Wings Over Atreia: Mira, mira, on the wall...
Who is the happiest to be done with it all? If not me (I will certainly defer to those who endured 10+ attempts at the hot heart of magic craft), then I surely rank right up near the top! Yes folks, there is a Santa Cl... I mean an end to the Miragent/Fenris questline in Aion, and I have found it. To those naysayers, those unbelievers who think otherwise, I say I am living proof that Mira does not stand for mirage!
I admit, I am indeed grateful to be looking back on the experience, instead of ahead to it. Between the grinding, the spawn camping, and the curse of the RNG, to say that the journey to obtain Miragent or Fenris armor is a rough road is putting it mildly. I spent a fair share of time just being grateful the questline doesn't include belts and hats; I think there would be a mass exodus if NCsoft introduced Miragent/Fenris jewelry.
Although each leg of this race has had rough patches, I still believe it has been worth it. Make a final dash past the cut to experience the end of an era: the completion of the quest for Miragent armor.
No more streaking!
OK, so technically I was not running around Aion without any pants on (sorry guys), but not having the Miragent leggings made me feel a bit under-dressed -- especially at all the fancy parties, like Chantra Dredgion. However, it took a while to gather both the needed materials and my courage for another try at crafting the hot heart of magic.
You may find it amusing and even shake your head at me, but this time I did have a full DP bar and I did turn around 360 degrees -- twice! -- before attempting the craft. Taking a deep breath, I still found it difficult to watch that craft bar, but this time my eyes were riveted to it. As it creeped up, apparently the pitch of my voice did, too; when it passed into the hot phase, I spoke in a near squeal. Superstition may be an old wives' tale, but I'm going to kiss that wife, because it worked! And none too soon for this kinah-strapped gal; with prices for boiling Balaur blood stains rocketing to 220-250k and higher, gathering 100 for each attempt has become even more painful, if not impossible.
A trip to the divine accessories merchants in Sanctum for one six million-kinah oath stone, and another blessing from Jucleas, and I can now proudly display some fishnet stockings and a garter.
Tears from heaven
Once you have shed tears of gratitude for succeeding the heart craft, your next task is to collect 20 of Atreia's tears. Said to be shed during the cataclysm, these tears of luck appear for only a short time in random places throughout Atreia, including Eltnen, Heiron, and Theobomos in Elysea (lights of luck for Asmodians spawn in Morheim, Beluslan and Brusthonin in Asmodae). Before you can seek out these delicate tears, you must spend almost 3.5 million kinah to rent a special ring in order to gather them. Before you begin, be sure to have the ring equipped!
Tears of luck are aptly named – you need luck to find one and collect it before anyone else, and each tear is only a single spawn. Make sure you have running scrolls and set your watch, because tears are only available from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. each game day (approximately 10 minutes real time, every two hours).
The quest title, Persistence and Luck, gives you a pretty good idea of what's to come. Some of the known locations can be heavily camped by a number of Daevas who hope to increase their own collections. Personally, I had less luck in Eltnen, where a multitude of tear-collectors were be hungrily watching each spot. Heiron and Theobomos provided more than 75% of my tears. Theobomos has the added benefit of having multiple channels to check (although with a five-minute wait between changes, be sure to check a few spots in one channel before zoning to the next). While I have known people who sought tears for weeks, I was luckily able to gather mine in just three days by focusing on these two areas (three spots can be checked in less than a minute in Theobomos) and employing one other trick.
My best advice for this quest is this: don't try it alone. Schmooze a few of your friends with spirit master alts to camp some locations, and carry fortress scrolls with you to get you to those regions. I readily admit that a number of my successful finds were due to a dear, sweet, lovable (OK, I am just really grateful to him) friend who would check and summon me right to a tear that he found. Hug a spirit master today, folks, trust me. From there, use your running scrolls to sprint to other spots.
Happily holding the tears from Atreia's destruction, I trotted on over to those merchants again, plopped down four million kinah for another oath stone, received yet another blessing, and returned to Lavirintos for a skimpy corset to complete my ensemble. Now, I am a proud owner of a full, beautiful, gold set of armor. I have to say, I do prefer the look of the leather to the others. Luckily, for those who don't quite like the french maid/baby doll look, Miragent/Fenris armor can now be skinned to a different appearance.
