Mystery box take, Day 2....

Not as good as last time.
1 Le Blanc
5 Ottite Perfumes
100 Triumph Fillers
80 Soul Crystals
20 AM Boosts
20 UAs
1 AA Pass
1 Vet Scroll
5 100 chips
10 92 chips
5 Ring Boxes
10 Vet Polish
And an an Iron Chef Panfilo

Here come the Mystery Boxes....

The first wave of them, 5 for being logged in on Xmas eve.

Of course, many people made alt accounts and logged them in to get more. I showed some restraint, only making 2 extra (plus my regular alt). One guy apparently made 40. Honestly, I maybe have made more if I had more email accounts. But I only have 3.

Anyway, so I got 20 mystery boxes today.

2 Le Blancs
3 AA Passes
2 Types of Wings (30 day)
40 UAs
40 AM Boosts
40 Soul Crystals
40 Triumph Fillers
10 Ottite Perfumes
10 Ring Boxes
And an Iron Chef Panfilo

Not a bad haul, all in all. Though of course, Iron Chef was the UPC I wanted the least. Emilia the Sage is the one I want the most. Next is Soho the Wind. Then Battlesmith Idge, then Captain Adelina, then Iron Chef Panfilo

Happenings on Orpesia...

The most fun was an epic battle during the holiday event. After I guess about half the people left, AM Ruffo spawned some more of those Elnugod things, 7 in fact. Took at least 20 minutes to kill them all. But lots of fun.

(Actually got something from this event - a 92 chip and a 80 bracelet)

In Colony Wars news, we saw a reemergence of Neph, taking several of colonies back from Telos and Core (and someone else).

And in my own personal news, my scout reached 40%. Took a month of afking (mostly) in Via. Whee! And Verizon still sucks.

Merry Christmas (events)

Well, no patch, but K2 at least tried to do something...

First off, they gave out a free christmas hat and a free rudolph hat.

Secondly, they had sort of a treasure hunt game. An AM would give clues and you'd go to the next location. The first place was the clock in Rebo, then under the statue in FJ, the third was the beach, and that was as far as I got. Something about where treasure is hidden and evils lay unbidden. I thought first Fire Island (since they have the treasure hunt there). But no. Then the treasure quest in the quay. And apparently not that, as I was still wandering around when the contest was over.

Thirdly, there was a boss event (I guess). Said that Jack Frost and the snowmen were under the control of Novia, and to go outside Auch, Ch 2.

So I went. And there was a crowd. A huge crowd. More people than I think I've seen ever at an event. The lag was immense. Didn't help that at least 4 people brought Vikis and summoned those giant robots. Why do people do that? I don't know.

Anyway, I really had no idea what was happening for most of it, I stayed out by the edge of the crowd and occasionally killed stuff. What, I really didn't know, since I couldn't really see it. But the only drops I got were 9 Cabosse 99% (from the Valentines's event, I think). Never actually saw a proper boss, just mobs, really.

State of the Game...

This seems to be a period of great turmoil, not just for me, but the game as a whole.

On the official front, it's now only a few days from Christmas and not only do we not have a holiday patch, there's no signs of us ever getting Claire and the rest of 2.9.
We may or may not get some events, like mystery boxes, but Neume could be talking out of his ass (which he does a lot). What's the deal behind the lack of further patches? Is K2 late on payments to IMC? Or some sort of disgruntlement between the two? Or does IMC just suck?


On Bristia, there is a raging scandal brewing, regarding the duping of items. I don't know how it works, but apparently people there have tons of +8 Serpent gear. Apparently some people were banned by K2, but apparently then later reinstated, complete with duped stuff. So the honest folk there are up in arms.

On Illier, apparently 1 of the 4 people playing there has also been using the dupe trick, only with fesos.

On Orpesia, there doesn't seem to be a major problem with duping, except for a mysterious seller of cash shop stuff (most notably of Mysterious Powder). All the excitement has been player done, with a serious shakeup in the power structure.

