Pandemonium raid
January 13th, 2012 - PoRtCuLLiS
I took a break from AO for a couple of months. Sadly I missed the xmas festivities on Rubi-Ka and all Santaleet had to offer. Never mind! Today I joined in with a raid and went to a Pandemonium instance for the first time.
That's the corpse of The Night Heart up there. He drops some great belts of varying colours, which add +50 to a pair of base abilities (e.g. Maar's Red Belt of Double Power for Stamina/Strength). I don't have enough raid points to really compete in the bidding for one of these items, but hopefully one day soon. For the moment I'm still rolling around wearing a bog standard Belt Component Platform 6K-X.
The main event of Pandemonium is an encounter with The Beast. This badboy can sometimes hit for 14k of damage, which is more HP than some people have. One or two members died but our raid went quite smoothly overall. Again I couldn't afford to bid for the higher end items, once I have enough raid points I want to get an Anger of the Xan, perhaps the best soldier gun in the game. I picked up some small bits and pieces, like the Sigil of Bahomet. I also looted a few corpses along the way for Spiritech Network Analyzer (x2) and a Blue Glyph of Aban, which is a mystery item to me at the moment.
Halloween is here
October 27th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Halloween has rolled around once again on Rubi-Ka!
Out in the wild these Uncle Pumpkinheads are roaming around - they're bad tempered, but easy to dispose of. They drop all kinds of funny loots and costumes, including skulls & crossbones sprays, eyeball helmets, posters and Atrox Thong-Prevention Glasses (for shame). This is the freakshow I've made of myself today:
Sadly (luckily, for some) I was unable to get into the catgirl outfit.
A group of us from Torchwood also went to a special new instance called Hidden Enigma Grove. After a few waves of enemies though we were all dead. QL300 mobs hit hard.
Ofab back piece
October 9th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I sold another two VTE's and used the creds to get an Ofab Soldier Protective Gear. This is how I'm looking right now - extremely badass (if a little monochrome):
Special Edition Ofab
October 7th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I've upgraded a lot of my symbiants today. The worst one to equip was Vital Waist Symbiant, Artillery Unit Aban (QL260), it took a lot of head-scratching, a perk reset, buffs and items - but it's on now (and locked in place!).
Got myself a Special Edition Ofab Soldier Helmet as well, it's a bit less goofy looking than the Gunner's Cap. Finding it hard to get a game of Battle Stations, there are never enough people on there in the 200-214 level range.
Most of my credits are blown, down to my last 10M. Business on the shop is quite slow.
Mordeth's garden
September 23rd, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I bought my way into a team doing the Inferno garden key quest tonight. This is normally an arduous task collecting nine full patterns for pocket bosses. When someone has already collected the patterns though it's just a case of standing at the incarnator and killing them in the right order. I'm now the proud owner of The Key to the Garden of Lord Mordeth, and 100M credits lighter.
Dreadloch Rapier
September 29th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
You should never play AO drunk, but somehow last night I acquired a Dreadloch Rapier. I've heard this could be a good endgame weapon to dual-wield with Envy of the Xan for soldiers going the SMG route (which I'm not at the moment, but you can always reset skills if you really want to).
De'Valos Protection Ring
September 19th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Another good bit of fortune from raffles, on the iraid bot this evening I won a Visible Light Remodulation Device, allowing me to combine my De'Valos Lava, Shades and HHaB into one handy ring (to rule them all): De'Valos Protection Ring.
New Doctor in town
September 16th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
As much as I like playing my soldier, he doesn't have the ability to heal himself very well at all, making it difficult to solo anything that hits hard. With this in mind I made another alt character, a doctor named "Cardiff". Eventually I hope to dual-log and team them together, but a lot of levels are needed before that can happen.
I spent the doc's first ten levels on what is affectionately known as "noob island" doing various quests. The new-player experience is a lot better than I remember it being, Funcom seems to have done a good job in helping people ease into the game without dumbing it down too much. For example, the basic shops now stock pre-made implants for lower level characters, which saves having to fiddle around with all that too early on.
As far as weapons go, I've decided to try the pistol route. Pistol is the only green weapon skill for doctors so it'll mean less improvement points spent on guns, and more on the all-essential nano skills.
