Thoughts of an (Almost) Casual

I read a few posts on this blog before writing this one.  It made me think about how much free time I had back then and how much less time I have now.  (Translation: Just because I'm writing this post does not mean that I will be active on this blog again.)

Also, the comments.  The majority of them are from spam bots.  Most of the genuine comments are from people playing Aurum Blade.  I'm sorry, but I can't help you with Siren.  I had (had) Aurum Blade on my Android phone around last year.  Then my mom took it away (yes, I am still a minor).  So I forgot almost everything.  I still remember Siren was a b*tch (excuse my language) to defeat.  Good luck, have fun, don't ragequit.

So where has the time gone, and what have I done with mine in the past year?  I'll try my best to cover this.

In my final post of last year, I cited YouTube as a reason why I was stopping my posts.  My last YouTube video was published in June, not too long after April/May.  So that didn't really go anywhere.  By then, I had grown sick and tired and tired and sick of the monstrosity that was EpicDuel Omega.  The purpose of Varium was near nerfed into the ground (that is, it provided no advantage other than getting gear more quickly).  I was a semi-free player, and prior to Omega, I enjoyed my spot between the people who bought a promo pack of Varium every month and the hardcore free-to-players.  Both were still a good challenge to defeat, though.  I'm pretty sure the true reason why I left, however, was because of the FUCKING STAT REVAMP.  I liked it better when all weapons had a set amount of stats and damage that could not be changed.  And when cores were an idea posted only in the ED Suggestion Forums.  Maybe I was just too used to the old ways.  So I left. I expressed no regret- after all, I had been playing the game for almost three years and had probably outgrown little Flash games.  Time to move on to bigger and better things.

No, this is not me.  I googled "fate".  Never knew Steam sold Fate, though.  Go buy the game or pirate it like I did.   Go play it.

At this point in time (beginning of summer 2013) I had only one computer game I played consistently and on a regular basis: Minecraft (oh, and I also bought legit premium shortly before my last post here.  I believe I played almost exclusively on Hypixel's Server.  (I also remember playing quite a bit of Fate- the original Fate.)

During the summer, however, most of the time I was away from the computer (summer school and whatnot).  So I turned to my phone.  I eventually found a mobile TCG called Spellstorm.  It's a husk of its former self from a year ago- don't play it.  But back then, it was in the prime of its life.  New content updates on a regular basis, a thriving playerbase, and probably the best forums you could ever ask for.  There were almost exclusively adults on there.  As a result, the forums were always civilized.  I spent a lot of time playing Spellstorm, and even more time on its forums.  Eventually, I became a moderator there, but that's not important.  What is important is that I played Spellstorm almost every day (phone app= more accessibility) until about October/November.  Then, my mom stepped in and took away my phone.  This was the base for my stopping of playing Spellstorm (yes, that is grammatically correct).  I fell behind new stuff, and eventually, I got bored with the app.  Just in time, too.

The Spellstorm team seemed to be falling apart.  The content updates were obvious rehashes of old stuff, the new pieces of content were money grabs, and it became apparent that the game was a huge clickfest.  Plus, the bugs, which had always been prevalent in the app, almost ran amok now.  That is, I'm pretty sure the programmers got up and left.  Many times, these bugs made the app unplayable.  And the app's customer service was sadder than shit (lack of people, not skill- those who did man Customer Service were extremely nice and well-known on the forums).  It was obvious that Spellstorm's developers under the helm of TinyCo had almost ceased work on the app.  Which really, really sucked, especially since Spellstorm was the only one with potential on the app market (and half-decent graphics).

But I must go back a bit.  During late summer of that year, I had found an SNES emulator for my phone (SNESDroid).  It opened up a whole new world of games (thanks, CoolRom) to me.  I downloaded three SNES games: Final Fantasy VI, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Chrono Trigger.

