Tuesday, July 31, 2012

130 Alcher, Random Leveling, and More Tasty Pears


Despite the pear hunts that have been occupying my posts of late, I've still been playing "as usual", including a whopper level.



You advanced to level 130 of alchemy!


Alchemy 130



Why that's a whopper... It put me (back) in the top 5 alchemists. As well, even with my reasoning level and alch goddess bonus, it takes 90k+ health essence at this point to get a level (for perspective). I of course don't just do HEs, but a lot of other ess as well. Energy ess are regularly done for stock/magic/engineering, and as well even done low-level stuff like 10k FEs and 10k WEs, both of which barely take a nibble out of the experience needed to level.

The Gods Must Be Crazy...

However, I have plans for other skills. In order to do those plans I need to drop the alch goddess. So I've been doing a lot of late to get alchemy levels before I do that. She is, after all, a bit expensive to just randomly drop and pick up later.

It may be one of the last ones I switch though. Other plans to get Manu and Eng up to level 100 are still being worked on, with plans once that's done to switch to Magic and Summon gods respectively. Alch will eventually switch to Craft god.

No A/D gods? Still no, they're lowest priority. They still get leveled, but mostly from dailies.

Plans for the "no god in game" skills...
1) Harvest - no change, haven't cared about that in a long time, it levels when it levels.
2) Ranging - I want all skills 50+. This one's also very low priority but when I can afford it and a ranging day comes I'll hit the arena to get the 2 more levels needed to hit 50.
3) Tailoring - 7 more levels to hit 50. Slowly working on stocking supplies to burn off in the tailoring school for this, but not rushing.

Alchemy Boost

When bored, or cleaning the apartment or whatever, I've started stocking magic ess ings. Two recent school days had me in Glacmor poofing those for 334 exp per mix. It's given quite a boost for the next alch level. I don't like poofing alch stuff since it can be profitable, but pears have allowed me some extra gc to do things like this. Already over 2/3 of the way towards alch 131 even now, so soon after getting 130.

On top of that, been mixing HEs and other items for other players for just ings+food. That's helped with the boost as well.

Back to Trik

Watching my costs as I haven't been doing as much for profit lately, I continue to mix helms at Trik instead of in the school. I haven't ruled out using the school at times for manu leveling, but plan to do it at Trik to save on costs as much as possible.

Being speed haxed, the trips to him aren't as bad anyway.

And I do this whenever I can afford to stock the leather/thread for it.



You advanced to level 79 of manufacturing!


Manu 79


Other Random Levels

Used a summoning day to (finally) turn in the two sslessar stones for a quest.



You advanced to level 53 of summoning!


Summon 53


And well, daily got me another defense level.



You advanced to level 125 of defense!


Defense 125




Pears R Us

The pear hunts continue, good eating... er, good gc on those. 7 more since last past, including what is the record time in finding one, 1 minute! :-P




Kilaran Field - Entered via SKF, very first branch had the pear, for a 3 minute find.

Pear



Hurquin - There was at least 3 of us hunting this one, so the luck was heavy in being the one to find it.

Pear



Isla Prima - Simple enough map, though there's some sneaky branches on it.

Pear



Naralik Catacombs - A record, 1 minute find! Just happened to be the first map I checked, and in the 3rd harvestable.

Pear



Port Anitora - Realized I'd been skipping checking this map. This one took the most pear finders I'd ever used because of that. But finally remembered, and after that it didn't take long to find the right harvestable.

Pear



Willowvine Forest - Titanium Cave - Green Day occured on this day. Despite that, I searched for the right map (finders still work) in hopes it would get removed. Sat at a nearby storage and mixed, and when the day got removed, rushed there to find it in minutes.

Pear



Grubani Peninsula - Started from the bottom of the map (by the PL ship) and worked my way up since I figured if someone else had determined the map, they'd likely start at the top where most of the harvs are. Finally found it in some poppies.

Pear

Friday, July 27, 2012

Don't Eat the Tasty Pears, Heh

Still continuing to hunt pears, mostly for the fun of the seek-and-find.

