I log in, pick up a quest from Guard Harlan who wants 180 items to help him out.  I guess no one does things in little steps here. Then I get a message from Furrious about the clan from yesterday shortly after, who says they will come to invite me.

I have finally tweaked my settings to take better shots too.

The clan is at war, and has the Heavy Metal Hall CH and an impressive level 9.  That’s some luck!  They even say they will help me get some decent gear. Obviously between you me and the floor this is just for clan points and then I’m out on my ass but hey whatever. 😉

I start plugging away on my quest, noting with increasing annoyance the frequence of that bubble, waster of MP and shots (if I could afford them).

I also ran out of MP for one of the first time and sat down for roughly 7 mins to get it all back. Clan chat is lively though. I asked what quests are good at my level for money and they inform me that Furrious knows everything.  He says he doesn’t think there are any good quests in l2 about adena.

I laugh to myself because I know he is in fact correct.

Failing getting any MP herb drops, which seem to be rare, I have to sit every few minutes it seems.

Then ownzzz asked me to do a Kamaloka, which I honestly have never done before. Apparently this one involved hitting on one mob for like 30 minutes while it does nothing special.  My mp is a real problem and my pal informs me there are no mp drinks or pots, only elixirs which I likely cannot afford. I try my poison on it but that dot is always resisted.

I mention that a wizard is not so good for this area. He agrees. Apparently this is pretty boring because he says if not for the stun, you could go afk during this whole thing. XD I like this guy.

I ding 26. The darn thing drops only 15 piece bone breastplate fragments, I mean REALLY? That’s very /gm stems? *  It was 628, 532 exp and 34,362 sp.

Now even the magisters in the temple will not help me out unless I go to a human one. Of course, they don’t actually say that which I imagine could be confusing. I have 103k sp at this point and 176k adena.  This is sufficient to pick up all skills save 2. I take a break.

*  My first ever raid back in C2 involved 3 groups killing a boss out in HV which resulted in a drop of like 273 STEMS.  We use to joke the drops were so terrible we should gm about it, so the joke was, whenever we got terrible drops just /gm 273 stem?

I look back at my existing skills and I have a few summons but I lack the crystals to cast them.

But then! A fearsome being enters town and activity picks up!

This one also attacks the guards only they die, rather than the other way around.

I decide to go to Dion where I find three shops, all selling shots.  The only spiritshots are blessed and they cost 59 adena each. My staff takes 2 at a time.  I will get some and see how that works out.

A guy named CollieBudz asked my level but the answer must not be pleasing because the reply is “damn nvm”.

I start killing dark red to light red mobs with my new magical shots and they die with not much effort.  Their drops are considerably more in the range of 300-500+ adena which will easily cover the shots cost of around 200 per cast. Though I must take into account that these mobs bubble at every opportunity and waste my mp and shots.

Green mobs on the other hand, only drop around 120-180 adena and are not that great of a deal.

Then I see a field glittering with money! I pick it up, straight away!

I trek around Dion town area, eventually hitting 24.  Before I log out for a while someone named ownzzz asked my level (still curious this isn’t visibly displayed for all to see?) and if I want to exp.  No, I am about to take a break.  Then they ask if I want clan, sure, why not.  I cannot look up where they are, their clan from where I stand. They ask me to go to Schuttgart. After I do so, they say they are under a penalty and cannot invite.  Good thing ports are free or I’d be upset.

At the rate I am getting these items I am thinking this quest is not very productive, for no immediate adena reward.  I head back to the Armor Shop where I notice the extra categories for “Buy basic equipment for Warriors” and another for “Buy Wizard Common Items”.  Whatever that is.

Common items appear to be “greys” that are much more reasonably priced, 2,525 for a bronze helm rather than 48,000!  I JUST bought the devotion robes so I will buy my missing pieces this way. Total price for boots, gloves and helm is 5,899 rather than  94,125.  Of course too late I realize that new helm will break my set bonus so I stick with the old one. Now I’m looking a little better.

In about 30 mins of non stop killing, I earn 48/100 black necklaces and 18/100 red necklaces, at a pace that can only be considered “suckish”.  I hit level 21.

Chat is still filled with those annoying preachers and oracles talking and occasionally spam about a castle.  I go to see this castle!  No one home?

I watch another person repeatedly die on the guards.  Honestly what is that about?

I roam around this time finding Guard Curtis with a quest that lists the reward as adena, even though it’s “undecided”.  I also discover that I can /target (name) something and target it again, or hit an attack skill and I’ll run to wherever it is.  That’s handy.

I get an anatomy diagram, which doesn’t appear to serve any purpose. I can’t equip or use it.

My shadow item has disappeared but I wisely traded in all my tickets at once for more.  I wonder what will happen when they all wear out though. The quest sends me to Ruins of Despair or Agony but I will go to Agony since Despair gave me a number of deaths a bit ago.

I am no longer one shotting all the mobs.  I notice I do not appear to have any shielding abilities either. I’ve seen no food or drink, or mp pots but so far mp has not been an issue.

And I am glowing pink in the head/chest region!

I find a friend! We party 😀

Then there’s the obligatory a/s/l check.  He’s 19 from Greece.  I lie about my age because I’m effecting my speech of that of a 13 year old and say I’m from the USA.  I hit 22.

Alas I die and my pal disperses the party immediately after :/

Still after about 60% of a level I have a good amount of body parts. Eww.  I do not see that person again.

