It took a while to level up in the Swamp of Screams, but only because the daily quest takes forever.  I did run a quest little quest where Kain, what my original servers name was, showed up to help:

I hit 70 and was directed to the Wall of Argos.  I remember it as a mostly empty place and difficult to solo.  Well, that’s sort of accurate now, only because of the bots.

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Oh good gosh THE BOTS. Everywhere!  There was a Gameguard update today, but the bots are all still there.  I was told it stops them for maybe 2 hours tops.

That all being said, I’m having trouble remembering why this game was fun.  The leveling sucks, the drops suck, the quests suck, and gearing up sucks.  The friend I made were all the difference, but now that’s not even a thing.

I had maybe 2 people even say hi from 1-70.  No clan invites, no mentor invites.  I posted in the official forum asking for a mentor on the Chronos server, and NO REPLY. None!  The clan people that did email me in game, no reply for about a week and no reply to PMs.  What the actual heck.

I am also upset that the Pailaka I wanted to do on Devil’s Isle has an upper level range.  Why is that?  Why in the world would it be a problem if a higher level ran a low level SOLO INSTANCE.   It makes no sense!  They did the same thing for raids, many years ago, but that was understandable, sort of.

It made NO SENSE that they put a powerful ring/necklace on a low level raid boss like the Ant Queen or Orfen.  Neither bosses were instanced, so that meant people had that junk on lock down.  Good luck ever seeing either of them up, ever.  Anyway, I rant.  I’m going to have a difficult time getting to 85 if I’m going to be playing solo in a MMORPG.

Created a new Ertheria and wow leveling is fast now.  I went from 1-20 in no time at all, up to 40 in another few hours of playing, and 52 after about 3 casual days.  Quests now give A TON of experience, as opposed to something you aren’t even sure you earned because it was so low.

I just wish I could keybind my spells to my regular keys like E G F and such.  You can actually move with WASD now but if the skills are still up in the function ranges, that’s super awkward.

I’ve been given level appropriate armor via the queen in mail, which is good because no one has talked to me or invited me to a clan yet, even at 52.  I did have one person attack me, for no reason though.

I can’t tell if everyone is just botting or what.  Not even a hi yet.

I am at a loss of where to go so I again talk to the Newbie Guide and boom level 7 to 10 right then.  I also receive around 1500 sp so I can buy more skills. I learn Armor Mastery, Weapon Mastery, another Wind Strike and Ice bolt before I am out of SP again. I am directed back to the starting location as well.

The spiritshots, by the way, can be put on the bar and right clicked to activate automatically which turns off at log out.

The frogs give me little trouble on the way back. There is no global cool down on skills, each have individual timers. This quest also has no markers so I really have no idea where to go. The quest says the guards in the village can tell me where to go. I talk to all the guards but none of them say anything about spirits. I shout asking for help but there is no reply. Presumably if I didn’t actually know where they were, I’d be forced to wander randomly around looking for them. Lucky for me though I do know where they are.

I equip the wand and nuke it, oh no! No quest item, the hell? Well, it does say hit them, so I supposed I can melee as a mage still. Now I just have to wait out the respawn from my mistake. The wand itself does very little damage and I’m at risk of dying before it dies, so after the first hit I nuke it down and get the quest item. Repeat for the other two.

During all this I ran past the Singing Waterfall, which does not appear to sing in any sort of fashion, however if I crank up my sounds I think maybe, maybe I hear something.

Unfortunately for me however, I went over a small cliff near the spiders and with no visible way to get back up, I went for a swim. I died rather quickly.

There are no corpse runs, I respawn back in town. Fortunately Gatekeeper Roxxy gives free teleports.

I was left at the opposite side of the island at the last mirror so I use an adventurers scroll of escape to get back to town. I hate walking.

Speaking of, someone really should turn around the School of Magic so I don’t have to run all the way around it to get in.

Anyway I get a bunch more shots, echo crystals that play music and a wand, oh and more money that I currently had earned (12k at date) so far.  The wand is nowhere near as good as my shadow weapon so I don’t bother with it.  I ding level 11, almost 12.  I am still running around in starter gear minus that one Tunic upgrade I got however.

