a little bit backwards-compatible...?
Kaerella on Katar got out to Maargadum Jail twenty minutes or so before the end of the two to three o'clock dungeon time, anyway, and fought the dire spike canines, two-headed canines, and beast spears for a while. A level 41 specialist sorcerer, DangerDemon, recruited Kae and a level 44 rogue, AngelsofSouls, into a combat party, and we moved to the third room on floor two to fight the beast spears there, with some success, though I had to take a few minutes off to try and make a telephone call to my computer supplier's support centre.
Inevitably, DangerDemon suggested a move to the sphinx fighters, so we went across to Dratan and began to fight them - but before long I got a telephone call back, and when I was free again the rogue had left the party and DangerDemon was just sitting behind the fence close to where I was, so things had come to a fairly natural conclusion. It hadn't been a massive session by any means, but Kaerella had added 14.76%, 56 skill points, and 375 pet points.
The early evening break was a bit long as I visited the local computer store, taking in my poor broken old XP-running machine - the fact that they promised to ring me back later with their diagnosis rather influenced what I could do in the evening, too. I was back a bit too late for the start of the Auzura "mid level mad monster spawn", but took MistressBlaze out about 25 minutes after the announced starting time, to see if it was still going on - the location was the low-level one, but by then it was deserted. I switched to Katar, as that was next on the list - but when I mentioned on the shoutbox that the location for the MMS seemed unnaturally quiet, was informed that the event had been cancelled, with just double experience and skill exp switched on instead.
What seemed best was to take my Cariae cleric Kaerella to the Tomb of Theos, to fight the screaming zombies. Most of the time I was in a combat party, with at different, or slightly overlapping times, a level 90 night shadow, CURSEDDRAGON, a level 90 rogue, and a level 81 rogue, Deathtrap5. It was the level 90 rogue, jq178, who tended to need the most healing, and she agreed when I said that I suspected that the 85/87 armour set she was wearing wasn't b5e +13.
We also helped a titan to level up, and I think he reached level 51 - he had said he was aiming for level 57, as he had a level 61 +15 weapon waiting, but he left rather suddenly to go and kill Baal. He gave Kae a one-hour platinum pet pill, which was very kind, for her help, and also some magical attack minerals... but I think jq178 helped him more, albeit relying on some clerical healing.
Towards the end another cleric arrived, though as she was using a bow, I didn't realise she was a cleric at first - she didn't stay long, as a monster combo party needed her. I had been considering having Kae try using Barbarienne's old level 85 bow, and she said that using a bow does help her kill more quickly, so it is definitely something to do, when the bow can be traded across. There are certain passive skills for bow use that only an archer would have, but, well, we'll see how hard Kae can hit using it.
Towards the end of the evening, Kaerella levelled up, rather to my surprise - and jq178 levelled up a couple of minutes later. By the time Kae logged out, she had added, thanks to the "happy hour" and a "Dungeon time" hour, 27.65%, plus 16 skill points and, for SirFrancis, 2020 pet points.
The computer shop seems to think that a new graphics card, and probably a new power supply unit, may return the XP-running machine to fighting fitness next week. Getting the new 7-runner to actually be useful may be more complicated...
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
A Minor Patch
Four weeks ago, the Patch Notes announcement told us "New content is in development. Expect to see some changes in the near future!" Three weeks ago the new, but badly constructed and glitchy, map of Juno arrived. Two weeks ago Xuse2005 told us "New content expected within the next two weeks". Last week, well, they were conserving their energy, but this week - nothing, really, after whipping our hopes up of something big. "Improvements to Dratan Castle Siege are being discussed", he tells us. For Mondshine people, "Raid disconnects are less frequent and a 100% fix is still in development."
For the rest of us, "One of the newly added beginner quests received minor updates", Xuse2005 reports, and apparently they have managed to include a fix for the "Update completed. Update is completed. Please, restart game" pop-up problem in this week's patch. The biggest thing to report though is that the problem that led to the bars showing the Condition of the Tomb of Theos not appearing has been fixed, so that we can find out before paying our admission fee and starting fighting just what mood the monsters are in.
The patch downloaded swiftly enough for me on my one functioning computer. I did get the "Update completed. Update is completed. Please, restart game" window popping up when I tried to launch the game, which was a bit disconcerting, but it only came up once - the next time, the game loaded in the normal way, so that RedRackham was able to log in, and take his level 39 drake down to the fifth floor of Maargadum Jail on Auzura-4 for some pet-levelling, while I had breakfast, did some shopping, and generally got the day, and the month, started.
The run-up to one of my busy weekends is starting now, slightly complicated by Monday having been a public holiday, which means that five days have to be fitted into four, so my playing hours are set to decline from now on, until hopefully we emerge on the far side on Monday. I did however manage to log on in good time for the eleven to noon "dungeon time" hour.
