I again start in Dion looking for a 36 or 39 kama.  I am hoping to hit 40, for real, today.  I pick up kavlobuffer who is also in academy with me, but they are a shillen oracle and would do next to no damage, and although they say they can heal, I am now wise enough to know I 1) cannot tank it and 2) wouldn’t do enough damage to finish anyway.  I tell this person we will need to get at least one more melee and shortly after they leave party.

Sigh.

Then we reform under Reveca, who is now out of academy and in C grade.

The oracle spends most of her time on her butt doing nothing, which seems highly unfair.  Reveca asks me to get the overhit and while I have finally mastered this, by using it then clicking away right after, the healer forgets to heal and lets Reveca die, so I just spam everything so the whole entire thing doesn’t fail, really not caring about overhit at all.  We both obtain Hoplons and I’m 40% into 38.   Then the buffer starts wacking me and I give her a few quick slashes and ask if she wants to fight or what.  She says she has no attack skills, which is only partically accurate, at 33 a SO can still do reasonable with a weapon for melee.   I suggest we exit and they leave party.

I head out exping solo until 39.  Another clan member asks what I’m doing but heads off to Dragon Valley to solo with a 2 million adena weapon he borrowed from someone.

I like this raid boss, only it says it’s supposed to be in Wastelands?

After buffs run I head back to town and rebuff.

This time I go farther to Hardin’s Private Academy and the mobs give me a bit of a hard time.  I see another player, looks like a mage, and run around to suggest a group but at that moment they SOE out. I see another player exping, then a dwarf with an orc shaman of some kind on auto follow. I hit 39 and start the arbalester quest.

I notice the special agents, around Floran, call out about a duel then seem to aggro all the other ones within a giant range. I nearly die because of this.

Anyway later on in the quest I run into a new recruit named Ajinn and say hello. I realize, already at Execution Grounds that I am out of SS now even on light blue mobs it’s like a fight to the death each time (which by the way, is how playing in C1 felt like).

I run into a spoiling dwarf with a buffalo and comment “cute pet” but they are intent on their business and do not reply.

Ran around and ended up around Hardins again, and this is a popular area since I often other players here, though no one ever speaks to me. On that note, I have not seen my dwarf friend log on since I last saw him, and although Light comes on now and again, I do not get any “well being checks”. In fact, no one in clan has done that either.

I see this guy with this crazy head piece and PM him asking what it is, but no reply to that.  I finish the class change quest but still have 50% to level.

When the elpy event gets announced I ran down to FT to see the fun, flagged high levels in EVERY ROOM, craziness.  Some how no one kills me. I see a single elpie before I leave.

I head back to Hardins and get 40 and clearly announce I hit 40 in clan chat and state that it’s time to class change.  No one replies. I say “ding Arba :D” just before I class change and get punted out of the clan.  I park my butt in HV on the off chance anyone will PM me, about anything.  They do not.

I am currently at 230k adena, with roughly 500k more in marketable goods. I log out.

I log in still in Dion and spend some time calling out for a 33, or 36 kama.  I am 36 at this point.  There are no friends logged in. I say hi in clan and get some hi’s back.

While I’m fruitlessly yelling for a group, I comment in clan that I wish the game had a dungeon finder (like WoW) where people queue up for dungeons and when there are enough participants, they get ported to the dungeon.  No need to stand around and yell, port to other towns to yell, or waste time standing in town.  Immortal says mine is in Dion which I am aware of, but that’s not an automatic grouping.

Anyway after about 15 minutes I pick up MUKENIO a level 39 Orc Raider then I grab GR1goris from clan, a 33 Orc Raider.

Reveca asks if I want to exp and I say after the kama. I notice Seer Flouros always resists the Death Mark. And if you leave the first add on long enough, another will spawn. Anyway it dies and I receive a Helmet, MUKENIO gets a EWD, GR1 get a Hoplon and I get a second Helmet.  I get 79% of a level this time.

Then the two orcs duel! This is the first I’ve seen of it 🙂

They spend a lot of time chasing each other at the end rather than fighting during part of it.

I ask in clan if Reveca wants to party but I pick up GR1 instead and we head to the Ants Nest.

Turns out we’re doing poling, and I quickly remember to let the big scary orc get aggro FIRST. I hit 37 and he has to leave shortly after. I SOE as well as I have no desire to die solo in the middle of all those ants. At some point I see Light log in.

I noobishly announce in clan that I have 3 levels to 40 but they are discussing something else, something about clan halls. My ploy at maybe snagging a quick powerlevel or something fails. I ask in clan if many low levels do catas and Immortal says yep, ask Dion about a kama in my level range.  I say I have already done the kama for today. Since the discussion then ends there, I drop the stupid act I call out in Dion for a cata around level 35. In the meantime I find Light in a shop in Dion. You know, I always rather liked arcana robes on humans, however the pointy shoes are just hilarious.

At any rate, seeing that I never see anyone doing a raid or other exp party besides kamas, and that another person is spamming for a 33/36 kama with no luck, I think my only choice is to solo some more.  I take a break for now.