My inventory is depressingly full of empty slots.

Back in town at the Newbie Guide, I get level 15.  I still haven’t seen any other players. I am up to 12k sp so I pick up my remaining Wind Strikes, Ice Bolts, Vampiric Touch, Weapon and Armor Masteries, Shield, Might, and two Heals before I am out again.

The Newbie Guide said to speak to Elias and I get another quest. Then I spot an odd fellow!  I say hello, but there is no reply.  That’s ok I remember where the spiders are for the quest.

It appears that randomly my automated shots must be turned back on for some reason.  The quest says to bring back the poison sacs of “many spiders” but, how many is that? Turns out it’s just one.

I see another live player, a dark elf named mageless.  I cannot tell her level, HP, MP,  buffs, or equipment other than by visual observation on the gear.

I get a new weapon with my shadow coupon, only one choice for a mage. The Newbie Guide points me to a quest like it or not. Captain Gilbert tells me to kill orcs.  I oblige him. Only, I do not know where the orcs are, there is no quest marker that I can tell.

I get 5 orc amulets, no necklaces, and no fangs in the time it takes to get level 7, which directs me back to the village to learn skills. My dwarven friend is still dying on the guards.

By chance I talk to Gilbert and he gives me my reward even though I have clearly not finished my task.  That’s ok though.

I go to the Temple and attempt to learn some skills, only I have 517 SP at this point in time. I decide to pick up a Wind Strike and Ice Bolt, since I already have buffs and could otherwise only afford 1 skill.  Now I am out of SP. The game tells me I’ve been playing for an extended amount of time so I take a break.

After selecting a human female mystic, who was displayed in pretty blue robes [1], I start out in a white shirt and mini skirt in the Einhasad School of Magic.  The first announcement directs me to the official forums poll about what to do about banned clan leaders.  Curious! This must be a real problem.  I get to level 1 in a single mob. Level 3 in a few more.

The Newbie Helper doesn’t outwardly display a quest [2], but he has one nonetheless. It’s not in the quest list either. I get it done anyway and choose to stay on Talking Island. I get level 4 by clearing out the remaining goblins.

Curiously enough when I swim, even with my head above water, I still lose breath gauge [3].

I attack a Giant Toad on the way to the village and two aggro me and I’m half health before getting off a second shot.  I run.

The frogs follow me all the way down the road. Past the guards [4].

And all the way to the other side of the village before they give up. No guard or NPC assists.

The Newbie Guide informs me I cannot have helpful magic until level 6. He gives me 100 spirit shot and 2 recovery scrolls though. I do not see any other players so I head out and get level 6 on some Keltirs. I pick up some Pants from drops only now, since all drops from mobs fall on the ground!, however I cast REALLY slow [5].  I put my stockings back on. I get a Tunic which I can use.

Sometimes I receive little jars that help my HP/MP or other stats. These are calls herbs [6].

I hit level 6.  Other than some NPC white chat, the only other chat I can observe is a lot of blue smack talking. I can get a whole slew of newbie buffs, and a weapon coupon.  The Newbie Guide is not very forgiving and tells me if I lose it I am completely out of luck.

I see my first live player!

She runs to the guard and gets killed.  What’s that about? [7]

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1.  The robes are Blue Wolf which is B grade, obtainable at level 52.
2. Quest NPCs do not show up on the map, but will have an exclamation point on them if the quest is available.  Turn-in NPCs do not have markers.
3. If you are in water, you can lose breath gauge, then start losing health, and can die. Doesn’t matter if your head is above water.
4.  Guards only attack red (PK) players, not mobs., not purple (PVP flagged) players.
5.  If you use armor/weapons you do not have expertise in, you suffer speed or other penalties.
6.  Herbs drop from some mobs and work like HP/MP potions, or buff scrolls temporarily.
7.  This person is delevelling, when you die you lose exp and can lose entire levels this way.  People do this on purpose to stay within a desired level range to farm something, as drops decrease greatly or stop altogether if you are too high for a mob.