Payne of the Flop

A timely injection

2008-10-14T14:17:00.002-04:00

With the economy in the toilet and the general feeling that things are going south around me, I did manage to finish up the side work for Pokercrack.com. Roy and I both seem happy about the results and I am hopeful that this is just the beginning of things to generate a little cash here and there. I figured I'll contact Pete and see what he says about getting into this kind of thing more

End of September - what will October bring?

2008-09-30T14:01:00.002-04:00

September was a tough month for me. In poker - I was up about $500 but now, the last day of the month, I am at a profit of $6 - so I had a quick rush up and a quick rush down in the same month. Tournaments continue to treat me well, I still can't seem to get a good rhythm in ring games. My bankroll is back down to $200 or so - which is annoying considering where it was.In October I think it will

Work, wear and tear

2008-09-18T11:53:00.002-04:00

I have been draining myself thin lately between work, family, poker and then all of the other crap I try to fit in my daily routine. I realized the other day that I try to work on a few things each day, but I very rarely accomplish much.For instance, cleaning my house. I was working on the pile of papers that need to be shredded, recycled and whatever in the corner next to my computer desk. The

Kids back at school, Poker and Megamek

2008-09-09T16:41:00.002-04:00

Well, it is past the first week of school now. Gabriel started in Spanish immersion this year; Guenevere is in preschool still. Gabe's class runs 4 days per week - a full school day on Monday and then half days Tuesday through Thursday. Due to my son's special needs, and yesterday being his first full day, it appears this will be the major work point for Lindsay and I. I happened to be home when

Just a quick update

2008-09-05T16:06:00.002-04:00

Haven't been very good about updating this with any of my recent endeavors - but better late than never I suppose.Lately, I've been getting back into poker and have been pleased to find that my game is starting to come around. August was a tough month and I was in the hole from day 1. I managed to fluctuate from down $50-100 or so for most of it - which was just frustrating. Near the end of the

Losses that Could have Been Wins

2008-05-01T10:18:00.002-04:00

The last two nights I have lost, for the most part, from just being unlucky. 2nd round of combat last night, I move my clint (AC10 variant) to partial cover for 6 hexes (7 hexes would have been without partial cover so not as desirable). My opponent fires a large laser, hits the clint's torso and pierces it to explode the ammo.In that fight, my rommel tank also got several shots with his AC20

Been a week or two - so let's give an update

2008-04-29T15:22:00.003-04:00

Took a week off from work and as such had a lot of time to myself. This gave me plenty of time for a lot of things - and updating the blog wasn't really on my to do list. However, I did get a fair number of games in on MegaMek. Not everything went perfectly - but my hangar has grown well and I believe I am winning more important games than losing. I guess after I do a quick rundown, I'll be able

The Benefits of Partial Cover

2008-04-17T10:04:00.002-04:00

I cannot express how much a map can really help or hinder a mission. Take my fight from last night, for example. I was deployed on the north side, my opponent on the south. About 5 hexes away to the south of my starting area, it becomes +1 level and increases up to about +4 level in the middle. Heading further south- it dips back down - but only to +2 or so. In other words - my opponent had

Taking a hit and Failed Piloting Skill Rolls

2008-04-15T15:05:00.002-04:00

Well - in contrast to the weekend, last night was a rough night. I played in three missions and managed to lose them all. I feel that I had a decent shot in two of them and the third was a far cry from reasonable. Regardless, my losses were reasonable - so I cost the faction some campaign points, but still came out ahead in terms of money, mechs and bays.The first match, I decided I would try out

Here come the Dragons

2008-04-14T10:57:00.003-04:00

Well - a very good weekend overall.First off, on Friday, the admins of the server decided they would allow precision ammo in AC5 and AC2 guns. Precision ammo is particularly effective against fast moving mechs and vees - so the instant it went up - the doomsday reports started coming in. Personally - I don't use many AC5s or AC2s - so I wasn't too sure how much this would affect me.I played a

Adventures in AC20 land...

2008-04-11T13:11:00.002-04:00

Apparently, after I logged off the other night, Megamek went through a rollback - meaning my 2 wins and the 2 mechs I bought were essentially gone from the game. No biggie - BJ-1's and COM-2D's are not exactly premium mechs - and the wins are not so important.So I logged in last night and got re-promoted to Garrison Commander and bought my medium mech over again - this time getting a 4/4

Current Hangar

2008-04-10T10:12:00.002-04:00

I forgot to include changes to my hangar last night. Well - I didn't lose any mechs in that one fight, but I did add a couple: a Blackjack BJ-1 and a Commando COM-2D - nothing special by any means.And despite my third straight win - I haven't yet gotten a leveled pilot (which is good news for me because if my higher BV mechs get leveled pilots I wouldn't be able to use them due to BV spread).I

Explosions, Explosions Every where

2008-04-10T09:16:00.002-04:00

Well, I returned to Megamek last night and found that I was still not promoted. As instructed, I contacted the mods that were online about it. The first told me to "wait for house leadership" - which is specifically something I asked about and was told that I could ask a mod for it. The second was the mod who told me to contact a mod - he eventually came back and promoted me.So now I am a

