Dungeon Crawler Quest(Original Fantasy)

[tenchifew]

If we had a big bad to defeat in x days, or a wager to reach level y otherwise Bad Things Happen, would understand the wish to gain every extra percent of XP we can.
We don't.
We are a low level party among other low level parties and are doing exceedingly well, having great loot for our level and a well rounded party which is functioning rather well together.

We should build up on our strengths, not try to get the level one day earlier. We are in the beginning, where monsters give small XP rewards.
By the time we hit tougher monsters a difference of even couple hundred XP's won't matter at all, and certainly not to make a level of difference, so seen in pretty much every RPG, especially a J-Rpg.

This is why doing the whole complicated "we split up" dance, leaving a character completely alone for the day, just to get couple of dozen XP's more is at best unnecessary, at worst weakening the party, the opposite of what we should be doing.

 

[Darkened]

We are a low level party among other low level parties and are doing exceedingly well, having great loot for our level and a well rounded party which is functioning rather well together.

Click to shrink...

As measured how? Because the other parties we've met seem to be doing better. The only thing we have going for us right now is numbers.

We should build up on our strengths, not try to get the level one day earlier. We are in the beginning, where monsters give small XP rewards.
By the time we hit tougher monsters a difference of even couple hundred XP's won't matter at all, and certainly not to make a level of difference, so seen in pretty much every RPG, especially a J-Rpg.

Click to shrink...

This is building up our strengths. We won't hit tougher monsters until we're at higher XP. In fact, it's backwards. Look at any JRPG, any MMO, anything really. You gain levels really really fast at the beginning and this slows down as more functions get introduced, as you level up, etc. In that sense, the XP at the beginning, despite small numbers tends to be worth far more comparatively versus later on where leveling takes ages.

If I compare my time in MMOs, it's something like

1-20- 1 full day of grinding.
40-41- 1 full day of grinding.

Etc, etc.

 

[tenchifew]

As measured how? Because the other parties we've met seem to be doing better. The only thing we have going for us right now is numbers.



This is building up our strengths. We won't hit tougher monsters until we're at higher XP. In fact, it's backwards. Look at any JRPG, any MMO, anything really. You gain levels really really fast at the beginning and this slows down as more functions get introduced, as you level up, etc. In that sense, the XP at the beginning, despite small numbers tends to be worth far more comparatively versus later on where leveling takes ages.

If I compare my time in MMOs, it's something like

1-20- 1 full day of grinding.
40-41- 1 full day of grinding.

Etc, etc.

Click to shrink...

We are in "real life" though.
In my opinion doing something like this is a certified way to snap from stress.

It would also be boring as hell to read.

And doing well - great equipment, nice full team, two race modifications already.
Yep, doing great.

 

[Darkened]

And doing well - great equipment, nice full team, two race modifications already.
Yep, doing great.

Click to shrink...

Good team that's too big to level fast. Decent equipment that' useless in two levels and doesn't mean shit.

Two race mods, one of which is thoroughly mediocre, one of which might hold up for a while.

Not really great, no.

We've made good friendships, which is quite nice, but we also don't even know how gear stacks up, how much of a difference this makes or how little/much each piece of equipment adds to our DPS.

It's a black box we can't draw from because enemy HP/resistances are increasing as quickly as our DPS is (or more).

Going back to goblin glade will actually give us a reference point for how much we've gained.

 

[tenchifew]

Reference point is an argument.

Regarding the rest - what's the rush?
We have time. We do not have any threats to smite.
And trying to rush our team can be the end of said team.
So far everyone seems to be ok with the pace.

 

[Grosstoad]

Eh, I'll have to point out that Levels mostly relate only to level caps on Dungeon Tiers, Tiers of the Inns that one can use, as well as increased HP and SP, while Gear quality seems to correlate with its Rarity (color) and the Tier of the Dungeon that dropped said Gear.

Raising Level too quickly meant that losing access to some lower level Dungeons, access to lower level Inns, and a a slight increase in expense (whether consumables or Inn fee).

