Exploring the Elven Prophecy in Runes of Magic

Once hitting level 50 in Runes of Magic, the exp just seemed . . . to kinda . . . slow . . . down . . . . Where on the ride to 50 I might have earned 10 levels in a day, I'm struggling to make level 55 in a few days, and that's WITH doing goblin runs AND the Butterflies daily quest AND with guild experience buffs. 

Don't know what those are? Here's a little background:

• Goblin runs are quick little exp and treasure farms that the guild can run together. Typically what happens is we have a couple uber level 100's that speed through the dungeon and kill everything while the lower level people just soak up the experience and loot all the chests. You can run this once a day as long as you have a few coins from doing your daily quests.
• The Butterflies daily quest is a super easy daily in the zone of Xaveria. It rewards about 100k more exp than most dailies and takes about a fourth of the effort.  You basically kill five butterflies in a garden and then run back and cash in the quest . . . rinse and repeat 10 times.
• Guild buffs come from a few clickable towers in our Guild Castle that provide stackable experience buffs. Clicking them provides a bonus to loot drops, skill point acquisition, and experience gain.

Living my best goblin life!

Over the weekend, I've pretty much been sampling the content that came with Runes of Magic first expansion called "The Elven Prophecy." According to this old MMORPG article I read, this expansion boosted players levels from 50 to 55, which could be why I'm experiencing a bit of a slow down in leveling.

Enemies also seem a far bit sturdier than the previous levels! I'm pretty sure this all balanced as if someone has been at level 50 and has reasonably good gear. 

To counteract this bump in difficulty, I've also been introduced to creating soup-ed up tradeable gear that has a ton of stats slotted into it through something known as the Arcane Transmuter. 

One of these, three of these, click confirm and UBER TIME!

Basically you find a piece of "blank" gear that's low level with high durability and doesn't bind to the character. Next, you pull amazing stats off of level 100 gear and combine those stats with the blank gear and it makes an uber item that any joe-schmo-newbie can wear. It has a huge impact. As an example, I was at about 6k hit points and now I'm at 20k hit points just through wearing gear like this.

It's been a lot of learning and explaining from my mentor. As explained to me, this gear is great for hand-me-downs because it's perfect for passing on to the next newbie through the guild bank, and . eventually the gear I will start earning will catch back up and make this gear obsolete. I just need to remember to put it back in the guild bank. 

But, of course, it isn't all about racing to the top level . . . it's also about enjoying the ride as well. 

The "Ayam" fish people of Ravenfell

Ravenfell and Weeping Coast have both had a kind of a coastline biome feel to them, and I've fought a lot of crabs, flying manta rays, fish people, spiders, trolls, water elementals, and dinosaurs. It's a smattering of scary enemies with a nice variety. 

A picturesque pathway in Ravenfell

The villages in these zones are small and personable. Because of this, not only have I fought aforementioned dinosaurs, but I've also chased around a dog as it dug up treasure that a town's bully had buried just to be mean. 

So far one of the most memorable camps had to do with Snake people!  I love me a good Naga in an MMO and Runes of Magic has an excellent group of them. At the top of Weeping Coast there's a whole village of them, and they are marked as Elite enemies. They're a bit tougher to down, but they offer great loot in return. I imagine that back in the day, Naga camp farming for items and exp was kind of a thing, especially since after killing 50 of them, you can trade in their dog tags to get supplies from the Order of Dark Glory people that are stationed there.

Ladi and Spog are the crime fighting duo we all need in our lives

My sights have now turned to what lies beyond the Naga camps, and that is the red-tinted zone of "Aotulia Volcano." The Naga conflict continues here and apparently there are a couple quest lines that are stuff of legends when it comes to gaining experience at high levels. Envoy of Dragons and Return the Glory are both quest lines that are supposed to take you all the way to level 85 in just a few days. Of course, I'm sure my mileage may vary. 

My first glimpse into Aotulia Volcano

I continue to enjoy my journey in Runes of Magic and it's been great getting to know my new guildmates. I can't recommend finding a good guild to be a part of when you decide to take your journey through Runes of Magic. Without their support, I probably would have tapped out quite awhile ago. 

Happy Dueling!