Hold Hell at Bay
September 15th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
My AO time lately has mostly been spent doing dailies and city raids with our org Torchwood. The other day I looted Arithmetic Lead Viralbots from a General invader, which has since sold for a cool 100M. It's nice to have some creds in the bank and not be struggling so much. That said, I've already spent 70M of it on Hold Hell at Bay, a ring needed to stay alive in Pandemonium, the final area of the Shadowlands. Soon I hope to visit 'The Beast' and other meanies who live there.
I've also been doing a few missions in Inferno, since discovering there's a portal in LE that takes you almost directly there. No more running through Penumbra for me.
Full Automatic Targeting
September 11th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I went on a Sector 35 raid with people on the iraid bot this evening. I'd built up around 140 iraid points by now and spent most of them on an Energy Redistribution Unit. This thing allowed me to change my Inferno Boots into a De'Valos Lava Protection Ring, meaning I can now wear proper boots while in Inferno, and hopefully die less easily.
Later on I tackled a quest from Corporal Ashley Winstead (Holes in the Wall). This involved quite tiring work, traveling around Rubi-ka killing multiple mobs. Luckily they were all grey and easy to snuff out at my level but it was still a trek. Here I am taking on Nanomutants in Avalon:
The end reward for the quest was some cash and a nano called Full Automatic Targeting, so it was kinda worth it. This nano replaces the old Automatic Targeting, but still stacks with Improved Automatic Targeting, confusingly.
DB1 and 2
September 9th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I unpacked the Vacuum Packed Desert Nomad Armor today, which was part of AO's 10th anniversary loot. The armor as a whole seems great good for boosting base abilities, but a lot of its ACs are poor and I'm just using one piece of it at the moment, the Desert Nomad Boots.
Also been on a couple of runs to DB1 and 2, which were very confusing but managed to loot some nice items like Enhanced Dustbrigade Covering, Enhanced Dustbrigade Flexible Boots and Basic Infused Dust Brigade Bracer. Can't use these things yet though, as I'm not high level enough and I can't meet the comp lit requirement for the bracer.
Dshark time
September 6th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Finally today is the day I equipped my Dreadloch Modified Shark gun. I'd hoped to find the Soldier Clip Junkie nano for myself in one of the dyna camps, but on that front my search was fruitless, so I decided to buy it instead. Rarity means a high price though, and I had to fork out 50M creds to get it. In any case, the +120 to full auto it offers, plus a bit more research, and I was able to get my new weapon on. Here it is, in all its glory:
Before that I was lucky enough to have help in getting a Pure Novictum Ring for the Artillery Unit, also known as +10 ring which gives you access to Pandemonium, the last area of the Shadowlands.
Dyna camps
September 5th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I'd heard that going to dyna camps on RK would be a good way of finding valuable things, so I headed to some low level ones to give it a try. At my second camp I was lucky enough to loot a Pump Trainee (QL46). This should be a good shotgun for Traids, my lowbie trader. After he's done with it I can sell it on for around 20M, if current GMS prices are in the right ballpark.
For an hour or so I carried on going around dyna camps of varying levels, nothing else too exciting dropped though. Here I am with some nightcrawlers (who also seem to enjoy the sunshine):
Dreadlochs and aliens
September 4th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
The iraid bot went around killing Dreadloch mobs tonight, specifically the ones in Southern Artery Valley and 3 Craters East. This was the first time I'd seen raid members 'mech up', though I wasn't part of the mech team on this occasion. Through the auctions I looted a Dreadloch Stabilising Aid and two bio-materials of type 468.
Later on I assembled a few bits of Crepuscule armor, for no real reason other than I had the parts already. This is an ok armor with nice enough stats, but no longer the best around. I think they should ditch the NODROP tag and let people share it, so it can be of use to someone.
Sales at my shop in the Coast of Peace are doing fine, bank balance is currently at 70M creds.