On the other hand, I think one can get access to more Blessings as one climbs up the Levels.

Alot of the system is black boxes, yes, which I believe was by the system design, to minimize work for for Yrs.

Again, I don't know what my point is.

/ramble

 

[yrsillar]

I would note that it's not necessarily level which causes branded to move up Inn ranks. Its more that the amount of health and SP restored by an Inn is capped by its rank. So eventually sleeping in a lower ranked Inn won't fully restore you anymore. That's not something for you guys to be concerned about for awhile yet though.

 

[Garahs]

I think a lot of advanced planning will come once we get access to the auction house so we can check on a great deal of what equipment is available. It might be our greatest advantage as we don't know how many other branded have the passive that gives a chance of the secret boss spawning. The kind of gear that drops, especially if it can't be found any other way, could net us millions later on, especially if we trigger it on an A rank.

Though on the other side, because of the chance of a secret boss, we can't just enter a dungeon with minimum power and expect to pull through if it triggers.

This is based on supposition though, and it might not be as rare as I think.

 

[Grosstoad]

It is a rare effect of a personal Skill, but rare is not the same as one-off. Not to mention the possibility of other existing effects of similar nature from gears or skills, though perhaps similarly rare.

On the problem of triggering the Skill while in lessened state (deficit in party members or logistics), it has been posited that one can simply unequip the Skill while in Town.

 

[yrsillar]

Looks like D rank caverns is the winner. No real consensus on buying stuff though, beyond lack of votes, I assume you guys just want to stretch your current resources till you have cash on hand.

 

[Grosstoad]

@yrsillar
So, is the application of Skills work outside of combat? Can one apply Chill Aura on a liquid long enough for it to solidify?

+ponders if the cold effect from Ice Magic is a constant drain of temperature or an imposement of a certain level of temperature+
First case meant that one can use Chill Aura to freeze liquid, eventually, while the other meant that the liquid will only freeze if their freezing temperature is above the threshold imposed by the magic.


. . . I am taking this too seriously, aren't I?

 

[yrsillar]

You can use skills like that. Room duration skills will last about five minutes outside of a dungeon. As for the Mechanics of cold magic eh. Thinking too hard, you are.

 

[Grosstoad]

 

[weirdbutgifted]

I was thinking about this quest while running an MMO dungeon today waiting to be rezzed after yet another wipe, and a couple of things regarding our progression speed occurred to me:

1. Although we are going slower in level progression than in your typical MMO, we have a few problems they don't; including permanent death and random bonus enemies that drastically increase the difficulty with no warning or chance to prepare, and who may have mechanical advantages (such as 100% resistance to Ice) that would be really a problem in a small group where there isn't the reserve capacity to deal with such issues.
2. The advantage of having a group that is already familiar with running dungeons together and can trust each member cannot be overestimated once we get to higher level dungeons where a full party is mandatory for survival. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the majority of deaths among the younger branded occur during full-party dungeon runs where miscommunication among strangers could very easily lead to a death before someone can use the orb, or a wipe if no-one has one and it's the Tank or Healer that goes down first. At this stage having a pre-existing group that can work together day-in day-out should see the rate of experience (and survival) increase compared to others who have depend on the local equivalent of the LFG-queue.
3. There's no specific 'end-game' content that we are working towards AFAIK - however for the sake of argument assume for a moment that there is a 'Dark Lord of Evil (TM)' on the horizon and further that he will not be taken care of by the (much higher leveled) older branded. Something to consider is that relative level for the story probably depends mostly on what is entertaining for the questors:
   • Say we level reasonably fast but still take time for other activities like socialisation, and by the time the DL appears we are Level 30 odd, so the DL is Level 40-50 and is really difficult to defeat - if we make a major mistake a party member will probably die!
   • On the other hand, say we do nothing but level as fast as possible, and by the time the DL appears we are Level 60 odd, so the DL is Level 70-80 and is really difficult to defeat - if we make a major mistake a party member will probably die!? (except we may care less at this point if we haven't really socialised with the party members, so it's not all bad...)

