Quick update

OK, well I am not dead as you can see, just been busy with other things. Anyway, I figured I would let everyone know that MMOsite.com is having a Beta Key giveaway for the upcoming Grand Fantasia CB. Also notice they have a start date of this Wednesday for closed beta. Now my original prediction was for sometime between the 15th and the 17th. This was strengthened by a recent contest that has an end date of this Wednesday. Now seeing the key giveaway, I have a feeling that I may not be that far off after all. Guess only time will tell.

Edit: Official confirmation: http://forums.aeriagames.com/viewtopic.php?t=611209

Aeria Grand Fantasia Closed beta is upon us.

Well, it's been a few days since I posted. While I haven't been on the HK server in a bit (having reached my goal of entering PvP,) it hardly means I have quit the game. In fact just yesterday the Aeria Grand Fantasia website went live. I do have to say that it is actually very detailed compared to some of the other game webpages they have. I give them props for putting in the time to be detailed. Not only that, today the official CB press release came out:

Some PvP for everyone to enjoy.

Well I have reached what I consider my main goal in playing the HK Grand Fantasia. I have finally reached level 31 and gained access to PvP. Now needless to say, PVP is fun in this game. Given the fact that it is tiered helps balance things out somewhat, but it is still hard considering most people don't enter PvP until the upper part of a tier. Maybe things will be different on the US server once PvP instances are implemented, but until then we will never know. Anyway accessing PvP is easy enough. All you have to do is be in ch 1 and right click on an icon in the upper left corner of the minimap. Once you do this, you join an available instance, and will be teleported into the instance once it starts. What brings out a bit of balance though is the fact that all the power in the weapons are available in game if you spend the time to craft them.

Now Grand Fantasia does use scheduled PvP times. Basically you can only PvP during certain times of the day and only one type is available per day. This makes it hard on me as my active hours in game don't match when PvP is turned on. So right now I am limited to weekend PvP (Which may not be a bad thing in the end.) I would explain more but I think I will let some vids I made do the talking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNrSJU8LVV4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4M5OTEGhYo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcoxbIpjnFo

More on the Halloween event: yes I am apparently very lucky.

Well, As I mentioned in my last post, there is currently a Halloween event on the Hong Kong server. I figure I give you an update: Since my last post I have managed to not only grab the cards to trade in more candies for better items, I have also managed to get one of the top tier prizes. As you can see in the pic to the left, I have managed to get the Halloween Dress. Not only that I managed to get a permanent one.

Permanent you may ask? Aren't all items Permanent? Well...no they are not. Basically it works like this. When you buy a raffle chest, you not only have a chance at consumables, but also at the top tier prizes. The thing is, most of the top tier items come in multiple varieties of duration. You can either get an item for 3,7,14,30 or Permanent. If you get a limited time item, the timer won't start until you first use it (And you get a warning dialogue asking if you are sure you want to use it. Once you use the item the first time you can not trade or sell it, thus avoiding the possibility of people selling it almost all used up. If you get a permanent one, then you are free to wear it, trade it and sell it, or use it whenever you want. Do note this is not only for the clothing items, but some unlimited use mounts have time restrictions as well.

Now that I explained how raffle items work, I will explain the dress. Basically it is kind of like a skin that goes over your armor. I am indeed still wearing my normal equips as you can see in the picture. Basically all you see is the clothing skin unless you analyze me, then you can see the actual equips. Weapons work the same way.

What will I do now that I have gotten the dress, well I will still most likely farm candies for a bit, I do want the pumpkin mount just to have it. I am also trying to stockpile Alchemy Clays for later use. I will explain how these work in a later post. For now let's just say it is cheaper getting them this way than via NPCs. Well that is about it for now. I will leave you with a couple of more pics though, but no captions, take it as you will and feel free to comment on them if you want. Yes some of these are older, but hey might as well share them.

Candy, pumpkins and all things Halloween, also major server changes.

Well there have been some changes recently on the HK server, but before I get to that I want to get into the recent event that the server is having. Over the past few days I have been participating in a new event on the server. In celebration of Halloween, they are doing a kind of scavenger hunt. Basically they have turned all the field chests and breakable urns into pumpkin patches. From these pumpkins you can get 2 special drops. The first is a 3 day use pumpkin head. Like all skin items, the head has no effect other than making you look like a giant walking pumpkin. While it is fun and in the spirit, after a while it does get old.

