Here's looking at you Jack'o

As far as bosses go, to this point Jack 'O is the big boss in The Mana World. I tagged along while a couple of adventurers socked it to Jack 'O. Sadly I died (trying to actually hit Jack 'O) before I could see them kill the big boss. But, Weezer helped me obtain my leather chaps, and after a group announcement I went to Tulmishar and followed Nisar to the chest and obtained my short sword (finally). I'm still far from invincible (mountain snakes really chew my hide and so do spiders in groups), but it's a couple of steps better. Level 50 now!

Helmet Time!

I finally got 5 iron ores (you get them from Yellow Slime drops) and saved up 10k for a Knight's Helm. This helm is 15 defense, not bad. Next goal is to get a bone knife or short sword (or any sword). Spent a lot of time killing poison skulls with a bunch of other players (and dying frequently). Spent too much time playing really. I need to moderate my TMW playing.

To quest or not to quest

Spent 10 minutes this morning leveling up to level 47. Most of the quests left seem too difficult at this point without help. I sometimes see clearly lower level characters using short swords and it seems pretty clear to me that they were obtained by sharing, a player drop, or some other non-quest means. After leveling up I allocated all points to Dexterity, it seems most helpful at this point, though after a level or two I may start allocating some to Vitality.

The best quest at this point seems to be no quest, just leveling up. The slimes and pinkies actually give okay experience so I'll concentrate on them for a bit.

Almost at the plate goal

Last night I didn't get a chance to play TMW, but this morning before work I spent about 15 minutes and I've managed to come within 9,000 gold of my cherished goal of plate armor (which cost 100k). This should help with some of the tougher beasties I need to fight to beat to complete some of the other quests in TMW. Leveling with the current batch of beasties is arduous.

Santa Slime

I spent the better part of yesterday figuring out what quest to do next now that I have both my fur lined gloves and boots. By accident I completed the Lora Tay Seamstress quest, but I did so looking for the cave for the cat's ears quest. Originally I thought I might complete the Santa Presents quest. Obtaining the purple and blue presents was easy enough (you could do it with just monster points if you accumulated enough), but the green boxes are only dropped by Santa Slimes and only .5% of the time. At this point Santa slimes are really difficult for me to kill, I take too much damage from his reindeer slimes. I tried a lure and bait technique on the reindeer slimes which works to an extent, but either Santa would summon more reindeer slimes or other players would jump into the fray and destroy a bunch using magic, leaving me without my hard earned kill.

I decided the next quest isn't a quest at all but to go after enough bats so that I can save up for better armor, 100,000GP plate armor.

Starting in the middle

If you haven't heard of The Mana World yet and you like fantasy role playing games, check it out. I discovered The Mana World in its infancy over 3 years ago and left it for awhile. When I returned a lot had developed and the game is now very robust. There are also a number of excellent forums and a well organized wiki to help guide you... but the best part is just playing.

If I started at the beginning you'd hear something like, "Killed 200 maggots today," which is pretty boring, but that's how the game starts out - you == wimp! If you can get the chance accept anything another player wants to give you, almost everything is beneficial, even lowly Acorns (squirrels drop them).

So who am I in the game? Tarq, a Level 42 something, fighter would be the closest description.

Today I discovered that Yellow Slimes are not so tough. Sea Slimes take quite a chunk out of me, even with Light Plate and the Silk Headband.

My advice to newbies, get to level 15 or so and head west past the beach to hunt Pinkies. Better yet, if you're still a little raw, find someone to help you hunt Pinkies. Pinkies drop their antennas (very rarely). Collect 10 antennas and talk to Hinnak a farmer north of Hurnscald. He'll reward you with a Scythe, a potent weapon for fighter types. Then go hunt some squirrels!

I gave Kitkit 5 antenna today. I don't really hunt Pinkies much anymore, they're mainly just good for that quest. On to the second part of the fluffy quest (already have the gloves)... more later on this.