TLDR: Death is permanent, bonus enemies in dungeons significantly increase risks, time spent rehearsing as a group on easier dungeons will pay off when doing dungeons where parties are mandatory and we are only just the required level. Others may still level faster than us, but likely at the cost of at least some party member lives, so I suppose it depends on what is most important to us as a character, personal power as fast as possible, or slightly slower with lower risk?

I don't know, I may be way off base here (and what the GM thinks is obviously the deciding factor), but there is a vast difference between how I would approach dungeons in a situation where death is permanent compared to how I handle them in an MMO.

P.S. Very nice quest, yrsillar!

 

[Arkeus]

Eh, I'll have to point out that Levels mostly relate only to level caps on Dungeon Tiers, Tiers of the Inns that one can use, as well as increased HP and SP, while Gear quality seems to correlate with its Rarity (color) and the Tier of the Dungeon that dropped said Gear.

Raising Level too quickly meant that losing access to some lower level Dungeons, access to lower level Inns, and a a slight increase in expense (whether consumables or Inn fee).^

Click to shrink...

That would only be a point if you people actually wanted to do lower level dungeons (you don't), or if we were not going at half the speed in levelling as other branded do.

 

[redaeth]

Where are you guys getting the lower rate of leveling? I don't remember that being mentioned.

 

[Arkeus]

Where are you guys getting the lower rate of leveling? I don't remember that being mentioned.

Click to shrink...

A group that began a day after us is now one level higher than we are (and has special job crystals/etc).

 

[redaeth]

I'm personally fine with going a bit slower, however there is one way to speed things up. Start taking dungeons with 4-5 party member requirements instead of the 2-3 that we are doing. We'd also need to actively grind dungeons instead of trying a new one every time.

 

[Grosstoad]

A group that began a day after us is now one level higher than we are (and has special job crystals/etc).

Click to shrink...

Nah, at that time, they were at the same level as Alice and co. And his friend had a Water Elementalist job, which I suspect is an uncommon drop, but not special.

The difference is that it is not part of the starter Job package from Altkhot, the town we're at.

On the other hand, we have three more people in party than his (well, we just saw him and one other) at the same level, with 1 Race mod. Not to mention, Alice didn't mention any specifically interesting gear on him or his friend, which I assume Alice, being a curious cat, would have made mention of any.

EDIT:

That would only be a point if you people actually wanted to do lower level dungeons (you don't), or if we were not going at half the speed in levelling as other branded do.

Click to shrink...

Err, do you mean, do a low level dungeon with a full party? Because I do, personally, but I think most of the others wanted more challenges.
If it is about splitting to do lower level Dungeons, well you know my stance to that.

 

[Arkeus]

Nah, at that time, they were at the same level as Alice and co. And his friend had a Water Elementalist job, which I suspect is an uncommon drop, but not special.

Click to shrink...

We saw them again, they are now level 4.

Err, do you mean, do a low level dungeon with a full party? Because I do, personally, but I think most of the others wanted more challenges.
If it is about splitting to do lower level Dungeons, well you know my stance to that.

Click to shrink...

See what i was answering

 

[Grosstoad]

We saw them again, they are now level 4.

See what i was answering

Click to shrink...

Oh, we did? Dang, totally missed them. I'll go check.


EDIT: Found them. Just one line on the last update, I guess.
On the other hand, we have another Race mod and Alice upgraded her weapon.
+shrugs+

 

[yrsillar]

You wake up feeling refreshed. Even if you didn't get much tangible done yesterday, a day of rest was pretty nice, and you feel like you've stabilized… whatever it is you have with Sera. So that's good.

Once you've cleaned up and gotten dressed you head downstairs for breakfast and to meet everyone. As usual Sera is up early as well, so you meet sit down at what is becoming your usual table to chat.

"Morning Sera, you sleep well?" you ask, pressing your hand over your mouth as you let out a yawn.

"Very well, did you?" she asks.

"Not bad, not bad. Think you're up for some dungeon time today?" you respond as you scoot your chair forward to let you slump comfortably on the tabletop.

