Cloud Nine Full Guide

Cloud Nine Full Guide by SUNB

Starting out? nCash is too expensive for you? Well, this is my guide to Cloud Nine. It is not THE guide, it is A guide. I will focus on general tips, and tips for more cost-sensitive players. Feel free to find ways to improve on all this.

Part 1: Character Creation
Character creation is up to you. There are advantages to every race and every class, and to every combination of them. For cost-sensitive players, some classes are more appropriate:
– Mage: Due to a lesser demand on Mages in general, Mage gear in player shops is often sold at a discount compared to equipment for other classes. Magic Attack Upgrade scrolls are also often sold at a lower price than Physical Attack upgrade scrolls. And don’t worry: Mages kick butt!
– Monk: Although Monk can be a little more expensive than Mage, they are great for soloing, due to their good defence and lvl20 healing skill, which will help save a lot on potions purchased.
– Cleric: Although Cleric gear can be quite expensive due to a rather high demand from players, they have the advantage of not needing a lot of potions, if any, which helps save a lot of in-game money.
– You might also want to consider playing a Koshare or Seneka because of their racial skills: Koshares have an HP-stealing skill and Senekas have an attack skill which recharges some of their MP. These can help you save on potions.

Annex A: Monster Transformations
Monster transformations may look scary, but they can be pretty useful. When you are killed by a transformed player, there is a small chance (like 20-30%, maybe) that you will be “infected” and be resurrected as that monster within 5 seconds. The advantage is that if you are killed by a transformation of much higher level than yours, you will still gain XP as if you were still at your own level, which can make levelling up much faster. There is a certain level limit, making it so that a transfo that is too strong for your level will not be able to damage you. You can only use transfo cards of a level equal or lower than yours, but you can be infected by transfos of any level. When you use a transfo, it will last for 15 minutes, and when you are infected, you’ll stay in monster form for 10 minutes. When you are transformed, you’ll be prompted to select a set of 4 moves. When levelling up, for mass damage, make sure to select Radius attacks as well as one healing skill.

Annex B: Opening a Player Shop
For cost-sensitive players, it is always a good idea to open up shop. If you need to leave the game for whichever reason, if you can, go back in town and set up shop. Sell the stuff you don’t need. Lower your prices if you don’t sell fast. Always check player stores that you see to get a good idea of in-market prices.

Annex C: Farming pets
A good way to make money is to farm pets and sell them. Go to Stella/Amitaba and buy a few pasture books. Then fight each Pasture monster type until you fill up your books. Go and get your gourds and tame as many pets as possible. You can then set up shop and usually sell these pets for roughly 30-50R each.

Annex D: Farming Materials
Fishing, Mining and Gathering are another good way to make some money. Obviously, you will gather materials which you can later sell in a player shop, but you will also find potions, mount and pet food, scrolls and sometimes a special bundle, like a pearl or treasure chest. These contain either a special lvl5 Pet or a Glory or Bless piece of jewellery. They are pretty rare, and you’ll usually get one at around every 400 attempts. Remember that you have to pay for your tools to farm these materials.

Also, you might find a player selling Gathering/Mining/Fishing “Fairies”. These items make your character repeatedly fish or mine or gather for 2 hours straight, as long as you are not killed, disconnected, or you don’t run out of tools. It is up to you if you want to spend the in-game money to purchase some.

Finally, if you can get a small amount of nCash, you might consider purchasing Fairies fr.om the Square Mall. For 2500 nCash, you’ll get a set of ten 2-hour fairies, which is a pretty good deal.

Annex E: Farming Beezes, Fruits and Runes
In the early levels, make sure to pick up all beezes, runes and fruits you find as loot. They can be sold for 1S each, and since you’ll be gathering quite a few, quite quickly, it can help your economy. Later on, you might want to keep a few stacks of 100 of them to sell in player shops, usually allowing you to make more money out of them.

Annex F: Farming G/B
Once you get to around lvl45 (or lvl40+ in a party), you can repeatedly enter the Hidden Sunken Temple 1F to loot Glory and Bless equipment. Selling these in a player shop can help you get lots of money fast.

Annex G: Anywhere Store
Have you heard of the Anywhere Store item? It is a Square Mall item that allows you to sell your stuff to an NPC merchant fr.om anywhere in the game. This item can also be obtained through the popular Matrosica Box, so you’ll often see players selling this. Depending on the price being sold for, it might be worthwhile to get, as you can save a lot of time by selling and emptying your inventory fr.om anywhere, and every time you sell something, you’ll get 30% more money. This item lasts for 30 days.

