Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Reduction Potion Price Situation

There was discussion last night on chan 6 about dragon scales. Geared towards Radu's idea of making dragon armor repairable with scales, but it veered off a while to the current prices of scales.

Which led to the inevitable bringing up of reduction potions which were partly designed to help get scales out of the game. They never really caught on though.

My Reduction Pot Experience

I'm one of just a handful of people in the game who can readily make these. "Readily" meaning (1) a high enough potion level that ing loss isn't too big a problem, and (2) have actually read the books.

And with the exception of when they were first brought in-game, I'm the only one who's recently attempted to sell them, at least publicly. This being either via market channel, and later on my bot IWannaRock. (Unlike what happens on many bots, they were not price-hiked either, but given the exact same price I offered when selling myself.)

Pots Were Abandoned

Now, I did abandon these for a while, as did every potioner I spoke to who could make them. After the initial people who wanted to try them out bought them and decided they weren't worth the cost, they became just another thing to gather dust in storage.

Due to the cost of scales at the time, I certainly wasn't going to make more just for that. Especially considering at the time I was still only about 10 levels above recommended, and a fail was a huge loss for me. (The "rich mixer" theory that gets trotted out at times doesn't work on me, as my profits go primarily towards working on my gc-loss skills, buying books, etc. - I'm an "all-rounder", not just a profit mixer.)

For months, noone was seen selling these on market, and noone was even asking for them.

The Return to Making Them

More recently, as I attempted to open an "all pots available" potion shop, I noticed prices on scales had dropped some, which meant they could be sold for less.

I made a couple batches, put them on my "shop" page, and as well advertised them with their lower prices on market regularly.

Another wave of minor sales came, as new people tried to test them out. But that tapered off, as the end result was the same... still too expensive. I had one customer who came back for a second batch, but only a second. The rest never came back for more.

It's the repeat business that says if they'll keep selling, not the one-timers. What looked like it might start to work again didn't.

Pricing the Pots

Last night, there were people claiming the pots were overpriced. Here's how I priced them: I got the cheapest scale I could find at the time, mixed, and sold at a price that was only barely above the cost of making them.

Quite frankly, these pots will be a permanent gc sink for me and anyone else who makes them due to ing loss. A single ing loss will wipe out the little profit I was asking for and then some. The people claiming that the potters were overpricing them are seriously clueless.

But when/if I do make them, I'll continue to do the same, even with the eventual loss. Just to do my part to try and get them a functioning part of the game... we've already got too many potions deemed useless and never bought, so I really don't want another.


Last Night's "Pricing Madness" Discussion

During the course of the pot cost discussion last night, a price of 2kgc was brought up for red dragon scales, putting the price of the pots WAY below anything they'd ever been sold for before.

However, the only pots on the market were made before this sudden drop. Hell, before someone brought it up there I'd never EVER seen scales being advertised for that little.

We (potioners) were called greedy "overpricers" for this reason, as everyone decided the prices were way too high based on what was supposedly the current scale cost.

Noone brought up black scale prices, and even later when I asked noone could give me a straight answer on them.

Bot-wise, red scales were being BOUGHT at 2k, but sale prices were 5k or more, which was the lowest I'd seen them advertised on market by players as well to this point.

Holar's bot (as of last night) was giving the best offer to buy black scales, at 4500gc. Since people on 6 were claiming red prices were the same as what bots were offering to buy them for, I used that price as a base.

The Test Plan

Despite my attempting to get out of potioning for a while (just dropped the potion goddess even, to focus more on other skills), I decided that for these potions, I'm going to give them one final chance, with these decreased scale costs.

The plan:

1- Buy 5 of each red and black dragon scales. (red at 2k, black at 4.6k to be better than the current highest bot offer) Buying through my bot IWannaRock so people have a 24/7 chance to sell at these prices.

2- Make potions from all 10 scales.

3a- Sell them at this lower-scale-price cost. Price will be (scale cost + other ing cost + food / 12), with a very minor profit to help (but not fully) offset losses*.

*Keep in mind that every single ingredient in this potion has to be bought by me and/or other potioners. We have a tendency to not be able to grab scales from the dragons themselves, and vials cost way more to make than buy from the NPC.

3b- As well, offer batches of 12 of them (pre-mixed) in exchange for the appropriate scale and 150gc. (That's about 100gc for the other ings + food, and about 50gc for helping cover ing loss costs, not profit)


Now, with scale prices at 2k (supposedly) and 4.6k, that puts att red pots at 200gc and def red pots at 400gc. (Approximate prices)



A Wrinkle

Last night, bots were offering max 2k for red dragon scales. This morning I checked again and found 2 bots offering to buy them at 2.9k and 3k.

Apparently people are starting to speculate already that the ability to repair dragon armor is going to happen. Scale prices are going to go back up, and likely big-time.

