Returning to Conquer
In my last gaming post, I discussed my first ever MMO - Conquer Online - and had mentioned then that I'd found a private server running the game as I remembered it way back in the early 00's. At that time, I'd had only a few minutes to play it as I was purely gathering screenshots and researching for that post... but even so, I knew immediately that this private server was going to draw me back into the world of Conquer.
And, I was correct.
It's been a little over a month now, and I've played more-or-less every day. Not for long at a time, because life with two very young children rarely leaves you with much free time - but an hour or two a day adds up!
I spent the day after my original post mostly just reorienting myself with the game. Figuring out where necessary NPCs were, checking out the local economy, and getting a feel for the social dynamics of this new server. In the process of doing so, I realized quickly that my plan to re-tread the footsteps of my original days was probably not the best long-term plan.
I decided after that first day to put my Warrior on hold and spin up a new character - a dual-wielding Trojan - which would help with my next sub-topic to this blog post...
My Long-Term Plans
Origins is not a new private server. It's been around for a long time, and the player base and economy show the signs of that. Entire types of items that, way back in the day, used to be worth something... are usually left abandoned when and where they drop. Refined or unique item drops? If it doesn't have two sockets it's probably not even worth picking up.
As such, my best option for this server is to make an item farmer as soon as I can. The best way to quickly farm items is to play a Trojan reborn into an Archer (a 'tro-arch'), as the new archer class inherits a Trojan's Cyclone xp ability which boosts your speed - allowing you to mass-scatter arrows and down thousands of mobs in no time.
Now, in Conquer, you can make a character reborn any time after level 120 (110 for water taoists)... but if you want to maximize the stats of the new character, it's best to push your first character all the way to the level cap of 130.
So, that's where I find myself right now. I've been pushing all month for 130, and it's been a ton of looking at Cyclone and crushing every mob I can.
I got power leveled to about 70, and from there spent a lot of time farming and hunting apes:
And birds:
And, getting closer to the goal... mobs in Mystic Castle:
I hit 120 last week finally:
Since then, I've been steam-rolling the levels, pushing hard for that 130 cap. The highest level mob in the game is 122, which means that I am officially leveling on ineffective mobs now - as I am currently sitting at level 128. The rate of EXP coming in is painfully slow without the use of double exp potions, and those are expensive.
That said, it's not as bad of a grind as it used to be. This server has a unique item-rental system, which does let me rent out some of the best gear available from other players, which allows me to wander around with a ton of extra damage and extra exp gain. I am currently sitting at around 50% of the way to 129, and if I get good gear rentals, use an exp pot, and keep decent Cyclone chains going, I might be able to complete the remainder of this level today or tomorrow.
After that, I'm expecting 129 to 130 will take me a week or so? Maybe less, maybe more, it'll depend on how much time I get to actually sit around and grind it out.
After that... It'll be time to get reborn as an Archer, and start collecting funds for an entirely new (and this time permanent for this character) set of gear. And, since it pays to have a melee character at high levels, I guess I'll pick up the Warrior character again after that. Warrior-Warrior reborn characters have a wonderful ability called Reflect that pushes damage back to attackers that I used to adore wrecking folks with in PVP combat.
The Road So Far
So far, this return has been a ton of fun. I shared my discovery with some of my friends and family that used to also play, and 
I've already met new friends and joined a really fun (albeit drama-prone) guild that has been entertaining, to say the least.
I've managed to fund much of my current character's ascension by getting lucky through hunting (I found a couple of DragonBalls already - items useful in upgrading the quality and level of equipemnt that sell for about 5 million each), and have re-familiarized myself with some quests that turn a decent profit. Additionally, I usually AFK 4-6 characters in the various city mines every day, which, last time I sold a stack of gems net me about 20 million gold.
So things are going well so far. I have decent enough equipment right now to get me through to a first reborn, and I have a long-term plan for what I want to do in the game. I've got friends that are playing with me and am meeting new awesome folks from all over the globe. It's a lot like the good old days of my original time in this MMO, and I'm loving it!
If you're interested in jumping in just head to ConquerOrigins.com to sign up, feel free to message me and I'll help ya out! You can find me on Whiskeyjack - and if you mention you're a fellow HIVE member, I'll do my best to get you set up here and enjoying the game!
For now, that's all from me. Look out for the next post when I finally hit 130 and complete a rebirth into an archer! After that, the real fun begins because I'm going to start attending PVP events and I'll do my best to take screenshots and videos of that action. Take care and happy gaming!