Return to the Vault
I got a call from Truebolt. He was setting up a try at the Acid stone. I told him I would go but we needed three things. 1. Enough power (of course). 2. A guide (getting lost is not an option.) 3. A tie to the temple (it is close by.)
I knew from experience that lacking any one of these leads to failure. Truebolt wanted to run from the East Direlands portal. After my hair raising run a day before I did not think that was a good idea. He then said he would run from the portal and tie to the temple. I gave him a rundown on what he would find on the way and he decided to find someone with a tie.
For power we were ok. We had a 50+ fighter and a 50+ mage in addiction to Truebold, as fine an archer as there is. We also added Po, Sidhartha vassal.
Truebold contacted me and said he had got a tie and the party was forming. I got a ride to Fort Teth and we were ready to go. The 50+ fighter knew the route so I thought it would be easy. Me a 40+ fighter and mage soloed the stone before I moved to the Nest.
The fighter and me hit the temple first. The others were going to follow. I took the exit and started the run to the vault. After a little while I realized I was running in the wrong direction. I was surprised to see the fighter following me. I reversed direction and we got to the vault ok.
I asked him why he followed me when I was going the wrong way. I expected him to say he was making sure I was safe, instead he said, "I thought you knew where you were going." Hummm, he was the guide.
We did a little fighting until the others showed up. It was late and we were about the only ones there. We headed off and I had to lead. It seems we did not have a guide after all.
The path to the first set of bridges is very straightforward. We would fight a bit between bridges and let the mage and Truebolt kill the ones on the bridge. At the end of the bridges we rested and buffed up. After this was the spot of the big battle Luigi and I had. It is a bad place, which will eat up anyone not ready for it.
At this time I found we were missing Po. I can never remember his full name so I could not message him. I felt that if he had died he would have messaged me. (Later found he had a family problem and had to quickly log.)
We got into the room and the battle went ok. We had the power to clear it quickly. But without a guide we were having problems finding the exit. We circled around and ended up back where were started. During all this a lot of stuff was spawning in back of us.
Finally we had pushed our luck as much as we could have and decided to leave. They all started looting. I had a bad feeling about that. We were hit by a massive wave of Soldiers. I ran to a corner and turned to face them, but there were a lot more that I had bargained for.
I quickly type "Help". I saw the other fighter's dot off to my left but he was having his own problems. I took a few stam's and heals and knocked them down to 4 or 5. At this point I saw I was alone so I ported out. The key to porting in battle is as much health as possible. You will take massive damage after pulling the wand. Dying in portal is very common because of this.
The only time it happened to me was in the vault. In that battle I was watching my hit points closely. I had 37 hit points when I ported out. Stilled died. A few times I have had to port out because of overwhelming numbers. I had to drink 3 or 4 health elixirs before trying.
So this time I was sure to bring down the numbers against me before porting, cheaper than wasting health elixirs.
I talked with Truebolt and he was very sorry. He was told the other fighter knew the way. I said it was ok, fights like those are what it is all about. He said him and the mage were not used to taking that much damage. Seem they were taking 10 to 20 a shot. As Soldiers hit fast I can see why they had to exit quickly.
Shards
My Archer found shards with no problem for a while. Had no need for them yet so I gave them to Killean. I felt, as they were so easy to find I could get more. Well that was the luck of the draw. I made some trades with Jocasta and she wants shards.
Fist headed out to hunt fragments. I have killed too many to count. Not even one shard was dropped. The Saint joined me hunting them. We decided to hunt north of Bandit Castle. I ported to Tou-Tou and took the Awric portal. From there I took the Mountain portal, passed LOD to a portal a short way from the castle.
I went north, finding a few fragments but no shards. Getting bored with it I noted a dungeon entrance, small ice cave I think the name was. Might not be a good idea to solo an unknown dungeon but tossed caution to the wind I headed in.
Found a few Ivory gunmies and some ice golems. Nothing I couldn't handle. I finally worked my way down to two Granite golems. Had to change weapons and buff it up. I killed one, ran and healed up and then killed the other. Hate them spells.
