[2016] What happened this year to Rayque?

It's the 31st of December - it's time for another summary!
As the tradition here as always, this marks the 6th summary on this blog.

In tradition, I (and the rest of the Rayque3 Staff) wish you a great 2017. Unfortunately 2016 has been a year quite similar to 2015, and I hope that 2017 can make a change in that sequence.

[EMS] 5th Job!

Oh boy, 5th Job is here. Well, to be exact, it's been out since the 14th of December. "But Ray, why has it taken you two weeks before you'd actually published something?" - It's because unlike most people, I prefer to go through something new first, collect my mind and give it some time to find the right place. And especially with something like 5th Job, which has been one of the most significant updates for this game in years, I rather give it the patience and time it deserves.

I can't get myself to the right judgment for something on the first day. Fortunately not many people can, so I can't blame myself for giving it two weeks. However, that did buy me enough time to figure out a thing or two about my final thoughts for 5th Job's first wave. And it also allowed me to work on some sweet GIFs for this blogpost because they take days worth of my spare time to create, and with the holidays around December, it's difficult to find the right moments to work on them. And yes, you read it correctly: it's only the first wave. Apparently it is one of many to come. That means, I will most likely share my thoughts about those too when they arrive.

Because it has taken me two weeks to get this blogpost to air, you should be damn sure to expect one lengthy blogpost. Because I will most likely cover a lot. So to prevent my blog from taking forever to load because of all the GIFs and become even more laggy than the Reboot server from Global MapleStory, there will be a jump break. This won't be a 5th Job guide, it'll be an extensive collection of my thoughts about it. I will only cover the cores I think are worth to mention. So stuff like Erda Nova and Blink are pretty straightforward and there's no need to cover those today.

[YT] 10.000.000 total upload views!

Just in time for 2016, we have finally reached 10.000.000 views on the Rayque3 Channel! This is an incredible achievement, so thank you for your recurring support!

Apologize for the delay of blogposts in the past few weeks. I've been very busy with everything and nothing, so I have an unfortunate low amount of hours left to work on my blog. I can already confirm that I'm still going for the extensive 5th Job blogpost for EMS (of course!), and there will be a new Multirandomness video along the way. When? I don't know for sure, but just don't forget that it's holiday season. So have a happy holidays y'all!

That's it for now - I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Level 216!

That is definitely last minute before 5th Job, isn't it? Man, the V Update has been very generous with giving out free EXP Coupons...

[EMS] Veteran Hunter GET!

 

Hi guys! Perhaps a little less significant of a blogpost but still one I feel is worthy to tick off my achievement list.

Today I managed to get the Veteran Hunter Medal, which is essentially an in-game achievement for defeating 100.000 enemies around your level within 30 days. Which is a lot. Like, really a lot.

This challenge has been around in the game for years, but similar to the Diligent Explorer, I pushed it back for years as well because I just can't get myself to start the challenge even if it's clear I can breeze through it when I feel like it.

Because the Haste Event arrived in EMS, I took the opportunity to obtain the Veteran Hunter while doing the Haste Event. The Haste Event requires to defeat almost the same number of monsters as the Veteran Hunter, however, the time you have for it is much more limited because the game requires you to beat 44.444 enemies in the first week and 55.555 in the second (55.555 in the second if you beat the first week, that is). So the event was really the opportunity to get myself to start the timed challenge.

While the loot from this event isn't as rewarding as you'd expect, it's difficult for me to leave an event alone if I can certainly do it haha. Hey, let's be honest here. If I can get my Auf Haven Circlet, my Ribgol Sword, my Level 5 Soul Driver, the Holy Pink Beanity Title and my Hyena, killing almost 100.000 enemies in two weeks shouldn't be a big deal.

So, what you get from this event? A permanent Haste Event chair for bragging rights, some Damage Skin that I won't use (because apparently I'm such a hipster to want to keep using the basic damage skin I've been raised since 2007 to play this game with) and a Title that expires soon... At least I can say: been there, done that!

Even if this Speed Demon expires within a month time, you can't deny that those stats are pretty wow. If I will use this Title for the time being is another thing. Because we all know I don't like to use temporary gear. Unless you're new to this blog or you haven't read any other blogpost where I mentioned that, by coincidence. But now you know for sure.

Perhaps I might consider to start the Diligent Explorer after the 5th Job event, because it's most likely I'm going to farm boxes for hours. And hey, for some days, you can always just AFK on a chair to get the job done...

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Amaterasu's Gloves - Finished scrolling

Hi guys! Today I have finished scrolling my Amaterasu's Gloves - and it also has 10 Star Force enhancements.

Because of Black Friday, there has been a Spell Trace Fever event in EMS, together with a couple of hours worth of double Experience/Drop Rate.

My Amaterasu's Gloves is currently the only piece of equipment that I use on Rayque that is upgraded through Spell Traces. Because the Miracle Scrolls for Gloves (100% Chance to add 3 Weapon Attack per scroll) have become rare and untradeable between accounts since the migration, the 30% Spell Trace variant has been one of the few ways to get the same boost, and is arguably also the most cost efficient. Thankfully with Level 100 Diligence on my Hero, succeeding those 30% Spell Trace scrolls wasn't the most difficult part during a Spell Trace Fever, which increases the succession rates for (almost?) every Spell Trace upgrade by a significant amount. I only had three slots left to upgrade, and it took me about six attempts in total. Not to bad at all I'd say.

While the Heroes of Maple update arrived late at EMS because the migration was basically delayed to prevent the account purge from happening, it bought me months worth of Spell Trace farming to prepare for the 5% Clean Slate feature (that came with the Heroes of Maple update) that costs 2000 Spell Traces each. Ultimately before the migration happened I managed to gather over two hundred thousand Spell Traces, so I was more than well prepared if a Spell Trace Fever event would be held. Which of course, happened today - and it will also be held during this weekend.

Regardless if the EMS website mentions that Spell Trace fevers would not apply to the Spell Trace Clean Slates and Innocence Scrolls variants (which by the way, the game interface implies the Fever boost should happen for both of these), I've been very fortunate to win back all of my slots on my Amaterasu's Cape and seven on my Amaterasu's Armor.

Despite I have plenty of 20% Incredible Chaos Scroll of Goodness on supply, I actually want to wait to see if the 5th Job Coin Shop Event would sell 50% or 60% variants first. I think it's better to be sure, because right now, I am kind of out of Spell Traces. Oops.