Megamek

2008-04-09T12:23:00.003-04:00

While Maple works out the recent string of hacker infestations, I figured I would check out the new campaign for Megamek.net. After putting in the requisite tutorial missions, I decided to join the Draconis Combine (Kurita) and see how things go.First thing I'm hit with is that the relative freedom of last cycle is gone. Each faction has separate sub-factions which dictate what units you can buy

Level 92 and Level 40

2008-04-04T11:51:00.002-04:00

Well - been a busy couple of days on Maple. My crusader, once he hit 92, went down to Gobies to try that out. I found that while I don't have the accuracy issues others might, solo it is not very fun nor efficient. Exp is probably on par with Duals, but the cost is much higher. To make it worse - I died here (but only lost 2% or so because I had just leveled)After that, I went to Dragon turtles

Level 91

2008-03-27T15:51:00.002-04:00

A couple days later and I'm already levelling up again. Duals continues to treat me very well - including 2 steely drops in the past week in addition to a steady supply of dark pirate hats, red prias and other sundries.I've been contemplating heading on over to dragon turtles for a change, but the fact of the matter is that duals continue to be so nice that I have little need to head elsewhere. I

Level 90

2008-03-19T12:20:00.002-04:00

Well - I finally hit level 90. Took a while, but I finally hit it and got a chance to scroll some amazing items.Not surprisingly, my scrolling did not turn out so well:0/7 10%s on the level 90 bottom1/2 10% on the level 90 top (still has 5 slots)0/6 10%s on three level 90 boots (1 has 1 slot, the other 2 have 4 each)0/1 30% shield for atk on a +4 str kalkan0/3 10% shield def on the kalkan3/3 60%

Getting a better Red Katana

2008-03-13T11:12:00.002-04:00

Well - aside from training a fair amount more than I used to do, I have been a little consumed with the desire to improve the weapon I am using. Darius gave me this 100atk, +7 str katana a few weeks ago and I have to admit it is a lot better than my khan ever was. That said - I know I'll want to replace it and, more importantly, need to replace it in order to meet the greater knockback

Thar be Pirates!

2008-03-10T11:03:00.002-04:00

Well - not much has changed in recent days. I've been working at duals for the better part of the last week (with some forays to kill some spirit vikings for the repeatable quest), and it has continued to be solid exp and, although I lose money without drops - I have actually been making some money there due to a nice selection of above average drops.Now I'm level 88 and have 70% - so I'm well on

Zakum Helm

2008-02-27T17:14:00.002-05:00

Well - after hitting level 86, I did an impulsive thing and contacted hefferheffer about getting a zakum helm. He gave me a price - which I was a few million short on. I got a short term loan from a guildie and bought it.The next night, I was in the first run, but lagged out. On the second run, I lagged out again. Blah.Anyway - hefferheffer went on for me the next night and got the helm for me. I

Duals and more duals

2008-02-22T14:49:00.002-05:00

Well - I haven't played too much since I last updated. Lately though, I've been capping off my night with 5-15% or so at dual ghost pirates - so I'm slowly making progress.For the most part though, I've been playing poker to take up my time. I deposited a little back into my Stars account and turned that $100 into just under $900. I'm hoping to let it grow until I am able to make a difference on

Relatively Recent News

2007-10-23T10:15:00.000-04:00

And now for something - slightly - different.Ok - first off - MapleStory. I'm doing fairly well at just keeping a steady progress. I'm now most of the way to level 82, training mostly at Water Goblins. I have spent some amount of time (~12%) at ghost pirates and some time (~10%) at wolf spiders and determined the exp rate is nice but that the money is still too high to justify - especially with

Recent Events

2007-09-21T14:04:00.000-04:00

Well - its been a while since I last posted, but it doesn't mean I haven't been playing or just doing other things.Anyway - my main character is up to level 78, and is only 12% away from 79. I have been training mostly at Water Goblins (Kappas) in the Vanished Village. Training there is very fast for me and very profitable, so I really can't complain.In terms of drops, I have been well blessed in

Level 74 and NLC

2007-08-06T11:39:00.000-04:00

Been a busy couple of days, so I've just been training when I can and trading what I can.I managed to finish off Level 73 at Camp 2. Once I did, I decided to head over to New Leaf City. I like some of the new things, but for the most part it isn't that impressive to me. I managed to finish a couple of the quests though, so some progress was made, even if I only managed 5% in a couple of

Busy Weekend

2007-07-30T17:21:00.000-04:00

Well - not much time to post right now, but I figured I'd at least post the latest snapshots of my characters. Telin has been busy in the Camp 2 and hasn't had much of interest there; Illithik has been stuck electrifying stirges (which is good clean fun!), but also hasn't had much of interest there. Anyway - I'll try to post something more meaningful tomorrow if I get the chance...

