Fatal's Mailbag - November 1, 2010

Since quite a few have left me messages, I figure I would try to address them all in a blog posting rather than clutter up the message board.... so here we go!

wiki: hi jus wondering.. which boss inside secret lab drop lv 105 blue?

hi wiki, thanks for the message!


Secret Laboratory is indeed a difficult Instance Dungeon.  There are 4 Miniboss types:  "Slime in Experiment", "Experiment 19", "Experiment 20", and "Experiment "22".  These are the creatures that are incubating inside the test tubes when you enter some of the rooms.  There is a timer that begins a hidden, but announced at key intervals, timer that will awaken the miniboss if you either do not clear the entire room in time, or you happen to hit the test tube that it is housed in.  If you are able to clear that room without hitting the tube before the timer runs out, you can safely bypass the room without fighting that miniboss.  However, you lost your chance at getting one of the Secret Laboratory Armors.


The Slime and Experiment 19 do not drop anything.  #20 drops Helms and Boots.  #23 drops Pants. (Please correct me if I'm wrong here, I don't remember with 100% accuracy on this).

The final boss is called "Experiment 25".  If he can be defeated, there is a chance that he will drop the shirt piece of your armor set.

Weapons are another story.  You will need to figure out how to obtain these on your own.  =)

__________________________________________________________

Isi: Hi... just wondering, are your sharpshooter's gears enhanced?

Hi Isi!  Thanks for posting a question!


Believe it or not, my SharpShooter gears are NOT enhanced.  Why?  Expense is one thing.  The fact that they are pretty darned good to begin with is another.

As you now know, all of the 100+ Blues are not as easily farmed as we were used to with other Sets.  They need to be obtained via Instance Dungeon (Leviathan's Nest and Secret Laboratory) or by killing the Harpies in Malephar's Lair.  Not at all an easy undertaking.


With that being said, it is extremely difficult to farm specifically for what you are looking for, and when you do actually get a drop that pertains to your class, you pretty much take what you can get.  Getting picky on stats is almost completely thrown out the window unless you are fortunate enough to farm more than one similar piece.


I touched on this in my Blind Shot Armor posting but I'll repeat myself here.  The base stats on the 105+ gear are better than even most of the best 95+9 pieces.  Your Defense, M.Defense, and Evasion will all be higher.  However, you will more than likely see a decrease in HP, SP, Aim, Dmg, and M.Dmg because the added END, STR, DEX, etc stats will probably not compare to what you were previously using.


Your Aim will suffer because of the lack of DEX, but your Evasion will not because of the higher base evasion given by the armors themselves.


Below is a stat comparison at 105 with each stage of armors:  Godly +9 95s, +0 100 Greens, +0 LN Blues, +0 SL Blues, and +0 ML Blues.  I do not have a complete ML (Malephar's Lair) Set yet, I am still missing the shirt, as soon as I can get a hold of one, I will edit this posting, for argument's sake, the 105 ML set is being shown with the 105 SL Blue shirt.  All sets will include the same jewelry and same weapon.


It is too much to screenie every individual piece, but here are the stats on each piece:

SharpShooter Hat +0:  45end 45dex 45spr - 166def 162mdef 131eva

Nature Armor +9:  50end 50dex 35int +600hp - 255(+275)def 246mdef 186eva

Nature Pants +9:  43end 39dex 38spr +600sp - 195(+210)def 187mdef 152eva

Nature Boots +9:  43end 44dex +6%Crit - 145(+156)def 141mdef 117eva

SharpShooter Hat +0:  45end 45dex 45spr - 166def 162mdef 131eva

Solar Eclipse Ohel Armor +0:  50end 45dex 54spr - 255def 246mdef 186eva

Solar Eclipse Ohel Pants +0:  53end 30dex 7spr - 195def 187mdef 152eva

Solar Eclipse Ohel Boots +0:  54end 13spr - 145def 141mdef 117eva

Advanced Concentration Hat +0:  21spr - 286def 169mdef 144eva +100Aim

Advanced Concentration Armor +0:  Statless +600hp - 442def 257mdef 205eva

Advanced Concentration Pants +0:  Statless +600sp - 339def 196mdef 167eva

Advanced Concentration Boots +0:  Statless +7%crit - 250def 147mdef 129eva

Blind Shot Hat +0:  Statless - 353def 213mdef 166eva +50Aim

Blind Shot Armor +0:  20str 19end 58dex +347hp - 536def 323mdef 235eva

Blind Shot Pants +0:  Statless +579sp - 407def 246mdef 193eva

Blind Shot Boots +0:  34dex +7%crit - 306def 185mdef 149eva

Ashur Hat +0:  16str 10int 24spr - 371def 362mdef 209eva

Blind Shot Armor +0:  20str 19end 58dex +347hp - 536def 323mdef 235eva

Ashur Pants +0:  52str 45end 1dex 18int 2spr - 435def 417mdef 243eva

Ashur Boots +0:  16str 13end 28dex 14int 50spr +7%crit - 323def 315mdef 188eva

So as you can see, there isn't really a need to enhance the 105 stuff at the moment.  Even using statless or pieces with less-than-desirable stats, it's still to your advantage to use these pieces.  While playing other classes, however, you may need to consider the loss of some bonuses, like Aim for a Wiz/Warlock or Gladiator especially.  You may also consider the skills bonus that a certain set offers you.  For an archer, it doesn't matter all that much since most of the time we just kite kite kite.

________________________________________________

Tempo: hey fatal, quick question: How do you make money? that's always been the most challenging thing in fiesta for me. thanks!

Hi Tempo =)  This is a great question and one that I get asked a lot.  The answer though is quite complicated.

The answer is complicated because we all have different means to our ends.  There are basic foundations upon which you can accumulate wealth.  Foremost being production skills.

Production skills allow you to create usable items such as pots, scrolls, and stones to sell to other players as well as use for yourself.  Don't ever discredit the fact that these production skills save yourself a ton of money as well!  People always ask, "what production skills should I choose?"  The answer is simple.  ALL OF THEM.

I have maxed all of my productions including comp/decomp so I can create and sell what I need to when my mats accumulate.  This is definitely something I would recommend keeping up on.  However, if you are unable to vend overnight, selling off your created items isn't so easy.  But keep in mind that you are also in the business of saving yourself money.  So make your own scrolls, make your own pots, and make your own stones!

If you are a savvy enough shopper/vendor, there is always money to be made doing resales.  Whether you're buying a seemingly godly piece of equipment for a good price then marking it up 20% to resell it or even buying out town scrolls to resell, you can create your own business.

Gear reselling can be tricky as the investment costs may be high depending on the quality and enhancement level of the item you are trying to resell.  You could have your funds tied up for some time trying to resell that item, at times it may take you a month to get rid of an item.  I would not normally recommend this to players just starting out, you may get in over your head and find yourself buried in items that people do not find desirable or that you may have overestimated in value.

Simple reselling of items such as town scrolls is a good way to get yourself into business.  You will often see buy shops in Elderine purchasing Uruga town scrolls from anywhere between 20-50s and then that same seller re-selling his fill at 80-90s.  That is a significant markup and even buying at 50s and selling at 30s, you will still make a hefty 300s in profit per stack.

Getting to at least T3 is the key to maximizing your profits with scrolls.

I usually concentrate on T3 scrolls.  Why T3?  The profit margins are much larger and the pricing of the scrolls themselves don't vary much from T4s.  T3s typically vend for 10s-14s (Vit-Aim), while T4s usually from 12s-16s (Vit-MDef/Eva).  The cost of production is a lot lower on the T3 and they are an easier and faster sell in towns like Elderine compared to selling your level 75+ scrolls in places like Uruga and AR.  Depending on the shops around you and around town, you can make pretty decent money even reselling scrolls.  I've made quite a bit buying out T3 vendors at 9s-11s and reselling at 13s-17s.  If there's no other competition around, people will still buy.  The original seller of the scrolls is happy, they sold out of everything they produced at a profit, and I'm happy as I saved time from having to decomp mats down to create T3 scrolls and still made a small profit on the markup.  You just have to get a feel of when to take advantage of the market.

Again, depending on your financial/gear/SC situation, you can also farm bosses of any level for Blues(Purples).  In Bijou we call all of the set items 'blues' so that is how I will be referring to them here, if you're from Teva and insist on calling them 'purples' bear with me.  If you can afford to farm, that is a really great way to make some gold.  You can not only sell the Set Items, but also make quite a bit on the rings and weapons that drop as well.  The best class for farming all bosses solo would be the Fighter.  Highest HP, highest Defense, highest HP stone count.  It all adds up to lengthy sessions spent out in the dungeon chopping down bosses.  The other 3 classes can do it solo, but it's with a lot more difficulty.  If you choose to party, keep in mind that you will be splitting drops and therefore splitting profits.  If you can afford to solo, do it.  The use of Hunters War Rant from the cashshop is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.  If not, be happy with all the meats and crystals you pack back to town with you.

Congratulations!  You've discovered one of the Holiday Scramble Screenies!