"Yes," Sera nods, "Yesterday was, um… a lot of fun, but I definitely want to get back into things." She starts off sounding rather hesitant, but grows confident by the end.

"Great, I was thinking we'd do the D rank caverns today, Crystal Lake was a little much, but I figure the caverns should be fine." You glance over at the stairwell as you speak, there's Shimah coming down, you wave her over. "Hey Shimah, what do ya think, Wailing caverns D today?"

Sera gives you a fondly exasperated look as the cleric approaches, "Good morning Miss Shimah, did your business go well?"

Shimah sighs as she slumps into her chair, you frown, that doesn't sound positive, "As well as could be expected. I only hope this was the end of it," she pauses, and nods briefly to you, "The caverns sound like a fine enough idea."

"Did something happen?" you ask, oddly serious, "Is somebody giving you trouble or something?"

"You could say that…. it isn't anything to concern yourself over, Al." She tries to dismiss it, but you and Sera just stare her down until she shifts uncomfortably, "The matter is resolved, my citizenship belongs officially to Altkhot, your… our Governor is very generous."

Some kind of political thing? You know some cities are really possessive of their branded… it dawns on you, "You're a runaway!" you accuse.

There isn't really an official term for it but sometimes, new branded from more uh… regimented cities flee to Altkhot, since it's so much more open. It pisses their cities off, but the Governor has pretty much always just flipped them off and took the Branded in, Altkhot is old and powerful enough to get away with it.

Not that anyone has been dumb enough to start an intercity war in a couple hundred years, as far as you know. Not since Romalia and Vargorod's fighting caused a pair of Demon Kings and a Elder Shoggoth to spawn and wreck them both.

Shimah looks slightly uncomfortable at your accusation, "I am, will that be a problem?" she asks? Sera is looking between the two of you in confusion, why? Oh, right sheltered.

"It won't be," you shrug, doesn't matter to you. To Sera, you add, "Shimah's city didn't want her to leave, she did anyway."

Understanding dawns for Sera, "Ah, no, it isn't a problem," she responds in a hurry.

"Of course not!" comes Maya's cheerful voice from just behind your shoulder, causing you to jump in your seat. Dammit Maya! "Still, I suppose you must have been tied up in bureaucracy all of yesterday, you poor dear." Maya seems inordinately cheerful as she slips into a seat next to you.

Anshelm slumps down the stairs shortly after, and once you've filled him in on the conversation so far, he waves it all off with a grunt. Food arrives soon thereafter.

"So, you guys cool with Wailing Cavern D too?" you ask, "Oh, and how did… whatever you were doing yesterday go, Maya."

"Cavern should be good, " Anshelm says through a mouthful of scrambled egg.

Maya glances at him with a little exasperation, "Yes, the caverns should be fine, as for my business, it went pretty well. Wouldn't you agree Anshelm?"

"I'll say, don't think I've ever seen a guy literally piss 'imself like that. Those guys won't be bothering your old place any time soon." Anshelm says, sounding amused.

You raise your eyebrow at that, what the hell were they doing? Maya seems to understand the implicit question, "Ah, the old orphanage I lived at had a little problem with a local gang. Anshelm helped me make that not a thing anymore." Ah… you guess that makes sense, they were heading to the shitty parts of town. The nicest places down there are always the ones individual branded take an interest in, city guard is a little to overworked to get to everything that goes on down there.

"Well… that's good then?" you half-ask, half state.

"It is," Maya says, sounding pleased. You pointedly do not look at the tail wagging down below the table, no matter how fluffy it is. "Ah, by the way…" Maya adds, going through her inventory, a moment later an escape orb appears in her hand, "Here, everyone should have one, right?"

"You didn't have too," you begin, even as you reach out to take it, not having an orb was a little bit of a niggling worry.

"It's fine, once we finished things up yesterday we ran an errand mission for the Gilder, it was no trouble," Maya says easily
.
"Well…thanks," you say, only a little uncomfortably as you stow the orb away.

