So I decided to take a premium account on Innova's Lineage II server. It's only €8.99/month (or less if you take 3 or 6 months) and since I have already been a subscriber to Lineage II for years (and paid €12.99/month), I figured that it would be worth the monthly fee. It's even more worth it that it allows me to level twice as fast... When I bought the premium account, nothing changed in-game. Logging off and on again did show effects though. First off, my level now has a special indicator arount it, and I was given a 3-headed dragon agathion. Equiping the agathion and releasing the 3-headed dragon gives me a goody once a day with a chance on attribute crystals and other pretty neat stuff (nothing really game breaking though). So far I've had only 10x 350CP recovery feathers twice... But what did catch my attention was an other unlisted feature of the premium account - the drop-rates are up and better! When I took the premium account yesterday evening I almost immediately had a Zubei gaiter drop (I know, not the best piece of armor...). And money drops became more common (even more than the old 70% rate I'd say) and they became bigger as well. That same evening I went from around 4M adena to 8M adena This morning I was farming on the same spot again (Frozen Labyrinth) and I had an Art of Battle Axe drop Damn, I was so happy with that one! Until then I was still using that n00b mid C-grade common blunt I had for my 2nd class change Also, money was still dropping very well and before I knew I was on 11M adena already. So time to get myself some decent armor... Tallum heavy along with a Dark Crystal shield... I also did some raids this morning. Only 3... And the double XP from being premium kicked in there BIG TIME!. My mentor was off-line, my VP was totally gone, but the 3 raids pushed me from level 65 to level 70 That was something I really needed (either that or grind for more money at the Frozen Labyrinth ) I know that the Lineage II I'm now playing on Innova is how the Korean servers are like. Not even the NCWest servers have drop & XP rates like this! But is is Pay2Win..? I think yes and no. Compared to the non-paying player I am playing a more pay2Win game now than they do. I mean, I was doing the Wall of Agros daily quest today and I still saw a lot of players running around in that C-grade common gear that they got from their 2nd class change. So from that perspective it really is Pay2Win. On the other side, I could also say that premium is the way that Lineage II was intended to be played, and players not going premium (for whatever reason) are using a No-Pay2Loose game I know this sounds very arrogant now that I have decided to go premium, but it's not intended like that Bottom line, if you really want to play a more convenient game of Lineage II on the Innova server, the premium is the thing you're looking for. For only €0.75/day or €8.99/month or even €39/half a year you'll be able to play Lineage II as it was intended to be played (like it was back in the NCWest subscription days). No need anymore for the cash shop then and buy this-or-that. Yeah, you can still use the cash shop for pure cosmetic stuff, but the dropo 7 XP boosts are no longer needed...

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Playing as a totally new player on the Innova server is hader than it is on the NCWest servers. As I said yesterday, the lacking of the Path of Awakening (and thus the lack of free gear) makes things a lot harder. And not only for me, but for a lot of new players on the server, which in turn does make raids more challenging as well... Linage II now has a daily quest that tells you to kill a raid boss in your level range. I picked it up and didn't really search for one. But a clan mate saw that a party was formed, told me and I hopped in immediately. It was one in the Forest of Mirrors which would be no problem IF we were all in the right gear. But sadly, most of us were still in the free C-grade gear and that made the raid boss a bit harder... At least we managed to get the raid boss killed without any problems, but the drops were kinda ...meh... It was 6 key-mats for top C-grade gear and a greater dye (which I got). The quest reward on the other hand was better. The chest I had revealed sealed Blue Wolf boots. Yes, that's right, my first B-grade item! Later today I wanted to do Kama 63 in Schuttgard, but there was no one in clan available to help, so I made a random party. By now I was already level 60 and still with only the BW boots on and the rest in C-grade. Much like me, most of the party I assembled was also still wearing their C-grade gear We killed this kama boss with easy (and without dedicated healer as well) and once again, the drops were kinda ...meh... Again some key mats for lower B-grade and a scroll of enchant armor A-grade, which I was the lucky one to get . Sadly, that scroll isn't worth so much (around 300K adena)... Next up was the ToI ring quest and I had my first token. A very mini Queen Ant's ring is on it's way to be created