Tangent first: One of the stupidest things I've heard recently (ignoring the usual troll crap) is that I'm a "mod keeping players from finding pears and ruining pear hunting for them by finding all of them".

Also accused in PMs that I'm "abusing my mod powers" to find the pears. Quite regularly.

You know, when you're some random person who suddenly accuses someone of something in PM, don't expect the nicest of responses. That I only got sarcastic with him, he should be happy about. He deserved much worse for doing something this downright stupid. This was only the latest of the boneheads to try and claim mods had some super ability to do something that's a normal part of game play, certainly not the only one. (Oh, and this is the kind of nonsense that makes me limit who I speak to in-game btw, people like this are too pathetic to want to have anything to do with, and sadly they're in abundance):



[PM from *****: You abuse your power for pear eh?]


(Yes, name is removed to protect the ignorant. First thought: who the hell are you, and you're sending me this accusation when you obviously know nothing?)


[PM to *****: Yep, I speed hax, use pear finders, and run around checking harvs when the finder tells me the map. I abuse... oh wait, anyone can do that.]

(That's my standard response to such an accusation. Sarcastic, but actually answers how it's done despite the accuser not really being worthy of any decent response.)

[PM from *****: speed hax doesn't check all the maps in 15 min...]

(They have to take their lack of knowledge one step further, claiming to not grasp the concept of "random". FTR the pear on this occasion did take about 15 minutes, but that was also 37 pear finders used and about 60 harved items before finding the right one. I got lucky to find it so quick as it has taken up to 1.5 hours at times before. Even on the small map I found this one on, it could still have taken me another 30 minutes if I hadn't randomly stumbled on it so soon as there was much more to check.)

[PM to *****: This'll require thought... the pear is in a random map, does that mean you have to check *every* map? OMG...]

(Stating the obvious. Adding an OMG because I can't believe just how ignorant the last message was.)

[PM from *****: don't get an attitude with me burn...]
[PM from *****: was just a question]

(Eh... "I can give you attitude and accuse you of things, but you can't get sarcastic at my lack of knowledge!" will never work with me. Mod or not, there's nothing saying I have to put up with such incredible stupidity, and I won't.)

 [PM to *****: [PM from *****: You abuse your power for pear eh?] <-- Your lesson for today. How *NOT* to ask a supposed question.]

 [PM from *****: It's a question professor, question mark?]

[PM to *****: It's an accusation.]
[PM to *****: accuse a person, expect to not get a hand-holding coddling response.]

(Exactly. No, I don't put up with the stupidity of others. I have no obligation to accept the unfounded accusations of others, especially from people that no matter what you say to them will continue to believe the accusation.)

[PM from *****: accusation is still a question, not a statement or declarative sentence]

(Look at the wookie! See the wookie!)

 [PM to *****: I'll speak to malameo and see what you've accused him of. Not a mod but has more pear finds under his belt than me.]

(Fact: Malameo is a regular pear hunter who I have engaged in some friendly competition with. He started pear hunting long before I chose to give it a try so he has found many more than I have, and continues to find them. And yes, I'm very curious what power he's abusing to have found more than me, seeing as he's not a mod.

Yes kids, the person who has found the most pears since finders were added is NOT a moderator. Let's find out what power he's abusing...)

[PM from *****:You abuse your powers anyway, we have had this argument before... ]
 [PM from *****: anyhow, you annoy the shit out of me so your going to ignores]

(Look at the wookie! See the wookie! I say again... this person's accusations have no basis in any actual fact, so twice when told facts they go on a different route with semantics or yet more false accusations.

I do not recall any "past arguments" before with this person, so if there was one it was obviously too insignificant to recall. I'm more inclined to believe they're part of the "troll collective" who think any time they violate rules they should be allowed to get away with it, and call it mod power abuse when they don't.

And considering the false accusations sent as shown above, they're probably the type that actually believes the other false accusations posted by other trolls.