That's it for today! I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Amaterasu's Epaulet - Finished scrolling

Sup guys! Yesterday I've managed to finish the scrolling of my first Amaterasu's equip! Sorry for the late coverage, given I've been so stupid with planning out how to manage the "Defeat 44.444 Monsters around your Level" from the Haste event before this Wednesday, because I did not consider the possibility of a server maintenance and the fact that I prefer to take a good nap over a few hours of gaming - so I kinda had to squeeze a last minute "hasty" session worth of 17.000 enemies before midnight. Gotta go fast, amiright?

Back on topic: my Amaterasu's Epaulet is the first piece of Amaterasu's equips that I've finished with scrolling. Because after I've fully replaced my Lionheart with Amaterasu's, I temporarily lost all of my Star Force enhancements, and because the Amaterasu's shoulderpad only has three slots, I thought that perhaps finishing the scrolling on this one would be the best choice to gain some Star Force back.

As mentioned a handful of times on my blog before, most of my equipment are scrolled with "Miracle Positive Chaos Scrolls" (which also goes by the name Incredible Chaos Scroll of Goodness in-game). Plus 10 Attack is definitely an awesome boost and an average of +3 per scroll is solid. I know that these scrolls can up a random stat to a maximum of 10, but trust me on my word, I have succeeded more than 50 of these in a lifetime, and gaining something like +3 Attack on a scroll, even +5, is quite hard to achieve on a consistent basis. Most equips with only 9 slots should be able to get past 20 Attack, but going past 30 is surprisingly difficult, even if it might not seem like it in theory... Going past 30 is more a thing that a 12-slot overall or a 10-slot hat would achieve.

The reason why I haven't gone past 10 Star Force enhancements, is because I'm currently saving up for a Self Sharp Eyes Nebulite, which has dropped in price recently due to events. Beyond 10 Star Force, the price per Enhancement becomes quite steep, so I rather invest my mesos in something I prefer to re-obtain as soon as possible that also has better results for its price.

And in case you wonder, isn't it better to invest a V-Core in Self Sharp Eyes to save a lot of mesos? I actually prefer not to waste many V-Core slots yet, as far as 5th Job is still in such an early phase of life, I rather keep a few V-Core slots unused than to swap one that's already filled with a new one so I'd lose the previous boosts in favor for something "more interesting". Perhaps consider using Self Sharp Eyes' V-Core variant temporarily until I get the Nebulite or Potential version might be a nice work-around, however, the cooldown for it is really killing, because I prefer to recast buffs like these when I feel like to without being hindered by cooldowns.

Objectively speaking, scrolling my Amaterasu Belt next would be the next logical step, because it has the least amount of slots to scroll from scratch. However, I'm leaning towards my Amaterasu's Cape because it just feels like the right choice. Whenever that means the results would be satisfying is for another day to be answered. At least did the Moon Bunny Coin Event provide me with high success rate Incredible Chaos Scrolls of Goodness. Because I usually need to stick around with 20% succession rate versions, every time I see a 50% or 60% from a coin event, I need to take that opportunity to my advantage.

Probably when the next Spell Trace Fever will happen, I'll try to finish scrolling my Amaterasu's Glove, which thankfully, does not require any expensive scrolls and can be entirely upgraded through the use of Spell Traces.

Perhaps something totally random and unrelated to this blogpost, a.k.a. Monster Life, but geez: that is a lot of fish. And yes I know this isn't the best Warus Production value. I prefer to have a higher Warus Storage capacity because even if I play EMS that often I don't have my eyes glued on Monster Life. It's a fun side project but it's not a priority to me at all.

For the time being, I'm not expecting any other major blogposts soon - perhaps if I get my hands on that Self Sharp Eyes Nebulite I might write another upgrade-related blogpost. I still haven't found time to start my Blaster because of the Haste event, and soon with the 5th Job Preparation events coming, I might have to park the class once more. Blaster's Skill Link is definitely useful, however, in comparison to something as grand as the 5th Job Preparation event that can save months worth of grinding, there's no comparison. Permanent content can wait. Events however, cannot.

Well, who knows, there's still some ongoing almost-never-ending RNG fest going on such as my Inner Ability and Black Cubing my Amaterasu's Gloves, where the desired outcome could be yesterday, next week, or after 2 years. Or never? Time will tell. I'll probably find something EMS related to write about, and in worst-case scenario, 5th Job is out within three weeks, because as you'd expect, that is definitely something I would write about.

That's it for now - I'll see you guys again next post!

P.S. Oh, before I forget! EMS is now available through Steam! The Steam page has been available to Europeans since the migration was finished but the region lock was lifted yesterday. I'll probably play Maple a lot through Steam from now on.

[EMS] Dreadnought GET!

Hi guys! Very recently I've finally managed to unlock the Dreadnought Vessel for the Commerci Voyage system.

The Dreadnought is the final vessel to unlock and is objectively speaking the best to have out there. It has the most amount of cargo capacity (6 slots instead of 4) and the highest energy capacity. This means that Dreadnought can make the most profit out of all three Vessel types and it also allows the player to do more daily Commerci runs with 20 additional energy units on top of the default 100.

While I wouldn't care a lot about the increased cargo capacity, I'm sure that gaining more Denaro per run is a nice thing to have anyway. I don't have use for Denaro myself, except for upgrading Vessels and buying permits (which for both I am done now), but I'm sure I'll come across a moment in time where my stash of Denaro would come in handy.

The main draw to me for using the Dreadnought is the twenty points of extra energy. This means I can run four (!) Lith Harbor voyages a day. This is such a gamebreaking opportunity because having four Lith Harbor's gives you so many chances to get fantastic loot. On average, the amount of (Chaos) Cubic Blades and precrafted Cubes I find per day has been increased by one each!

With the original Commerci system, you could only run three Lith Harbor's with a Dreadnought and only two with a Cargo Skiff or Sailboat. However, GMS has revamped Commerci so that the higher difficulties consume less energy a day and that the required Vessel Experience is about halved from the original rates. This is a very good change because I'm sure that not everybody wants to do daily Commerci for half a year in order to get to a Dreadnought. Oh, and the fact that Livyatan and the Coral Reef Runner doesn't cover up your screen anymore because they are placed behind the boat instead is also a lot more convenient.

However, because the migration came with this revamp after the day I almost got to Level 9, you can see in the image above how much Experience was wasted. It is hilarious to see that Experience literally go outside the user interface, though.

