Reconnection Lost...AGAIN!
Drakensang-Online went back, well...online again only to conk out after about 20 minutes of playing. So much for that idea.
Release 054
Instead, honor points will no longer solely be for armor. Every point you earn in battle will bring you closer to unlocking improved skills from the Talents of Honor.
And you get...fame (Irene Cara's song of the same title suddenly comes to mind)!
The Talents of Honor (PVP)
- Increase your skills in addition to the Talents of Experience in player versus player battles and in Anderworld
- Each time you reach a new talent level, your powers in battle improve and, with every 5th talent level you reach, you can choose from one of 2 talents
- To learn how to use your new talents, you need honor points, which you can win while battling other warriors
Read all the details about the new Release here.
Farming in the Burning Coast
There was a time when I headed off to Slifmoor when I wanted to stock up on health potions and Essence of Combat. Now it seems that I get more stuff when I do my farming at the Burning Coast.
I'm now at my six batch of Essence of Combat and have 16 Better Health Potions.
I definitely like!
Defeated by the Herald of the Underworld
Two words: big mistake.
The Herald made short work of us. After battling it out for about 5-10 minutes (where we barely made a dent in the beast's health points) we decided to beat a hasty retreat and return to town.
Another day, Herald, Another day...
XVII: Resting at Level 39
It's also hard to grind and fill the XP cells when there's very limited quests. Since being a Spellweaver is expensive, I'll probably be online occasionally or when I feel like playing
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I really feel bad about the R051 update which according to them is predominantly a "revision of the Spellweaver" (WHY THE HELL DID YOU NEED TO DO THAT?!).
Before I can grind solo in Dragon's Cavern without breaking a sweat. Now, I need a bodyguard (thank you very much, Jonas) or else I'll be dead most of the time. My character feels helpless whenever I grind solo. When I'm surrounded by monsters I can't perform chain attacks because of the stupid mana cap.
So, after that update, I ran out of interest in playing.
Maybe one of the game developers got his heart broken by an ex-GF who used to play Drakensang as a Spellweaver and decided to get even by de-powering the Spellweaver class.
Banner of War + Mighty Wild Swing = AWESOMENESS!
Gerry Alanguilan (in-game name: Komikero) talked about some new techniques he developed some days ago (click here to read it) for the Dragon Knight and I tried out one of them: the Banner of War plus Mighty Wild Swing combo.
It is made of pure awesome!
The Banner of War allows you to use your skills without the need for Rage for about 10 seconds or so. Plus it deals some damage to your enemies caught within the circle of fire (provided you've leveled up to 40 and chose to imbue that talent, of course). This basically means you can use Mighty Wild Swing again and again (which normally needs a big amount of Rage to use) for the duration of the Banner of War.
It's especially exciting to use when you're totally surrounded by a HUGE amount of enemies. Start using the combo after building up the prerequisite amount of Rage to use Banner of War and watch them all go down one by one. It doesn't even matter if they're beyond arm's reach because, as long as they're within the circle of fire, they're going to get hit.
When the fire burns out and the dust settles, all that's left are the cold dead bodies of your enemies.
It is made of pure awesome!
The Banner of War allows you to use your skills without the need for Rage for about 10 seconds or so. Plus it deals some damage to your enemies caught within the circle of fire (provided you've leveled up to 40 and chose to imbue that talent, of course). This basically means you can use Mighty Wild Swing again and again (which normally needs a big amount of Rage to use) for the duration of the Banner of War.
It's especially exciting to use when you're totally surrounded by a HUGE amount of enemies. Start using the combo after building up the prerequisite amount of Rage to use Banner of War and watch them all go down one by one. It doesn't even matter if they're beyond arm's reach because, as long as they're within the circle of fire, they're going to get hit.
When the fire burns out and the dust settles, all that's left are the cold dead bodies of your enemies.
Komikero: Kingshill Vacation For Two
The quiet idyllic life at Grimford has been really good for me.It's been rather relaxing and comforting after all those months of furious battles with such ungodly creatures far in the north east. But once in a while wanderlust just strikes, not for battle, but for other places to visit.
