[2017] What happened this year to Rayque?

It's that time of the year again! It's time for another summary!
This marks the 7th summary on this blog.

In tradition, I (and the rest of the Rayque3 Staff) wish you a great 2018. To be honest about my personal life here: 2017 has been such a mess with a scarce amount of redeeming moments. I wouldn't say it's "the absolute worst year I've experienced", but I could say it's definitely among the top 10. Either way, there's not much I can do about it, and even if 2018 to me doesn't feel to become any better, I'm always optimistic and stubborn enough to give it a try.

But enough "boohoo-ing" about something that will probably be an afterthought in a few years, I know we're all here for the statistics, achievements, shameless bragging and loads of numbers! So, let's get to it!

[EMS] Level 226!

Phew, still managed to level up before the end of this year! Having all those daily events where I have to grind in Arcane River and doing Hungry Muto's again really helped me obtaining lots of EXP (and Nodestones).

I'm certain that going from 226 to 227 isn't going to be as fast given these events don't last forever, plus, somewhere mid-2018 I'll hit Level 20 on my Arcane Symbol for Chew Chew Island. I'm not a person to keep on doing Hungry Muto's forever just for the EXP after maxing out that symbol, given I already have my hands full with a slow progress on my Lacheln and Arcana symbols for the time being (as y'know, you actually have to put some effort into these. Gasp!).

I'll most likely hit 230 somewhere next year to unlock Morass, but I'm pretty sure it'll be around the end of 2018 to get that far unless something dramatically improves to the amount of EXP I obtain a day. There's no need for me to rush to Level 230 though, as I would reach Level 230 and Level 20 on my Morass Arcane Symbol eventually anyway. For a lot of things in my life it's never a question of "if", but more a question of "when". But let's not get ahead of ourselves though - it's a significant journey from 226 to 230 if you rely on daily bosses/events and don't grind at all.

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

[EMS] Puncture

Puncture (KMS: Incising, MSEA: Incizing), one tertiary skill that is among the bottom layer of underused skills in a Hero's tool kit. Why's that? Dunno, don't ask me.

Hero is one of the few classes in MapleStory that has one skill for both bossing and mobility, being able to change Raging Blow's form to enhance its versatility. In most cases, classes have one skill that focuses on mobility and one that focuses on hitting hard on a limited amount of enemies. Most classes have at least one signature skill to weaken a target - Hero is no exception. In fact, Hero has two of them: Panic and Puncture.

Panic applies Blind on targets at an almost guaranteed percentage, which applies to another skill of Hero called Chance Attack. Chance Attack gives a damage multiplier to enemies that are either Stunned, Blinded, Frozen or Binded. Puncture applies damage over time on targets. This damage over time effect multiplies your damage if the damage is a critical hit. Nowadays, running 100% critical rate is pretty much standard and many people recommend it for good reasons. I mean, there's little reason not to run 100% critical rate on any class, really...

Unfortunately that's not all there is to Puncture. Puncture is one of the few skills in a Hero's lifetime that has barely changed since its introduction. While that might sound stale at first, that's because Puncture never needed a change. It was already broken since it's introduction, and its use has only been made more useful and more versatile in a short span of three years, to a point where a nerf is going to be imminent the moment when more people will figure this out.

I'm not going to say "Puncture is better than Raging Blow". It doesn't have to, therefore, it never will. However, the fact that we're talking about a tertiary skill getting this close to Raging Blow is quite an exceptional sight. And the fact that Nexon has been steadily improving Puncture in the past three years while this stayed unnoticed in the community is baffling to me. Because apparently the general opinion about Hero has always heavily relied on a single person showing on a community forum how to "Git Gud". Not just once - I've seen this happen several times since I've been playing on my Hero daily for the past 10 years.

I'm aware that it probably sounds bonkers that some internet dude claims "Puncture to get close to Raging Blow's level". Because let's be honest: it does sound bonkers. However, this isn't just a blog or blogpost with me rambling on with text without any proof. And I know that most of you recurring readers know that if a blogpost here is just called "[EMS] Puncture", there will a lot to nerd (and read) about. Let's dive in.

[EMS] Ninth Legendary Potential GET!

 

Hi guys! Actually something that happened several days ago, but I couldn't find a proper window to write on my blog as I've been occupied with a lot of different things. I haven't even been able to get my Cadena past Level 30, because most of my spare time went to my dailies (which includes getting a lot of Nova Coins) on Rayque. Haven't even been able to play lots of any other games either, tsk.

As mentioned in my previous Legendary-related blogpost, I took a small sidetrack to start cubing my Pendants to Legendary first as a preparation for the next Murgoth event somewhere in 2018. Fortunately, my Mark of Naricain immediately came with a 20% Item Droprate! Which means I can now focus on getting the same line on my Ani Pendant...

Anyway, my Mark of Naricain might seem like a fairly underwhelming equip, but don't let its appearance fool you: it has 1% All Stats Additional Options (which is still a display bug that Nexon probably won't fix until they reintroduce this upgrading feature). While 1% All Stats might not seem like much... wait until you get to a point where you perfect your Potential and gain a bunch of primary stat. Eh well, perhaps the scrolling is the only thing that might seem poor - but if anything, I could always use the Ark Innocence Scrolls to get rid of the scrolling while keeping the Additional Options, right? RNG scrolls are still RNG, even if you use a hundred Return Scrolls to force a good result (yes, those three slots so far were one hell of an unlucky bunch of Incredible Chaos Scrolls of Goodness).

I will most likely focus on getting my Secondary Weapon to Legendary Potential after I've obtained another 20% Item Droprate. My Secondary Weapon has been Unique for far too long, and the possible stats I could get from that one is probably the most rewarding for the amount of Meister Cubes I need to pour into said equip.

I'll probably have to start working on my Puncture blogpost soon, which most likely will be the next blogpost. I mean, 2017 has less than two weeks left, and before you know it, it'll be the 31st of December.

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

[EMS] Nova - 5th Job's third wave!

Alright, after pouring over 70 hours and love in Xenoblade 2 in a short week and finishing the main story a couple of days ago, I've caught a cold due to the obvious lack of sleep. Doh. However, the good news is, I can take a small break now that I know how that particular game ends - so it's time for the third wave of 5th Job!

This is going to be a somewhat tough one. The third wave of Nova is a fairly small wave that has been, unfortunately, criticized by many. Unlike the first and second wave, there was only one branch skill (one for each Warrior, Mage, Bowman, Thief and Pirate) and one skill for every class. And well, the branch skills are the ones that got the most backfire. However, as you probably should be aware of by now, is that from my point of view, there is definitely some use in both of the skills we've received - Body of Steel and Erda Shower.

I will also talk about a handful of other things at the bottom of this blogpost that I feel are worth mentioning (something about Erda Nova and the Hero changes during the Nova update), in a similar fashion to my second wave blogpost.

Anyway, let's get to it.

