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Thread: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

  1. #21

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    Just a few thoughts after reading your concerns.

    You are trying to play Shaman as main, where it is best suited as a support class. I'm not saying you should not play Shaman, just realize at low levels without the other skills that strengthen Shaman, it will be tough to play at first (Shaman is considered a prestige class, they are best leveled after the required shools to join are leveled up pretty far, or even finished to 100, and are not really meant to be played as the first school you level). Shaman can use all the nature/druid spells and gets skill for these. Nature spells is your best bet for Shaman. Pick up thunder cloud I in sslanis, this will be one of your keys to surviving fights. Where are you spending training points? You have multiclassed all over the place, so they may be half-hazard. I recommend maxing out nature skill, split rest between evasion and power (assuming you plan to continue playing Shaman primarily for now). Remember, you can always shift training points around later on, do not worry about "spending them wrong". (To find the training points window, click the blue gem - training.) Maxing out nature skill makes nature spells more accurate, hit harder, and allows you to use the newer spells sooner, as they all have both a level requirement as well as a skill requirement.

    Mutliclassing at very low levels is difficult. You two should definitely stay grouped together. One playing as a tanky-damage class, other in support should work pretty well. Shaman and a warrior or cleric for example.

    Shaman can also use spirit spells, but does not learn this skill with shaman levels. To strengthen your shaman, you will want to eventually level spiritist to 100. Spirit spells plus nature spells becomes a very powerful configuration of stuns/damage/lifetaps, useable in many classes such as ranger, cleric, healer, paladin, shaman, spiritist, druid, guardian, reaver and more.. each school having their own benefits.

    In regards to the gear, you may want to consider leveling a craft school up very high, as cloth and padded cloth are wearable by craft schools. If you had say level 100 blacksmith, you could be wearing t5 padded cloth gear, triple teched, in a level 1 adventure school. You would also be able to wear t5 health jewelry, triple t5 teched. Padded cloth with t5 techs is better than low level plate and chain, and is only exceeded at t4, example t5 padded ironsilk chest is 76 armor, plus armor 5 tech (20) so its 96 armor, and you could wear this as level 1 warrior or shaman. t3 steel plate chest is 80 armor, plus armor 3 tech (12) for 92 total armor, and you would have to be level 51, in the right school, and have enough armor use to wear this. The t5 piece can also have 2 more t5 techs. And if you can't hunt the t5 tech comps, use tier 3 techs for the first set instead. Triple t3 techs is still pretty nice really, and the comps are much easier to get. With that set you could work your way to the t5 teched sets. Don't forget t5 health jewelry, also triple teched, would be wearable in the low level adventure school, as long as the craft school is lvl 100.

    The above might seem to point out the chicken and egg, but really its chicken OR egg. Pick 1, either a craft or an adventure school, and finish it to 100, then you can do the remaining much quicker. My above example shows how a high craft helps adventure. The reverse is also true. Once you have adventure to 100, you can triple t5 tech out some armor to use for leveling craft (not cargo gear, but say chainmail or padded ironsilk) t5 gear with triple t5 craft techs, plus the stats from your adventure levels (high strength, power, dex, focus will buff all craft skills), means you will start out a craft school already optimal on all t1 items, even likely some t2 items. So you will have a very fast jumpstart to leveling the craft school. Could likely get 20 levels in a day. And really, having 1 high level adventure school first is probably easiest. It does mean you will need help with gear for the first school. This is where the community comes in. Depending on what you hunt, there is even a chance that a decent piece of blighted gear could drop, and get you by for some levels.

    It is probably best to do 1 adventure school to 100 first, as the t5 padded ironsilk does have an armor use requirement. This is why cleric is often suggested as a players first school. It opens up all these other possibilities since you are learning armor use skill, gaining health, and other stats, augmentation skill (so your other schools can use buffs on themselves), life skill so your other schools can cast the revitalize line of heals. Cleric also masters dispirit and area dispirit, which are good debuffs on the mobs, when playing in any school.
    Last edited by Guaran; February 1st, 2014 at 02:51 PM.

  2. #22

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    I had a thought with regards to equipment and spells today. Here is my proposed plan.

    1. New Trismus, Kion, Sslanis and Dalimond would each have a Spell Vendor and a Surplus Officer.
    2. Each would sell respective items that are available as crafted formulas from trainers (so for example, you wouldn't find Chain or Plate on these vendors, but you would find Ring and Scale).
    3. Each would sell 10 levels of equipment. New Trismus for level 1-9 equipment/spells, Kion levels 10 to 19, Sslanis 20 to 29, and Dalimond 30 to 39.

    This does give you a bit of a head-start on equipment heading into the next tier, but it would be un-teched and it would be the "lower" half or more common items and spells. This wouldn't take anything away from crafters. On contrary, it might help because you'd be better able to gather the tech comps to get teched equipment or spells made.

    The level range could be adjusted somewhat as you would likely be in Sslanis well before level 20 (probably level 15 or 16) and Dalimond before 30 (level 22 or 23). Some overlap might be okay in retrospect... Perhaps 1-9, 10-19, 15-24, 20-29. Would likely need another set of vendors if that was the case to handle 25-34, perhaps Chiconis or South March.

