"Emerald Park Station is arriving. Passengers who need to get off, please prepare in advance..."
As the subway pulled into the station, Qian Peng dragged his (0/200) stamina into the crowded carriage.
He had fought in the sewers all night. If the viewers in the bullet chat had not reminded him, he would have nearly died in the stinking sewer water because his Yellow Bar had run out and he could no longer run.
Like his in-game character, Qian Peng himself was also nearing his limit.
After all, the Brain Domain acceleration effect of the Holographic Helmet was no easy thing.
It was equivalent to forcing someone to remain intensely focused for extended periods, making their brain operate at high speed. It greatly drained the user's energy, and some people even used the thing specifically to lose weight.
At Qian Peng's age, the last time he had played a holographic game at such intensity was three years ago.
So, he planned to return to the warehouse, spend the Faith he had grinded all night, then log off and get some proper sleep.
"The game's official website updated!"
"Streamer, check the official site! They're issuing new testing slots!"
"Pengpeng, you've been exhausted all night. You've worked hard—get some rest later."
The bullet chat had also become sparse. It was past seven in the morning in real time, and most people were either sleeping or commuting, with no time to watch the stream. Only a group of college students had stayed up with him all night.
At the urging of the bullet chat, Qian Peng opened Expedition's official website.
The page was the same as before, except half the space on the right was covered by the five large words "Classic Server Forum."
Judging from that utterly unaesthetic UI, Expedition's art designer was probably someone hired through connections.
He opened the forum and browsed "Free Discussion" for a while, only to find countless threads that were both meaningless and unanswered.
So he opened the Update Announcement. After reading it, he checked his character sheet and found that his Faith bar had not changed. He then complained to his viewers:
"Why does the new version's operations team feel like such an amateur outfit? They're nowhere near as competent as those old hands from the previous version."
"Even if it's a hot update, they should at least state when it went live!"
There were still forty minutes before the subway reached his stop. After thinking it over, he forced himself to stay alert and prepared to write a guide in "Issue Feedback."
Complaints I Can't Keep In and an Early-Game Guide: Farming Experience Through Boss Mechanics. (Not Recommended for Newbies)
Amulet Owl: Hello, everyone. I'm Amulet Owl, about to burn out after grinding all night, yet still stuck on the subway before I can get home.
Amulet Owl: Today, I'll talk about some of the issues in Glorious Expedition and share an early-game leveling method while I'm at it.
Amulet Owl: Those who know the game should know that the starting point is Iron Wall City. In the old version, Iron Wall City was a level 30 monster-farming zone, and it's the same in the new version. Brother Dao already confirmed that outside the city.
Amulet Owl: Speaking of that, I have to complain. Aside from players not needing to shit or eat, you can feel the development team's near-obsessive pursuit of realism anywhere in this game.
Amulet Owl: First, the biggest problem: the map is absurdly huge. Taking the subway around the city once takes several hours. You're either traveling or on your way to travel. If they don't add teleportation later, this will drive a lot of people away.
Amulet Owl: You could say that, in pursuit of realism, the developers have completely abandoned the player experience.
Amulet Owl: They even gave ordinary monsters built-in learning AI. You can clearly feel enemies getting used to your fighting style, and every enemy progresses at a different rate. That part deserves praise.
Amulet Owl: If you're bad at combat, don't be afraid. This game's monster stats are the same as in the old version. You can check the Despair Expedition wiki and use your informational advantage to win.
Amulet Owl: Speaking of stats, the developers hid all of them. When you kill a monster, you can feel a warm current enter your body, but you have no idea how much experience you actually got. What a bizarre thing to insist on.
Amulet Owl: Oh, and one more thing. People in the group tested it: completing quests gives no experience, and you might even get cheated out of your reward. It seems this game doesn't encourage you to do anything except kill, kill, kill.
Amulet Owl: And under those conditions, the developers threw a bunch of level 1 players onto a level 30 map.
Amulet Owl: I have no idea how the developers expect us to level up.
Amulet Owl: As for why players spawn in Iron Wall City, my guess is that the Thirteen City Alliance has not yet been destroyed. Near the Forgotten Caves, where players spawned in the old version, the zombies for players to kill have not appeared yet. Iron Wall City is already the closest place to monsters.
Amulet Owl: Fortunately, because Iron Wall City has not been destroyed, the millions of residents in the city have not yet been turned into level 30 resentful spirits. They're all neutral units below level 10.
Amulet Owl: We could kill civilians for experience, but doing that would get your account banned. No one has dared to test that yet.
Amulet Owl: However, as far as I know, one player exploited a loophole and became a bounty hunter. But there are only a few people in the city who meet the three requirements of being killable, beatable, and in a fixed location, and that guy has already killed them all. By the way, he also killed Twisted Seed Flander, the future level 73 Boss. What a waste.
Amulet Owl: That player said he might go after gangs or drug dealers next, but no one knows whether that would get him banned. Personally, I'm not optimistic about his chances. Neither type of organization lacks superhumans, and killing him would be easy.
Amulet Owl: Now for the guide. The method I'm offering today makes use of the level 52 Boss, "Perpetual Motion Device IV: Howler," located in the sewers beneath the city center.
Amulet Owl: Most people have farmed that lump of flesh before, right? It's one of the gatekeeper Bosses of the Underground Maniac Factory, an absurdly tanky meat shield that can endlessly split into all kinds of human-faced clones. Its trait is that the lower its health gets, the higher level the spawned monsters become.
Amulet Owl: Once its health drops to 10%, it splits into fifty clones with the same attributes as itself. So you have to find a way to kill it quickly when it is around 20% health. It's a standard DPS check.
Amulet Owl: But at full health, it only splits into level 1 to 5 monsters, and killing those clones gives experience too.
Amulet Owl: That's the trait I exploited. I played with that giant flesh tumor all night and farmed a total of 1.6 Faith, which converts to more than 8,000 experience.
Amulet Owl: By rough estimate, Glorious Expedition gives twice as much experience as the old version. You don't have to grind for weeks just to gain one level like before. I'm not sure whether they gave us double experience for launch.
Because his head was foggy, Qian Peng spent nearly forty minutes writing that complaint and guide, basically writing whatever came to mind. Yet not a single reply appeared during that time.
He wondered about it for a while before remembering that only people who had obtained game access could reply in the "Improvement Suggestions" subforum.
"City Wall Station is arriving. Passengers who need to get off..."
As the subway arrived, Qian Peng had no choice but to stop typing. He glanced at his Yellow Bar, which still had not recovered, sighed, and could only slowly make his way back to the spawn point.
When he finally reached the warehouse and was about to level up quickly before logging off,
he spotted a red-haired Beast-Ear Race Magical Girl standing at the warehouse entrance.
Because she was pretty, Qian Peng instinctively glanced her way, and the red-haired Magical Girl's panel appeared in his vision.
Name: El Yunis Race: Beast-Ear Race Class: ??? Level: ??? Rank: ??? Traits: ??? Attributes: ??? Skills: ??? Favorability: 0
Before you continue