Past Two Weeks

 Well the last two weeks have been.. somewhat monotonous game-wise. RL has taken a liking to mauling my better senses so everything is pretty much jelly atm. Stresses aside, at least Sword-wise there's been a few note-worthy remarks to be had - so without further adeu!

- Went Vesping for the first time ever and Italy found out what an uber pain Armor Crasher is. I've never pot spammed so fast in my life. Well, maybe that's not quite true, but it's up there.
- Got to help take down a Heaven Giant Keeper though trump blunts don't do very much in ways of damage. Got a Magic-spelled Amethyst and a Liquid gas and some chips for my (not so useful) involvement. On that note - Vets were total derps and kept running in the way of the vesps and getting themselves killed. -.-

It was a race to see who could inflict AC first. :3

- A friend lent the Family some gear and so fresh Masters Anwen (Romina), Italy, and neglected scout Niyone set off for round two of the Holy Water Chamber quest. :3 It's amazing what the right gears can do. The first attempt took 30 minutes to get by the first boss. This attempt? Just eight minutes. Eight. That's absurd. I was giddy but died a little inside at the same time. Surprisingly gear+buffs alone (not ET or FF) Romi had 68 AR 65DR, and Italy had 67 AR/DR.. and that was without a shield. With 32 minutes left on the clock (and only 2x minutes fighting) Jorgen went down as well. :3 After that the rest of the quest went pretty uneventfully.

Boom! (Knockback was still a bish x.x)

- Rest of the Caeb SA pass was spent in a card squad. All cards were used on Soso who reached Expert. She's Exp Lv 4 now. :3 Leveling her is a bish x.x She has worse survival luck than Caelan (Vincent Rio) did while trying to level him to Veteran back in October.

 Random Clan Shenanigans. You can guess what was actually happening.

- Discovered Italy can now thrive in Circus, not completely fail at damage. Her weapons are pretty generic currently, but she can tank just fine with her existing gear. Hitting 67 DR with a shield isn't much of an issue anymore. ^^ Now if only she could hit that kind of survivability without one.. *dreams a little more*
- Tried using a crafted key for skele - silly simple fight - no frenzied ravyn. QQ

Castilla Mine Phobitan Imp General still eats the Family for breakfast.

- After numerous unsucessful attempts at chipping *any* DR on our own e92 ERS, the Family purchased a +5 3DR ERS instead. Finally, Niyone won't be stuck wearing e84 armor at best anymore. Will work on +6'ing it later. Now just to get a Scorpio.. *dreams*

Lady Luck Strikes Again

Tonight I tried rechipping an Elite La Luna that the Family was very kindly given not that long ago. The first few chips yielded a sole stat of 34% atk, which was fine for the time. Having hoarded up a few more Lv 96 chips (after foolishly selling the sizable bunch I had >_<) I decided to try rechipping on a whim. I'd been upgrading to break items into chips and had gotten several +6, and even a +7 earlier this evening, so I was feeling a little lucky. Apparently, tonight I was.

First chip. o________________o

I tend to have terrible chipping luck. Been pouring Lv 92 chips into an ERS to no avail yet, so I've hardly attempted chipping weapons. I'm not very familiar with socketing, so a 2nd and possibly 3rd will have to wait until later. I mean sheesh..  It's been a while later and I'm still gaping like an idiot. It even +6'ed on the first try. I must say, I do believe I know who will be the next Expert and possibly Master in the Family. Errac Dias slayer anyone? 

<_<

>_>

<_<

...

*giggle*
~Alze

First Masters! ..and HWC quest.

Oooh so much has happened in the last month! Both in and out of game, but I'll just stick with the relevant stuff. ^_~

Since my last posting, Zinnia, Margaret, and Anwen were sent off to Skele AA to level their way to Expert. About exactly two weeks later all three were promoted to Expert within a few days of each other. There was a bit of QQ over the lack of a Libra for Shadow Sting for Zinnia (Calypso), but Margaret(Ele) was given Occultism (and later also Augury). Neither stance has yet to be maxed.. yet. Lack of decent damage dealing items makes them a bish to level. Also found an e92 3DR robe for cheap. It was upgraded to +5 and left there for the time being.