The last time I was at Kingshill, I was a little too engrossed in the numerous world threatening missions that I had to accomplish that I failed to notice what a fair city it was. Fair and huge. Far larger and more expansive than quaint little Grimford.
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I set about on a trip, being careful to leave my armor behind because the warring life is really not for me anymore. These old bones want nothing more than to enjoy the little pleasures in life.
And in Kingshill, this little pleasure meant appreciating the vast historical structures, pondering upon their beauty and their history. Of course, I've always had my eye on dusky Nordic goddess Runa Freygard. Fearless am I in facing dragons but I got tongue tied in the presence of such extraordinary sexy beauty.
But it was she who noticed me. Our eyes met and well, the rest is history.
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Runa, inspite of her formidable appearance, is much more sweeter and gentler than that magnificently ornery ice queen, Mina the Essence Trader at Grimford. I got nowhere with her. I don't think she likes men, to be honest. Or maybe rather it's just me but no matter. Runa and I are happy together and, once this vacation is over, I plan on bringing her home back to Grimford.
Wish me luck!
Komikero: Back at Grimford...maybe for Good?
I blasted through all the new missions rather quickly, eager as I am to go back home. If you've seen Lord of the Rings, Grimford is the closest thing one has to Hobbiton in this place.
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It's just a very nice place to settle down.
I got disappointed though. As much as I like getting some Andermants for completing the missions, the total XP rewards of all new missions (which amounts to upwards 75K) were not added to my XP at all.
My XP bar did not move, nor did the numerical value of my experience points rise even one point.
Now I know that there is no more Level 41, so why look for XP at this point? I would like, at the very least, for the XP bar to move from the very beginning of Level 40 (or the left most point of the bar) to start moving towards the end (the right most point of the bar). If the XP bar reaches that point and goes no further, then that would make more sense. Because right now there's just a gaping XP void at the bottom of my screen and it drives me nuts that I can't fill it.
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I figure Drakensang owes me those XP points.
It makes taking on future quests rather pointless if I'm not going to get any XP for them at all. As much as I was anticipating the new Level 40 quests, I think I'll stay in retirement this time until such time as when XP points shall be rewarded to Level 40 players again.
New Quests in the Resistance Command Center
There's also some minor bug fixes (nothing on the Spellweaver Mana cap I'm afraid) introduced with this release.
Check out the full details here.
Jonasdiego: Level 40 Dragon Knight
After a mad dash to level-up I am now a Level 40 Dragon Knight!
I've yet to kill Sigrisimarr Frostclaw and the Herald of the Anderworld however (frankly, I don't have the motivation right now). Even at my current level I'd be hard-pressed to dispatch Frostclaw in a group, what more single-handedly (and let's not even talk about the Herald of the Anderwold).
I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I definitely don't want to go on grinding, that's for sure.
I know that Gerry Alanguilan (in-game name: Komikero) has retired to Grimford (click here to read the details) and Ysa Arce (in-game name: Xvii) has declined to play the game further because of the Mana cap issue.
I'm probably going to stick around a bit and wait for the new stuff promised for the Level 40 players and see if they're going to be any good. I'll be checking in from time to time but I'm going to be playing less definitely.
Should evil rear its ugly head however, you can probably expect to see us around.
Fight on, heroes of Duria!
I've yet to kill Sigrisimarr Frostclaw and the Herald of the Anderworld however (frankly, I don't have the motivation right now). Even at my current level I'd be hard-pressed to dispatch Frostclaw in a group, what more single-handedly (and let's not even talk about the Herald of the Anderwold).
I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I definitely don't want to go on grinding, that's for sure.
I know that Gerry Alanguilan (in-game name: Komikero) has retired to Grimford (click here to read the details) and Ysa Arce (in-game name: Xvii) has declined to play the game further because of the Mana cap issue.
I'm probably going to stick around a bit and wait for the new stuff promised for the Level 40 players and see if they're going to be any good. I'll be checking in from time to time but I'm going to be playing less definitely.
Should evil rear its ugly head however, you can probably expect to see us around.
Fight on, heroes of Duria!
Komikero: Grimford is the Place to be
Ever since leaving this place many months ago, and seeing all those horrifying and dreadful places out in the world, I always dreamed of coming back.
