Luu's Journey to a Main

I have, twice, on this server, made an I/L to level 50. On GMS I had an I/L get stuck at level 40 for the longest time because I was a child and put no points into magic guard; post-bb with the free SP reset I fixed the character and grinded to level 80. Several times prior to that, I attempted to make another I/L to recover the ill-advised SP distribution one.

I have played enough I/L for a lifetime.

Yes, this means disregarding the fact that I have a level 57 I/L already standing by. Besides, I want to use that account's NX for my main.

 

Session 17

With all the above discussion in mind, I'm gonna make an HB mule. Don't feel like dying at ghost ship or having to pay a steep inefficiency penalty by needing to use magic guard.

But first...

It'll speed things up a bit, and only cost 800k. I'm pretty sure I made 800k grinding in GS1 for two levels. It also doubles as an investment into the future bucc, which will probably need an early-game dex robe to help with accuracy and equips. Gonna see if I can stick with the guide's suggestion of 35 STR and then throwing every bit of AP into HP at 2nd job.

Anyway, onto making the HB mule. For this, I'll listen to... Herbert von Karajan's conducting of the Wiener Philharmoniker's performance of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8.

Song ended at returning to the Nautilus after killing pigs; onto Dvorak's New World Symphony, with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic.

Finally got to the part in the guide where I kill some green mushrooms and... well, there's an immediate problem: I can't hit them. Time to just... add just enough dex until I can. Seriously, it's an HB mule; it doesn't matter how much HP I cram on this thing at the end.

Though apparently I don't have enough, because there goes all my HP. One of these days I'll pay enough attention.

Got a gold surfboard while grinding for a quest, which is better than the level 15 spear I was using (namely the fast attack speed). Hit level 20, and called it a night.

Then before going to sleep I remembered that I only bought two maple knuckle varieties; there should be three. Looks like I missed the level 43 one, so bought a decent one (unscrolled) for under a million and stuck that in storage. I can just put some 100% scrolls on that; no big deal.

 

Session 18

Back at getting this HB mule to level... whatever it is to max HB. Which, right now, means waiting around for Mano. So, while I wait, might as well do some thinking.

Before I could do much thinking, a mage showed up killing some snails for bronze ores. Since I have, like, 12 ores and 4 plates on my I/L, decided to oblige and give him the 3 ores he was looking for. Given that my I/L's equipment-focused quest has ended, no point worrying about hoarding ores for crafting. Anyway, back to thinking.

I suppose at one point, perhaps much later down the line, I'll probably want to self-leech the HS mule to Bishop regardless just for the sake of having a bishop in back pocket for muling purposes. Not something immediately necessary, that's for sure. Might also want to get more bossing-relevant mules going at some point, like a sed mule (what do you even go for, stat-wise, on one of those? Do people even bother with those anymore?) or a SE mule (not relevant to me specifically, but never hurts to have one lying around). I say that as if making one of those is particularly convenient. "Nah, lemme just self-leech for 100 levels; it won't take more than a day."

On equipment, for washing purposes I need... overall, eyes, and shield. Overall will cost around 100 million, eyes probably like 70 million-ish, and shield... no clue on the shield, but damn those scrolls are expensive. So probably like 100 million there, too. Oh, and a deputy star, but those don't cost that much. I suppose the F/P will need a zhelm at some point, but that's not that expensive compared to the other stuff. Honestly the zhelm isn't really all that necessary until level 120 anyway, because as mentioned here the benefits are mostly for accuracy rather than damage until meteor storm is an option. Otherwise I can just use the same equipment currently on the HS mule, at least until it all winds up used for washing the bucc.

Then there's the actual, y'know, combat equipment. Fortunately there are guides that include good outlines on that front, so not too much I need to figure out for late-game and end-game stuff. Mostly mid-game. The DEX overall will help with accuracy; got the various Maple knuckles so I have weapons without stat requirements, and of course all the other stuff will be acquired and improved over time (bwg/ym, pac/pgc, deputy star, goggles, earrings, some variety of face mask, zhelm... snowshoes if they're not a fortune? No clue the cost on those). If I aim low at first, I should at least be able to get a full kit going before third job. Even if they're mostly mediocre stats; something's better than nothing. Eventually get enough DEX on the lot of it so that I can replace the bathrobe with an overall. Aim for a better weapon. Improve the glove, cape, earrings, and helmet to have enough DEX to let me wear my better weapon.

Certainly a long way to go, but at least the route seems straightforward enough. Plus, if this F/P is a sufficient money maker, I might be able to set my sights higher before even getting to the point where the bucc is self-sufficient.

Anyway, Mano spawned, so that's done. That bathrobe definitely saved me.

...okay, seriously, how does anyone play a warrior? I can't hit anything, even with 30 DEX. Not to mention using HP to do an attack. This is just the worst. Buying some damn accuracy potions.

Finished out the planting trees quest and decided to take a break, because the next thing the guide suggests is killing several more level 20 monsters that I probably can't hit. Might just have to give up on following the "HB mule" AP distribution suggest of saving up everything and dumping it into AP at 2nd job because this thing can't level by itself otherwise.

 

Ah, hm. Start from the top with accuracy equips so I can avoid having to sink 20 AP points into DEX that weren't necessary, or does it not matter and this thing's total HP by the end of this is for the most part a moot point?

The mule guide that suggests an HB mule loaded with HP doesn't really explain why that matters. Like, yeah sure it can have ~17k HP with HB but... is that useful?

 

That's what I figured. Not gonna fret over it.

 

Alright, plan of attack for tomorrow will be grabbing those accuracy gears. We'll see if I need to burn through my AP then.

 

So turns out Pikmin 4 is really good at consuming all of my time. Managed to tear myself away from it, though. Figures that the whole emphasis of that game is "dandori", or the practice of planning out and efficiently completing tasks.

What is this playthrough other than that?

Session 19

First, gotta get... accuracy gloves, avoid shoes, and an accuracy hat. Not bothering with the fish spear because the bucc won't be able to make use of that. Hat was straightforward. The other two were not. Decided to just browse until something caught my eye that fit the requirements.

Gave up on that because it seems no one sold the gloves I was looking for, so I bought some blue work gloves and scrolled them myself. All of them passed, remarkably. That left shoes. Shoes, shoes... any shoe with seven slots. Fitting with the christmas socks, went with a purple christmas sock. 5 scrolls landed.

I'll take a stab at actually hitting things tomorrow since I'm feeling a bit tired (too much Pikmin 4), but at least this stuff should at least help both this HB mule now, and my bucc later.

 

Session 20

Alright we back. Looks like ant tunnel's the next place for questing, so to ant tunnel I go.

Good news, I can hit things. Bad news, I did not hit level 25 when the guide said I should hit level 25. I'll deal with the ramifications of that tomorrow, but it seems I'll have to find some easy experience somewhere.

 

By myself.