But wait: I must go back even further (yeah sorry, I know, fuck chronological order).  Prior to summer, a classmate at school had introduced me to The Sandbox (you should check it out if you don't already know what it is).  It was fun- very fun.  But that's not my point.  There was (and probably still is) a user gallery.  In one of the top rated works, I found a Sandbox version of "Chrono Trigger 600 AD" (using "Note" pixels one can create tunes in The Sandbox).  I listened to the song and I liked it (this was back when I still though Chrono Trigger involved a gun).  I liked it enough to go looking for Chrono Trigger.  That brings me to the previous paragraph.

So I played Chrono Trigger- my first SNES game.  I loved it.  Until I got to a certain point in 2300 AD (for those retro gamers, it's when you enter 2300 AD for the first time).  I had to enter a certain combination of buttons to go further by pressing the buttons all at once.  I couldn't.  The emulator didn't accept multi-input.  I did my homework and found that other emulators did, as did the original SNES (duh).  Well, crap.  I was stuck there.

I eventually gave up on Chrono Trigger and moved on to Final Fantasy VI.  I think I got stuck somewhere very early on (before Narshe, for those who played the game).  I gave up on it as well, and was considering deleting it (luckily, I didn't).  So I moved on, this time to A Link to the Past.

I went somewhere with that game.  It was fun, and the dungeons challenging.  In order to beat the first boss, I spent almost an hour circling him around a table in order to avoid his extremely damaging ranged attack.  Often was the day where I would have SNESDroid and Firefox open on my phone.  Thank you, StrategyWiki.  I loved the game, and all of the extra things in it that one didn't necessarily have to find.  I ended up with only one more dungeon to go.  Unfortunately, I had had enough of Link by then, so I got bored.  Then I gave Final Fantasy VI a second chance.

It worked out this time.  I loved the traditional RPG style game it was and the huge (14!) character cast.  I loved the storyline and the monsters and bosses.  I ended up just one dungeon away from the final boss (what a coincidence).  I was steamrolling over the game and ready to beat it.  Then my mom took my phone away (keep in mind that at this point in time, I was playing these SNES games as well as Spellstorm).  So, too bad.  I didn't get to hand Kefka's ass to him.  Oh well.

So the school year started up again.  I started playing Minecraft again.  However, this time I found a nice new server (PlayMindcrack) with its own textures, sound packs, and minigames.  It was a smaller server, but still, I loved it (and its level up system!).  That's pretty much all I did for the first half of the 2013-2014 Minecraft/school year: Hypixel and PMC (not to be confused with Planet Minecraft).  Then I found Hearthstone.

Hearthstone had been in closed beta for quite a while, but one of my friends told me about the game one day at school.  Intrigued, I tried it out.  I was a scrub and lost a crapton at the beginning, but I loved the game and stuck with it.  Hearthstone is a CCG (not quite TCG, but I'll take it) that really introduced me to real cardplaying games and strategy (I would rather not rant about how most if not all- including Spellstorm- TCGs on the mobile market have crappy automated random-ass battle systems).  I owned some MTG cards, but I never really tried to play the game (mostly because no one in my physical area wanted to play MTG.  Also, I tried Magic 2014, but much of the app is locked to all but those who shell out ten dollars.  Hell no.)  Hearthstone was the perfect F2P card game I was (not really) looking for.  I took a liking to it and stuck with it.

Now, time for a bit of bragging (depends on your point of view, actually).  I created my Battle.net account and installed Hearthstone somewhere in mid-December 2013.  December was Hearthstone's first Closed Beta ranked season, but I didn't rank at all (Angry Chicken please).  R25 scrub, woohoo.  The second season, January, I did slightly better.  Rank 16.  And on it goes.
Season 3: R14
Season 4: R14
Season 5: R14 (pattern much)
However, this season, May, I am rather happy to have finally broken that invisible wall and continue onto rank 13!  I probably could have gone further, but I will explain why I didn't.

