MapleStory Europe – The story about Rayque and
the Ribgol Sword
Hi, I’m Rayque. I’m a Mapler of MapleStory Europe, with a dream in-game of 3 years. This dream has enable me to play MapleStory Europe longer than I expected to be.
Let’s start out where it began, no? That brings us to 30 September 2007. I’ve started my journey on MapleStory Europe with a real life friend. I name him in this story Sasinator. MapleStory is a 2D MMORPG which was released in Korea back in 2003. MapleStory Europe started in 12 April 2007 for European players. The game is nowadays very popular worldwide.
O.K. enough, let’s resume. I began playing, I left my old gaming-identity, Lego Fan 777. I wanted to have a new start with my newest in-game name, Rayque. I choose to be a warrior since I always loved to play warriors with huge weapons (like when I used to play RuneScape when I was like 12 years old, search Lego Fan 777 on the rankings). I never knew MapleStory Europe would be a real impact on my real life, since I was young back then.
I began to play MapleStory Europe a lot and I really enjoy every day when I just started. I wasn’t very good in grinding, so my level ups went very slow. My friend Sasinator, despite we just started, leveled very fast. We had a lot of fun playing every hour after school, and we both almost reached level 30.
My friend Sasinator finally reached level 30, and he chose to be a Fighter. He asked me to become a Spearman, and I approved his request so I started grinding to level 30 also. Weeks have passed, since reaching level 20 to 30 took a half year back then. I finally reached level 30, but my friend Sasinator was offline and busy with his homework. I have done something not every friend can approve, my ego raised a bit and I wanted to be a Fighter because I didn’t like Spearman after all. I chose to be a Fighter because of the looks of most swords, and I didn’t like all spears (in 2008, the best set of weaponry in GlobalMS back then were Dragon equips of level 110).
Sasinator was, despite my ego, not disappointed. He was O.K. with my decision, at least how I experienced his reaction back then, and we grinded both together in Ludibrium. I found that every monster that I was going to kill, most of my hits became a MISS, however, the monsters were my level. I could not find out what the issue caused. Sasinator didn’t knew it either, and he recommended me Accuracy potions, which did work. I was thankfully I could grind better with these potions. Sasinator actually quitted his warrior and start playing an Assassin (Thief) a few weeks after that.
So, the first half year EMS with Rayque. I was talking to my friend Sasinator on MSN, and we did have an interesting subject to talk about for MapleStory: our end-weapons when we are very high level. We only could dream about wearing those Level 70 equipment, we were amazed by the stats, without knowing we would reach that level (we did not even expected to reach level 50 back then). Sasinator told me he was amazed by Dragon Sleeve Claws. He asked me what I actually wanted to have, and I had no idea. I was looking on GlobalMS sites and I found a strange saw-looking blade with a “Fast” speed, so called Ribgol Sword. I said to my friend that I actually was planning to get that weapon. I didn’t knew my signature story would begin since that date, and the hell that would start.
Unfortunately, Sasinator began to play EMS less and started playing other games (don’t worry, I still contact him every day if we both want to, I know him since primary school when we were like 9 years old). I was kinda lonely so I was chatting with every person I could met on MapleStory. I made a new friend, which I will call Moustache Man (by short, MM). MM was always playing on his bowman characters and I liked his style of playing. He introduced me to his friends, I call them Waterfall, Princes, GSNL and DuckNL. We started a guild, called LostLove. Princes was our leader of the guild. We went a lot of Ludibrium PQ (by that time, LPQ was very popular to grind) and it seemed that I was still MISSing all monsters, despite using accuracy potions. I found out that my DEX was not high enough. I raised my DEX so that I could hit those monsters. So, going to level 70 went a lot easier by then. No, we are not going to skip to level 70 now, we are still at level 40 though.
I will stop talking about my friends of LostLove in the next parts of my story because of privacy.
So, I was still waiting for Ribgol Sword, but nothing happened. MapleStory Europe did not rush any patch so it could take some time, I guessed. In this part of my story, we are only halfway 2008. O.K., I will skip a few boring months and I will bring us to November 2008.
November 2008, the month that I started to make more internet friends. I have joined a guild called FallenAngel (since May 2011 it is called PatchedWings), and I didn’t knew this guild could be one of the most important things in my whole gaming life. I have made a lot of friends here, I can’t tell all names because there are so many of them!
Meanwhile in FallenAngel, I was still grinding to level 70 and I told my friends about my goal to get Ribgol Sword. It wasn’t just a normal one scrolled with 60%’s… that would be too low for me, I wanted a Ribgol Sword with every single slot scrolled with 10%. It was just a plan-only but I preferred to have this attack to not waste my dream into cheapness. Everyone liked my ambition for this sword and they said to me “Don’t worry Ray, you will get it soon”, but I didn’t knew this line would give me pain later on.
I have grinded a lot, reached level 100 at 1 November 2009. It felt great, but at the other side, it felt as a bitter bite on an apple. It didn’t felt wrong nor my level 100 didn’t felt good. I was just… missing something, without noticing. After all, when making this piece of text, I knew it. I missed… my Ribgol Sword. Come on, what is a level 100 party without your goal. I had a goal, with another goal, and the goal isn’t a goal without achieving my full goal. If you understand this line, I’m happy. I didn’t want to disappoint all my friends who were watching my level 100 in real time, but friends, if you guys read it now… I am sorry I have never told you this until now. So, back to grinding… Level 120 is in sight.
