G4 Rano Overview

Update: Since the upcoming patch will be G4, G5 and G6 combined, the content of this post will be moved into the new overview.

A mysterious glyph was posted on the official site last week and it means that G4 and the new vast continent of Iria will be upon us soon. Since the main content for this patch is the introduction of Iria and there are no modifications to Uladh, I will be introducing this new area, the new dungeons and their numerous variations, along with the exploration system, a highly-anticipated new source of AP. Welcome to Chapter 2!

Please proceed keeping in mind that there might be spoilers ahead. The majority of this information is based off the JP wiki. Thanks to Serenity, Reverie and Kitaek for helping with information gathering and proofreading.

Rano, the Frontier of a New Land

Iria is a new continent vastly larger than the current continent of Uladh. The main difference between Uladh and Iria is that there are considerably less towns and all areas are teeming with wildlife. Due to its large size, there is lots of opportunity for players to discover treasures, however travel will take much longer and use of horses and Iria-specific methods of transportation is highly recommended.

With G4, the area of Rano will be open to players. Rano is about the same size of Uladh, if not a bit larger. It is bounded by the coastline upon which Port Qilla is situated, the Nubes Mountain to the north and Lutra River to the east. Across Lutra River is the elven area of Connous (released in G5), while beyond the Nubes mountain is the giant area of Physis (released in G6).

Rano is composed of seven main areas:

• Port Qilla: The port of arrival for ships that set sail from Uladh’s Port Ceann.
• Base Camp: The sole settlement in Rano. In addition to your everyday needs, this is where you will obtain exploration quests.
• Nubes Mountain: A stretch of mountains along the northern edge of Rano, separating it from Physis.
• Maiz Prairie: A vast grassland on the northern side, home to Maiz Prairie dungeon.
• Kaypi Canyon: A series of cliffs separating Maiz Prairie and Muyu Desert. Home to the kiwis and the desert dragon.
• Muyu Desert: A barren desert which is the largest area in Rano. Essential to various exploration quests as well as final hit quest in G4S3.
• Karu Forest: A dangerous forest enclosing popular Karu Forest dungeon.

There are animals all over Iria fields. Some are highly aggressive like forest spiders in Karu Forest, while some are passive and will run away if attacked, such as kiwis in Kaypi Canyon. Many animals have titles after their names, hence modifying their stats and exp, similar to advanced dungeons. Each Iria field, not counting Base Camp, has field bosses that are similar to native species. The desert dragon in Kaypi Canyon is a giant field boss, which may not be implemented yet.

There are also numerous landmarks scattered across the region. Visiting all of them will reward you with a Rano Explorer title detailed later in this post. If you die in Rano, you will have the option of spawning at the last landmark you visited instead of at Base Camp, unless you have not visited any landmarks.

Arriving from Uladh

There are two ways you can journey to Iria. The first is to travel by sea by boarding a boat from Port Ceann. You may buy boarding passes for 100g at both piers. Of course, you will need to be able to enter Port Ceann. Make sure you have done the required quest beforehand.

Another method is to use the ‘Continent Move’ option from the system menu (the Celtic knot button at the lower left corner of the screen). Note that this was implemented after G4S1 in foreign servers and its addition is at Nexon NA’s discretion. This command allows you to move from Uladh to Iria in a one-way direction once every 12 hours. It is renewed at noon and midnight every Mabi day. Travelling from Uladh to Iria will always bring you to Base Camp. Moving from Iria to Uladh will place you at the first place on the following list that you have visited at least once:

• Dunbarton, Bangor, Port Ceann, Tir Chonaill, Emain Macha

It is possible to return to Base Camp from anywhere in Iria quickly by using this function at 11:50 to move to Uladh, then at 12:00 to move back to Iria. This is helpful for finishing exploration quests.

Once in Iria, it is certain that you will visit Base Camp. Alexina will help you with exploration tools, Effie is Rano’s Simon, and Nicca is a weapon shop owner with a great crossbow mod. Heulfryn is the resident healer, who is extremely useful because he gives holy water for part-time completions. It is possible to get twice the number of holy water per day by alternating between his part-time (wool collection) and Kristell/Endelyon’s using continent move, since they count as different types of part-time job.

New players may be given the option to start in Base Camp (Iria) instead of Tir Chonaill (Uladh). The training grounds will be similar, but with a different set of beginner quests which have an emphasis on exploration. If a new player that has not visited Uladh before, they will be moved to Tir Chonaill when they use the continent move command. Players may also rebirth in Rano and still receive a fixed dye from the guide.

Methods of Transportation Within Iria

Iria is big and even with horses, it may take a while to get to your destination. Perhaps your horse may be low on summoning time too. There are two other methods of transportation specific to Iria that help your exploration.

