Earn Free NX: What you should know.

When I came back to Atlantica a few months ago, one of the things I looked into was alternative ways to earn money without spending real money, because it’s just not possible to do that on a stay-at-home mom’s salary (in case you don’t know what that is, I get paid in Apple Jacks). But as we know, it’s harder if you don’t use the IM and don’t have a proper farming character.

*For the record, instrument mains can farm, it just takes a little more elbow grease.

So I looked at that “Earn Free NX” button. I did it a while before, but not since I came back, so I thought that maybe it no longer works and I should disregard that button. After numerous failed attempts to get any offers to show up while in Google Chrome, I opened up another browser and after the offers showed, I started my little one-week experiment. The question is: does it work?

How to level fast in Atlantica as a beginner (without ruining the game)

When I first started Atlantica, leveling was fairly easy, maybe a little too easy at times. However, to avoid speedy leveling, they had caps every 10 levels that could only be lifted once you got to a certain point of the main questline. This was good. They have since gotten rid of all caps (120 and 130 caps were recently dropped with the latest content update) and have added new ways to level. I will touch on some of those today. This will only go into the levels that I have experienced so far–1-130(ish).

The title of this post was actually inspired by Claudia’s post. If you are an alt of a high level main, then the ideas in Claudia’s post will suffice. I will, however, go into the more beginner friendly version of leveling. The way that Yvitini experienced it.

TBS squad set-ups (alternatively named: Ravaging Melody ALL THE MOBS!)

Credit: PhoenixF8 from Mycenae server (for the AO meme contest–this was one of my top picks ^.^)

Okay, so it is a weird alternative title, but there is a reason for it. Being that this is a blog that mostly focuses on the game through an Instrument Main’s point of view…yeah, I say it makes sense in its own fucked-up way, yes?

Anyway, a lot of the posts on the official forums and Atlantica-DB forums ask the question of what to bring for TBS as an Instrument Main (or any main for that reason). Well, I started a test to see what mercs would work well with an Instrument Main, which complements (read: exploits the holy shit outta) our bread and butter skill, Ravaging Melody. This post will be updated as I test out things. But for now, enjoy.

TBS with 2 merc+main

1. Witch+Oracle: If you don’t have a witch and you are under level 97, I should smack you. Likewise, if you are over level 76 and Oracle-less, I should smack you. Witch is your nuker. Get Meteor Strike up to level 60 and let her eat shit alive. However, there will be those moments when your witch won’t be enough. That’s where RM comes in. That group of mobs that have that little bit of hp left? Dead within next turn. Where does the oracle fit in with all this? While it’s suggested to have her on Seth’s Will duty and use res scrolls for dead mercs, there’s nothing to Seth really (besides your main and catapult–not recommended to do this before 115/120, because those catas are squish ass and a high Seth will kill em) and if you RM mobs before–or after–your witch nukes em into next year, you won’t have anything to throw pretty music notes at anyways. Okay, MAYBE bosses because RM+Meteor isn’t strong enough for some bosses.
2. Sorceress+Oracle: If you don’t have a witch and you’re OVER level 100, you better have a Sorceress. Okay, that’d actually be the worst advice to give since our African girlie costs more than the witch AND her upgrades and books put together. And that’s just for her orb. But if you can afford to get her, and upgrade her, AND get level 60 Primal Monsoon, she works better than the witch. RM the mobs as usual, and watch as Mwindo eats em with rain and thunder. Another advantage to Primal Monsoon is that (I THINK) it has a shorter cooldown time. So it can be used more often. Could be extremely useful for those missions with super active summon portals. Oracle serves the same purpose–res+occasional Seth duty.
3. Gun merc+Oracle: When I say “Gun Merc”, the two I’m not talking about is inventor (abysmal attack with his gun and not sure how Summon Machine works in tbs, but pretty sure it doesn’t summon a second catapult) and your Oichi that you can’t seem to bring yourself to indy. Jani works. Sheriff works. Patriot may work (mine is still not high enough for me to test it out). RM mobs, kill with Sethed gunner. Dead things. If they’re not dead in that first turn, and you’re not dead when the mobs get their turn, they WILL be dead the next one after that. If they’re not dead after all that…you’re doing it wrong.

TBS with 3 mercs + main (3k and Alishan)

1. Witch/Sorc+Gun+Oracle: This is a nice combination if you want a nuker, but you also REALLY want shit to die with RM. Cast RM, nuke with the magic bitches, and clean up with the gunner. If for some reason your Sethed gunner (or catapult if you choose to risk it) doesn’t clean up, shoot some music notes. If they’re STILL not dead…reevaluate your gear.
2. 2 guns+Oracle: This is my main TBS set-up. This is what I call the “sic em” method. You’re the tank (you CAN tank, right?), your gunners are your bodyguards, and your oracle…well, she’s your Seth/Healing roadie. RM, and set up your gunners properly so they can hit at least two mobs. If done correctly, clean up should be a snap. In the case of Alishan 115, I normally just Seth Rydia (my sheriff) and she being the bad ass that she is (especially with her joytoy that I recently bought her), things are dead. So dead. And if they aren’t, Achmed (my trusty jani) comes up and finishes the job. You can alternate Seths between the two gunners (and the catapult, but squish ass catas…by 120 though you should have Salvation which helps the catapult since you can HEAL IT! Just make sure you do it AFTER Seth wears–Salvation has a nasty habit of purifying debuffs and buffs alike), just as long as they are dead.
3. Tank+Gun+Oracle: This is a set up that a lot of people swear by (mostly by staff mains, but it can work for the guitar-wielding kind that isn’t cut out for tanking). A tanky merc (usually a druid, can be anything that can tank AND has some other utility–which means your swordie, LK, and Valk are out) is on the front lines and protecting. While your gun and main (you can now attack more freely without worrying about dying) beats stuff up. Sethed catapult/gunner/main=dead things. If you choose to bring a druid, you should have Beast’s Soul. You can hit up to all 4 of your mercs and make your damage even more so sexier.