You settle into companionable chatter after that, finishing breakfast before everyone sets out. Among the other branded, you do notice something odd, you still haven't seen Alex or Kirk, did something happen to those guys?

In any case, the trip out to the pit that marks the entrance to the caverns is peaceful enough. Once everyone has readied themselves and Sera switched out for her boots, with some mumbled dismay, mostly over how… exposed she was now. You didn't stare, not in the slightest. Anshelm activates the dungeon.

It's just as conveniently well-lit as you remember, what with the glowing moss and all. It's also just as heavily infested with giant bitey bats. Level five, you don't know how they compare to before Health wise, they have SP though.

"They're gonna have some kind of special! Keep an eye out," You yell as Anshelm draws the first four down with a challenge. The eye sockets of the skull on your staff glow a frosty blue as you unleash a spray of frost into the four of them at the same time a fireball detonates in the middle of the main group… Your new staff must be pretty strong, cause you shaved off half of the bats health with that shot. Sera managed about the same, but you figure her base damage is probably higher.

Anshelm skewers' one of the slowed bats with his spear, killing it instantly, a testament to his new strength, and then the rest of the bats unleash their specials. Oh goddess, the noise, what the hell, what the hell, why can you smell colors.

You spend a moment in a complete haze of color and sound, until you snap back, with the feeling of Shimah's healing washing over you. Shimah for her part is missing a portion of her health, and is covered in frost… oh, crap. A confusion effect.

It looks like Sera's fireballs took a big chunk out of the group though, and Maya and Anshelm are mopping up. As the last bats die, you turn to Shimah, who is stoically healing herself, "Hey, Shimah, really sorry about that."

"It is fine, the effect was not your fault. It may be wise, in future rooms, not to target bats before we are certain Anshelm has their full attention though. Confusion effects striking you or Sera could be devastating in a more dire situation."

"Yeah… probably for the best," Anshelm adds, "I can take a few extra bites while I'm setting up, if it means keeping the focus on me, I'm slower and need to be close to hit, Shimah can probably fix confusion on me before I hurt somebody."

"Sounds about right," you admit grudgingly, you don't like just letting Anshelm get smacked around while you do nothing but… but yeah, confusion is scary.

The next room is full of bones and mushrooms just like before. Unlike before theres five of the nasty pale centipede things, Carrion Crawlers, they're called. There's also a giant pulsating egg sack in the center alongside the usual complement of bats. How about Nope. Anshelm, keep the bats busy, we're going to need to focus that thing!" you call

"Got it!" Anshelm charges in, as Maya vanishes, and you and Sera unleash hell on the nasty bugs and their egg sack. You get to try out your icicle spear for the first time, it conjuring a javelin sized spear of ice cold enough to create mist and then launching it at high speeds to impale the egg sack with a sticky squelch. Sera's fireball lands soon afterwards, charring the bugs and taking another chunk out of the eggs.

Anshelm is getting a little banged up fighting the entire bat swarm, but the bugs are scuttling toward you and Sera, Maya appears behind one and guts it with a critical strike, even as the egg sack spawns another. Another round from you and Sera kills the egg sack though. You manage to dodge away from the flailing slimy tendrils on the leading crawlers face, even as a searing beam of fire cuts past your head and incinerates it. You return the favor by impaling another on an icicle spear. The next one reaches you though and you feel your body stiffen up in paralysis. This really is getting annoying. Shimah has you fixed soon after, but you will never forget the feeling of being chewed on by a giant bug.

The last of crawlers die to fire, ice and knife soon after. Anshelm has, for his part kept busy, he's killed a few bats, but the quality of his weapon is really starting to tell. At least they've mostly used up their specials. You make a point of targeting, and pointing out the ones which haven't. They fall soon enough though.

The next room is surprisingly easy at first. The underground lake where you fought the squid thing, has only a paltry ten bats and four cave crocodiles. After all of the status effects, just dealing with the raw damage of the crocodile's seems like a blessing. Anshelm takes the bats, and you and Sera set to putting down the big things, slowed as they are two of them die before they even reach you struck down by Maya's blades.