While I find it a shame that I wasn't able to get to experience Dreadnought before the revamp (which was actually near to impossible for anyone in Europe), it's been for the best to have this revamp as soon as possible. At least I got to enjoy three Lith Harbor voyages with my Sailboat, something which was definitely not possible before. And the rewards have been so much better in the past week because I got to do way more of the good stuff!

That's it for now - I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Level 215!

 

Just in time for 5th Job.

[EMS] Traits: Level 100 Empathy! Welcome to the Luna server!

Hi guys! Just about two days ago, everybody from MapleStory Europe has migrated to the Luna server. For the ones who don't know, in a long story short: region lock between American and European Nexon games has been removed, GMS and EMS now has the same launcher and you basically choose when you log in if you either want to connect to the American or European servers.

Kradia and Demethos have been merged into one server, called Luna. The amount of Channels has increased from 14 to 20 (!) and the game seems to run so much smoother! I know it's still early to judge if the migration process has been handled well, but as far as the past two days have been, it has been handled quite well and it could've been way below my initial expectations.

However, because of the complexity of said migration, there's been a few things that had to be done. Actually, the migration would literally delete all un-migrated accounts but would keep Kradia and Demethos. They eventually decided to keep all accounts, but merged Kradia and Demethos into Luna. Because all un-migrated account data are stored and will only be migrated once the owners of these accounts would manually accept the migration process, all buddylists and guilds have been reset because otherwise the game would have to connect your accounts with accounts that are not transferred to Nexon America's database (yet).

I know that sounds kinda bad, I mean like, you'll lose a lot of progress on your guild if you did. But well, here's my take on it.

[EMS] From Lionheart to Amaterasu!

Hi guys! I have been looking forward to this step in building my character a lot. Today my Amaterasu set outperforms my Lionheart set! In this blogpost, I'll explain (again) why I decided to do this change but also explain what I would lose and gain through this change. That does mean that this blogpost will be a long one to go through, though.

Most of you frequent readers know by now that I've been playing MapleStory Europe on my Hero for more than nine years by now. I've been trying to find a build that suits the needs not just for only my class, but also for myself. There are many ways to gain damage, and a lot of builds gives you plenty of everything and nothing, however, classes between themselves play very different from each other and every person plays the same class different too.

It's easy to just read a guide and take whatever everyone is recommending. While that might be good for starting this game or to remain casual, eventually when you play for a while it's probably better to find something that works for you instead. Knowing what you gain from your build is one thing, but what most people seem to forget is to consider what you won't get from your choices. Slots like Inner Ability, Skill Links, Character Cards and Hyper Skills/Stats aren't the only limited choices that will influence a lot, even to the fine details of what equipment you choose but also how you upgrade them would matter as much. You can all take the most fanciest guides out there, but in the end, if the pilot isn't suitable for his/her vehicle, don't expect too much in your performance on the field.

That said, my build centers around three things: my Ribgol Sword, having 120 base DEX and myself. I want something that is typically myself to pull off. I don't play games to compete against others, I play games to have fun. And when I have (genuine) fun in something, I tend to excel in competence and knowledge of the regarding subject.

This will be one of those rare blogpost on my blog where I would want to show you my equipment and thoughts behind it on a rather broad spectrum. I know that in my environment outside my blog, I have a lot of talk about my upgrades and stuff, even almost to a daily basis or so, but I'm aware that I rarely get to share this on my blog, so a lot of viewers who never really talk to me in-game would miss out on a thing or two. Without further ado, let's get to it.

[EMS] Self Combat Orders GET!

Hi guys! Definitely no big surprise, but I have obtained Self Combat Orders very recently!

It took less than 10 Meister Cubes to obtain it, and that is most likely to be average (on a good way) because the first line of Legendary will always wield a Legendary line. I was probably more lucky to also get another 9% STR on the third line, which is an interesting trade for my current shoes (my Lionheart Battle Boots has two lines of 6% All Stats).

Self Combat Orders (or Self CO for short) is a crucial part to my build on my Hero. Most readers know that I've obtained the Inner Ability line to increase passive skills by one level early in 2015 - Self CO increases all skills by one level - and increases most 4th Job skills beyond their initial maximum level (i.e. a Level 30 Skill becomes Level 31). Because the Inner Ability line also increases the same 4th Job skills beyond their Mastery Level (if they are allowed, that is), those passive skills that are affected becomes Level 32, and not just 31!

In case you wonder how tight one point of increase does to my build, I'll try to explain in a way that most Maplers can understand how much is affected by it. Hero works with a ridiculous amount of raw indirect damage - that is why Heroes tend to have low range, and the indirect damage compensates greatly for that. Self CO adds a lot of damage percentages to Raging Blow, Advanced Final Attack, Puncture, Shout (because Puncture passively boosts it as well) and Enrage - let's not forget that Enrage's boost works for all skills and that Maple Warrior gets an additional 1% All Stats boost, Advanced Final Attacks gains an additional 1 Attack and that I gain one additional percentage of Weapon Mastery. That in total already hefty increases my raw damage, but that's not all to it.

It's no secret that I work with a lot of critical damage, and Enrage and Puncture at Level 31 also impacts that with another 2% Minimum Critical Damage and another 1% Maximum Critical Damage - which in total gives me 104% Minimum Critical Damage and 108% Maximum Critical Damage under Puncture bleed and Enrage, instead of 103/106. The numbers might seem a bit off, but that is because my Minimum Critical Damage harshly exceeds my Maximum because I run four Adventure Rings simultaneously. The game adds all the Minimum Critical Damage into Maximum Critical Damage as long as your Minimum Critical Damage exceeds the Maximum. So, with all that Critical Damage improvement, on top of all of those hundreds of percentage of damage increase, that is significant.

The performance of my Hero is also improved given Combat Mastery becomes more efficient with giving 52% flat out Defence Ignore as a single value, Hero's Will goes from a 6 minute cooldown to a 5 minute one, and let's not forget that Puncture's higher Critical Damage boost for Party is also upped by one percentage in Minimum/Maximum Critical Damage. I also run a triple Bowman Card deck so Level 32 Advanced Final Attack would even get boosted further with another Final Attack damage boost from that Card deck. And well, that single point of Attack might also do its job well with my % Attack on my Ribgol...

All of this would also apply to 5th Job, because let's not forget that all 4th Job skills will apply with 5th Job. Most people seem to forget that you take all of your skills with you until the end of the game, given I only see most people just use the buffs and not a lot of the other useful skills.