[Other] Well... shit

My weekend is officially over. I probably have to move to Mars. Until someone points me out that a day on Mars is almost as long as a day on Earth. Well, shit. Anyway, whoooooooooooooooooooooooo

And yes, I know the Nova update is in EMS. I mean, I play EMS daily. Of course, the third wave of 5th Job blogpost will arrive in a few weeks, followed by the Puncture blogpost later on! Just be patient for it.

Wait, I haven't told you I own a Switch? Well obviously, I don't always blog about everything that happens in my life.
I mean, how else can I surprise a few friends if they are subscribed to my blog? Kinda beats the point of "a surprise".

That's it for this weekend - I'll see you guys again next week! Unless something significant happens in EMS, that is.

[EMS] Monster Life - Level 40!

Sup guys! A few hours ago I've hit Level 40 on Monster Life, which is the maximum level in this mini-game!

Gotta love how Aya (the main NPC) responds with a "WOOOOOOOOoooooooo!" at your level up and then rejoices as she (well, technically it's Guwaru controlling Aya, so it's a he) finally can stop bothering you. The always-present sarcastic humor in Monster Life is just freaking excellent.

Anyway, Monster Life (or "ML" for short) is an interesting system by itself that is rare to see in MapleStory: it has little to do with your MapleStory stuff in-game at first. It's not like Star Planet where you control your own character to play mini-games, or some "player versus environment" content such as Commerci Voyages or Evolving System that is just a fancy (and often rewarding) way of pitting your main against hordes of enemies in an isolated gauntlet that is otherwise just normal MapleStory combat as it has always been. Monster Life starts your own farm where you can build stuff on it and keep monsters from the game as livestock. What? It sounds familiar? How the hell am I supposed to know? Pffft. I don't have social media so I don't know what on earth is happening on that side of the planet. *shrugs*

In my previous blogpost about Monster Life back in July I promised to go a bit more in-depth about whenever if Monster Life is actually worth your time. And I can be pretty straightforward with it before I would go more in-depth. The short answer is probably not. Why so? Because the average human doesn't want to spend time in something that gives little in return. Monster Life is just like bragging about your terrible Yut skills in Star Planet, kill stealing Elite Bosses in Arcane River, or sitting on an expensive chair all day in CH1 Henesys: you either like to do it or you don't.

So what are the actual gains in Monster Life and how does it work? To explain this, I'll probably have to make clear that there are several things in Monster Life that does (or, can) affect your MapleStory stuff.

There are two main things that makes Monster Life appealing:

• You can trade "Warus" (the coin currency that buildings generate for you) from Monster Life into "Monster Life coins" for you to spend outside Monster Life on your characters. We'll get back to this later.
• The monsters you have as livestock in Monster Life gives certain stat boosts to all of your characters outside Monster Life, that are linked to the account of this particular farm.

Before we go into the stat boosts to your account (cuz that is probably the main focus you want to know about), let's talk about the primary elephant in the room first: Monster Life is a huge time sink. Not per se a time sink where you have to spend lots of hours and be done with it. It's a time sink that will most likely require some daily effort in actually even getting to a modest level. And it took me close to a full year to get to Level 40, as my earliest mentions of Monster Life on this blog date back to the 13th of November, 2016. Most of you guys already have a lot of daily stuff in Maple - having another one of those on top of your daily bosses, Union system, Auction Housing, Meso Market-ing, weekly Mu Lung Dojo and (soon) six Arcane Symbol dailies might be a bit too much on your plate. You're going to need a bigger table and a lot more plates, that's for sure.

[EMS] Level 225!

 

Way ahead of schedule! Lots and lots of generous 2x EXP Coupons were given out from events this week. I would've hit Level 225 before the Nova update arrives regardless, though.

I'll start my Arcana quests tomorrow, as it is quite a lengthy storyline (like any of the previous chapters in the Arcane River). At least that symbol is going to level much faster than my Lacheln's...

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post! Which will probably be next week, as my Monster Life is almost at Level 40. Can't wait!

[EMS] Eighth Legendary Potential GET!

Hi guys! In preparation for next year's Murgoth event, I've decided to take a small sidetrack to change what items I think would be best to get to Legendary first. Usually this wouldn't really "matter" that much as I would prefer to get everything to Legendary before I would start pouring lots of Meister cubes on everything, but having certain items on Legendary as soon as possible does mean I can add certain Legendary-tier lines to my active layout that I'm using right now.

As mentioned in my Mu Gong Soul Collector blogpost a few days ago, getting ten Mu Gong shards each day is unlikely to happen, even with an unrealistic amount of drop rate increase. However, any chance that I can increase, is better than leaving it as it is. I'm usually not one to choose to run % Item Droprate in my build, but with the Murgoth event, my own sense of honor would stand in my way of achieving what could otherwise potentially push me back another year if I don't make as good use of a short fourteen days of a single annual event. I know that the results are still heavily reliant on RNG, but I'd rather not miss this chance.

Fun fact: my Ani Pendant is a rare case of where my equipment has no scrolls on it yet. Readers with a perceptive observation would immediately notice that it has one failed slot on it, but nothing Clean Slates can't fix. My Ani Pendant (together with my Rex's Perfect Red Earrings) functions as a backup for Incredible Chaos Scrolls of Goodness (ICOG) from events, in case I wouldn't have any available slots left on equips I would be scrolling at that very time (i.e. Amaterasu's Hat having no available slots left while I have no mesos to purchase loads of Clean Slates) and to prevent the ICOG go to waste given it's usual expiration date of only 7 days.

Anyway, the % Item Droprate is just a small sidetrack in my build. By the time I have Level 2 Mu Gong in my Soul Collector, there's little use for me to keep those lines any longer. I will have to recube these items to perfection one day, y'know?

That's it for this small blogpost - I'll see you guys again next post!

[Other] Xenoblade X - 100% Survey Rate!

In anticipation of the third instalment of the Xenoblade franchise coming out in less than a month (Xenoblade 2), I've decided (like many other fans of this franchise) it's the perfect excuse to at least complete the Survey Rate on Xenoblade X before I get my hands on 2! My Survey Rate has been over 90% for the past year. I just had way too much fun building my character, and that has consumed at least two hundred hours, with still a few hundred hours left in sight.

A hundred percent Survey Rate in this game isn't "entirely" the same as completing the game 100%, as the Survey Rate only covers just the basics of the Mira world map. You also have achievements for the game, which requires much more (difficult) things to do, which one could argue that that's more like a true 100%.

Anyway, even if I'm done with the 100% Survey Rate, there's still a lot of things left in Xenoblade X for me to work on (building the perfect party with their own Skells each) - it's just an enormous time sink and I just have way too much stuff to do in my life. I'll definitely come back to this another day in the future, as I also have certain other things unfinished in the first Xenoblade game as well.

What do I think about Xenoblade X as a game? I think Xenoblade X is definitely an improvement on a lot of things that the first Xenoblade did "wrong" - this game just perfected the gameplay, added a ton of world and story building and in my opinion the world map of Mira (or well, as I prefer to believe, just one third of the entire planet so far if we look at the concept art) definitely was designed much more cohesive than the first game. If you loved the first game, get this one too. If you haven't played any of the Xenoblade games: get the first one, then get this one too. You can literally get both games on the Wii U (the first one as a digital download through the Nintendo eShop), as you probably do not want to pay crazy aftermarket prices for a physical copy of the first game.

