The last week where there was 2x exp and RWC

Theres nothing more satisfying than leveling in a high end dungeon with a competent party raking in multiple levels a day, and thats exactly what I was doing during the latest 2x exp event (technically 225%).

As an SD sinx, I was leveling on the assumption that I’d be doing large parties from lvl70 and above ’till 90, at which point I’d blow my life savings on EDP SB leveling in bios3. However, with the population of 7x-8x trans dwindling, parties are srs bizness.

One important factor in competitive partying (TT, Thors, bio3, nameless) is your level. I’m not talking about just being in share range, but the amount of experience you have playing your character. Generally speaking, the higher your level, the more partying experience your character seems to have. For some classes, optimal party experience starts earlier, such as minstrels and scholars. In my experience, Sinx’s hit optimal party experience after level 75, meaning earlier than that, don’t expect much parties. In my last post about my sinx, I had barely hit 70. Between then and the beginning of the exp event, I soloed on sleepers and goats, turning in antelope horns as I went. And when I was 75, I started to successfully search for parties.

With competitive partying, unless you’re a minstrel, scholar, or HP, there are likely multiple people vying for the same job in a party. Because of this, it’s important to make good first impressions with your party. By doing so, your former party members are more likely to invite you a second time in different parties. However, if you mess up, word spreads quickly of your incompetance, and you’ll be shunned from future parties. This goes hand in hand with the previous paragraph on party experience; if you somehow get yourself on every party’s blacklist, depending on your class’ dependance on parties, you may find yourself stuck at an eternally low level, doomed to solo or rot in alde with a chat up. So don’t mess up!

Fortunately for me, I took the liberty of securing all the weapons I’d need to maximize my SD damage and show the world my prowess! This particular abyss party was actually my first competitive party after hitting 75.

Incidentally, that was also the last abyss party I’ve ever been in. The remaining days of 2x exp were spent in constant TT parties! Every day, we went to TT with 3 or 4 of the same members from the previous night and leveled ’till midnight. Then the exp event ended, and everyone went to thors or nameless, the two places where Sinxs are the least effective, thus halting my Sinx’s growth at lvl81.

Of course, we can’t forget why we had the exp event in the first place. The Ragnarok World Championships were taking place! I actually thought iRO was going to rank higher this year, but it turns out they were knocked out by kRO in the second round, such a shame.

Also, I’ve recently started WoEing on my Sinx instead of my champ. From the very beginning, I knew this had to happen if I didn’t want to go into debt. You see, Insur doesn’t actually supply its members. Instead, we use our own resources and get reimbursed at the end of WoE in pure zeny. However, this poses some problems when I want to buy a non-supply item. By spending zeny on gears and the like, I reduce the amount of supplies I can buy with my remaining zeny. If I spend enough zeny, I’m literally WoEing without supplies. Siz months ago, this wasn’t a problem, mainly because I had only barely started Project SVN. However, I’ve recently had to purchase a Dragon Killer and a Quad Ancient MG, setting me back about 23m. In a sort of domino effect, I can no longer afford to supply myself with anything more than fat whites, and so, I decided to WoE on my Sinx, who is much more adept at offing targets than a champ without sp.

Let me take a moment to describe my champ in WoE. I die. A lot. I asura a pally, I die. I asura a swordie, merchant, or thief type class with a valk mant, I die. I stun, then die. I stun, then stay stunned for 5 or so minutes, then I die. I try to asura someone, but get stunned, and miss the asura, dying seconds later. I walk next to a guardian, I die. I try to rush to the left, I die. Try to rush to the right, I die. I die, I die, I die, I die! (Draco will get the reference) How do I stay so sane after dying so much? The sole fact that I can down anyone in one hit. However, there is no way in hell I can stand playing a champ without sp items. Which brings us back to Sinx.

Lets do a bit of comparing, shall we? Sinx HP: 7k, Champ HP: 5.5k. Sinx base str: 99, Champ base str: 82. Cost of killing people: Sinx: 200k for 1minute, Champ: 100k for one target. Looks better on paper, right? Wrong. I was stunning just as much, dying just as much, but killing less people. I need some serious levels before I can get from my measly 20 vit to my planned 70 total vit. But it was fun after we stopped attacking and started defending.

Alright, I’m getting sleepy, I’ll continue later.

Clips and Vids and Whatnot

It’s been a little over a year since I started making RO vids on my ancient, but reliable desktop. Over the the months leading to this day, I’ve covered many genres, including WoE vids, parodies, tutorials, and general leveling and specialized vids. My proficiency in making vids has also seen dramatic improvement from my original low-quality Windows Movie Maker vids to today’s simple video edits using Sony Vegas. So to commemorate the anniversary of my first vid, I’m going to be making a feature length RO movie.

Every single vid before this has a couple similarities: no plot, no conflict, no resolution. Previous vids I’ve made were just clips with an intro stapled to the beginning and music tacked onto the body, but no more! At this very moment, I’m in the middle of writing the storyboard for this monstrocity of a project.

What is the story based on? The aftermath of the Dandelion Quest and the events leading up to episode 12, the revival of Satan Morroc. This particular story follows Kid, one of the assassin crosses you work with in the Dandelion Quest. It’ll include fight scenes! Deception! Betrayal! And involve a staggering amount of time to direct and film, let alone edit!

Dialogue will exist as simple in-game dialogue, sound effects and music will play a critical part in setting certain moods, and fights and conflicts will require either inhumanely fast reflexes, multiple computers, or a helping hand from someone, because I’m currently doing the whole thing by myself @_@. Scripts and storyboard will probably be finished over the next few weeks, as it’s easy to do.

Filming (lol, filming), will be done on an eAthena-based test server to allow for otherwise impossible conversations between a lone sinX and godly MvPs, not to mention PvP fights in towns and cramped job change areas or special skill effects. There’s a pretty high chance I can’t do any filming until winter break, when I can go back home and get some help from Draco and the 4+ computers we have. Editting, which is my strong suit, will likely take another couple months to put together the clips, add music, and add various effects. After that, I’ll compile a pre-release version and send it over to Draco, who will check the quality and overall completeness of the compilation before I add finishing touches and finalize the project, releasing it to the public. The release date will probably be sometime in Summer 2009. I’ll probably release a trailer beforehand, like in Winter after filming key scenes. Sometimes, I honestly wonder why I chose to be a computer science and engineering major =_=;

Of course, while I’m pretty serious about this, I’m doing it for the fun of it. One thing I was thinking of doing was to include cameos from people I know in RO. They won’t have the same name of course, but will have the same class and headgears, and maybe the same demeanor. Some will play major roles while others will be hidden in the background. The three main characters won’t be anyone in particular though (that would defeat the purpose, honestly). Another thing I was going to do was a blooper reel or parody mode if we had extra time after filming. A lot of things are open right now, and the sky’s the limit ;D

And so begins my newest project: Project Thanatos

RO History II

…is now out! I figured I’d at least finish up this chapter of my history. Next update will be the Modern ages, aka Mutiny and HE, first redux!