Nakties Karys of Istaria

Biped warrior adventures in vast world of Istaria.

Author: Lithuanian

My combat and crafting adventures in Istaria continues.

I spent almost all time I had with levelling Shaman. Starting with level 60, I soon became lvl.61 and then it was a time to visit Trophie hunter in Dralk. My not so large set of trophies meant I advance almost to lvl.62. Then did one quest for Dralk Town Marshal. it was about killing 10 Obsidian golems and the reward was some 11 silver coins...but no xp. I went to one place I knew I would receive quest...but the quest was too short: I clicked on it and it was complete.

Then I returned to my favourite Sand Scarabs and their elder brothers - Sand Scarab Harvesters, all lvl. 70-79. It was fun to level killing them: Sand scarabs give good xp (some 2000 points for Scarab and 7000-8500 points for Harvester), drop trophies and sellable items. I have a total of some 350 their trophies collected: would be a nice thing to exchange it into xp and coins.

However, levelling this way is slow. 8000 xp is good, but one level means some 350-400.000 xp. Tried to level on Mithril golems (lvl.91), but this was no good - hard to kill and only 9000 xp to get. Finally, asked Player S. to help me with fighting.

We went to Eastern Deadlands and tried to kill lvl.118-120 Fiyakis. They offered some 12.000 xp and initially everything was good. Later problems began. We noticed one Dragon near us. Well, it's not a  problem, Deadlands are big and there are enough Fiyakis for everyone. However, Dragon asked/demanded us to relocate "to the other side of the wall". We did, knowing it was dangerous for us. Result: Player S. killed one time, escaped one time; I killed two times and third time I just quit. However, that Dragon was not satisfied almost commanding us to leave. It was my first time I met an unfriendly Dragon. After all, Deadlands are big, there are enough enemies for everyone and we were staying at a relatively safe place. We left, however.

I gained xp within this rather short hunt and yesterday became Shaman lvl.65. Now i have some 5 levels to go...and then all Sand Scarabs trophies will jet-level me to lvl.75.

To rest, I made some crafting. Guildhouse in Bristugo was finished, so I just constructed Saris Tiny Hut: a house in Saris style. Finishing this, I thought my construction was over. Well, it wasn't.

Plot in Bristugo with vault and consigner was gone: as far as I remember it was owned by the same not too friendly Dragon I met in Deadlands. Now plots have no owner at all. The main problem is, that Vault has gone. it slows down my construction operations - therefore I went to aid to Player's T. vault.

It took almost all day of running, harvesting resources, making stuff from them, sometimes changing school and reverting changes...But at the end of the day the Vault was almost finished. All that remains is "Vault hiring permit" that is sold for some 125 silver coins (and I do expect owner to buy it...). Profit: advanced Enchanter by some 1,5 levels.

Then I felt just tired from killing and adding materials. Went to New Trismus just to rest, killing level 3 Grulets and watching new players. Offered my help to some lvl. 7-9 players, but they said they did not need it. Well, I hope they will ask me if they need any support, be it armor, weapons, tools, combat support or just advice.

Weekend was great one. Shaman grows up, crafting grows up, I am usefull to other people  and I just having fun in Istaria.

Yesterday's crafting was virtually a sign to stop crafting. I made a full load of flax tapestries and bolts, arrived to Bristugo to add them...only to found they were already added by someone. And the owner was working on Elm and Slate resources. Guildhouse is at 75% completed.

That meant it was time to change armor and go level up Shaman. I went to snowy Mahagra, found trainer (for some reason Shaman trainer stands alone on the very roof of the main building) and went to fight lvl.79 Sand beetle harvesters (me being lvl.60).

Due to instant skyping with a friend, I did not advance much. The only positive things were Sand beetle trophies: these will be very handy when I will reach level 71. And so far my advancement is a bit slow: only 9000 xp for one harvester. Bearing in mind that I need some 340.000 xp for one level, it's a bit slow.

Player D. offered to guide me to some easy mobs - but things went a bit wrong since the begining. I was thinking those mobs patrol area near Eastern Deadlands (the most hard Deadlands in Istaria). To my surprise, Player D. (it's good to be Dragon!) just flew above various hordes of Blight creatures heading me to the Deadlands. I avoided monsters as much as I could, at level 60 Shaman I could offer little resistance, since my lvl.100 Cleric was killed very easily. However, soon I was surrounded, stunned...and I was lucky to recall. After that - returned to my Sand beetle harvesters once again.