Which means the above-mentioned pot prices won't happen for long... if at all. :/

If that happens, I'll have no choice but to increase prices as well, obviously. The trade option (scale+150gc for 12) will remain the same of course.




(12 hours later) Edit: Looking at around 3k for red and 5k for black scales now. I smell higher prices coming too so long as the repairable-with-scales armor idea doesn't die off. Looking at about 285 and 450 gce for the pots respectively.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Joining the Top 10 Potioners

You advanced to level 103 of potion!


Potion Level 103

Ties me in 10th place rank with someone who's not playing anymore. Yippee!


And sadness. This was my goal to get before dropping the potion goddess. She's been good to me, but it's time to move on and give other skills some loving.

Particularly, engineering. Now that I've reached my potion goal, I'm working on quest items for the engineering god. In fact, not much more to get as I've already collected the hardest stuff.

By the end of the day, my gods will be: attack, engineering, magic




That's what I've been working on mostly since my last post, buttload of SRs for the level, heh. Well, and for use/sale.


Current goals:
- Take Eng god
- 500 more bears to mana drain (with radiation shields between) for magic level
- bear stones for summoning level
- 3rd of 4 batches of S2Es needed for next nexus buy
- Engineering level (naturally) :P

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Harv, S2Es, SRs, the Fun Never Stops, Hehe

Stylin' and Profilin', me and my bot :)

Me with IWannaRock

I gave IWannaRock an ISoF as a present, hehe. (Thanks to Holar for mixing my ings for it.)





Got a bunch of SRs mixed yesterday. Between yesterday and this morning, also managed to finish the harving and mixing for my second of four batches of S2Es for my next nexus.

Last night was a 3x harv for 6 hours. I hit the turqoise since it's actually needed and gives decent experience. During the final 3 hours I mixed indicator stones at the turq, got half an engineer level done that way. Figure I'm about 3 hours away from my next level if I bag mix, less if I use my turq in storage, which I'd rather save for a rainy joule day.

But a hold on that... I'll have the eng god soon, better to wait until then. Only did those last night because of the 3x harv day.


Speaking of which, next goal is to finish off my pot level. Got about 750k experience to go on that. Which is 7.5k BRs or about 8.5k SRs in reality-speak. Probably do a mix of those, as well as mix anything else I got ings for. Day of schools would be nice so I could work off some of my shroom extracts there...


Planned current goals:
1- finish pot level as said
2- switch to eng god as soon as I get that level
3- bear stones in Arius for another summon level
4- mana drain (with radiation shield) 500 bears for magic level

Saturday, September 26, 2009

More S2E harving and mixing

Finally got the distraction real-life work done. Now I can mix again, hehe.

Been harving until then. Now got all the FEs needed for my S2E batch mixed, and got the iron bars mixed. Next up is steel bars, and still got a lot of iron harving to do for that, so mixing at the iron will likely be happening.

Meanwhile, stopping that for a moment to get 2-3k SRs mixed after I harv the flowers and BQ for them.

Grabbed harv points last night while I was mixing the FEs at storage...


You advanced to level 96 of harvesting!


Harvesting Level 96


Just 4 more harv levels and I can become a moderator! Oh wait... :P


Anyway, today will be mixing SRs and steel bars and harving. Oh my.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Still Busy IRL

Getting a full website done complete with real (and new) content takes some time, heh, so I've been pretty much limited to semi-afk harving since I got the magic level in my last post.

And that's been limited to gathering ings for my next S2E batch... FE ings and coal specifically. Start the iron today... almost finished with the website so hopefully I can get back to doing some mixing later today.

But, well, a batch of S2Es takes a lot of ings, so I would have spent a lot of time harving anyway. Just not as much as this since I'd be paying more attention and get it harved faster.


Still need to get some SRs mixed too. My bot's sold out and I don't have many to refill it. Not that big a deal, but it's a nice side source of income.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Distractions, Yet a Level

Been very distracted past couple days with "real life" stuff.

I did, however, manage to finish up my rad shield / mana drain essies, and use them on 500 bears...


You advanced to level 64 of magic!


Magic Level 64



As for the newly becoming a moderator... well, so far, so good. Most of the time I've spent just watching and getting used to how things work for now, slowly easing myself into things.

Can't (and won't) really say more than that, hehe. Modding won't be a real subject in this blog since, well, obvious reasons. Just thought I'd mention that single generic line since I've been asked a few times if I like being one or such. Yes, I do so far. But everything's new. ;)



Looks like I'm back to work on another batch of S2Es now. Though I'll probably do some breaks in that for some potioning to continue working on that final level before I switch to the engineering god.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Alch 111, Craft 49, a Good Morning

After lots of work yesterday on FEs (buying and mixing) and silver bars, finally got around to mixing silver meds and moon meds this morning...

You advanced to level 49 of crafting!


Crafting Level 49


After which, I went back to making radiation shield essies...

You advanced to level 111 of alchemy!


Alchemy Level 111


Sweet.