Beginning of 2010, I was grinding the same speed like I always did, mixing quests and grinds with relaxing and getting/spending mesos. I found out, that I wanted… to raise my base DEX for Ribgol Sword and the upcoming high level bosses back then (Zakum was still a god back then and Horned Tail was not even released yet). Till the levels to 120, I raised my base DEX from 70 to 120.
Something else did happen to my story. I mentioned before about that 10%’d Ribgol… to be honest Nexon Europe did make it easier for me. They have released Premium Mini Dungeon, with so called “Miracle Scrolls”. Yup, in other versions they were called GM scrolls, but EMS was one of the first that had an unlimited amount of these, because Nexon Europe reopened the PMD a lot and the same ones dropped from Gachapon. Everyone that could get +- 700m could have nine of these scrolls, no matter which weapon. I was really happy and I did participate with this event, and obtained a nice bunch of Miracle Scroll for Two-Handed Swords.
4th Job was almost releasing, so I wanted to be level 120 before that. Grinded a lot with buddies, almost 120… Until then… No, I am not going to say I became 120, that would be too predictable. No, I will say, one of my grinding partners, I call her XDLXD, promised she would give me a Ribgol Sword when she found one… Only, it is beginning of 2010 and still no release of Ribgol Sword. Grinding, grinding… why Ray, why are you talking a lot about grinding in this story? Well my best fellow Mapler, because I can fill out my story with words around end 2010 and not now. Please, be reading and I will tell you soon more.
So, the 4th Job Advancement was released, but I didn’t make it on time… I was actually very disappointed, but on the other side, my god, I am happy I didn’t do my Job Advancement that early because of crowded maps. Grind… grind… my god, I want to tell more about but it’s too early yet. O.K., no nonsense Ray, come to the point. 23 Januari 2010, my Hero has been born. Though, I felt again… a lot of happiness, and that… no, it’s not a bitter taste, but… it was a backstab, I don’t know why it felt like that, I just resumed my game and started to work again on my leveling.
Oh, boy… Brandish, finally…. Oh boy… Yes my other friend the Fanta drinker (if you read it), I guess you are going to laugh about this experience but, I have to say it did… affect my mood on the game much. I am talking about… mastery books… I still have in-game nightmares about it (don’t take that line seriously). “Post2short”-technique, I have boomed SIX Brandish 30 mastery books. For the Maplers who never reached 4th job, mastery books are needed to raise your skills from 4th job to maximum level (unless previous job advances). Without succeeding those you could never get maximum skills. By booming six Brandish 30, I have wasted a half year of leveling before I finally succeeded (the seventh) one. It did affect my mood because I was very unhappy because all my friends could grind a lot and raised their levels a lot higher, and it did affect my level also: my friends went to other grinding spots and I was alone without them so I lost over 15 levels back then. I still have no idea how I did catch up on the others, but I did succeed.
Nice coverage to skip a half year… now, I was still waiting… until September 2010. Pine Forest has never been released yet. Black Crow which drops it was still not in EMS. Until September 2010… no. No Pine Forest. Actually Ribgol Sword has finally been released at Gachapon. Mushroom Shrine, yes, everyone did those Gach at that moment, so I would finally thought of the word SALVATION. I thought my story would finally get an end, and that I would walk with it. But… since then, the real pain of my story began.
So, Crimsonwood Keep was one of the first new patches in 2011. I was still unhappy about my Ribgol Sword progress, since I only end up with information (which I did use later on) and a bunch of these Miracle Scrolls. I had no choice… I had to get a temporary weapon unless I still had to use a 107 attack scrolled weapon, the so called Benishigure in JMS (it’s called Red Shower in EMS though). You already see it coming, I have hunted a Night Raven’s Wing. I guess a few Maplers who read my text at this point may expect the secondary pain. Yes, Night Raven’s Wing is very hard to obtain in EMS. I had to use five full weeks with only hunting Nightshadow Badges… and I obtained my Raven eventually. It seems that this was one of up to ten in Kradia EMS. Yes, I had a very limited sword, but even with that, I still couldn’t get Ribgol Sword, which was even more common. Night Raven’s Wings were more pricey than any Ribgol Sword, since most people claim only to see mine (although I have seen only 4 NRW and around 6 regular Raven’s Wings in my whole career) in their entire Maplehood.
By this time, Autumn 2011, I was little known around Kradia about my ambition. I have seen a few Ribgol Swords since the release in 2010 and my hope… went away. I did more research and it seems that Ribgol Sword were only given by Ludibrium and Perion… and… almost nobody did that Gachapon. Like I have said, my hope went away… Seeing only the “leets” got a Ribgol Sword. The prices were insane, if you wanted to buy a Ribgol Sword for that price you must very rich and I never was back then.