More Progress

2007-07-27T11:30:00.000-04:00

After a couple of days break, I got back into Maple with 14 trades to get through with various individuals from Basil Market. I spent most of my first hour on looking for the people and actually managed to get through 5 trades - all for things I was buying. I hope in the near future, I'll be able to resolve some of my selling trades so that I can recoup the costs of those items. Other than that -

Level 73 and Camp

2007-07-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

Made some more solid progress this weekend - spending the entire time at Camp 2 near Perion. Pressured to find out how good it was, I timed it out at 9% per hour with my 105% speed and picking up everything manually. In other words - very decent. I've gotten a few drops there and even sold a few of them - so that's always a good sign. With 500 mana elixirs given to me from a friend - I will have

Getting there - slowly but surely...

2007-07-20T15:00:00.001-04:00

Just a quick update - but I managed to earn about 20% yesterday and got a whole bunch of trades done. Most of the time training was spent at Yetis with Thrythwig, but later on I moved on to solo at Camp 2 again. I'm still impressed with the rate there and for profit, well I guess this is the most telling:Less than 1 hour: +130k mesos, used 10 ice cream pops (22000 mesos), 5 mana elixirs (3000

Yetis and Camp

2007-07-19T12:28:00.000-04:00

Haven't done much over the last couple of days, but trained a little at Icy Cold Field with Tim. The exp rate there improves with a second player, and improves even more when both of us are using our speed equipment. I think I need to improve my damage capacity a little more to make training there just a little better as I have just a few too many times when I have to use 5 hits to kill one.

More updates from the front

2007-07-16T14:27:00.001-04:00

Well, haven't posted in a while and I am actually playing maple story again. I have gone to training both my wizard and my crusader now - just to keep things interesting. This weekend though - I got interested in running my crusader more and actually managed to boost up ~30-40% on him - so he is well on his way.I've been reading some of the posts and having conversations about training locations

Moving on

2007-05-18T17:56:00.001-04:00

Well, not much has gone in the past few days - though I should probably mention that the 2nd anniversary event has started. Level 70 came and went and I'm now about half-way through level 71. Combo is still very early and I did pick up a level of Coma just to see what it did. Now I'll finish off Combo before adding more to it. In addition, I managed to get my wizard up to 30 as well - he's level

Level 70

2007-05-03T11:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally made it. A fair bit longer to do than I had originally planned, but at least I made it.I haven't actually done the 3rd Job test yet, as it was already late when I finally reached my level, but I should be able to bang it out tonight - I'm already in Victoria to do it.Scrolling had its ups and downs. My glove ended up as a +6 atk (1 scroll worked, the other failed). My red katanas

One more to go

2007-04-19T10:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally reached level 69. Now I'm on the home stretch to reach 3rd job.I'm fully prepared to advance. I've got 1 set of pants, 2 sets of tops (1 with an extra point in dex), a pair of boots, and several red katanas (84atk, 86atk, 2x 87atk and a scrolled 96atk +5 str). I've got a 4atk, 2 slot Dark Husk to finish scrolling and 2 more glove attack scrolls to burn on it.I'm keeping my shield

Long time no see...

2007-03-27T20:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I have finally returned to playing Maple Story after a few months off. In the last 2 weeks, I've been getting re-acquainted with the game and to my pleasant surprise found that most of the people who had also taken breaks have returned! So - I finally have some people to party up with again.In other news, I've reached level 67, and I'm just over half-way to level 68. My money is hovering

Zombies, zombies and more zombies

2006-11-15T00:38:00.000-05:00

Not my most up-to-date picture, but close. I'm actually at 1mil exp or so. Not sure what my current ranking is - but I'll check it later.I've been spending the bulk of my time at zombies recently and have found it nice to be earning a steady return of money from fighting them. Just checked last night, I killed just under 1000 of them (995 or so) and gained 522 teeth and 5 drops (a green seraphis,

Level 65 and some more

2006-11-14T18:15:00.000-05:00

Well, its been a few days since my last update - mostly because I can't grab a picture of my character's ranking and I'm too lazy to post if I don't have one.Anyway, over the weekend I finished off level 64 and managed to get up to 30-40% or something like that into level 65. I spent almost the entire time at Zombies and I'm pretty impressed with them.I am, however, officially broke - as I've

Pepes, Hectors, Yetis

2006-11-06T12:42:00.000-05:00

Tried a few different things this weekend, but the most notable of them all was pepes at the Crown Flyer. That map is high-paced and decent experience. The downside is that the pepes are so fast that you get bumped a fair amount. Since the bumps are about equivalent to hectors (a little less actually) and I don't have to worry about magic attacks - I like it. The other downside is the

Lusters

2006-11-03T11:18:00.000-05:00

In order to aid my slightly stiffled wallet, I decided to head back to Orbis and fight some lusters for a while. The exp rate there is only slightly slower than hectors I think, but the expense is much lower. I probably won't stay too long, but it was nice to get 4 drops there in the 7% I earned last night.I traded in about 1400 hector tails and 100 jeti skins but didn't get anything of note.

