In my down time this week I did manage to level up some subs because I didn't have the time to log in for a full party. First, if you are a glad and do not have punishing barbs then you are doing it wrong. This ability is the reason you can complete hard rank 40 levequests at rank 33 solo or in a duo. Kamikaze'ing yourself on those stupid "oh i'm going to heal myself for 400 hp with a drain attack every 10 seconds" wolves is the only reliable way of killing them.
Also, the new rank 40 style levequest is so boring. *SPOILERS* Why does SE consider standing by a node for 10 minutes waiting for 3 packs of mobs you kill in 30 seconds an entertaining experience? The only danger of these quests is aggroing the high leveled mobs in the area and it just doesn't feel like something they should have saved for the new style rank 40 leve. Rank 30 and the necrologos quests were entertaining, at least the one where you pick up the pages, not the one where you hope for random drops for 30 minutes and pray the spawn locations aren't far away. Hopefully, the new style of quest at 50 is more entertaining.
There is an unconfirmed, in my own opinion that is, bug I keep hearing about that having DEX over 40 provides no benefit to any player. That it is broken and the only way to increase your accuracy is a new weapon. I can attest that using the Vitality bonus rings and Mind bonus rings provide no increased HP or MP, respectively, so I assume that the accuracy rings are having the same problem. But, they are harder to test because accuracy in this game is a bit hard to guage because mob level, even of the same type, varies in an area (not a lot, but enough to maybe skew accuracy test results). Same goes for STR rings, there may be some sort of placebo effect people are seeing on these.
What does this mean for glads, well personally I have sank my DEX down to 40 and put those points into STR and VIT (please remember that MND is also a stat you want a few points in, I have mine around 30 as it does curve magic damage taken). Now, I will admit that with a few mobs I noticed no decrease in accuracy meaning that the rumor may have some merit. I'd like to see hard data on this but do not currently have the time myself because I am trying to stick to a schedule to hit 50 that I have currently fallen behind on.
In other news, I now have a higher rank (glad 33) than my physical level is (32). This seems so off to me but was bound to happen with me not getting a craft over 20 yet. So, in my down time coming up I plan to rank up blacksmith instead of armorer. I can repair none of my gear as either class so I just feel like switching. As a rank 18 armorer I can repair none of the rank 38 bronze gear and as a 15 blacksmith I cannot even repair my Iron Dagger which I will be replacing next level with an Elm Macuahuitl +1 that a wonderful LS mate (shout out to Delicious Cocoapuffs) made for me. After that I have 2 Iron Falchions (sexy as hell if you ask me, finally a sword I can be proud of in this game!) that I had made by another LS mate and our resident blacksmith Rhaegar Targaryen.
Well that's all for now guys, feel free to post questions or suggestions for entries below and I'll work on them, in the mean time I am still trying to quantify the data on how much enmity abilities generate, but there have been inconsistencies and I do not want to publish the data until they are accounted for.
Yours Truly,
Ventus Invictus, a Saronian Gladiator
