Doc's Ramblings

If you haven't read thru the first part, I recommend you check it out first.

Serious Gaming, or so it seems...

I played the game as a full Constituion Crusader and for the life of me, I can't seem to kill fast enough compared to those other players. As a Lv45 Crusader with a weird statistics and skills, it dawned on me that my family will not enjoy the game. I needed to make a new character than can help them survive. And what better character it is than my alternate character DocHolder whose main job is to heal my Crusader (Lv10 Heal rocks)...

(Un)fortunately, my Herbalst healer becomes relatively high level and became a full pledged Cleric since I found I used this character often to support my family. My Crusader character can't help my kids who needed my support and if they die, we'd all have to pick up the player at the spawn point. My Cleric helps a lot because it heals and revives, saving the whole party. Later on, my alt-character becomes my main character, and I played this Cleric till now.

From a simple goal of reaching Lv40 to be joining the #1 Guild of the server, it's really a heck of a joyride... 

To Mall or To Not Mall, that is the question...

For some, it is not really a question: it is a must. For me, it is a NO. I won't say "NO" as in 100% totally though, because I believe in proper compensation, so I would spend as much money on this game the amount I believe it is worth: that would be no more than $50, the price of a conventional game I used to play like Diablo, or Starcraft, or Unreal Tournament, or Counter Strike.

Sure enough, I bought Mall Point and me and my leveling partner spent it wisely, the item we bought are still being used till now. Two years RoI for a $50 payout, that's good for me, that's good of IGG too.

On the face value, the first year of ToP, things are really working out great. I spent my first $50 bucks on something I would use for the duration of the game. If that is not good RoI, I don't know what is. ToP never released any item that would be mind boggling, nor game-balance changing. Apparels and Wings that don't affect gameplay = great addition.

The beginning of the end...

Soon, after the apparels, Pet Fairy were released. Along with the fairy are awesome skills: Standard Meditation. This totally removes some of the limitations that non-Herbalist characters are lacking: SP. With the release of Pet with Skills, all other characters can cast their skills left and right without even the need to drink SP Potions. I was annoyed, almost angered, because of such convinience to non-caster players. I always believed Caster would have more SP and therefore can cast more skills, while non-Caster MUST always be limited by their SP because they aren't Caster anyway. The stats addition in and of itself is poweful enough already, but skill addition is a killer. But it never stops there...

Unique Gems were released, and while they have always been part of the game when I first joined, there's been less than 10 UGs circulating across the whole server with Rainbow and Mermaid combined. It was so horrifying for me, the fact that players can now buy them instead of hunt them gives me the shivers. Those who have $$$ can surely win the game versus those like me who play the game as it is. IGG is changing the landscape, IGG appeals to those who mall their character so that they can play the game and not those who play the game so that they can improve their character. Surely, a very big paradigm shift, at least in my opinion.

Many will say that spending tons of time in real-life to get real $$$ then spending that money is akin to spending tons of time in game to get items. While it is true to some extent, I always believed that game-knowledge should be dictating the kind of things one can achieve in game. Money can get you "flashy" things, nice apparels, but not those rare equipment and armor which should only be relegated to those who spend time with the game, to know the ins-and-outs and not those who spend $$$ for instant Death Armor.

The addition of multi-level XP-enhancing items has also shows the great divide between those who can spend real $$$ vs those who plays strategically. While players can enjoy HB via farming noob accounts or chopping Fortune trees, mallers can just as easily get them off the Item Mall! I would have preferred if Heaven Berry stays the only XP-enhancing items. While mallers can get "many HB", the divide will just be they have more HB vs they can level faster because they high-quality HB i.e. Hi Amplifier of Strive. Furthermore, these Hi Amplifier of Strive can not be gotten in-game which makes it even more imbalance.

