Busy Busy Busy

Wow a post! xD

Sorry to have been lax on my posting recently, I've just been really busy and excited about the new repeatable quests that OutSpark added in last week's maintenance.  These quests were really what I needed to get motivated and finally get my Warlock's butt to 105.

And guess what?  I did it!

I was so excited to finally be able to wear a new set of armors, the pixel obsessed part of me is satisfied!, get some great new skill upgrades, and twirl around a fancy new wand!



My path to 105 really began about 2 weeks ago, I was still mired at 103 doing nothing really but joining Fortress KQs for the meager 6 million EXP.  When finally a friend insisted I tag along for an hour or two in Origin of Life Tree for an AOE session.  Not wanting to waste the opportunity for some somewhat free EXP, and not wanting to lose EXP by having low HP and dying, I decided to activate an Elite Leveling Bundle and take advantage.

I suppose I could have just used a one-day 100% EXP boost since I still have a bunch of those from the Ultimate Game Card promotion last year, but I didn't want to be a detriment to my grind party by dying, decreasing the party buff, losing my own damage to the AOEs, and risking a party wipe because of it, so I just activated it all. 

After that short AOE session, I figured I may as well see how far I can get on these 30-day items, so I went ahead and activated a black kimono pack I had been saving for god-knows-how-long, and went and bought an adventurer's backpack for added defense.  At this point, with all this real life money invested, I forced myself to at least give it a try to get to 105.  I was running low on cookie packs so that was a bit of a concern.

But then, like manna from heaven, the 10x repeats were released.  When maintenance that night was over, I quickly logged in and secured the prime Black Bear grinding spot in AR and started AOE'ing on my own before anybody else could get established there.  A few others joined in and we spammed that quest for a good 2 hours or so.

If you're unaware, the Black Bear repeatable is a 4million EXP quest that requires you to kill 200 Black Bears.  In the prime Black Bear spot in AR, with a competent four-person pull, you can get this quest done in about 6-8 pulls depending on how many bears get stuck along the way.  And that is pretty quick.  With a 100% EXP boost card, you're typically getting about 6million EXP per turn in considering the EXP gain from the 200 Black Bears you need to kill. 

I hit 104 in a day or so and set my sights on the 105 benchmark chipping away at the 955million EXP I needed to get there.  Parties weren't always available so I was required to solo quite often, which honestly isn't so bad as a mage.  True the EXP gain and quest turn ins pale compared to a full party, but it's decent considering solo, each turn in nets you about 10million EXP.  So soloing, I used a couple of different spots in AR or ventured off to Dark Land.  Yes! Dark Land finally has a use!

It had been so long since I've navigated Dark Land I had forgotten where the Black Bears were, and no I didn't want to AOE the 106 Black Bears that populate the AR/DL gate, they're a bit too far apart to make pulling them tidy, I wanted to find that 107 Black Bear hillside spot I had seen once before.  After literally 30 minutes of exploring and frustration, I finally found my oasis of Black Bears.  A nice place where I can safely AOE 10-12 Black Bears at a time at my own leisurely pace.  The 107 Black Bears hit harder than their 106 counterparts (and less so than AR's 108 version), but are worth about 7k more EXP each if I remember correctly.  Without having to share EXP with anyone and at 33k EXP per kill, that's where I averaged 10million EXP per turn in.

So at least I had some options.  If I couldn't get in to the main BB party or was just pulling between non-Fiesta things, it was a nice spot.  Another great spot for this is in AR near one of those elemental NPC/Landmark things.  You know the ones you had to speak to for your Promotion quests?  That guy.  Anyway at the farthest spot you're able to pull 9 107 BBs at a time and you're a lot closer to turn in your quests than venturing off to Dark Land.  Plus you get the added bonus of being able to listen to all the drama that goes on in AR shouts! 

So anyway, I finally completed my journey the other day and now I'm at a loss.  I have 15 days or so left on my Elite Bundle and my costumes and stuff, but I don't want to hit 106 since I'll be unable to run Leviathan's Nest with my guildmates unless I switch to Holy Knight.. and really I don't enjoy cleric'ing that much... So what should I do?  Continue grinding out Black Bears and stop around 50-60%?  Or just switch to another class to play?  My SharpShooter has a nifty new Fire Shella repeatable also... I've been doing Secret Lab runs trying to finish my Warlock's Lab set so that's always an option but I feel bad wasting the EXP boost card and I don't want to activate stuff on my SharpShooter and have them all overlapping and stuff... so what to do?