Actually, wait a sec.  I must go backward a few months first.  Just a note.  I pretty much stopped playing Minecraft in February.  I know, too bad, no more Island of Doom videos.  (Well, the hard drive on which the world is on is screwed up, anyway.)

Okay.  Back to May of this year.  In early May, one of my friends told me about Smite (a MOBA, like League- another game I voluntarily don't play, but all of my friends do).  I downloaded Smite.  Was hooked fairly quickly.  (I swear, the smartest decision the game devs have made was making Smite a third-person viewpoint game.  Gets all the MMO(RPG) players.)  So now I play Smite pretty much every day.  (Case in point- I played about ten hours today).  I still play Hearthstone some, but not a whole lot.

A very, very, simplified history of my gaming life since April 2013.  Goodbye all, and I hope I get around to posting here again.  But for now, I need to complete a history project and get my ass off this toilet already.

~ReconnaisX

PS: I am also an avid Twitch watcher (of Hearthstone and Smite.  I also watched the original Twitch Plays Pokemon).  Also, some nice FFVI fanart.  As you probably expected, I can name everyone here.

Aurum Blade- How to defeat Marduk (Human)

If you don't understand my title, Marduk (Human) means the human form of Marduk.
If you are now saying anything remotely close to Whaaaat? you should take a little time and get a little further in the storyline of Aurum Blade.  But crap, I already gave it away.

No matter.

The first form of Marduk is very easy.  The second one, not so much.  In fact, I haven't beaten the second form yet.  But like I said, the first form is easy.

1) How do you get there?
A bit of a noob's question, but I'll answer it with a noob's answer.  It's on the 25th floor.  In one of the rooms (yeah, it's confusing) there's a jump circle in the center of the room. Ding!

2) What should I bring?
The same old.  Potions, good gear, and (a) good Blade(s).

3) How much health does Marduk have (ha, accidentally spelled it Marduck first)?
A health bar fit for a boss.  But here's a hint: it's less than Sirens.  Either that, or beating Marduk was less complicated.

4) Any special tricks that can be used against Marduk?
Stay away from him and let the Blades do the work.  Use ranged attacks.  Oh, and get a Step 10 Stone Blade.  Then, there's three of your little friends.

5) What attacks does he have?
From the start, he has this blue ball of energy.  I'm not sure how much damage it typically deals, but it's 1100-1200 on my Step 9 Stone Blades.  That's why you should stay away.
Then, he acquires a second attack.  See if you can recall Wooden Destroyer, the first boss (that tree dude).  Marduk's attack in common with him is the spikes that thrust out of the ground.  However, these deal less damage, about 400 to my Blades.

6)Anything else?
Just because you beat the first form of Marduk doesn't guarantee you'll beat the second.

~ReconnaisX

PS: Xusha is alive and well.  Stupid rumor.

Aurum Blade: How to beat Siren

Hello everybody. This time I'm going to blog about Siren, probably the most annoying boss in Aurum Blade.

* There will be a spoiler at the end of this post.

1) Where's Siren?

Not sure why any tourists might be looking at this, but the way to Siren is located in the 20th floor (Room of the Cure) in the fourth room. Technically, she is in the Lab.

2) Habitat

The 20th floor has Level 64-65 monsters, such as the Iron Golem nd the Fishman Wanderer.

3) STRATEGY!

3a) Suggested Level

I defeated Siren when I was level 76, but that's just me. I'm cautious.

3b) Suggested Gear

You should know by now to shoot for Legendary, Epic, and Set gear, right?

3c) Potions

Small potions alone won't work for this one. I bought 20 Medium (health) potions from Cristina to use with my small potions.

3d) Siren's Attacks

Shooting Daggers

Known to Allen as Dagger Chaser, as the battle progresses, Siren wil use this attack more rapidly, ignoring the basic rules of a concept called cooldown. Take caution.

Energy Blast

The weaker Siren gets, the more powerful this becomes. Geez.

Sharkdudes

She summons a couple of Sharkman Warriors. Fun.