Various events and so called Item Mall Promotions makes the situation even worse. The flooding of Lv45/Lv55/Lv65 Unseal makes it so common that players can't be pleased and happy anymore. This leads to IGG offering Black Dragon Armor, Gloves and Boots. And when that item flooded the server, IGG further pollutes the server with Death Armor and Equipment. Surely, this never really stops the never ending crave of mallers, Kylin are even auctioned.

The madness continues, Lv60 Unique Necklaces and even Ancient Necklaces are being released. The Ancient Necklaces are all Mall-only items, making the great divide farther and larger. While players can live without these items, the fact that they are Item-Mall only separates the mallers from pure gamers. The same goes for Rings and it just wont stop...

Crowns, Moli and IGG are indeed a deadly combination for those who have $$$ to spend. Crown of Decedent that adds +1 to all stats became all the rage. By this time, a lot of players are conditioned to accept malling as a standard thing, as an acceptable thing, and more frighteningly, a status symbol. With just a mere +1, and of course, defense (and later on, capability to get sockets and gems), mallers have spent an enormous amont of money. No, not $50 like me, not $100, not even $500! Why, this surely gives Moli and IGG the idea that more of similar items would mean more income for them. They can't be blamed, they are business, but at a cost of the game being poorly balanced and sided towards mallers and mallers alone.

Many will argue that without mallers, there will be no IGG. That might be true, but the fact remains that there's still many players that plays the game for free. These players still equates as IGG's customers. Customers help bring $$$ to IGG, thru advertising, thru word of mouth, and also by giving more flavor the the whole game eco-system case-in-point: a year ago, my guild members consist 90% of non mallers that sell items to mallers.

The Final Nail In The Coffin

Despite all those things that annoys me, I still find solace in the game, hoping that I can somehow catch up. IGG offers other alternatives, Award Center is nice, and so does Credit for Hours, and so called Free Lunch. However, the negative overcomes the positive side of it specially on the money-making side of things.  The Fairy Pet that I used to farm off Fox Sage was busted, when Hex came in and just about anyone can farm that boss. The same applies to Robe of the Sage, Riven Soul, Dragon Lord Shoes, and even Drakan. Farming the Summer and Spring boss halted, Hex just makes almost any player who have an ounce of patience to reach Lv80.

Manufacturing and Cooking became the next source of income, but IGG released them at Award Center. The same goes for Blueprints which I used to farm all day became something one can get off the Credits. My plans are busted yet again.

Sea Commerce was long dead, and I dont see IGG implementing them. It was my honest way of earning in-game gold, busted.

Pirate Club was awesome while it lasts. While I don't really care for Credits and Million Dollar notes, IGG removed SandBags which actually brings fun to me because I can pwlvl and play with stats and build across many noobs.

Book of Regaining Ability is just so retarded. One of the great features of Rebirth, became a mall item. And of course, you can get Rebirth Stone too at the mall.

The release of Azrael game that clearly caters to Mallers is just the final nail that ends this game for me. I guess many players will say "Good riddance". It was quite a sad day for me, specially when a lot of players embraced such change. Mall-only Gem, yeah, so long hard-worker in game. BD Gem isn't enough to satisfy the players. and what can I say, IGG can't offer anythign enticing anymore anyway.

Can we say, +15 Stat Gem in the future? I don't think it's impossible. Grandiose Set? Definitely a possibility.

Well, enough is enough for me. There is nothing to strive for in the game. I don't really consider those leveling to Lv100 as great, they just have more time and more real $$$ to spare. I play the game because my leveling partner still likes to play.

But for me, it's finished.

Ok, this is a guide I made for ToP forums to help some noobs get some money and help them to level up as well. Depending on you get the required items, it's could be cheaper or even more expensive than the rewards itself.

