Friday, June 27, 2008

Nocturnal Sonata - The aftermath

Well, just some observations.

The market for 100 level enchantment chips has exploded. People are selling them for 10 million. I don't know if they are selling at that price, but lots of people have them up for that much.

I bought one for 3.5 after the patch, which I thought was exorbinant, but wanted to chip my Scout's armor (since she's the one having trouble staying alive). Now I wish I had bought more. I don't even know where they come from, I've gotten one 96 piece of equipment from killing the Phob. General in Topolo. (Which I've killed about 10 times). I've never seen anything higher than 92 drop in the 100+ areas I've been in.

The lower levels seem quite a bit harder. I broke down and bought Vicente (who I named "Barry" in honor of "Barry the Bard" one of my characters from "The Bard's Tale", the first CRPG I played by myself). I'm not sure how good he will be, basically he seems to be just another elementalist. I only got him up to 20th or so, though

There seems to be a lot of reported lag. I've had some, but it doesn't seem that worse from when I was in the Land of Death (where I DC-ed about 6 times, and died once thanks to a lag spike). So I dunno.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Well, the patch is live...

It's like a whole different game.

Well, not really. But it does feel different, like a remix or expansion pack (so I guess that name was justified after all). A lot of the text is different. For instance, on items, instead of saying the class name in a small font, it uses a 3 letter abreviation in a large font. Characters now have more stats, like sonic resistance and a couple others. Things are a little different.

I was going to buy upgrade accels on the market, but there were only 10. So I didn't get Vicente. All my mysterious powders had been sold, which I were hoping wouldn't be, since I needed them for buying the new veteran equipment (had 24, which let me buy 2 metal and 1 leather armor). I had some left, but I was saving those for my next trip into the LoD.

Sadly though, no 100 level enchantment chips to be found. I got the armor, but with the chips, no bonuses, which make them worse than my current armor in all respects except DR (which is 3 better). I imagine the prices of those will be in the roof for the next week or so, along with Upgrade Accels. I paid 650k a piece for the 10 I bought. Which is basically just spending the money I made off the powder.

Also a big change - the costumes on pre 2.4 characters are now gone. I had bought the school outfits for my scout and fighter in case this day came (and paid 4000 gold for the school pack). Ironically though my fighter now wears a mutation costume costume. But my scout wears the school outfit, which I really like the look of (and my musk, too. Looks ugly on the wizard and elementalist, and so-so on the female fighter)

Added more options, like being able to ignore clan, squad or group chat invitations. Sound seems more muddled, though.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Here comes the "Expansion"

Really just patches 2.5/2.6, I guess they call it an expansion for marketing purposes. But they have made some new changes and added a new area, so its something. Only one UPC though, Vicente

I dunno if I want to get Vicente or not. He's not that expensive, apparently only 20 upgrade accelerates (or 850 gold, I think).

What I do want though are the 100 level polishers. At least for armor. I'm still using level 80 armor. The level 100 polishers do make some of my weapons obsolete. I spend what, 45 million on my Pizzaro (20 for the MSP, 12 for the cap sickle, plus 20 upgrade accels and enchant boosts). It's so sweet though. And I bought a sniper rifle for 20 million, then 6 million on upgrade accels for that and a few enchant boosts.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Postcard from the Land of Death

I had bought the LOD pack when it came out, but I was waiting to do it with my clan. But I guess that sort of stuff interfered with their AFKing on the beach, and we never got around to it. I wanted to do it solo, but didn't want to leave my clanmates out. But since I left the clan, I no longer had anything stopping me. I also bought some more gold and bought a couple more LOD packs (since they are a really good deal). And so off I went, late night Monday.

First off, the entrance to the Baron city is a pain to find. I had the coordinates, but had to broad for help. And I might add, almost everyone who had been there gave me directions. I was impressed, I never had gotten so many PMs at once. Basically, as you come out of Porto Bello, hug the right wall.