3d) When to run (from attacks, not the battle)

Remember the path that her Dagger Chaser takes. (She is stationary.) There are places where the daggers do not hit.

She summons sharkdudes. Let your Blades take care of those.

3e) Health

A crapload, I know that for sure.

3f) Blade used

I used Stone, as I use a lot of active skills.

Iron is a mehh. Can bosses be stunned?

Ice is good if you want to crit your way through this.

Fire? Please.

Silver? IDK.

Aurum? Stop lying, you're not there yet.

3g) Luck

Good luck.

3h) Last strategy tip, I promise

REMEMBER TO HIT THE GUARD STONES FIRST!

**********SPOILER************

Just killed Siren? Congrats. You just killed Kirie.

Yup, Marduk turned the traitor into a monster.

**********SPOILER END******

~ReconnaisX

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Aurum Blade: How to beat the Goblin Lord

 
Hello everyone.  Happy Saturday the 14th!
I've put together a little walkthrough on Aurum Blade on how to defeat the Goblin Lord.
First- when I beat the Goblin Lord, I was playing as Allen.  I'm not sure if different characters have different skill trees, but whatever.
**********SPOILERS BEGIN HERE**********
In a certain room on the Refuge of the Flame, the fifteenth floor, your character finds Gordon and Celty.  They eventually teleport via Jump Circle.  As you'd guess already, you're supposed to follow them.

So then you take the Jump Circle and you end up in a tiny, enclosed area.  Great.  Just great.  A cutscene then happens in which Gordon uses an imperfect Philosopher's Stone and ends up as the boss, the level 50 Goblin Lord.  (How goblins are related to this whole mess, I don't know.)
*********SPOILERS END HERE- INFO ON GOBLIN LORD BEGINS HERE*********
Anyway, with that, you plunge into the boss fight.  Now I shall discuss how to beat Gordon/Goblin Lord.

As for health, Gordon has the regular sort of health you'd expect from a boss- meaning that he's got a ton of it.  But you should of expected that already.  For attacks, "Gordon the Goblin" has three:

1) He shoots some kind of purple laser.  During the battle, you start off in the lowest section of the island thingy, putting you at a disadvantage.  He moves horizontally during this attack.
2) He takes his mace and starts swinging it, like he's berserk.  This is a short range attack, so if you need help avoiding it, get out of range.  Oh yeah- he moves while he's attacking, vertically.
3) Gordon the Goblin takes his sword and points it up (what else?), making this bunch of energy things that remind me of Allen's Dagger Chaser shoot in all directions.  This attack is very weak.  While the others hit 150's on my character (wondering what level I was?  Refer to above picture), this attack hit 1's.

For defense, your character should have level-appropriate gear.  (Just use the normal level 45 helmet, not your legendary level 5 one.)  Put crystals in your gear and enchant it if you can.  Just the regular stuff- your regular setup that does not fail on a regular basis.

You should always summon your Blade(s).  I used my Iron Blades for this one, but the choice is up to you.  For example, if you use a lot of active skills, you should use a Stone Blade- they pay for themselves.

Good luck.  I know I didn't help you all that much.  But remember to keep calm and get behind Gordon the Goblin.
~ReconnaisX