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I'm getting more and more annoyed by the bots and RMT on Naia and the lack of action NCWest is taking against there cheaters. With that, a pretty much broken economy (because of the 2 mentioned problems) doesn't help very well either... Add the NCoin store that becomes more and more Pay2Win instead of only being for vanity items, and there's no reason for me to hop to the Innova servers (other than their FROST anti-cheat spyware shit). And indeed, I did hop to the Innova servers earlier today. Made a character (female dwarf of course ) but didn't pick my 'regular' name. Instead I thought to name her iCantC and give her that o-so well known haircut that fits the name... First thing I did was yell on Talking Isle Village for mentor and academy - without luck. Then I hopped to Gludio, Giran and Aden, and in Aden I found my luck: a mentor. That meant it was time to start playing. But somewhere around level 15 my client crashed and when I came back on I had a PM from someone if I was looking for a mentor and academy. Well, I already have a mentor, but an academy would be nice. Even more when I was told that they'd pay me for graduating and doing the academy quests. That made my decision very simple - JOIN! To my big surprise I saw that the clan was names Unity, and asking, they were the same players that were on Naia back in the days. Even the old clan leader (Akjosh - I know I've spelled his name wrong) would be joining Innova soon they said. Joining an old clan on a new server made my decision for a mentor easy as well... I left that random dude after I PMd him that I found my old clan here and I took my mentor in the clan. Then money... Becoming a Warsmith (and Tyrr Maestro in the end) will give money, but I have to work for it. And that brings back memories.... Yeah, the above picture is quite the same of one of my first screenshots I made in Lineage II. me sitting in Gludio selling SSD to make some money. But this time things are easier... First off, I'm given a lot of crystals D-grade by the game (thanks to the level 20 class change quest) so crafting them is already very cheap for me. Secondly, I've taken the wolf quest as well (now starts with the Gludio pet manager) and can use both the wolf and golem together when fighting. That means that I don't have to use any soulshots (yet) and will save BIG-TIME on costs there... Now lets see how far Innova will let me go. There is one real bad thing about Innova when compared with NCWest. The Path to Awakening that gives free (temporary) gear is not there anymore. This means that when I hit level 40 and change class, the C-grade gear I get will be the last free gear. From then on it's all up to me and how I get my stuff. It feels really old-school and brings back the nostalgic days of Chronicle 1-3 even more

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We're having an event again, and this time one that doesn't involve the NCoin store (well, not forcebly) - the Letter Collector event is here again *YAY* This time things have changed a bit though with the event... Where in the past bots controlled the event from start to end, now they're somewhat banned. Yes, you hear it right - little to no automated 'players' online who are farming the event drops. From what I heard, NC has changed the logon protocol a bit so that bots can't get into the game (I wonder why they won't change the protocol a bit each week... ). But that's not all, there's more... There also seems to be a cap on the 'good drop rate' of the event drops as well. I've noticed both on Demi/Zilla as well as 2 alts of mine (who party constantly as well) that after about 50-75 drops, the drop rate went down dramatically. And when I say dramatically, I REALLY mean dramatically! Where at first I had a drop rate of 25%-33% of the event items, after that 50-75 I've had, the drop rate went down to around 2.5% No, I'm not mad about this course of action NC has taken. Okay, it does influence me as a legit player a lot, but at least, the casual player and no-life player (like me ) both have about the same chance to get enough letters from the event to make the 3 words needed. I'm also not mad about NC to change the protocol so that bots can't really logon (Silent Valley was REAL quiet earlier this week ), but it does mean that I can't follow the bots either and pickup the (new) drops that are not listed in their scripts either Anyway, so far the best I've had from the event is a Giant's Scroll of Enchant Weapon R-Grade. One I really would like to trade for a blessed scroll though...

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When I wrote yesterday that I felt kinda forced to hit 90, it was not something that just 'popped up'. I've been having that feeling for the last 2 weeks already. Today I've made the decision to leave the Unity clan/alliance. I've made it a post on the Unity forums, explaining that I'm too much an alt-o-holic and I do feel too much forced to hit that 90 mark ASAP. I also wrote that I'd get into my own alts-clan (and possibly necro it as well). After my post on the Unity forums and having left already from the clan, one of the leaders (on alt BTW) PMd me and said he did understand my decision. But he wasn't sure if going to my own alts-clan would be a good idea. Instead he advised me to think about joining Ech0 (no clue why that zero is at the end of the name ), because they're quite active for an (somewhat) alt-clan and they're also active in castle sieges (helping Unity most of the time). Funny enough, later that day a friend of mine PMd me because I was clanless again. And guess what? He also advised me to join Ech0... Looks like I know what to do right now... Search for tha Ech0 clan-site/forum and drop an application there

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Being in a large clan & alliance is always fun in Lineage II. At least, if you're in a legit one (and I luckily am). There's always someone around to chat with and there are enough opportunities to party with other players in your clan / alliance. But with the game being old and me being 18 months behind on playing, I am somewhat low level for the majority of the players. Right now I'm level 88 (very close to 89, I will most likely make that tonight ), but the daily things that are constantly asked for are mostly the 90+ ones. And that level 90 is exactly the target I do need to hit - better sooner than later... Reasons are obvious for my need to hit that level 90. First off, it'll give me crafting level 12 (top R-grade). But that's not the reason to hit 90 ASAP. The other reason is that 7 level difference limit for players in parties. Being 90 gives me more, better and more challenging daily quests and instances. It also offers to play with a party in an area a bit more above my level. This means I can participate more with the 'bigger guys' in the clan / alliance. Right now still being 88, would leave me to areas and parties up to level 95. But when I hit 90, it'll raise the maximum level for areas and parties to 97. But for now, hit 89 when the server comes up again, and hopefully 90 coming weekend...