To take the quest, you must be below Lv41! If you got past that, chances are there will be no green ! on the NPC's head. As for starting it, just  head to the NPC Wynne at Icicle (1377,524). She will give you the "Silk Road" Quest which will require three kinds of items:

Ten(10) Elven Fruit
Ten(10) Sashimi
Ten(10) Glass

For some players, 10 Elven Fruit equates to 10k, while 10 Sashimi equates to 15k and 10 Glass would probably be 1k or 25.1k. Of course, that is if you plan to buy them from stall or plan to sell them. However, if you're a noob who is just starting the game, this might come in handy since the rewards are:

Two(2) Lv1 Sand Bag
Twenty Thousand (20k) Gold

Now, if you think Lv1 Sand Bag costs 25k, then for a 25.1k investment, yo get 70k in return, that's a good RoI already.

Hope this helps...

And oh, if you completely don't get how it's done, watch the uToob Guide. Don't forget, I uploaded it in HD so watch it in HD if ya can!
 

A Noob Has Arrived...

I still remember about two years ago, how I stumbled into this game. I just wanted to try something out till Blizzard released something new. I played every game they released in the market seriously, except World of Warcraft (WoW) which is a P2P (pay to play) game with monthly subscription. I was never fan of any game that requires a subscription to play. I mean, I bough their Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft series along with all the possible expansions. I play on Battle.Net, I paid for their game like any other honest gamer with my hard-earned money. I know the concept of MMORPG, the need to sustain it, but paying the same amount for the game itself and then paying a monthly subscription is not my kind of thing. However, I did try it because a friend has been inviting me and gave me a trial of 10 days. It was nice, the only thing that stopped me from playing it: I don't have enough time to devote except during weekends which will make my monthly paymet not having a good RoI.

I just need something to pass the time, and Tales Of Pirates seems to have what I needed. I read thru the introduction, what is it about, and what this world has to offer. The game has a light download size, I can't really remember, but it was less than a 100MB if I recall. It was also on it's first Beta release way back Febuary or March of 2007 and I was joining sometime June'07 so I told myself I will give this game a try.

The game was fun, every player I talk to was helpful. I think it's more like that because they are also just starting. The highest level was someone who just started the first few guild I know of, around Lv45 or something and I was just umm, struggling to hit Lv10 and become a SwordsMan.

Shaitan and Icicle is almost like a Ghost Town, the only city that shows sign of activities is Argent. There were only two servers, Rainbow and Mermaid (where I am at). Everyone was spamming about buying and selling at World and Trade Chat, it was because there was no fee involved with such chat. No local spammers of Gold too. I never really mingled with other players, as they tend to ask for money or try to get my equipment, you could say I'm paranoid. I only play with my family. And oh, the only thing I ever wanted to was to reach Lv40!

The game was fun, it was good enough for me.

Goal Setting!

I asked myself much about this: what can a mere new player do with a game? Surely, I can't just level and level or kill and kill monsters around me. However, if that's how it is going to be, then I'm better of quitting as this game seems not friendly about leveling. But I figure this is something I can look forward to, instead of looking at it as a negative, I have to challenge my self and set a goal. I have to reach Lv40 and get 1 million gold.

Money-making for a new comer isn't so easy, and gold isn't easy to come by: the mobs never dropped any gold/money, instead they drop random items which you can sell (for half the price) to the NPC. It was annoying for me, but I get the hang of it in time. Getting money while leveling has been a challenging task. Heaven Berry was being sold for 40k and I can barely make 5k to buy new equipment every week. But still, I learned the hardway that I can get items from the Newbie Chest. But anyway, that's part of being noobie....

I eventually hit Lv40 and succeeded from being a Swords Man, into a full-pledge Crusader. Who wouldn't want to wield two swords? Sure, I spent like 5 days to complete the advancement task but I met my first goal. However, as any noob would know, my first Character can barely level up beyond Lv40. Sure, I did hit Lv45 because I always wanted to see the glow of my Kris with a gem (which I have to buy for a very steep price), but beyond that is a grave challenge. All my equipment comes from Newbie Chest and I bought my gloves and boots at the NPC. There were some Evanescence chests but found out the hardway that you can't just buy any chest of of any class, it was so frustrating. And oh, I never even had a clue that my level won't fit on Evanescence chest. I told myself, I need to strategize and earn more than just 1M if I need to bring further fun to me and my family. And so has my continous refinement of goal has evolved.