The Condition bars on the Auzura Tomb of Theos were at 60%, when I teleported MistressDomina to the entrance, which seemed to me a little less than perfect, so I switched across to Keerella on Cariae-4...only to find that the situation was slightly worse there, with the bars on 50%! Still, as Kee has good armour, and only wanted to farm the screaming zombies at the start of the Tomb for a few skill points, that didn't put me off, so in I went. Things ran smoothly, without any need to use health potions, and without many other people, so by the end of the hour, Keerella had added 0.96%, 7 skill points, and 1039 pet points. It would take another ten such sessions to get her into level 99, though it won't, after that, take many combat party team-ups with Barbarienne to get Barb eleven levels ahead again.
Since 50% had seemed so reasonable, Auzura's 60% was now a bit less off-putting, so MistressDomina headed out on Auzura-4 in good time for the two to three o'clock hour. Nobody in Twisted seemed available to provide a solo party...but the good news was that the Tomb of Theos there was fully reset to 100% easy. MD ran down to the anubis spear man room, and found just an archer called Puepchen there, so settled in with the two spear men on the far side.
I don't think Puepchen spoke English; I don't think she was very high-level either, as I'm sure she died a time or two, and when I did click on her to offer a combat party I just got the message that she was out of range. She wasn't around when the "dungeon time" hour began, so the level 95 rogue bolster took over that side, and we formed a combat party. A level 98 rogue called xXbingbangXx joined the combat party too, but soon moved a little further along the corridor.
When the hour began, MistressDomina started her berserker, platinum adrenaline, and crit pots, plus the platinum blessed iris, and got down seriously to business. Unfortunately Puepchen returned, and did compete for the anubis spear men at some points, which slowed me down very slightly for a while, but things got better when bolster had to leave - especially as xXbingbangXx had moved back into the room, and thus continued my combat party boost by standing in the corner.
MistressDomina used 44 experience boosters during the hour, and got 43.26% from them, which got her nicely into level 95. Adding a few kills before and after, the total for the session was 44.37%, plus 4 skill points and 1569 pet points. The rogue nowomannocry, level 60 now, did drop by to "borrow" a HP stealer and a MP stealer, apparently for whoever is going to do her next power-level. I do wish them good luck, but it would help if she got a better weapon, and better skills.
There seemed plenty of time to do an hour's sp-farming with MistressSabina before the food break, so Sabina went to floor three of Maargadum Jail on Auzura-4 again, only to find the same person as yesterday busy there. So, I tried Auzura-5 instead, and found it free. There wasn't a solo party I could join there though, until about halfway through; a knight, the level 47 Almagavar, arrived and fought at one end for a while, which slowed me down and meant I had to kill the beast archers as well as the beast flyers. He had a disconnection, but a bit later a rogue called MistetryGirl, level 46, arrived, and competed for the kills too. I think I'll have to go for Auzura-4 or nothing, Auzura-5 has too much passing traffic.
The slower kill rate meant that MistressSabina only got 121 skill points from her session, along with 4.15% and 984 pet points - but that's not a huge amount less than normal, I guess, so the session was worth it.
The evening, from six o'clock UK time, was promising a "Happy Hour" of double experience and skill exp, so it seemed like a good time to let MistressBlaze go out to the elite sphinx speer man and its buddies, at least for a while - as usual on Wednesday I would have to make an early exit. I didn't really kill the sphinx types all that quickly, but thanks to the bonus, MistressBlaze added 26.92%, 32 skill points, and 661 pet points before I had to log out.
So that's it; a new month and a new, if minor, patch. As usual the patch did seem to give some people problems with starting the game, though of course it's the people with a problem who visit the shoutbox, hopefully almost everyone got to play as much as they wanted to, and didn't have to do any reinstalling. MistressDomina's "widowmaker" western "C2" costume is way past its 30 days now, due to a glitch, but it's still working - and unlike some overstays, such as platinum refining stones or regular melded covers, it isn't a problem, as one can easily change the armour underneath it, as the armour and the "C2" cover remain separate. I had wondered if the week's patch would sort out that costume glitch, but for once the slowness of the developers to react to problems has worked in our favour.
For the rest of us, "One of the newly added beginner quests received minor updates", Xuse2005 reports, and apparently they have managed to include a fix for the "Update completed. Update is completed. Please, restart game" pop-up problem in this week's patch. The biggest thing to report though is that the problem that led to the bars showing the Condition of the Tomb of Theos not appearing has been fixed, so that we can find out before paying our admission fee and starting fighting just what mood the monsters are in.