The home stretch
Thought you were done? Psych! Ironically, getting the full armor set is not the end of your Miragent/Fenris questline. In fact, your final test, Loyalty, grants you a very spiffy gold weapon after a fun combination of grind and spawn camping (if you are over level 50). You have made it this far, so why not take the final step? Along with the weapon, you get a great title -- Miragent Holy Templar for the Elyos -- offering some of the best stats (HP, attack speed, run speed, and casting speed).
Now, while you're riding the high of succeeding the heart craft, even a large grind sounds doable, even welcome – just don't ever make success RNG dependent again, please! In order to be found worthy of this weapon, Elyos are required to exterminate Calydon chasers and shamans in Theobomos and retrieve 600 ornaments. Six hundred? If you just broke out in a cold sweat with flashbacks from the shoulder piece quest, breathe easier; unlike Sanctum medals, these ornaments have a very high drop rate.
Another bonus on this step is the presence of a platinum coin quest that you can complete concurrently using the same Calydon mobs. Offered at the base of Jarmanok Inn, you need only collect 52 Calydon hairs per quest to receive both a platinum coin and an angel's eye (which can be exchanged for a random number of platinum coins, for a small fee). Bring a friend and make the killing go by faster as you gather ornaments and hairs (though returning and reacquiring the coin quest will slow you down). The platinum coins can then be used, given to an alt, or better yet sold to help fund the weapon's oath stone. Since the oath stone rings up at 12 million kinah, you will need either deep pockets or a sugar daddy (or mamma, hey let's not be particular), or you might just be selling off everything, short of your soul, to fund this oath stone.
Once you finish up the Calydon genocide, you are asked to travel to the Core in the Abyss and exterminate 300 of the guardians around Divine Fortress. Not only is 300 half of the original task, but this one is a kill quest only. Once again, grab a group of friends (and even add another group for guards if you happen to be officer rank or higher) and go on a slaughter spree. If the opposing faction doesn't interrupt too frequently, this portion will go by fairly quickly.
The final step involves a bit of luck. To complete your test of loyalty, you originally would have needed to kill the captain on the Dredgion, competing with the opposite faction for the kill. However, since Assault on Balaurea raised the level cap, Miragent seekers level 51 and above no longer have the opportunity to enter the Dredgion. For these Daevas, there is a new task -- kill Captain Mituna at the downed Dredgion on Miren Island. While the Dredgion offers a guaranteed opportunity three times a day, Captain Mituna must spawn. After nearly a week of trying to get this contested spawn (yes, the opposing faction wants him just as much as you do), we learned of a hint that finally worked for us: First, kill the three patrolling Makarah Adjutants, then wait one hour -- the captain has a chance of spawning. With nothing to lose (other than some AP to some very persistent Asmodians), we gave this a try and bingo! It succeeded at one hour on the dot. After fighting off the enemy and actually completing a pesky rank kill quest in the process, we finally downed the captain and raced back to Sanctum to claim our rewards.
Now comes the easiest part -- just a few more minutes and you are done! Empty your pockets and buy a 12 million-kinah oath stone, snack on a perer aether jelly (you must have a full 4k DP bar), and jog on over to Jucleas for your final blessing. Disappointingly, although Jucleas says you will meet the Seraphim Lords, there is no awesome cutscene when you receive your blessing. Just a click and all is finished. Round the home stretch and return to Lavirintos to complete the quest and pick out which weapon you wish to have. Unlike many quests, this one will only offer weapons usable by your class, including secondary weapons. Choose well, and then sit back and enjoy your glowy new weapon. Take a few screenshots and don't forget to link it to your friends; bask in their congrats and applause -- you really did earn it.
Looking back now, the work for Miragent armor doesn't seem quite as hard, and the road doesn't seem quite as long, but I know I need only to read back through this series to remind me of the journey. And I know I have been luckier than others; some have spent inordinate amounts of time and kinah on obtaining this armor set, and I feel privileged to have a whopping 500k left in my cube. The armor and weapon really do make a difference and are well worth the effort. But tell me, how do some people do this a second, a third, even a fourth time time for alts? I have to admit, I am not sure I could. Although, I do have a baby Asmodian who will be growing up some day...
Now that this is all finished, let's see if I can remember what else there is to do in Aion!
Soaring through the Aionosphere, MJ Guthrie touches down weekly to bring you Wings Over Atreia. Featuring tips, guides, and general snippets of life in Aion, the column is better than Tutty-on-a-stick, ackackackackackack! Have a suggestion to share? No need to bribe a Shugo -- just send mail to mj@massively.com.