Citadel, the former top clan, appears to be no more, with only 1 member remaining (its leader). In colony wars, the new big clans appear to be Aegis (the people who split off from Citadel) and Elysium (who had been a fairly hard core raiding clan, but just entered CW two weeks ago). Telos has a couple colonies, so does Unaio BR. Maelstrom is still hanging on to a few, but Neph is down to one.

What does the future hold for Orpesia? While several long time players who had been getting bored with the game have apparently decided to stay thanks to recent events, the former statis quo getting shaken up might not have good long term effects. Citadel, for all its dominance, was a fairly benevolent overlord, not hogging stuff too much (not like the horror stories I've heard from Bristia). Will that be true for the new ones? And where will the ex-Citadel people that didn't join Aegis go?

The worst thing about leaving a clan...

At least to me, is the realization that all those people who had spend hours talking with really aren't your friends, just acquaintances, sort of, and not really even that.

Some of them still talk to you when you run into them, but most don't seem to.

Well, no more Core for me...

Lasted only 2 weeks. Seemed longer than that.

Most the guys in it were really nice and I'll miss them. But at the same time, the clan was just too hard core for me, I guess. Half the people (or so it seemed) turning Expert and now doing stuff I just couldn't do, like Secret Temple (from what I've read). And really Vergo even, I basically invited myself along for that and got clobbered.

And since becoming Core (and everyone went expert), seemed like doing the stuff that I could do less. Like Diablo. In No_NeeD, we'd try to do it a couple times a day. In two weeks of Core, we tried it I think 3 times, only winning FC once. And never the Angler, which we'd do sporadically.

Not that I blame them. Screwing around with Diablo can take 20 minutes or more (like 5-10 minutes just putting the talt in, then firecracking, etc) and the rewards are pretty minor comparatively - maybe a 96 or 84elite drop, a couple chips. Not much compared to Vergo or I guess what drops in Secret Temple.

But at the same time, I was pretty much back at the starting point, where all I did in the game was run around Rio Albi killing the Komodo for 92 chips. Compared to that, whatever dropped from Diablo was pretty decent, and my main (only?) source of 100 chips. So I liked doing it.

I guess I should find a clan that does Diablo regularly. But the only clans that used to show up there were Mael and sometimes Neph.

Vergo!

2nd one for the clan (3rd including No_NeeD days), but first for me. I had no idea what the heck I was doing, mostly just ran around ressing people as much as the lag would permit.

Thankfully I didn't get anything good (would have felt guilty if I had), a mega talt and the key to the chest. Which opened up produced a couple of 84e and some junk. (Got an 84e Bracelet)

Core (clan) is born...

I don't really like the name (I wanted Sky), but it got the most votes. So the clan has (hopefully) been reborn as "Core". We almost immediately did the 51 and 52 quests.

Hopefully we can get most, if not all of the old members. The leader of No_NeeD has apparently quit to join Maelstrom, so there's not much point in people staying. OTOH, the new clan seems to be more focused than the rather loose No_NeeD, and I think that might cause some members to quit, not join, or get kicked out due to inactivity. Me possibly for the latter as well, as the rules seem kinda strict.

Veteran number 10 is.....Claude

Sort of an accidental vet, really. I used him along with the first Calyce, then him again with my second (who is 96th). But I didn't want to leave him at 100, even though I'd probably rarely use him (even got him a pole arm).

30% Whee!

My highest vet just hit 30%.

Going back through screenshots, I put together an XP chart for how she's progressed:

Jan 3rd - 1st
Feb 3 - 44th
March 9th - 72nd (2 days later I finally got Catherine and left Torsche)
April 7th - 85th
May 3rd - 94th
June 1st - Vet 1.3%
July 5th - Vet 9.5%
August 26th - Vet 11.5%
Sept 16th - Vet 15.2%
Oct 16th - Vet 20.4%
Nov 4th - Vet 24.7%
December 1st - Vet 30%

So basically I get 5% vet per month for her. Best is 8%, worst is 2% in 6 weeks (when I took a break from the game, mostly)

At that rate, she will hit expert in 14 months, or March 2010