Upgraded my helm and bought a glove

2006-11-02T11:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally got a 10% to work on one of my 3 silver crusader helms and decided to just finish it with 60%s - so now I've got a +5 Silver Crusader Helm with 1 10% and 4 60%s - its a fair amount better than the mithril one I had, so I'm pretty satisfied with it.In addition I bought a rather pricey glove yesterday and emptied out most of my coffers to do it - including NPCing a bunch of the

Nothing to see here

2006-11-01T14:26:00.000-05:00

Well, not much to post about from last night as it was much of the same - hectors and more hectors. One more green napoleon and a bunch of money, but other than that - nothing really to report.I've been actively bidding on Basil to pick up the stuff I want and was pleased to see a Dark Husk for sale that interested me. I'm not sure if it is a good deal really, but it seemed like a good one even

Level 64, 42 days

2006-10-31T11:49:00.000-05:00

Well, another solid night of progress last night as I finished off level 63. I partied most of the time with Vicism and for some of the time with a cleric in my guild, CdnMage. We tore apart hector after hector until I finally managed to level up. Once done, I spent a few more minutes there before heading over to Orbis to trade in another 16 sets of hector tails and one set of pang tails. Nothing

More hectors... 44 days

2006-10-30T11:10:00.000-05:00

I spent the bulk of the weekend at Hectors again. That place is just so comfortable to me and it has been great progress, I simply can't get enough of it. The fact that I get a good profit from it is just a sided bonus...I'm now 85% of the way to level 64, and the level when booster starts being more reasonable to use on occasion. After I reach it, I'm considering heading back to Victoria and

Still at 49 days...

2006-10-27T12:08:00.000-04:00

Well, my progress the last two nights have been so slight, that despite playing for 2 days, I still am forecasting 49 days to reach level 70. Its frustrating for sure, but the last two nights have been almost counter-productive with heading over to Victoria and finding mixed golems to be lukewarm and Taurospears to still be mostly deadly. I finished the night by heading back to El Nath and fought

Mixed Golems

2006-10-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

I only managed to play for about an hour last night, having been involved for most of the night with cleaning of one sort or another and being overly frustrated with how my kids were behaving. Setting down to play some Maple Story did help to relax me, though, so that improved my mood once the kids did go to sleep and laundry was completely folded.I decided to head back to Victoria to work on a

Solid progress

2006-10-25T11:05:00.000-04:00

Got another solid night of hectors last night, partied with 2 others for most of the night. Earning 20% or so, I managed to recover much of the funds that I lost from the other night (well, okay only 1-2 mil of the 15 mil that I lost...) and a lucky trade-in netted me another Overall Dex scroll - so that should help immensely. I traded in a total of 2000 tails yesterday after accumulating them in

Level 63!

2006-10-24T10:42:00.000-04:00

Progress last night was great, but my money took a substantial hit at the same time.I managed to get my 4th 60% glove attack scroll, so I decided I would bite the bullet and try to scroll my dark clench. The first one succeeded, but the 2nd and 3rd both failed. Now I have a +2 atk 2 slot Dark Clench that I'm trying to sell. Using my last scroll on it would be futile and even worse - if it failed

Hectors, more Hectors and more Hectors

2006-10-23T12:30:00.000-04:00

Well it has been an eventful weekend, and not just because I spent a good amount of time training. I managed to get a few trades done and now have 3 60% glove attack scrolls and the dark clench that I need to scroll. Unfortunately, I'm now "broke" with only ~8 mil to work with. I've got bids in for other scrolls to get, but until those trades come in, I don't necessarily expect them.I've been

Partying at Hectors

2006-10-20T13:49:00.000-04:00

Its official - I like to train at Hectors. Apart from a decent exp rate when solo and a decent money gaining rate when solo, the place is absolutely great when partied with a sin. It is officially my home until I decide to head elsewhere...I trained for about 13% last night, after managing to sell off the Golden Crow I had for 500k. I looked for the other people to trade with but the only other

Level 62 and expected time to reach Level 70

2006-10-19T12:14:00.000-04:00

Well, level 70 and the third job is right on the cusp - just 8 levels to go.That said, I managed to make level 62 last night, made a net profit of about 1 million from the sale of 2 scrolls and a few NPC items and started up on level 62. I spent the last 10% of level 61 at Zombies with the sin I party with. I was amazed at how quickly I lose money there and for that - I probably won't be heading

Short night

2006-10-17T11:53:00.000-04:00

Didn't get a lot done last night, but I still enjoyed some fast drops... I was up to 7 green napoleons before I sold 4 of them to a buddy of mine for the NPC price. When I was training, I spent most of it training with the sin I seem to always party with and for some of the night with one of the guild clerics. The cleric wasn't a great addition in terms of exp - but not having to use unagi for

Werewolves, Kumbi and Other Fun stuff

2006-10-16T14:04:00.000-04:00

Well a very productive weekend and it say plenty of experience at things that were not so productive.On Friday night, I enjoyed most of my evening at Hectors in Cold Field I. I was just about to head to Zombies when a player on my buddy list reminded me that on Friday and Saturday nights it tends to be crowded, so I just stayed where I was. Zombies aren't going anywhere. I made somewhere around

Nothing much to see here

2006-10-13T11:51:00.000-04:00

Didn't really play much yesterday. I was still at Wolf Territory V, so I finished my 200 pang tails and was AFK for a little while. By the time I came back, the sin I tend to party with was already at Zombies, so I joined him there for a little while. He and I were both running low on potions, so we went back to El Nath. Since I was done with my quest, I went and grabbed the sapphire ores I would

Okay level 61

2006-10-12T12:39:00.000-04:00

Spent a lot of time AFK while online last night, so I added probably 3-4 hours to my time, but only actually did anything for about 1 hour of that or so. I decided I would work on Scadur's new coat - which requires 200 pang and hector tails, 100 yeti horns and 60 sapphire ores. I managed to polish off the hector tails and yeti horns, and I finished my night working on the pang tails at Wolf

Level 61? No - Server Check!