My next step, as some of you frequent readers might now by know, is to try to cube Self Speed Infusion and Self Sharp Eyes on my Glove - this might take a while, but who knows! I find plenty of Meister Cubes, Chaos Cubics and purchase more cubes with my Reward Points, so the odds of obtaining it is certainly on the table. At least the moment when I also have my hands on Self SI in addition to the rest, it'll be time to replace my Lionheart and Alien Visitor set with my Amaterasu!

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!

[Lego] Black light - Makuta (The Journey to One)

 

"Today I will take my rightful place among the gods."

Sup guys! It's time for the big bad of the Bionicle universe - whenever what alternate timeline or generation of the Bionicle franchise you're going to explore, Makuta is always there plotting his evil schemes. Well, except for one alternate timeline. But that aside - today we're going to look at the Makuta combiner model from Generation 2 Bionicle's final chapter "The Journey to One".

Makuta's combiner model is built from seven (!) Generation 2 Bionicle sets. The seven sets are the Lord of Skull Spiders (#70790), Mask Maker vs. Skull Grinder (#70795), Ikir - Creature of Fire (#71303),  Tahu - Uniter of Fire (#71308), Onua - Uniter of Earth (#71309), Umarak the Hunter (#71310) and Umarak the Destroyer (#71316). You'll also need one extra ball joint too. However, even if you have all of these sets, there are no official instructions for this model.

How come? The Makuta combiner model was not intended to be physically released at all (this is why he doesn't have a set number for instance). The original physical model was made for the 3D render to be used in The Journey to One. It was also shown during the Makuta Building Contest and the design seemed to be very well received by the community. Because this combiner model or the instructions for it were not planned to be released, LEGO® released an album of pictures from the original physical model so the fans could at least reverse engineer it. Keep in mind that the Mask of Ultimate Power on all of the official images and the Makuta Building Contest video is a 3D printed prototype, and LEGO® has no plans for mass producing it, so the mask I'm using on Makuta is his former mask (the Mask of Control) he wore before the Mask of Ultimate Power.

However, reverse engineering the images isn't as easy as it may sound. There are a few parts of the model that are relatively not shown as how they are built. And there are actually some continuity issues between several pictures as well (where some parts of the build have been changed or swapped out halfway through). If you would look around various videos and images from fans you'll see that there might be some variations between them - as long as we don't exactly know how the model has been built, your guess is as good as mine. Surprisingly, the combiner model doesn't even use half of the parts that are available from all seven sets.

However, I do know that I've made one mistake in the ankles by using a hybrid 3 axle/pin instead of a 3 regular axle, and this was due to the resolution of the screen I was using to build the model. A similar thing happened to the orientation of the Hordika connector (which is flipped) and using the wrong connector piece for mounting his staff in his hand (which should've been this one). Unfortunately I figured those out after I made the pictures, and you can imagine that I won't reshoot everything just to get a few building mistakes out of it. I'm pretty sure there are some other mistakes I made as well, and I feel very uncomfortable and unconfident about it to be honest. So bear with me, I did my best. As said above: your guess about how certain parts were assembled is as good as mine. I will remain on the lookout for more possible mistakes, I will correct them, but these images will remain like they are.

 

Back to the model itself, regardless of small nitpicks - the overall presence of Makuta will still remain there. There is a lot to like about it. It uses a significant amount of transparent neon orange from the seven sets, not all though.

Makuta has an interesting anatomy. Proportion wise, he has long arms and his main torso is rather large. His "belly" bulges forward, giving it a strong presence in its overall design. Makuta goes with the "(over)dramatic large torso" design, a play of proportions of the human body. It's something that occasionally occurs in designing characters (how they look), two other examples of character designs where this also is used is Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy and Hoopa Unbound from Pokémon.

By the way, having "lanky" arms isn't really a new thing in Bionicle designs - it's actually very common among both generations.

There's this infamous phrase "If you can scratch your knees without bending, you might be an Inika build" which is about the fact that a lot of Bionicle characters could reach their knees without bending their backs because the arms are usually that long in order to accommodate their tools / vehicles (i.e. Axalara T9). The "Inika build" is a common way how Bionicle figures are assembled between 2006 and 2009, a trend that started with the eponymous Toa Inika themselves.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I kind of see a samurai-inspired theme going on with the entire torso assembly, probably because of the locations where plating occurs and where not. One thing that I absolutely find fantastic about the design is how well the upper torso comes together (using half a Shadow Trap, a Cinderella wheel, a CCBS ribcage and several default CCBS armour pieces surrounding the wheel) and I really like how the wheel piece just grabs your attention by using the concave side to bring depth.

Another thing that I really like about the model is how the legs are built. It makes great use of those Technic beams in trans neon orange! The shoulder armour might be huge, but it does work with the overall theme that the design is going for - and the way how they can move around just gives a nice feel when you adjust their orientation.

There is so much to like about Makuta, that I even often forget that he even has a gearbox to move both arms around just like any of the non-Uniter Toa! Talking about luxury, there aren't that many large models like these to have a feature like that at all.

Sidorak, is that you?

Being a cunning and evil character like Makuta does also mean he comes armed. He has his big staff weapon, which can rotate the large flame tips. His left arm has the obligatory retractable sword-guard, something we haven't really seen since Sidorak. Not only that, Makuta is also protected from nasty back-attacks, with having actual blades on his back to repel and punish those who attack from behind. And well, he has some significant claws, right?

However, after all that drooling of this fantastic combiner model, it's clear to understand why this set isn't really suitable to be released as a toy.

Makuta has a lot of parts which are connected through pins or ball joints but not fully held in place - this gives him a lot of possible and fine motion for the animated show, but it of course hinders the physical model. It's difficult to grab him without accidentally moving or rotating certain parts.

Because Makuta has such a dramatic (but definitely awesome) designed torso, he becomes top heavy. He only has one ball joint for each knee with only one friction connector, which makes him "weak knee'd" - a common issue with several (large) Bionicle/CCBS models where because of lack of friction in the knees, the model wants to topple because the knees cannot handle the weight.

So, as a display piece, this model is definitely one that many Bionicle fans would love to have. And probably a lot of diehard Bionicle fans will get one as well! But you can imagine that this model isn't as sturdy or as playable as you would have with the norm, so having a mass production of this model might not work out that well. How tall is this model, actually?

 

When placing Makuta next to General Grievous (#75112) and Toa Mata Nui (#8998), it's clear to see that Makuta stands about "Grievous tall", which is significant to be fair. Makuta certainly has a lot of bulk and mass, which both Grievous and Toa Mata Nui kind of lacks in a way. It's funny that Umarak the Combiner is actually taller than Makuta's combiner model from The Journey to One.