Aurum Blade: How to Beat the Chaos Golem

In this (seemingly random, compared to all of my ED madness) post, I'll show you Aurum Blade enthusiasts out there how to beat the notorious (and annoying) Chaos Golem.
If you're one of those people who like to jump into everything without looking first, well, don't.  Even though the Chaos Golem is level 30, it has a lot of health for its level.  If you want my idea of the right level straightup, it's forty.  Level 40.  (But since I was defeated around four times before, I fought the Chaos Golem around level 45.)
As with all battles, unleashing your Blade is a good idea- just make sure that you don't run out of MP (I use that what-do-you-call-it skill that regenerates MP).  If it has a good special, even better (like the Iron Blade- chance to stun).
Like all bosses, the Chaos Golem can only be hit after it has attacked.  After it has attacked and is vulnerable, it will turn a greenish color.  Attack it then.  When it returns to a normal color, it will give you a few seconds to flee.  Don't stand there hitting 0s on the Golem, go hide in one of the corners in the lower part of the area.  Usually, the Golem cannot catch you there.
The Golem has three attacks I can remember.  The first is a gun-like attack.  The Golem will deal damage multiple times while moving left and right to cover most of the room area.  Just hide in that corner.
The second is when it pulls out two axes.  It swings them like a berserk monster, moving vertically (as opposed to horizontally).  In this case, it usually swings its axes toward its target, so you should exercise a little caution here.
The third is when it uses a laser-like thing to attack.  This attack is probably the most dangerous, but not in terms of damage.  The laser automatically goes to where the target is.  The attack gives you a few seconds to evade it before the actual laser strikes (I forgot what the signal was).  Just run around.  Your Blade isn't as smart, and will get hit.  All of the attacks deal around the same damage.
As the battle progresses and the Chaos Golem becomes weakened, it will go "berserk" and start dealing more damage.  All of its attacks will last longer, therefore dealing more damage and making it very risky if you do not hide.
As with all battles, it would be great if you could summon two Blades at once, although I defeated him with a Step 3 Stone Blade (only one of it).
Good luck.  You might not get it on the first try.  But keep trying.
~ReconnaisX

Tactical Mercenary Build

Hiya everyone- I've got a TLM build to share here.  Following my recent purchase of the Energy Rapier, I've designed a build that goes along well with it.  This build needs a couple of rare pieces of gear.  Sorry if you don't have any, but they're all seasonal-rare, so they should be coming back along soon.  So...first...the build (separate link to picture here).

What gear did I use?
Energy Rapier (Seasonal-Rare, get it now from the Lawman/Silas Auer)
Carrot Impaler (Seasonal-Rare, from the Bionic Battalion Saga)
Carrierzooka (Seasonal-Rare, coming back for the Fourth of July event, which is in a while)
Beast Master E M (Make necessary adjustments but do not switch elements.  Keywords: Gender and/or alignment.) (Seasonal-Rare, Frysteland War event) (+5 enhancements on dexterity)
Baby Yeti (I used it in this picture, but sometimes, I adjust to Rusted Assault Bot) (Seasonal-Rare, Frysteland War event)
This build only has five enhancements (on dexterity on the armor), but any more enhancements in any stat would work.  The strategy is pretty self-explanatory if you look at my skill tree, but if you can't make heads or tails of it, I'll happily tell you.
Against other TLM tanks and CH tanks, you must conserve your energy for healing (unless you know that TLM/CH has a habit of removing energy, especially with CHs.  Then just go with Field Commander).  If you happen to "lose" any energy (Whoops, I clicked Field Commander), the max reroute (30% conversion rate!) should help things. 
Because this build functions best with any bot that has 10-14 or higher base damage (aka Varium bots only- no Rusted Bot, unless you have no other choice.  But then you'll be looking at 21-25+30, which is relatively low.), I used the Baby Yeti (my only Varium bot on this TLM).  But I imagine that the Gamma Bot would really work (12-16, H4X!- waiting for a Delta Bot).
Against strength BMs, you must try to deal the same amount of damage as them.  You can use Field Commander (but it is risky- Strength BMs most commonly have Azrael's Borg or Bio Borg for obvious reasons, and if you do the math, the increased output in damage for 4 turns usually is less than regular damage output for 5 turns).  I think eventually you will have to rely on the power of the block, as tank healing won't do much ("Last turn of cooldown for Field Medic!" *BM Guns* *50 Damage* /Critical/ /Defeated!/).  You can only hope that their (probably noobier) partner will not troll you and heal them.  (Well, if they do, you should have taken them out first.  But if you're facing two Strength blood mages, well, good luck and hope that the god of Shadow Arts and/or Blocks is with you.)
Against Strength BHs?  Hmmm.  Tricky.  Try to Atom Smash first Sorry, I forgot that the Energy Rapier is a sword.  If you can't take out their Smoke Screen (or Massacre, which is almost always there), try to outdamage them.  Or tank.
Since I've mentioned tank twice, I guess I should tell you that this build is not very tanky.  At the core, it is a 5 Focus build.  If you truly want to become tanky and still keep the robot damage, switch to the Delta Knight (dang- I really should get it for my TLM, but Beast Master has 11% Frostbite chance), but only if your resistance is at least 30-36 (base resistance, don't factor in agility or encumbrance or armor bonus), which calls for heavy enhancements.
Now for choice of robot.  The obvious choice is Gamma Bot, which is unfortunately rare (back then we thought there would never be a non-varium bot) but has 12-16.  The next choices are Azrael's Borg (rare!) and Baby Yeti (rare!), as they have the next best base damage.  Next are the Assault Bot (not rare, although it costs 1250 Varium) and the current Pyro Fly (good for offensive uses: "Derp cannot use Field Medic this battle!"), because they only come in at 10-14.  If you really are desperate (aka nonvarium), I guess you'll have to use the Rusted Assault Bot.  (Oh wait, great idea! Rusted Gamma Bot!  Make the base damage 10-14 and make it cost 20,000!  Forget it, it's a slap in the face to those who worked their butts off for the real, genuine Gamma Bot.)
Just remember, guys, disclaimer: This build is not a guaranteed win build.  This is not a heavily variumated TLM, CH, or BM.  I made this build, therefore it is subject to fail.  It is still in testing.
Heh.
~ReconnaisX