My fight was interesting one: I had to remember Shaman fight, how he steals everything from enemies, then curses them and finishes already weakened enemy.  The only thing I have to figure out are enemies: they should be easy to kill and give as much xp as possible. With them, I will have just to count corpses of dead monsters and use trophies when the time is right.

My days in istaria are bright once again. I will fight some 10 levels; I will craft if I am tired from fighting - and I will help those who will need my help. Life is just good once again.

The day was full of surprises.

Player M., that had held our plot in Bristugo is no longer owner of that plot: sold it to some big Dragon. I saw hour one additional Guildhouse and several silos were demolished. The simply disappeared. Soon,other structures were demolished too. In their place Dragon (and his Guild?) began building vault and consigner. Everything was built almost in lightspeed.

The fact that Guildhouse was sold left my vault overflooded: everything I stored there was returned to my vault. Trophies. Components. Building materials. I had to delete some of them - but thanks to God, I have my trophies back and can finally plan advancing Shaman from level 60 to level 100.

Next plot in Bristugo was demolished too. It had Vault, Expert Blacksmith shop, Expert Alchemist shop and several tier 4 silos. As I left, plot was empty: well, I hope new owner is going to construct something there.

Another plot in Heather is being deconstructed too, losing several Expert level structures.

I continued aiding our new Guildhouse in Bristugo, now it is almost 70% done. Only grinding part remains - part where I am expected to bring nearly 300 construction materials. On this plot I also noticed medium Vault, tiny Saris house and 1 tent.

I was asked by Player D. about armor - if I had mithril scalemail, but unfortunately I had none. Maybe it is a asign to advance my Armorer to level 98 (from existing level 30s...).

With the completion of our Guildhouse I would finally have place to store trophies - and then will starting jet-level my Shaman. With hundreds of trophies I should be able to do it quickly: use trophies, then kill monsters that offer little resistance and give decent xp.

Life is starting to be shiny again. Once again, I will pick up my armor and weapons and return to forgotten battlefields to slain everything I met. Once again, I will test my combined Cleric and Shaman abilities.

Adventures with crafting are going on and on...

Initially it was Player T with his Guildhouse. he just set up a tier 2 Guildhouse. Well, it is a wast building that needed almost 20 type of resources from every building school. Numbers differed - from low 50 to big 300. Bearing in mind that I need to help Player D. - I tried to craft resources that contribute to both plots.

I did not wait long: Player D. found a way to finish his Tavern. Solution was simple: when you deconstruct a building in Istaria, you get so-called "Novian resources". So, if your building got 100 slate slabs, you got 50 Novian slate slabs. No matter what your skill is, you may use them on any building that requires slate slabs. The only restriction: you may add Novians to the plot you own. So, Player D. just took Novians, added them and voila - Tavern is finished.

This left me in a curious situation: I was preparing a huge load of Elm bracers for both plot and soon some 30 of them became obsolete. Added bracers - and then went to gather slate.

In snowy Mahagra fields I found one Dragon. He was gathering slate too and was friendly (as are almost all Dragons). He asked me, lvl.100 person, if I needed help (no, I didn't) and later we just talked about resources where to store them and what to do with them. He was kind enough to offer me a load of 2000 slate bricks. I refused. I am lvl.66 Mason and slate is too low for me, I don't get any xp. Those bricks would be great for any lower level crafter. However, such approach is typical for Istaria. If you need tools, there would always be some crafter who would make them for free. If you need resources - someone would have them. Even I was offered huge numbers of certain resources to level up my Carpenter.

Slate was finished and added. Then time has come for primitive Bronze sheetings and jointings. I went to "the town of my youth" - New Trismus and harvested there...and then back to Bristugo.

I levelled up my Enchanter while adding Pale construction stuff to the plot too: gained almost two levels.

Thus the crafting day was over. I left Guildhouse at some 40% completed. There are still many resources required. The only problem is paying. Player T. set up things that if you add stuff, you got paid. Well, I would rather work for idea, for the joy of building apperaring...and if someone does insist on money...well, then for sum big enough to cover teleportation costs. That's all, nothing more nothing less.

And so the day ended. I know, I have to start fighting one day, level up my Shaman, then Druid and other schools to be as good in battlefield as I am in crafting. And I will do this - when I finish those two plots.

This weekend was a crafting one - although with some surprises.

I was helping Player D with his plot - and the plot itself was almost finished. All that remained was a meidum vault. It took lots of time to gather resources and bring them to the plot - yet I did it. Grinding may not be too good, but if it is rewarding - it's pretty ok.