The last activity of the night was a raid of APF Sector 13, again with the iraid bot. The process for the end encounter of S13 is strict, one team must focus on the boss while all other teams kill off any adds. I was on team 2, killing adds, and it was all going very smoothly. In a moment of downtime I clicked the boss to check his health, he was around half way dead. I was then attacked by an add and completely by accident, I fired a full-auto volley right into the boss. I stopped immediately in dread, and watched what unfurled next stunned. Hundreds of small spider mobs appeared and swarmed everyone, many of the raid team died, including myself, and others retreated out of the area.
After a regroup we gradually retook the area from the spiders and then killed the boss. To my relief, no one noticed my blunder and the events were put down to 'a bug'. Comically, I even won the raffle for the main loot of Action Probability Estimator. Funny how things work out.
Reanimated Cloak
September 3rd, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Another big long session of AO. I've done all sorts today, including a few Inferno missions and two alien sector raids. I also went around Milky Way killing various prisoners, which is part of an elite daily mission, but more importantly I wanted their loot to build a Cloak of the Reanimated Ranger (5/5). Up until now I've been wearing a Cultist Outfit, which just wasn't cool any more. Here I am in my new finery:
Looking sharp. This cloak adds +15 to weapon stats, including full auto so I'm that little bit closer to equipping my Dshark. Right now I'm putting as much xp as I can into research, which comes with the Lost Eden expansion as a way of getting more stats. In the meantime I'm pretty happy with my Kyr'ozch Carbine - type 13, it full-autos for around 15k damage, and also has burst and fling shot specials.
As an added bonus at the end of the day, I looted a neutral shadow breed from a corpse in Inferno. This is my first of a possible three and it allows me to cast something called Blackfist, which boosts my attack a lot but can only be cast once every three hours.
New arm and org
September 2nd, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Great news today, as I finally managed to loot a Persisting Right Arm Symbiant, Artillery from killing Breaker Teuvo (with the assistance of a kind doc). This pushes me ever closer to the requirements for using my Dshark gun, but I still don't have enough 'full auto' skill. I've already reset my perks to favour assault rifles though, so I'll be using a Kyr'ozch Carbine - Type 13 as a stopgap until I get there.
In other news, I've joined the neutral org Torchwood, mainly because it's a good bunch of people and the leader has helped me out a lot since I've been back in-game. Here we are defending our city from aliens:
I dinged 211 as well (grats).
Coast of Purchases
August 31st, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Turns out my lowbie fixer alt called Embrace already had the Grid Armor I nano stashed away in a backpack, so I'm glad I didn't buy another. Haven't gotten around to equipping it yet though, his nano skills are a bit low.
I now have a shop terminal to sell my stuff, it's in a different area this time, much handier as it's right by the grid exit in the Coast of Peace. My thing at the moment is selling Fragments of the Source. They're only going for around 200k each, but you can shift a lot of them as people need 35 to do the Penumbra key quest. I logged in today to find I'd made 3.6M creds. Let the good times roll...
Hidden treasure
August 30th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I reactivated a second account I used to have back in the day, only to find that one of the characters on there had 44M credits. This isn't much in today's AO, but still a blessing from my perspective as I was running really low.
The main character on this other account is a level 35 fixer, who I've now named Embrace (randomly, after a band from the 90s). I'm hoping to get this guy some Grid Armor I, although the prices on GMS are pretty steep (~30M). I can just about afford it, but I'd rather take my (slim) chances and try to find it myself first. I read that plants in Clondyke sometimes drop GA1, so I headed there to kill some plantlife.
Just outside Clondyke I noticed a mob called Mick 'Nugget' McMullet (what a name). Despite being grey to me, he still packed a good punch before faceplanting into the grass. I looted some Shades of Lucubration from his corpse. They seem like a decent item if you happen to be a nanomage. If they go for a decent price I might sell.
Breaker Teuvo
August 29th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I've been hanging around two mobs called Shawdowmane and Breaker Reijo in the north west of Penumbra, farming for pieces of a pattern to summon the pocket-boss Breaker Teuvo, who in turn drops a nice right-arm symbiant (sometimes) - Persisting Right Arm Symbiant, Artillery. No luck in getting it yet though.
Picked up a Master Combat Program for 8M creds on GMS and used it to upgrade my shoulder piece to Superior Icy Shoulderpads of Explosive Power (mouthful).