As for going on ignores... yippee! I wasn't the one who had false accusations and inclination to actually PM them. I didn't request contact with this person nor have I wanted to contact them. That's one less troll to bother with.)



Oh and more random nonsense from another who doesn't grasp the basic concept of random:

 [********** @ 6]: guess no reason too buy pear finders as it seems only one person finds them 

That one person would be malameo (as stated above, still has more finds than me)? Me? Finja? Maxine? Josefine? Marvel? Those are just names off the top of my head that I recall finding pears.

Wanna know how they found them? They actually tried. Difficult concept I'm sure, but it's no different than saying you never win the lottery when you never actually buy a ticket. Due to the incredible randomness of the pear location, even if I am hunting there's always the chance of someone else finding it first. A map like Palon Vertas for example, has tons of harvestables. There's over 500 wood branches on that map alone. Anyone's chance to randomly start checking closer to the pear than I am.

I'll stop there, since if I'm needing to explain the concept of "random", perhaps pear hunting isn't something you should do.


Fact check:

1) A moderator is still a player. None of the commands we have give us access to anything that allows us easier play.

2) I have no means to keep others from finding pears other than finding them first. Malameo, Josefine, Finja, and others who have found pears (even while I was hunting them) can attest to that. The fact that I'm a moderator has absolutely nothing to do with that I happen to be good at finding pears.

Let's see... how do I find them? Right: pear finders, luck, and knowledge of the maps. How about that, not one of those things is exclusive to moderators.

Pear Finders - currently go for 240gc each, available to be purchased by anyone. And there's always been plenty available on bots along with individual sellers on market. I go through these like candy.

That I use them and others don't has nothing to do with me being a moderator. They can be used by any player in the game.

Knowledge of the Maps - One thing I've said many times ad nauseum over the years in newbie support: "The single most important no-level skill in EL is exploration, learning the maps."

Over the years, I've studied each individual map, getting to know it like the back of my hand. Learning where most all the harvestables are, not just "closest to storage" that most learn. This in turn has led to a certain ease in hunting out the pear once the map is determined with a finder.

That I've taken the time to learn the maps has nothing to do with me being a moderator. That can be done by any player in the game. And I've even told people to learn the maps repeatedly.

Luck - In the end, it also boils down to this. How many are hunting the pear, how long it takes them to find the correct map, and for most maps which person finds the correct harvestable first. Idaloran, White Stone, Dra Syn... with so many harvables it's anyone's chance.

If mods had any more info on where the pear was, a) there would be many more mods finding it than just myself and Maxine, and b) it wouldn't take me up to 1.5 hours sometimes to find it.

This whole "Mods have extra play benefits" idea hit a new low with the I-won't-name ignorant person who stated this.

You want to find the pear? You actually have to look for it. Don't go whining and saying mods have some secret way of finding it when you don't even try to find it yourself. That's just pathetic.

You don't level without training/mixing. You don't find a grape without kicking critters. And you don't find the pear without actually looking for the right harvestable item.

Three other "secrets":


1) Speed Hax - A potion anyone can buy (or mix if you have the levels). Allows you to go through maps faster to find the correct one with pear finders. Also useful when checking harvestables on maps where the harvs are spread out... Tahraji Desert with all the spread out cactus for example. (Less helpful on maps like Arius where the harvs are abundant and you don't go far to the next one.)

Although a warning here: If you don't know the map thoroughly, you have a higher chance of overlooking a harv under a tree or such if you're speeding around. Know your map if you're going to hax your way through a pear hunt. Even I with my knowledge have had this trip me up once.

2) Determination - Especially on a map that has a lot of harvestables to check. Not skipping a single harvestable... it can just as easily be in that random wood branch on the ground as it could be in the garden full of vegetables.

3) Patience - I've found it 10 minutes into the game day through luck, and on other occasions it's taken me up to 1.5 hours (checking the entire Thelinor map for it to be in one of the last few harvestables to check, speed haxed at that).