These challenges never really bothered me, because I know, all other players are struggling equally like me. I just need to improve myself, and try to learn more about the game. After all, there were already Lv60s in the game, I am still further from quitting, if they made it, I can make it too!

I had no complaints, the game was good, everything seems to be going along well...

To be continued...

Note: The LoTR title I used here is based on the fact that names of these rings reflect those names that I am familiar with LoTR such as Aragon (Aragorn?), Esengard (Isengard?), Ysidor, Arwen.

Disclaimer1: I am not an expert with LoTR so any mistake, you can blame me and correct me as needed
Disclaimer2: I hope to make this a living guide, if you have suggestions, pls do so in constructive manner. Flame and deragatory remarks are welcome, but dont expect too much reply from me on that matter. If you have corrections, let me know and I'll check it.

To read more, click

Introduction:
We have seen that IGG has already released new Lv65 rings. I think there will even be stronger rings to be released soon, but that discussion would be reserved for another thread. For this mini guide, the goal is to help new players assess which is best for their characters. For those who have been playing ToP for some time, it is readily apparent, crystal clear, no-brainer. But for some who are just starting, either via Pirate Club, or Hex, or Mall Items, or just grinding religiously reached Lv65+ far too fast, they might not be so easily understandable. So let's get on with the rings..

The Rings:
What is readily clear from the rings listed here is that, they have +11 and +4 bonus stats. Getting them from mall also requires "luck", as those that came from mall are random. But the good thing is, you always get a Lv65 ring no matter what O.o (now, I don't really think it's a good thing, but I have to say something good, so that will do). I will post here the image of the rings, then provide what I think is best/better/worst or Primary, Secondary, Tertiary usage of the said rings. Note, I don't have a 'good' just best/better/worst usage...


Note:
Primary: if both stats can be used by the Class to full potential (+11 as primary stat and +4 as secondary stat)
Secondary: if both stats can be used by Class, however the +4 as primary stat and +11 as secondary stat; or +11 is primary and +4 has little use
Tertiary: if 1st stat (+11) has little impact on the Class, but the 2nd stat (+4) can be used by that Class:
 

• Aragon's Power (+11 STR, +4 CON) - Primary (Melee Class), Tertiary (all other class because of CON)
   
• Doom Mountain (+11 STR, +4 SPR) - Primary (Melee Class), Tertiary (Magic class because of SPR)
   
• Elendil (+11 STR, +4 ACC) - Primary (Melee Class), Tertiary (Sharpshooter, Missile Class)
   
• Ysidor (+11 STR, +4 AGI) - Primary (Melee Class), Tertiary (Sharpshooter, Missile Class)
  
  CON-focused
   
• Gondol's Burning (+11 CON, +4 AGI) - Primary (Melee Class, CON-Sharpshooter), Secondary (Missile Class)
   
• Arwen's Tear (+11 CON, +4 SPR) - Primary (Seal Master, Voyager, CON-Cleric), Secondary (Cleric, Champion)
   
• Esengard's Ballyhack (+11 CON, +4 STR) - Primary (Champion, CON-Crusader), Secondary (all other class because of CON)
   
• Deathless Valley (+11 CON, +4 ACC) - Primary (Champion, CON-Crusader, CON-Sharpshooter), Secondary (all other class because of CON)
  
  AGI-focused
   
• Smitchell (+11 AGI, +4 CON) - Primary (Champion), Secondary (Sharpshooter, Crusader), Tertiary (all other class because of CON)
   
• Ravendell's Guard (+11 AGI, +4 SPR) - Secondary (Sharpshooter, Melee Class), Tertiary (Magic class because of SPR)
   
• Fairy Diamond (+11 AGI, +4 ACC) - Primary (Champion, Sharpshooter), Secondary (Crusader)
   