Later I log in and say hello, Immortal says hi, I say I’m trying for 40 today. I get a smilie face.  I comment that I wish you could do kamas more than once a day and he tells me to use the /instancezone command, which just shows me when I can run it again.  I get about 50% into 37 when I decide that soloing is immensely boring with no one to talk to.

I am also burning through money and shots at a rapid pace either through soloing or the kama, and I’m down to 93k. I sell most of my recent kama drops and get back to 180k.  I go back to Dion and ask if any non-kama parties are going on, but no one replies. I take a break…

I get a kama pretty fast today with FailBoy, a paladin.

We finish with little trouble and I get an EWD and a Hoplon.  I wouldn’t expect anyone to share an EWD and he’s using a two hander so he probably doesn’t need the shield either.  I don’t bring up the loot and neither does he.  I ding 36!  Kamas are good exp, if not a bit boring so far, and I wish you could do more than one a day. I take a break after getting roughly 100% already.

I say hi in clan but no response, maybe afk,  15 people logged in currently. Dion is completely out of DSS so I head to Giran and along the way call for a 36 kama and get picked up by Chich, a bounty hunter. There are no shots in Giran either so I make some. About 80k lighter I am around 7,000 DSS richer.

He says we should duo it, and although I know this is going to fail, we try it.

We fail, we both die. I lose level 34. I ask if he wants to get more people and he says no and good luck, and drops party.  Well that’s nice. I head out to Breka Orcs to get my 34 back.

I ask in clan if anyone wants to do 33 kama instead and pick up Reveca, who is also sporting clan oath and what looks like a +4-5 dagger.

I try my best to get the overhit but the point and click movement makes it difficult to land a shot that automatically fires off a regular attack, and stop it before the regular attack lands. Maybe there’s another way.  I say this is next to impossible! This time is a success and it drops 18 EAD, Reinforced Leather Boots, and 139 Iron Boot Designs.  I get all but the boots and offer to split the EADs but they decline.  I hit 35 here.

I must admit I quite like the kamael playstyle so far, the Death Mark debuff, Furious Soul, and the nukes when I need to run from the nasty AOE, etc.

Day 6:

I say hello in clan and one person says hi back. Ralin is not on but LightofAka is. I shout in Dion for like 10 minutes asking for a 33/36 kama, no takers, went to Giran and repeated. No luck there.  I PM Light if this is a good time for kamas and he confirms it is. He says he has to go afk.

I get a party with Shaktii and Makaan who is the same person and we chat a bit about the game.  I say I’m new and ask what’s the best char, they ask for what, PVP or PVE, I say PVP.  They say tanks are good but everyone has their uses.  I ask if it’s pretty balanced and they say “very”.  They explain about overhit at the end and even though I am spamming both of my overhit skills one after another, they say “STOP” repeatedly  and say I didn’t get the overhit.

Needless to say it’s next to impossible to see where the mobs life is, expanded bar or no, without %’s or at least numbers.  I grumble about this in my head.  I apologize saying I thought spamming the skills would be enough and they say it’s ok and it’s just a game.  It sure is.  I make 89% on that. They kindly give me the 2 Hoplon’s that dropped, and the EAD saying I need it more than they.  Very thoughtful!

I ask the same kind of questions I did on the Bartz test about how to exp, if anyone does raids, if I should be doing anything better, etc.  I’m told I should do kamas (which I already did), that getting a raid would be very hard, and I “could do” quests but solo is best.  Solo in a MMORPG, yeah that’s fun.  I’m not saying they are wrong, I’m just saying solo is not fun.  They recommend I solo outside of Forgotten Temple or deep inside.  I have 125k, I have 2,300 shots, I’m pretty set for a bit.

I head to Forgotten Temple and remark that it’s pretty, but let’s be honest, the EXP sucks and it’s 2x mobs.  I wouldn’t recommend anyone exp in there honestly.

I head outside of it and get easier and better exp.

I’m still a bit burned by the “solo it” thing, whether it’s true or not, and ask when people DO party? Someone claims they have a party at level 13 and ‘any level dude’.  Doubt that. I ask what sites are good for L2 and they recommend PMfun or L2 Stratics.

Then I ask what the academy is for, for new people?  They state it’s for clan points, that when I hit 40 and do the 2nd class changes, I get “expelled” from clan and the clan receives points. Well that comes off as a bit harsh, so I admittedly ask a leading question and ask if I would receive special buffs or something while in it. They say no. I’m not willing to let this go so I say that’s too bad there should be a perk or something (you get extra exp on a referral in WoW for example) and they say I can wear Clan Oath Brig and link it.

I check my clan info and I am not sponsored by anyone.  I ask if I can solo this quest and they said I need to be sponsored by an officer.  I ask how to see this and they say “clan info” and explain about the flags. I am sort of /facepalming about the whole academy thing.  One of the officers logs in and asks who wanted the quest and I say I would like to do it.

ImmortalSamurai does help me get the armor though I am still without a sponsor.

I admit it’s a nice touch to see when your sponsor logs in and out and vice versa.

He says he is going afk.  I see other academy members struggling to get together a kama in Gludio, but I am both not in their level range and I’ve already run the kama.  I go “solo” to 34, sell of my stuff, get up to 218k and take a break.