Also logged onto my alt trader called Traids to play. Managed to do one mission, which appeared to be bugged and didn't give me the XP reward it said it would. Traids is still only level 25 and so slow running around that it begins to drag after a while, badly needs a vehicle. Should have spent a veteran point on a Yalmaha for him, but went for the Rubi-Ka Recall Beacon instead.
LoX 12-man
August 22nd, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Went on a raid to LoX "12-man" tonight with people on the iraid bot. Some crazy things go on in that dungeon, I spent most of it running around uncontrollably due to a 'fear' being cast on me. It was still a success though, and at the end I bid some points and won a Xan Combat Merit Board Base.
I've dinged to level 210. My main concern now is getting a few pieces of QL300 Ofab armor together so I can reach the requirements on my Dreadloch Modified Shark.
Cold shoulder
August 21st, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
After my three dailies I spent most of my evening in an instanced dungeon called Alappaa in Penumbra. This is the second part of a quest, but also doubles up nicely for getting some decent gear. By the time we were done, I had the parts needed to make Icy Shoulderpads of Explosive Power, with many thanks owed to neutral org Torchwood, who I've made friends with. I'll soon be able to upgrade these shoulderpads even further when I scrape some credits together.
The reward from the quest side of things was a new nano, Improved Automated Targeting. All round, a good night :)
IRAIDing
August 16th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I've got 35 Fragments of the Source needed to get the garden key to Penumbra. Rather than going through the arduous task of farming all 35, which would have taken days, I bought most of them through GMS.
Still going on a few raids through the iraid bot, which is great. For taking part in each raid you get a number of points, which you can use at the end as boss loot is auctioned off. I haven't accumulated enough points to get the main items yet, but I've picked up a few of the smaller ones here and there. Here's me in Sector 13.
Disco Inferno
August 13th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I made my first steps in Inferno today, after bumping into a fellow neutral who was kind enough to give me a spare pair of boots. I did a mission and some hecklers, I'm now up to level 208.
Also managed to assemble my Improved Precognition nano, but it turns out you need a special nanodeck to upload it. Nothing is ever straight forward in this game.
Dshark
August 10th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
After doing my dailies I spent a lot of time just milling around unsure of what to do. It seems that once people hit 200 they swarm toward Inferno (in the Shadowlands) to do the rest of their leveling. The trouble is, you need a special pair of boots to even walk around in Inferno. The quest for these involves a massive raid group, so the only real alternative is to buy a pair - the asking price around 40M credits. That's not a lot of money in today's RK economy, but still more than I have at the moment. Bought a couple of soldier nanos from the SL gardens - Empowered Partial Reflective Field and Heighten fight (Team). These are the best versions I can get at the moment because you need the garden's permanent key before you're allowed to use the nano vendor, and Adonis is as far as I've gotten where keys are concerned.
I've picked up a Dreadloch Modified Shark gun. It's an assault rifle. I decided dual-wielding Ofab Hawk SMGs would be too much hassle, having to upgrade both guns 5 times each (the bio-materials needed for each upgrade aren't cheap either).
Towards the end of the night I went on a raid to Sector 35, looted some small bits and pieces along the way. We also tried Sector 28 twice but got mauled after someone's pets went astray.
Sector 28
August 8th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Been on my first Alien Invasion raid today, to somewhere called Sector 28. I died once but other than that it went pretty smoothly. The main loot at the end was raffled off - I won Kyr'ozch Circuitry and Crystalline Matrix, which I understand are used to make high-end nanos, e.g. Improved Precognition for us soldiers, which seems a good'n.
Finally thanks to help from a friendly Adventurer, the Adonis brain quest is all done - I'm proud to have my Syndicate Brain Symbiant of the Grunt equipped.
Snatching Soul Dredger
August 7th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Went through another perk reset today, in order to boost treatment and base abilities. On the plus side my setup is over half symbiants now. It does mean I'm quite gimped for 48hrs though until I can reset the perks back to normal. I think two whole days is a bit of a harsh limit for this stuff.
Still plugging my way through the Adonis brain quest, teaming with others where needed. It's a real marathon quest but I'm finally at the last stage, a boss called Tower Keeper Tagnat which I will need assistance with.