Yes, there was one bug with Player's D. newly built Tavern. There was a Stoneworking shop previously (was demolished though). However, Stoneworking machines remained and no Tavern keeper could be installed. Player D. had to demolish Tavern and start anew.

That meant more grinding for me. part of this job was finished by Player D. himself (some 40%), while remaining stuff is to be done by me.

At the same time Player S. appeared and asked if I can help her to gather resources - another hundreds of them. I agreed. Well, Player T. showed up and told he bought a plot in Bristugo. Of course, it was up to me to help him with the plot. He starts with tier 2 Guildhouse that does require lots of resources. I started with very easy ones (Elm stuff, just because there are elm trees near Bristugo). Guildhouse (GH, as we call it) is of highest priority now.

Which leaves me divided into Player's D. tavern and vault; Player's S. lair; Player's T. plot. Some resources can be shared amongst Players D. ir T. Some not. However, I am already satisfied with it: it was me that built most of Player's D. plot. It will be me that will contribute to Player's T. plot. And when those plots are finished, I will start helping other plots, be it Bristugo or Dalimond.

Of course, crafting means I have abandoned fighting and my Shaman longs for combat against monsters; and my Cleric awaits when he will be able to use some Shaman abilities. That will be, when I finish with most of crafting.

Not so bright news: one experienced player quits Istaria due to conflicts between role-play and real-life relations. Everyone does understand real life must prevail, but still a pity. Good player lost is a loss even to MMORPG that has millions of subscribers.

Overall, weekend was good and busy. I'm glad it was such.

A new crafting day. First of all, re-visited Mahagra's settlement of Snowfall. It is the best place to harvest slate - so I did some work there, making slate construction blocks and keystones, only to add them to Player's D. plot. No experience for that - just fun.

And then - up to magic essence. So far I am working with low tier Pale essence. This time I did miscalculate: thought I needed some 90 pale essence spheres, while structure required about 60. I left some of them in one silo: maybe someone later will make any use of them.

After I finish one structure at Player's D. plot, I will finally be free to level up my building schools: Mason (lvl.66), Carpenter (lvl.95), Weaver (some lvl.30s), Enchanter (lvl.32?). And later - later up to fighting and growing up my Shaman, after that - Druid.

Thus the day ended. I was usefull once again, I gained some xp...and looking forward to grow faster and be more usefull.

Trandalar's Acul: a snowy desert, recently revamped and enriched with snowy oaks. The place where I went to gather lots of steel for Player's D. plot. Yes, I was sceptic a bit...but the revamp was positive one. Of course, motherloads of dark iron are guarded...but there are lots of (and I mean lots of) normal and rich node so that I could harvest tens of thousands of ore without taking any risk.

I was lucky enough to see some empty public silos and use them to store stuff.  Soon, all 200 steel constuction sheetings and 80 stell construction jointings were made and safely added to Player's D. medium vault.

I also tried to locate Cobalt, but to no result. There was one very good plot at Shelter pass, near cobalt fields...and now it's no more, just a fountain. A pity. It made cobalt harvesting very problematic one.

Player D. has finally noticed his Pawnbroker store has no entrance...and is rebuilding it.

At the end of the day I realised I did not want to grind Kenaf (plot needed some 200 units of Kenaf construction stuff), so just went to relax to New Trismus. I stood in the middle of level 3 Grulets and just killed them all with tier 1 Fire strike. At least some relax...

When I finish with (grindy) Player's D. plot - I will switch to levelling up Carpenter (last 5 levels are the hardest ones), Mason...and Enchanter.

So far life is good in istaria.

It has been a good weekend in Istaria.

Of course, crafting again. Running to various locations, harvesting resources...and taking use of different cargo disks.

In Istaria, player can use special item to store items - it is called "cargo disk" and has several classes and types, from primitive lvl.1 to lvl.100. Basic cargo disks can store up to 10 stackable items, while more advanced - only 1 type, but they usually have more space. In other words: if you need "little by little, step by step" resource - use disk that has less apcew but stores more items; if you go for serious crafting - use disk that hold 1 type of resource and has many space.

And the crafting was going on. Player L. helped to build Player's D. plot. We have finished some three structures: Cauldron, pawnbroker and consigner. I do feel good when I see building appearing out of scaffolding. It's like real building, it's about being proud of something positive.