Annex H: Square Mall Cost-Sensitive Choices
If you’re a cost-sensitive player who can still afford to pay a small amount to get nCash, then here are some useful choices for you.
1. Get the Passionate or Exemplary Student Hat avatar item. Although you may or may not like the style, this hat is strictly better than any other you can get in the Square Mall, and is rather inexpensive. It gives +10 Vitality and +10 Luck. (For those who didn’t notice, each point in Vitality, Mental or Luck increases your HP/MP/CP by 21, so +10 Luck is +210 CP.)
2. Get an outfit avatar item. Each outfit will give you an additional +30 Vitality. You might also be able to purchase one off a player shop.
3. If you can, get additional avatar items for your face, back and waist. All these items increase your Luck by 10.
4. Get the Exp Booster Package A. It contains the Anywhere Store item, but also the Double Storage item (gives you twice as much space in the Bank), the Anywhere Storage item (allows you to access the Bank fr.om anywhere) and the +15%XP item. This last item is probably THE best item to get in the game. For 30 days, you gain 15% more XP off of monsters, PMs and NWs, and when you die, you do NOT lose 2% XP. This item alone will make levelling up much, much easier. It is expensive, and you would have to get it every 30 days, but you can see it as a monthly fee, just like with some other MMORPGs. In all honesty though, you should wait until you’re lvl35 or more before purchasing this.
5. If you can afford a little more, get the S.Exp Booster Package A. It will give you an additional Perfect Protection Tag. This tag prevents your item fr.om breaking when failing to upgrade it. Similarly, your Pet will not go down to +0 when failing to upgrade it if you use this tag.
6. Get an Oumt for your Mount. It lasts for 30 days, improves your Mount’s stats and gives an additional buff. An Attack, Vitality or Luck buff can be very useful in PMs and Nation wars.
7. Get a set of Mining/Fishing/Gathering Fairies. For 2500 nCash, you get 10 of them.

There might be some other options, but these are, in my humble opinion, the best ones.

Let’s talk about the Matrosica Box a little. This box is available only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and it contains a random item fr.om a set list. Most of the items you’ll get fr.om the box are useful. You might get an Anywhere Store item, but that is a bad draw, since that item costs less by itself in the Square Mall at 7000 nCash. You might also get a Skill Reset item. Compared to paying 13k nCash for it, it is a good deal, but the market is often over-flooded with them, so you probably won’t get lots of money fr.om selling it.

You might also get a 0.5 scroll package. This awesome package will give you 3 scrolls: one 0.5 of each of PAU, MAU and PDU. These scrolls will upgrade your equips to a half level higher and they are 100% fail proof. So if you have an equip at, let’s say +4, and you’re afraid of trying +5 for fear of breaking it, you can use your 0.5 scroll to automatically make it +4.5, thus increasing the power of your equip without fear of breaking it. Remember that if you later upgrade your equip to a higher level, it will lose the 0.5 property (for example, a +4.5 equip will become +5, not +5.5). Note that you cannot use two 0.5 scrolls to upgrade to 1 level higher, and that they do not work on Pets.

If you’re lucky, might get a Matrosica Box II instead. You’ll get some other special items fr.om it. And if you’re very lucky, you’ll get a Matrosica Box III fr.om opening it, and get an awesome item!

The problem with the Matro Box is the gambling associated with it. If you have the money, it’s easy to buy many and get tons of Anywhere Stores and Skill Resets, which is pretty much wasted money. If you have a small budget, you might want to purchase just one, fr.om time to time, for the fun of it, or maybe just to sell in a player shop. If you really want to purchase one fr.om a player shop, just make sure that it wouldn’t bother you too much of getting an Anywhere store fr.om it!

Part 8: The Frozen Land (lvls 50-60)
You have finally defeated the terrible Shaftin of Flames and a small path leads you to a gate. Once you go through the gate, a snow covered barren area stands before you. Welcome to Archahel.

There are 3 main towns in Archahel. Kaligo and Ravia are similar to Ravo and Tuledo fr.om Kanto, but in the center of it all, you have Larashu. This new city is unique compared to all previous towns you’ve seen: it is a city where both Ganav and Primus cohabit. This city is managed by Ujalat, leader of a neutral faction, and any combat within city limits is forbidden, therefore, you cannot attack or be attacked by the opposite faction members.

There are many new quests and many new areas and dungeons to visit here. My favourite place has to be the frozen lake at the North West corner of Buruma Forest. I strongly suggest you visit there. Apart fr.om that, there are two new things to note.

The Hidden Sunken Temple is back, but now, it is a pvp area, the monsters are much tougher, and it now has four floors instead of only two. You can access this Temple fr.om the entrance near the center of Buruma Forest, or by going to the center of the Spiral in the Sunken Temple Map of the Kanto Continent. Also note that, contrary to the first version of the Temple, monsters will respawn in this version.

Also, a new type of equipment appears: Divine Protection. If you are lucky enough to find such a piece of equipment, you’ll notice that it is strictly better than any equivalent Glory or Bless equip. These can be sold for high amounts.