In between all this I've been camping a monster called the Snatching Soul Dredger, also in Adonis. It drops Solid Spiritech Mesh, a special item used to make a coat that I'd like, Modified NotuComm Mesh Trenchcoat. The drop rate is low though and the mob is often camped by high levels, so I don't know if I'll manage it. I've killed the thing three times so far, but no luck getting the mesh. 'Soul dredger' could end up being appropriate.
Since spending more time in the Shadowlands I've come to realise my weapons aren't much good. The stats on the Blinded Blackbirds seem decent on the surface, but they have a low 'minimum damage', and as things in SL have high ACs (or so I've heard) you hit for the minimal damage a lot of the time. Looking to upgrade to Ofab Hawks (they're also SMG-type guns) asap, but I'll need more victory points from fighting in Battle Stations.
Adonis brain quest
August 3rd, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Started on the Adonis brain quest tonight (its reward is a nice brain symbiant). Part way through I became frustrated at not knowing the correct route to take to my mission and decided on fighting these 'Slither' creatures instead. I killed one, but shortly after I was mauled by two at a time and sent back to Rubi-Ka.
BS dailies
August 2nd, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Along with the regular daily mission, today I also did dailies for Alien Invasion and Battle Stations for the first time. BS is like a team player-vs-player thing where you fight it out to control checkpoints. I was clearly a novice compared to some people in there but I did manage to get a few kills. I spent some of my victory points on Research Attunement Devices (like this one) and will save the rest towards Ofab guns and armor.
I spent the rest of my AO time in the Shadowlands, going around Penumbra for the civilization quest. Won't be able to finish it off though as you need a team for killing the boss "Two-Time Maloney".
Alien Invasion & Lost Eden
July 31st, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Finally got my hands on the Key to the Garden of Gilthar with some help. For anyone struggling to get north of the redeemed temple in Adonis, you should go to the statue at 'The Outmost Yard' and just jump off the edge, swim over to the other side.
I made my first venture into the Alien Invasion and Lost Eden expansions today. It was quite a lot to take in, but a friendly NT showed me the ropes and I think I've got a grasp of the very basics now. We went through two LE missions which gained me almost four alien levels. The missions themselves were pretty similar to what you have on Rubi-Ka but a lot more alienish in style.
Adonis shark attack
July 29th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I'm done with the Dark Ruins quests now. In typical AO style, some parts of them were wicked ambiguous. I don't know how they expect anyone to complete these things without reading a guide. AO-Universe to the rescue though, as per usual. The main reward I got out of it was a Cultist Outfit, which I've actually decided to wear for now. Any boosts to XP and run speed have to be a good thing.
The most daunting thing about Adonis is not the monsters, but figuring out how to travel from A to B. The question I'm most asking myself while going around this place is "how do I get up there?". It's really a drag at times. If you're going to outlaw vehicles in a world, then at least make it foot-friendly. I'm currently trying to get the garden key for Glithar so I can get around easier, but the quest itself is causing me grief as I don't know how to reach the 'Arks'. I tried taking the scenic route and bumped into this friendly fellow:
My sleeves are now Ofab Soldier Sleeves (QL250, ker-ching).
Adonis and ranged sleeves
July 25th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I've progressed into area of the Shadowlands called Adonis. Right now I'm tackling the "Dark Ruins" dungeon, after that I want to try the series of quests which lead to Syndicate Brain Symbiant of the Grunt. I've heard it could be tough to do alone though.
Swapped out my Miy's Tank sleeves in favour of Miy's Ranged ones. The ACs aren't as good but they boost your SMG stat, which I think might be worth the trade-off. Besides they were really cheap on GMS.
Typos and blitzing
July 22nd, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I'm now the proud owner of a Key to Roch's Sanctuary after doing the quest, which was pretty similar to the Garden key quest preceding it. Now I can't fault the imagination that goes into the AO storylines etc, but wouldn't it be best to proofread these things before putting them live? I mean check this out:
Call the spelling police, there's a maniac on the loose.
I made a cool 25M credits blitzing missions for a guy earlier. I could have gotten more but I'm not the best blitzer around and in the end I was dying too much. The mission layouts are never simple any more, and those cave ones are a complete mare.