The second item you can get is candy. Now the candy comes in drops of 1x-3x. This candy is used at an NPC that was added near the Ziele Machine city teleporter. When you turn in a certain amount of candy, you get a raffle present. Each tear offering not only more of the junk prizes, but also a bigger shot at a perm cash shop item. This includes a special Halloween costume and a pumpkin mount (See below for the pic of the mount.) All in all, it is a good little time waster from the regular grind of the game, plus puts a good use for items that otherwise go ignored usually.

Now on to the server changes. Last week there was a server contraction from 3 servers to 1 server. Now normally this is never a good sign, but I had a feeling something else may be happening. I was proven right with the recent update. Apparently now the game is being called Dreamy Journey 2. Now why the change to Dreamy Journey 2? Who knows. What I do know is that 75 v 75 Guild PvP instances were implemented. Yes that's right 75 v 75. That will prove to be insane. There are also new instanced dungeons for the higher levels to explore. They also added a new PvP server. Unlike the PvP instances though, it follows a few different rules:

1. Unlike in PvP instances where you have to be level 31, you can start PvP at level 10.
2. You enter PvP mode in a manner similar to what you do to enter a PvP instance. Just rightclick on your picture and select PvP.
3. When you die against a player you lose 5% XP and an item starting with your least valuable material, then accessories, followed by armor, and finally weapons. If you can not pay for the XP loss, you will lose 5% of your money. This is ignored if a player 10 or more levels above you kills you.
4. Once you enter PvP mode, there is a 30 minute "cooldown" period in which you cannot go back to normal mode.

Now I haven't personally tried the new server yet, but I may at some point before Aeria CB hits. So stay tuned for that.

Yes, it's a giant rideable pumpkin, and yes, that is a jet engine on it's back.

Really? You want me to go WHERE?

OK, well it has finally happened. I have gotten my first WTF quest. Now what so I mean by a WTF quest? Basically it is a quest that seems harmless at first but you find out real quick that the quest is near impossible for the level it is given. So what is this quest I am speaking of? Well it is a quest you get as soon as you hit level 26. You need to talk to three NPCs and then go to a designated location in order to complete it. I got a quest similar to this at level 17, but that one was relatively easy, so this one should be easy as well, right?

So I go to find the three NPCs, the first problem is the NPCs are in three completely different regions of the world. So I hop on my mount and start to seek them out. Well I quickly find out that not only are they in different regions of world, they are in regions where I could EASILY die within 15 seconds. At this point I am already mildly annoyed, but hey, I have a mount so I can outrun most of them before they do TOO much damage. So one mount token and 2 silver later I find the three NPCs and am ready to turn this quest in.

A look at the wiki says I need to turn it in at the Tomb of Death. Tomb of Death? That can't be good. Not only that I have no idea where it is at all. So off I go to hit Google to see if I can find out where it is. This is where the quest turns into a WTF quest. Apparently they expect a level 26 Character to go into a dungeon that is meant for level 35+ characters and talk to a tablet in order to turn it in. On top of that, unlike the level 17 quest where the object is right in the front of the dungeon, the thing I need to go to is all the way in the BACK of the dungeon. Really? You want me to go THERE? Oh WTF!!!

Well guess I have no choice, it is 10K XP for completion might as well get it done. So I head to the dungeon (Which ironically is in a beginning area, go figure,) and enter it. This is when I learn the hard way that you can't use mounts in instanced dungeons. At this point I am about to quit right on the spot, but I decide to try and press my luck anyway. For all I know I could find a path to stay out of aggro range of the mobs. Right as I start moving I am suddenly hit for 1.5K Damage. Now mind you I only have 4K HP so this one attack alone takes off a third of my HP. On top of that, mobs in instanced dungeons attack in trios, so I also take 600 HP damage AND get hit with Poison for 60HP every 4 seconds. Needless to say I am dead within 20 seconds.

Now my question is this, WHAT THE FUCK WERE THE DEVS THINKING??!! Maybe it is to force you to party with higher levels, maybe they are sick in the head. The world may never know.

A love/hate relationship: Crafting. Also some pictures!

As you may have read in the last post, I have been getting into crafting stuff to sell in order to make money. This actually hasn't gone too badly. Only part that is a pain in the ass is when I am on the last step in crafting a weapon, and the sprite decides NOW is the time to fail. This can be especially painful when one of the parts of the weapon is relatively hard to obtain. Usually the hard part being either the base weapon itself or a decon material. Thankfully, the weapon I have been mainly selling doesn't require a hard to get deconstruct material, thus reducing my costs and keeping my hair count high.