Er, and also be prepared to be annoyed... not every harvestable can be reached to actually harvest. And yes, the pear can be in one of those. It has happened many times, which means noone gets the pear that game day.

An example of an unreachable pear: The pear was in VoTD gold cave first level. Several gold spots in there but relatively speaking not much to check. Once everything else was checked it was determined that the pear was in an unreachable area of gold that's fenced off (tele to range won't work either):

Pear

There's at least 9 pieces of gold there, possibly more as they can be hidden in the walls as well. Pear is lost for that game day.



But enough of that. I've now given away all my supposed secrets to pear finding, and as can be seen they're things that any EL player could figure out themselves. And enough of showing you the complete nonsense I have to put up with on a regular basis that makes me regret speaking to certain people should I actually dare to respond to them.



I'll finish off with some of the interesting locs I've found the pear since my last post:




Thelinor - For a second time. This one at least didn't take me 1.5 hours like last time I found it here.

Pear




Tarsengaard - Magic School Garden - Second time I found it on this map. First time it turned out to be in 1 of 4 unreachable items so never got it. But the second time...

Pear




Trassian - Dra Syn - A very difficult map to check, lots of harvs, and as well lots of stuff hidden in the walls not normally visible. Fortunate to find.

Pear




Valley of the Dwarves - Gold Mine Second Level - This map has quite a few unreachable items as well. Fortunately it turned out not to be in one of those.

Pear




Egratia Point - A new record, 6 minutes and 55 seconds into the game day! Despite that 32 pear finders had been used before determining the map (yes, with speed hax and good map skills you can check that many that quickly). Probably one of the simplest maps as there's only a small number of harvestables and none known to be unreachable. Once it was determined, I found it in the very first item I checked, a branch on the ground.

Pear




Sedicolis - This is where I was accused of "abusing mod powers" to find the pear in the above text. I found the map, then checked harvs inside the city area first. I was about to leave the city area and almost forgot to check this branch leaning against a building. Fortunately it managed to catch my eye as I was running out of the city and I ran back to check it.

Pear


Monday, July 23, 2012

Ap-Pear-ently Still Hunting

Ooops, I did it again. And again. And again. ;-)

Now at 17 pears found. Could have been 20 but 3 on heavy searching were determined to be in unharvestable (can't be reached) items. Actually 4, found one was in hydro but I ran out of S2Es so announced it for others to find (and well, pk each other if they wish, hehe).

Some of the finds since last post:


Hurquin - Several items in the water that are unreachable. This swamp candle was only barely reachable from one specific location.

Pear





Southern Kileran - Carmien Manor - Not really much to check on this map, so once the map was determined, it was a matter of minutes.

Pear





Isle of the Forgotten - You gotta have studied this map to find all the slightly hidden items on this map. But in this case it turned out to be in the more well-known toadies location.

Pear





Idaloran - Mine - Well, not too difficult.

Pear





Tahraji Desert - Cave - Ugh. Checked everything that didn't require items to harv. Checked the wolframite, nope. Finally checked the dvarium, bingo.

Pear





South Redmoon - The various mushrooms and dandelions spread out everywhere make this one more difficult to search. But it turned out to be in the veggie patch.

Pear





Tahraji Desert - Back here again? Spent about an hour on this map, nobody showed up to disrupt the hunt. Turned out that I had overlooked a cactus and found it on my second run through them.

Pear


Friday, July 20, 2012

Mmmm, Tasty Pears

The last few days have been Pear Hunting Season apparently. ;-) I'll probably get bored of doing this eventually, but for now I'm the reigning pear hunt champion, hehe.

10 pears in total found so far, didn't get screens for all (1 was in a previous entry), but here's 6 of them:



Palon Vertas - a helluva map to search (there's over 500 wood branches alone)

Pear


It's a Secret, Shhhhhhh.... - A secret spot, can post since even if you recognize the possible map, it doesn't show how to get there. ;-)

Pear


Southern Kileran - One of the easier maps if it shows up here.