2006-10-11T10:20:00.000-04:00

Well there's not much I can do when I am 98% to level 61 and a server check is looming. I managed to run through the last sections of the Book of Ancient - but it wasn't quite enough to get me to advance. No big deal - but it would have been a nice finish.I started the night at Mushmom, finding an empty channel on my 2nd try. Unfortunately, 2 minutes before she appeared, a party of 3 (a fizard

Not much to report

2006-10-09T18:12:00.000-04:00

Busy weekend overall coupled with a cold to just bug the heck out of me and splintered with my kids not behaving and staying awake until all hours of the night... yeah - I didn't get much done this weekend either in game or in real life.I've finished a couple of key quests that I was working on, and in working on another I managed to get myself killed - which set me back quite a bit. I did get a

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck...

2006-10-06T12:21:00.000-04:00

If the woodchuck had a 90atk, +6 str Neocora? Quite a bit I would imagine... Last night I lucked out in being able to trade for the neocora and what a difference it makes. Instead of rarely 2-hitting Lusters and never 1-hitting Lunars (though coming close), I now almost always 2-hit the Lusters and 1-hit the Lunars about 20-40% of the time. That single purchase has made that screen quite

Waiting...

2006-10-05T12:30:00.000-04:00

Okay - I won the auction for the sword... now I just need to find the player and trade with him. So far - I have sent a PM through Basil and had various people search online for him at different times, hoping to track him down. So far - he's not been found.Training with my current sword is just as fast as with my previous one - mostly because my damage difference didn't really change between them

Selling and Buying Galore

2006-10-04T14:19:00.000-04:00

While waiting for the neocora auction to end, I've been doing a lot of trades - both for buying and selling. I haven't, notably, been doing much training - having earned a whopping 10% over the last 2 nights. Tonight won't likely be much progress either since Sammy has her Kareoke contest tonight and Lindsay and I are meeting there to give her support.I did finish a few trades, but I'm still

Not much to update

2006-10-03T10:46:00.000-04:00

I spent only about a 1/2 hour online last night and earned all of 1% since I spent most of that time looking for trades. At the end of it - I walked over to Cloud Park VI so I could get back into training. I'm kind of waiting for the neocora auction to finish before I get back into training and I'm hoping I can get a bunch of trades done because my mule is getting over-full. His Equipment

Level 60 and Scrolling Fun

2006-10-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

Okay - so I finally made level 60 last night, which of course means working on some scrolling.First up to bat: Red Orientican Top - starting stats: 67wdef, +4 str, +2 dex. 4 10% scrolls later - it has 3 slots left and the same stats...Next: Red Orientican Pants - 54wdef, +1 acc, +2 str. 6 10% and 1 60% scrolls later - 0 slots left, 61 wdef, 4 mdef, +1 acc, +2 str, +10hp - 1 10% and 1 60%

The Push for Money

2006-09-29T16:14:00.000-04:00

The past few nights, I've spent most of my time at Cloud Park VI - but I've been fairly focused on getting some trades done - so I've only actually trained for about 1 hour in the last two nights.I missed, yet again, a nice attack dark clench on Basil Market - so I'm pushing myself to get the money to be able to purchase the things that are on the top of my list. This includes training better,

More Progress and a quick reflection on the level 5x

2006-09-27T15:31:00.000-04:00

I played for a little over 2 hours last night and managed to accumulate ~25% give or take (I don't really remember...). In that time, I spent all of it at Lusters and Lunars in Cloud Park VI and solo - since virtually no one from my guild or buddy list was online.Again, I received a few more decent drops (another bronze crusader helm, 2 brown sonatas and a dark pilfer) and 1 or 2 dark crystal

Level 59 Already?

2006-09-26T12:36:00.000-04:00

Well, I thought it took longer - but I did in fact level in about 5 days. Considering I died twice at Tauromacis - and I did a lot of wandering - that's not too bad.I've spent a fair amount more time at Lusters the past few days and partying with an assassin in my guild. He's only level 53, but he's making solid progress and the map is good for us. Haste makes a huge difference in training for me

Adding Image of Current Ranking

2006-09-22T16:52:00.000-04:00

Just trying to add in the picture I've got of my character. It seems to have worked - but I might toy around with it some more.

Drops? What are those?