Since this moment, I just… and I don’t like to admit it, I became a victim of Cyber Bullying (getting bullied on the internet). My known got a big larger around mostly Dutch Maplers and it spread a bit around the English people also. People in my environment began to use the fact that I couldn’t get a Ribgol Sword against me. Joining bossing runs, making new friends, I got limited by those people. Some people even laughed at me because I was known for him to be the “Ribgol Sword user without a single Ribgol” because I had a great ambition for it while I couldn’t afford any Ribgol Sword. Every new Youtube video with Ribgol Sword felt like stab in my body. It wasn’t that fun anymore to see every Ribgol Sword, strange eh? My own ambition hurt me.
Still waiting… dreaming in the real world about Ribgol Sword, getting those for very cheap… but they were all, in the end, fake. It seems that my ambition changed into an addiction. Anyone who asked me to draw a sword… I drawn a saw-looking blade with black and white colours… resembling the dream that I never could obtain. Daydreaming on school about this sword, obtaining it and beating every monster with it. Drawing Ribgol Swords on paper for my Youtube backgrounds, making Ribgol Sword icons on my Mario Kart DS karts, you call it. It has grown from Virtual Life to Real Life. It became a meme for me and my real life friends (and the FallenAngel friends whom I met in the real world), it became a dream… no wait, it actually already was… it became, one of the most important game weapons in my whole gaming career. I didn’t care about other games, since my priority was Ribgol Sword. Yes, it may sound strange and actually sad for a human to be that addicted by a game, but being autistic makes you different versus other humans. That is, wat a good friend of mine, I call him Wazaa… told me. Yes Wazaa, I know you are reading my story.
Still getting bullied, still dreaming, still not giving up. It actually went so serious that I… started to have crying moments. Yes, it did affect me THAT much after all. I hate to admit all these things but I have to tell you what kind of hell I have gone through before it did end (did it actually end with a happy end?). Many buddies said, Ray please… stop crying, it’s a game! But they don’t get how important my hobbies are for my happiness. I find my happiness by fulfilling my dreams, and most of them are hobby-related. Yes, one buddy called me a dream-hunter once because of this.
Ok, we are actually now in the Autumn of 2011, but let's head back to the Summer of 2011, for the Big Bang patch.
So (I did overuse “so” in my text right?) time has passed again, and Big Bang was near… my hopes went away every week for Big Bang, despite I loved that patch. It’s just… because if we would get Pine Forest after Big Bang, Ribgol Sword would stop dropping at Black Crow. I had no hope for Kaede Castle, since that wouldn’t be released in EMS, at least, that was what I assumed to be. Grinding to level 154 before that patch, and after Big Bang came…
It seemed that Big Bang, was not small like other versions. Big Bang in EMS was way larger, and I thought… what would we get? It seems that we got full Zipangu, full Singapore and full Malaysia (though most of these were just expansions because we already have the defaults). Yes, finally Kaede Castle… that means… Yes Wazaa, I’m going to tell my fellow Maplers about… my Ribgol Sword hunt. I promised my friends when Big Bang released, “Don’t worry guys, I will get my Ribgol Sword soon” (get my reference?). But, saying that, only gave me regrets later on.
I started my Ribgol Sword hunt in summer 2011. Knowing it would be a pain, nor knowing it would take around 4 times longer than an average Mapler should do. I have hunted 115 hours of my precious gaming time (the irony…) without giving up. Sometimes my mind became crazy in real life because of the long mono-attacking without finding anything and I really wanted to cry but I didn’t let myself admit that I show weakness. I just had to finish my dream and the promise to my friend Sasinator. My FallenAngel friends tried to calm me down and make me happy every time, which I really respected… guys, you are really true friends.
I have looted over 38.000 Head Ninja Scrolls and I can prove I have them all stored on mules (see the Head Ninja Scroll collection at the end of the story). Though, my story got more attention and people were asking me where I could find a Ribgol Sword… This was, one of the largest mistakes I could do in my entire story. I told everyone who asked where I could find it… and yes, you already see it coming… People found Ribgol Swords, laughed at me and I even got more bullied. Now I know where that backstab feeling came from. Some people I used to know became a real dee-heads, to not use foul language in my text, and that only because of a sword. My FallenAngel friends couldn’t succeed in calming me down, and I had some days where I cried in front of my computer screen. I tried to be strong and negating all those people who did, and resumed my dream.
To take more variety in my daily Maple life, I joined my friends when they asked me to join The Balrog raids. They wanted the medal so I went in with the raids… yes you see it coming again if you know what I am talking about… I did find, one of the first Bain Swords in EMS. My god, I hate that fact, seeing I could get two limited swords without getting a less rare sword. Though many people has seen me with my Bain Sword and Night Raven’s Wing together, my story did spread even more around Kradia because of the fact that I got a nice collection of swords. Many people asked me where I got both swords but I did answer them, because these swords are not my dreams and I really grant my fellow Maplers obtaining these two also. Despite of that, nobody of them were actually able to obtain these, except for another buddy that joined similar The Balrog raids with other people. I really liked he found one also, so I know now I am not the only one. I like to have some items that are very limited but I do grant others getting the same items. But, besides this small intermezzo, I just… had the feeling Ribgol Sword cursed me because every chance I would get or hours to hunt did end up with noting, or actually, did?
