5.0, Circus, TA, and Moar Stances

So freaking much has happened lately - and I haven't written a stitch about it. This is bad xD

Lately the Family has been able to join in on some Circus runs. Usually it's just to fill in and be an extra 3rd person/moving anchor. The lowest death record for a run is one death, but that's with staying well out of the way 90% of the time. e84's don't offer a lot of protection in there and Italy gets killed fairly easily. Either way some rough stones, lv 100 chips, a couple ticket recipes, and some boots, and even a Le Blanc have been acquired from it. Not too shabby for just being (mostly) a tag-along/buff monkey.

Not long after acquiring Italy's (fig) Expert stance Equites, she was also awarded with a Leo for Hanging Guard.. which.. still has yet to be leveled. After a small test I have a hunch she will need to be leveled by other characters - or at least assisted - before she can make much progress with leveling that stance. Also~! The Family was given a Symbol of Capricorn so Niyone (scout) now knows Arnis. She's being horribly stubborn about mastering it (read: dying), but it's happening slowly but surely.

Found a very inexpensive Shaggy Bobcut for Niyone. At first I wasn't very excited about this particular hair until I equiped it to her. Then I changed my mind xD

I think she looks adorable. ^^

Strange things have been going on with the servers again. For a time on several maps in the recent past all mob spawn would completely die off from certain maps on a specific channel. This however did allow for some awesome picture-taking opportunities - namely in Errac Dias.

- - - - - And then 5.0 hit. - - - - -

I haunted the maint thread as usual on the Sword 2 forums until the wee hours of the morning. I was there juuust long enough for a few lucky people to start patching ahead of time and cries of 'WE'RE GETTING 5.0' to start ringing out before I gave up waiting for maint to end and decided to crash and went to bed. I - of course - having set faith in certain promises that the community would be alerted ahead of time - internally scoffed at this when I hit the pillow and thought about how (sadly) disappointed everyone else would be when they found it hadn't actually happened yet.

The next morning? I couldn't have been more wrong. It was indeed 5.0 Now on one hand I was a little upset that we weren't told ahead of time and that it was suddenly *bam* 5.0 (and QQ to the loss of every continuing Belleming - my at-then source of income) but who can argue with new stances, maps, quests, and instances? I really can't. Other good news? I had just spent all my remaining vis on Bellems.. which.. I figure should return about 3-4x what I spent.. which is perfectly fine by me. ^^ The trick now is just deciding when to open them for best profit. Since then I've noted some players still sell Warp scrolls in the MM, but not much of anything else. Keys of any sort (AQM, Tetra, Porto, Prison, and Barrow) are completely nonexistant on the MM. It makes me curious what they might sell for now..

On that note - an NPC now sells Enchantment Chips - biiiiiiig DISLIKE. I have a small hoard of lv 32-76 chips.. mostly 32-40 in the triple digits. It's going to be.. interesting getting rid of those sans just discarding them. Good news - there will always be someone willing to buy straight out of the MM. :3 Those low level chips were getting difficult to sell as it was with the slight Belleming rush just before 5.0 kicked in, it might take a while now. Also - I know I'm not the only one hoarding a store of Bellems. It might not be a bad idea to camp on them for a while.

- - - - - 

Now - no proper update is complete without new maps and features. For me personally being able to have a map/quest/location to strive to get to can be a huge motivator for leveling/farming/and general progression in the game. At first it was to get to Ustier, then to Zona Uno, Dos, Tres, and Quatro. After that it was to be able to make it through Bahamar (maps and questline, which I thoroughly enjoyed), to Errac which has been recently completed, and recently the Family has found themselves being drawn to the mysterious land that is Caebolan. And now also Castilla.

Now Castilla has completely intrigued me, and so first thing after a brief glance about the camp (Comprised almost entirely of women no less.) The Family tested their strength at a solo run into the Mine. It all started off well enough.

Entering in, you get a medal just a few steps in!