As said, I'm back to making essies for radiation shields, and mana drains, so I can do the mix on 500 more bears for another magic level.

May have to stop, as I need to restock my SRs, both for myself and to sell on my bot, which is still selling a lot of them.


Current plans:
1- The bears/rad shield essies/MD essies
2- Another batch of S2Es
3- Finish off potion level (after which, drop pot goddess for eng god)
4- Get some desert chim a/d training in as I feel like it

Sunday, September 20, 2009

God Decisions

Current: Attack, Potion, Magic


After a long thinking and debating process, I think I finally figured out what to do with my gods to get them switched to skills that more need more work.


1) Magic - No change for now. It's still relatively new, and I'm still working on getting usage of it.

2) Potion - As soon as I get my next potion level (103), I'm going to drop it for the engineering god. Already got the 2 hardest eng god quest items, and the rest are easily gotten.

3) Attack - Continue training on chims, where I'm averaging 27% more attack than defense experience. Attack's only 1 level behind defense, so once they're close enough to being even again, I'll drop Attack god for Summoning god. Shouldn't be too long, assuming I can get off my mixing ass and go train more regularly, hehe.


End result: Summoning, Engineering, Magic

Movin' On Up... Desert Chim Training

2-3 disses per chim, but with neutral or good astro I can now bone-train on Desert Chims.

And getting about 27% more attack experience than defense, with the attack god. Which means if I drop the attack god my attack experience will still be about 7% more than defense. Very nice since attack is less than defense by a level now, and I plan to drop the a/d gods for a while to focus on getting other skills up.

At any rate, spent quite a bit of time yesterday training on DCs for well over a million overall experience, which led to...


Your overall level is now 137!


Overall Level 137


With that, I hit the wraith and now have full 960 emu! Yippee! And the additional 2 physique hasn't hurt my chim training. That was the first thing I did was test to see if it had any noticeable effect. If anything chim training was slightly easier, with no real noticeable change in experience.




Hurting for gc at the moment. My goals to mana drain more bears and do another batch of S2Es are essentially gc sinks. So I'm holding on those and moving to getting another crafting level. With self-harving, the moon medallions will give me both a level and some income.

Got the sapphires polished last night. Working on silver bars now, and so crafting level will be my goal for today...

Friday, September 18, 2009

Okay, the News...

It's official now, so I can say it, hehe.

Well, I'll let Gossip tell you instead...


Burn is a moderator!


\o/ ... I think. :P


And no, I won't be blogging about mod issues. So don't ask. ;)

Eng 43, and a Top 50 Tailor

Managed to get up half a potion level since my last post.

Didn't get much done yesterday, mostly just harving and mixing essies/ashes and such in prep for a tailor level.

This morning I got around to actually getting some tailoring experience, heh.

You advanced to level 32 of tailoring!


Tailoring Level 32


This level puts me in the top 50 tailors, albeit at the bottom.

You'd think I'd be happier about that than I am... but it's actually quite sad that I can get in the top 50 with such a low level. I mean, "top 50" should actually mean you're experienced in that skill. I've barely been touching tailoring compared to other skills, and hell, I'm not even at the recommended level for gray fabrics, much less making anything actually wearable.

For that matter, I've never made anything above blue dyes. Haven't even made a single colored fabric.

Sad state of the tailoring skill. :/


Anyway, mixing the ashes and saltpeter for the tailoring level got me close enough to an eng level that I just had to top that off with mixing a handful of indicators.

You advanced to level 43 of engineering!


Engineering Level 43


That was just a few minutes ago. ;) Doing some harving now while I determine my next plans, but I think they'll be...

- essies for 500 Mana Drain and 500 Radiation Shield Pots
- MD bears (with rad shields in between)
- Another batch of S2Es
- work on next crafting level


And still got some news coming, just waiting till it actually happens to say anything. Sometime today or this weekend...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Still Here, Still Mixing and Harving, Hehe

Last few days has been mostly harving with bouts of potion mixing.

Working on two things primarily, that is getting half a potion level, and earning some gc in the process. Got a chunk of gc that'll likely disappear today with a bid on an auction.


So tons of BRs and SRs, and continuing that today.


Spent a bit of time yesterday in the invasion. By the time I got around to it it was mostly hunting down stragglers on various maps. So didn't actually do much even if I did spend a lot of time combing several maps.


Woke up and logged on today to several people PMing me that don't normally PM me. Some interesting news, but I'll wait till it's complete before saying anything here, hehe.



Current goals:
1- Finish getting up to half a potion level (not an easy task these days)
2- Get an engineering level (primarily on mixing saltpeter for...)
3- Get a tailoring level

After which I'll likely MD some more bears and get back to work on another batch of S2Es.

Dunno if I'll a/d train in the coming days, but I might for the OA experience. Down to 2.3 million to go for an OA level now.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

IWR Bot Contest Over

It's the 15th, so the contest to win 25kgc is officially ended.