This is by no means the tallest Makuta set out there, given Ultimate Dume is the tallest Makuta *and* Bionicle set released so far. And if Ultimate Dume will ever be defeated as the tallest Bionicle set, is a question to be answered for another day.

All in all, Makuta Journey to One is one hell of a Bionicle (combiner) model. It does a lot of things right. It looks fantastic, it does the character justice, there's some interesting use of pieces for the building process not found in any other Bionicle sets to date and it has the cookie cutter features of all default Bionicle sets - the mask popping feature and the gearbox.

This "set" will be definitely one of my favorite Bionicle designs to date. It's no Nocturn, it's no Umarak, it's not like Lesovikk, Mazeka or the Axalara T9 - it doesn't have to be and it's not shy to be something else. Is this towering giant worthy of the beloved Warrior/Titan subtheme? It probably is. And this fellow takes his rightful place among my favorite Bionicle sets on my display shelf.

That's it for now - I'll see you guys again next post!

[Lego] Black light - Umarak the Combiner

"You cannot summon the elements! You have left your world of light. Here, there is only shadow - shadow I command!"

 

Hi guys! Today we'll cover the official combiner model for Umarak - unofficially called "Umarak the Combiner (Model)" - a build made out of Umarak the Destroyer and the three Elemental Beasts.

 

Umarak the Combiner's design is mainly inspired by his Destroyer model, and a lot of parts of that model has simply been expanded and stretched out. One of the very few pieces which are kept almost as similar as possible is the shoulder proportion, the face and the build of the arms.

 

Umarak the Destroyer on the left, next to the combiner model.

(Yes, I have accidentally let a green lightsaber piece photobomb the picture on the far right.
Next time I should move Grievous a bit more away from the camera view)

Man, this model is tall. Just look at how significant larger it is compared to Umarak the Destroyer! It is that massive, that they actually had to connect two large foot pieces for each feet to make his footprint large enough to create enough stability. Yes, this thing does stand stable for the rather thin leg build, and certainly does the "General Grievous" ankle build support the stability. Talking about General Grievous...



On the left, #75112 General Grievous and on the right, #8998 Toa Mata Nui,

Umarak the Combiner isn't just "tall". He stands taller than the infamous General Grievous set! Yes, Umarak isn't as tall as Toa Mata Nui, but that doesn't give Umarak the Combiner less credit for going absolutely out of proportions. Then again, Toa Mata Nui isn't the tallest Bionicle/CCBS build... Ultimate Dume still holds the record for being the tallest Bionicle/CCBS build - which shows again, if you want to be tallest build, you have to be an evil character for some reason.

 

And yeah, for the people who apparently paid attention to the LEGO® sets I own (or to some blogpost in 2015), I do have Ultimate Dume - but the reason why he isn't on any of these pictures is because the entire model has been disassembled and stored in my parts supply (ever since 2004) and it will take probably more than 20 painful hours to find all the pieces back because I'm such a terrible person with sorting pieces. Perhaps I might consider to build him again one day in an unknown distant future, but it is not on my mind at the very moment - but for now, hopefully Toa Mata Nui is a proper substitute for the following height comparisons for you all. At least if one model does not tower the yellow Great Spirit himself, it surely won't be taller than Dume!

 

Back on Umarak the Combiner though! Because the height comparison picture was taken in a fully lit room, you can see the obvious mix of different colours you wouldn't be able to see that well in the more darkened pictures on this post. Yes, I know that many people found this "awful" to look at, and in a way I can understand that opinion.

 

It is kinda difficult to build a cohesive combiner model when you have four models with four different colour templates and thus four limited inventories. For what they could've done, I think that the design is okay. One detail I definitely like about this model is how the Shadow Trap halves are used to extend the rib cage! Surprisingly, Umarak the Combiner has a lot of pieces left from the Elemental Beasts sets. There's enough pieces to create at least one model of your own, or to change/add pieces to the combiner. Speaking of which...

 

The arms are heavy and only supported by one single ball joint with a friction connector (similar to the Destroyer model), so it does have issues with posing his arms up occasionally. Also similar to the Destroyer, most poses should do just fine, it's just the ones where the arms would be stretched out horizontally or above his shoulder height. Thankfully, there is plenty of pieces left to use from the three other Elemental Beasts sets, which makes me wonder why they didn't use them to reinforce the arms. But if you want to reinforce the arms-to-shoulder connection, you should be able to come up with something because there's plenty of pieces to use.

 

The combiner model surprisingly still uses the waist articulated torso from most 2016 Bionicle sets. One may wonder how such a top heavy model would make use of the turntable because of its sheer mass. Actually, it is probably one of the best models to play with this feature - the extra weight the body pushes on the turntable makes it run smoothly without the squeaking sound it usually makes on most other sets. In addition, this model has such a length for its arms that it's easy to turn the waist and hit stuff because of the reach the arms give. Imagine if a towering beast with those arms and fingers comes at you and tries to slash you...

 

So all in all, Umarak the Combiner might be one large figure, but is definitely to most people not a display model.

As a toy though, this model doesn't do that much wrong at all. This model isn't perfect, but it is certainly not a bad product either - to me, it scores higher than average. Perhaps this model does a better job than Umarak the Destroyer as a toy - there's nothing wrong with that, right?

 

 

Last but definitely not least, here's a bonus! Because Umarak the Destroyer comes with a Transparent-Neon-Orange variant of the Umarak the Hunter mask, you can make a recolour of Umarak in Transparent Neon Orange. Man, he certainly looks different in orange. I still think I prefer his original Bright Green design, but his Neon Orange is still awesome in my opinion!

 

That's it for now - the next Black light post will be about the Makuta Journey to One model. I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Second Legendary Potential GET!

What? Yes, I am as surprised as you are. Man, that went fast. Just only took nine cubes to get this thing to Legendary - but let's take a moment to think. Having a Legendary glove doesn't mean I am there yet - I still need to get Self SI and Self SE, and frequent viewers know my typical luck.

Still though, nine cubes...

So yeah, Legendary is obtained, but now the real challenge begins... I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] 9 Years!

Oh boy, it's that day again - Today is the 30th of September. This means I've played another year of EMS on Rayque; a total of nine years!

For the readers who might still be new to this blog, as I've mentioned on several places, I've started my EMS "career" on the 30th of September, back in 2007. And ever since that day I'm still playing this game about every day. I still haven't quitted Rayque or replaced it with another main.