It all started off simple enough. The Family took out the two Bear Workers with relative ease sans their sillily high hp. Next was a Steel Ararat that took a bit more effort, some rebuffing, and pot spamming to keep my squishy Experts alive in their e84 gear. It spawned three or so smaller Steel Ararats beneath it. They were annoying and didn't drop anything. Next was a pair of Phobitan Imps.. I don't have a ss of it, but I believe that's what they were called. They took the team by surprise and killed off Niyone and Jisket before the trio realised what was happening to them. Italy tanked the Imps and an SC resurrected Ni and Ji. The Imps were taken down shortly after. After that was the Phobitan General. That encounter went okay until it reached a point that cued its summons..

Imp summons are painful.

Needless to say the summons took out the team in very quick order. Not one of them could withstand a round of hits from all of them at once. Italy lasted a couple strikes longer, but not quite long enough.

Since then Gerero was found, fought, and killed once in the Prison and dropped some chips. There have been Reckless Emilias, Catherine Torsches, and Valerias *everywhere*. Prices of any and all Symbols have spiked sharply. Some have settled close to their old prices, several haven't. I missed out on CW over the weekend, but the clan the Family is in still took a colony. Bounty Hunter instances for Joaquin and Skeleton Dungeon have been checked out - and they're very well worth doing - especially considering 92 chips sell well and my team is horribly squishy for being Experts. There has been a huge increase in eLB recipes and (reportedly) DHr's. I was pretty surprised to see broads selling ELB recipes - though while they are probably still very far out of reach for the Family - if Elite Le Blancs are going to become common.. this means many other recipes should become alot cheaper in the near future... quite a lot.

Hopefully at least. ((I'm looking at you e92's!!!!! *shakes fist*))

Progress!

This past week has been a very busy week game-wise. It didn't take long until I found there would be quite enough to create a post and so I made a list.. and that list kept growing quite a bit. So! Without further ado~

- Nar has been added into the Family and named Iapetos. Given the blunt Xaele (Ania) had when she was first added was still around, he's been able to start leveling Combatant right away. He was paired up with Victoria (Grace) and Evalyn (Brunie) for the lulz and the levels.

 On a side note... Nar is huge.

- Also, I finally got Equites!!!!! I've had a Sag Symbol sitting around for some time, and now that the Errac quests have finally been finished~ Expert stances here we come! There's plenty of Great Stones from the recent Ethereal boxes, but now it's just a matter of getting the appropriate symbols.

- With Equites now under Italy's belt, she was let loose upon Bahamar to level it, mastering it in only four days. But..only? (Only?!) I feel I should be happy and disappointed at the same time. It was a bit of a surprise how much longer it did take to level the stance in comparison to Vet stances, but it wasn't too terrible. Save.. I remember how much of a pain Levitation seemed to be.. and that wasn't even a Veteran stance. I can only imagine what agony Darkness is going to bring. @_@

- Italy reached Expert Level 2 late the other night. In celebration (and after some extensive Golden Spider/Thora farming) a bit of crafting was in order - thus creating the Family's 5th (5th?) Trump! Now some serious grinding can be done. :3

 Sword + wings + squishy mobs = Happiness!

- I finally found a 3DR e84 coat for Emanuel!!! HUZZAH!!!! After far-too-long of haunting the MM, I finally found an e84 for my wizard. The Family tried +6'ing it three times..THREE.. ..and then I ran out of gold and my vis was low so I stopped. Now granted some people have tried multiple times to get a +6.. enough that would make a mere three tries seem piddly but.. the first time I tried +6'ing I got it on the second try. Consider me still spoiled by a bit of however brief luck. xD The coat will just have to remain a +5 for now.