The patch downloaded swiftly enough for me on my one functioning computer. I did get the "Update completed. Update is completed. Please, restart game" window popping up when I tried to launch the game, which was a bit disconcerting, but it only came up once - the next time, the game loaded in the normal way, so that RedRackham was able to log in, and take his level 39 drake down to the fifth floor of Maargadum Jail on Auzura-4 for some pet-levelling, while I had breakfast, did some shopping, and generally got the day, and the month, started.
The run-up to one of my busy weekends is starting now, slightly complicated by Monday having been a public holiday, which means that five days have to be fitted into four, so my playing hours are set to decline from now on, until hopefully we emerge on the far side on Monday. I did however manage to log on in good time for the eleven to noon "dungeon time" hour.
The Condition bars on the Auzura Tomb of Theos were at 60%, when I teleported MistressDomina to the entrance, which seemed to me a little less than perfect, so I switched across to Keerella on Cariae-4...only to find that the situation was slightly worse there, with the bars on 50%! Still, as Kee has good armour, and only wanted to farm the screaming zombies at the start of the Tomb for a few skill points, that didn't put me off, so in I went. Things ran smoothly, without any need to use health potions, and without many other people, so by the end of the hour, Keerella had added 0.96%, 7 skill points, and 1039 pet points. It would take another ten such sessions to get her into level 99, though it won't, after that, take many combat party team-ups with Barbarienne to get Barb eleven levels ahead again.
Since 50% had seemed so reasonable, Auzura's 60% was now a bit less off-putting, so MistressDomina headed out on Auzura-4 in good time for the two to three o'clock hour. Nobody in Twisted seemed available to provide a solo party...but the good news was that the Tomb of Theos there was fully reset to 100% easy. MD ran down to the anubis spear man room, and found just an archer called Puepchen there, so settled in with the two spear men on the far side.
I don't think Puepchen spoke English; I don't think she was very high-level either, as I'm sure she died a time or two, and when I did click on her to offer a combat party I just got the message that she was out of range. She wasn't around when the "dungeon time" hour began, so the level 95 rogue bolster took over that side, and we formed a combat party. A level 98 rogue called xXbingbangXx joined the combat party too, but soon moved a little further along the corridor.
When the hour began, MistressDomina started her berserker, platinum adrenaline, and crit pots, plus the platinum blessed iris, and got down seriously to business. Unfortunately Puepchen returned, and did compete for the anubis spear men at some points, which slowed me down very slightly for a while, but things got better when bolster had to leave - especially as xXbingbangXx had moved back into the room, and thus continued my combat party boost by standing in the corner.
MistressDomina used 44 experience boosters during the hour, and got 43.26% from them, which got her nicely into level 95. Adding a few kills before and after, the total for the session was 44.37%, plus 4 skill points and 1569 pet points. The rogue nowomannocry, level 60 now, did drop by to "borrow" a HP stealer and a MP stealer, apparently for whoever is going to do her next power-level. I do wish them good luck, but it would help if she got a better weapon, and better skills.
There seemed plenty of time to do an hour's sp-farming with MistressSabina before the food break, so Sabina went to floor three of Maargadum Jail on Auzura-4 again, only to find the same person as yesterday busy there. So, I tried Auzura-5 instead, and found it free. There wasn't a solo party I could join there though, until about halfway through; a knight, the level 47 Almagavar, arrived and fought at one end for a while, which slowed me down and meant I had to kill the beast archers as well as the beast flyers. He had a disconnection, but a bit later a rogue called MistetryGirl, level 46, arrived, and competed for the kills too. I think I'll have to go for Auzura-4 or nothing, Auzura-5 has too much passing traffic.
The slower kill rate meant that MistressSabina only got 121 skill points from her session, along with 4.15% and 984 pet points - but that's not a huge amount less than normal, I guess, so the session was worth it.
The evening, from six o'clock UK time, was promising a "Happy Hour" of double experience and skill exp, so it seemed like a good time to let MistressBlaze go out to the elite sphinx speer man and its buddies, at least for a while - as usual on Wednesday I would have to make an early exit. I didn't really kill the sphinx types all that quickly, but thanks to the bonus, MistressBlaze added 26.92%, 32 skill points, and 661 pet points before I had to log out.
So that's it; a new month and a new, if minor, patch. As usual the patch did seem to give some people problems with starting the game, though of course it's the people with a problem who visit the shoutbox, hopefully almost everyone got to play as much as they wanted to, and didn't have to do any reinstalling. MistressDomina's "widowmaker" western "C2" costume is way past its 30 days now, due to a glitch, but it's still working - and unlike some overstays, such as platinum refining stones or regular melded covers, it isn't a problem, as one can easily change the armour underneath it, as the armour and the "C2" cover remain separate. I had wondered if the week's patch would sort out that costume glitch, but for once the slowness of the developers to react to problems has worked in our favour.
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