Mana tunnels are Iria’s counterpart to moongates. They operate when mana does not fill the air, namely from 6am to 6pm. During this time, you may travel from a mana tunnel entrance to any other entrance, so long as you have visited the destination and registered it on your map. Being a near a mana tunnel results in a mana regeneration rate of approximately 5 mp per second. This is great for training skills that require MP, such as healing. Note that pets will not receive this MP regeneration boost, even if the owner logs in as them.

Another mode of transportation is riding wild horses and ostriches. They move in one direction only along set courses. There are four routes in total:

• Horse route #1 (Maiz west): brown/gray tailed
• Horse route #2 (Maiz east): black-tailed
• Horse route #3 (Muyu): white-tailed
• Ostrich route #1 (Maiz/Kaypi/Muyu)

It is possible that your horse or ostrich may be attacked by animals when at a stop. Normally, they should be safe while moving. Riding all four routes will gain you a title described later in this post.

Exploration System

The exploration system is a new way for players to obtain AP. Similar to normal experience, players gain exploration levels by accruing exploration experience via a wide variety of quests and actions. The experience required to level is the same amount required for normal levels. You will receive stat increases just like for normal levels when you increase your exploration level. However, exploration levels do not add points to Spirit of Order or Soul of Chaos.

There are numerous ways to obtain exploration experience:

• Complete Iria dungeons
• Gathering monster drops (quest)
• Kill monsters (quest)
• Sketch monsters and landmarks (quest)
• Find hidden areas and items using L-rods (quest)

Exploration levels are capped at level 25 (possibly lower). You can keep track of your progress on your character window. There are a few tutorial quests to teach you the basics on the system in the Iria training grounds if you decide to start out in Iria. At levels 5, 10, 15 and 25, you must complete an advancement quest in order to progress further in exploration. These quests require sketching a series of objects at specific times and take some time to complete. Upon rebirth, exploration level can be reset to 1 (if you choose to do so). However, you will need to complete the advancement quests again.

While completing Iria dungeons will give you exploration exp, the main source of exploration exp will be from quests, which are listed on the quest board in Base Camp. A list of Rano’s exploration quests is listed here. Quests are cycled every 5 minutes. Only those up to your exploration level will be listed. It is advised to do quests near your exploration level. To acquire a quest, you need to pay the cost listed. The rewards for completion of the quest include exploration exp, normal exp and gold. You may only have one active exploration quest at a time.

There are two new actions associated with exploration: sketching and L-rodding. To sketch, you need to have sketching paper in your inventory. Once you have found your target, right click the paper and use it on the target. You cannot move while you are sketching. For the sketch to complete, the target must not move and it must also not be dead. To complete sketching quests, you must receive the quest first before sketching the designated object.

L-rods are relic-sensing objects that are held in your main hand. Walking with L-rods equipped will cause the L-rods to emit blips of light and sound, signaling proximity to nearby hidden relics and treasure chests.

• 2 soft beeps – far away
• 2 normal beeps – getting closer
• 3 normal beeps – close
• 3 loud beeps – getting even closer
• 4 loud beeps – very close

Once you hear 4 loud beeps, press X (the exploration hotkey) and click on the area where you believe the hidden objects to be located. If you are correct, a flash of light will appear along with either a relic or a treasure chest. You will obtain exploration exp regardless of being on a quest or not. This action is required to find Karu and Maiz ruins.

If you come upon a treasure chest, it will spawn with some guardian monsters (between 1 and 6). One of these guardian monsters will drop a key for the treasure chest. Harder guardian monsters do not signify better treasure. It is rumoured that stone imps and golems are possible guardian monsters. The treasure chest and guardian monsters will disappear after a while if they are not killed fast enough. Treasure chests will contain gold and 0~2 items. Items include potions, weapons, armors and clothes and enchants (including the popular Lizard enchant). There is also an old whistle required for ranking Musical Knowledge past rank 9, as well as Nao’s exploration suit, which drops on Saturdays and Sundays only.

Ruins, A New Type of Dungeon

There are two new dungeons released in Rano, namely Karu Forest Ruins and Maiz Prairie Ruins. They differ from Uladh dungeons in that there aren’t any passes. To enter more difficult versions of each dungeon, you must drop body pieces from monsters in the normal version of the dungeon. Overall, Karu is easier than Maiz. Completion of various types of these dungeons will be required to obtain ice spear and final hit in later seasons.

The dungeon entrance moves every week. You will need to find the entrance via L-rodding. The first person to discover the entrance after it moves receives a (non-unique) discoverer title. You will also receive an enchant scroll as a reward.