I found door guarded by a Lich. The door was on of those diff 1000 need a key doors. Having no idea where to get the key I looked for a way out. (Found out later it is part of the Frost quest. Key is from someone one in the Bandit Castle.)
A short passage later I was ambushed by an Iron golem. Never fought one before. After dispatching him I found a portal to the surface.
Headed north and after a few big battles met The Saint. We hunted up the coast a while until he had to log. I hunted until I hit the farthest point north. Killed a bunch of Fragments and Broken Fragments, no shards.
Solcaim
Hunting Reedsharks now. Still using the bow. I made 11lv and will be 12lv very soon. I cannot fight more than one Reedshark but I'm building my melee defense a bunch. My with poor armor and little magic I take a lot of damage when I'm hit. With low hit points and stamina I cannot take too much damage. Avoiding hits seems to be the best option.
As bad as Reedsharks are for low levels you would think people would learn to run when they see one. I knew that a Reedshark was pure death early on. I would see a Reedshark and run, even when it is chasing someone else. They tend to change targets a lot.
So I'm hunting a pack of Reedsharks that spawn next to the road. I hit a Shark and run, pack chasing. As things get spread out I will end up with one. I turn and fight it. Then I do it again.
This time I see a mage resting next to the road. I cannot lead them to him so I change directions. I have to stop a few times to be sure the whole pack stayed with me.
After a bit I lose the pack and return to try again. The mage is standing there watching me. So I felt he knew what he was doing and could fight them. I hit an Elder and ran. I get it away from the pack and start shooting it. One of the pack runs over to the mage and kills him in one shot. Hell mage, what did you expect.
Next another guy runs up the road. He see me and stops to watch, standing right next the mages body. I'm already fighting so I cannot warn him. One leaves the pack and one shots him. Well I guess there is a learning process.
Thistledown
I log in as Cliff Bowman. He is an Archer with life magic and item. Despite a low self I will be getting him creature next. He spec'd nothing so he will need the magic buffs.
Before I can do anything I got a message from Dolder. He loves my column and wants to adventure with me. As a 28lv swordsman my 14lv Archer would bore him to death. I decided to bring in Fist de Mage (20lv). We were going to the Lugi place near Qbar.
I have seen mages fight big stuff but knew it was not going to be easy. First I setup to be a support mage. He loved the buffs. We were fellowing so I would not have to fight. The problem was I was a Lugi magnet. They would run across the room, around a bunch of fighters to get at me. I did a lot of running
I quickly rearrange my spell bar. As support I could not fight well. I had to set up a bar for fighting Lugies. It took a while before I could do it effectively. For one thing I was not used to tracking my mana use. I was always running out of mana.
This was added to the fact he was using to going deeper and into more dangerous places. I was smart enough to tie to the entrance, as I knew I was going to die a lot there. I was doing ok against one. But did a lot of running mostly. Finally I was facing one and one spawned in back of me. It was over in seconds.
So I told him to head off to the deeper reaches and I would fight near the entrance. I was getting the hang of it. My current battle goes like this. Drain health, drain health, drain health, drain stamina, stamina to mana, Lighting Vulnerability, Lighting bolt until dead.
With my protects I can live with about half health after the battle. But of course if there is more than one I'm dead, or running. I died a few times and Dolder felt bad about it. I told him not to worry, I was having fun and learning a lot. He wanted to get me a level but I was only getting 28% of the xp so that was a little hard.
Healing is starting to pay off. It helps that Lugies drop healing kits. After battle I don't have to waste mana healing up. I can use health to mana and then heal with the kit for buffing.
I went back the next day and hit a room with a few fighters in it. They were not happy to see me. Seems there are a lot of what we have dubbed "Skimmers" out there. These are mages that drain health to half way for every monster in the room and let others finish them off. Then they loot them all.
