Hi there!

[Avant]

Hello! I'm glad to have found this place . I am an avid mmorpger that has grown tired of the current popular games on the market. I feel that there is far too many themepark games.. far too many. I was looking for a fun sandbox mmorpg that didn't restrict me too much.

Somehow I came across a post in some obscure forum from an ex player saying.. they liked Istaria over FFXI which was my previous favorite.. so I decided to check it out.

Now I am here, I unfortunatly can't start playing yet but I'm really looking forward to checking this game out. I see there is a dragon race.. I am probably going to not roll this one as I like the diversity of the bipeds.

Is there any tips/advice I can get to help with initially? Class/race selection etc... Anything to help me get into the game

I am excited to be able to play with you all now if only the servers would come up haha.

[Marynah]

Welcome to Istaria.
If you're playing a biped, the best suggestion I have is to follow all the quest tutorials on the starting island and read everything it says. That will go along way to helping you. The New Player Asssistance chat channel usually has folks in there willing to help.

[LungTien Temeraire]

Welcome, Avant. I'm glad to see a new player join the community. You can, with one account, create several characters, on the same shard or on different shards.

Chaos shard is more populated and there is more action, hunt and stuff like that in it. Order shard has a lower population than Chaos, but it is the best place if you look for roleplay. Blight shard is the testing shard, and is currently working, so don't hesitate to join and have a look.

Feel free to ask other players, in game or on this forum, if you need help, informations or advices, and don't hesitate to have a look, also, on Crimson Dawn website's database. If you create a character on Order shard, you can poke me, my name there isn't too different than there

[Darkwing_Duck]

Welcome!
I`d suggest since you`re probably on the trial at this time, try creating a character on each server just to try out. all the communities have nice players, and pretty much everyone`s willing to give a helping hand.
if you do join Order, watch out for Reagle he`s my main character

Also, if you do decide you enjoy role play, then Order`s the server for you ^^
Chaos has some role play as well but not realy much on in depth adventure. more random fun stuffs XD which both are fun. so maybe try them both, and decide which you like the best.
Blight`s good especialy for a back up server. for when the live servers are under maintenance. you can also copy one of you live server characters to blight at any time after creation. so keep that in mind.

As for races? lol I like most of em myself. I got saris, sslik, elf, and a satyre, and loads of dragons

Again welcome to Istaria, and have fun! *slurps*

[Raptress]

Is there any tips/advice I can get to help with initially? Class/race selection etc... Anything to help me get into the game

Race selection is mostly an aesthetic choice to me, but there are racial abilities if you're the sort that picks one race over the others because of things like that. You should be able to find starting stats and racials for the different races here: http://istaria.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page (This being the wiki, it also has a lot of other information. It's incomplete though, unfortunately.)

There's also this site: http://www.crimson-dawn.org/ for various information on all the schools, buildable structures, formulas, and techs in the game, plus a bunch of other stuff.

As for advice on what schools to pick, I generally recommend that you take Cleric at some point to open up many of the buff spells and some heals to support the class that you actually want to play. (In case you're unaware, you can switch schools freely. You could take all of them to 100 if you wanted.)

Crafting I'd say go with Blacksmith first. You get the ability to make weapons for your adventure classes and tools for your crafting classes, as well as the skills Blacksmith gains being helpful in later leveling both Outfitter and Scholar, which are the other two basic craft classes available from the tutorial island.

[Avant]

Hmmm I am not a roleplayer but all these friendly responses make me think I should be one.. >.<

[velveeta]

most welcome home!
call me biased, but saris are the bestest race EVAH....
order is the rp shard, chaos is the regular shard, and blight is my.....oppps, i mean, the test shard.
starting classes is really a matter of playstyle - if you like fighter, play a warrior or monk, if you like druids play a druid, etc.
my faves are warrior and cleric, cause i like to bash stuff with my trusty warhammer, opener.....
crafting classes - tricky.....i leveled blacksmith to 100 first, but looking back with 20/20, i would prolly have started with miner and gatherer in equal measure to 100 first.....prolly wouldn't be having some of the probs i am having now with my plot construction if i had......

don't worry, you have plenty to do!

[Raptress]

i leveled blacksmith to 100 first, but looking back with 20/20, i would prolly have started with miner and gatherer in equal measure to 100 first.....prolly wouldn't be having some of the probs i am having now with my plot construction if i had......

Be really careful with Miner and Gatherer. They both give you skill in Salvaging, which governs deconstructing items (a major part of leveling craft for many classes). If Salvaging gets too high, and then you try auto deconstructing items in a class that isn't Miner or Gatherer, you won't get the exp for it.

You can get around it later by equipping a bronze salvage awl (to cap your salvaging at 250), but instead of auto deconstructing with a simple check of a box on the craft window, you'll have to select aaall the items in your inventory that you want to deconstruct, then right-click and select Deconstruct from the menu. There's also the risk that you accidentally deconstruct the tools you're actually using if you're not careful. This also only works if the skill you used to make the item is higher than 250 to begin with.

...Though that's probably a bit "tmi" for someone who isn't even playing yet. Sorry. xD

[LungTien Temeraire]

Hmmm I am not a roleplayer but all these friendly responses make me think I should be one.. >.<

I wasn't a roleplayer before to enter Istaria, neither. But you can become one, and ask other roleplayers for help, if you want. You can also have a look on the RP guide, here:
http://www.crimson-dawn.org/?pn=UnOf...leplayer_Guide

[Snowflury]

Welcome to Istaria!

[Darkwing_Duck]

hehe I never realy role played until I started playing Istaria. and now I`m addicted! O.o

[awdz]

*serves Avant some delicious klava presented with a towel and a curtsy*
welcome home! :-)

[TonanBora]

Hello and welcome!!

I do find that RPers tend to be a helpful and friendly bunch