I had moments where I gave up but I thought… dude, Ray… this isn’t you. I just had to stand in the mirror in the bathroom to see that I have the power to never give up my real dreams so I went back on my PC and started to search for Ribgol Sword sellers, since this could be a better solution instead of hunting it with possibly finding a 97 attack one (97 attack is the lowest attack for Ribgol and I would have cried if I found that one, literally). Found many sellers, never an attack that I really wanted. 98 attack, meh… 101 attack, no thanks I don’t want average, 102 attack… nope, and so on. I was that focused that I only concentrated on maximum attack Ribgol Swords, which never came in Free Market. So I did end up with nothing again and I missed a lot of chances… I decided, to offer my Night Raven’s Wing, which I had worked FIVE full weeks to obtain (like I have already mentioned), for a Ribgol Sword I really wanted (even when it is five weeks, the release of Ribgol Sword as a drop at monsters has passed five months at this part). I had to take an attack which wasn’t maximum… which I felt very bad for. It… didn’t feel right to make that decision. By the way, why am I’m using a lot of dots in my lines... see? Oh well.
I was looking days in Free Market, until I have found somebody, I call him Rukia. Why Rukia? Because of his hairstyle on MapleStory (anime lovers may know my reference). I offered my Night Raven’s Wing but Rukia disconnected and so, he couldn’t read my offer. I found this very… disappointing.
A friend of mine decided to use an Item Megaphone for my Night Raven’s Wing… and it caught Rukia’s attention by coincidence. He said to me that he wanted my Night Raven’s Wing for his Ribgol Sword. Every friend of mine went through joy and happiness, and I was finally saying the word SALVATION again after a full year but… After all, he didn’t want it anymore. The joys of all my friends did end up into dust by that second.
Rukia told me that he would give me the Ribgol if I had the money, 2.500.000.000 mesos. I immediately started collection my amount, even with starting with only 27.000.000 mesos. So, I started to try to sell my NRW, but I couldn’t find a good buyer after SEVEN Item Megaphones… only trolls and people who didn’t want it anymore after 5 minutes.
I had to find alternate route (anyone who understands this line?) for my source of mesos. A buddy and an old alliance member of mine, I call him Wilding, found a new way to let me earn mesos…
I started with Wilding, Fanta drinker and my other friend I call Master-Troll making this amount of money. Four people together did raise the production ratio for this set of “equips” and so did the profit. We shared the profit to us all four and I got 600.000.000 mesos very fast (we did obtain over 3.000.000.000 mesos in only a week). You know what I found strange about this? When I was AFKing in my shop, a Ribgol user, I call him Bull, lost his Ribgol Sword. He wanted to buy my Night Raven’s Wing but he hasn’t got the mesos yet. I added Bull in my buddy list and after that he bought my NRW after a few days for 1.300.000.000 mesos. Buddies told me my NRW was very underpriced but I assumed I couldn’t make more out of it because of new Ribgols spreading all out FM at that time. I had 1.900.000.000 mesos by then, and I was almost reaching that goal. I made two Magic Throwing Knives worth 1.000.000.000 each, but I tried to sell them for 800.000.000 mesos each in Free Market. Every Ribgol I’ve seen that moment felt… great… since I finally can feel the taste of victory. I’m almost there!
“Don’t worry Ray, you will get it soon…” I guess soon didn’t mean a few weeks… I guessed the line said that the word soon, was meant for my endurance for it and not related to time... because my endurance never ended the past 3 years. Because I was closer to my Ribgol every new hour, my happiness did raise those next days, but…
So I finally sold both of my Magic Throwing Knives for 800.000.000 mesos each, gathering 1.552.000.000 mesos with the trade-tax. With this, I’ve got the required 2.500.000.000 mesos in 5 weeks! Now I just had to wait for Rukia…
Two days later I finally could speak to Rukia. We traded and… I got It. I finally got it! I have got, my 3 year dream in my inventory. All of my hard work, pain, it all has paid off eventually. 147 Weapon Attack, 6% Attack, 6% Total Damage? Yes please.
Even I got my Ribgol Sword after 3 years, my story didn’t end. This story has no ending, it has an open ending. My story just started now. You, my fellow Mapler, read my story and this story may have made new stories, motivations for others, even maybe your mind did change a bit (although it’s small, it IS a new story). Now It is time to tell your own, new story to others like I did. The world of MapleStory will never end, unless Nexon closes it down. New stories will be made until then and it’s up to you to share it with the world. I finally know that Nexon Europe didn’t harm my dreams, it has only made my dream larger, the feeling of victory is much higher than it would be if I got it way easier than EMS like at other versions, enable to share something to other Maplers and the most important: I fulfilled my main goal, my biggest dream in the world of MapleStory.
Farwell Night Raven's Wing... Hello Ribgol Sword.
Note: most names are changed in the story because of their privacy. If you
know you are mentioned in this story, please do not respond. I don’t want you
to be in any kind of disadvantages. This is also an expansion of an older post
of mine, which can be found here:
http://rayque.blogspot.com/2011/11/ems-ribg-i-meant-nexond.htmlHi, I’m Rayque. I’m a Mapler of MapleStory Europe, with a dream in-game of 3 years. This dream has enable me to play MapleStory Europe longer than I expected to be.