As an exemple, here is a Glory item:
Glory lvl53 Rhapsody Glove (Monk)
Strength 107
Vitality 47
Power Strike 11
Defence 2178

And here is the equivalent Divine Protection item:
Divine Protection Rhapsody Gauntlet (Monk)
Strength 149
Vitality 54
Hit Rating 33
Power Strike 42
Defence 2330

Part 5: First PVP Dungeons (lvls 25-34)
In this level range, you will discover new areas: PVP dungeons. In Garamba Woods, Elosio Forest, Wildwood Forest and Redfog Peak, you’ll find both Primus and Ganav outposts and members of both factions can go there. If you are killed by an opposite faction member, you do not lose XP or money, but you may lose fame. On the flip side, you can gain fame by defeating opposite faction members. You might want to upgrade your newer defensive equips to +1 or +2, but if you can manage it, I would again suggest keeping your PDU scrolls for later. Keep an eye out for good deals fr.om player shops. Sometimes, some will sell Nutrients, or other goods, which can represent a better deal than similar items in NPC shops.

In PMs, you will enter the 25-29 lvl range and you’ll notice PMs start 10 minutes later. Nothing much changes, except that you might see more players in this range.

Once you reach lvl30, you will enter the 30-34 range. First thing to know is that you can now use stabilization potions. You can purchase them fr.om the NPC merchant in the PM waiting room for a very low price. These potions can be used both in and out of PMs. They dramatically increase your Luck, thus increasing the amount of CP you have. They last for 10 minutes, so you can use them repeatedly during PMs to last longer in battle. Another thing to keep in mind is to try to get to lvl31 as soon as possible, since you’ll be getting a new stronger weapon for the next 4 levels in this PM range.

Part 3: Obtaining Your Subclass (lvl20)
Once you reach lvl20 and complete the appropriate quests, Enfant will give you the option of selecting a subclass. Using this class is exactly like having a second character, except you keep the same race, gender and looks. Your subclass also opens up the subclass skill tree, giving access to both your main and subclasses to a special additional set of skills. Choosing your subclass is an important matter. For cost-sensitive players, there are a few good options.

Pairs of Warrior-Monk, Hunter-Rogue and Cleric-Mage have the advantage of sharing the same attack stat. Warriors-Monks use Strength, Hunters-Rogues use Agility and Strength and Clerics-Mages use Intelligence. This allows you to transfer your old main class Jewellery (like Rings and Earrings) to your lower-level subclass.

Another good option is to choose a subclass that uses a type of upgrade scrolls different fr.om your main class. For example, if you’re a Hunter which uses P.A.U. scrolls for upgrading its weapons, you might want to choose Mage or Cleric, which use MAU scrolls. This will allow you to use all scrolls you find.

Other nice options are the same classes suggested for your main class. Mages and Monks should generally cost you less to find good equips for, at the time of writing this guide.

And fr.om a strategic point of view, choosing Cleric will ultimately give your main class a good Defence bonus AND the famous Cleric “Bubble”, which gives you an HP buffer for a certain time. It will also allow you to save on your potion purchases.

Cost-sensitive players might also want to skip choosing a subclass entirely and focus on their main class only. This can be a good idea, since it would lower your costs to managing only one single class, but prevents your main class fr.om benefiting fr.om the subclass skill tree. If you decide to do so, you can later come back and choose your subclass by going to Amitaba/Stella and talking to Enfant.

Once you get your subclass, you will be given 1 subclass skill point so you can get the first subclass skill, for both of your classes.

Since your subclass starts at lvl20, I would suggest fighting monsters (grinding) to get up to level 21, which will allow your subclass to participate in Party Matches. Remember that both of your classes will gain 1 sub-class skill point every time your sub-class gains 4 levels. (at lvls 24, 28, 32, etc)

At this point, you might also consider choosing a particular weapon style. Remember that you can still use skills fr.om all skill trees as long as the skill doesn’t say that it requires a different weapon style. Also remember that you can use a Skill Reset later on if you decide to change weapon style.

Part 4: First Party Matches (lvls 21-24)
Once you reach lvl21, you can participate in Party Matches (PMs). They are a great opportunity to gain experience, and are also your first meeting with the opposite faction. Check the forums on the Website to figure out at what time PMs are held. There are 3 PMs everyday.

In PMs, up to 12 players fr.om your faction will team up to fight up to 12 players fr.om the opposite faction in best-out-of-5-rounds combat. Pets and monster transformations are not allowed, but using mounts is permitted. You’ll notice that only players fr.om lvls 21 to 24 can participate. Dying as part of PMs does not incur any loss of money or experience. When you die, you become a specific monster transformation, so you can still try to get some more damage in. The winning team’s members will all get +30% of the XP required to increase their current level and the losing team members will all get +15%, so everybody gets good XP out of it. Whether you like PVP or not, it is always a good idea to participate whenever you can.