I thought it was time to hang my hat, put my armor in the closet, and enjoy a well earned retirement.
As far as anyone is concerned in Grimford, I'm just an ordinary farmer, going about his business as peacefully as he can. There are many would be warriors in town now and many would go on to fight for this world and achieve many things.
I have no doubt we are all in safe hands.
As for me, I'd rather hang out with the town babe, Mina. She's kinda ornery but that's just the way I like it!
I'll melt this woman's frozen heart soon enough!
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See you at the tavern guys! Happy fighting!
Komikero: 40!
I finally reached Level 40! Whew!
Thanks to a few quests that I didn't notice before on Shorefolk and the Burning Coast, aided and abetted by a technique I discovered a few days ago, I blasted through Level 39 up to 40 in just a few days.
The question is... what now?
I look back on the months I played this game and I have to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed it, although there have been a few things that were rather frustrating about it (it's all on this blog). I just tried my best to work around the problems and kept on playing.
The developers have promised Level 40 quests to come soon but I won't be sitting in front of my desk waiting for it, not with Diablo 3 rearing its lovely ugly head in just a little over a week.
Whatever Drakensang's got in store for the future, it better be damned awesome for me to go back to it in a big way.
Online Gaming using a WACOM Tablet
Just to make it perfectly clear, we didn’t buy our WACOM tablets just to play the game. We’re actually artists and we have WACOMs for work.
Using a tablet actually provides some advantages:
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- It leaves your hand at a more natural angle thus preventing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Gerry himself had a brush with it some time back)
- It’s sturdier compared to your garden variety optical mouse (unless you get one of those designed specifically for gaming) where the left and right buttons give out after clicking your enemies brains out
- Moving the cursor around is much easier (it is, at least, for me)
It’s not all on the upside however.
My fingers cramp and hurt somewhat after a prolonged game session from gripping the pen (it’s one of those occasions that I wish that the pen was actually a little thicker).
What’s your mouse like?
Komikero: Finding a Technique
Another motivation is that since I'm almost halfway to level 40, I would like to at least reach that level before moving on. But still, moving on is up in the air because the developers have announced more Level 40 quests coming soon, so at least that's something to look forward to.
Still frustrated with the loss of Scream of Rage (or Scream of Fury, I don't remember now which), I've had to find other techniques with which I can dispatch monsters with my Dragon Knight. My usual technique was to use Scream of Rage and then with the added speed, I can use Smash very effectively. I can't do that anymore, so I tried to look for something else.
Here's what I found:
Using Banner of War, alongside with an old trusty skill Mighty Wild Swing, seems to create an awesome combo I discovered. With Banner of War activated, one can use the Mighty Wild Swing continuously with only a split second pause in between. Mighty Wild Swing uses up a lot of Rage so much so you can only use it once, build up Rage for a few seconds, and then use it again. With Banner of War activated, your Rage is always full so you can keep using Mighty Wild Swing on and on for 10 or more seconds.
This has the added benefit of hitting all monsters around you at once.
Surrounded by Level 40 Dragons and Level 39 Skeletons, it becomes much easier to survive and kill them all quickly using this combo. And not once have resorted to use any health potions.
Try it!
I Destroyed my Fairy Summoning Wand
The Fairy Summoning Wand, once the fairy has been summoned, supposedly increased your travel speed by 20-25% (give or take a few, I forgot the exact percentage). It also made you glitter like a Twilight Vampire and the little fairy followed you around like Peter Pan.
I destroyed it for several reasons:
1. It was taking up precious space in my inventory
2. It kinda made me look stupid glittering and being followed by a little pixie
3. It didn’t work
Actually, the third statement isn’t entirely true.
It worked while I was inside an urban area but once I’m out there’s not much difference between my old speed and the current one.
Anyone else out there with the same experience?
Halfway There
My Level 39 Dragon Knight is finally halfway to ramping up and turning Level 40!
Probably going to take another 2-3 weeks of endless grinding in Dragon's Caverns though. Gahd! Time for a Bon Jovi song!
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Probably going to take another 2-3 weeks of endless grinding in Dragon's Caverns though. Gahd! Time for a Bon Jovi song!
