IC contact post!

[experiencepoints]

[IC contact post for Drift Fleet!]

Comments

[huaaaaagh]

Mm... yeah, I think so. I'm used to a few of those being support skills that require activation, but it makes more sense that they'd be passive skills when linked to the actual attacks.

[experiencepoints]

Yeah. Or... A healer can't panic. Ever. A panicking healer leads to a party wiping. But someone with high spirit... They've got enough willpower and judgment that they tend to be the types who don't panic, for example.

[huaaaaagh]

That definitely makes sense. When a party's on the edge of dying, if a healer freaks out and uses the wrong spell, it's game over.

[Quite literally.]

[experiencepoints]

Yeah. So I'm a terrible choice for a healer, in stats and temperament. Honestly, I'm pretty sure I only started learning it because I wanted to impress Yura, and to try to unlock Archmage.

[huaaaaagh]

Archmage? What kind of class is that?

[SAO had that kind of unlocking system, too, though they were all weapon-based since classes didn't officially exist. And ALO skills were race-dependent. It's interesting to hear about different ways of doing things.]

[experiencepoints]

It's, well... An advanced class, derived from mage, obviously. It's an upgrade to mage in every way, with no real spellcasting weaknesses, capable of healing, buffs, offensive, support and utility... Basically any kind of magic. Teleport, Hover, Nova, Cocytus... These are all Archmage spells. Items that can replicate an archmage's spells are some of the most expensive you can get.

But the requirements to unlock it are that you have to be level 50 in at least three different magic classes. And most people end up stopping at around level 30 on one class before giving up adventuring.

... My mother was an archmage. Some of the spells I've seen her use, I don't even know what they were, just... they were ridiculously powerful.

[huaaaaagh]

Whoa, that sounds awesome... definitely advanced magic. So it must take a really long time to get that high level in your world?

[It's kind of fascinating how a their origins can be so similar and so different at the same time.]

[experiencepoints]

Yeah, it's... Um, I'm going to assume you're familiar with the idea of 'experience curve'?

[huaaaaagh]

Yeah, I know of it.

[One small blessing in SAO is that it had a pretty forgiving one, compared to a lot of MMORPGs he used to play. Skills and levels came pretty consistently, so they had a fair chance of becoming strong if they weren't too reckless.]

[experiencepoints]

Different classes have different curves, obviously. But they're still pretty unforgiving after a while, and it takes lots of intense grinding and effort after that point, and even a single death can take away enough experience that it becomes too much of a pain to keep leveling. And by the time people get that high up, they're also generally old enough that if they haven't hacked it as an adventurer up to that point, they won't be making enough money from adventuring to support themselves, so they need to get a job, which is less time to go level up, making adventuring harder, and so on.

[huaaaaagh]

Hah... all of that sounds uncomfortably familiar to me. My old grinding schedule was a nightmare in retrospect.

[If it hadn't been life or death he'd probably have given up and joined a party long before he partnered with Asuna. The solo thing would never have lasted as long as it had.

Then again, people wouldn't have had issues with his beta status if that was the case, so it would never have been necessary anyway.]

[experiencepoints]

It's not that bad. It's... actually something I think I enjoyed. The more you level up, the further out you can go, to new dungeons or higher-level areas. By getting stronger, you can actually get out and see the world, you know?

[huaaaaagh]

No, I'm with you there. It's grinding safely in the same area that gets exhausting. Mapping out new areas is a lot more fun.

[experiencepoints]

Even dungeons you've long-since memorized can be fun if you take some care to make them more interesting.

[huaaaaagh]

That's easier said than done, and not all that efficient, either, if you have to put extra effort into making them that way.

[experiencepoints]

[she shrugs.]

Depends on the party. Yura one time decided halfway through a dungeon that we were having a picnic at the next empty room.

[huaaaaagh]

Yeah, I won't deny that that's the biggest issue. I used to grind solo, and I'm not always the best at entertaining myself.

[experiencepoints]

... Try going to one with your girlfriend. Just to sightsee. It might be a bit more fun.

[huaaaaagh]

Actually, we have done that- lots of times. With us it usually ends up being more of a competition. Who can kill the most monsters in a short amount of time, who can get the most drops... stuff like that.

It does beat the monotony a bit.

[experiencepoints]

Well, not quite what I had in mind, but if it works... As long as it doesn't feel like grinding.

[huaaaaagh]

It made enough of a difference that I didn't mind. Asuna's good at that. I didn't even care that much that she usually beat me.