My random script pulled a name out of a hat, er, list, heh.

Congrats to Zmurf, who wins 25kgc!


Thanks to all who have made IWannaRock successful on his first few weeks in game. There were 48 people who qualified for a chance to win, and 8 that didn't reach the 500gc mark.

I'd consider 56 customers (with several repeat visitors) a successful start, heh.


More contests in the future, of course!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

S2E-making, and testing training

Most of yesterday was spent on the coal, then bag-mixing iron/steel bars at the iron.

Still got a bit more to go on that. Sitting at the iron again now as I write this.



Testing A/D Training

The thing keeping me from dropping the attack god, as mentioned before, is the very good chance my attack level will go way too far below my defense level.

I've decided to go with removing 4 pp's from other attributes and moving them to physique. Those combined with the pp I currently have waiting and the next OA one I get will put me at 48/48 p/c.

That's good for my emu too.... mmmm, fully-leveled mule with full emu.

I already moved 2 pp's last night, getting me to 44/48. Just need to move 2 more, and get 3.5 million OA experience more to get the last two.


But I went out and tested fluffies, feros, and DCs this morning, just to see my current status on all of them, and particularly which training would be best for keeping my attack level not too far below my defense, while at the same time giving the best OA.

The tests included weaponless, bone, or low-level weapon (up to tit long) depending on which was lowest that would kill the best training-wise. It was also done on 10 monsters in a row, single spawn, to get a better "average" idea rather than relying on just the results from hitting one.

I also needed to look at "just how much" attack experience I was getting over defense, since I'd be getting 20% less attack experience in the future.

Fluffy
1) weaponless (1 diss) - 268.5k OA/hr, 30% more att than def
2) iron sword (no diss) - 198.5k OA/hr, 32% more att than def
(bone was deemed useless)

Feros
1) weaponless (2 diss) - 322.5k OA/hr, more def than att :/
2) bone (1 diss) - 297.3k OA/hr, more def than att :/
3) tit long (no diss) - 224k OA/hr, more def than att :/

Desert Chim
1) iron broad sword (1 diss) - 297.2k OA/hr, 17% more att than def
(weaponless and bone led to much higher def than att, so skipped them)


So at this point, DC gives 17% more attack than defense, but if I remove the attack god, defense will be more.

Fluffies on the other hand, even if I dropped attack god, would still give more attack than defense. However, even weaponless training on them is pretty low compared to feros, OA-wise.

The "more def than att" on the feros isn't THAT much more, so I'll still be training on those for now. But once attack god is gone, they won't be an option.

I need to see how things go after I get p/c up to 48/48, and maybe even a couple levels more on a/d. DCs are close to being what I need, just not quite there yet.

We'll see. Meanwhile I'm obviously keeping the attack god a while longer. No rush.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Magic Level, Back to the S2Es

Hit the bears yesterday, worked my way up to Magic 63.

(What, no screenie? Silly me forgot to grab it, heh.)



Anyway, back to the S2Es, first of four batches to buy my next nexus. Artificial 5.

FEs are done, harving coal now, then mix bars at the iron...



Still working on my future plans, haven't come to definite decisions on the gods yet, except that I will be dropping Potion god after 1 more pot level and taking Engineering.

Even made the required lightmeter for the eng god quest yesterday, hehe. It's the final quest stuff that'll take a while.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Harv and Mix, Plus Thinking Things Out

When actually doing stuff yesterday, it was harving and mixing for another round of 500 bears to mana drain (and do radiation shields between). That's 8k essies total so it takes a while to stock, heh.


Gives a lot of time to think... specifically, about the god changes I've been considering my past few posts, and their affect on my normal gameplay as well as skills.

On Removing the Attack God

Before I lose the attack god, I need to consider the effect on my training. I've been heavily relying on the attack god to keep my attack level close to my defense level. With attack god, I get close to the same attack experience as defense in my current training on feros.

Another player has told me they get about equal attack and defense on desert chims, and they have the defense god. However, that player is also 6-7 a/d levels above me, and has a different build attribute-wise.

If I didn't have either god and was able to get my levels/atts to a similar enough status, the possibility exists I'd get more att than def? That would actually not be a bad thing at all, since I'm still 1 att level lower than def. Doing that and even getting attack a level or 3 higher than defense wouldn't hurt, since I'll likely end up with defense god again at some point (for the OAs).

And of course, some training using a real weapon of some sort might help keep attack from going too far below defense. Last resort though, as I don't like that thought, and I'd have to plan training around others as I won't be one of those idiots that runs around hitting every spawn with a sword while others are trying to train "properly".

(I've only resorted to swords once since I started properly training, and that was before lions/armed orcs were adjusted and I went straight from ogres to cyclops. I went to the clops too soon, just to get away from the constant battles with other players over ogre spawns, and that required a sword. As people seem to hate training clops it wasn't a big deal though, since there were always free clops spawns, barring sun tzu.)