Other than that it has mostly been more farming of repeatable quests for XP and money. I did manage to nab some pictures over the last few days I do want to share. I will try to explain them as I go along

Just me enjoying one of the benefits of hitting level 20, the ability to use a mount. Yes those are butterfly wings I am wearing, and yes that is where a bit of the gold I made went to.

Just a picture of some of the mounts you can get at later levels, the one on the left is a see through unicorn, and the one on the right is some sort of nightmare horse.

This is me fighting after being transformed into a zombie via a surprise chest. Now the zombie status comes with both good and bad points. While you do lose access to all your abilities, your HP, MP and attack power doubles. While this basically screws over mages and archers, Melees and Hammer wielding clerics can actually benefit a bit from this status and become an even more deadly tank.

Just a couple of dragon mounts, nothing too special.

A guy in an aura bubble with three sprites out. Wait did I say three? Yes I did, don't believe me? Here is another pic with the names on:

See all three of those sprites are owned by lovebaby (The guy in the bubble.) I am assuming there is an ability that allows this later on, as to what it is, I dunno.

-Tanarin-

Farming for XP and profit.

Well, decided to go do some farming today. Now the nice thing about farming is the fact you can not only farm XP, you can send off your sprites to farm material so that they can go craft stuff later on. This actually helps as you can then focus on the fun stuff (Fighting and killing stuff,) and leave your sprites to do the hard part of material farming. Only thing you need to do is just check on them when they come back and collect your goods. The bad part though is you need to have money on hand in order to pay your sprites. This ends up getting quite expensive in a real hurry.

Right now being Level 22, I am currently farming my money for my sprites and my XP in the same place. Thankfully this ends up being easy as well as there are many repeatable quests which give decent XP and money, thus making the grind at least that little bit more rewarding. Right now the quest I am using involves me killing alligators and retrieving their blood in order to make a medicine. Collecting 7 nets me almost 27 silver and about 2K XP. Not bad considering the alligators also drop sellables and 50 bronze as well.

The one annoying thing though are these damn capchas that seemly pop out at random in order to stop stop botting. Usually I get one right as I log in, then one about 2 minutes after I log in. After that it really depends on activity, If I am not actively fighting it usually appears about every 30-45 minutes. That part is not so bad, what gets bad is when I am in the heat of battle and one pops up. Since there is really no GOOD place to put the box, it ends up getting in the way. it has even resulted in me dying once due to a field boss blindsiding me from behind the window. Needless to say I was pissed at that, considering I was about to level when it happened and that death set me back 10% XP. I am hoping that when Aeria finally releases the CB they at least do something to make the capchas less frequent.

Right now, quests are my main source of income. This thankfully is starting to change thanks to the fact that I now have a sprite that can craft decent swords. While I am a melee and can certainly use them, I am also making some for sale. So far I have sold 2 at decent prices and am in the process of TRYING to make more. Thing is the crafting materials I need are kind of rare and only obtainable by deconstructing. This leads to me making weapons just to deconstruct to make the better weapons. Anyway that is enough of my ranting for now.

-Tanarin-

First post: The adventure begins.

Well, time to take the dive into blogging about my gaming.  Welcome to my blog: A Girl and her Sprite. Here you will find information on my journey into the game Grand Fantasia (Dreamy Journey Online.) How did I find this game you may ask? Well it all began about a week or two ago when Aeria announced that they were releasing a game call Grand Fantasia. Well, being the person I am, I decided to go ahead and try the game out a head of time. After a bit of trouble and frustration, I was finally able to try it via the Hong Kong server. Now why did I have so much trouble? Well it appears the Japanese version and Taiwan version have IP blocks on their servers.

After a bit of downloading and a bit of translating via Google Translate. I managed to finally log on. My first opinion: This game is FUN! only problems so far is the fact that someone decided to IP block the JP wiki for the game, so navigating my way through the game hasn't been the easiest of tasks. So after a bit of guess work I finally managed to create my character (And thus the namesake of this blog.) So with that I introduce you to the stars of this blog:

 Morigan: Currently a Level 21 Warrior.










Raicon: Her faithful sprite companion.


As of now I will be posting of my experiences on the Hong Kong server, and eventually I will be bringing these two over to the Aeria servers as well. What else can you expect from this blog? Eventually this will become a compilation of information I gather about the game, whether it be technical or just plain funny. Basically I will try to put a little something for everyone. Well this introduction post has gotten a bit long, so I will be signing off for now. Hope you enjoy this blog, whatever it turns into.

-Tanarin-