2006-09-22T11:19:00.000-04:00

For all those who knew me before I took my break - you know that people tend to call me lucky in terms of the number and type of drops I get. The day before yesterday - I got 3 drops over the course of collecting 100 lioner tails. Yesterday, I collect a bronze crusader helm, another blue goni shoe and an Oaker Shouldermail top over the course of 5.5% at Lusters in Cloud Park VI. The helm and the

1 handed sword warrior guide

2006-09-21T12:17:00.000-04:00

A "well-known" 1-handed sword fighter has posted a guide on why to go 1-handed that is reasonably well written. Registration at Sleepywood.net is required to view it:http://www.sleepywood.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1062924I still think it is possible and reasonable to completely tank-out a warrior while still maintaining a high degree of damage. As I'm looking ahead to higher avoid monsters

Lioners, Lusters and Little Balls of Fur

2006-09-21T10:48:00.000-04:00

I spent my night in 3 different places last night. I started off getting my last 30 or so hector tails and another 1-200 jeti skins. At that point, I was itching to head back to Orbis to do Lusters for a while - so I did.In Orbis, I killed a single star pixie and it dropped a wisdom ore. Since I'm in need of around 15 or so - that was a nice surprise. At that point, I diverted course and decided

Okay - really Level 58

2006-09-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

Well, its been a few days - a bit more than a week I think since I last advanced. Last night, I finished off the remaining 4% to level 58 and gained even another 9% beyond that. Not a lot of progress - but some nonetheless. I did do the Orbis tower scroll quest again - so that slowed things down, and then I also got my shield - so I spent some time for that.I don't think I got any drops of note

Level 58

2006-09-19T10:11:00.000-04:00

Yeah - not quite...I started the night off at 88% and finished at 96%... but I'm ALMOST there...I took the wife out to dinner last night, so we were out for a while and then watched The Weatherman (with Nicholas Cage). I was a little surprised by the movie, and while it had some funny moments, it really was pretty forgettable. I did my best to follow it - but in the end I think it just wasn't

Good Weekend, Bad Weekend

2006-09-18T13:05:00.000-04:00

Well, it was a good weekend for a number of reasons - not the least of which was my brother's wedding. My son was the ring-bearer and he did his job excellently - though he did have us worried.Other than that - on Sunday we went with a bunch of my family into Boston for a Duck Tour. I had never been on one and the kids were so excited - they even got to drive for part of the boating portion. For

A Short Night

2006-09-15T12:53:00.000-04:00

Well, my brother's wedding rehearsal was last night and afterwards, we all went to dinner - so I didn't get a lot of time to play. We got home around 11:30pm, and after getting the kids to bed and making sure Lindsay was comfortable, I finally sat down around 12:30am, but then I was off the computer by 1am.In that short stint, I did manage to gain ~6% fighting jetis and a few hectors. I traded

Current State of the Blog

2006-09-14T15:51:00.000-04:00

Although this blog will serve more purpose than just my runnings through the game of Maple Story, it is currently the main focus of it.Since the last post in my previous blog - I have attained level 57 and have most of my equipment for level 60 (red orientican top and bottom - both above avg, neocora (79atk)). I am bidding on a lvl 60 silver shield and have plans to craft a dark clench for the

Maple Story - Archive (5/31/2006)

2006-09-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

mlugiaPosted 5/31/2006 1:26:13 PMWell, I sold the 4 int Arten for 1.2 mil, still have the other one, I guess I'll sell it when the time is right. This brought my money count back up to the million =D Then I spent 350k on a soul singer, for novelty value. I know, I'm a terrible spender ;_; 29 ACC, 61 Watk.Should I try a 10% on it?(I have 4 10% and 5 60%s on me atm)mlugiaPosted 5/31/2006 1:32:55

Maple Story - Archive (5/28/2006)

2006-09-14T15:40:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/28/2006 6:02:04 AMJust a quick note for 2 things:1. I got my home internet back on Saturday during the day. I didn't play too much yesterday - but a few people were happy to see me back online.2. Today, I've got a pretty big free poker tournament. There's going to be ~8k players for it - but the top 9 places get seats to the World Series of Poker and then 10th - 780th or so

Maple Story - Archive (5/25/2006)

2006-09-14T15:35:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/25/2006 7:33:23 AMWell, due to some poor financial planning this month, I have managed to get my cable internet turned off for non-payment. That being said, as soon as I get my next paycheck - I'll be back online.In other words - I'm on a forced hiatus from all things online while at home (which includes Maple Story). I'll still be checking in here when I'm at work - but that's

Maple Story - Archive (5/23/2006)

2006-09-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/23/2006 11:47:49 AMWell I'm at home sick again... hence the lack of updates here (I usually only update when I'm at work and have the time to reflect).Anyway, I'm still level 51, though I am at 90% - so that'll be finished soon. I just gathered the 100 dark nependeath seeds for the nependeath juice quest and in the process of gathering them, earned 300+ lunar pieces - one of

Maple Story - Archive (5/19/2006)

2006-09-14T15:22:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/19/2006 8:09:18 AMThanks guys - glad to see that breaks are taken and progress is made respectively. @Preacher - I've got some thoughts about training areas - I'm still fleshing them out though.I made solid progress last night - finishing off the last 12% of level 50 and gaining another 20% beyond that. I started off my night in the disposed garden during the last 15 minutes of

Maple Story - Archive (5/18/2006)

