Users who log into Mabinogi between November 18 and November 29 are (forcefully) taken to see Nao, who asks you to care for a baby owl as part of the "Global Owl Event" (it's "global" because it is being run on all servers, not just American servers).It's fitting that the only response button is "Yes" when Nao asks if you would like to take care of a baby owl. Think about it: NAO asks you to take care of a BABY OWL and promises PRIZES for your help. Who would say no anyway? Everyone loves at least 2 of those things; they'll praise Nexon for such a universally awesome event. And that's their plan...
When I paused to consider the rules of this event, and the tensions it puts on the player, I realized that this event is subtly a ploy to get us to log into Mabinogi 4 hours a day. There's this baby owl sitting in your inventory, and every hour that popup window asks if you want to feed the owl. Sure, why the hell not? You don't actually have to do anything except press that feed button (and you don't even have to provide the food). When you've fed the owl 4 times, you get a cool item! Er...wait...you have to be logged in for 4 hours total to convalesce it to health and get your payoff? Devious! Consider the player who logs in for (what is supposed to be) a couple hours and gets this owl. 2 hours pass, and they feed the bird twice. The third hour rolls by (because we are all terrible at self-restraint) and they feed the bird a third time. Then, what do you do? That owl is one feeding away from payoff...and it's just one more hour...Plus, who could pry themselves away from the game KNOWING that a baby owl's life hangs in the balance?!
I feel a tad insulted that Nexon is deploying such an irresistable creature for the purposes of evil...but at the same time I have to applaud their game development skills, since this will undoubtedly work.
As a struggling blacksmith, I've spent my time learning and ranking-up the various production skills associated with smithing; the purpose of this is to produce the materials necessary for smithing myself rather than pay someone else for a Common Leather Strap, for instance. As the picture above will tell you, I've managed to rank the Refine skill up to rank 1, which helps me make the ingots for smithing at near-perfect rates. I intend on mastering the skill since almost every player who achieves rank 1 Refining won't go on to master it (I can't blame them, it's a huge waste of money). But because of the rarity of the "Master of Refining" title, I feel obligated to obtain it.
Speaking of smithing, I've ranked Blacksmithing up to rank A, which allows me to make armors. This is a major step forward because armors are the big-ticket equipment type, netting much more money on average than weapons, gauntlets, shields, etc. Using my newly-granted ability to make armors, I managed to make a Plate Mail. It's a sweeter-than-usual type of armor because it grants auto-defense against melee and ranged attacks; this allowed me to sell it for 225,000 gold:
And finally, I've posted Pet AI's here before. As a programmer, I'm naturally drawn to this aspect of Mabinogi and I'm pleased to announce an update to my original "Warrensworth's Pet AI," and a new Maiz Dungeon pet AI. Both of them are solid, and I recommend them if you are looking for a smarter AI than the standard options available in-game.
Warrensworth's Pet AI v1.4 can be found here.
Warrensworth's Maiz AI can be found here.
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