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.

Day 5:

Day starts off pretty good with people looking for more people for the kama I want.  I PM iMatrix who is looking for more for a 33/36  but I get no response back. Then I pick up a group with Sting3r and we have difficulties picking up a third player.  He yells in Dion while I go to Giran and Gludio with no luck. I ask if anyone uses party matching and he says he doubts that. We finally pick up LightofAka and head in.

Now I realize, as melee, why the mob buffing is a problem.  He’s hitting everyone with some kind of nasty AOE damage repeatedly and I die once because of this. The mob goes down quickly though and I receive Gloves of Knowledge, LightofAka receives a single EAD, and Sting3r receives nothing.  There is nothing to split, so there’s not much we can do there.  Everyone kindly says thank yous and goodbyes in this group.  I gain nearly 90% here and head off to exp to get 31. I have also earned another friend, LightofAka on my list. He was using an S grade dagger and shots, so clearly he is a twink.

In the interest of pretending to be new I ask about his weapon, since he linked S grade shots into the party list earlier, asked about his other characters, max level in the game, how long it took, and whether or not guilds take people just over 80 or what.  He says they take all levels and asks if I’d like to join them.  I say that would be cool. I hit 31 in the meantime.

I see a few of his chars.

I am invited to clan Devastators, leader Extinguisher, no base, level 7, which is at peace.  I’m in the Avatars academy.

He also transforms into Final Form for me and then goes and destroys two noobie guards, which is suitably impressive to show a “new” person.

I head back out to Breka orcs and realize without my jewelry, I take brutal damage from the shamans nukes. I hit 32, I’m at 107k adena and completely out of shots. I buy shots and jewelry then dump all my kama drops to the NPC and I’m up to 162k adena. I learn my skills,  and chat a bit in alliance with PureHeal who says he/she’s from Great Britain Wales.  I log out and back in and catch the clan message about their forums and ventrillo server.

They question why someone from the US would play on a euro server and I simply say I heard it was the busiest and other servers are dead.  They say they’ve heard the same and talk about the server merges.  I ask a few more dumb noob questions then say I need to eat lunch. I take a break.

Day 4:

Start in at 8:00 am CST and go to Gludio and yell a bit for a kama. I get no takers. I head to Dion and repeat and this time pick up Rambus, and then DonBurnz.  DonBurnz is in academy gear and tagged, Rambus is not but appears to be in full brig so he likely already knows how to play.

We start the 26 kama and it appears Don did not pick up any buffs, and is not using shots, though his wolf is using shots.  He is told to hit the back of the mob but he doesn’t move, so Rambus readjust the mob so Don is in fact, hitting its back.  This leads to a bit of annoyance when 2 people are spamming shots and one is not, essentially taking everyone else for a ride.

It drops a Cursed Tunic which I get, 8 EAD which Rambus receives, and Cursed Stockings which Don picks up.  I thank them for group (which is common behavior in WoW) but they just SOE and drop party.  I am now 29 at 53%.  After refreshing shots I am at about 54k.

I head to Cruma area and hit 30, then go to Dion and learn more skills only, I don’t have any new ones so I pick up what’s left on the list. I am still jewelry-less from when the shadow items expired.  I run around idly in Dion for a bit, watching tagged and untagged, high level and not run around town but no one is talking.  I log out.

Day 3:

With my weapon upgrade out of the way I take a look at common armor back in Giran as an earlier person had mentioned about the weapon upgrade. I pick up some light armor, as that is all I can wear, which sets me back to 87k. But really, running around in starter armor for 26 levels is somewhat unbecoming. Besides, selling off old gear puts me back to 125k. Now I look not so.. undressed.

I try to get a kama in Gludio but there are no takers other than a level 18.  I go to Dion and yell some more.   I watch my shadow jewelry tick down from 10 mana to 5 and vanish during this time.

I run outside of Dion looking for something to do and hopefully catch any shouts from town.

Then I head to Execution Grounds.  I see another tagged kamael but they appear not to notice me.

I say hello to the other person but get no response.

I hit 27. I call out asking if there are any quests I can do in EG but no reponses. I try asking for a kama again then pick up a cleric (sigh mages) named Xan8ipph and work on getting another DD since we all know mage classes kind of stink in kamas. I go to Dion with about 146k and pick up more shots and call out for more, then go to Gludio and repeat.  No takers.  The cleric drops and says “sorry m8” and tells me the time is wrong.  They say it’s 14:00 GMT +2 (it’s 10am CST).

Back in Gludio I pick up a Palus Knight darksamus and we try one in a duo since we cannot get anyone else.

They are not using shots, and I obviously have no idea how much damage they are or are not doing because there are no meters. I run through over 3,000 shots before it’s more than halfway dead. I run out with about 10% left now we are both not using shots. I’m beginning to really hate kamas. We fail to kill it.  I’m out about 3,500 shots for nothing. My bad I suppose, I did say we needed another DD. They explain they are on a test account and cannot buy from players.  That sucks.

We exit, pick up Malenki and down it.  I get a Cursed Tunic and Stockings and they both receive Cursed Stockings. At least that’s D grade stuff.

I have also hit midway through 28. A bit frustrated I log out after learning skills.