You’ll notice that you lose CP when damaged by opposite faction players. CP are additional HP usable only in PVP and against transformed players. Contrary to what you may believe, Luck does not increase your luck factor; it increases the amount of CP you have.

Starting at this level, it would be a good idea to upgrade your lvl19 weapon with MAU or PAU scrolls. Lvl1 scrolls can upgrade your gear up to +3. Upgrading to +1 is 100% safe, to +2 almost always safe (it’s never failed for me, but some people say it did happen to them), and upgrading to +3 is roughly 80% safe. If you fail the upgrade, the item is destroyed, so it’s a gamble. Keep your lvl2 scrolls. I also strongly suggest NOT upgrading your defensive equipment at this point. PDU scrolls are found at about the same rate as the other two types, and since you always have 4 or 5 defensive pieces of equipment compared to always only one single weapon, you have to take this into account, and therefore keep your PDU scrolls for later on, when they will really matter. Some quests will get you special pieces of equipment that are already upgraded to +1 or +2, which can help at this point.

About equips, now. NPC equips (or “white” equips) you buy or find are rather generic, but you will eventually loot some “blue” equips fr.om monsters. The name of these equips appears in Blue, and they are strictly better than their white counterparts as they offer the same attack or defence bonus in addition to one or two added stat bonuses. Blue equips have different types, like Brave or Wild, and they provide different stat bonuses depending on that type. Hit Rating allows you to “connect” with your attack more often. Critical and Power Blow increase your chances of landing such hits. An increase in Agility increases your Evasion, and for Rogues and Hunters, your attack value as well. An increase in Strength increases the physical attack value of all classes. Finally, an increase in Intelligence will increase the Magic Attack value of Mages and Clerics. Any stat which increases an attack value does so on a 1 per 1 basis (+1 stat = +1 dmg).

You might be lucky and find a Precious Treasure Box fr.om monsters. These rare boxes contain items of greater value, usually Bless and Glory equipment. These equips have greater base attack and defence values compared to their blue and white versions and also have additional added stats, and bigger bonuses for these stats. For cost-sensitive players, there is no need at this point to try and find such equipment, but if you do find such a piece of equipment that you can use, lucky you!

You’ll be getting your first skills resets fr.om quests at this point. I would suggest you keep them for later.

Part 6: Arrival in Kanto (lvls 35-39)
Kanto opens up for you at around lvl36, but you can access it anytime, granted you were given a Return Scroll or that you walk all the way there. You need Fame of at least 1 to remain in the Kanto continent. You can recharge 50 Fame by talking with the Fame Manager in front of the portal leading to Kanto.

Kanto is a pvp area. All maps can be accessed by both factions, except the towns and some non-pvp dungeons.

There is also another very important new matter at lvl 35: starting at this level, any time you die to monsters (but not to monster transformations), you will lose 2% of the experience required to get to the next level. (Note that if you’re at 2% or less, you’ll only go back to 0%…you’ll never drop 1 level back.) It becomes very important, now, to be careful when fighting monsters. 2% might not represent much at lvl35, but later on, 2% can take hours to get! At this point in time, monsters like Cactus and Lamfrey can quickly overwhelm you if you’re not careful.

You might see transformed players more often here. No need to be scared of them. When you’re killed by a transformed player, you have a small chance of being infected and transform into the same monster. While transformed, you get greater power and can basically level up more quickly. Remember that you don’t lose XP or money when killed by a transformed player, but you might want to stock up on resurrection stones if you’re far fr.om town, because it can take a few tries before you get infected.

At this point, or perhaps in the early 40s, you might want to consider using a Skill Reset. There is no “strictly better build”, but most of the early skills use up A LOT of points for minimal damage or boost, so it might be a good idea to give up on some of them to free up skill points to pick newer, stronger skills.

Starting with your lvl34 boots, it is a good idea to upgrade your defensive equipment. You can upgrade to +2 without fear, but make sure you have a backup before attempting +3. If you can afford Glory or Bless equipment, go ahead and get them. They’re better than Blue equips, but they’re often sold at much higher prices, so I would not recommend them to cost-sensitive players. For them, my advice at this point is to try to get your best blue equips to +3 or +4. I’ll explain equipment upgrades a little more in depth later.

You will get a Dragony Mount through a memorite quest. This Mount is rather slow, but has good HP and also has an attack value, which is added to your own (it is also the Mount with the highest attack value). Using this Mount is the least penalizing on your attack power so it’s a great Mount to use in PMs. You might want to use this one for your main class or keep it for your subclass. You can always get more Dragonies by completing the Kanto Wasteland Monster Book. The Draconian Tame Gourds allow you to tame a Dragony Mount, not a Draconian Pet.

Remember that players fr.om lvls 37-39 will have access to their lvl37 weapon, which will make them much stronger in PMs compared to lvls 35-36.