Monolith Soft has definitely stepped up their game with X and has listened to feedback from the first game. And thankfully they are also brave enough to try out new things, rather than making all the games more or less the same. One of the first major improvements that caught my eye is the amount of late game content versus the previous game and the fact that nothing game breaking is truly missable in this game except for certain character fates in quests (or the two Miiverse achievements that will be permanently locked once Miiverse shuts down in a few days).

Of course Xenoblade X wasn't without its flaws (i.e. the reward ticket system and Nemesis bosses is definitely nice but it suffers from a declining player base as those content relies on an active community), but I'm sure that the next Xenoblade X game will have most of these solved again. It's just a shame that they won't bring out a patch just to make reward tickets become easier to get your hands on. Because this game will definitely suffer a lot when Nintendo will ever take down the online servers for this game in a far future, which is a shame...

Either way, Xenoblade X has definitely been an enjoyable ride and I'm looking forward to play Xenoblade 2 when I get my hands on my (obviously) pre-ordered copy. I've been following the news about this game on a daily basis for the past year and it definitely looks like Xenoblade 2 is in good hands. That's not going to be a lot of hours left on each day for anything else when it's here, I tell you...

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

[EMS] Soul Collector - Mu Gong 5/7!

Hi guys! Today's something I have been working on the past three years, but only have talked about in my previous blogpost for the first time. It's the Soul Collection for the Mu Gong soul!

Ever since I got my Mu Gong soul in 2014 for my Ribgol, I left my daily Mu Lung Dojo runs because it took me two months before I could get my first Mu Gong Soul, which was the +7 LUK one. Doing more daily Mu Lung Dojo's to RNG a STR one would just be crazy. A few months later, someone gave me a Mu Gong soul with +5 All Stats to replace the LUK one, and ultimately, I found a +7 STR one myself, which is the one I'm currently using.

Mu Lung Dojo has been revamped a lot of times since its initial release. Unfortunately, only for about a year, you could obtain Mu Gong shards from Mu Gong himself. When they introduced the forced difficulties that were assigned to your level, Mu Gong stopped dropping his shards - literally making Mu Gong the hardest soul to obtain in the game because the only places you could get them was an event that only runs for two weeks each year (the Murgoth event), a NX related item that has been retired since last year (Effie Boxes) and the soon-to-be-released Soul Extractor.

Don't get your hopes up for the Soul Extractor though, as it requires a Meister Alchemist, a permanent non-Magnificent soul to extract (Effie Box/Golden Apples-only, which requires NX) and extracting it will give a random shard type (10 pieces of this type). And by "random shard type", it could be any of the souls that you can log in the Soul Collector.

Anyway, back to the Soul Collector system. At first when it was released with the FLY update in 2013, only a handful of soul types could be logged. Knowing how MapleStory does its updates, I've started to collect as many different Mu Gong souls as I could get my hands on in anticipation if Nexon would ever introduce the Soul Collection for Mu Gong. Which they did, in 2016. By then, I managed to collect a STR, DEX, LUK and MP Mu Gong soul that other players obtained through Effie Boxes. Usually, normal souls expire within a month. And they are also untradeable. So I was lucky to get such a proper head start with permanent tradeable Mu Gong souls, that could also apply to the Soul Collector system...

Mu Gong only comes in seven different prefixes, with INT, HP and All Stats being the only three ones missing in my collection at that time. Ironically, despite Mu Gong only having seven different prefixes (while most of the popular ones have nine), it is by far the most difficult Soul Collection to complete. It is the only soul type (with a Soul Collection) that cannot be obtained through any normal means (Spirit of Rock is currently in a similar situation but was already fixed in KMS recently). Most players will never even get one Mu Gong soul in their life. Yes, I'm aware of the Nene, Tutu, Elunite Elemental and Murgoth souls, but they don't have a Soul Collection.

However, around 2016 when the collection for this soul was introduced, getting Mu Gong shards was only possible through the Murgoth event, as Effie Boxes retired after the migration, and the Soul Extractor was yet to be known. One might say "do the Murgoth event for those Mu Gong souls, right?" - while that's definitely true and currently the only way, it's easier said than done.

 

Obtaining 10 Mu Gong shards in 14 days with the 1-VS-1 mode of the Murgoth event is possible. On average, one shard a day. Sometimes zero. Did I tell you that you can only find Mu Gong shards in the losing vault? That means you have to lose the event in order to get Mu Gong shards. Yeah, not kidding. Mu Gong shards is also among the most difficult shards to find in the Murgoth event, tied with others such as Ephenia (another buff-oriented soul).

 

But even if you manage to obtain 10 Mu Gong shards, you still have a 1/7 chance to find something you don't have yet. And even if you had god-tier luck to get all seven Mu Gong souls in just seven attempts, you'll need seven years to finish the Soul Collection.

 

The only way to get sufficient Mu Gong shards is the Party mode... And even with a 2x Drop event, 2x Drop coupon and Holy Symbol from a Bishop, you're not guaranteed to find one Mu Gong shard each run. It's close to - but it's not that you'll always have a 2x Drop event around on every day. So even if you would get about six to eight souls in 14 days, that still isn't such of a large sample size to have a proper chance at getting all seven within three years. I hope you can understand the fairly difficult situation here.

 

Fortunately, I was lucky this year with getting my INT Mu Gong soul! Five down, two to go - but let's face it, the only way I got this far with my Mu Gong collection is because I came prepared. With only having the HP and All Stats one left, I think we can safely assume I'll have a good shot at finishing the collection eventually - but with only like six to eight attempts in a single Murgoth event, getting both is a tough situation. But, who knows right? Like with the INT soul, you never know until you try! Plus, it's the only way to get to a complete collection. RNG is part of the thing, y'know. Just start somewhere and keep going until you succeed.

 

 

Either way, the only thing right now regarding this Mu Gong soul collection, is to wait for another year until the Murgoth event comes back in 2018. Even if I would magically get my hands on either the HP or All Stats Mu Gong soul tomorrow (as this year's Murgoth event ends tomorrow), I would still be one short for completing the collection. I will definitely give the Soul Extractor a try when it hits EMS, but don't expect too much from it.

 

What about the Mu Gong soul by itself? Mu Gong soul is among the best souls in the game. It throws away the passive stats that higher tier souls give for an amazing buff: 30% attack/magic attack for 10 seconds. It has a cooldown of 150 seconds, which is affected by cooldown reducers (including Inner Ability's skip chance) and with a 250 Soul consumption, you can hold four at a time without recharging the soul meter. With attack scrolling and % Attack being the must for many players (regardless if you play Pre-BB or nowadays), you can imagine how much just 30% will give straight off the bat. Spoilers: a lot.

