A psychological guide to grinding

[Aiur]

It seems to me that everyone in 9Dragons is too busy grinding/leveling/farming/whatnots, and no one have time to stay around and chat. As a result (based on observations from other MMORPGs), people get tired of grinding when they don't get what they want, and leave. This guide is designed to assist an individual in stress reduction, increasing the fun factor, and prevent carpel tunnel syndrome. It does not contain any actual leveling locations, positions, tips, strategies, "how to leech off your party", and the like. The author is accepting questions, comments, and rude remarks.

So, without further ado: here's the useful bit.

Stress factor: Let us first look at your mind. Your mind works just like every other human being. We're happy when we get stuff we want, we're sad when we don't get stuff we want, and we get angry when we die while grinding due to lag/whatnots.

While grinding, stress builds up in your mind. Some people can tolerate more buildup, some people less. As you become more and more frustrated, it'll hurt you much more then that bear you're pounding into the dirt.

Here are a few general tips/reminders that I think will help a few individuals, should they come across this post greatly.

-Time. You'd be surprised how fast time goes by.or how slow time seem to move. Socializing helps immensely when leveling. Just be careful of chatlag or chatdeath (happened to me on more then one occasion, even at my low level, xP)

-Location. If there's 2432423423423 other players grinding at your spot. It's probably NOT a good idea to go there. Try to avoid conflict by moving.

-Mindset. Now, instead of smashing your keyboard in frustration, try having a positive mindset.

Take things with a grain of salt, remember it's a game. When you find yourself losing patience, press the nice F12 button and log out. Go outside, take a breath of fresh air. Do something else. When you're positive, everything else would seem more positive, and it's beneficial to you, if not to the guy next to you.

Bad idea: "OMG. GOD. PLZ. I NEED [insert item here]" or "IF I DON'T GET TO [insert level here] IM GONNA BE REALLY ANGRY!"

Better idea: "If I get the stuff, it's good." or "Chill. It's just a game".

Luck: Here's how luck works. Since 9D does not have even a set drops rate table for us to refer to, I would assume that many things are merely by chance. If your friend/clan buddy/the meditating beggar next door who's lagging everyone up got item X it does not mean that you'll get one. Remember that luck is .luck. It works differently for everyone.

Well. That's pretty much all I wanted to say. The author's accepting questions, comments, suggestions, and rude remarks at this point.

-Aiur.

[Furanthas]

Now thats what I call a guide! Awesome post Auir!

Breath in.Breath out.

Much better

[CoMMy]

Nice i like the good idea bad idea thing sweet

[tihoa]

unfortunately at higher levels, the # of spots available are extermely low. once you hit the high ECs (EC11 to FC6 or so), everyone will be grinding at the same spot so its going to be hard to avoid that right now.

My tips on grinding

1) always get a party. it helps to chat with others even if its just one or two other people. party members tend to save you if you die.

2) be aware of the mobs around you. some bosses spawn right at some popular grinding spots (Wolf Saber, Steel Blade for example)

3) share exp. share exp parties gain bonus exp per person. a full party of 9 people gets ~350% more exp than an individual even though its divided among 9 people.

4) share drops. if your party is grinding in a small location with only your party, share drops. share drops will allow for indiscriminate killing in your party thus allowing your party to kill faster. during 2x exp at the Golden Blossoms levels, a share drops and exp party will get 4% to 5% more exp than a party that does not share drops (tested about 5 times)

[kingtaro]

i heard you'll get bonus EXP only if you have a party with 9 ppl.

is it true ?

can you get bonus even if your party contains less then 9 ppl ?

[tihoa]

since one of the patches (10 or 12 i believe), you get bonus exp per person. it averages to about 50% more exp per person. a full party of 9 where normally each person gets 0.04 per kill will get between 0.01 and 0.02 per kill.

[Dajs]

Originally Posted by tihoa

since one of the patches (10 or 12 i believe), you get bonus exp per person. it averages to about 50% more exp per person. a full party of 9 where normally each person gets 0.04 per kill will get between 0.01 and 0.02 per kill.

wait a sec, that means that you get 0.02 XP in a 9 member party, where you could get 0.04 XP going solo? Or is it additional 0.02 XP?

[Aiur]

Okay. Example. (Not sure if this is how it works)

You get .04% EXP Solo by killing a monster in 15 seconds.

There's 9 of you in a party. You get .02% per monster. Each of you kill a monster in 15 seconds. That's 9 monster killed which gets you .18% in that same 15 seconds.

Make sense?

[Dajs]

very much, yes. So you speak of xp per second.

[dhrddm]

no. he speaks of experience gained from the partymembers in the same ammount of time as you kill a monster.

[tihoa]

you + 15 seconds (longer at higher lvls) = 1 kill = 0.04

you + 9 party members + 3 seconds (maybe less so you can gang up on them) = 1 kill = 0.01

you + 9 party members + 15 seconds = 7 kills (2 ppl on healer duty) = 0.08 ish

difference per hour.
solo = 8% to 9% per hour
party = 10% to 12% per hour

difference during 2x exp.
solo = 16% to 18% per hour
party = 18% to 20% per hour

[Samurei]

nice quid, congratulations "Aiur".

[ytraymond]

i believe partying is a good way to gain levels fast,although it's sharing,but with more people,u get to cover or rather kill more monsters.

[jezzie1026]

Do lvl gaps affect the xp you gain when in a shared party? how?

[Dajs]

as far as I know, when you kill a mob(monster) all xp is not shared to those who see the mob as dark blue, and others get varying amount of xp based on the "color" of the mob, so the guy who sees the mob as orange will get more xp from the guy who sees it green. thats my observation

[dhrddm]

Express yourself in numbers. Because if for a RC11 the ammount of exp needed for a level is 20000 (that value is only hipotetical and has nothing to do with the REAL ammount of exp neede for a special level) and a RC7 needs 18000 it is quite normal that a RC11 gets less percent from the kill that the RC7.

[tihoa]

GB12 takes over 4.5 million exp to level up.

[RudNation]

nice guide man!

[thescotsman1]

Originally Posted by tihoa

4) share drops. if your party is grinding in a small location with only your party, share drops. share drops will allow for indiscriminate killing in your party thus allowing your party to kill faster. during 2x exp at the Golden Blossoms levels, a share drops and exp party will get 4% to 5% more exp than a party that does not share drops (tested about 5 times)

Why not do this even if the party is spread out? A good drop is nice, but it's kinda random. I don't see it as a calamity if I don't get a random drop. Besides, if someone doesn't claim their drop within a few seconds, it's up for grabs anyway.

I am also well aware of the lack of integrity of many people in these games, but if I grab someone's drop in my party after those 10 seconds or so (let's say they died and they were going for their random LS9 weapon that dropped in death valley.lol) I don't have a problem handing it off to them.

To me, there's nothing more satisfying than indiscriminate slaughter. I'd LOVE to help you bring down that pesky little giant.

[tihoa]

its easier to call and for people to obtain their drops when they are close together. when spread out, other people could come and loot the items which causes problems sometimes. there are players who grind in the same area as a share drop party and hopes to loot some rares.