Ofab gloves and Nanite Merit Board
July 21st, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
More wheeling and dealing, I sold some 'spirits' (the Shade equivalent of implants/symbiants) which were clogging up my bank. I then picked up my first piece of Ofab armor, some nice Ofab Soldier Gloves (QL225). They were a fiddle to get on, but I think they're real nice compared to the Miy's ones I had before.
I also bought loot-rights for a Smuggled Nanite Merit Board Base, at 8M credits I think I got a bargain, as it seems to be one of the best things a neutral can wear in the neck slot at my level.
Finally I scoured GMS for symbiants. I found some very high level ones going cheap (probably because the requirements are so steep nobody can wear them). Something for future usage though.
Garden keys and daily mission
July 19th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Just a short play on AO today, went into SL and got the early garden key quests done for Aban and Enel, for convenience as much as anything, but the xp (or "shadow knowledge") was ok. Also did the daily mission where you go around Omni-Trade hacking medical terminals, one of my favourites as it takes less than 5 minutes. Nothing else in my shop has sold, either my pricing is wrong or the items are undesirable cack ^_^
Jobe scientists in Scheol
July 18th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Another mammoth session of AO today. I started off with my daily mission, "Scooplets Outbreak" yet again in Deep Artery Valley, I swear they need to add more missions into the mix. After I was done, I decided to explore a nearby area called Golem Island. On the water's edge some Stalker mobs were hanging around. I remembered these guys sometimes drop an item which can be turned into a Stalker Helmet, so I got out of the Yalm and zapped them. Nothing dropped though.
I was about to head off when I got aggro'd by an odd looking thing called Pain Lord. He was sporting a long orange bar (level 220ish) so I didn't like my chances at all. Surprisingly he wasn't hitting me with many shots, while I was firing with everything I had. The burst cycle on the Blackbird is pretty fast which helps a lot, and I've now got some special perk-based attacks too from the SMG line (maxed). Topping up my health with One-More-Hit Healing was enough to get by and within a couple of minutes Pain Lord was no more.
The bulk of my time though was spent in Scheol doing the Jobe scientists quest. This thing involves so much running around that it takes an age, especially since you don't get to use your vehicles and the run-speed buff Grid Space Freedom is unavailable. Overall I'm finding these types of quests pretty good for leveling and getting little bonus items, certainly more interesting than killing hecklers over and over. I leveled up twice today, that's 204 now - ding ding! Grats grats. Parts of the quest are well paid too, I'd made around 5 million credits by the end of it.
Added some more items to my shop terminal, it's now full, their capacity is quite limited so you can't just dump all your stuff on them sadly. A cool tip that I only just found out.. the nightclubs in each city can be used for warping, e.g. Neuters'R'Us takes you to Newland (very handy if the city is in the sticks). City in the sticks haha. Crazy.
Blackbirds are win
July 17th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Two more symbiants equipped, after a lot of tinkering with items and implants, with a healthy dose of waiting around to get buffed from doctors, nano-technicians and enforcers. Even though AO has improved a lot over the years, sadly the player base seems to have dwindled away - so acquiring the right buffs can be a trying task.
I headed to Scheol redeemed temple for a first proper trial of my new Blackbird guns. I took on a mob called Ecclesiast Ocra Lum. Previous fights with this guy had proven tough and I barely scraped through them, this time though I finished him with a full bar of health and without touching my TMS shield. Very happy with that. I looted a Wondrous Gold Ring of Ocra Lux, which might prove useful somewhere down the line, though I'd prefer a Band of Dog Molars.
First symbiant equipped
July 16th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Equipped my first symbiant tonight, in the feet slot (Living Feet Symbiant, Artillery Unit Aban). Pretty close to getting a few others sorted too. Picked up some cheap gold ingots from GMS, looking to make another VTE for sale.
Blackbirds equipped and a sale
July 15th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Spent a lot of time fiddling with implants, getting buffs and blitzing missions today. I've now managed to equip my two Blinded Blackbird guns and things are slowly progressing, haven't had a chance to try them out yet though. I'm almost at the point where I can start using some of my symbiants too. I picked up more twinking items, like a Ring of Divine Teardrops and a pair of O.E.T. Co. Jess guns.