 

In the right hands and current 5th Job being oriented into bursting damage, it is definitely one worth to consider at all times. Why gain such a minor Magnificent soul boost and never bother using its soul skill? Doesn't most of the summons kill steal your own targets because of damage priority? Ironically, Mu Gong souls from Effie Boxes (IF you could even find one, that is) are infamous for going for insane prices. The majority of Maple's community doesn't care about anything that doesn't give a Magnificent prefix, and are also not open for learning otherwise. Mu Gong soul has been quite forgotten by many players, partially due to the difficulty of obtaining it, but the people who remember it and knows what the skill gives are always willing to pay a smack of mesos for it (about as much as a Magnificent Lucid soul goes for, according to a recent Effie Box Mu Gong soul that appeared in Auction House yesterday).

 

Anyway, getting at least one Mu Gong soul can be done if you really, really put some effort into it. But is it all worth to go through all of this to get Mu Gong Level 1 to Level 2? Level 2 is a much different story by itself on many different ways. Just look at the following improvements between Level 1 and Level 2:

 

 

It only increases the duration for 10 seconds to 20 seconds. The skill of Mu Gong is considered an "aura", which is a rare type of skill that is not affected by buff duration and other buff-related mechanics. There aren't many aura skills in the game - only a handful, and certain bosses like Crimson Queen also uses aura's which means Phantom cannot cancel those with Vol D'Ame. Nowadays Mu Gong's duration is shown in the top right corner together with all summon skills for convenience sake - but aura's used to never appear there and was only shown near your character. Or well, in case of Mu Gong, behind you.

 

That aside, 10 seconds extra duration is a lot. It also stacks with other skills such as Terms & Conditions, that makes bursting with these two skills hit like a truck. Especially on a class like Hero with lots of final damage and crazy multipliers.

 

So, is Level 2 worth it as an upgrade? I think it's safe to assume it is. However, the path to Level 2 Mu Gong is just way too much. Perhaps not worth the effort. That is something I think we all can agree on. Obviously, since I've been playing on my Hero for ten years daily and because I won't quit any time soon, my chances for Level 2 are good, despite the fact that the last two Mu Gong's will require a lot of effort.

 

Nexon should just add Mu Gong shards to the Dojo shop. Plenty of Dojo revamps happened in the past few years, but the fact that Mu Gong shards are "End of Life" now is a glaring issue. Having a new, reliable source for these would make things a lot easier. Not just for myself, but for other people who are interested in running Mu Gong on their characters as well. I mean, I've seen plenty of people who want to run Mu Gong and who could afford expensive loot - but having a lot of mesos to spend means little for things only you can get your hands on yourself (as Mu Gong shards and the non-Effie Box souls are untradeable and you have to find and loot them yourself).

 

Anyway, this year's Murgoth event has been pretty excellent and valuable to me. I now know what to do in preparation for next year - at least I have months worth of time to prepare myself. Will I get Level 2 somewhere next year? We'll never know for sure until the next Murgoth event is here!

 

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

[EMS] We're getting close!

Just hit Level 39 on Monster Life! I'll need 100k experience to hit Level 40, which should be doable before the end of this year. There isn't any story missions or any additional monster slot coupons with this particular level up, so it really feels like "you're on your own with that last one". Which isn't a bad thing. However, story missions would easily give 25% of your experience bar for some silly requirements...

It's a shame that there hasn't been much going with Maple lately (including EMS and other local versions such as KMS), but at least that buys me plenty of time for these small things that still matter to me. At least we're getting another Murgoth event in a few days (and the Jungle Inferno update in Team Fortress 2 to keep myself busy), so I'll have another shot at more Mu Gong souls for my Soul Collection! I still need the INT, HP and All Stats to finish the collection, but I don't expect such a short event would be such a gamechanger. Any soul I can tick off my list would be very appreciated.

Easier said than done though, as Mu Gong is the only soul that cannot be obtained except for Murgoth events and the soon-to-be-released Soul Extractor. Effie Boxes that used to give permanent and tradeable Mu Gong souls are gone, Soul Extractor is one hell of an RNG and despite the many Mu Lung Dojo revamps it feels they've forgotten this soul as you cannot find shards from Mu Gong himself anymore - if you can even get to his floor nowadays, that is. If I remember correctly, they removed that drop when your level was forced to be assigned with a difficulty (so you couldn't choose for Normal or Hard Dojo after Level 181). Even Spirit of Rock was fixed recently in KMS so, I hope Nexon would add those soul shards to the Dojo store where you can exchange those Dojo points for them.

That's it for this small blogpost - I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] 10 years of Rayque!

Hi guys! Today's the 30th of September, year 2017. This means that I have been playing 10 consecutive years on my Hero! Of course; without quits, without playing any other main.

As it's my 10th anniversary, let's take a look back at several facts about my MapleStory progress that might be of interest! Although, if you've been following my blog or in-game, most of these shouldn't be new to you.

• On the 30th of September in 2007, EMS was only at version 0.30!
• I've played on my Hero for more than 14.000 hours in the past 10 years! By "past 10 years" I literally refer to the fact that I've been playing on this Hero on a daily basis for that long. Sometimes we can't always be online at every day - but for every day that I can and want to, I would play it. A significant amount of these hours have accumulated between 2007 and 2012. I had a drop in hours a day between 2013 and 2014. In 2015, my playtime has been back to its usual shape - if you look at my Steam profile (since I play EMS pretty much exclusively through Steam since November 2016), it's clear to see how much I enjoy to play this game!
• I use more than sixty other characters to support this main, even though my inventory on my main has been maxed out for quite a while and I also run over 100 additional slots on Rayque by the use of various bags! I have a (bad) habit of picking up pretty much anything I think that might be of use later on... which in most cases, actually helps me a lot and the people around me in the end. Did you know that because my bank is at 125/128 slots, I cannot upgrade it anymore because the game can only expand with either 4 or 8 slots? Yeah, the inventory event that automatically expanded my bank slots to an odd number (or at least any integer not dividable by four) screwed me over. This probably will get fixed along the way - it only hurts my OCD/inner completionist for now.
• I've been part of the FallenAngel guild since November 2008, even though we also went under the name "PatchedWings" between 2010 and until the migration of EMS in 2016, as explained here. I've already met a substantial amount of my guild members in real life, as they've been around me for almost nine years already. My contribution for the guild is already way over 1.500.000 Guild Points! (as with the migration, every guild had to start again from zero)
• I've completed over 5000 quests exclusively on my Hero - although about 1500 of them have been removed throughout the years by Nexon (i.e. original Maple Island, a lot of retired event content, the original Victoria Island quests, Neo Tokyo, Veracent) in order to make space for new content. There is still a significant amount of quests that I can complete (approx 30). Most of these are narrowed down to "kill this boss", fairly minor post-completion daily quests, most of the Fishing Lagoon and some quests that have been reset that I've completed several years ago. But I've done pretty much all the main quests (at least once), except for the ones that require me to kill a boss I usually do not face (i.e. Normal Cygnus, not kidding). I've also maxed out my Dreadnought in Commerci, Evolving World and Soul Driver skill.
• I've defeated several thousands of Horntail and Zakum, a few hundred Pink Bean, seven hundred Shaolin Monk, and more than 1300 Commerci Lith Harbor Voyages. I'm not sure on how much I've defeated other bosses such as Hilla and Mori Ranmaru, but I know that in example I've been doing daily Hilla as long as I have been doing daily Horntail and Zakum, while Mori Ranmaru and Pink Bean were added much later to my dailies list.
• I've completed over 800 Hob King PQ's, over 250 Dragon Rider PQ's, over 150 Kenta PQ's, over 100 Escape PQ's - these numbers are only just for my main as I've also done plenty of Kenta PQ's and such on my mules for EXP. I've leaded plenty Crimsonwood Keep PQ's, Cave of Life PQ's and Neo Tokyo raids. For all the other mainstream Party Quests, I've also had a fair share of leading - it doesn't take me long to pick up something I haven't done in years again as I have a solid memory. Also: because Dimension Invasion has been OP for years (and well, on a hiatus right now until they remove the level scaling limit in PQs), I've also done over 500 of these.
• In 2007, I almost got to Level 30 in just three months. In 2008, I almost got to Level 50. In 2009, I've reached past Level 100. In 2010, I've reached my 4th Job and before the Big Bang update in 2011, I've reached Level 154. It took until the end of 2013 for me to reach Level 200, as after Big Bang I decided to slow down my progress speed on purpose. In 2016, I've reached 5th Job when the update arrived. My 5th Job Advancement was the only job advancement where I was already past the required level when it was released.
• I collect a lot of swords (both one handed and two handed) in MapleStory. I don't want all of them, but I have more than most people can imagine. Fun fact: I do own a Liberated Kaiserium, which has twice the attack of my Ribgol Sword. I was once asked for an interview if I would replace my Ribgol if I got a sword that is twice as powerful. But as we all know, I've been using my Ribgol since the 4th of January, 2012 - nothing will replace it.

