Many Questions From Returning Player

I've just returned to the game and I'm kind of lost. The last thing I remember doing was reaching level 150 (the level cap at the time) and then losing all of my progress to a rollback. I'm sure the game has changed a lot since then, so I'm hoping some friendly players will help get me back on track. Thanks in advance.

Here are my questions:

• What's the current level cap now?
  
• How do you level now? Is it still farming/buying NC and turning it in?
  
• What's a good way of getting money? (Please don't tell me it's still NC....)
  
• Is 4-lock synthesis possible now? If so, are there any guides on how to reach 4-lock quickly?
• Has the build for farming mages changed at all? Is it still max INT, rest into LUK, spam Impact --> Storm --> MP Charge?
• Are there any good guides for 2H sword? Specifically, the stat point distribution and skill build (I'm guessing gear is probably still Crit Damage + ATK%).
  
• Is it possible to make a character both a blacksmith and alchemist, or do you still need one character for each role? I assume with the higher level cap, everyone has more stat/skill points so it might be possible to have enough to go max 1 stat (for blacksmithing purposes) and high TEC (for alchemy purposes).
  
• What are the weapons/armors that everyone's crafting these days? I'm thinking of saving up some money and buying one, then eventually finding a way to stat them so I have something better to use than my current powercrept gear.

I still have a few more questions but these are the main ones.
Again, thanks. I really appreciate any help/advice.

 

1. level 230
2. just kill some monster/boss monster since fighting monster that has 9 level difference between monster and your level give more exp.
3. don't know about that since i usually sell xtal from drop, but some item price on cb is getting better now.
4. yes. just level up your synthesis proficiency to lvl 150.
5. maybe, but you can use ninja skill to farming. the skill use matk stat for damage, but it use physical proration. so your crit rate work well.
6. better ask other since i don't play with 2h
7. yes. mage skill is preferrable since it use less skill point than other main skill
8. 6th anniv weapon.

 

200+ (220?)

side quests have been updated up to chapter 5.
quests are stackable now, so you can do a "kill x monsters" quest up to 100 times and then turn them in all at once.
but side quests still become inefficient when your level gets too high. the latest side quest becomes available around lv100, so at 120+ it may no longer be worth the effort.

anything. currently summer shells and anniversary medals, i guess.

yes, 100%,and 5-lock with 80% success.
there is no "fast" way, though.

there are many alternatives now. each one has their advantages and disadvantages. supposedly the most powerful is Rapid Water Vortex from ninja skills.

the current meta is all about tier 4 dark power skills, specifically Soul Hunter. but there will be another skill adjustment in the near future, so the trend may change drastically afterwards.

you can do both in one, but then you'll have approximately ~30 skill points for combat, so i wouldn't recommend this. also, the material cost for high stats is enormous and you need crafting profiency to reduce it. so crafters and statters should be the same character now.

currently that would be the 6th anniversary weapons. although the weapon atk has less powercreep than before, so if they are too expensive you should also be fine with regular equipment.

 

Thanks for the replies.

Wait, that's amazing, I'm guessing you don't even have to use the same character for doing the quest and turning it in? So you can have a high level character mow down everything with Storm or whatever is the farming skill these days, and then switch characters to turn in for the EXP?

What quests do people normally take for EXP?

I don't understand this, you can lower statting costs with....crafting proficiency? Is crafting proficiency the same Proficiency stat that you get from making consumables (alchemy)? I'm guessing it's not smithing Proficiency (gained from making things like Wood Swords)?
Either way, what I take away is that blacksmiths and alchemists/statters/synthesists should be separate. So we still need two characters to have both.

Just curious, what would be regular equipment? I'm pretty much broke in this game, so I really need to find some budget gear. There's no way my current gear is anywhere close to the standard now.

 

You're lucky, I just got done with this
https://thebrahmnicboy.github.io/ToramOnlineGuide/

There's some useful stuff in there, but you are welcome to criticize me.

El Scaro - Drunken Mistake quest

The opposite.

Even unstatted 6th anniv might be good enough for a while. I guess there are some good NPC swords too. I don't keep up with 2hs a lot...

 

Whoa, that's a pretty big change.
So blacksmith/statters max out one stat (e.g. STR/INT/VIT/etc) and then max TEC? Is it even possible to max two stats (255)?
And then alchemists/synthesists just max TEC, then.....perhaps DEX since it also affects Difficulty Level of crafting consumables?

This looks really informative, thank you!

 

Tec>Str = ths crafter
Tec>agi = knuckle crafter
Tec>dex = bowgun crafter
Tec>int = staff crafter
Tec>vit = armor crafter

 

These days, you'll likely have TEC 255 and the rest goes to VIT, crafting consumables isn't that hard like it won't require you a high proficiency to get to a certain level of proficiency, just something cheap until you're able to synth flower nectars by using the Tasty Honey all the way to lvl 150 proficiency. So, DEX is not necessarily needed, but it can be alternatives to lvling your TEC chara. Back to why VIT? It's because having an Armor Crafter packed in a stater, lock, and refiner chara will be more profitable than having a Bowgun Crafter as DEX TEC chara (bowgun sale isn't as good as armor, but armor requires luck).
Regarding the max stats, now you can get up to 550 character stat for each once you used 500 stat points (used 246+254). So at the current lvl cap (230), you can have a 255 TEC + 342 Other stat.

Welcome Back!

 

I see, based on earlier replies I was planning to have an armor crafter + statter, and another character as a synth lock + refiner. This way I can make the armor crafter (who has max VIT) be a shoddy tank at the same time and make levelling at bosses a little easier.

I'm not sure what kind of role I can give the synthesist though. Maybe a weapon smith?

Wow, that's a pretty big change! I don't suppose we're given the ability to reset our current stats once we reach that 500 threshold? I'm guessing nearly all DPS builds want 550 primary stat (e.g. STR/INT/DEX/etc) and the rest elsewhere?

 

no, we don't. We cannot reset for free, and even if you use the reset book, you have to start filling from the start, which means you haven't hit the goal to unlock stats yet.
And you can NEVER deallocate stats.