They toss no buffs or heals. Pure leaches. From what I'm getting on the NG this is more the norm that not. I proved my worth I think. I did not drain others fights, other than stamina. I fought my own battles. I tossed a few heals and buffs when I could.
I think they started to like me being there. At least they did save my poor butt. I was in a battle after killing one. The first spell is to get my health back with drain health. Ooops out of amber. Lighting vulnerability, lighting bolt. But I was going a lot quicker then he was. A bunch of fighters jumped on it. I had 6 hit points left when it died.
Only other death that day was at the entrance. I was fighting one when I found myself in the middle of a four way pounding. Kind of looked like the railroad workers driving a spike, I was the spike. Needless to say I died quick.
I burn mana stones and comps bad. So far Astrangeone, my long suffering patron, has kept me supplied. After all this I ran out of pyreal. Going to have to beg some notes from him. The loot is ok but not enough. I have taken to picking up all the Lugies weapons before porting out. Still they might be worth one mana stone at most.
I also decided that Fist de Yuma might be able to fight here. The place is packed so I can fight in a group. With luck I can take one but it is chancy. I guess a 16lv should not be here but so far I have not died. Ran a lot but I'm living.
I'm poring all my points into melee defense. After they stop hitting me I will work on attack skills. One thing for sure, this got the xbow put away. Tried to use it just to see how it worked. I hit hard, 18 a shot, but was getting hit much harder than before. I was right in saying Melee rules inside, Archer's rules outside. Mages are ok in both but very hard to play and expense.
If it were not for the lamers (skimmers and other leaches) I would say there is balance. But because of the lamer bow-users and skimmers, melee will be on the tail end of the stick.
A hope for a fix
I'm hoping that the reported de-buff fix is in the works. There is nothing so boring as waiting somewhere for a de-buff to go away. There has to be a way to remove a de-buff after the battle is over.
Power leveling
Taishan called me about going to the Nest with him. Taishan is the second player of a 60+ fighter who is also under Elder. I told him I would love it but was going to play Cliff Bowman that night. I had run him to Dryreach after picking up some keys to it. I found it good hunting and empty of other players.
He suggested Cliff and him go to the Lugui place. I had been thinking of going after seeing how fast I could level my others there. I was worried as Fist de Yuma (Jr.) was getting hit hard when he used a bow. I said he might get bored escorting a 19lv archer around. He said that if I paid for his comps it was fine with him.
I logged Cliff Bowman and ran to Mayoi to meet him. After I got there I stocked up on AP arrows. He made a portal we jumped in. We first hit the exit to buff up and I tied to the entrance.
Taishan put a lot of level V buffs on me. I had just got my melee defense up enough to use the superior helm. With his buffs I was even better off. We hit the portal and changed in.
LOL I had heard of power leveling but this was my first shot at it. With the buffs I was hitting Lugies for 33, after he de-buffed them I was hitting for 133. We were knocking down Lugies left and right. What was great was they all attacked Taishan. He could defend with drains and buffs. I just shot them one at a time. With his de-buffs it was two or three shots at most. Sometimes I would one shot them.
He kept us on the move hitting, every bad spot in the place. In one room we killed a few and waited a bit. Taishan said he was lagging. Suddenly we were hit by a massive spawn. I was being pounded on by at least 5 of them. Taishan was having his troubles with 5 or 6. He still had time to toss a heal or two my way but it was too little too late and I died.
Left some stones and the Superior Helm on the body. I quickly ported back and met Taishan. We headed back but keep running into big groups. They all wanted a piece of me. I lost my vit quickly and leveled to 20. That was 120k in about 20 minutes.
I kept having to run from the attacks and it was getting to look like getting my helm back was going to be harder that I thought. The Lugies were relentless. They followed me forever. I could run out of radar range but if I stopped I found them still coming. I ran into a dead end a few times but my melee defense and speed let me escape. Love them buffs.
At one time I could see the body but was then run all the way back to the exit. I even thought I might have to log Fist to clear the room. Nice to be able to call on a 59lv fireman. Taishan said we could get it. There were a few others there. With their help we cleared the passageway and I got my body.