Pear


Desert Pines - Holy crap, thought I'd be here forever. But I lucked out and was only 19 minutes into the day when I stumbled on it. And not exactly in a conventional place, either.

Pear


North Redmoon - Hanging with my good buddy "Red", hehe.

Pear


Bethel - In a stack of wood by the tent.

Attack 124


Monday, July 16, 2012

Hydro, Speed Demon Fun, OA 155

Time spent since my last post has been a very mixed bag of various projects and skills being worked on.








Hydro Run and Run and Run...

Still wanting to buy some Nexus as an all-rounder should be able to do everything.

Finally, combo of
- Kicking Phantom Warriors for S2Es
- Self-mixing S2Es
- Trading off 10:11 Hydro ores for S2Es

I've got enough hydro ore to get one nexus. But since I'm in no rush, I'm just gonna keep letting it collect. More trades, more PWs, and so on... and maybe some beautiful day we'll get a Recycling Day (wow, when did that last happen...) and I'll mix then.

But that's been a big part of game play of late, working towards getting more nexus. Can't be a good all-rounder without the nexus to do *everything*, hehe.

Speaking of Run: The Need for Speed

Out of boredom, I also decided to change up game play a bit and see if I could keep a constant speed hax going. 

And with a couple false starts, forgetting to eat to keep it going (Doh!), I've now been running 3 days on the same potion.

It's a little difficult at times, but for others it's just awesome. Though... gah, the food.

The awesome... wow, the hydro runs went quick :-P


Attacking a Skill

No regular training, but dailies got me close enough to an attack level that I spent some time in Bethel finishing it off.


You advanced to level 124 of attack!


Attack 124


A Bit of Magic

Not something I've focused on so it gets leveled rarely, but I spent some time on this skill as well. And on a magic day, I did my usual mana drain + radiation shield training on grizzlies...


You advanced to level 75 of magic!


Magic 75

And I really don't pay attention to leveling this skill anymore, but it still happens on its own on occasion:


You advanced to level 110 of harvesting!


Harv 110


There's a Trik to Mixing Helms

Still got the manu god, decided to put engineering aside for a bit and work on manu some more, as I still want that Child of Stars perk.

But really, can't afford to keep only leveling manu in the school on school days. So... hi ho, off to Trik I go.

And this was another point that having speed hax was nice. Trips to Trik were much faster and less annoying.

With it, a level. And continued a bit after that as well, with plans to continue hitting Trik whenever possible.


You advanced to level 78 of manufacturing!


Manu 78


The Elusive Pear

Out of boredom, I needed something else different to do. So, I went on a pear hunt. And of course, the time I try, it's in one of those maps I normally avoid... Thelinor.

My pear finder told me it was there. I spent almost 1.5 hours there, checking every single mineral, ore, and plant there. And there's a lot, including some that aren't in normal line of sight. 

I was about to give up, announce it was there, and let others find it, but then I realised... wood logs and branches. I hadn't noticed the sparse random branches before, nor the wood logs, some of which were kinda-disguised as parts of forts or practically under tents and such.

And so I stayed to check all those. And found the pear finally.


Finding the Pear

I've been on several pear hunts, that's the only one so far I managed to find.

The Alcher in Me, Never Far Away

Of course, I always spend some time doing heavy alch mixing. It takes a lifetime or so to get a level these days, heh. But still, manage it.


You advanced to level 129 of alchemy!


Alchemy 129


Took advantage of Sun Tzu not really because I wanted to level a/d, but because I wanted what is an incredibly difficult to get overall level...


Your overall level is now 155!


Overall 155

Still a Bit With the Engineering

After the wave of levels in my last post, I paused Engineering a bit to do the above stuff. Nevertheless, I still have the god and when an Eng day appeared, I took advantage of it despite being low on stock and did what I could to level it again as well.


You advanced to level 74 of engineering!


Eng 74

Okay, back to play...

Well, of course I still go out exploring, and this time that included a visit to a secret room I'd almost forgotten about. Gimme a beat!


Secret