HP herb drops seem much more prevalent than MP ones. I do notice if a mob runs behind me and I attack again, I turn in that direction automatically, which is good, because I can’t seem to keyboard or mouse turn.

I try to open a chest and it attacks me!

I hit 23 and I’m at 168,770 adena. I have not received a single weapon or armor drop since that tunic around level 2.  I take inventory, I have 1 suede, 1 stem, 1 charcoal, 6 animal bones, 2 animal skins, 4 varnish, 2 coal, 1 thread and a recipe for a blue diamond necklace, and greater compressed D soul shots oh and a leather glove lining.  In 23 levels. All those materials net me 4,365 if I were to sell but I only sell the recipes and the glove lining.  I am 2,865 richer. It appears a shadow staff of mana is around 47k but the normal version if a whopping 600k+!!!  I am still at 171,691 adena! ><

I turn in over a full levels worth of farmed items to Samed and receive 3,755. Then if things couldn’t get any worse, my shadow jewelry all expired.  The trainers say I do not have any more skills to learn until 25.

A similar set of jewelry would set me back 120,750.  A common set is only 6,700 so I get that.

Still in the Gludio Temple I talk to a Magister to learn skills.  I have about 82,000 sp and a huge list of possible skills to learn.  A few clearly seem like a waste of time, such as Boost Mana which gives a whole 30 extra MP.  Really? 30? One spell is nearly that. Still, even noobishly picking up EVERY skill I still have SP to spare.

Now I just bought devotion robes and still have over 5k no grade soulshots, but the coupons I just got are for D grade.  Before that, I get my Magic Accessory Exchange Coupon which I exchange for the only item available in the list.  Seems like an unnecessary extra step?

Anyway I get my Staff of Magic, and cannot use all my spiritshots because it doesn’t match the weapons grade. The shops only seem to carry no grade shops.  So then what?

I am still faced with a screen full of NPC text and no players talking, and only see maybe one person in Gludin.  I go back to Gludio.

There are a few more players here, and one shop selling “DSS” which do not match the spiritshots I was using. The text on the regular shots inform me it’s for magic damage, unfortunately the newbie shots give no indication of their use. There are no other shops in that entire town.

The Tunic of Knowledge seems like a good bet but it’s more money than I have. And that’s just for the tunic, not the stockings, new boots (because I have none), gloves (because I have none) or shirt (because I don’t have any).

The lowest D grade gear will run be about 250k, I have 142,779.  I clearly must get more money.

Quests seem like they would be the way to go but again, no markers on the map showing available quests. I run around town but I do not see anyone offering anything. Oh wait no! Guard Babenco has a quest!  It doesn’t appear to offer any money at all, though.

I shout asking for advice on money making quests but get no reply. I pick up the lizardman quest and start killing. They are yellow to me or white but I have little trouble killing them in one shot. I see to get an average of around 120 adena a mob, which means I only need around 900 mobs to get my gear.  Um, only.

I get 8 Black Necklaces after killing around 25 mobs and return to Bathis only to be told I need to return with 100 red and 100 black! Ai ya!

Day 2:

At Gludin I find both the Newbie Guide and the Adventurer Guildsman in the center of the plaza not far off from the Gatekeeper.

Between this two NPCs I find that if I want to be a cleric or wizard I’ll need to go to the temple.  There I speak with Parina and she arranges the wizard class change it seems. She says I need to visit the Flame Spirit in the Ruins of Despair. The quest itself however calls it a fire spirit salamander.

I bounce from Gludin to Gludio to Ruins of Despair via the gatekeepers which are blessedly free. Luckily I get both a pointer and a map marker for my fire spirit. It is during this time I find out, since the mobs here are yellow/pink to me at 18, that the glowing ball I have also heals me.

Some of the mobs sometimes shield/bubble and I cannot damage them until it wears off.

Sadly that ball proves no match for the monsters in the area.

I remember to drop the 100 Lesser Healing Potions on my bar. Fortunately for me, the gear does not have any durability to be lost.

(even with my veteran savvy I still die a couple of times trying to clear the path to safely talk to the salamander)

Alas my Shadow Item vanishes and I do not have another, so I must return to town to pick up a second one. I probably should have exchanged all the coupons at once now that I think about it.

I catch a nice shot of the Ruins of Despair though my glow ball doesn’t hide for the picture.

Next step is to find the Wind Sylph, again marked on the map with a pointer.

She makes kissy faces!  She sends me to find a lizard, who is through  RED mobs! Their aggro range is not exceptional but like regular mobs, they give chase for quite a long period of time and do not “snap” back to their starting zones immediately after dropping the chase. On the other hand I discover HP pots are spammable.

Besides that I find the Wasteland Lizardman with not much trouble. Apparenly the lizardMAN is busy laying eggs out here.  Huh!

I cannot tell from looking at the mobs, which are passive or aggro. The Water Undine does not turn to speak to me, much like the other elementals.

I complete her pebble request quickly. She says to go to the Ruins of Agony to meet the Earth Snake. That is fortunately not too far from my current location. I’d kill for a mount though.

Since I know death brings me back to town and I’d have to run out to wherever I was again, I just die and teleport back to Gludin. During that I discover that I lose roughly 7% exp on death.

Still, asking speaking to Parina again I boost up to level 20 and then some, and class change to Human Wizard.