I won't be removing the attack god just yet. I still plan to, as I need to in order to better work on my lower-level skills, but

Pickpoints and Attributes

With the thoughts on training and dropping attack god, I've also been considering whether moving some pickpoints around would be a good idea.

Honestly haven't thought hard on this yet. I'm not a PKer so my pickpoints are best spent attribute-wise on a combination that works best for my current training level and mixing.

Mixing/Harving: EMU is the priority, with rationality a secondary factor. So high p/c and other points spent in reasoning and will.

Mana: Currently more than enough for what I do. Will works for me.

Training: Still 42/48 p/c. Decent reasoning.


I currently have 6 each for instinct and vitality. Dunno why I even put 2 pp's each on those.

My original plan was to not touch my pp's, instead all future OA pp's would be placed on physique until I was 48/48 p/c... which means I'd have 48/48 when I got to OA 141.

Contemplating changing that to: On OA 137, get 2 more physique. Use instinct/vitality removal stones to drop those back down to 4, and put them on physique to get 48/48 p/c sooner.

I think I can actually hear some of the pure fighters screaming about my attribute handling, hehe. But keep in mind (1) I don't PK, ever, I only train and that's mostly for OAs, and (2) My build takes mixing/harving and thus EMU into heavy consideration as I am an all-rounder.


Still got 4.7 million OA to go to mull that over, and no plans to a/d train so that'll take a while to get. And probably need 2-3 more a/d levels before removing the attack god...

If I do go with the removal stone option, dunno how I'll handle future OA pickpoints. Hadn't planned past 48/48. But they'll probably go on whatever will help keep my attack experience as close to defense experience as possible.



"The Other Skills"

I actually had a "very loose" plan that allowed for doing what I wanted, but helped ensure I got something done in every skill.

The plan actually was working quite well, was keeping my lower skills going, and I didn't have to follow it strictly (that would be boring). It served more as a reminder than a plan, actually.

However, I'm realising more and more, especially now as I think of God changes, that the Gods I currently have aren't factored into that plan.

I mean, I got the magic god, I should be doing as much magic as possible while I have him, so I can switch it to something else as soon as possible. Just an example.

So I'm rethinking my plans... this'll take a while. I want to keep all skills moving along (with the exception of ranging which is on temporary hold until maybe around the time my tailoring level catches up to it), with focus more on god-skills.

I don't plan training (a/d) into this, nor alchemy (it levels on its own as discussed in a previous post), nor harvest (not even trying to level it right now, it just happens when it happens). The plan is for all the other skills... mix, mix, mix, hehe.

Potion leveling may also be taken out of "the plan", once I get into the top 10 potioners and drop the god. I'll still be potioning, but a lot less intentional focus on it. I'll still be making tons of SRs for myself (for summoning, making stones) and to sell on my bot. As well, BRs when possible... "for the gc".

The "plan" also includes "non-skill" things like buying nexus (when to mix S2Es and such).

Working on that now, hopefully have something better to work with.


Meanwhile, back to mixing essies for the magic leveling... probably hit the bears again later today.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Another Potion Level Bites the Dust

Made a motherload of SRs yesterday, so plenty of stock when I make bear stones, and for selling on IWannaRock bot.

Finished the level off with some BRs for quick NPC-sell gc.

You advanced to level 102 of Potion!


Potion Level 102


Sweet.

On the Gods I mentioned possibly switching... I think it'll be a while longer.

1) Potion - I'll keep until I'm at least a top 10 potioner. Being ranked #11 now though, that won't take long. 1 more level, technically, heh.

2) Magic - Already said I was gonna wait on that one, plan to keep it until around magic 80 or so.

3) Attack - This is the big problem. My attack level is only 1 behind my defense level, and keeping the gap even that low with the attack god isn't simple. In a way, I don't really care about the gap, but still would like to keep it as limited as possible. The second I remove the attack god the gap will start increasing drastically based on my testing.

Even yesterday on the feros during sun tzu, I've noticed that while my total experience on them is still about the same, the difference is slowly rising as my levels increase. I've gone from maybe a 5k difference to closer to 50k difference for the same training, defense being the one getting the slight bit more.

I guess I could try playing with weapons, but really don't want to. And obviously I wouldn't want to become one of those asses who thinks they can hog multiple spawns despite others trying to train, just to get more Attack than defense experience. So it would take planning there as well to ensure I'm not screwing up others.


Bah. Decisions to make.



Meanwhile... current plans:

1- Do another batch of essies for 500 mana drains and 500 radiation shields
2- Do the said MDs and Shields on a grizzly spawn, hehe
3- Do the first of four S2E batches to buy another nexus
4- Get an engineering level (including mixing some saltpeter to plan ahead for next tailor level)

And somewhere in there, do some stuff to make some gc. None of the above is a gc-positive thing, so probably make and sell some BRs in there, or even sell some of the SRs I've got stocked. We'll see...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Oh My, Yet Another Sun Tzu

So I went out to test the desert chims to see what my att/def exp was if I tried to train them... turned out (at least on my current bad astro) that I got much more defense, even with the attack god, so that's not an option yet.