Sera gets bitten once, and it takes off half of her health, so yeah, the damage isn't anything to kid about. You impale the crocodile who did it and pop your amrita, even as Shimah heals Sera. The rest die quickly enough. Then of course, as if to mock you for thinking this easy, the Bonus boss spawns. Fuck.

Bonus Triggered!
The Child of the Deep Rises.

It's still the same thing as before, though you suspect the level has increased. You know what it is now though, To your eyes, it shows up as a Young Cave Kraken, level eight.

Everyone yells warnings at once as you turn everything you have on the twin white tentacles rising from the water. You fire a frost spray first, for the increased chance of slow, and it actually sticks! Lances of fire from Sera follow, applying burn, and Shimah hexes sap it's strength as Maya disappears. Then it slams Anshelm in the side with one tentacle, and even weakened, carves off nearly a quarter of his health. Shimah heals immediately and everyone can only keep attacking, you switch to icicle spear as it's health slowly drains. You can't help but feel okay about this, it's heading down into yellow when the rest of the body surfaces. Then you are engulfed in a sphere of water, and crap, you can't breath. You struggle, trying to swim your way out, but the currents in the orb force you back to the center, even as your health begins to tick down. Well what do you know, looks like branded can still drown.

You feel of flash of heat as Sera tries to sear the prison away, and while it shrinks, that doesn't do the trick. Anshelm is still fighting as best he can, and Maya is carving bloody chunks from both flesh and health bar. Sera for her part is yelling something, and continues to try and free you. You feel Shimah's healing wash over you, so at least you won't die… but you do get to enjoy the feeling of drowning for longer… great.

Then the orb of water pops and you are left sprawled on the ground gasping and hacking up water. Well and pointing your wavering staff at the kraken and shooting an icicle spear right in its damn eye. Happily enough the thing dies soon after, and everyone takes a breather to heal and recover. You fend off Sera's fussing with good natured grumpiness, assuring her that yes, you're fine. You also have to take your Ether.

Just like before the actual boss is underwhelming after that, the room before it too. The slimes are tough, and they can hurt Anshelm pretty bad, but with you and Sera they crack and crumble in no time. As for the boss…the Displacer Beast has picked up a cadre of angry bats and gained the ability to teleport, but you manage to land a lucky freeze, and it dies pretty damn fast once it's pinned down.

The last thing to do…is escape. The winding maze is much worse than before, and the endless bats being able to cause confusion makes it even worse. You all take a little bit of a beating, but you and Shimah manage to lead everyone out.

Congratulations!
You have gained

90 XP
12 Job Points
100 Gilder

The party has looted

8 Potions
6 Amrita
2 Hi Potions
2 Ethers
1 Panacea
[Cloak of the Bat] Fancy stuff, sleek and black, grants a resistance to confusion. Value 100
[Crocodile Spear] Carved from the spine and tipped with a fang, for all your stabbing needs. Value 120 Cannot Equip
[Displacer's Hide] Armor made from the hide of a displacer beast, sleek and black, it increases the wearers stealth. Cannot equip
[Shimmering Vestment] A vestment made with the hide and power of a displacer beast. Grants a boost to SP and evasion. Cannot Equip
[Lesser Undine Race Mod] The Power of rivers and seas flows through your veins. Increases the power of water spells as well as Power and Agility. Decreases Constitution and fire magic. Value 250
[Water Elementalist Job Crystal] Wield Water at your command! Value 300

"Dibs on the spear," Anshelm says seriously.

"Ah, 'dibs' on the vestment then," Shimah adds, mimicking the short warrior with no trace of humor.

"My, this dungeon certainly likes paying out with that armor," Maya grumbles. "I suppose I can take that and sell it. Again. I imagine Al will be wanting the real prize here, the mod and the Job."
"Um, just the cloak is fine, " Sera says, "neither of those would go well with me."

Well that's practically an invitation, do you want them though? And where should you go after this? It looks like your passives have leveled up as well, nice

[]Loot division?

[]What next?

