Thanks. Just killing time really.
I forgot to add a few things.
Spotlights, TI, and General Economy.
The economy in this game fluctuate quite much and new or returning players might wonder why. Also, you might have noticed that at one point of the time items are completely unavailable while some are in over abundances, but you come back some time later to find mysteriously things have changed. I've seen players call this to be a economy because of it, but maybe they might not have known better when saying that. In iRO, there is something called Spotlights. It is the most similar to Guild War 2's Living World feature, but lamer basically(instead of having an in-game mechanic, players just vote and management just manually alter accordingly). Every month, a different town and areas nearby it will have bonus to drops and exp rewards. Naturally, while in spotlights, for example New World as it is one this month, drops from the monsters of it are amplified, and everyone who wants to make quick money from them will have flood the markets from it, dropping the prices. Example would be Bradium Shield and rings, a semi popular gear of choice. However, once the time is up and spotlights move away from the said town, the rates go back to normal making it harder to farm such, and prices will move right back up. Similar mechanism works for Gramp's Turn-In Quests(TI), wherein the same four sets of monsters are killed nonstop for two weeks straight. This is the principle of buying and reselling in iRO, to pay keen attention of what is happening by being on constant surveillance of updates subforums.
Another thing to mention is Guild Investment System. This is iRO's counter measurement to bots, one actually somewhat successful at that. What I mean by that is that while it didn't obviously stop bots, it offered an alternate way to supply oneself enough consumables without resorting to run bots. How this works is that an hour after WoE has concluded for the week, you may notice server message saying that Investment has opened up for such and such WoE realm. At that point, you can visit the WoE realm of your choice(it gets complicated as for choosing which ones to go for, but if you're just there for money, you can choose any which one). Find a Vending Machine next to two Cat NPCs near center of each realm, and you spend zenny to the shorter cat to get Thanks Investment Tickets, which you can exchange in the vending machines. Now, from the vending machines, you can receive various potions and materials to make EDP, +20 foods, and buff items. With a Geneticist alternate, you can make those superfoods for yourself or sell them to players. So, naturally, those various buff items and consumables will fluctuate in prices depending on whether if it is a WOE time, the investments being available or not, and whether or not Guild Dungeons were opened. This is a popular and easy way to make money ever since this system was introduced, although it may take some time to get going.
Shadow Gears.
These dirty cash shop items are a new addition to episode 14. Open up your character gear window with alt+q shortcut and you may see Special Equipment tab on top. True to Team Fortress 2 style, we now have hat on top of hats on top of hats as well as gears on top of gears. Shadow Gears and Costume hats do not break besides in upgrade attempts. These items are finishing touch to your build and as such, if refined the intended way, it may cost you billions of zenny to add +2 stats or resistances or cast reduction. Be on lookout for Shadow Refine Event, wherein normal and cash Eluniums are allowed to upgrade these shadow gears to save money. For us dirty, poor non vip peasants, we can kill giant Mysterious Bugs roaming around in major towns to collect a welfare shadow set available to anyone that adds +3 to all stats. There is a newly introduced yearly event, the Shadow of the Moon quest, which rewards a Shadow Gear of a kind through a quest, so you don't have to pay real money for it.
Another thing is the headgears. As a returning player, you may have noticed as you stroll down player market to see these incredibly expensive costume headgears. While many of them just simply look pretty, a lot of them also have great perks to it and/or be enchanted for stat increase. That can be done in Malando.
Among these costumes gears, a headgear of note is Costume:Goggles, it is famous for allowing a player to gain 30% extra exp on kills only (and not quests). You can make one yourself as a non VIP player. Simply go to Hugel north gear shop and there's an NPC selling normal Goggles for negligible price, I think like 200z or something, and you just have to +8 it, which then you can take to Alora while wearing one in Eden 2nd floor to have your own Costume: Goggles.
Transformations and buff items.
You might have noticed a Poring with cart attached onto it wandering around, and wandered what that was about. Introduced in late 2014, players can change appearances for 10~20 in-game minutes and gain a small, but stackable buff when using these Transformation Scroll / Trans Candy items. They may be acquired from the cash shop, or given by Grandma Boxter in Eden 2nd Floor when trading in your unwanted Lucky Box item, or be bought from another player-vend.