Jam-packed.

This post is a bit different from others, because I finally played some more Aurum Blade.  Just saying.

~Aurum Blade~ Powerleveling (36 to 47)
 
A few days ago, I managed to get my hands on my mom's iPad and started to play Aurum Blade, because I make an effort to keep in touch with games I'm blogging about.  (What happens when I don't do that?  Well, I haven't played Angry Birds in a while.)  I managed to beat the Chaos Golem, a level 30 boss, at level 41.  I advanced a few more floors and right now I am currently at floor 12.
Unless you've actually played Aurum Blade before, you might be wondering just what I'm talking about.  Well, the only way to understand what I say is to play the game!  I think I mentioned this in my other post about AB (yes, I know, Angry Birds is also AB, but it's Aurum Blade I'm talking about here)- Aurum Blade is $0.99 on the App Store, and yes, it is worth the money (even though I didn't pay for it- I snagged it while it was free for a while).
Okay, from here on to maybe the last word of the AB part of this post, I'll assume that you bought AB and you started a new character.  (I'll pull some information and pictures from here.)
I can't tell you which character to start with- you'll have to pick on your own.  There are three characters to pick from- Allen, Sigmund, and Enoshu.  My main character is Allen, my secondary Sigmund.  (There are only three save slots, and three characters, so you can have one character to one slot.)  I'll just let you know that

/begin quote from Aurum Blade Site/-------------------------------

Allen : Allen is specialized in one handed weapons. He is fast but has weak damage. To compensate for this, it is important to increase his critical damage.
Sigmund : Sigmund is slow but has very strong power with two handed weapons. His strong attack power results in high critical damage but lacks in critical rate.
Enoshu : Enoshu uses staffs and wands. She is specialized in magic powers requiring more INT stats.

/end quote/--------------------------------------------------------- 

And that Enoshu has a general lack of defense.

Okay, let's say that now you chose your character.  Now onto the game itself.  The beginning takes place in Shining Dawn Village.

The details are kind of hazy, since it's been a while, but I think that the game starts with Gordon, a bald evil guy (I know, sounds funny) asking (you know, in a mean way- he's not very polite) Simon (a guy semi-important to the story) to "hand over the girl".  He keeps on refusing (something like that) and then Duke Marduk (the evil head honcho) arrives.  The townspeople resist (that is, three) and then (apparently) Marduk gets pissed off.  He turns the three (so much for resisting) townspeople into skeletons.  (Fun.)  