So as I was heading back to try working on my potion level... Sun Tzu.

And what the hell, I took advantage of it again.



You advanced to level 104 of attack!


Attack Level 104


...and...

You advanced to level 105 of defense!


Defense Level 105




Used the whole 6 hours of it, and well, at least I'm now halfway to my next Overall level, heh.


But back to the mixing now. Hopefully still time to get my potion level, though after the a/d levels I'm not in a rush, heh. That and it'll take quite a bit of mixing to get there...

Contemplations of Gods, and a Summon Level

You advanced to level 36 of summoning!


Summoning Level 36


That's what yesterday was spent doing. A lot of it at least. Evil ing loss made me end up having to leave Arius and make more SRs and LEs to get it finished as, while I'd planned for some ing loss, I didn't plan for as much as did happen.

Just so used to working with high-level skills like alch and potion that I forget just how much can be lost with lower-level ing loss, heh.




Contemplating Gods

It's getting that time again, when I start wondering if it's time to switch some gods around.

Current gods: Attack, Potion, Magic

Magic I want to keep, at least for a dozen or two more levels. The MD-ing of bears and using radiation shields is getting the levels up pretty nicely.

Attack... I need to go see how I do against desert chims, if I can train them yet decently and what kind of att/def experience I get off them before I change this.

I think Potion goddess is holding me back though. Just like I had to force myself to drop alchemy goddess so I could get other gods, I may have to force myself to drop potion goddess.


Reasons... I got other skills that need them more.


I would like to keep attack (or defense) god for better work on OAs, but I may have to drop it just so I can get some work done on other skill levels. Still need the OAs, but this has been a limiting factor in my previous god choice decisions and needs to stop, at least for a while.

I don't want to take defense god for the time being, as defense already is continuing to work its way higher than attack level. I know, that's the common thing to happen, and I'm letting it happen, it's just that I don't want it to happen to an extreme like I've heard with some other people.

I need to switch my gods, hopefully to the lowest possible skills.

Current considerations for change:

1) Switch two of my gods at the same time:
1a) Attack to Summoning
1b) Potion to Engineering

This would definitely encourage me to work on Summoning and Engineering more, both of which are in my lower-level skills.

2) Switch Magic to Crafting

This would be a later switch, after getting Magic up to maybe level 80 or so. Crafting is my "evil" skill for some reason, a skill where others seem to have leveled quite well in it, but I'm still slow-going because I don't get the urge to do it a lot. I tend to get the urge to do skills more when I have their god chosen, so... ;)



Anyway, it's just contemplation for the moment. In order to do this I'd need to try training on DCs to see if dropping Attack is okay at this time, and as well stocking up for the engineering god quests will take quite a while. I am, after all, quite broke, hehe.





What to do Today:

- Possibly do that desert chim training check, though I won't actually sit and train for long.
- Stock and mix SRs, a motherload of them. Or more specifically, more than enough for my next potion level. Only thing I need to stock now for them is BQ since I hauled 40k wine yesterday as a mule.
- Start essies for another round of MD-ing 500 grizzly bears and the accompanying radiation shields for magic training.

After which, I'll be getting back into making S2Es for another nexus purchase...

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Double the Magic...

Got all the essies needed done for another round of mana draining 500 bears, and doing radiation shields between each to head to Nordcarn and sit on a bear spawn for a while...

You advanced to level 61 of magic!


Magic Level 61


Followed towards the end of the bear bashing with

You advanced to level 62 of magic!


Magic Level 62


Spent the rest of the evening mixing LEs and SRs, and harving some ogre toes for stock for should a school day show up.



Today, my astro is good enough, and ings are done, so it's off to Arius for bear summoning stone mixing for another summon level.

Haven't decided what to do after that, though I'll probably work on bashing out the rest of my potion level.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Doing What to Level What...

Boredom as I harv 800 iron + 800 of each quartz for 800 matter essies. This is one of those entries I write just to be able to look back at "where I was then".

Since I work (at least some) on leveling each skill, this is where I'm at for working on each...


Attack/Defense (103/104)

Feros training. I could possibly hit desert chims at this point, at least with good astro, but feros are better for resource usage for now.

Ranging (38)

Limited to using the ranging arena. And of all my skills, this one's being the most ignored at this time. I plan to get back into it later.

Crafting (48)

Polishing sapphires and making silver medallions, to turn into moon medallions.

Harvesting (95)

Not really intentionally leveling this anymore. I aim for the highest points of whatever I'm currently needing.

I've hit the dung on 3x harv special day, that's about all I've done to push this skill along.