My shop terminal also made its first sale, 20M credits for the Virral Triumvirate Egg. Let the good times roll.
IP reset and symbiants
July 13th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
A frustrating day on Rubi-Ka today in some ways. I've picked up several cheap symbiants of around QL210 from GMS. As a level 202 I expected to get these things installed without too many problems, but that hasn't been the case at all. Getting the right amount of treatment was a hurdle in itself, but three base abilities are also required for each symbiant, and the numbers are too high for me right now. I've been scrabbling together a number of 'twinking' items that fit in obscure slots to give me boosts where I need it. As yet though, no symbiants fitted.
I opted to do a Full IP Reset today, as looking through my abilities I'd raised some odd skills in my lower levels. I don't think any good soldier needs that much 'Breaking & Entering'. I might be getting around on jetpack from now on, as it needs much less 'Vehicle Air' skill than a Yalmaha. This is me flying around in my very fetching medsuit:
In other news, I've joined a neutral org called Commerce. It isn't very active as a group and primarily exists for neutrals to have a shop and sell things via GMS, which suits me fine for the time being. Our city is in the armpit of nowhere (Perpetual Wastes), but I've already set up a shop terminal and added my first couple of items to it - a Virral Triumvirate Egg and Ratcatcher Goggles. Fingers crossed for some sales.
As I log off tonight my char is in an awkward transition period where he's not able to equip a gun. I need to get an implant together to boost SMG then the Blackbird x2 will work.
Blackbirds and treatment
July 12th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Finding an engineer willing to assemble my Virral Triumvirate Egg (x3) was like pulling teeth, but eventually I found a good guy who did it for me - even refusing to take a tip. Faith in the community restored. I sold the first egg over one of the shopping channels for 15M credits.
In other good news, I've reached level 202. Today's daily mission was the one where you hoard up 100 roller rats into a trap within 15 minutes. TMS shield and a run-speed buff are great for this and I did it with loads of time to spare.
My thoughts have moved on to changing weapons. The Boosted Hellspinner Shock Cannon has served me well but had its day I feel and I'd prefer to be dual-wielding Blinded Blackbirds instead. They may not be as good as some of the newer Shadowlands / Lost Eden guns but I'll get to those in my own time. I already have the Blackbirds in my inventory but can't equip them just yet due to the high (ish) SMG requirement and my setup isn't right for it. Something I hope to fix asap.
It turns out that implants are no longer the 'in' thing, more people are using symbiants instead, with good reason. These new symbiants boost a much wider range of skills than the standard 3 you'd get on an implant. Other than that though, the mechanics of how they work seem the same, they fix into the standard implant slots and require a certain amount of treatment skill. I spent a while looking into ways I could realistically improve my treatment stats, bearing in mind that I'm not currently in an org and not very uber at all. I brought my alt character Traids back in on the action and rolled a mission for OT-Windchaser M06 Quartz, a lowly gun which gives a fairly decent +10 to treatment. This time I set the mission slider to 'Bad', which gave much more omni-friendly locations.
Now along with the new gun, an omni medsuit, some Biomech Armor, a perk reset, buffs from a doctor and existing implants, I should be able to get my treatment skill up pretty high.
Perks and Scheol
July 11th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Had a ridiculously long session of AO today, really into it at the mo. Early this afternoon I made 12M credits selling empty implants (some people have way too much money!). Things come and go quickly in this game though and I'd soon spent it again through the Global Market Search (GMS) system... 5M on Miy's Tank Body Armor (QL236) and the rest on soul fragments and mantis eggs. So I'm low on creds again, but I've got all the components to make 3x Virral Triumvirate Egg, which sell for zillions.
The stamina requirement on the body armor was a sticking point for a while. I logged onto my lowbie trader "Traids" and rolled two missions for Concrete Cushions. The first in Newland went smoothly. On the second mission I was gunned down by guards before even entering. Traids is an Omni character, and it turns out Old Athen is a Clan stronghold. Using a bit more stealth though I was able to get there on the second try. In hindsight I probably used bad slider settings on the mission terminal.