[item="12662"][item="12658"][item="12664"][item="12661"][item="12660"][item="12663"][item="12659"][item="11594"][item="11593"][item="11595"][item="11592"]
A full self buff nowadays would look something like the
- aforementioned transformation scroll/candy,
- Level 20 foods made with Geneticist skill Mixed Cooking,
- Level 10 Kafra foods(weight 1, not the same as regular level 10 food) which stack with L20 food,
- Crystal buff from Reno in Eden 2nd floor,
- VIP +7 stat buff from Primo d'Buffer in Eden 1st floor,
- Distilled Fighting Spirit/Herb of Incarnation/Takoyaki/Rune Strawberry Cake/Schwaldzwald Pine Jubilee/Arunafeltz Desert Sandwish/Rice Cake (pick one as these will override one another for same stats),
- Box of Resentment/Drowsiness/Thunder/Gloom,
- Guarana Candy,
- Berserk Potion,
- Enrich Celermine Juice,
- Vitata500,
- Enriched White Potion Z,
- Medium Life Potion,
- corresponding Fire/Water/Earth/Wind Elemental Converter,
- corresponding Flameproof/Coldproof/Earthproof/Thunderproof Potion,
- Life Insurance,
- Battle Manual x3,
- and own class specific buff.
Pets.
Nowadays you don't have to farm extraneously for monster tame items and pray to Odin for a chance to catch a pet. You can if you want, but there is a new streamlined way of getting a pet, which is gambling! Go to Prontera, in the northeast side of the inner roundabout at /navi prontera 204/295 , you'll see an NPC standing next to what looks like a dragon egg. By trading in 1x Egg, 20x Jellopy, 1x Star Dust, and 300k z to them you can get a select random pet egg that is not a boss egg.
Upgrading addendum.
You may have had used a different places, especially since you said you're old school, to gather up Eluniums. Logically, one might look up major online databases and wiki to end up mining those in Juperos, Dewata, or Glast Heim, those wouldn't be bad, but there now is a better place. Somewhere along the line in episode 13, dungeons of Comodo was Spotlighted, but the quality staff of Warp Portal have forgotten to take away the loot drop rate ever since til now. So, Comodo North Cave with Stalactic Golem by far is the best enemy to hunt in the server when it comes to Eluniums, despite many if not all databases will say otherwise. However, if you are hitting 150+, you may also find Bio Lab 4th floor and Nightmare version of Clock Tower a good alternative as you can gain exp and farm at the same time.
Seasonal Quests and Events.
Unique to iRO is Seasonal Events. These limited time quests can still appear in upcoming years, if you missed one for the current year. Often times the rewards are exp or buff items, but occasionally they drop exceptional gear. Some of the notable seasonal quests are:
During Winter Holidays - Jumping Janeway, where you gain up to 98 levels and Eden set for doing four sets of killing quests;
Winter Holidays - Chrismas Event, you are rewarded Christmas themed consumables. Santa nowadays gives out Enriched ores should you decide you want a free gift instead of stat reset. Santa's Beard, Valkyrie Feather Band, Rudolf Santa Hat, Polar Bear Cap, Cat Santa Hat, and Costume: Baphomet Hat were made in past events;
Lunar New Year - Dragonhelm that gives you extra damage to Dragon race and more exp, and Copper and Silver version of Dragon are also one of the easiest gear to +20;
March - Saint Patrick's Day Event buffs Green Ale items to 50% HP/SP heals, as well as a St Patrick's Hat that produces green ale;
April - Easter Event is notable for Holy Eggs, the best revival item in the game available typically only during this season, and Easter Egg Shell comes from these events;
Summertime - Anniversary Events, Poring Fedora Hat, Costume Adventurer's Hat and Costume Sphinx Hat, Yggdrasil Crown, and Crown of Deceit are some of the past hats from it;
Summertime - Independence Day Events give you Star Spangled Bandana or class specific cash shop headgear, inspired by Touhou Project game series;
Fall - Thanksgiving seasons are notable for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, they give you really good cash shop deals; and
Fall - During Halloween seasons open up cash shop's Witch's Pumpkin Hat which is one of the best training/potting/lootmaking hats.
There are some events that happen without specific time frame too.
Talk like Pirate Event is where Pirate's Folly which is a budget alternative to Rideword Hat came from
Raffle Events are moneysink where you can gain Kafra Blossom Card and other exclusive items;
Shadow Refine Events allow one to refine Shadow Gears using regular and Cash elunium;
Enriched Hammer lets player use Enriched Ores without breaking the gear up to +9.
Hope that helped. I'm not telling you how to play a game, just hoping I gave you tools for you to make a better decision.
Edited by seaechiowai, 07 February 2016 - 02:06 PM.