And of course if I'm busy doing non-EL stuff I may sit myself down and harv ogre toes or chanterelles, always needed for stock for later use on school days for some killer potion experience.

Tailoring (31)

Blue dyes, almost exclusively. Never did get into making orange dyes despite them not needing saltpeter. Or maybe because of that... saltpeter still does a lot in increasing my eng level.

Engineering (42)

Ashes -> Saltpeter, mostly as needed for tailoring.

Harv/degrade indicators specifically for leveling this skill.

Manufacturing (65)

I haven't been intentionally leveling this of late, though plan to work more on it soon.

Leather helms, obviously, either at Trik or in the school depending on my gc status.

Most of late has been from making S2Es for nexus buying, which in itself isn't much.

Summoning (35)

Now that I got my 5 Animal nexus, it's nothing but bear summon stones.

Magic (60)

Primarily Mana Drain and Radiation Shields. (Use a radiation shield which takes 30 mana, mana drain a bear for 30 mana, repeat.)

Standard restoring during a/d training and such, and of course I use the portal room for most all travel.

Potion (101)

Primarily BRs and more recently making more SRs due to selling them on IWannaRock bot as well as needing a lot more myself for bear summon stones.

Also make almost any potion on an as-need basis.

Stocking the three shrooms needed for Chan-Ogre-Tree extracts, wasting those away in the school during School Day for a major potion level boost.

Alchemy (110)

There's no attempting to force levels on this these days. It's not needed, the levels come on their own via:

- LEs for bear summon stones (Summoning)
- FEs / Iron Bars / Steel Bars / Hydro Bars for S2Es (Nexus buying/Manu)
- WEs for polishing saps + FEs / Silver Bars for making silver medallions (Crafting)
- AEs / MatEs / MagEs / EnEs for mana drain / radiation shields (Magic)
- HEs for feros (Attack/Defense)
- FEs for ashes (Engineering needed for Tailoring)
- WEs for dyes (Tailoring)

And that's just the short list with the primary alching that's done, heh.




Anyway, that's what I'm currently up to doing in each skill. Just so I can look back in 6 months or so and say, "wow, was I really doing that?" or such, hehe.

Craft Level, and Lots of Essies and Pots

Yesterday was a big mix day, including mixing silver medallions and turning them into moon medallions for...

You advanced to level 48 of crafting!


Crafting Level 48


Mixed a couple k of SRs, for the double reason of they'll be needed soon for summon stones, and they continue to sell regularly on IWannaRock so I need some sale stock for the bot.

As well, more essies mixed. Got all the AEs and MagEs I needed done, half the LEs done...



Today is probably more of the same. Still need about 1.2k matter essies, mix some more SRs, and finish the LEs for my next batch of bear stones.

Assuming I do all that, it'll be time to hit the bears for MD/rad shield magic and get 2 more magic levels, and depending on my astro hit Arius to mix my next summon level of bear stones.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

More Harv-Mix-Repeat

Gotten back into mixing mode after the 12 hour sun tzu training from hell. That was killer experience but an all-rounder like me tires of a/d training in such long periods, heh.

Well, yesterday's PV/Ida invasion, I avoided that until the end, where 12 hours later there were still 60 critters hidden somewhere. I took a break from harv/mix to play scout and find them, and I did. 60 feros in the PV undergrounds, in the tiny flooded cave area that has a ladder leading out to Kusa Jungle.

Have 2 gatherer medallions in storage, but didn't think to bring one. If one was needed at any time, that was it. Since that little cave is flooded, almost all you can see are the names and the top of the critters' heads. And with 60 in there, there wasn't time to stop and grab each drop bag. So after it was over I had to do home-step grab-all repeat through the area of the cave I ended up in while fighting to find all the bags, hehe.


Other than that, it's been mix-harv:

1- IWannaRock seems to be good for selling SRs, so I've been stock-mixing those and trying to keep them on him for sale. 14gc each, standard SR price. I try not to overinflate my prices on the bot, he's there to help me sell stuff, not rip people off.

Working on my next pot level, so that helps there as well.

2- Mixed almost 2k EnEs in the Bethel Feros cave, started on AEs. Need everything for 500 mana-drains on bears (3k AEs) as well as 500 radiation shields (2k MagEs, 1.5k EnEs, 1.5k MatEs).

3- Working on a crafting level as well. Got all the saps polished, and all the alchemy done (mixed the FEs, made the silver bars). Now I just gotta make some silver meds, and turn them into moon meds.


Also need to work up my personal HE stock, but that's no rush as I've got enough for emergencies at least.



IWannaRock is doing fairly well. Decent prices and not-bad location have made for regular customers, including some repeat customers already.



Anyway, plans for today:

1- Finish 3k AEs.
2- 2k MagEs.
3- 1.5k MatEs.
4- Mix silver meds/moon meds for craft level
5- Mix 2k or so SRs

If all that's done (I may be going out a few hours today), I'll hit a grizzly bear spawn and mana-drain/radiation shield. 500 bears = 2 more magic levels as I'm only 10k from the next level as it is.