I will tell you a story of 3 years long, and I hope this story will spread
through all my fellow Maplers, so I can motivate everyone to follow his or her
dreams and succeed in those and proving that dreams do come true. Never give up
and follow your dreams to get your success is what I have learned from this
story.
Let’s start out where it began, no? That brings us to 30 September 2007. I’ve started my journey on MapleStory Europe with a real life friend. I name him in this story Sasinator. MapleStory is a 2D MMORPG which was released in Korea back in 2003. MapleStory Europe started in 12 April 2007 for European players. The game is nowadays very popular worldwide.
O.K. enough, let’s resume. I began playing, I left my old gaming-identity, Lego Fan 777. I wanted to have a new start with my newest in-game name, Rayque. I choose to be a warrior since I always loved to play warriors with huge weapons (like when I used to play RuneScape when I was like 12 years old, search Lego Fan 777 on the rankings). I never knew MapleStory Europe would be a real impact on my real life, since I was young back then.
I began to play MapleStory Europe a lot and I really enjoy every day when I just started. I wasn’t very good in grinding, so my level ups went very slow. My friend Sasinator, despite we just started, leveled very fast. We had a lot of fun playing every hour after school, and we both almost reached level 30.
My friend Sasinator finally reached level 30, and he chose to be a Fighter. He asked me to become a Spearman, and I approved his request so I started grinding to level 30 also. Weeks have passed, since reaching level 20 to 30 took a half year back then. I finally reached level 30, but my friend Sasinator was offline and busy with his homework. I have done something not every friend can approve, my ego raised a bit and I wanted to be a Fighter because I didn’t like Spearman after all. I chose to be a Fighter because of the looks of most swords, and I didn’t like all spears (in 2008, the best set of weaponry in GlobalMS back then were Dragon equips of level 110).
Sasinator was, despite my ego, not disappointed. He was O.K. with my decision, at least how I experienced his reaction back then, and we grinded both together in Ludibrium. I found that every monster that I was going to kill, most of my hits became a MISS, however, the monsters were my level. I could not find out what the issue caused. Sasinator didn’t knew it either, and he recommended me Accuracy potions, which did work. I was thankfully I could grind better with these potions. Sasinator actually quitted his warrior and start playing an Assassin (Thief) a few weeks after that.
So, the first half year EMS with Rayque. I was talking to my friend Sasinator on MSN, and we did have an interesting subject to talk about for MapleStory: our end-weapons when we are very high level. We only could dream about wearing those Level 70 equipment, we were amazed by the stats, without knowing we would reach that level (we did not even expected to reach level 50 back then). Sasinator told me he was amazed by Dragon Sleeve Claws. He asked me what I actually wanted to have, and I had no idea. I was looking on GlobalMS sites and I found a strange saw-looking blade with a “Fast” speed, so called Ribgol Sword. I said to my friend that I actually was planning to get that weapon. I didn’t knew my signature story would begin since that date, and the hell that would start.
Unfortunately, Sasinator began to play EMS less and started playing other games (don’t worry, I still contact him every day if we both want to, I know him since primary school when we were like 9 years old). I was kinda lonely so I was chatting with every person I could met on MapleStory. I made a new friend, which I will call Moustache Man (by short, MM). MM was always playing on his bowman characters and I liked his style of playing. He introduced me to his friends, I call them Waterfall, Princes, GSNL and DuckNL. We started a guild, called LostLove. Princes was our leader of the guild. We went a lot of Ludibrium PQ (by that time, LPQ was very popular to grind) and it seemed that I was still MISSing all monsters, despite using accuracy potions. I found out that my DEX was not high enough. I raised my DEX so that I could hit those monsters. So, going to level 70 went a lot easier by then. No, we are not going to skip to level 70 now, we are still at level 40 though.
I will stop talking about my friends of LostLove in the next parts of my story because of privacy.
So, I was still waiting for Ribgol Sword, but nothing happened. MapleStory Europe did not rush any patch so it could take some time, I guessed. In this part of my story, we are only halfway 2008. O.K., I will skip a few boring months and I will bring us to November 2008.
November 2008, the month that I started to make more internet friends. I have joined a guild called FallenAngel (since May 2011 it is called PatchedWings), and I didn’t knew this guild could be one of the most important things in my whole gaming life. I have made a lot of friends here, I can’t tell all names because there are so many of them!
Meanwhile in FallenAngel, I was still grinding to level 70 and I told my friends about my goal to get Ribgol Sword. It wasn’t just a normal one scrolled with 60%’s… that would be too low for me, I wanted a Ribgol Sword with every single slot scrolled with 10%. It was just a plan-only but I preferred to have this attack to not waste my dream into cheapness. Everyone liked my ambition for this sword and they said to me “Don’t worry Ray, you will get it soon”, but I didn’t knew this line would give me pain later on.
I was watching a lot of Crusader videos on
Youtube, mostly from GlobalMS, enjoying every Ribgol Sword video I could see. I
began to fascinate this sword, I began to build an bond for it. I couldn’t wait
to reach level 100 to wear it, only it (level 100 and the sword) was still far
away.
