It seems like every time I turn around, I learn something new about this game. It’s vast, and I’m still pretty new to it all myself, despite having played it on and off from back at launch.

The new Sage class launched last week, and I decided to roll one since I had the character slots to do so. It’s a pretty fun class – a heavy hitter, a bit slower than others, but definitely packs a punch in each blast. It’s also more flashy and colorful than other classes I played, and was pretty easy to breeze through to level 56 (yes again).

This time, though, I did something I hadn’t done before, though. I finally discovered the true “main story.”

In previous posts, I lamented the fact that so much of the original story was cut, and that I never saw how all the pieces came together. It turns out that this was absolutely user error on my part – but to be fair, the game wasn’t very clear about what choices I was making.

There’s a couple points where the story branches off into three directions. The first time didn’t seem of that much consequence, so when the second choice came, I didn’t realize that this choice would change what main story line I would experience.

Me being me, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to pick sides with either character in this scenario – neither seemed to be in the right. So for time after time, I always chose the middle: Silence, We’re Done Here! and just shrugged them both off.

I found there was very little story in the second choice — and that’s for a reason. It’s the option to take if you just want to burn through the game through massive killing rather than be bothered by quests. Basically, an option for folks who’d already seen the story. The game warned me there would be more fighting if I chose that option, but it never warned me that I’d forego seeing the main story altogether should I go that direction.

On my Sage, I decided to do something different – I chose the first path. Then, lo and behold, the main story was there! Everything was actually making a lot more sense! The pieces I thought were cut out of the game from the old story were actually all there – cutscenes included. And I got to learn bout what happened to Edan and his company after all!

Needless to say, I was a much happier camper having discovered that this option finally told me the story that I’ve been so confused about all this time. I really feel that the game needs to make it very clear that the first option is the one you should take if you want to know the overarching story of this world.

Once I got my Sage to level 56 and dumped him in Altinova, I was left with a question of where to go next. I had obtained the Chenga Tome, which I’d used to help level my Sage as fast as I did, so I could always start questing on some of my characters while there’s still a level boost.

But I’m also interested in trying out sailing, ship bartering and ocean fishing. The only thing is, I’m worried about being PKed out in the ocean. I know, I know… folks say it hardly happens. But if I’m out there on a boat and I want to AFK fish, I don’t want to have to be worried I’ll come back to a dead character or a sunk boat because someone happened to see me and wanted to get luls.

I have enough of the Shakatu’s seals to get TWO Epheria Sailboats if I wanted (though I think I’m going to spring for one T8 Horse instead of two ships, maybe – I can always pick up a cheaper ship later, too).

I know that a character under level 50 can’t use the canons and can’t do all the dailies to learn sailing, but if my main goal is to just fish and barter for the fun of it… Well, long story short, I decided to roll another character just for that aspect of the game. So here she is!

If I want to get deeper into leveling sailing, I can always do that on a 50+ character. But I wanted to have at least one character who would be safe out on the ocean. I know that I already have a Tamer that’s under level, but really, I want to keep her where she is for horse training since that’s her focus.

I’ve gotten my Mystic up to level 48 as of last night, and once I hit 49, I’ll call it quits on leveling her and see what the ocean has to give. I found the job to be a real powerhouse and surprisingly a lot of fun at the early levels.

Oh, and for the record, I tried the third story path on my Mystic, but found it to be a bit more meh than the first path. It’s a different story, and much more focused on quests, but I’m not really into being a hired mercenary for a merchant guild (that treats my character poorly). Though, I guess it does fit this character’s backstory.