- Taught Emanuel Incantation to compensate for the failed +6'ing. Good news? He now has all Vet stances and is set to continue leveling to Expert. :3 At this point the Family was almost broke - so the last remaining x-million were spent on Bellems. They'll replenish the funds shortly. ^^

- Attempted the Family's second ever Circus run, this time taking Italy vs. Niyone (Scout) like last time. A fellow clan family (surprisingly o-o) let Italy borrow a +5 3DR EMS for the trip. Given the Family has no experience tanking what-so-ever there was a nice bit of advice offered. Not long after wards (and several sc's on my part) later - success! Italy received a pair of gauntlets, 1 vet chip, 2 lv 100 chips, and a green circus ticket.

- Having missed Poison Yard, the Family later tried the Infiltration mission event thing. Sending in Italy, Victoria (Grace) and Jisket (Musk) in, it wasn't too bad. Save for the spinning blades that show up after 100 kills. Those were found out about the hard way D: ..but not before securing a green and yellow rough stone for their impending grievances.

..all that and it hasn't even been a week proper. I am starting to miss playing with a wiz or ele, but given Italy can actually level on her own now, going to Caeb to farm cards is beginning to sound like a very real possibility very soon. I'm currently haunting the MM for a cheap Leo so Italy doesn't have to be held back and can be mastered when possible. Also: I have a TON of pure ores. If I NPC'd them all - I would gain about 36m vis. There's anywhere from 12-21k of *each* pure ore. Not to mention some 17k of bulk silver. Going by the MM would be a considerably higher profit but.. it's going to take forever to sell all of those... @_@ Wish me luck! D:

What's this? What's this?

So ~ I have returned! *dun*dun*duuuun!*

My so-called 'break' exploded into quite the little vacation, and a very busy vacation it was. If I wasn't busy with finals, overtime at work, making lefse or family was over visiting I was off visiting instead. They don't call it the holiday rush for nothing! All in all the dust has finally settled, the sub-zero chill has finally set in - and here I am - back for another run.

An enthusiastic cry from a long-absent trio!

Checking back into Sword2 I see a few things have happened in my absence. Precisely how much (or little) I'm not quite sure yet as I was hardly around the forums let alone in-game. Apparently we're still waiting for the big 5.0? That's alright with me though.. still gives me a bit of time to go burn some Bellems and try to profit off the profits before they go poof! Ah yes - it is true - I'm still in the 'Expert nub' rut. The viscousE little Errac > Stances > Pwnage > Monies > Armor > Errac cycle.. the little 'need one to complete the other' trip. The entire catch is.. is getting into that little merry-go-round in the first place.

In other (very short) news -
- Bellem Boxing has returned with a vengeance, and probably will be until S2 *finally* patches. I, for one, am in no hurry.
- Certain e92's are cheaper than when I left... ..hopefully soon a belated Merry Christmas to me?
- Amazement has struck as I remember more key shortcuts than I thought I did.
- The Family has finally found a clan.. :D

On that last note - it was rather unexpected. No sooner had I *just* logged in when I received a PM asking if I was looking for a clan. A bit of a convo and a Q&A session ensued and voila~ Alzeda has now become a part of Core. I find this a bit ironic as a number of my former clannies also ended up in Core - and some of them are still in it, though several have moved on. True as it stands - I'm a bit under geared for fun things like raids and CW.. however having some people around to chat with again with is proving refreshing and working it's own wonders for my (former) far lacking sense of motivation.

Earlier Sat I ventured into Errac, spying a couple of clanmates along the way. Fortunately, it was Dias so the Family didn't get mopped across the floor quite so fast as in Noche, however they were still given a good thrashing and died at least three times within.. oh.. fifteen? Twenty minutes? A bit unexpectedly, the Family ended up teaming up with a couple clanmates and so in our little mob of roving death, raised a bit of chaos across the field until 50 Kobold Crouchers were killed for a quest.

Behold the carnage!

 

However - the day wasn't over quite yet! Within a short time an impromptu group was assembled for venturing into Occulta, and with a little surprise help some five or so families gathered to venture into the trap-ridden depths! Now - I've heard tales of the horrid trigger-happy passages that plague this dungeon. I've also heard that they were (reportedly?) tweaked as so there weren't so the traps anymore. Regardless - giant spikes that shoot out of the floor still have a wonderful ability to halt fleeing family on the spot until they are pummeled to oblivion. Three Soul Crystals later Italy, Niyone, and Jisket arrived in a safe corridor - and then the fun began!