There is still so much left for me to do in this game, the fun will certainly not fade away any time soon! Neither do I have the urge to quit at all. There's plenty of stuff to look forward - not just in a distant future something as significant like 5th Job, but also the smallest things like upgrading my equipment. I always have something to do, there's always some chapters ongoing, and new challenges to face.

Nine years may be a lot to some, but imagine if you log in daily - time flies when you have fun. Next year will be the two-digit anniversary of my character, which is by itself another thing to look forward to. To ten years and beyond!

That's it for now - I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] First Legendary Potential GET!

About damn freaking time! It has taken a lot of attempts in the past few years, but with all these fantastic new ways of cubing to make the game more accessible to more people, I've managed to craft and find plenty of Meister Cubes to get my first equip to Legendary.

Does this mean I'll finally get Self Combat Orders soon, something I have been talking about occasionally on this blog since 2014? Yes and no. First, I want to take the opportunity to make an attempt to get my Amaterasu's Gloves to Legendary soon - I can spend all those Meister Cubes on getting Self Combat Orders, but I definitely want to raise my gloves as well before I do that.

Probably getting my gloves to Legendary is as important as getting my shoes to Legendary - let's not forget that Legendary Gloves may wield Self Speed Infusion and Self Sharp Eyes at the same time! And with a Legendary Glove where the first rank is guaranteed to give out a Legendary stat, and the second two is at least guaranteed to give out Unique (and with a little bit of luck, Legendary instead), getting both should not be that hard, as far as I've heard from friends. Well, apply that with the typical luck that I have, it should be manageable right?

Assuming that getting my gloves to Legendary will take a while, I'll also take that opportunity to save up some mesos to get a temporary Nebulite for my Amaterasu's Armour, because I've invested quite some mesos recently into scrolling my Amaterasu set, which is, of course, a priority over all else (because y'know, I can get clean slates without mesos, I can cube without mesos, I don't want to Star Force yet, I already have more than 40 hammers stored, etc).

I've been wanting to get a S-Rank Nebulite for "Invincible for 3 seconds after getting hit", but because I'm not entirely certain how S-Ranks will be handled in EMS, perhaps getting the A-Rank Nebulite for a two-seconds-variant might definitely be a solid decision. Yes, I know you cannot overwrite Nebulites and you need to remove them with a 500 NX item, but I'm willing to afford the compromise just to be sure - it's better than nothing, and it's not that there's a more suitable choice for the standards I am looking for. And who knows what may happen in the future, right?

While my Amaterasu set doesn't have better stats yet, as far as the upgrading goes, it definitely looks promising and it will no doubtly be better than my Lionheart in the end. But don't forget that the moment when I have Self Combat Orders, Self Speed Infusion with Self Sharp Eyes, my Amaterasu would perform way better than my Lionheart (not per se damage-wise) - and I also will be having much more fun too. Of course I'll keep you guys up to date if anything changes soon - this is definitely some blog-worthy content that deserves some attention.

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!

[Lego] Black light - Elemental Beasts

Oh man, this album of images was definitely a fun one to make.

Today we're going to cover the following three sets: #71313 Lava Beast, #71314 Storm Beast and #71315 Quake Beast. These three are the Elemental Beasts.

The Elemental Beasts, which also goes by the name "Shadow Horde" in The Journey to One, was an army summoned by Umarak the Destroyer after he was mutated by Makuta. In order to get Makuta's plan to succeed, the Elemental Beasts were mainly used as a distraction to keep the Toa occupied.

Because we're talking about three different sets that are very different from each other, I'm going to give every single character at least some individual attention too.

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Lava Beast is the one set that seems to be favoured the most out of all Elemental Beasts. While it may be your "default" Bionicle set that is pretty straightforward and is probably the safest "comfort zone" design, going safe and default did its receive well. I think it's always good to have a "comfort zone" design in a lineup of different things to offer.

Out of all the three beasts, this one is of course the most distinct purely because it uses Transparent Neon Orange instead of the "fan favourite" Transparent Neon Green that both Storm Beast and Quake Beast uses. It's also the only one of the three to have additional design around the head (in this case, horns) and it even has the fancy always-rare-to-have-posable-finger-joints (not just fingers, but even the finger joints) that is usually reserved for larger models!

In my opinion, I'm not really the biggest fan of Lava Beast. It's not because of the design (as a toy), despite that its done right in multiple ways, but because this is such a "default" set, it doesn't ignite the excitement that my inner child is looking for.

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Quake Beast seems to be the "middle ground" set where the concept behind the play feature has been appreciated, but aesthetically it seems to fall short to a lot of people. I actually like the design of Quake Beast a lot - it may be very (daring and not shy to be) asymmetrical but I think that is what made the design stand out from the line up, if not, most Bionicle sets out there.

Quake Beast's right arm would probably stand out the most, as it is mainly built from large crystal shell pieces - this is part of its play feature. About nearly all Generation 2 Bionicle sets revolve around popping masks off from figures (a feature that was a foundation for the first years of Generation 1) and Quake Beast is certainly one of those sets like the Bohrok, Rahi and the Skull Army where it explores and holds onto this design philosophy.

I think that Quake Beast is one of my favorite aesthetically designed Bionicle Generation 2 sets. I also appreciate the small fingers it has so it can grab on Onua's corrupted mask that came with this set as well.

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Storm Beast is an interesting set: can you name a LEGO® set where its aesthetic design has been rated poorly but where the majority of the LEGO® fans applauded its complex play feature? There are a few of them, but not many - Storm Beast may be one of those rare examples where the play feature is a stand out in perhaps the entire history of sets (not just Bionicle) but it might have sacrificed too much in its design to pull it off.

Well, to go straight off the opinion bat (yeah, a bat that has the word "opinion" printed on it I guess, don't ask me how English works), Storm Beast is one of those sets that can ignite that excitement that my inner child is looking for.

Most LEGO® sets are done right, and for me that kind of becomes boring quickly - you know you're getting something fantastic, which is probably what you want to get for your money right? That is totally fair and justified, by the way.

If you have paid enough attention to my blog if you're a frequent reader of my LEGO® related blogposts, you might know by now that I seem to have a bias and favour towards those LEGO® sets most people rate poorly, find them awkward to look at, or even feel ashamed to own them in general. This kind of environment for these handful of LEGO® sets actually encourages me to give it a go to see what's the fuzz about. And often I actually seem to like it in the end - perhaps it's just a part of my character, since this also can be found anywhere else in my life (which includes a lot of my MapleStory "career" in the past almost nine years that I've been playing that game).

