Server: 2 (Seighardt)
I had quit for while and i came back to play but my character was a low level when i quit. Now i am looking for an Elven Lonsword because i believe it's the best D-grade weapon and is good to use to go from grade D to C. Any people out there who are willing to sell 1 i'd be very happy to buy it. Leave a message here! ;)
Maybe I missed the class and playstyle, but I could see where the ELS would be preferable to the SoR.
If SoR is still around 1.65million in Giran, and you can buy AA (or farm quite a bit) at 2a each (you can on Lionna now).
The 480k aa required at mammon makes it about 2.61 million to get the ELS.
So in the meantime, buy the SoR (since you can trade it later) and use it.
If you can come up with the AA (and it's still selling at 2a) take a trip to BS of mammon and get your Els that way--don't pay someone else the millions for it.
For some characters (non-DD's) the top D weapon might help them reach 40+ because of it's stats if they have to or choose to solo a lot.
All that being said, it is VERY possible to get through D-grade without top gear. I did a human knight to 40 with Mithril Heavy, elven jewels I was given, and an SoR as my first toon (ELS was 5 million then if player-sold).
If you want an Els--make it a goal and get one (or a mithril dagger, or Lxbow, or whatever). If you can get it for under 3 million and prices rebound on your server in a few weeks, you might sell it for 4 million or more--which could help with C-grade needs.
~D~
PS. Farm the sealstones and do the quest for scrolls--easier to get your ewd's for OE's that way too. Keeps price even lower. In a few hours you should have seal stones to easily get over 100k aa--even if you're casual. That alone would drop prices for Els 200k or more and you'd be getting other drops and adena and exp in the cata at the same time. Find a cata...