Be careful when questing and levelling up, as the opposite faction can be bothersome. Standing near guards and grinding in non-pvp dungeons can allow you to avoid the opposite faction when you don’t want to fight with them. Remember this, though: Do not get angry at opposite faction members. The only things you can lose fr.om being defeated by them are a little fame and time, so try not to get upset as it is a part of the game and it happens to everyone. Yes, some players will attack you without provocation.

Part 7: The Mystery of the Sunken Temple(lvls 40-49)
Now you’re getting deeper into Kanto. You’ll notice that the opposite faction seems better equipped at this point. In this level range, most players try to upgrade their gear to +4 or more. For cost-sensitive players, I suggest forgetting about G/B equips and focusing on getting your blue equips to +3, +4 or even +5.

In PMs remember that in the 40-44 range, players get a new weapon at lvl43, and in the 45/49 range, players a get a new weapon at lvl49.

Memorite quests will eventually allow you to get your hands on a special Glory lvl46 weapon. This weapon, if upgraded enough, can definitely help until you reach lvl49, but I would not suggest upgrading it too much, since it is untradeable, and you would not be able to sell it afterwards.

There are a few strange quests in Kanto.

One quest requires you to transform into a Demogon and go back and forth between a guard and different transformed monsters. You have to contact a Demogon monster nearby in Craig Mountains/Celestial Plateau, the Aloken Guide in Whirlwind Plains/Land of the Blue Warrior, and the Derubish Cleric in the Forgotten Valley. Be quick and avoid monsters and especially guards. You can locate the transformed monsters you’re looking for by selecting them fr.om the monster list on the map.

Another quest requires you to travel all around Kanto to gather books fr.om Statues. Be extra careful not to cross the path of any monster, because at the level you are when you get that quest, monsters like Raptors in the Sunken Temple Map will kill you in one hit.

One of the coolest aspects to this level range is the Hidden Sunken Temple. If you’re in a party, you can talk to a guard just outside the Ravo/Tuledo gate and be teleported to the First or Second floors (1F and 2F) of the Hidden Sunken Temple. This temple is inhabited by lvl40+ monsters as tough as elites who have a better chance at dropping rare items. The temple is rather long and is pretty much impossible for a lone low-level adventurer. It is a good idea to organize Temple Runs with other players to gain XP, complete quests and find valuable G/B equips that can be sold for good money. Once you reach lvl45-46, you might want to journey into the 2F, where you will find lvl46+ monsters. Since the Temple is not a pvp area, it is a very good place to level up and find rare items.

At this point in the game, it would be a good idea to apply for a guild if you haven’t done so already. This should provide you with more opportunities to form a party, and new friends to share items and discussion with.

Finally, you should start to participate in Nation Wars (NWs) at this point. All players lower than lvl47 will have a hard time because NPC characters in NWs are all lvl47 by default. Participating in Nation wars will give you more opportunities at XP if your nation wins (you get 0XP if it loses) and both nations will get medals depending on their impact on the war. I will further discuss NWs a little later.

Part 2: Early Levels (lvls 1-19)
The early levels are pretty easy. Fight monsters, complete quests, level up. Don’t worry too much about which weapon type and skills you choose for your character, as these will be easy to reset and modify later on if you change your mind. As you level, you will surely find scrolls for Magic Attack Upgrade (MAU), Physical Attack Upgrade (PAU) and Physical Defense Upgrade (PDU). Save all of these scrolls, you will need them later on. If you find or craft jewels, you can socket your equipment, but don’t worry too much if the stat bonus you get doesn’t help you.

You don’t really need to purchase NPC equipment. You should be able to loot what you need. Make sure to pick up everything dropped by monsters, like Runes, Beezes and Fruits. Sell these for more money. Each is worth 1S so 100 of them is worth 1R. You might find people willing to pay more for stacks of 100 of them, which they will use for crafting.

Get your Boman or Pujo Mount fr.om questing. They are equivalent. Make sure to get the Oumt fr.om a later quest, as it provides a 30-minutes Vitality bonus for your party members when you get off the Mount and also makes your mount gain XP even if you’re not riding it.

Elites and Bosses are difficult to defeat. If you can find other party members to join you to take on them, you’ll have a better chance, but alone, I would suggest you be two levels higher to take on Elites and 5 levels higher to take on Bosses.

You might also be tempted to choose a crafting skill. For cost-sensitive players, I would suggest NOT working on any crafting skill, as it requires a lot of time and money, and is usually not very profitable, if at all. Feel free to venture into any of these crafting skills if you want to, though, and YES, it IS possible to make money off of it.

Remember that if you die after you reach lvl10, you will lose some of your money, but not a lot, really.

You might have trouble with 3 quests. One requires you to find the “Rune Cross” for the merchant. Just talk to the black cat next to him and the Rune Cross will appear in your inventory.