There's plenty of other interesting facts about my progress on MapleStory that doesn't have to be mentioned here in my opinion. I mean, you can look at my other EMS blogposts in my blog's archive for that.

Do I ever get bored of MapleStory? That's pretty hard for me to achieve. When do I expect to reach Level 250? When I reach Level 250, it's that simple. Will I ever quit this game? Probably the day when the game shuts down for good. MapleStory is an essential part of my life, I can't imagine a day without and I can't imagine how much it would hurt to see the game go. Logging in and playing the game is a daily habit of mine - a daily habit like how we (or at least, I assume most of us) all eat and sleep.

Anyway, that's it for this blogpost. I'll munch down my bucket of chocolate ice cream to celebrate my secondary birthday - cheers, to eleven years and beyond!

[EMS] Level 224! / Seventh Legendary Potential GET! / Chaos Pink Bean Mark - Finished scrolling

Sup guys! Yesterday has been a pretty fantastic day for EMS milestones! First of all, I've hit Level 224 - just one more level for my Arcana Symbol! Fortunately, I should hit Level 225 way before they introduce the daily quests for Arcana. Unless the Nova update comes earlier than I anticipate. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing because that would mean I would get my skill adjustments included with said update quicker!

My Chaos Pink Bean Mark has been finished with scrolling and enhancing! Good lord, the stats on it are very satisfying - it is arguably one of the better items I own. Just look at the upgraded stats! 52 STR, 52 DEX, a whopping 22 Attack and some 5% All Stats Additional Options. The Additional Options for this Eye Accessory included some Jump (which was further enhanced by the Miracle Positive Chaos Scrolls), but also 5 Attack. This does mean that we're past the "safe zone" of "2 attack per slot". And yes, the Chaos Pink Bean Mark came from the original Pink Bean event, and the Additional Options came from an Eternal Rebirth Flame. The Chaos Pink Bean Mark being part of the "boss tier" items allowed it to get that much stats. Unfortunately there aren't many items in that tier to get pretty solid Additional Options, as pretty much anything that KMS doesn't have and everything that doesn't drop from a major KMS boss won't get high Additional Options. This literally makes Nebulites far superior in terms of what you can get from A-Rank Nebulites for a lot of popular items here in EMS nowadays that came out -after- they retired the Additional Options. And well, S-Rank Nebulites would end this argument as well. Don't forget that Additional Options are only good for raw stats, while Nebulite has a lot of useful Potential lines that cannot be sealed up. Plus, there are far more item types that can have Nebulites than item types that can have Additional Options.

Last but not least, my Amaterasu's Hat has been raised to Legendary! Certainly an unexpected result, as I've used quite a lot of Meister Cubes and Reward Point Cubes on it. As usual with all of my other equips, it was just a regular Meister Cube that raised the rank. I was quite lucky yesterday with my Meister Cube drops, as I've obtained three of them! One from Mori Ranmaru, one from an Elite Boss and another from a Lith Harbor Commerci Voyage. Hmm, usually when I find a Meister Cube, it's from Commerci, so I consider myself quite fortunate with the drops. The last one did the rank up. Getting everything to Legendary is no problem, as I just keep throwing Cubes at my items until it works - but I guess that's how everyone does it, and the "only problem" would be a supply of Meister Cubes to have enough attempts in the first place. Daily bosses certainly helps! Now to think about what would be my next item, as that really depends on a certain item I've been trying to gather for quite a long while. What item you may ask?
I'm pretty sure I'll cover it on my blog when I have one, so you have to be patient with me!

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

Totally made a typo by writing "Seventy Legendary Potential GET!" at first, you didn't see anything! Unfortunately the hyperlink that took the typo cannot be adjusted once published, it's something that also occured with certain other blogposts too.

[YT] About one month left!

Hi guys - Just about one month left here in Norway! You've probably noticed already that there hasn't been a blogpost for this month - well, as I mentioned before on my blog - there isn't just much I can do here and thus my blog pretty much narrows down to "EMS" posts-only at the moment. And if there isn't some improvement on my character that I feel to warrant a blogpost by itself, there is nothing for the EMS department to write about either. Of course, if there isn't a blogpost, that doesn't mean my character isn't progressing (for example, my Lacheln symbol is now at Level 5).

Anyway, I do really want to work on my LEGO® projects but unfortunately I only have a handful of Galidor sets here to mess around with if I'm really bored. Which actually brought me to an idea for a sweet Galidor MOC when I get back home. Of course I've been playing EMS pretty much all the time and every now and then I've been playing some Team Fortress 2 and Pokémon. But as I often joke with some of my friends, I only play video games when I don't play around with my LEGO® stuff. Fun fact: if you have paid attention to my LEGO® collection in the past few months, you might have noticed every now and then a new set popped in my list...

Fortunately I have had plenty of time to actually think about how I would improve my Constructor. Y'know, ever since I've gone full focus on my Hailfire Droid, you might have noticed my Constructor is "left behind" - which is the disadvantage of running two fairly sized projects at the same time while you're just a student with a limited amount of time and resources for your hobby. Anyway, I've decided that I have to redesign my Constructor from scratch again (and thus, a second redesign of the entire body) as there are a few things I really want to (urgently) improve on. We'll definitely get back to that later this year!