This is when I get confused.  All I remember after this is (in no order) that "the girl", Celty, turns herself in (/startsarcasm"because she can't have people dying for her"/endsarcasm), the hero (you) appears and your first joyful assignment is to fight off three level 1 skeletons, and Marduk leaves with Celty for the Philosopher's Tower, a huge tower that has a lot of floors and happens to be conveniently located just north of Shining Dawn.

You can tell (by my sarcasm and the amount of parentheses used) that I'm not the most accurate source of the storyline (at least the beginning).  If you want a more accurate account, go and buy the game!  Just do it.

~ED~ The Blueprint Scraps finally have a use!

^ :O The weapons are finally (actually, almost) here!


In this part of my blog post, I will pick and take apart a rare DNs from Nightwraith.


First things first- To obtain access to these weapons (which you may or may not be drooling over right now) you need four Blueprint Scraps.  A few weeks ago, during the Bionic Battalion Saga, I talked a bit about the "mysterious Blueprint Scraps" and how it was a separate mission chain from the main BB Saga one.  Well, now, they're not so mysterious, and we can finally use them.  After obtaining all four (the last mission chain-yes, chain- to get the last Scrap is way harder compared to the others), you're to go to Silas Auer or the Lawman, depending on your alignment.  After completing the mission "The Bigger Picture" (get it?), you'll get a Locker Key for your alignment.  The Locker Key unlocks your alignment-specific shop.

Now for the weapons.  As said on the forums, the majority of the weapons will be credit only, and regardless of appearance, there are equal physical and energy weapons with parallel stats.  Just one thing about the actual release of these weapons ticks me off:
"Because this system is new and we want everyone to be aware of how it works and where to get Blueprint scraps, we are delaying the release of these weapons until next week."
R U SRS NW?!?  Y U DELAY WEAPON RELEASE BECAUSE OF NOOB?

And now for the art.  Great job Disturbed!  In my opinion, though, the blue colored weapons look much better than the red.  Or maybe it's just me favoring colors.

~Minecraft~
Yes, finally, a post on Minecraft!  But this time only because I love destroying NPC Villages.

A few weeks ago, I found an NPC Village.  There are several things I did with it and will do (chronological order):

1. The Burning- Initial casualties (only villagers- interesting...) and most wood-based blocks removed from Village
2. The Repopulation- I introduce roughly 300 chickens to the Village.  I think they love it.
3. The Bombing (CURRENT PHASE)- I'm rigging landmines throughout the (already ruined) village.  I don't set the TNT off, the chickens do!  It makes it all the more fun to see the chickens blow themselves up!  (I know, I sound so cruel.)
4. The Discovery- I plan to completely kill off the chickens, then I will introduce about 5-10 Villagers, who I pretend are adventurers who have discovered the ruins of a once-great cilvilzation.  (It's all about the storyline.)

And maybe that should be it?  The Villagers settle, have kids, blah, blah.

I do have another segment on MQ coming up later, but for now, I need to publish this because it's getting late and I don't like draft posts.
~ReconnaisX

My Excellent Hybrid Strength Build.

The Infernal Slayer sword is (hopefully) still in stock, right?  Probably clocking in at less than 500 now.  I've given up my quest to obtain the sword.  Oh well.  Anyhow, there are more important things to share.

It's a Hybrid!