Another requires you to find some Yellow Stone Marble. Just go to the North shore of the lake North of Cancun Pasture/Ferus Pasture. You’ll find some yellow rocks on the ground that you can break to find Yellow Stone Marble.

There is also another quest that requires you to deliver a package, but once you get there, the NPC doesn’t give you an option to complete the quest and give him the package. To fix that, press “U” to bring up the quest menu, select that quest and click “Abandon” at the bottom left. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to get the quest again. Go back in Amitaba/Stella and you’ll see another quest that you can complete there, so complete it first, and then go back to your delivery quest and it should work.

Annex I: Having a pet
Pets are cute and fun, but they are also expensive to use. They don’t have much defence so when they start taking hits, they go down quickly! Every time your pet faints, you lose money. Once your pet reaches lvl35, it will also lose 2% XP fr.om fainting. Pets do not regenerate their HP like you do. You need to use Pet Potions to heal them, and they can get expensive in the long run. That and letting them faint every so often can dig a deep hole in your pocket.

The advantage of pets is that they add to your attack power. They attack the same monster you’re attacking, and you can have them use Pet Skills (or Pet Toys) for added damage and buffs. Pet Skills do not use any of your MP, they only have a cool down time, like any other skill. Each Pet can have a Head, Waist and Back skill, which you need to find as loot.

Pets might not be recommended for all classes. Clerics who do not specialize in attack spells would want to use a pet. The added damage will help, and since Clerics can use skills to heal their own HP and Mount HP, they can manage paying for pet potions pretty easily. If you’re a Cleric, get a pet! For other classes, it’s debatable. Rogues and Warriors who drink potions like crazy might not want to spend more on a pet considering their already large expenses. For Monks, Hunters and Mages, it’s up to you. You might also consider a pet if you’re an AoE user (AoE: Area of effect attacks), since most monsters will be busy attacking you instead of your pet, meaning it will faint less often.

The type of Pet determines which type of Pet Skills it can use. For example, a Beast-type Pet can only use Beast-type Pet Skills. Each type has its own types of Buff (Waist) Skills, but all types have all kinds of attacks. You can upgrade your Pet the same way you can upgrade equips, but there is a catch: you need Pet Scrolls.

A Pet Scroll is obtained by sacrificing another Pet. Purchase a Pet Seal item fr.om a merchant, right-click it and left-click the Pet you wish to sacrifice. Sacrificing a +0 Pet will yield a lvl1 scroll, a +1 Pet will yield a lvl2 scroll, and so on. To upgrade a +0 Pet to +1, you need a lvl1 scroll. To get a +2 Pet, you need a +1 Pet and a lvl2 scroll, etc. Therefore, if you want a +3 Pet, you need a total of 8 Pets! They change appearance at +2 and +4.

Remember that there is a fail chance starting at +3, just like for equips. If you fail to upgrade your Pet, it will stay at the same level, but will go down to +0.

Finally, your Pet needs to be lvl10 to be upgradable to +2, lvl20 for +3, and so on.

Annex J: Mounts
Being mounted reduces the damage you take by 50%, but also reduces the damage you deal by 30%. It also improves your travel speed. It’s usually a good idea to be mounted while fighting bosses. Your Boman and Pujo will keep gaining XP even if you do not use it. You’ll get a Hopi-Hopi Mount at around lvl19. It’s slower, but has more HP. You’ll then get a Dragony Mount at around lvl36. It’s slow, but has great HP and an added attack value. You’ll get a Gyre (Horse) Mount at lvl50. It’s faster than Boman/Pujo, has good HP and has an added attack value, but not as high as the Dragony. Finally, you’ll get a **name (Moon) Mount at lvl60.

Then, there are the “Cash Mounts”. You might get extremely lucky and get a Beast Wolf Mount fr.om a Matrosica Box III. The Square Mall also offers a Harly-CIX Mount (Bike) and a Light Aircraft Mount (Plane). Finally, although it’s not obtained through nCash, you can get the Scorpion Mount fr.om the Nation War Manager in Stella/Amitaba for 50M and 2000 Medals. These mounts have no attack value, but have great speed and a TON of HP.

For cost-sensitive players, you can just use the Boman/Pujo for travelling and fighting bosses.

Annex K: Upgrading your equipment
Upgrading your equipment is vital to PVP, but strangely doesn’t have too much of an impact on PVE. (For instance, when I went fr.om using my +5.5 Glory lvl49 weapon to my +7.5 Bless lvl55 weapon, even though the newer weapon was about four times as strong as the old one, I only ended up doing about twice the damage on monsters.) Upgrading is 100% sure fr.om +0 to +1 and fr.om +1 to +2. Some people say their item once broke when upgrading to +2, but I still need to verify this. Starting at +3, you can fail, and failing means breaking the equip and losing it forever. It might be tempting to try to upgrade your precious Glory Sword to +5, but are you ready to deal with the possibility of losing it?