The Elders really didn't stand a chance..

 

Three more crystals later, several res potions, and countless moments of flailing later all our required quests are done. And by all - I do mean all. ^^ The diary was almost an immediate find, and between several families all attacking at once the Elders didn't last long either. After that, TA began and the Family set off to finish up the long-overdue quests. The awesome news? Expert stances are finally available and the Family finally (finally!) acquired Nar! Now all that's left is to cook up a name.. again..

..have I mentioned that naming isn't my forte..?

Now the great debate besides naming Nar - and no he isn't going to be named just 'Nar' - is.. now that I've gotten back into the swing of Bellem Boxing again and actually have *some* income once more.. so do I save first for Symbols for Expert Stances? Or for shiny e92 armors? I'm leaning towards armor.. but.. but! Shiny stances!!! /QQ

Eh, it'll sort out in the end. :3

November!

Surprising it's already the 1st of the month. Well - by the time this is posted it probably won't be, but I'm still awake so for me it still feels like it's the 1st.

Win notes concerning November:
- I'll be working on a Sword2 cosplay for a couple Cons later this month. Err, finishing one, rather. It was one I started some time ago but life bumped in and made me put it on the shelf for the time being. Recently I re-found it, and so the sewing has begun again! Which.. will be interesting as my sewing skills are par nonexistant. The good news? I can sew in a straight line! I'll add more info as I progress.. On that note (a hint?) making pants without a pattern is... difficult. ._.;;

- NaNoWriMo has now begun, so a good portion of my creativity will be fueling into that.

- And... maybe update? I haven't been on the forums or in-game as much as I'd like to be lately, so I feel a bit out of the loop on what the current plan is, but last I knew they were looking at mid-November as a launch for the next major patch. I think some might be saying it's been pushed back more.. but.. I haven't really run across anything concrete. So - here's to crossing fingers and hoping for the best. ^^;

My ongoing afk-leveling has been.. sporadic.. but progress is still continuing. I'm starting to get really tired of staring at Rion Dungeon everytime I log in to afk now, buuuut - on the upside the Family level is now 29! Whoohoo!!! Currently still clanless but that's alright. I don't have a bunch of free time for much activity in-game as it is. ^^;; November is looking like it'll be pretty busy for me so... maybe I'll have better luck come December.

So far in terms of leveling the nubs, being there are more who can wear only leather than those who can/can also wear metal I've been capitalizing on that option as much as possible. Unfortunately I've just about completely ran out of characters under 60-79 who can wear metal armor. I just picked my last one left, Callista (Rescue Knight), to add to my leveling team tonight. After this (as I level two sub-80's with Victoria (Grace) at the same time) I'll have to dig around for a decent leather to keep them alive. I believe I have a +3 DR leather armor sitting around somewhere.. *hunts*

All in all, my updates will be pretty sporadic for the next month or so. Oy, I miss boss farming.. *drools a little*

Oh - and before I forget, Ancient Orbs are freaking expensive.

Recap II

The week has been pretty silent. I know I haven't added a post in a while, and there's been reason for that. the main however is that most of the Family's time has been spent leveling up the lowbies! Been feeling a bit burnt-out on grinding with the Experts or Vets, coupled with re-finding an old game along with a number of guildies in it has resulted in the mass-leveling adventure currently taking place.

Thus far:
- Adelina, Idge, Claude, Andre, and Lorch have reached lv 80.
- Jose and Najib are currently 78

Once they're all lv 80 (I may add some more characters to that list at whim) I'll start leveling them up to 100. I won't Vet them until necessary. On the upside - all the leveling has been kind to the Family Level - as that too is gradually increasing as well. :D Whoo! Moar %'s to HP and ATK? yspls <3

- - - - -

I'm not in a huge hurry to get into Errac currently - I've heard after the uber patch of doom next month, it won't cost 5 runes to enter Occulta anymore. Given current rune hunting beats my Experts senseless and drags their sorry corpses across the map floor I'm in much, much more favor of waiting a few more weeks to complete those quests - get Nar - get that diary - and start working on those Expert stances than burning pots (and patience) hoping for 4 more drops of an item that Italy and Co. aren't even a decent level to farm drops for.