Margaret ponders the Family's next move.

Anwen learned Equites and so her and Italy (Fig) were set loose into Baha SA. This worked well for a time. Curious thing about that map, decent spawn only lasts in the 1st area. In the hallways? Pfft forget it. At best (of what spots weren't taken - even in what I was later told were 'ideal' spots) spawn rate was too slow to keep them busy and at best they got around 2% an hour. Italy called bs and so they moved out to Murky. The experience there was excellent as long as they weren't afk killed by an Angler or dragged away to their deaths by Angler Hunters. There they got about 6-8% an hour. Shortly after on another player's suggestion the duo tried leveling in the Underground Caves. Oy! 10-12% an hour there, and so they camped. :3

Now during this time Italy went on a stance leveling extravaganza. During the past couple weeks she maxed Defender (which had been sitting at lv 20 for forever), and acquired and maxed the Expert stances Hanging Guard, Crusader, and Tronada Cruz. She's only lacking Peltast, but Scopio's are expensive and Niyone has first dibs. Anwen maxed Equites. Over the last weekend Italy grinded her way to Lv 10 - 100%. A soloing Romina quickly closed the 1 1/2 level gap and caught up. With the help of some cards in time for some BH runs, both were promoted to Master within the same day.

Master at last! Huzzah!

It's been a while since Italy was promoted to Expert back in September. Exactly seven months and a day later she's now reached Master. Anwen took a little under two weeks. Found out they each gained two AR/DR for their promotion.

- - - - -

- Found and killed first ever King of Covetry in Baha SA. It was muuuch more successful than the first try. The Family couldn't even dent his hp at the time. This wasn't exactly a cakewalk either, but they finally succeeded!

Proof! :D

- Accidentally made a +8 BFG while trying to break lv 92's for chips.
- Joined in and completed first (and second) BH Caeb run with my shiny new masters.
- Found an Old Chess Piece in inventory. Noooo idea how it got there, nor when, but whooohoo! Is also the first OCP I've ever found.
- Bought a Ruined Ancient Rosario and gave it to Reina (Emilia) so she can level her other stances. Bought her Tactical Assistance. Makes her the second TA user in the Family next to Niyone(Scout). No intent to chip it (being it takes vet chips ;~;) but the lv 92 rosario is out of the Family's reach at the moment. The LoD quests will probably be happening shortly.

- Attempted the HWC quest with Masters Anwen, Italy, and Expert Jisket. It... wasn't pretty. It took about half the time to get past Ortega alone. Jorgen is totally tankable by Italy, with or without a shield. (with = 66 DR o.o;;, w/o = 63DR). Jisket easily died multiple times during the attempt, even in an +6 3DR e96 coat. The quest also nearly ran the family out of hp pots. They easily ate up some 800+ in the half hour alone. Maybe that isn't uncommon, but it is the highest pot burn in one shot the Family has seen yet.

As you can tell.. Italy wasn't too happy.

Maybe if Jisket could've stayed alive, they might've had a shot. As it was with Italy and Anwen, the two couldn't even dent Jorgen's hp. Whatever minuscule dent there was, it was quickly reclaimed by regen. Also - discovered ranged characters are wonderful for this quest, if not absolutely vital. The knockbacks by Ortega were super annoying, and Jorgen's debuff even more so. I've concluded that even if the MMA quest is completed (whenever Mei (Soso) reaches Expert/Master) that with Jorgen's 67/67 AR/DR and the difficulty that posed, working on improving the Family's weapon arsenal will be the next priority. Without that, Jorgen, (and not to mention) Catherine Torsche, and Reckless Emilia (we won't touch on Valeria) will be next to impossible to beat in the current circumstances.

Next up:
- LoD quests.
- Expert Mei (Soso)
- Angler Hunting.
- Weapon chipping?
- STo revisited.
- Caeb/Baha/Skele BH mauling.
- More CM runs?

Wish me luck. :3
~Alze