Fact is, if you purchase a beautiful Glory Sword for, for example, 8M fr.om another player, that you spend money and use scrolls to upgrade it to +3, and fail at +4, you just lost 8M, 4 scrolls, and the money used to upgrade. Naturally, you wouldn’t want this to happen too often, especially if you,re a cost-sensitive player. Here are some tips:
– Glory and Bless equipment are better than White or Blue equipment, but if you’re a cost-sensitive player, it’s just better to concentrate on upgrading Blue equips. After all, a +5 Blue Sword is still awesome. If you DO find, are given, or can manage purchasing a G/B equip, feel free to try and upgrade it.
– Purchase all lvl1 PDU scrolls you find. You’ll never have enough!
– ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP ITEM!!! There is nothing worse than failing an upgrade and then realizing that you now have to use a White equip. If you can afford it, try to always have another item of the same upgrade level before attempting further upgrades. If you want to try an upgrade to +4, make sure you have another +3 item just in case. For cost-sensitive players, I suggest having at least another +3 item waiting, just in case, even if you’re attempting +5.
– Shirts and Pants provide the best defence bonus. Primarily concentrate on upgrading those lvl42 shirt and lvl46 pants to +4 or +5 since you’ll be wearing them for a LONG time!
– Choosing the two-handed route is a good idea to save on scrolls. Although there are no Glory, Bless or Divine Protection Shields yet (only White and Brave), going two-handed will make you use less PDU scrolls. Remember, though, that having a shield will lower the damage you receive, and can therefore also save you money for using fewer potions.
– By my experience, upgrading to +3 has a success rate of about 80%. +4 is about 50%, +5 about 35%. Chances of upgrading to +6 and higher are low.
– If you can, once you get a +4 or +5 equip, purchase, fr.om a player shop, a 0.3 or 0.5 scroll to upgrade it further. It’s not necessary, because these scrolls are expensive, but it can really help and they have a 100% success rate. Regardless, I would definitely recommend you do so for your Magic Attack weapon, since 0.5 MAU scrolls are usually sold very cheap. (At the time of this writing, you can often find 0.5 MAU scrolls for 1.5M fr.om player shops, compared to paying around 5M for 0.5 PAU scrolls and around 10M for 0.5 PDU scrolls).
– Lvl5 upgrade scrolls are very rare. They were given as a promotion for the Come Back Event in February 2010. They will upgrade a +4 item to +5 with 100% success rate.
– Lvl6 upgrade scrolls can be found in a Matrosica Box II. They upgrade an item fr.om +5 to +6 with 100% success rate.
– Lvl7 upgrade scrolls can be found in a Matrosica Box III, and were also given as a promotion for the first Attendance Event in March 2010. They upgrade an item fr.om +6 to +7 with 100% success rate.
– Using a Lucky Tag x2 doubles your chances at upgrading an item (or a Pet). I have, for example, never failed an upgrade fr.om +3 to +4 while using a Lucky Tag. Such Tags are rather expensive in the Square Mall, and are often sold for outrageous amounts in player shops. Might be better to concentrate on finding more scrolls and equips, rather than spending a full day grinding just to purchase a Lucky Tag. They can be bought fr.om the Square Mall or found in a Matrosica Box II, or in the Weekend Package.
– Using a Lucky Tag x3 triples your chances. They were given as a random item during the Easter Event 2010, and can be found in a Matrosica Box III.
– Using a Perfect Protection Tag will prevent your item fr.om breaking if you fail an upgrade. They can be obtained fr.om the S.Exp Booster Package A, the Weekend Package, or a Matrosica Box III.
– Using a Super Protection Tag will prevent your item fr.om breaking if you fail an upgrade, but it will lower the upgrade level of your item (or Pet) by 1. So if you were trying to upgrade to +5 and failed, you item would go back down to +3. You need to be trying an upgrade to +4 at least to use this Tag. It can be bought fr.om the Square Mall.

Jewels can be used to further upgrade your defensive equipment and weapons. They can be crafted, obtained in quests or found as rare loot. Crafted Jewels always provide a random bonus, but can sometimes give a bonus on two stats. Jewels you obtain in quests and as loot are Stated Jewels which provide a lower bonus, but to one particular stat.

Up to lvl37, you can use crafted Jewels and it’s a good thing if you get a bonus in a useful stat. Starting at lvl37, you can stop using crafted Jewels and start purchasing Stated Jewels fr.om players, since they are found in the Hidden Sunken Temple. If you value PVP, try to always use Magic Defence Jewels for all your equips. If not, Vitality Jewels are always useful. Strength, Agility, Mental and Intelligence Jewels provide a pretty low bonus on your attack power, For example, a lvl37 Str Jewel would increase your Str by 16, meaning that you’ll do 16 more damage per hit, whereas a +16 in Vitality means getting a boost of 336 HP. Lvl42 Jewels provide a +17 Bonus, lvl46 give +18 and lvl50 Jewels give +20.