On Friday, I formulated a new build, designed to help me get my 14,000 credits faster.  It's not a typical blood mage build (strength or technology- honestly, do you guys ever think of your own instead of build copying?).  But I think of my own builds.  This new build (predictably on my blood mage) is a strength hybrid.  What sets it apart from other blood mage builds (and all other builds) is that this build utilizes the Frost Slayer.
Now, Frost Slayer is not very exciting.  At the time of its release, only a few people wielded it, and many more discovered the fact that the Frost Destroyer was much more useful, being a class-specific mutating weapon.  Needless to say, the Frost Slayer was not bought in-game much.  I obtained the Frost Slayer through my first $50 Varium package promotion, the only time I would use my own money for Varium.  Like others, I chose to utilize Frost Destroyer.  So the Frost Slayer was left collecting dust in my inventory.  It was one of the few weapons I had first but enhanced last.  That was how important it was to me.
But I am creative with builds, and I like to use every weapon I have, as it allows for diverse builds.  The few other times I had used Frost Slayer, it had ended up horribly, not because of the sword, but because of me.  (Like a true Blood Mage,) I had used to Frost Slayer in a Strength build- no hybrids allowed.  And since at the time, Delta Knight was not released, I was stuck with Beast Master P M, without split defenses.  And, if you can remember, Beast Master offered a +8 boost to support, which was rather useless in a strength build.  My Primary damage triumphed at 26-32+35, but I was left with a low Dexterity and Technology.  If you remember how Dexterity affects one's likelihood to attack with a primary and block, and how Technology affects one's likelihood to deflect and be deflected, you can be sure how I came off in those deals.  That build was awful.
So, how the build works?  The cornerstone of the build is probably either Bludgeon or Blood Lust.  (I still freak out when a Pyro Fly takes out my Level 5 Field Medic.)  I just attack (mainly with primary, thus the dexterity) with the Frost Slayer most of the time.  I usually rage with my gun unless if my enemy has an usually high dexterity (looking at 30-36+5+1+11, tank TLMs).  If I see low health, I will try for a fast kill with my Level 8 Bludgeon (49% more damage).  Through the whole battle, Blood Lust really helps me out.  Reflex Boost, which should be in most BM builds, can be very useful for energy regain.  If I'm taking heavy damage that refuses to stop, be it physical or energy, I put on Reflex Boost.  Besides the small addition to my defense (26-32 -> 31-38) the energy regain is very helpful.
Now, like most other builds, this one has a failed prototype, which I have stored in the Closet of Useless Builds.  (I threw away the key.)  That failed prototype used high health (140).  Besides that great agility *boost*, my Strength was kind of looking on the low side.  I also didn't realize that Deadly Aim is very useful to Blood Mages, just as useful as Support is to BMs (which is to say, none- unless you have seen my other BM builds).  So I would march into battle with a +4 bonus on  my Carrot Impaler.  Ha.
Now, my Carrot Impaler is better off, with a +6.  My Strength-relying weapons are better now, with a 19-23 compared to an 18-22.  (I know, big difference.)  I have discovered that having Level 8 Intimidate with 24 Support is a big no-no.  (It was in my prototype.)  Now, I have 28 Support, great for Level 3 Deadly Aim, which increases the gun bonus to 6.
So, yeah

~ReconnaisX

A̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶.̶ Outdated title.

Today (Actually, as of May 19, it was last Sunday)I was out of town, drastically changing my life because I rely on computers so I got another chance to explore my mom's iPad (hint: on the long trip on the freeway).  I did a bit of TowerMadness and Bejeweled Blitz and 8bit Ninja, a tiny tiny tiny bit of Farmkill, and then I got bored.  I turned toward the only RPG app I had: Aurum Blade.
I really hadn't touched the app yet until today.

*Fast forward to May 19, when I uncover the draft remains of this post and decide to complete it.*
But the app is great, great, great!  At the moment it costs 99 cents (I got it when it was free).  But what makes it unique is not that it looks like other RPGs (*cough* RPG Maker) but that it's one of the few RPGs on the Apple App Store.  Come get it here and try it yourself.  Case closed.

~ReconnaisX
PS: Sorry for the short post, but I was trying to clean up my drafts and if you read my previous post, I mentioned I was *tired of blogging* for now.  And I just remembered I gotta do Voyage to the Lost Land and the Minecraft Journals.  *facepalm*