No S2Es? Well, after my big storage clearance sale to pay for getting my bot back (which included selling 200 of my stocked S2Es), I'm taking a break from nexus buying. Just a temporary one though. I still need and plan to buy more as I earlier planned, just gonna work on levels and such for other things for a while first before I get back into them.

In fact, no surprise if I'm already starting on them again before this time next week.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Holy Crap... Double Sun Tzu!

Yesterday bla bla bla... hehe, yesterday was just harving and mixing FEs and WEs. Gotta work on my gc and get back to my levels now that I sold most everything to take care of my bot.


But today... Two Sun Tzu Days in a row!

Double combat experience for 12 frikkin' hours straight. Seeing how rarely I train, I figgered I'd best take advantage of this.

And I did.


Double Sun Tzu experience


Thus the "Holy Crap!" :P


During that...

You advanced to level 103 of attack!


Attack Level 103


...and...

You advanced to level 104 of defense!


Defense Level 104


...and...

Your overall level is now 136!


Overall Level 136



Frikkin' sweet!

But tiring. Think I'm done for the day. Just some background harving until I log off, heh.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

25kgc Bot Contest!

CONTEST HAS ENDED! Congratulations to Zmurf who wins the 25kgc!

To celebrate the return (and fixing) of my bot, everyone who makes a purchase of 500gc or more from IWannaRock (my trade bot) during the next two weeks will have their name put in a randomizing script I have.

The winner will receive 25kgc!


Complete Rules

1) Purchase must be made between September 1 and midnight September 14th (GMT).
2) All you need to do to be eligible is make purchases of a total value of 500gc or more from IWannaRock!
3) The 500gc is a total combination of all purchases during the contest period. (That is, if you make 5 separate 100gc purchases, it counts!)
4) One entry accepted per player. (Purchasing more will not give you more chances to win.)
5) The winner will be informed via PM by me (Burn), or via gossip if they are not online, within 48 hours of the contest ending. The winner will also be announced on this blog.
6) The prize will be delivered to the winner after determining a time/storage to meet.
7) Payment to the bot in the form of selling it wanted items is accepted, all that matters is that the total value of the items you receive from IWannaRock is 500gc or more.


Good luck!



About IWannaRock

IWannaRock is located in South Morcraven Marsh, directly between the gold cave entrance and Naralik exit.

You can see his inventory/wanted online at http://dogpound.embril.net/home.php?botid=111

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

IWannaRock is Back!

I haven't been discussing it, but my bot IWannaRock has been offline for a while now.

But he's back, he's blessed, and he's here to stay now. :)


So What Happened?

Basically put, my ignorance of how mines worked.

Not having any real experience with them, I thought you actually had to step on them for them to cause you damage. I was unaware of surrounding-area damage possibility.

So I woke up one morning to find my fully neg-perked bot was in the Underworld.

With over 200kgc worth of coin and items gone.

Naturally, he was taken offline after getting him back to his spot and healed up.


Solved? Yup.

Well, I learned how mines work better through it, heh.

The perk is gone, and in addition I got him blessed. So he's still got close to 2 years of paid service coming, and more emu so I can handle more stuff.


Who?

It goes without saying that guild GOW is banned from the bot. Since Elmo of GOW was the culprit.



But he's back online as of today, stronger than before, and rockin' Morcraven. :P

Three Levels... and a Semi-Complete Change of Plans

Yesterday was working on a tailoring level. To do that I needed to make saltpeter (and its ashes) for the dyes. That was enough for the unplanned...


You advanced to level 42 of engineering!


Engineering Level 42


Which eventually led to (after heading to Irsis to get more FPs):


You advanced to level 31 of tailoring!


Tailoring Level 31


During all that I was going to grab harv points... some turqoise, then diamonds in Melinis sewer, then ogre toes/chanterelles... depending on the map I was on. Because I was close to a level, heh.


And this morning, while hitting the coal...


You advanced to level 95 of harvesting!


Harvesting Level 95




Change of Plans

I've had a bit of decision-making to do involving an issue I haven't discussed here yet, and won't until after I resolve it, heh.

But the gist of what I decided needed to be done is this... I gotta earn gc, and lots of it. About 1 million gc to be exact.

So basically all my leveling plans are (for the most part) being put aside while I do various things to earn gc. Not saying I won't stop to hit a level on occasion, or take advantage of special days, but my normal "aim for a level" and "make S2Es for nexus" plans are on hold until I get my gc made.

I'll explain why at a later point when this whole problem is resolved. (No guessing in responses to this, I'll just delete them, don't want it here for now, hehe.)

But I'll probably be advertising on market more, and essentially everything I do will be something that's gc-positive. So no more tailoring, ranging, or other gc sinks. ;)


Now to make that money, heh.