Al Lv3
Ice Elementalist D
Health 57/61
SP 45/67

Maya Lv4
Dual Blade Hunter D
Health 55/58
Sp 21/33

Anshelm Lv3
Spear Warrior D
Health 108/133
SP 25/31

Shimah Lv3
Hexer Cleric D
Health 72/72
SP 58/78

Seraphine Lv3
Fire Elementalist D
Health 39/48
Sp 46/61

 

[Darkened]

Not bad drops. Granted, everything's buyable so nothing but a chunk of gilder saved and we're going to leave ice elementalist equipped no matter what for the moment, but still.

No strong preference on distributing pots. Will go with whatever people want.
Not super sure on Sera having the cloak, but that can be moved anywhere in the party.


[X] Alice: Lesser Undine Race Mod, Water Elementalist Job Crystal, 1 Ether, 2 Amritas
-[X] Apply the Race Mod immediately
[X] Anshelm: Crocodile Spear, 1 Hi-Potion, 4 Potions
[X] Maya: Displacer Hide, 1 Hi-Potion, 2 Potions, 1 Panacea
-[X] Suggest Maya equips the new one, in case getting it from a D-rank Dungeon offers some difference
[X] Seraphine: 1 Ether, 2 Amritas, 2 Potions
-[X] Offer to buy Sera her pick of Amritas or Ether tomorrow
[X] Shimah: Shimmering Vestment, 2 Amritas, 2 Potions
[X] Party Storage: Cloak of the Bat
- [X] Now that you think of it, who got that Crystal Boots that is Acid Resistant last time? Did they sell it?


[X] Equip Water Magic in your third skill slot and use the race mod.

[X]Split the party in groups of two if no one minds.
-[X] Shimah and Al take on Goblin's Glade E rank as a duo
-[X] The others try the same at D rank.
-[X] If the group doesn't want to split up tackle D rank together.

 

[Grosstoad]

+ponders+

As stated before, Ice+Water = Polar Adept, I think. It gives better chance at Freeze status effect, which is for all effects is cold-based total paralysis.
EDIT: Apparently not total, since they can still use magical abilities?

@yrsillar
Need one thing to clarify, if say Alice levels Ice Elementalist and Water Elementalist to Cs, then Fusion them for Polar Adept, is her Ice Elementalist still considered C when she picks up a new Ice Elementalist Crystal?
I was wondering if we can still train Blizzard Sage when we have Polar Adept on.

 

[Darkened]

+ponders+

As stated before, Ice+Water = Polar Adept, I think. It gives better chance at Frezee/Frozen status effect, which is for all effects is cold-based total paralysis.

Click to shrink...

Even if we don't go polar adept, it makes fundamental sense to grab water magic for our third skill slot. Shimah doesn't want to diversify just yet it seems and we have an open slot we can be filling and using our JP more effectively.

 

[yrsillar]

Shimah already has three skills in her slots. Clerics get an extra one in exchange for not having any damage capability. In her Case. Healing Hexes, Talismans. And yeah, said it before if you fuse them and then buy a new ice elementalist crystal it will still be at C. prevents things from becoming too grindy

 

[Arkeus]

[X]Darkened.

The issue here is we can only switch skills at the city. I guess we could quickly run to the city to change them, but unsure how other people would take the increased risk of night attacks.

 

[Darkened]

Although we are going slower in level progression than in your typical MMO, we have a few problems they don't; including permanent death and random bonus enemies that drastically increase the difficulty with no warning or chance to prepare, and who may have mechanical advantages (such as 100% resistance to Ice) that would be really a problem in a small group where there isn't the reserve capacity to deal with such issues.

Click to shrink...

Dungeons are easier than typical MMO dungeons. We're not going slower than game grinding. We're going slower than our peers.

The advantage of having a group that is already familiar with running dungeons together and can trust each member cannot be overestimated once we get to higher level dungeons where a full party is mandatory for survival. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the majority of deaths among the younger branded occur during full-party dungeon runs where miscommunication among strangers could very easily lead to a death before someone can use the orb, or a wipe if no-one has one and it's the Tank or Healer that goes down first. At this stage having a pre-existing group that can work together day-in day-out should see the rate of experience (and survival) increase compared to others who have depend on the local equivalent of the LFG-queue.