I have grinded a lot, reached level 100 at 1 November 2009. It felt great, but at the other side, it felt as a bitter bite on an apple. It didn’t felt wrong nor my level 100 didn’t felt good. I was just… missing something, without noticing. After all, when making this piece of text, I knew it. I missed… my Ribgol Sword. Come on, what is a level 100 party without your goal. I had a goal, with another goal, and the goal isn’t a goal without achieving my full goal. If you understand this line, I’m happy. I didn’t want to disappoint all my friends who were watching my level 100 in real time, but friends, if you guys read it now… I am sorry I have never told you this until now. So, back to grinding… Level 120 is in sight.
Beginning of 2010, I was grinding the same speed like I always did, mixing quests and grinds with relaxing and getting/spending mesos. I found out, that I wanted… to raise my base DEX for Ribgol Sword and the upcoming high level bosses back then (Zakum was still a god back then and Horned Tail was not even released yet). Till the levels to 120, I raised my base DEX from 70 to 120.
Something else did happen to my story. I mentioned before about that 10%’d Ribgol… to be honest Nexon Europe did make it easier for me. They have released Premium Mini Dungeon, with so called “Miracle Scrolls”. Yup, in other versions they were called GM scrolls, but EMS was one of the first that had an unlimited amount of these, because Nexon Europe reopened the PMD a lot and the same ones dropped from Gachapon. Everyone that could get +- 700m could have nine of these scrolls, no matter which weapon. I was really happy and I did participate with this event, and obtained a nice bunch of Miracle Scroll for Two-Handed Swords.
4th Job was almost releasing, so I wanted to be level 120 before that. Grinded a lot with buddies, almost 120… Until then… No, I am not going to say I became 120, that would be too predictable. No, I will say, one of my grinding partners, I call her XDLXD, promised she would give me a Ribgol Sword when she found one… Only, it is beginning of 2010 and still no release of Ribgol Sword. Grinding, grinding… why Ray, why are you talking a lot about grinding in this story? Well my best fellow Mapler, because I can fill out my story with words around end 2010 and not now. Please, be reading and I will tell you soon more.
So, the 4th Job Advancement was released, but I didn’t make it on time… I was actually very disappointed, but on the other side, my god, I am happy I didn’t do my Job Advancement that early because of crowded maps. Grind… grind… my god, I want to tell more about but it’s too early yet. O.K., no nonsense Ray, come to the point. 23 Januari 2010, my Hero has been born. Though, I felt again… a lot of happiness, and that… no, it’s not a bitter taste, but… it was a backstab, I don’t know why it felt like that, I just resumed my game and started to work again on my leveling.
Oh, boy… Brandish, finally…. Oh boy… Yes my other friend the Fanta drinker (if you read it), I guess you are going to laugh about this experience but, I have to say it did… affect my mood on the game much. I am talking about… mastery books… I still have in-game nightmares about it (don’t take that line seriously). “Post2short”-technique, I have boomed SIX Brandish 30 mastery books. For the Maplers who never reached 4th job, mastery books are needed to raise your skills from 4th job to maximum level (unless previous job advances). Without succeeding those you could never get maximum skills. By booming six Brandish 30, I have wasted a half year of leveling before I finally succeeded (the seventh) one. It did affect my mood because I was very unhappy because all my friends could grind a lot and raised their levels a lot higher, and it did affect my level also: my friends went to other grinding spots and I was alone without them so I lost over 15 levels back then. I still have no idea how I did catch up on the others, but I did succeed.
Nice coverage to skip a half year… now, I was still waiting… until September 2010. Pine Forest has never been released yet. Black Crow which drops it was still not in EMS. Until September 2010… no. No Pine Forest. Actually Ribgol Sword has finally been released at Gachapon. Mushroom Shrine, yes, everyone did those Gach at that moment, so I would finally thought of the word SALVATION. I thought my story would finally get an end, and that I would walk with it. But… since then, the real pain of my story began.
So, Crimsonwood Keep was one of the first new patches in 2011. I was still unhappy about my Ribgol Sword progress, since I only end up with information (which I did use later on) and a bunch of these Miracle Scrolls. I had no choice… I had to get a temporary weapon unless I still had to use a 107 attack scrolled weapon, the so called Benishigure in JMS (it’s called Red Shower in EMS though). You already see it coming, I have hunted a Night Raven’s Wing. I guess a few Maplers who read my text at this point may expect the secondary pain. Yes, Night Raven’s Wing is very hard to obtain in EMS. I had to use five full weeks with only hunting Nightshadow Badges… and I obtained my Raven eventually. It seems that this was one of up to ten in Kradia EMS. Yes, I had a very limited sword, but even with that, I still couldn’t get Ribgol Sword, which was even more common. Night Raven’s Wings were more pricey than any Ribgol Sword, since most people claim only to see mine (although I have seen only 4 NRW and around 6 regular Raven’s Wings in my whole career) in their entire Maplehood.
By this time, Autumn 2011, I was little known around Kradia about my ambition. I have seen a few Ribgol Swords since the release in 2010 and my hope… went away. I did more research and it seems that Ribgol Sword were only given by Ludibrium and Perion… and… almost nobody did that Gachapon. Like I have said, my hope went away… Seeing only the “leets” got a Ribgol Sword. The prices were insane, if you wanted to buy a Ribgol Sword for that price you must very rich and I never was back then.