I tried to take Armorer school, but to join it Armorcraft 80 was needed, so had to take Outfitter. Levelled Outfiter to some level 15 by doing level 1 quests. They were quite fun: each has its own story, its own run across New Trismus, visiting almost every crafting/fighting NPC. And, of course, I gained some money for each quest. I also went to my vault,  scribed some primitive tier 1 formulas...and then took Armorer school. Advanced it easily: initially with crafting cobalt bars from cobalt ore, later - with mithril bars. Now I am some level 26 Armorer, capable of doing tier 1 armor (and the formulas: I got them by doing quests. For free).

In our chat, we had some interesting talks. Initially one player told she was bored and had no motivation to craft. I explained there is motivation. Does she have all level 100s? Or at least top levels in all building schools? Even if she had - she may be the person that helps any building to appear (being Dragon means one can fly). Or she may just sit in starting areas and help new hatchlings. I think, she had to agree with me.

Later, exchanged some jokes with another player (I thought she was angyr on my: lucky, she wasn't) about plots. I am concerned about former Guild House in Bristugo as the owner has virtually disappeared. But looks like there is too little chance to buy back this plot from him.

Overall, I felt satisfied with these days. I crafted, I levelled and helped others. Life is nice once again.

The day began with pale essence harvesting: gathering essence, making essence orbs and then making essence construction sources and spheres. After some runnings forwards and backwards I was able to finish beginner's Blacksmith structure at Player's D. plot. It was a real joy for me -another structure that I, and I alone have built.

We met there - I wanted him to see the new building - and he gave me some food. Player's D. another character is a Confectioner, so he can make almost any food. Yes, I had some 3 death points left (the more you have, the slower they fade) and his food let those death points to fade a bit quickier.

Then Player D. told me he did not need one structure and he want to build a Tavern instead. So, some structures were demolished (with all the resources I have added!) and new ones - Tavern, Consigner and Pawnbroker - were started.

Recent updates have made some changes to plot permissions: now they are only "Open", "Closed", "Guild only"  which is more convenent.  At the same time, machines on structure can be activated by owner only (not so convenient).

I made some slate work: 100 slate construction blocks and 50 slate contruction keystones and then quit crafting: felt a bit tired. No doubt, today I will continue my job and will make that Tavern appear. The only problem was that Player D. did not demolish some machines left from previous structures. But I do hope he will find a way to do so.

My Enchanter (the school that makes essence construction stuff) reached lvl.30. Pretty good, especially when I use very primitive tactic to advance it. Mason was levelled yesterday, but in order to gain any real xp, I need to work with materials of higher tier than slate. Slate is just a hobby...

We have also talked about some problems after recent update. I and some other players, have experienced "falling from sky" effect. If you recall or teleport - you do not land, but fall from the sky, sometimes on the roof of the building (which led to the rants - "lucky, I am not Dragon and did not crush the roof"). Also, wood targeting is still problematic, developers do acknowledge it is a problem and are working on it. Despite some problems -each game has ones- everyone agrees Istaria has a great community and great guilds. I never heared of a community better and warmer to any player, be it veteran or newbie.

And so the day was ended. I was of some help to others and had lots of friendly talks with people in our Guild chat. It's almost like good old days are back and I will soon run from fighting to crafting, from crafting to helping others.

Istaria, you are beautifull.

The day in istaria was a good one.

Our famous 'advance harvesting' has been removed - now it is not possible to hit the node, teleport somewhere and continue harvesting. I finished several schools with this, but "let bygones be bygones".

Yesterday used some 4000 mithril bars: took Tinkerer school, recycled tools and reached Tinkerer level 31. Then came to harvest slate keystones: some 170 were needed and it took me some time to made them, transport them and add them to Player's D. plot. Then I was able to announce that "slate job at Player's D plot is done".

All that remains is pale essence construction stuff: something I could not craft efficiently. I am level 25 Enchanter with 250 Essence structuring skill and for effective constructing/adding I need some 500 skill. But it did not stop me from helping.

In the middle of the constructing I helped one player to harvest salt. Yes, we do have such resource in Istaria. I was very proud to tell - "teell me what needed to be mined and mined it will be (except tier 6 resources)", And it was true: I can efficiently mine any resource (except top tier ones). It took more time to travel than to mine. Player needed 150 - I mined some 200 and it was over.

Then I returned to my magic essence, continuing to work. Added some stuff to the plot, then continued making...and by the end of the day I advanced by 3 levels, to some lvl.28 only by doing low-level stuff. The result was - one building is nearly finished, I need to add just a little of magic essence...and I have some 500 construction stuff to be added to all other structures. Then, all the plot will be finished by me.

Overall, I was satisfied with the day. Old good days with helping other people are there once again. Soon I will start levelling my combat schools and things will be just as they were before..