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I've mentioned it a couple of times before already, but Lineage II is becoming more a World of Warcraft clone after the Goddess of Destruction expansion went live 18 months ago. The reason it's becoming a WoW-clone is not the actual game-play itself, but that Lineage II is now using dailies and tokens for gear (or recipes and materials). In all, the dailies are not a bad addition to the game, since a lot of players don't like the old XP-grind that Lineage II had. I mean, hunting for hours on the same place only to gain a couple of % of XP doesn't really appeal to the general Western audience. They like to be entertained instead of taking action theirself... Mix the daily quests with a party-finder and the audience is will become more and more disconnected from the community. Luckily Lineage II doesn't teleport you to the spot for the party, so still have to walk there yourself (unlike in WoW). While getting there, you can chat with the random party, but well, mostly it's a "OMW" or "Plz hurry". And when doing the actual quest, it's much like what I've experienced when playing WoW - no one actually talks On the other hand, when you're starting a "constant party" (a party of players who team up most of the time), the dailies will become less boring. Sadly, I'm at this moment setting up a CP with a clanmate, but we're still only on 3 (of 7) members total. In the mean time, I do the daily quests mostly with clan/alliance members, sometimes filled up with random (party finder) players. At least this way the players I party with are the ones I know already (a bit) and the party is less annonymous...

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It's been 15 years ago that my wife and I said YES to each other. Lots has happened since then (more than a normal couple would have in a lifetime), but our love hasn't changed and we're still together as happy as we were 15 years ago. Sadly, no pictures to show from our wedding (still need to scan them), so perhaps next year I'll show you some

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I haven't written about it, but ever since the Lindvior expansion I've had weird crashes of my video drivers. And as always, these crashes come at the most annoying times possible, like while being healer in the Teredor raid I have tried to downgrade my drivers to a previous version, but that didn't fix the problem. It actually made things worse, because the video driver would not crash but instead give me a BSOD With this problem being this severe (and only in Lineage II Lindvior and Neverwinter) I just had no clue what the problem might be. I even changed the speed of my RAM in the BIOS from 800Mhz to AUTO (which will default to 667Mhz BTW) but that also didn't resolve the problem. Other options in the BIOS (like the overclocking settings to enable unleashing mode and such) turned off didn't change anyting either In one last desperate attempt to solve the problem, I looked at my optional Windows Updates. There I found what seemed to be the solution. Of course, the optional Windows Update are things that are non-essential for Windows to operate you'd say, but once again Mickey$oft seems to think differently about esential operation as I do (and a lot of other gamers). In these updates I found 2 that addressed a possible issue with Direct2D and Direct3D. Well, I'm not sure, but that looks like an essential update to me, also because the DirectX updater didn't automatically install these either. Ever since I've installed these 2 Direct3D optional updates all seems to be fine *knocks on wood*. Yesterday since I had applied the updated I have played for about 8 hours (well, I was online for 8 hours in Lineage II ) without any crashes. And today I've been online for about 12 hours already as well without any problems either. I even played with 4 boxes open for about 3 hours, which is pushing the GPU memory usage to the max...

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With the Lindvior expansion, some areas have been changed. Harnak, which was a party-only area, is now a solo area (floors 1 and 2) and small party area (floor 3). The solo-area is extremely boring and I thought to give the 3rd floor a try. That was so-so challenging, and the XP is extremely good (4.2M for a group of mobs without VP ). The trick though is to kill the monsters there in the right order. Doing it wrong will most definitely kill you, despite of armor and weapon used. It's also very important to have full ISS buffs... And being in Harnak I also thought to use a birthday VP potion. That'd give me 4 hours double XP for sure (8.4M XP for a group of monsters... ) and replenishes my VP as well... Starting at around 85% there, it took me a bit over 3 hours to get my VP completely full again, and an other 25 minutes to hit level 88! By that time it was already late and I didn't feel like pushing it further and went to bed... Today, I've returned to Harnak, and not at 8.5% my VP is still there, but almost depleted. I did use a birthday cake to stall the VP depletion for half an hour as well. I just didn't feel like using a 2nd birthday cake... I think if I push it a bit more like this, I can be level 89 coming Monday. That is IF I push it. Not sure I'll have the time to play too much coming weekend, since the weather is nice and I do have to paint the outside of my house as well...

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