Just to make things clear about my 10th anniversary on EMS on the 30th of September -  unfortunately due to some pretty uncanny timing it's also the day where I'm actually heading back home. Which means I'll only really be playing around in the very early morning and the blogpost should be up just after breakfast because it'll be a two-day trip.

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

[EMS] Just another small milestone - A map full of Secret Gardens!

Not all milestones that I want to achieve in MapleStory have to be huge, y'know? This has been one of the "small scale" milestones that I've been working on since November 2016. As some people might know, I'm a big fan of Asian architecture - and by coincidence, the Secret Garden that is unlocked at Level 35 is a powerful standard 4x4 building that has solid Warus Production with a great Warus Capacity and Aesthetic boost.

Secret Gardens are far from the best buildings in Monster Life though. It is definitely dwarfed by most of the Gem-buildings which have much better stats to offer. To even get to Level 36 prior to this current layout, I've been collecting lots of those through the Special Merchant (and I still am, by the way). I mean, it costs like 14 million Warus (excluding Mushroom/Aesthetic discount) to even purchase 25 Secret Gardens in the first place...

Monster Life is still one of those daily things I do in addition to daily bosses/Commerci Voyages/Dream Breaker and such. I'll get back on "whenever Monster Life is worth it" when I hit Level 40 later this year. After almost a full year I've been able to obtain plenty of Gem Coupons - don't forget that I've already purchased all normal Farm Expansion Coupons and the largest baseplate to build on. Daily Monster Life gives more than enough Gem Coupons to suffice all of this. Anyway, when I've purchased all the Farm Expansion Coupons, I'll probably expand my Monster Life bank. Not that I use the bank to be honest as I already have more than enough space, but hey, it still can be useful (you don't need to have the bank on your baseplate to store your monsters, by the way). Plus, that would be the last thing I'll need to upgrade in Monster Life that can only be upgraded done through Gems.

Is going full Secret Garden with max Aesthetic points really "worth it"? Objectively speaking, it's probably better to run Gem-buildings, but hey - don't forget that this is my farm so I do whatever the hell I want. You either go Rayque or you don't, amiright? And with something like Secret Gardens with a cherry blossom background, you can't really get "more Rayque in Monster Life" than that.

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

[EMS] Sixth Legendary Potential GET!

Sup guys! Yesterday I managed to rank up my Amaterasu's Overall from Unique to Legendary!
It's been a while since my last rank up, but at least I got another one through.

Unfortunately, I was quite unlucky with the Potential lines and I'll have to reset it soon. Why so? The "5% chance to ignore % damage when attacked" has an infamous bug with any reflect skill (as I have the skill "Rage") that causes to disconnect you when it hits the proc rate. This is why I've cubed my Sengoku Hakase Badge first, as I've hoped the disconnecting issue would've been solved by now.

Eh, nothing too bad I guess, as I just need to recube the reflect lines away and I should be good. For now, I'll need to play without Rage in order to avoid any risk in disconnecting during my dailies. Fortunately, it's just Rage. I mean, it's not that my character becomes unplayable or anything. Even if it were Combo Attack or Sword of Burning Soul, I could still do my dailies. Still, it's a shame that I have to cube away the Invincible line, as the 3 second duration has been something I've been wanting for a few years - but at least my Overall is Legendary so it's a matter of recubing till I find it again!

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

[EMS] Level 223!

Good, I'm still on schedule, as I should hit Level 225 before the end of this year.

[EMS] Beyond - 5th Job's second wave!

Sup guys! The Beyond update has arrived several weeks ago, together with the second wave of 5th job skills! Hopefully some of you have been eager for this blogpost, as there is quite a number of things to cover!

The Beyond wave gave Hero one signature skill and one shared skill, in addition to several updates to both existing and first wave skills. Yes, I know Beyond also gave Decent Holy Symbol, but I don't see much use of covering that in this blogpost. However, I will cover a few things from the skill changes, as some of them are quite significant.

[EMS] Bunny Disguise III - Finished scrolling!

Hi guys! For a change, it's not a Zipangu-related equip - I have finished scrolling my Bunny Disguise III (BD3)!

BD3 is a fun and interesting Face Accessory that in EMS still holds a formidable value even though it's older than the Potential System (which came out in 2010). Why so? Not only was this one of the first third Potential tiered Face Accessories, it is still rare to see five slots on a Face (excluding hammers) and it's even more rare to see a Face item to give % HP and MP! Of course, there is also a Bunny Disguise 1 and 2, but as expected by their indicated number, they are both weaker than the third edition.

Did you know that this Bunny Disguise 3 is one of the oldest equipment, if not, the oldest equip I still use on Rayque? The second oldest should be my original Adventurer's Critical Ring from the Balance Patch in 2010. This BD3 was obtained from the 2009 birthday event where you could find purple boxes from any mob and had a small chance of finding one of the three Bunny Disguises. Eight hours of good old Lupin farming and spamming Shout did the job.
A good BD3 in EMS can go for a small fortune quite easy as it has nearly always been since late 2009.

Anyway, like any other "generic Rayque equipment", it is upgraded with Miracle Positive Chaos Scrolls (aka Incredible Chaos Scroll of Goodness in EMS) and resulted in a whopping 15 attack! But wait, this item does not come with any attack clean what so ever... How does that work? Well, my fellow reader, it's something I call "Attack Manipulation", which essentially means you either use Additional Options or sacrifice the first slot with an Accessory for Attack and fully scroll the remaining slots with ICOGs. Because I plan things a few years ahead, the attack was obviously RNG'd with Additional Options so I had the full ICOG experience...

Of course no Enhancements on this one any time soon. I won't bother to explain this over and over again, please read the second last part of this blogpost if you really want to know more about "why".

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

[EMS] Sengoku Hakase Badge - Finished scrolling

Hi guys! Today I've managed to finish the scrolling on my Sengoku Hakase Badge!

The scrolling with ICOGs has been pretty good on this one. It has the "average" 2 attack a slot. Having 18 Attack on a Badge is quite a lot if you'd compare it to other possible options, and the additional STR and DEX isn't too bad either!

Anyway, the reason why I've chosen to finish my Sengoku Hakase Badge early has to do with my Amaterasu's Helm. When I have a bulk of Incredible Chaos Scroll of Goodness, I'm partially limited by my mesos budget since I cannot afford an infinite amount of Clean Slate Scrolls. This is why most of my Accessories are still considered clean, so that I can route "leftover" ICOGs and still make them pretty important. So in the meanwhile, I'm just going to resume collecting Slates and Spell Traces to get those slots back on my helm from previous failed ICOG attempts.

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

[YT] 10.000 Subs!

Yeah! About damn time! We at the Rayque3 Channel, have finally reached a whopping 10.000 Subscriber count as of today! This has been something Lux and I have been looking forward to a lot in the past few months.

