GreatStateofTX

It depends on what you want to do. Do you want to find a good active clan and level with others? I haven't seen that, maybe with the merge we will get there. Do you want to come out and casually play to escape the real world? Then you will need to create your main and your own supports. Pulling them all up at once is a slow grind with no adena and slow leveling. Do you want to be competitive and join Oly, PVP, etc.? Then you need top gear. Be prepared to spend $5K - $10K over time to gear those toons up with P2W events. You will not be able to compete against the Adena BOT trains, they will ensure you never have a chance to level near them and steal their revenue stream. As for the dwarf. There is no market. You can't craft SS, BSPS, look at the drop and spoil rates, you can't sell what things do drop as they eliminated that ability. Spoil rates are impossibly low. There is nothing to farm for. But if you enjoy the toon and style of play, go for it! Some of us merge onto TI next week. It will be interesting to see what happens then. Bot farmers from one server fighting with bot farmers from other servers? Top clans from multiple servers coming together. Do they war for castles and best hunting spots? Do they try to create dominance? Play what you like. If you can't find an active clan, then the fastest way to level is with a Summoner. Drag your first support toon with that elf. I suggest a WC first. So you level 2 at the same time. If you want to level faster, buy better gear and armor (remember they took away the grade penalty), buy the best you can afford. Don't forget beast and BSPS shots if you Summoner. You need to have adena for that, and there is no way to make it in game because, as I said above, you can't compete with the botters they won't let you in the areas with adena drops. Until they fix the economy, that is the reality of the situation. Or you could buy $500 worth of NCoin event items every month, try to get something valuable in their gambling event and sell that for adena.

If we can't get Blessed SS back, I need to start a pony or cat summoner and gear that direction to at least be able to use BSPS. Hmmm decisions decisions.

By making this change, they can identify exactly who is using 3rd party programming. You see this is a trap to identify all of those accounts to perma ban them. In a couple of week they will go back to the way thing were and all those accounts will be gone. And everyone's crying about Bots will be solved. In the meantime here is how I am playing...go to an area with white mobs to your character. Turn off soulshots. Have your buffer macro ready, target the lead toon, run the buff macro(s), click auto hunt, set a timer on your phone for 19 minutes. When timer goes off, turn off auto hunt, rebuff, then restart auto hunt and reset timer. Yes I can't be AFK, I need to be nearby, but at least it is working in the background while I am doing other things near.

So many of you complain, however there is no silver bullet to make this game satisfy everyone. Whatever NCsoft does will make some people happy and some people mad. There is no win for NCSoft when it comes to making tweaks. Purists say, "You aren't Classic" anymore. What that means in their mind is, that this version is like the original version. Instead NCSoft continues to try and tweak the game to make it difficult and challenging for those that want that experience, while at the same time appealing to other players that want things easier. It takes money and resources to run and update this game, so NCSoft, just like every other business out there has to make a profit or it will go away. So again, they try to tweak the game to make it free for those who choose not to pay, or for those that can pay to do so. It is simple business economics, because without revenue, the game goes away. Me personally, I don't like the gambling aspect of the events. I don't gamble in casinos and I don't like gambling here. I would like to know that if I spend $100, $300, $500 whatever the amount on Ncoin, that I get something for that. I don't want just a chance to win something. Yesterday, I got a Special fruit buff for 20 minutes. I don't want to spend real money on that, when my box buffers can give that to me. So for me, I won't participate in this event. NCsoft is making the business decisions right for them, as every business should do. They will continue down the path of their choosing, and we as customers can choose to participate or not. Here is my suggestion to the developers and product managers: 1. Make items able to be purchased in the store. For example, Top B grade sword $50, Top A Grade Sword $100, Top S Grade Sword $200. Armor same scaling, Jewelry, Recipes, Enchant scrolls, etc. With the low adena drop rate, this will allow more money for Soul and Spirit Shots People will complain that only those with money can win. I say, not true. Everything is still craftable, farmable and available to everyone if you play the game hard and the way it was first created. It may take you longer to catch up, but it is possible. Off my soapbox now. Let the flames begin.