   I had never tried this set up before last night. I replaced Achmed with Banjo, my level 118 druid who I fought off spiders to get (literally, I went into Coyote’s Valley to do the quest to get him). Now being set in my ways kinda hurt me, but once I got into the groove, Banjo proved to be a distraction for mobs (a good thing) while Beast Souling me and a Sethed Rydia (with a +4 DG weapon, that means no less than 30k hits on anything in Alishan 115). You’d be surprised with how hard a music note slinger can hit with the debuff and nice attack boosts.

Remember, there is no wrong way to TBS. But there are easier ways. Just play around with some ideas and let me know of your ideas. If I have the merc, I don’t mind trying it out.

The 120 upgrade quest: If I’d known they’d gimp it some more, I’d wait longer.

Okay, so let me be clear, I am not gonna complain, because I know that I still had it easier than say…Claudia a long time ago. But the 120 upgrade quest has gotten even more pussified with the new patch.

Let me start from the beginning. When I hit 120, I stopped leveling. Okay, not stopped stopped, but I didn’t even want to attempt the quest because I heard so many horror stories about it; namely the Diabolic Highpriest (isn’t it a female boss? Shouldn’t it be Highpriestess by that logic?). But Esco had different plans–when he hit 120, he dragged me along. So I rolled with this set up.

And since I was paranoid, I went even further. I grabbed 500 awakening scrolls (excessive? Yes, especially since I wasn’t able to use them after the quest, but better safe than sorry), 60 res scrolls, +7 nix staff, cannon, gun, and instrument (in hindsight, I could have done without getting the instrument, but eh). My might was bumped up to 850k, which is a far cry from what it was when I first hit 120, and what my might is now (a little over 1 mil) at 126. All of which was probably not needed since barring bosses, I was duoing, but I was also duoing with a 120 who wasn’t as well geared.

All of my mercs were wearing +2-3 divine armor, barring my main–I had a few nix pieces. My uber-beefy (note sarcasm) front row had +2-+3 swords. All of my mercs were also well under level 120 (as were Esco’s–his druid was level 91 when we started)–my highest level was Achmed, my trusty TBS merc; he was 117 at the time. My empress (henceforth known as Pima–try to figure out her name, you get a cookie; hint: I have nightmares of Tatami runs now) was merely 106 at the time–and held her own for the rare times I needed her blessing. And trust me, it was VERY rare that I needed her blessing.

So bet you’re wondering: Why an empress? Wouldn’t I have been better off with a monk or even doing a double Holy Guard formation? Well, a double holy guard formation would work. However, I’d be losing a damage dealer, and with my tactic of “kill or be killed”, I couldn’t afford to have too many dead mercs. Remember, one that HG’s is useless when they’re horizontal. So instead of a monk (or in my case, hwarang–properly named after the squishy bow main fiance of mine–I did miss the extra damage aura helps with, just that Hwar-Esco would’ve died more than Pima), I used an oracle (henceforth known as Sage). That means my vampire (henceforth known as Schehrezade) was able to be sethed and add on to the carnage that MotoMoto and Achmed threw out in the form of…well…now it’s black bats apparently. And Pima was able to dish out damage of her own between blessings.

So on to the fight!

The mob kills were fairly easy. We were aware of the double form they have (WHY MUST THAT BE?!), but other than the monks throwing really big ass rocks at us (and by us, I mean Esco–he got pelted quite a bit), we came out unscathed.

Then the boss fights. Now the first fight was just so easy that I don’t remember much of it.

The second one? Easy, but he was still a bit nasty with his aoe. But I had a nice little merc for magic–the warlord, and a music main’s Melody of Madness, which, if you haven’t gotten at least level 20 of, it’s worth it even if it’s just for this quest. A nice Demoralize+MoM action=a fight that needed HG maybe once or twice. Fun.

Then…I had to face my fears. It probably helped that before I went to kill the Highpriestess, I got info on her. But I took a deep breath…jumped.

And nothing happened.

I lived! THE HOLY BITCH AIN’T GOT SHIT ON ME! Between Demoralize, Melody of Madness, and the very rare HG when both were in cooldown, she went down faster than those chicks who wrote this atrocity of a song (which apparently has a page on Wikipedia!).

But all my paranoia, and not only did I not die once, I barely dented my awakening scrolls, only using 22 of them. And I gained a couple of levels from it. Thanks Esco for being a stubborn pain in my ass!

Anyways, back to what I said in the first part–the 120 upgrade quest, as I did it, was pussified in comparison to what others went through a few years ago. And they further pussified it by cutting mob counts/drops in half. Really?! *facepalm* Now I’m definitely tempted to level up my cannon alt to see how bad of a formation I can have to make it through that quest. Only 80 levels to go!