• Karu Forest Ruins Discoverer: +20 int, +20 luck, -50 hp, +20 mp
• Unfamiliar (r8 prefix, shield-only): -5 def, +5% repair fee, +4 min if exploration level over 1, +4 max if exploration level over 5, +10% crit with Karu Forest Ruins Discoverer title equipped
• Maiz Prairie Ruins Discoverer: +30 str, +10 will, +10 luck, -30 hp, -30 mp, -30 sp
• Secret (r8 prefix, weapon-only): +6 max and +6 min with Maiz Prairie Ruins Discoverer title equipped, +5% bal, -5% crit, +10% repair fee

Another property of Iria dungeons is that in addition to normal and trigger rooms, there are four special types of rooms:

• Recovery: Sets of monsters will alternate between normal and resting mode every 10-15 seconds. When resting, they will lose aggro and slowly regain HP, but wounds are not healed. They also cannot be attacked.
• Roulette: Hitting the switch in the middle of the room results in 3 sets of monsters in resting mode. Hitting the switch again makes one set active and the other two sets disappear.
• Slowly mobbing: One set on monsters spawn in normal mode and two sets in resting mode. Over time, the other two sets will gradually become active as well.
• Vanishing: Opposite of slowly mobbing, three sets of normal mode monsters spawn at the same time and gradually vanish over time.

If you enter a dungeon using a relic fragment (body part from a monster), the boss will be that same monster with that body part glowing. If you obtain a glowing body part as a drop, you may use this for an even harder version of the dungeon. There is a collection book that requires you to retrieve all shining body parts from one monster, resulting in a shining artifact reward. This will be essential for ice spear page collection.

The type of monsters, spawning patterns, number of floors, bosses and rewards will vary greatly depending on both the monster type and body part used as the dungeon drop. Notable end chest rewards including CP-reducing enchants for armors and various skill books, such as composing, rest and meditation.

You can find specific detail of the various forms of Karu and Maiz at Mabinogi World Wiki.

New Useful and Fun Actions

With G4S1 (pending Nexon NA’s decision), more actions will be available to players in addition to sketching and L-rodding. These new actions are Play Dead, Throw Stone and Paper Airplane.

Play Dead is an action that only pet skeletons can use currently, but will soon be available to players as well. You can learn this from Tracy in Dugald Aisle. Using this action will cause the player to appear fainted, resulting in monsters losing their aggro after a few minutes. However, you can be attacked with ground-targeted AoE skills or splash damage (including lightning bolt). There is a delay getting up after playing dead. The benefit of this action is that you may summon and command pets while playing dead, resulting in pet revolver tactics.

Throw Stone can be learned from Sion in Bangor. It costs 2 sp and has a range of about a normal magic bolt. You can use it to target monsters to drag aggro or to hit triggers from afar. This is great for non-archers/mages who don’t want to equip a bow just to lure. Interestingly, this action counts as a magic attack and will trigger mana reflector PD for some monsters that have them.

Paper Airplane is just a fun action to see who can throw a paper airplane the furthest. Alissa teaches this action in Tir Chonaill. Naturally, you will need to have paper in your inventory. This was added at a later generation, so its addition may not be till G6.

Odds and Ends

There are a few new titles aside from the weekly discoverer titles.

• Rano Explorer (+20 mp, -10 str, +20 int, -10 will, +10 luck): Visit all landmarks in Rano.
• Friend of Horses and Ostriches (-10 hp, -10 mp, -10 sp, +10 dex, +10 will, +10 luck): Ride all 4 routes in Rano (does not need to move).
• Aspiring Sailor (-20 hp, -20 mp, -20 sp, +10 str, +10 will): Ride a ship 10 times.
• Archaeologist (-20 hp, -20 mp, -20 sp, +10 str, +10 int, +10 dex, +10 will, +10 luck): Discover 100 relics using L-rods.

There are a lot of new enchants from Karu and Maiz dungeons, as well as treasure chests found via L-rodding. Among them is the Lizard enchant which is a suitable substitute for Stiff, provided you have a high enough exploration level. CP reduction gear will be easier to obtain too.

A lot of life skills will be uncapped since their skill books will now be available. These include First Aid (rA), Musical Knowledge (r8), Composing (r7), Rest (r9), Campfire (r8) and Meditation (r9). Some skill books may be bought, while some are obtained via quests or as dungeon end drops. The Play Dead and Throw Stone actions should be implemented some time within this generation, but I am not sure if it is in G4S1.

Finally, the 6×8 item bag should be released and possibly wool bags (2×2, can store 20 wools) too.

New Skills on the Horizon

G4S3 will implement the final advanced magic, ice spear. While it is a highly useful skill in helping with mobby rooms, the quest to obtain it is a challenge not unlike that for FB or AR. At the same time, dual wield and final hit will please those that have been saving AP for that day. If the desert dragon hasn’t been implemented yet, it will show up by then. In addition, for those impatient ones, elves and Connous will be released in G5.

Hope you enjoy the new content and have fun exploring!