Had one other really big fight with what seemed like 12 to 15 of them. A few attacked me but most were on Taishan. If he could de-buff one I could take it fast. Still I was sure we were going to die. Wall to wall lugies with us in the middle was not a happy sight. Somehow he was able to keep tossing heals on me and keep himself alive. After the de-buffs started to hit I could knock them down.
We hit a chest and he got some nice leggings. Mine are about as good and 2/3 lighter (550 vs 1750). But mine are not usable until I have 150 lore. At this point I only buff to 126. So I was grateful for them.
I had started with enough gear for 1000 arrows but was about out. Taishan was out of comps so we both ported. I got more gear and ported back. With the added weight of the new leggings I was 114% burdened. I had to dump some arrows and shafts to get to 99%. It was a good thing I had dumped some of the points I had gotten here into strength.
I gave Taishan the enough notes to pay for his comps and logged for the night.
Summary of power leveling. Needed 120k to make level 20. Ended day needing 75k to 21, or about 265k in an hour of play.
Exploring and the things I get into.
I heard about a dungeon that has a portal to Bashi. As this is where blunt arrowheads come from I wanted to check it out. The dungeon was not to bad, I got to train my magic resistance. Shaman's cannot get a spell on me . Found portal with ease.
When I got there a player named Zerita Mersma gave me a tell asking for my help. I said I would help him. He is a 13lv fighter. He needs to be 14lv by tomorrow. Not what I had in mind but I had agreed to help him.
He seemed to know where he was going. I had buffed his weapon with level V's and he was doing well. He wanted to fight Lugies. At his level the only way was if I tanked it while he got back shots. As Lugies don't change targets much it might work.
We got by the tower where the drunk makes the portal. Three Mattis were on a hill. I ran in front so he could get free shots. As he attacked two Ivory gunnies jumped him. I tried to kill them but the game would not let me break my lock on the Matti. I did a jump and finally got free but it was to late.
I got a message from him. He was LS'd in Hebian-to. LOL not smart. He said he would try to get a ride. I said he might as well start running as no one will have that there.
I waited for a time, fighting the Lugies out of boredom. Several players came by to get the ride from the drunk. A few were PK's that play fought for a while, lame
Then Monty showed up. If you remember Monty was a player I had bad blood with for a while. Then he joined Killean and changed a lot. He helped a lot of people and was honorable. Then he sold it. The new owner was a piece of trash thief.
Him and another piece of garbage high level teamed up to steal a lot of stuff. I guess they sold the stuff on e-bay until their reputation got out and on one would deal with them.
I gave Monty a bit of lip about being a thief, but the reaction was that he hated thieves to. I was confused. Then he explained, he was the third owner. It makes sense. The guy buys a high level. Uses the high level to steal a lot of good items, then sell to make money. Then when he cannot steal any more, he sells it and gets another one.
Maybe lame actions like this will wake up MS and Turbine to the frauds they are creating by not doing anything about thieves.
In any case the new Monty seems to be honorable. But as Killean said, it may be a scam as well. Be careful with trades but give the new Monty a chance to prove himself.
The next player to come along was Katsumi Kimoto. He was a 16lv archer. He took on an Ivory and almost lost. I stepped in and killed it at the last second. He was grateful. By this time Zerita Mersma had logged for some reason. I'm assuming it was a good reason. So I'm stuck with body sitting.
I buffed Katsumi Kimoto's bow with level V's to help him out. He did ok but while I was checking the status on the body an Ivory jumped him and he was dead. He took it in good humor. He hunted some more in the same area. I saw him killed again by an Ivory. This time because my buffs had wore off on the bow.
Finally the body rotted and I got his helm and halberd back. Now I will have to mule them until I find him again. Katsumi Kimoto and I had a good talk. I think he will be a good player. He does not have a patron so whoever gets him have a rare find. I buffed his bow with level VI's this time. He was still at it when I ported out.
No comments:
Post a Comment