For your Earrings, Necklaces, Bracelets and Rings, you need to get Noble Jewels fr.om the Nation War Manager in Amitaba/Stella. They always give a random bonus and must be purchased with Fame or Medals, but if you have 3 of the same level of jewel, you can go see the robot in Stella/Amitaba to have these fused together to make a jewel with one particular stat. Although the stat given is random, at least you know what it is fr.om the desc.ription, and if you want to use it on your accessory or not.

A quick word on Jewellery: It is a good idea to get G/B Bracelets. Glory will give a bonus on Mental and Bless on Vitality, both of them also giving a high bonus on Critical and Power Strike. Since these bonuses are rather high, you don’t really need to try to upgrade them every 4 levels, and can also disregard any regular Blue Bracelets.

Annex L: Nation Wars
The Nation War is a big fight between the two nations. As of the time of this writing, it happens twice on Saturdays and a third time on Tuesdays. Nation Wars are split into two parts: the Leader Battle and the 30-minutes-long Nation War itself.

In the Leader Battle, the most powerful players fight it out in a one-round Party Match. Within the time limit, every opposing player who is defeated grants your team 10 points. If you are not part of this battle, you can still watch it, as your character will be replaced by an invisible stationary “camera”, placed in the middle of the field, which you can rotate. You can also press F4 to then be able to move around on the field.

After the Leader Battle, the Nation War begins. Your goal here is to make the most medals. What are medals used for anyway? Let’s have a look!

Medals can be used in two ways: they can be converted to fame or used them in the Medal Shop. Each 5 medals can be converted to 10 fame points by talking to the Fame Managers you find in town. Fame points can then be used to purchase some special items fr.om the Nation War Manager’s Fame Shop in Stella/Amitaba.

Tip: If you ever want to convert a large number of medals to fame, hit “F” in front of the Fame Manager to open up their menu faster. It still takes a while to convert like 1000 medals to 2000 fame, but at least it’s a little faster.

Medals can also be used to purchase other special items fr.om the Nation War Manager’s Medal Shop. For instance, you can use medals to purchase Noble Jewels which can be used to socket Earrings, Necklaces, Rings and Bracelets with random stat boosts.

You can also obtain medals fr.om some quests which are based on the Nation War system.

Now that we know what medals do, let’s try to get as many as possible!

The Nation War field has two bases, one for each nation. Each base has a tower. If the opposing nation’s tower is destroyed, your nation wins the war. Since destroying the tower does not provide any medals, players refrain fr.om destroying the tower in order to make the event last longer and get more medals in other ways. The base also holds the “prison”. When you’re defeated, you go back to your prison and you must wait for the gates to open to go fight again. The field also holds 4 crystals. When your nation “destroys” a crystal, your faction gains control of it and also gains 50 points.

Your nation’s Commander can dispatch NPCs to help your troops. These NPCs are lvl47 characters of all races and classes, except Cleric.

Defeating opposing players and NPCs will provide you with medals. Being defeated gives medals. I’m pretty sure getting a crystal also provides medals. Basically, as long as you do “something” and don’t just stand there, you’ll get medals. Better to be defeated than to avoid all combat. Also, try to be part of the biggest party possible, because if your party members gain medals, you do too.

It is going to be difficult for any player who is lower than lvl47. When you reach lvl47, at least you’re at the same level as the NPCs and you should be able to take some of them down. Clerics, Mages and Hunters can also help with their healing and long-range support. Rogues benefit fr.om insane damage-dealing abilities, but their defence is as thin as paper. Lower-level Warriors and Monks will have the hardest time. Don’t stress. Take it easy. Most everyone has a hard time anyway!

At the time of this writing, there are two well-known problems with Nation War. Oftentimes, your AoEs might not work at all and a message will appear on screen saying “Target too far”. This bug has still not been fixed. Try selecting a different target and trying again. Also, the “lag” in Nation War is often atrocious. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone. Supposedly. It’s annoying, but that’s how it is.

Although destroying the enemy tower does make your faction win, if after 30 minutes it has not been taken down (which is to your advantage since you’re getting more time to accumulate more medals), the faction with the most points wins the war. Winners will be awarded some XP, losers do not get any. After the war, the winning side can «take the spoils», since they can fight for a few more minutes against respawning zombies. These zombies may drop treasure chests containing 5 Blessed HP or Blessed CP Potions, which can be used in NWs and PMs.

Unfortunately, I still do not know «exactly» how medals and points are totalled up.

To sum it up: Get in a big party, get crystals and get out there and fight!