With the +16 stamina from these cushions I was still nowhere near the 650 needed. Passing through Jobe Platform I stumbled upon a vendor called "Full perk reset". At this point I realised there were alternative perk lines I could have used to benefit stamina (as well as strength). One reset and some buffs later, the armor was on. Not that you can see much of it through my red backpiece.
I'm on the verge of dinging to level 202, mostly due to the new 'daily missions' Funcom have brought in. This cool addition means you can gain shadow levels without having to go into the Shadowlands. The only down side to these is that they seem to repeat a lot. Today I was training Enigma Dogs for about the fourth or fifth time. Around the same area there was this big dinosaur type mob called Deinos the Cold Blooded. As is typical, I tried having a go at him. No dice. He was pretty low level but had a lot of HP, and a nano that seemed to nullify my MK shield. Luckily my teleportation perk was available and I zoned out before things turned ugly.
I was never a big fan of Shadowlands when it came out, I found it confusing and extremely awkward to navigate around the place. This time around though I'm getting a lot more joy out of it. Some of the areas are actually great to take in. Here's me in Lower Scheol:
I was working on the quest for getting the key to Ocra Garden.
Money's too tight to mention
July 8th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
My credits situation is pretty dire, this evening I was down to my last 60k so I went to blitz some missions in Pleasant Meadows. I ended up with seven Battle Suits of varying descriptions, selling them with my low level trader alt took me back up to 1.9 million creds. This might not be the best way to make money. Spent a long time organising old bags of junk I had in the bank too. Need to sell some stuff.
Cyborg barracks
July 7th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
Returned to the Cyborg barracks tonight in the hope of finding more Miy's tank armor. The drop rate was pretty slow but in the end I was rewarded with two pairs of gloves (QL209 + QL203) and an Experimental Cyborg Token Board, which seems like a decent neck item for us neutrals. I don't have enough Sense to equip it yet though.
Miy's armor and slugs
July 6th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
I've ditched the Charred Abaddon Chassis, as much as I love its style, traveling around everywhere on foot is too much of a drag. A friendly adventurer suggested Miy's Tank Armor as a replacement, so I headed to Perpetual Wastelands to face down some cyborgs.
En-route I came across two giant slugs called Gargantuan Baraton. Info about these things online is scarce and I wondered if it would drop anything cool. Despite a good struggle, it chewed me a new one, so I'm still left wondering.
After recovery I decided to leave the slugs alone and stick to borgs. There are a lot of these things in PW. I took out a handful of grey ones, before deciding they were too low-level to be worth my time. Into the Cyborg Camp. I killed around 7 before getting my first piece of Miy's, sadly it was the wrong type - Miy's Nano Armor Legs. People don't seem keen to buy it from me either. Shortly after I was mobbed by 3 or 4 borgs at once and died. Maybe I should join a guild.
Bought myself a cheap Miy's Tank Armor Helmet on GMS to make me feel better and logged.
Desert Rider loot
July 5th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
As part of the 10 year anniversary there's a mob called the Desert Rider in Newland Desert with some special loot. I was lucky enough to be part of a raid and got my atrox sausagefingers on a Yalmaha Clio and a full set of Desert Nomad Armor (QL300), the requirements of which seem light years away from where I'm at right now.
So I right-clicked the new Yalmaha Clio and it vanished, to my horror it was nowhere to be seen in the Wear window. One petition later and I'm left feeling foolish. It turns out the Clio operates as a nano, instead of occupying a HUD slot.
There I am, showing off in my new ride.
As an aside, the petition system is in dire need of an overhaul, these things take hours to get answered, which is fine, but you don't get any accurate indication of where you are in the queue or how long it will be.
Back on Rubi-Ka
July 4th, 2011 - PoRtCuLLiS
So after a long absence of... many years, I've decided to give Anarchy Online another try. This wasn't entirely off my own back, Funcom sent out a 10th anniversary email offering some free play and lured me in.
Quite a bit has changed since I last played, even just on the surface of things. There's now an in-game email system where you can send items / credits. Also new to me are the 'shopping network' terminals, for picking up bargains. There's a lot more people flying around without a vehicle too.
This is me in my current state. I look all kinds of cool in my Charred Abbadon Chassis (twice upgraded), but my gear is a bit 2004. Things have moved on and I need a lot of updating.