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Having a good group doesn't mean we can't also grind, or split up and grind. In fact, staying too insular with our group, however much they rock, can easily backfire in the long run when we need to be able to work with strangers for a mission or because a group member is out and we still need to adventure.

There's no specific 'end-game' content that we are working towards AFAIK - however for the sake of argument assume for a moment that there is a 'Dark Lord of Evil (TM)' on the horizon and further that he will not be taken care of by the (much higher leveled) older branded. Something to consider is that relative level for the story probably depends mostly on what is entertaining for the questors:

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Yes, if you assume that all difficulty and content is paced to level, then the level of players won't actually matter. This is completely circular. Presuming level is relative will merit the result that yes, being higher level doesn't help you. We have no evidence besides potential QM fiat to assume level would be relative.

Moreover, evidence is far more in favor of flat levels, looking at the dungeons we have now and that there are many ways to be involved in high ranking missions from key personel to periphery support. In that sense, a higher level makes us more likely to survive. People have suggested end-games they want, and I'd much rather work toward those end-games than go the part time adventurer route.


I'll also stress that I find it ironic that the group that voted for D ranked Crystal Caves complains about us 'rushing' to do E ranked dungeons we're at the highest possible level for and overgeared to try out with the recommended party size.

The wailing caves we just did is probably an order of magnitude harder.

Shimah already has three skills in her slots. Clerics get an extra one in exchange for not having any damage capability. In her Case. Healing Hexes, Talismans. And yeah, said it before if you fuse them and then buy a new ice elementalist crystal it will still be at C. prevents things from becoming too grindy

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Questions: If two classes grant the same skill, would our level with that skill be contingent on each class or our highest leveled copy of that skill? IE: If we swapped to water mage, would our staff skill hold at D or would it go to E?

Also can we partially de-equip skills from an active class? Say, using only one ice elementalist skill instead of both?

[X]Darkened.

The issue here is we can only switch skills at the city. I guess we could quickly run to the city to change them, but unsure how other people would take the increased risk of night attacks.

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Point. Yrs. How are we on time for the day at the moment? Does it seem like the group would be cutting it close?

 

[redaeth]

Huh, Undine might make this place a bit easier. I also wonder if you can explore the lake for hidden treasures. Hidden rooms might also be a thing.

There is another option to leaving Maya out. She and two others can go through the D rank, while 2 go through the E rank.

 

[Grosstoad]

True, I guess.
Also, thanks for the confirmation, Yrs.

Loot:
[X] Alice: Lesser Undine Race Mod, Water Elementalist Job Crystal, 1 Ether, 2 Amritas
-[X] Apply the Race Mod immediately

[X] Anshelm: Crocodile Spear, 1 Hi-Potion, 4 Potions

[X] Maya: Displacer Hide, 1 Hi-Potion, 2 Potions, 1 Panacea
-[X] Suggest Maya equips the new one, in case getting it from a D-rank Dungeon offers some difference

[X] Seraphine: 1 Ether, 2 Amritas, 2 Potions
-[X] Offer to buy Sera her pick of Amritas or Ether tomorrow

[X] Shimah: Shimmering Vestment, 2 Amritas, 2 Potions

[X] Party Storage: Cloak of the Bat
- [X] Now that you think of it, who got that Crystal Boots that is Acid Resistant last time? Did they sell it?


Actions:
[X] Go to town
-[X] Alice to quickly use the Job Mod and equip Water Magic Skill
-[X] Others can shop for consumables while she does this to keep town visit short

[X] Dungeon
-[X] Goblin's Glade D-Rank
-[X] Sera to re-equip the White Warg Cloak

Going with the starter Dungeon at D-rank, so that we don't use up many consumables, in case of night encounters or some such.

EDIT: Also note, using the Undine race mod drops Alice's Constitution, so she is a bit more squishier.