Putting the opinion bat back in the tool rack, Storm Beast's play feature is such an organic "marionette" style of movement in the arms, were the "strings" is its tail. The organic movement is provided by the use of multiple ball joints.

If the set was mainly built from fixed rotation points from standard Technic pieces, you would get something like the Tarakava, Cyber Strikes, Muake & Kane-ra, and Cahdok and Gahdok sets where the main axis of rotation is limited to one direction or horizon (which is a fancy way of saying you only punch or move something directly forward in the most linear way). One of the very few Bionicle sets that actually "cheats" a little bit in this rule was the Boxor Vehicle, where the vehicle would punch forward if you would lean the model (by pushing down) the opposite direction - so it kind of gives the Boxor a more "realistic" and exciting play feature by just integrating the trigger on a clever way. If only more sets could do something like that...

Unfortunately, one "design flaw" for Storm Beast is its durability. While I'm certainly glad with the posable fingers, which enables you to get some different ways of attacks when you lunge those arms forward (i.e. to grab or knock off a mask), but because it uses the default clip connection, the fingers have a hard time to stay connected on the rest of the hand. Regardless of how cool they look, if only the fingers were a bit better secured on the model, it would do the set's play feature much more justice...

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That's it for this black light post! Do you guys have a definite favourite Elemental Beast? Next time I'll cover "Umarak the Combiner", a Combination Model between these three fellows with Umarak The Destroyer!

By the time you read this, I can already ensure you all that I've finished the album for the Makuta Journey to One model, so you guys don't have to stay awake worried (anymore) if you were. Probably you guys weren't anyway.
And if you were, you probably will sleep better tonight! Or tomorrow. Unless you're actually worried *when* it's going to be released - and then I'll say you gotta be patient with me as well. I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Level 214!

Sup guys! Earlier this evening I've hit Level 214!

Perhaps one unexpected milestone, so it was even a surprise for myself! In the past few weeks, Nexon Europe has been very generous with giving out 2x EXP/Drop events and free 2x EXP Coupons - we pretty much have four hours of 2x EXP/Drop every weekend and Thursdays until the end of the month. The coupons have been given out several times as a log in reward, just by simply logging into the game and receive them through the main menu. That's literally all you need to do!

So, one can imagine, if I do daily bosses, having twice the amount of EXP does help a lot. In the past few years,
I've managed to Level Up a few times each, and so I'm happy to be given this opportunity to make it four levels for 2016 like last year. If there is going to be a Level 215 soon is another question, but I don't expect it to happen to be honest because of the required EXP each level.

But one thing is for sure: every Level Up is definitely a good preparation for 5th Job. Don't forget the extra Hyper SP, AP and HP/MP too, because that is always useful to get!

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!

[Lego] Black light - #71308 Tahu - Uniter of Fire, #71303 Ikir - Creature of Fire

"Run Tahu! It's too late for me."
"No, it's not too late - for I am the Master of Fire!"

 

Wow, that actually sounds more cliché on paper than it sounded in the animated show. Hi guys!

 

Today's black light post is going to be about the beloved-red-character-that-is-always-the-leader-in-every-cliché-group-of-heroes, Tahu! This shouldn't be a surprise if you paid attention to my last blogpost, so if you waited for it, here you are! And if you didn't wait for it and expected some EMS blogpost, then you're not the only one because I'm waiting to write one as well! Back on topic, I guess.

 

This fellow has been around since the start of Bionicle, loved by many, and is the mascot of the franchise ever since. And our hothead leader is showing off with his partner Ikir, the Creature of Fire.

 

Haters gonna hate, I actually never got to own any of the original Tahu sets, whenever it's the Toa Mata, Toa Nuva, Toa Mistika or the Stars variants of him - simply because I wasn't as excited to get him as the others. Well, ironically, I do own a few different Kanohi Hau's (his mask in the first generation), but those were obtained through other sets and polybags. If I'm going to get any of the older Tahu sets is another question, but perhaps time will tell. And well, most of you frequent readers of this line of particular blogposts already know that I own both Tahu's from the second generation, although the Master of Fire was a gift from a relative.

 

Regardless of how many Tahu's I own, I do believe he is one of the better Master and Uniter sets of Generation 2. Design, as a LEGO® set and toy wise - the overall package for what you get. For most people it's hard to beat the Mata and Nuva designs, but I do think that the Uniter is probably the best looking Tahu out there. And I think that his mask design for this year really helps to stand out. I know Tahu doesn't have his signature lavaboard in this set, but even if it's a signature thing of him, he doesn't have it in all sets though... You know there was a time (read: years) where I didn't have my signature Ribgol Sword in MapleStory, right?

 

 

Ikir, the Creature of Fire, might be one of the better designed Creatures from 2016. You can really see the Phoenix-inspired theme going on. It really feels like a creature of fire, I suppose. Arguably perhaps not the best creature set parts-wise (then again, what parts you need is a really subjective manner), but it certainly has all the points of articulation you want if that's your thing. This model even has the luxury to pose all toes so the feet can grab onto things!

The gears that are used in the model for the wings are certainly going to be useful! It might not be as compact as the Slizer gear(boxes), but it is certainly more versatile to use and it uses the "rounded" style of gears instead of the "square" ones, so you can get a bit of both worlds.

 

I'm very curious on how they're going to use these in upcoming years, and hopefully it won't be one of those gear pieces that is only used for a handful of sets (I'm looking at you, Hailfire Droid wheels and redesigned Worm Screws).

And well, last and probably least, the Shadow Trap! I do certainly like the idea behind those, and perhaps I'm one of the very few who has that opinion. I'm going to give this one, which was packed with Ikir in the same set, some bonus points for using legs made out of trans neon orange to get that black light glow.

Perhaps this isn't something I have talked about before, but if there is one thing that the second generation of Bionicle (and the CCBS system in general) did better than the first, is the amount of transparent pieces included. While the Toa Inika have been one of the very few subthemes to introduce several Bionicle socket connectors in (black light applicable) transparent colours, a lot of Bionicle sets from Generation 2 included socket pieces and armour add-ons in these colours! This made a lot of the sets a lot more colourful and vibrant, in a good way. And also gives me more to cover on this blog, ha!

If only Generation 2 could also use all those fancy (black light) brain stock colours from Generation 1... it's a shame that certain colours like Transparent Neon Pink and Transparent Neon Yellow are such a rarity even if they had a short lifespan. Well, the same thing applies to Transparent Medium Blue, which is still a rare transparent colour - you might have seen it in my Nocturn blogpost, or y'know, perhaps you have a set yourself because it has appeared in plenty!