2006-09-14T15:00:00.000-04:00

Optimus45Posted 5/18/2006 8:24:29 AMHey Dave, if you have buddy space, add the sin in my sig >_>---MS Windia: iDexless - XX Dexless Sin (Maple Claw + Kandayo plz)TelinArthoPosted 5/18/2006 8:38:46 AMI can open a space for you. I'm actually tempted to purchase the expanded slots - but it seems that so few are on these days I just can't justify it.How's the new character going for you? What level

Maple Story - Archive (5/16/2006)

2006-09-14T14:52:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/16/2006 10:06:43 AMWell, last night wasn't very productive. I knew I wouldn't be playing very actively, and somehow I managed to get myself killed at Jr. Yetis again - so I started off pretty early with a 9% deficit.I actually was only on to get some trades to go through, which was largely unsuccessful. After dying at jr. yetis, I decided I would put them on hold for a little

Maple Story - Archive (5/15/2006)

2006-09-14T14:44:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/15/2006 8:45:51 AMBusy weekend again, but I got a decent amount of playing time in. Add to that I managed to play during the adjusted time for 2x exp on Sunday - and it made my progress a fair amount better.First of all, as I posted earlier - I made level 50 on Saturday. My face is now exposed with my new helm and I think the new armor looks pretty good. Unfortunately,

Maple Story - Archive (5/12/2006)

2006-09-14T14:39:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/12/2006 2:11:58 PMI'm actually tempted to get started on jr yetis tonight or this weekend... I'm going to be needing the attack scrolls that they might drop and I might as well get used to training down there. Just a thought of course.I've put in an offer on a 5 dex cape (Icarus 2) for a reasonable price (he's asking for a lot more than I'm willing to offer - but it doesn't

Maple Story - Archive (5/12/2006)

2006-09-14T14:35:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/12/2006 9:06:47 AMAs I've said before Slasher - I'm not keen on slowing down other than the regular real life things that keep me away. In the last week, I had about 1 hour to play on Sunday, 2 hours on Monday, 3-4 on Tuesday and Wednesday and about 1 hour yesterday. Given that yesterday, I only earned 17% in total, I should hope that you made some headway over me.That being

Maple Story - Archive (5/11/2006)

2006-09-14T14:27:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/11/2006 11:40:13 AMEh - I'm impatient - I'd probably go to kitties now just to keep things going - especially since the only reason to fight EE are for the cutlus - and you already have one. Kitties drop so much more stuff and are just more fun...I just put my burgernet up for auction for 3 days to see if anyone wants to buy it. It has lasted me well for the last 25 levels -

Maple Story - Archive (5/11/2006)

2006-09-14T14:25:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/11/2006 8:26:47 AMThe poker question:Please refer to this link if you have any question on the math: http://www.bet-the-pot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12953The big factor of the problem is the fact that 1st and 2nd place are the same reward: a $12k package to the WSOP. 3rd place is already guaranteed to one of the 3 players for a whopping $900.In situations like this, you have

Maple Story - Archive (5/8/2006)

2006-09-14T14:21:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/8/2006 2:19:34 PMOkay, here's a tough question for poker. And the answer may be a bit of a surprise to most:This situation was one a friend of mine was in the other day (this was also posted in my journal, but I wanted some more opinions on it. I've given my friend's explanation in the journal. I'm curious what people think about this).He was playing in a satellite to the main

Maple Story - Archive (5/8/2006)

2006-09-14T14:18:00.000-04:00

Sp00kyMuffinPosted 5/8/2006 2:52:15 AMLucky Aer. I really want to get a Maple Crossbow, but my internet is being annoying. (using a school comp now) Can someone get one for me? =DStill only lv24 on Cat which really annoys me. I want to get back on and get some cool items.---gMS, Windia: CosmicCat, lv2x xBowWomanMirage Guild Member.PreacherMaplePosted 5/8/2006 5:20:37 AMThe PQs in Ludi have been

Maple Story - Archive (5/5/2006)

2006-09-14T14:07:00.000-04:00

GaMeR777Posted 5/5/2006 10:50:14 PMOn that topic, how essential are the red bean...thingies that stop your health dropping? That surely isn't a show stopper unless you idle there to regain HP/MP is it?Never really bothered to buy em. I don't really notice the effects of the cold weather when training at Jetis because of my high amount of HP and it's hardly affected my profits. I'm pretty sure it

Maple Story - Archive (5/5/2006)

2006-09-14T14:05:00.000-04:00

mlugiaPosted 5/5/2006 7:51:08 AMYeah, my internet still isn't back, and yesterday, I was swinging a stick in the kitchen (don't ask), and I shattered the cover of one of our kitchen lights... I'm gonna have to go replace that before my landlord finds out.Still no internet = me having to study. Nuts. oh well, NHL Playoffs continue tonight with Buffalo @ Ottawa and Colorado @ Anaheim, I think.