The land of death is pretty, but really bogged down my computer. I don't know if it was the lighting, or all the flowers, but I was getting some huge choppiness. It's an old computer though, 3 years, and my graphic card isn't the best (7600 GS). But the first time the game was ever really choppy, graphically.

Other than that, and my internet connection deciding to lag horribly (good timing on their part, I knew it would happen), it's a fairly easy area. Harder than Toppolo, but easier than any other 100+ map I've been to. The only really nasty enemy on the map are the Muertos Elementalists, (especially the Elite ones) because they use that skill that picks you up and knocks back down. That can take off half your hp and knock you prone for a while. Usually you can see them cast, but sometimes they hide in the flowers. And they run fast, too.

(I went with my Fighter, Romina, and Scout, all pioneer armor. Used Forte Ring)

The quest to get Kurt/Ed is actually pretty easy. It's just long. Sort of half delivery missions, half boss fights. I didn't have any troulble with any of the fights, though my fighter died in the 2nd one vs Montoro when Kurt and Ed help you. But basically just let them do it. I think that took me 5 hours total (I got Kurt, since Ed looks like the female scout's transsexual sister. Yech)

It takes about 12 minutes to do the hunting mission to get 1 pure ottite (very rarely it gives you 2). I guess squading might cut down the time, but not by too much, because it's just a matter of finding the ones you need to kill (they die really easily, 2 shots from my Romina). You need 30 pure ottites to make one 92 Elite. So basically 6 hours of farming. Which really isn't bad at all, considering how powerful they are
But it's just kinda boring.

I only made enough for 1, but I sold some of the excess junk from the LOD pack and bought some more pure ottites others had farmed (they go for about a million each). So I ended up with 2 pistols. Wasted 5 chips (with boosts) trying to get something good on one, stopped on attack 20% up.

It's really not a bad investment in buying pre-farmed pure ottites. Figure MP goes for 350k on average, so basically you're paying an extra 550k or so. Sure, that's a lot for 12 minutes of effort, but at the same time, it saves you from a lot of boredom and it also takes away time pressure.

I mean, you don't have to worry "Oh no, I only have 1 hour left on my wheel. I need to get 6 ottites. Argh!". That actually making farming much more relaxing.
In my case, I probably DC-ed in the Land of Death about half a dozen times, so that wasted a lot of extra MP. So it was an even better deal buying the ottites.

The drops rate of items isn't terrible, but what you get isn't very good. Cheap stuff to sell, bracelets, sabers, robes. 80-84. No megas.

Mics are only 3000 vis in the Baron City. I bought 400 of them, which should keep me in them for a few months (I use about 5 a day).

Monday, June 23, 2008

Well, so much for being in a clan.

Well, I lasted about a month, but finally called it quits. There were a lot of little things, but the final straw was when they did their first boss raid and never bothered to tell me about it.

Now admittedly, since they did it on Saturday morning, I likely would have passed if they had asked me, since I like to sleep in on Saturdays. But how about at least mentioning it to me? Like "Hey Jeremy, we're thinking about doing a raid and we'd like you to be there." or even just putting a notice in the clan message or on their website. I mean, I play every day, and I checked the website daily as well. It's not like I was one of the members that was never around.

But at the same time, they bring in other non-clan members to help. I mean, thanks a lot. I stuck with the clan when there were only 4 active members, 2 of which completely ignored me to flirt with each other (which is creepy as one is apparently a high school kid and the other married). I stuck with the clan when all day the other 3 just AFKed on the beach, and I just talked to myself. I stuck with the clan when the leader didn't remember I was in it on the Gamefaqs message board (where I've known the leader for 5 months). I stuck with the leader when she had us all help her alt account get another Catherine and level it on the beach (yay!, fun for all the clan). I stuck with them when the leader tried to weasel a ring from one of your lower level members during a mission lobby, whining she never got anything good (despite getting an insistendo ring the week before in one). And in both cases, I provided the mission lobbies.

And for my patience, how was I rewarded? By being ignored the first time the clan did something major.

Geeze, I'm 36, so you'd think I'd be too old for that sort of drama. But being left out is never fun at any age, I guess.