Since this moment, I just… and I don’t like to admit it, I became a victim of Cyber Bullying (getting bullied on the internet). My known got a big larger around mostly Dutch Maplers and it spread a bit around the English people also. People in my environment began to use the fact that I couldn’t get a Ribgol Sword against me. Joining bossing runs, making new friends, I got limited by those people. Some people even laughed at me because I was known for him to be the “Ribgol Sword user without a single Ribgol” because I had a great ambition for it while I couldn’t afford any Ribgol Sword. Every new Youtube video with Ribgol Sword felt like stab in my body. It wasn’t that fun anymore to see every Ribgol Sword, strange eh? My own ambition hurt me.
Still waiting… dreaming in the real world about Ribgol Sword, getting those for very cheap… but they were all, in the end, fake. It seems that my ambition changed into an addiction. Anyone who asked me to draw a sword… I drawn a saw-looking blade with black and white colours… resembling the dream that I never could obtain. Daydreaming on school about this sword, obtaining it and beating every monster with it. Drawing Ribgol Swords on paper for my Youtube backgrounds, making Ribgol Sword icons on my Mario Kart DS karts, you call it. It has grown from Virtual Life to Real Life. It became a meme for me and my real life friends (and the FallenAngel friends whom I met in the real world), it became a dream… no wait, it actually already was… it became, one of the most important game weapons in my whole gaming career. I didn’t care about other games, since my priority was Ribgol Sword. Yes, it may sound strange and actually sad for a human to be that addicted by a game, but being autistic makes you different versus other humans. That is, wat a good friend of mine, I call him Wazaa… told me. Yes Wazaa, I know you are reading my story.
Still getting bullied, still dreaming, still not giving up. It actually went so serious that I… started to have crying moments. Yes, it did affect me THAT much after all. I hate to admit all these things but I have to tell you what kind of hell I have gone through before it did end (did it actually end with a happy end?). Many buddies said, Ray please… stop crying, it’s a game! But they don’t get how important my hobbies are for my happiness. I find my happiness by fulfilling my dreams, and most of them are hobby-related. Yes, one buddy called me a dream-hunter once because of this.
Ok, we are actually now in the Autumn of 2011, but let's head back to the Summer of 2011, for the Big Bang patch.
So (I did overuse “so” in my text right?) time has passed again, and Big Bang was near… my hopes went away every week for Big Bang, despite I loved that patch. It’s just… because if we would get Pine Forest after Big Bang, Ribgol Sword would stop dropping at Black Crow. I had no hope for Kaede Castle, since that wouldn’t be released in EMS, at least, that was what I assumed to be. Grinding to level 154 before that patch, and after Big Bang came…
It seemed that Big Bang, was not small like other versions. Big Bang in EMS was way larger, and I thought… what would we get? It seems that we got full Zipangu, full Singapore and full Malaysia (though most of these were just expansions because we already have the defaults). Yes, finally Kaede Castle… that means… Yes Wazaa, I’m going to tell my fellow Maplers about… my Ribgol Sword hunt. I promised my friends when Big Bang released, “Don’t worry guys, I will get my Ribgol Sword soon” (get my reference?). But, saying that, only gave me regrets later on.
I started my Ribgol Sword hunt in summer 2011. Knowing it would be a pain, nor knowing it would take around 4 times longer than an average Mapler should do. I have hunted 115 hours of my precious gaming time (the irony…) without giving up. Sometimes my mind became crazy in real life because of the long mono-attacking without finding anything and I really wanted to cry but I didn’t let myself admit that I show weakness. I just had to finish my dream and the promise to my friend Sasinator. My FallenAngel friends tried to calm me down and make me happy every time, which I really respected… guys, you are really true friends.
I have looted over 38.000 Head Ninja Scrolls and I can prove I have them all stored on mules (see the Head Ninja Scroll collection at the end of the story). Though, my story got more attention and people were asking me where I could find a Ribgol Sword… This was, one of the largest mistakes I could do in my entire story. I told everyone who asked where I could find it… and yes, you already see it coming… People found Ribgol Swords, laughed at me and I even got more bullied. Now I know where that backstab feeling came from. Some people I used to know became a real dee-heads, to not use foul language in my text, and that only because of a sword. My FallenAngel friends couldn’t succeed in calming me down, and I had some days where I cried in front of my computer screen. I tried to be strong and negating all those people who did, and resumed my dream.
To take more variety in my daily Maple life, I joined my friends when they asked me to join The Balrog raids. They wanted the medal so I went in with the raids… yes you see it coming again if you know what I am talking about… I did find, one of the first Bain Swords in EMS. My god, I hate that fact, seeing I could get two limited swords without getting a less rare sword. Though many people has seen me with my Bain Sword and Night Raven’s Wing together, my story did spread even more around Kradia because of the fact that I got a nice collection of swords. Many people asked me where I got both swords but I did answer them, because these swords are not my dreams and I really grant my fellow Maplers obtaining these two also. Despite of that, nobody of them were actually able to obtain these, except for another buddy that joined similar The Balrog raids with other people. I really liked he found one also, so I know now I am not the only one. I like to have some items that are very limited but I do grant others getting the same items. But, besides this small intermezzo, I just… had the feeling Ribgol Sword cursed me because every chance I would get or hours to hunt did end up with noting, or actually, did?