As most of you recurring readers know, Lux and I have started our Youtube channel since the 7th of July, all the way back in 2008. In a lifetime, we have produced and released 462 videos, excluding projects that never got to the upload page and our Xenoblade SPV. In total so far, we have racked up 10.500.000 views. And there's still plenty of videos we'd like to do!

We do the "Youtube thing" because it's a hobby. We've started in 2008 and we're still doing it because we like what we do. Delivering quality and something we can be proud of are part of that.

The good old Youtube channel layout. Don't mind the mess, we were still young. Plus, this was pretty much how a lot of people did their Youtube channels back then. Today it's surprisingly limited on how much you can layout all of it... Anyway, it's funny that I've actually finished my Wario Ware Smooth Moves Walkthrough after all (see Channel Description). Well, finished all but the "All Microgames part" that I referred about in the first part. To quote young Rayque from 2009: "I will show all the stages, all the minigames... Well minigames may be too hard". COUGH

It's been quite a journey hasn't it? I'm sure there will be some readers here who have seen most of those years; in some rare cases everything. There's also a lot of readers who joined in our small community rather recently. All cases are totally fine! It's probably best when you joined recently. As long as you guys can enjoy what we release on this platform.

Well, Youtube has changed a lot as a platform throughout the years. Some for the better, some being perhaps worse. There's plenty of examples we all can name. You can change the platform over and over again every year, but you cannot take away the channel from the "Rayque3". More content is always on the way; as our joy in doing this hobby hasn't faded away. Obviously, because in 2018 we've been doing this for ten years already!

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

[EMS] Second Level 15 Arcane Symbol GET!

Hi guys! Today is the first official day to have a Level 15 Road of Vanishing Symbol!

Well, purely by daily quests, that is. It takes half a year to get to the Level 15 Arcane Symbol in the Road of Vanishing, and if you haven't missed out on any day since the first, today you should have it Level 15 as well.

To be fair, I have missed out on the first day, because I do not have the damage to finish the entire Road of Vanishing storyline within two hours before the first daily reset. After I've obtained my Lacheln Symbol, I've found a total of eight symbols during the last few weeks of doing the Road of Vanishing dailies for some reason - which basically compensates for missing out on the first day. Even if I wouldn't have found those, I would've had it tomorrow anyway.

Which means for now I still have my Lacheln Symbol relatively untouched. Found two Symbols by accident.
Obviously I won't bother to grind endlessly for it. I shall wait patiently until the Dream Breaker dailies are here, and in the meanwhile I can have at least half an hour worth of extra sleep until that time slot is reserved for the next symbol. Heh. Although that will most likely mean I would finish my Lacheln Symbol somewhere in early 2018, if Beyond was to be released this Summer.

Two down, four to go.

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

[EMS] Amaterasu's Shoes - Finished scrolling

Sup guys! Recently I've managed to finish scrolling my Amaterasu's Shoes! The past few events have been very resourceful with obtaining ICOGs, given I've just finished my Amaterasu's Belt just barely two weeks ago. Most efficient, these events have been.

The stats may not be the average "2 attack per slot" safe zone, but it does give a similar boost to my Lionheart Battle Boots. Obviously, the Battle Boots give way more STR than my Amaterasu's, but do not forget that the 80+ STR is partially due to Additional Options (and my Amaterasu's give 2% All Stats so that pretty much balances it out).

At first I was afraid that these shoes might not get something similar because the first four slots didn't go that well, but at least it seems it went the right way in the end.

So all in all, these pair of flip-flops might not have the 20+ Attack that should've been possible with the most average luck, but unlike with my Amaterasu's Armor, I can find peace with 18 Attack because it's pretty close to my Lionheart Battle Boots. I find it funny that these shoes alone should give any warrior the maximum Speed/Jump instantly, unless you play Hayato/Soul Master/Zero or something. However, I really wonder what the hell is going on with all that +DEX that also my Amaterasu's Armor has given...

Let's also just appreciate the fact that Black Crow, y'know - the original boss to drop Ribgol Sword "back in those days" - also wears flip-flops. THAT CANNOT BE A COINCIDENCE.

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

[YT] Overpower Level 8 unlocked!

This has probably taken far too long, but it's about damn time.

Hi guys! Earlier this week, Lux and I finally managed to reach Overpower Level 8 (aka OP8) on Borderlands 2.
If you've been around on this blog for a few years by now, you might have seen a few blogposts related to this "Overpower Level 8" thingamajiggy.

Truth is, we've been on/off with Borderlands 2 a lot in the past four years, so obviously, we wouldn't always have time or a lot of attempts for this because this is a two-man job. There isn't much I haven't said in those other two blogposts, so if you're interested in more "behind the scenes" knowledge, I'd say check those those out.

So, what changed from then to now, given we've been Overpower Level 7 for almost two years? A lot of reinventing the wheel - trying new things out. Actually, also screwing up badly. Not Lux his fault - but mostly mine. The first time we got almost to the final boss of Digistruct Peak somewhere in 2015, my wireless keyboard had big issues with pressing E to revive at the last trench. In another run, Lux got knockbacked off the map due to one of those Slagged Centurion Spiderants. Went game over a lot in the Assassin round. Became a bit too greedy with shooting Saturn and thus risked too much. So, we went back to the drawing board and tried to tackle certain issues in our gameplay.

One of the first things that had to be fixed was probably my build as a Zer0. Zer0 can hit insanely hard with Melee builds - it's one of the main reasons why I like his gameplay so much. But getting the Hide of Terramorphous isn't as easy as it might sound, as a Zer0 is unlikely to beat him on the PC version with a Sniper build, as some of the common console cheeses (i.e. the rock where you can hide from attacks) doesn't work the same here. So, breaking the ice: if the Hide of Terramorphous is that of a gamechanger, then I shall probably need it. That is why I've created a Gunzerker purely for the sake of killing that raid boss - and as you know with my average luck, it took over 80 runs to even get my first. And immediately after I tried out the shield, the vast improvement was notable.

While I haven't learnt many new things on my Zer0 back between 2013 and 2015 - Borderlands 2 is still surprisingly active as a game and community. Certain things like the Pimpernel and Interfacer only surfaced much later as a "well-known" solid option for late OP modes and I tried them out. Like how sometimes speedrunners find new shortcuts in games that are over a decade old, y'know? And having that Gunzerker as a grind mule really helped a lot with obtaining a few things I would most likely not be able to get with my current Zer0, like the Interfacer itself and a new Chain Lightning. Or, at least - obtaining them a LOT easier.

The same thing applied to Lux his build as well. Tried out some new things and see what sticks. It's even hilarious that we managed to get him through Digistruct Peak with a standard purple Tediore Quick Shield because Axton has so many awesome skills that improves shield recharge delays and recharge rates. He also figured out that the Fastball hits hard after it got buffed during the Loot Hunt event - and oh boy, he was damn right.