Maple Story - Archive (5/4/2006)

2006-09-14T14:01:00.000-04:00

Optimus45Posted 5/4/2006 7:42:08 AMTelin, if you want one of the maple swords, message me on RurouniLov3, I'd be glad to sell you it (Soul Singer, level 43 one) at a good price. >_>---MS Windia: GaleAxe 7X Axe Crusader (B> Helios)mlugiaPosted 5/4/2006 7:51:12 AMMan, I miss all the good stuff, huh? My landlord doesn't have time to come over till next week, so I'm stuck with having to STUDY for

Maple Story - Archive (5/4/2006)

2006-09-13T18:11:00.000-04:00

Maple Story - Archive (5/3/2006)

2006-09-13T18:07:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/3/2006 7:57:58 AMWell, as everyone already seems to know - Zakum has been released... all sorts of suicide parties will come out just to catch a glimpse...However, in addition to this is that wonderful thing called an exp bonus. Unfortunately, looking at the schedule of the bonus - it doesn't seem likely that I'll be able to benefit greatly from it (maybe the last 20 minutes).

Maple Story - Archive (5/2/2006)

2006-09-13T17:56:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 5/2/2006 6:52:52 AMLast night went from a ho-hum night to a great night in very short order.I started off by training on tobos, which are still a great source of experience, even if it seems to be running 0.01-0.02% per at the moment. Gaining around 10-15% there, I tried a PQ and had 2 bad groups.The first was mostly people speaking in another language - though which language I'm

Maple Story - Archive (4/29/2006)

2006-09-13T17:52:00.000-04:00

Assassin_XDPosted 4/29/2006 12:52:46 PMWell last night was very fun. I leveled up from 0% to lvl 36 due to PQ. My party leader is the best. We got in 3 times in a row. (amazingly, since at the end i had to clear out space for my prize) I added him to my buddy and today we did two PQs. Sadly, all my PQs today couldn't kill the boss ;_;, and without the bonus I'm going broke. Currently I have 2k in

Maple Story - Archive (4/28/2006)

2006-09-13T17:46:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 4/28/2006 6:49:17 AMWell, in my question I was inferring that no matter what - your opponent and yourself would be all-in preflop. Since I didn't specify that though - yes kings would be better on the sole factor that your opponent would be more likely to go all-in.Okay, here's the answer why to my question:Kings. Since kings and aces share the same straight cards, the kings have

Maple Story - Archive (4/26/2006)

2006-09-13T17:32:00.000-04:00

GaMeR777Posted 4/26/2006 10:19:44 PMI wish my Maple day was just as exciting as yours.Hmm... what happened to me on Maple Story today?I went to Jr. Yetis.I found a 60% Glove Attack Scroll (Hooray!)I sold the scroll.I killed more Jr. Yetis.I killed more Jr. Yetis.I got driven out of the map by two fire mages.I looked for an empty channel.I encountered "cc plx" from 8 different people.I finally

2006-09-13T17:24:00.000-04:00

TelinArthoPosted 4/26/2006 7:32:30 AM@Preacher and SwiftBacon - there's a sapphire slain on auction at Basil that might be worth your attention - only 200k right now (looks cheap when compared to the rest of them). There's also a steel slain that is at 350k I think.Last night was some slight progress, mostly training on tobos. Tobos have proven themselves to be very solid exp, and reasonable

Maple Story - Archive (4/25/2006)

2006-09-13T17:21:00.000-04:00

PreacherMaplePosted 4/25/2006 8:14:09 AMI am in the UK yes, and in the process of cutting back my time a little. Doubt I'd be awake at 2am to catch you online.It's difficult to say whether I like the PQ in ludi (or even kerning in fact). I was in a few this morning, the states is all back to school so Windia is all but deserted.Got in with a couple of parties...my issue with both actually is the

Maple Story - Archive (4/24/2006)

2006-09-13T17:14:00.000-04:00

mlugiaPosted 4/24/2006 8:04:05 AMNice to hear you're doing well, Dave. I've been off the weekend till last night, and I got up to 75% of Lv 31... 35 will take forever >_< *whine*mlugiaPosted 4/24/2006 8:17:00 AMHey Muffin, if you ever get that 53 atk Scimitar back, can I borrow it for a few levels?ZetabladePosted 4/24/2006 8:23:39 AMHey man it's good to see more windia players. Add me, ign below.

Maple Story - Archive (4/23/2006)

2006-09-13T17:10:00.000-04:00

Anima ZeroPosted 4/23/2006 7:14:57 AMPlease do keep up the good work Telin . I enjoy reading all of your updates. I'd join ya on Windia...if I had a character there. My 2 current characters, a lv40 Cleric and a lv20 Fighter-to-be, are both on Broa.Heck, I'd like to start a character on Windia...though it'd be slow going early on, considering that I'd make a mage. If I got it to lv30, took Cleric

Maple Story - Archive (4/21/2006)

2006-09-13T17:06:00.000-04:00

mlugiaPosted 4/21/2006 9:11:26 AMYay, a new one!I hope to hit 31 tonight. Going out for the whole day with buddies tomorrow though, so that's gonna be a lot of fun I'd be the only guy who's not drinking again XDTelinArthoPosted 4/21/2006 9:15:22 AMBTW mlugia - I'll be selling that Crossbow scroll I'm holding unless I see you with Aerythn again soon. I'm anticipating purchasing a certain item on