• Soul's Reputation (+11 AGI, +4 STR) - Primary (Champion), Secondary (Crusader)
  
  SPR-focused
   
• Ring Soul's Shouting (+11 SPR, +4 CON) - Primary (Cleric), Secondary (all other Magic Class), Tertiary (all other class because of CON)
   
• Pirate's Treason (+11 SPR, +4 AGI) - Secondary (all Magic Class), Tertiary (Melee class because of AGI)
   
• Caribloompo (+11 SPR, +4 ACC) - Secondary (all Magic Class), Tertiary (Sharpshooter class because of ACC)
   
• Alond (+11 SPR, +4 STR) - Secondary (all Magic Class), Tertiary (Melee class because of STR)
  
  ACC-focused
   
• Rohan's Loyalty (+11 ACC, +4 CON) - Primary (Sharpshooter), Secondary (all Melee class because of ACC), Tertiary (all other class because of CON)
   
• Thorkim's Pass (+11 ACC, +4 STR) - Secondary (Sharpshooter, all Melee class)
   
• Gonerdolph (+11 ACC, +4 AGI) - Primary (Sharpshooter), Secondary (all Melee class)
   
• Nordol Fairy (+11 ACC, +4 SPR) - Secondary (Sharpshooter, all Melee class), Tertiary (all Magic class)
   

Have fun....

Normally, I would have just let things go their way. You know, how I'll post something in the forum and let it sink down way down below the bottom, away from anyone's eyes or admins' eyes, and most importantly, IGG's eyes.

[@more@]

But, this time it's different and when I said "time" it means during 1:00am December, 20th --- 1:00am December, 25th EST (GMT-5): the Christmas Free Dinner Give Away. If players aren't cautious enough, just when you thought you raked up 90hrs and going to enjoy that 3 Christmas Dinner, you suddenly found out you have not met it, or worst, you have 0 hours! Of course, if you're Lv86+ then it doesn't matter for Christmas Dinner, but it still matters for Credit For Hours thing.

Now how could this happen? I'll just report what I have posted in the link above:

Description of the Bug: If you have an account that is logged in on another PC (say Computer A), and you "forced" logged it out by logging in to another PC (say Computer B), the number of hours your account is on-line on Computer A will not be counted out i.e. it will be gone.

Steps To Reproduce The Bug
0. Make sure your account is off line i.e. not logged in, including the alts in that
1. Go to Credits For Hours page (http://top.igg.com/wage_stat/index.php). Record the number of hours online for your character.
2. Log in your account on Computer A. Run it for say 2hrs, AFK or Stall, or Pet leveling.
3. Using Computer B, login again with the same account used on Computer A. You will have a pop up message saying you have your account currently online. The account logged in at Computer A will be logged at this time. Continue logging in.
4. Now go check the Credits for Hours page and see that the number of hours accumulated hasn't changed.

How is it Happening?
Assumption:
Hours already obtained = 10hrs
Two computers Computer A and Computer B
One Account

1. Account logged in at Computer A for 80hrs
2. Account was forced logged at Computer B. Account logged in for 30hrs in Computer B
3. Account logged out normally at Computer B
4. Resulting hrs accumulated is 30hrs (from Computer B) + 10hrs (from previous hours accumulated) = 40hrs

However, note on step 3, if it becomes something like this:
3. Account is forced logged out at Computer A and then DCd or logged out normally
4. Resulting hrs accumulated is 10hrs (from previous hours accumulated) = 10hrs and the 30hrs will be gone

The issue here is that, once forced log out happens using DCing via login from another account either thru another PC or thru another open window ToP client, the "system" thinks you just logged in the moment that forced disconnection happened. The "system" will trash out your previous online hours and you're screwed.

Work Around For The Bug
Have it logged out normally or you can shutdown the PC with the client normally.

Other Info
Note that crashing your PC or getting disconnected because the net went down will not produce the bug. Only the forced disconnect via logging in from another account will result from this bug.