All right, so I’ve been bouncing in and out of HBO and there’s a couple extra things I either left out, or only recently found out from my initial review. I haven’t exactly been playing the game 24/7, so I’m not sure about anything beyond the current level I’m at (I definitely don’t want to burn out on the game like what happened with me and Florensia, early on). Still, there are a few things I did end up finding out that I may have missed and came back to tell you, just in case you actually read this to check up on these MMO’s I dabble in!
Death and Dieing
Earlier in the review, I mentioned that I didn’t have any idea whether or not you had a penalty for deaths. Turns out, there are, but they’re slightly more tolerable than other games. First off, your character does lose experience. I’m not sure when it happens (my guess is beyond level 10), but it looks like the amount a character loses ramps up as it levels. Now, that’s not something I’m 100% sure on, but it did feel like a lot more at 20 than it did at 15, which means that it may only feel like a sting early on, but it could easily turn into a nightmare at higher levels where it could take more mobs to even see a change in experience numbers. I’m not sure if a character can de-level either, so watch out for that.
Also, the character will end up with a weakened debuff. This lasts something around two minutes (I think…), but what it means is that your character can’t transform into human form and also won’t be able to attack anything. This is annoying in two ways: If a character decides to forego going back to the city to learn spells ever even numbered-ish levels, only waiting when death hits to do the deed (assuming the resurrect point is in the city), there’s a two minute wait before sticking human-form-only spells in the action bars (I haven’t found a way to switch them when in beast mode). The other annoying bit is that you can’t run around all willy-nilly past mobs that can aggro, because the last thing a character needs is to die on accident while running back to their original grinding spot while they can’t fight back. So, remember, weakened = no transforming and no fighting!
The last and probably more piddling thing I can think of as a penalty to death is possibly the decrease in weapon and armor durability. If dieing doesn’t shave numbers off, the fight that leads to death will have, so remember to check your equips before leaving the city.
Beast Form Only Spells
I’m not sure if it’s a constant thing, but I remember seeing that all my beast form only spells were free of SP costs (skill points, or what a character uses to buy skills). Definitely comes in handy to know that at least those sets of spells are free.
Also, at level 20, there is a quest from the skill trainer that can be done for a special beast-form-only sprint skill. This skill allows the beast form to move faster for something like a minute. Believe me, it’s not a long time, but it certainly helps on those long runs in-between areas, seeing as there were no skill trainers in any city beyond the first from the last time I played (which was a while ago, so it may have changed, but warning you now), and there’s no portals to jump between cities either. There is a cooldown for this, so I suggest, that if you have RP (rage points) saved up at 100% and you need to travel far, use the beast form sprint, and then do that whole enrage boost (you move faster during that in beast form also).
I don’t know if the quest to get the sprint skill is the same for everyone, but it takes a bit of traversing through the Cave of Dreaming, into its second floor, so it might be best to get a party before heading in there. Monsters in cave-like dungeon areas are tougher and hit harder compared to same level monsters outside the dungeon.
Dungeons
Like I’ve just mentioned, dungeon monsters are notoriously harder than their similar level counterparts outside. Even if they’re the same level as you, expect them to be harder than the mobs outside. Another thing about dungeons is that there seems to be a sort of trend on repeatable quests for mobs there. One quest I noticed, is that in the Cave of Dreaming, just outside the Fire Bird City (I think that was it.. the second city you come across), there’ll be a quest that rewards you with teleport stones. Weirdly, they teleport you back to that cave, so if you want a quick way to travel, think about doing those repeat quests till you at least get a bunch of those stones saved up. Might save from having to do those painfully long trips.
The other thing about dungeons is that they’re incredibly big… and long… and well, pretty boring. I don’t know about you, but going through a gigantic dungeon floor and fighting the same three mobs in tight quarters (with a fast respawn rate) is not my idea of a good grind. And then there’s having to get to the second floor of these dungeons to finish those quests. Yes, mobs (for the most part) can be avoided simply by running past, but the sheer size of some of the floors of the dungeon make it rather long and irritating for no good reason. I probably would trade it for a similar dungeon with smaller floors and more levels than what I ran through (can’t remember the cave.. think it was the Cave of Wisdom or something.. whatever cave it was that was in the same area as the Cave of Dreaming, but further north).
Pets
There are pets in the game, I managed to see a lucky bunch traveling with them, and they’re every bit as adorable as I’d hoped. Now, there was supposedly some kind of event where the pets were given away, but I did also hear that there’s a dungeon where a monster/boss can drop the pet as a reward. Now this part, I’m not too sure of, but there is a special dungeon area above the second city that had level 45 mobs. If there’s any place a pet would be found, that’s probably it.
Experience Boost
Now, this probably won’t carry over to the open beta or final game (though it should), but there’s currently been an experience boost implemented to double the experience gained per mob. It definitely improved the grind from what it had been earlier, but I’m not sure they will keep the boost for longer than the beta since it may just be a temporary jump to get people to test out the higher leveled aspects of the game. Still, I’m hoping the developers realize that the current rate of experience before the boost felt like a real crawl and should leave it stay. Regardless of the boost, it still takes effort to climb the levels, especially if you’re taking it solo.
Well, that’s all I can remember off the top of my head. Anything else I might’ve left out or forgotten or you’d like to know about, feel free to pop in a comment.
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