Yes, I know I forgot to add the four-length axle in one of Tahu's weapons. Apparently it probably landed somewhere in my parts supply.

That's it for now! I'm surprised I haven't done any of the obligatory Kanohi Hau-puns in this blogpost yet. Hau couldn't I make one? Puns and drumrolls or tumbleweeds aside, the next black light-related post will be about the Elemental Beasts!

I'll see you guys again next post!



[Lego] Black light - #70790 Lord of Skull Spiders

"What is that THING?"
"The Lord of Skull Spiders - We can't outrun him."

Ah, the Lord of Skull Spiders - the villain for the start of the Bionicle Reboot back in 2015. While he was greatly overshadowed by the other Toa sets of the same year, after being neglected and the set retired this fellow ultimately became highly-sought by Bionicle fans when this Reboot ended earlier this year. Not because fans wanted all the remaining sets, but because he is a fundamental set for building the official model for Makuta - one particular build I will cover on this blog *eventually*.

By eventually I mean I already have finished this build after reverse engineering a limited number of pictures The LEGO® Company has provided to fans to recreate one heck of a clever built model. I just don't have any images ready yet - but hopefully you all can be patient with me as well because I might be as impatient and excited to showcase it as you guys are eager to see it.

Back to the Lord of Skull Spiders - man, he is one of the better Bionicle sets with Trans-Neon Orange. This is probably because he has Technic beams in this colour; it gives a good flow and balance between the neon and black. He is one of the very few Bionicle sets that looks physically better than on the box, which in a way is a shame because this sometimes occurs when LEGO® uses 3D renders on a box instead of pictures of the physical thing. Hmm, perhaps talking about LEGO® packaging in the past 25 years might not be such a boring topic to eventually cover on my blog...

I really appreciate the playfeature it has, similar to the Skull Scorpio, it has a play feature where the trigger is conveniently placed in the back of the build for easy access - it allows all the legs to move downward, giving this character to grab around stuff. However, because of this feature, posing becomes a little issue - and then you can understand why the Skull Scorpio has fixed legs, despite the negative feedback it received for having them. For the sake of capturing the images, I had to cheat a little bit by removing the rubber band temporarily, so I hope you guys don't mind that I did.

Until I cover the Makuta build from The Journey to One, I have already made a "schedule" on my archive for what's next to come. As of the time of this writing, all images are already prepared and finished except for Makuta himself. However, I will not throw them all on my blog yet - I prefer to split it and release them when I feel like to. This is also to make sure the amount of catching up for you guys won't be too much.

That's it for now - hopefully you guys are as excited as I am to see the following UV Black light posts. Of course, these won't delay any other blogposts because I simply write what and when I want to. I'll see you guys again next post!

[Lego] Oops

I'm back home!

For the people out there who has been following Bionicle Generation 2, you guys know why I have taken some of these particular sets. Especially considering I already own some of these!

Expect several black light posts soon enough. But I wanna take it a bit easy on that because I just came back home.

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Sailboat GET!

Hi guys! Yesterday I managed to obtain the Sailboat vessel for the Commerci Voyage system.

The Commerci Voyage system is a mini game that you can unlock by going through the Dawnveil content and get formal access to the trading system in Commerci itself. And boy, what a mini game this one is!

The Voyage system is your typical "Beat all the enemies within a certain time and they come in different waves" gameplay - there is nothing you need to protect from enemies, it's just a simple game of whacking your weapon until they're all defeated.

This isn't something "new" for MapleStory, as we've seen this kind of system before - but Commerci certainly stands out for its rewards. On top of that, you're actually rewarded greatly for doing this mini game more often - because the more Commerci you'd do, you'll be able to unlock higher difficulties - which is the typical "higher risk, higher rewards".

Commerci is notorious for the Potential-related rewards; there's a significant chance to find (Chaos) Cubics and both Master and Meister Cubes! Even without 2x Drop events, I have been able to find a lot of these in just a few runs. I'm currently stacking these up so I can have a good shot at cubing some proper Potential, and hopefully I'll be able to get my first Legendary equip soon. Yes, most people don't know this by now, but I haven't been able to obtain my first Legendary equip at all (because A. I haven't focused that much on cubing to Legendary yet and B. frequent readers know my typical luck), but that might change soon enough.

However, these types of mini games cannot be complete without some interesting "You are allowed to do more if you spend more time with this content" that we have seen in a few previous content such as the Evolving System. In order to start a Commerci voyage, you have to pay Denaro (a currency limited to Commerci) - and if you have successfully completed a voyage, you'll get everything you've "invested" back, with a small profit, based on what "cargo" you've deciced to take with you.

The more voyages you've done, the more Denaro you'll have, which allows you to spend it in certain (boat) upgrades or a handful of Sweetwater equipment (accessories-only). Most people probably want to get some of those Sweetwater equipment, but Denaro is very important to get all the "trading permits" to access all "locations" (read: difficulties) - and when you've got all permits, it'll smooth sailing from now on because the only "upgrades" you might want to invest in will be upgrading your boat (which is rather expensive, but is no big deal if you just simply save all Denaro you'll earn).

Because we're sailing on seas, you'll always start with your "rookie ship", the Cargo Skiff, and it'll gain experience by doing voyages (don't ask me how that works). The higher the difficulty, the more Vessel experience you'll get, but the more energy (read: fuel) you'll consume. Energy is fully restored after midnight.

When you get your Cargo Skiff to Level 10, you can upgrade it to a Sailboat! A Sailboat has more firepower than a Cargo Skiff, but also allows access to a whopping 100 attack buff (with short duration), which will surely aid in faster voyages when most bosses have quite some HP.

You can ultimately upgrade a Sailboat to a Dreadnought, which is the "final" upgrade, but that will take a while before I'll get there. It'll probably be somewhere near the end of the year (yes, it requires *that* much experience to get a Sailboat to Level 10). The most interesting part from the Dreadnought is that it can hold the most cargo of all boats, and it has the largest "fuel capacity" of them all. Especially the latter is something I'm looking forward to, because having three Voyages to Lith Harbor a day will result in some crazy pile of loot... as if the months of voyages that is required to even get to a Dreadnought isn't enough loot already!

That's it for today! Later next week I'll be back home and there's a pile of LEGO® sets waiting on my desk...
I'll hopefully get back to that when I'm there - see you guys again next post!