I had moments where I gave up but I thought… dude, Ray… this isn’t you. I just had to stand in the mirror in the bathroom to see that I have the power to never give up my real dreams so I went back on my PC and started to search for Ribgol Sword sellers, since this could be a better solution instead of hunting it with possibly finding a 97 attack one (97 attack is the lowest attack for Ribgol and I would have cried if I found that one, literally). Found many sellers, never an attack that I really wanted. 98 attack, meh… 101 attack, no thanks I don’t want average, 102 attack… nope, and so on. I was that focused that I only concentrated on maximum attack Ribgol Swords, which never came in Free Market. So I did end up with nothing again and I missed a lot of chances… I decided, to offer my Night Raven’s Wing, which I had worked FIVE full weeks to obtain (like I have already mentioned), for a Ribgol Sword I really wanted (even when it is five weeks, the release of Ribgol Sword as a drop at monsters has passed five months at this part). I had to take an attack which wasn’t maximum… which I felt very bad for. It… didn’t feel right to make that decision. By the way, why am I’m using a lot of dots in my lines... see? Oh well.
I was looking days in Free Market, until I have found somebody, I call him Rukia. Why Rukia? Because of his hairstyle on MapleStory (anime lovers may know my reference). I offered my Night Raven’s Wing but Rukia disconnected and so, he couldn’t read my offer. I found this very… disappointing.
A friend of mine decided to use an Item Megaphone for my Night Raven’s Wing… and it caught Rukia’s attention by coincidence. He said to me that he wanted my Night Raven’s Wing for his Ribgol Sword. Every friend of mine went through joy and happiness, and I was finally saying the word SALVATION again after a full year but… After all, he didn’t want it anymore. The joys of all my friends did end up into dust by that second.
Rukia told me that he would give me the Ribgol if I had the money, 2.500.000.000 mesos. I immediately started collection my amount, even with starting with only 27.000.000 mesos. So, I started to try to sell my NRW, but I couldn’t find a good buyer after SEVEN Item Megaphones… only trolls and people who didn’t want it anymore after 5 minutes.
I had to find alternate route (anyone who understands this line?) for my source of mesos. A buddy and an old alliance member of mine, I call him Wilding, found a new way to let me earn mesos…
I started with Wilding, Fanta drinker and my other friend I call Master-Troll making this amount of money. Four people together did raise the production ratio for this set of “equips” and so did the profit. We shared the profit to us all four and I got 600.000.000 mesos very fast (we did obtain over 3.000.000.000 mesos in only a week). You know what I found strange about this? When I was AFKing in my shop, a Ribgol user, I call him Bull, lost his Ribgol Sword. He wanted to buy my Night Raven’s Wing but he hasn’t got the mesos yet. I added Bull in my buddy list and after that he bought my NRW after a few days for 1.300.000.000 mesos. Buddies told me my NRW was very underpriced but I assumed I couldn’t make more out of it because of new Ribgols spreading all out FM at that time. I had 1.900.000.000 mesos by then, and I was almost reaching that goal. I made two Magic Throwing Knives worth 1.000.000.000 each, but I tried to sell them for 800.000.000 mesos each in Free Market. Every Ribgol I’ve seen that moment felt… great… since I finally can feel the taste of victory. I’m almost there!
“Don’t worry Ray, you will get it soon…” I guess soon didn’t mean a few weeks… I guessed the line said that the word soon, was meant for my endurance for it and not related to time... because my endurance never ended the past 3 years. Because I was closer to my Ribgol every new hour, my happiness did raise those next days, but…
So I finally sold both of my Magic Throwing Knives for 800.000.000 mesos each, gathering 1.552.000.000 mesos with the trade-tax. With this, I’ve got the required 2.500.000.000 mesos in 5 weeks! Now I just had to wait for Rukia…
Two days later I finally could speak to Rukia. We traded and… I got It. I finally got it! I have got, my 3 year dream in my inventory. All of my hard work, pain, it all has paid off eventually. 147 Weapon Attack, 6% Attack, 6% Total Damage? Yes please.
Even I got my Ribgol Sword after 3 years, my story didn’t end. This story has no ending, it has an open ending. My story just started now. You, my fellow Mapler, read my story and this story may have made new stories, motivations for others, even maybe your mind did change a bit (although it’s small, it IS a new story). Now It is time to tell your own, new story to others like I did. The world of MapleStory will never end, unless Nexon closes it down. New stories will be made until then and it’s up to you to share it with the world. I finally know that Nexon Europe didn’t harm my dreams, it has only made my dream larger, the feeling of victory is much higher than it would be if I got it way easier than EMS like at other versions, enable to share something to other Maplers and the most important: I fulfilled my main goal, my biggest dream in the world of MapleStory.
Farwell Night Raven's Wing... Hello Ribgol Sword.
~ Rayque
Head Ninja Scroll collection (I do have a bit more):
Head Ninja Scroll collection (I do have a bit more):
geweldig ray, eindelijk je droom waar gemaakt.
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