I just remember how much being a Vet sucked until I got some Vet stances, kind of like how Expert sucks right now. I currently can't AFK anywhere decent level without dying <15 minutes later. I'm hoping that like the Vet ones did for Bahamar, a few Exp stances will fix that for Katovic. *crosses fingers*

- - - - -

And to anyone reading.. (I know at least some of you do :P) ..if you have any grander advice.. do feel free to share. <3 I could use it.

Progress?

Very very slow weekend game-wise, very busy weekend Life-wise = little to none active playing = even less things to share ^^;; unfortunately..

In-game Mei (Soso) has been soloing in Via Fluvial. I've forgotten how slow Vet leveling can feel after being spoiled in AA for a month. Yes, I know mine ended a while ago - but I'm still noticing it. xD About the most exciting thing that has happened thus far was getting killed by the Dream Blade Antelope while I was AFK at work. I found out about it.. oh.. some three hours later. I shall have my revenge!

And maybe get a symbol? *crosses fingers*

Next to that - Mei reached Vet Lv 3. I'm considering crafting a Trump knuckle so she can kill faster.. but I'm not entirely sold on the idea. She's killing just fine with a pio wep. Actually.. all I really need to craft one right now is more Mega Talt.. Hmm... >_>

- - - - -

Goal Updates

- Hunt up a clan for CW, raids, and chaos chattage.

- Get some e92 3DR.. +'s don't matter.. but a bonus.

- Farm Katovic for the rest of those Apples/Cabbages - sell extras

- Try to solo PY again - aka: Chimmy dps test v.2

- Revisit Novia...

Pansy Leveling Pt 2

Well - our resident Squishy now known as Pansy Rio, formerly known at Caelan, commonly known as Vincent Rio finally made Veteran! *cue large sigh of relief here* I don't understand *what* it was about this boy, but he has been the most stubborn family member to level to date. Even Isabel who only has 32 Con (8pts less) had better survival at the same levels than Caelan did. With the same gear! So - either Caelan is just a bit of fail - skeletons REALLY hate musicians - or Isabel is just made of pure survival magic.

Dawn (Claire) was also promoted to Veteran despite her points still being undecided between Dex or Str. I figured my Scout didn't have her points allocated until she was Vet Lv 4 or so, but Dawn could use the extra AR/DR point, not to mention any Exp. ^^

- - - - -

Bought a Spirits of Ice ring for Mei (Soso) off the MM this week, and also an Enhanced Frostbite ring. I know these two don't stack QQ but each has their strengths so I got them both. Very fortunate! Especially considering I've been haunting the MM for an Ice ring for eons.. and finally found one. :D

- - - - -

Clan-wise the Family is still clanless. Party from curiosity and interest I've kept an eye out for where other former clannies have gone. A few started their own (so-far) one-man clans, a few others have joined one random clan here or there but I've heard the name of each before at some point or another. Interestingly enough the two largest migration destinations has been to either Core or Ethereal.

I'm a bit interested in Ethereal, but that's going solely off of their thread on the forums. I'll admit I am drawn to the number of colonies they possess yet I've also noticed Ethereal hasn't been involved in CW recently (past few weekends) which.. concerns me. Now don't get me wrong - that sort of colony buff would be very nice - and extremely helpful - but I want to get out there and fight each Saturday too.

Maybe that's why people keep moving to Core. o.O Mmm.. either way more research is needed as I have way too little info, as I'd like to CW weekly and join in raids if possible. Maybe I'll just post in the 'looking for a clan' thread. That might work too. -.-