Color your World
Drakensang-Online provides you with more color options, 16 in fact, to further customize your items with Release 052. These colors are currently only available at the in-game shop but will be accessible via the merchants soon.
The colors are bought with, you guessed it, Andermants (but of course). I was kind of hoping that they can be bought with coins. Personally, I don't mind paying for armor, essences, and potions but I don't really see myself shelling out cash (Andermants, Drakensang-Online's in-game currency, are bought with real world money) to change the color of my boots.
The developers also promises that there will be more quests soon so that's something to look forward to at least.
Click here for more details about the new updates.
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The colors are bought with, you guessed it, Andermants (but of course). I was kind of hoping that they can be bought with coins. Personally, I don't mind paying for armor, essences, and potions but I don't really see myself shelling out cash (Andermants, Drakensang-Online's in-game currency, are bought with real world money) to change the color of my boots.
The developers also promises that there will be more quests soon so that's something to look forward to at least.
Click here for more details about the new updates.
Spellweaver Poll
Looks like we were not alone in decrying the new changes to the Spellweaver class in Drakensang-Online. A bunch of folks in the forums were also unhappy with Release 051.
Check out the results (as of May 1, 2012 10:14 PM Manila, Philippines) below:
Exercise your right and vote. Click here.
Check out the results (as of May 1, 2012 10:14 PM Manila, Philippines) below:
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Exercise your right and vote. Click here.
Xvii: Ranting Time
Let me say that again: I DON'T LIKE THE REVISION FOR SPELLWEAVERS!
The revision made the Spellweavers weaker because of the new Mana cap which basically means no more chain attacks because we have limited Mana points.
And I really hate to see "not enough mana" on my screen.
I don't know what they were thinking when they made this revision. When they first balanced the Spellweaver, removing the Lighting and changing it to Magic Missile, it was somehow acceptable but not this time.
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Okay, so I appreciate that the Mana points recovers faster despite the cap but it's still not enough (the Mana points will recover faster if you use Magic Missiles...that's the time you can see a Mana ball glowing around you because you are using that skill). Unfortunately you can't kill your opponent fast enough with that skill because, in my opinion, when they made that balancing crap it made the main skill set of the Spellweaver weaker.
And that skill tree or talent tree. I can' figure out what it has to do with my HP.
Sorry, guys but I won't promote this game anymore. Especially not with people I know who's into online gaming too.
Spellweavers on an uproar over Release 051
Unfortunately, it also saw the complete revision of the Spellweaver class which didn’t sit particularly well with a lot of Spellweavers, Ysa Arce (in-game name: Xvii) included. Apparently, aside from other changes brought about by the rebalancing of the character class, the Spellweaver’s Mana reservoir got capped at 100 points.
Suffice to say, people are not happy. Not happy at all.
Word from the developers over at the message boards (click here for the complete details) says that, as far as the Spellweavers are concerned:
- The Mana enchantments on Spellweavers’ armor have been converted to damage points or hitpoints enchantments
- Mana potions and Mana roots have been completed revamped
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I can certainly understand where the disgruntled Spellweavers are coming from.
After all, if I spent hundreds of hours painstakingly collecting Mana boosting items and paid good money for Andermants to beef up my Spellweaver’s Mana reservoir only to find it capped at a 100 after the update, I’d certainly be pissed off too.
The Spellweaver rebalancing has also made the class less effective fighters and less enjoyable to play for several reasons:
- They’re unable to do chain attacks because of the Mana cap (and some of those spells eat up a lot of Mana and once a Spellweaver is out of Mana they’re quite vulnerable even with armor and hitpoints enhancing items)
- The limitation in Mana also means a more limited repertoire of spells they can cast, making them less helpful in a party setting and more of a liability (since they need to be defended more often by the Dragon Knights and/or Ranger)
- The Spellweaver’s new found vulnerability necessitates that they join a party when grinding, farming, or questing to avoid getting killed prematurely (i.e., less solo flights)
Still, Drakensang-Online is in open beta, undergoing more development and updates.
Hopefully we’ll see a return of the Spellweaver class to their former glory (the developers do take the community’s feedback seriously after all). As for Ysa, she decided to stop playing the game in the meantime.
It hurts too much to see her Spellweaver as a shadow of its former self.
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