Project Zodiac:

 

Horizon:

Easter Event had ended, manage to setup another two Raid Boss Hunters for next year as the existing one had already completed the Affinity. Didn't really like to play on the other two as the mobs are aggro against the pet, I had to level the pet at TOF and only use it for buff. Despite the existing two are slow at pet leveling due to the level of the mobs, at least I do not have to worry so much about pet dying.

As per my plan, I decided to start a new project and try out all the dual class to learn more about their skills. The main focus are on those which are not popular and find out the real reason behind their disadvantage as compare to the more popular dual class. They are mainly Elementalist, Cleric and Temple Knight where most players choose to level them as their other dual class and later switch class.

As I need to use a toon to setup the guild, I also decided to make the same toon as Merchant Profession. My only worry is the lack of SP as I don't intend to waste an hour to farm 15K of SP before I level, I am going to use the method which I had perfect during the Guardian of the Galaxy to see how far they can go within two hours, but the result really surprised me as I still got a lot of SP left after getting Merchant Profession, create a Level 6 Guild and even max out all the essential skill which I need to use.

The first toon I start with is Assassin, the reason I choose it is because I am familiar with it like Royal Knight and Ranger. Had a little set back of disconnection in TOF when I hit Level 69 and lost the Elizabeth Buff, but I decided to continue with the progress and try it with Mid Level Buff instead. It had been done before and I am sure a little set back will never deter my plan based on my pass experience.

Manage to reach Level 100 which is already so much higher than what I had achieve in Guardian of the Galaxy, guess proper planning and good knowledge really goes a long way. At Level 20 I decided to focus on maxing the Hawk Strike Skill which is similar to Ex Rogue Multiple Attack which is available at Level 15, this will help in TOF until Level 60 where the Double Strike Skill is available at Level 38. I did try another skill name Splitting Field which is suppose to have 4.5K of Skill Power as compare to 3K at almost same level, but I guess twice the Skill Power seem to make it having more damage and the Skill Animation also seem to be shorter.

The skill actually last all the way until I finish Tomb and it got shorter cool down and using less MP which make it a better choice if Skill Cool Down and MP Steal are not available. I later realized that skills really make a lot of different at the later stage of the game and choosing a dual class wisely is mainly choosing the right skill. Of course I also discover a lot of advantage and disadvantage of different dual class as I try them out later, this will help a lot of newbie in the choice of the dual class they want to play.

I had not play with Temple Knight for more than 17 years, after I switch to Royal Knight I never look back as it was like switching from Apple to Android. I repeat the agony of slow killing speed and unimpressive skill with buff that seem to benefit other more than self. Temple Knight is a very supportive role which are being use as Tank for Castle Siege and Boss Fight, they are good at taking damage but not really good for DPS like the Royal Knight. That is why most players are able to level Royal Knight faster than Temple Knight, and later choose to switch class after it reach higher level.

I initially thought the Weapon Break and Mana Break Skill would be good but I was wrong, turn out that Light Spear actually work way better due the the shorter skill animation. The skill was good until Level 60 where another skill name Wrath of Light become available, I was surprised that this elemental skill actually work better as compare to Royal Knight Sword Wave and Whittling Spray. I guess the same theory that Triple Bash work better than Double Bash, Two Hand Peirce and Kick due to the multiplication of the damage even though the skill power indicate lower in the skill description.

The good thing is that they had remove the need for energy crystal to cast the skill like they had remove the wear down of dura weapon and accessory to make thing simple for us. But I still hope they would bring back the Elemental System and Cube Buff as it is what that had help to balance the PVP without affecting the PVE. As expected I only manage to reach Level 90 due to the slow progress and I would say those class with AOE skill does have a major advantage although I prefer melee over magic.

The moment of truth came when I start playing Arch Wizard, they are really powerful with Chaos Nova skill at Level 70. But due to the debuff risk of the Occultist in Tomb, it only work well in TOF and Zombie. The Terra Spear doesn't cause much damage as it was expected and the Flame Volt only work well at lower level, use to prefer Flame Field over Chaos Nova before they make 100% Cool Down possible. The Meteor Fall prove to be even more powerful at higher level with skill cool down taken out of the issue, so there are three different AOE being use at different stage of the leveling process which make it enjoyable if not of the Occultist debuff risk.

Manage to reach Level 101 with Arch Wizard but I would say Mage is still better than Arch Mage if you are going to choose Witch Dual Class instead of Arch Wizard due to the Flame Storm AOE available at early stage which would help a lot. The other class would be Sorcerer and Titan which have AOE skill available at slightly later stage as compare to Mage. Arch Mage still got certain advantage like Ex Rogue over Regular Rogue due to the availability of short duration self buff.

But having short duration self buff would also mean a more complicated gaming experience which players had to keep operating the keys and monitor the duration before it expired, they also design for certain advantage like higher damage or faster speed to cater for the lack of buff like what Regular Ranger had over Ex Ranger and Archer. But the starter armor set for Ex Rogue and Arch Mage does help a lot at the early stage of the game before they start giving +15 set and good items to help with leveling.

The project will continue further with twelve different dual class, I would consider Ex Rogue and Arch Mage to be similar to Regular Rogue and Mage as their skills are almost the same in many aspect. Like the Horoscope which represent by the different star constellation, each have unique qualities which attract different players to choose what they like most and provide a variety of choice to make the whole gaming experience more vibrant.