So, we're now OP8 - and don't ask me already when we're going back to the next part of our Borderlands 2 Let's Play. We barely have touched the game after we got to OP8, as we still want to get perfect equipment and everything first. Enjoying the game, y'know. And then we can finally try out the Pre-Sequel because we've been holding off to try that until we finished the second game. But at least I can tell you there is no excuse to not resume the Let's Play anymore. So yeah Lux, I know you're reading this.

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

[EMS] Fifth Legendary Potential GET! / Amaterasu's Belt - Finished scrolling

Sup guys! As I've been a bit well installed here in Norway since a couple of days, I finally managed some time to write about two recent (but still, pretty major) achievements that happened.

First things first: my Amaterasu's Belt is now finished with scrolling! The anniversary updates have been quite generous with Incredible Chaos Scroll of Goodness, and there is still a lot left to be purchased from the coin shop (so hopefully my Amaterasu's Shoes will also be done soon!). The stats on the Amaterasu's Belt has been pretty good, having that "safe zone" of 2 attack per scroll. It's no Amaterasu's Cape/Epaulet, but fortunately it isn't my Amaterasu's Armor either. Let's say, I was already happy enough that it hit the 10 mark in the first place. Getting a lot of attack with not many slots is kinda difficult to achieve with ICOGs.

I've also managed to get my Sengoku Hakase Badge to Legendary! This is my fifth Legendary equipment that I own. As with any of my just-hit Legendary equipment, I shall wait to recube as I would like to have everything to Legendary first.

Anyway, given the amount of time that needs to be poured into my graduation assignment here in Norway, I won't really get to find space to write about blogposts often during the week. However, like with today, I shall most likely find a spot in the weekend to keep you guys up to date.

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

[EMS] Level 222!

Honestly - the speed of leveling has surely decreased since I've obtained my Level 15 Chew Chew Symbol, but still it is one level a month! I shall definitely not complain. Much better than the "once every three months" that was before the migration, in my opinion.

I'm tired now, it's time for a nap. I'll see you guys again next post!

[Lego] MOC - Some mecha's just want to dress up as a reptile, y'know

Is it a reptile? Is it a T-Rex? Are those teeth railguns? Is this even a practical weapon for a mecha to have? No, no, no, aaaaand no.

This little fellow knows going into combat as a reptile is probably unpractical. But he does it anyway because he thinks it's cool. A small MOC that only took a few hours to build, because I had not much else to do.

Partially inspired by the use of the old gear racks as teeth for the T-Rex from the #8485 Control Center II TECHNIC set from 1995, and a little bit of influence from Bifrost from MegaMan ZX Advent - I've been doodling in the past few months a bit with trying to use those new gear racks in a similar fashion. This guy is one of them.

The neck of this figure has two points of articulation - this is to enable the head to fold all the way down so you can have the mouth clear of obstructions to "chomp" into things. It kinda brings the feel that this isn't a humanoid mecha anymore, but some two-legged reptile (probably from Kong: Skull Island) with one heck of a bite. I'm guess going "reptile" mode kinda makes him a bit shielded from attacks too.

Both jaws are constructed through the use of CCBS joints to get those angles - when these four individual gear racks meet, they are semi-connected with a click hinge that goes through one of the pin holes with an axle. The bottom jaw is raised up and down through the arms of the figure (as he is "holding onto the jaw"), while the upper half is part of a "backpack" that can rotate all the way back.

Because all of those four gear racks can be separated from each other, you can get some cool poses. In some poses they kinda look like this guy has railguns or wings, but they're not. They are kinda like swords with teeth. The upper jaw has a few smaller guns mounted to make them useful in regular combat when this guy doesn't feel like going for a bite - those "wings" don't have any hands or arms, after all. They are kinda like shoulder mounted weapons, if you will.

Especially when you turn around those jaw halves, trying to see the "reptile" in this mecha becomes a lot harder, and it kinda gets an insect feel to me, by virtue of the head. Speaking of which, if you take a closer look, the face is asymmetrical. The main reason for that is because I didn't really have enough pieces in the right colours and quantities - but I like to imagine that during combat, this guy might have had some scrap flung in his face after he took a bite. Going into combat like that would definitely have some occupational hazards, but at least this guy plays with style.

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

[EMS] So, another Mega Burning Event happened...

Gotta love how broken some of these Maple events tend to be.

[EMS] Fourth Legendary Potential GET!

Hi guys! In a more positive light for this week, one heck of a significant milestone has been achieved - my Ribgol is now Legendary! This has definitely been something I have been greatly looking forward to for a couple of years now.

Most of you recurring readers might know already that this little fellow has been my trusted sword for five years already. Yes, it's been already five whopping years since I've obtained my Ribgol! To be more precise: 5 years, 3 months and 11 days.

Originally the Potential on my Ribgol was 6% Attack, 3% Total Damage and 3% Total Damage, Epic ranked. It was my intention to keep the Potential like that until I would have plenty of opportunities to manage something better, given it takes quite a number of cubes to "perfect" an equipment (obviously the term "perfect" may vary between players and thus really is a subjective thing). With all of the recent additions to Maple, especially the (relatively speaking) ease of obtaining cubes with a little bit of effort, it helped a lot to kick-start a lot of my (recent) progress. Unfortunately the amount of cubes required to get to a point of "perfection" at the moment, is better invested in getting everything to Legendary first. It can easily take a few hundred cubes before you get something as close as "perfect", so you might understand my choice of getting my other equipment to Legendary first.

Just as a small note for some readers who missed out on how my Ribgol is upgraded, given it has gained 36 STR, 27 DEX, 36 INT, 27 LUK and 97 Attack in 9 slots - my Ribgol has been partially upgraded with Additional Options (AO's for short). Unfortunately the display of Additional Options are bugged, and not every stat on a piece of equip with AO's is shown until for some reason Enhancements are applied to that item. Anyway, to further explain this display issue, look at the image below:



Notice the absence of the "Damage: 3% (0% +3%)" in green under Weapon Attack.

This display issue "debuted" with the 5th Job update, because this update changes the way how Additional Options are shown to make it easier to understand what you're getting as AO's... At least, not for EMS apparently. Not sure why Nexon decided to not implement this feature though, but it makes it a tad harder to communicate what AO's your equipment has in-game without sharing screenshots outside the game. If you have screenshots, that is.

 

So yeah, my Ribgol also has 3% Total Damage. Which is now, considered unlisted. The stat is still there, it just doesn't show up until you Enhance your equipment. Which I won't do yet with my Ribgol, because one Star Force would immediately disable me to use any other Enhancements and thus would ruin this item for good. You cannot use an Innocence Scroll without removing the Additional Options permanently, as those stats cannot be re-obtained. And as far as we know, Nexon has no plans to re-introduce AO's at the moment. Thus I'd rather keep that window open for a better end result, even if that requires me to wait and not take the most cost efficient path...

 

Anyway, I am not entirely sure what to cube to Legendary next, but I'm considering to cube my Sengoku Hakase Badge because it is the only 4th tier Potential equipment that I currently wear. But man, seeing that Ribgol with those green borders really fills me a much needed joy that has been absent here for a while.

 

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