    Thoughts, feedback, comments?
    "Alea iacta est" -- Julius Caesar

    Toot shouted, voice shrill, "In the name of the Pizza Lord! Charge!" (Jim Butcher's Dresden Files)

    "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spends it whole life believing that it is stupid." -- Albert Einstein

  3. #23

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    I buy anything , that makes new players stay and have fun!
    Esp. if they try not to bother the community with their needs.

    (though- most of us vets have more fun to spoil a new/returning player
    than care for our own affairs- I mean- what is really urgend after 10 years of playing^^?)

    Its a good step to begin with, Amon- but there should be more-
    if I had an idea- I would have posted it already.
    YOU told me to play a dragon!

  4. #24

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    Think this is an excellent idea. Will allow the beginner player to be a bit more self-sufficient, while not making it too easy. And, Chiconis would be a logical spot: assuming they're doing their ability quests, hatchlings should already be attuned by Level 25, and, while bipeds don't have as much reason to go there, it's a fairly safe run from Dalimond.
    Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy, and extra-tasty dipped in ketchup.

  5. #25

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    I have one question about the opening post. When exactly did you and your husband return? Has the problem of not getting the forms needed to drop, the coin needed to drop to attain stuff and the general rapidly out levelling your gear been super magnified in your experience because of the current two month long double xp event? The game is set to feed items and coin on a game play speed that isn't the current model on the game with the double xp. I only ask because your experiences seem much worse than I have heard from new players I have met over the years. Nothing on New Trismus is different from the days these players came through other than the double xp event.

  6. #26

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    Thanks all for the ideas and such.
    I think adding level equivalent gear for lower levels would alleviate the situation considerably.
    In response to when we came back, early January-ish. Though I don't know that the double xp is necessarily the issue, as was pointed out I've multiclassed all over the place trying to pick up passives to help me survive 1v1 fights with things much lower than I am. I actually wanted to level druid as primary,but was getting killed so much in leather that's why I went to Shaman so I could still have nature skill with better armor, (& augmentation skill in smaller doses) only to find I couldn't actually get better armor.

    I have no issue farming mobs all day long to get recipes, even if said mobs aren't giving me xp; its not a laziness or patience issue so much, but rather being faced with the impossible prospect of killing lvl 25-29 mobs to get lvl 11 recipes that after three weeks of checking have not turned up on the consigner, either. It seems that my actual player level is irrelevant except for the additional power/evade and I'm essentially 'capped' at killing stuff on par with the level of my gear, (low 20s).

    I think that being forced to level cleric to 100 (or at least reasonably high )in order to then branch out and enjoy the game is a bit..unintuitive, and honestly I don't know that I'd fare better as a cleric due to running into the same gear and recipe unavailability problem.

    I post this mainly as feedback, I'll muddle through regardless I just don't remember it being nearly this hard.

    Out of curiousity I loaded up my old character on Chaos whose highest school is 27 druid and on my completed quest logs apparently I've turned in forest skulk slayer 34 times. But my now level 35 character that I began recently struggles to kill them! But I've got all the beginner armor and spell recipes all tech'd up nicely, because those were the formulatron days where you could learn more crafting recipes by crafting. I was mostly just confused at why the change to make the recipes unobtainable without an adventuring level significantly higher than the gear you can craft, creating the chicken-egg paradox.

    I'll likely just stay on Chaos at this point since I do have a much better starting position. I thank everyone for the feedback and suggestions and offers for aid, though. Its not that I mind asking for help, I just don't think that one should *need* to for something as basic as lvl 11 formulas (which by extension would allow lvl 31 formulas).

  7. #27

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    Quote Originally Posted by Exadi View Post
    ...but rather being faced with the impossible prospect of killing lvl 25-29 mobs to get lvl 11 recipes that after three weeks of checking have not turned up on the consigner, either...I'm essentially 'capped' at killing stuff on par with the level of my gear, (low 20s)...
    ...Its not that I mind asking for help, I just don't think that one should *need* to for something as basic as lvl 11 formulas (which by extension would allow lvl 31 formulas).
    All t1 Armour is covered by vendors in Sslanis (who has all) and NT (which has lv1-5 from memory)
    Granted, refurbished armour, but honestly there's so little difference in defence bonus between normal and refurb there's not much worry to have it crafted.
    It's when it comes to t2 that you have to start relying on people. There's a small base to start t2 via the forms you get from trainers, but i've found often when killing things in general, especially in great mass you need to have a build that works...And like guaran mentioned; shaman is a support class (and a prestige class too - meaning to actually -master- it you need the prereqs done up higher than current teir)...druid/spirtist would have been easier paths, but, to get around the lack of armour you do need to know how to play them and have all the spells.

  8. #28

    Default Re: Barriers to Entry - Thoughts from a New(again) Player

    One thing to remember, is your first school, regardless of which you choose or even dragon, tends to be the most difficult. Once you got that first 100, you will start sailing for a few more schools. and only once you got 5 or 6 100's under your belt does it start slowing down again due to rating.

    You mention druid, that really is a great school to start with. Make sure you have all your stun spells, and max out training points in nature. You should do fine.

    Also bear in mind that some mobs are more difficult than others. Skulks and undead will be the most difficult, as they can stun you and debuff you. Druid will get some heals, revitalize, improved revitalize, regrowth spells, along with some healing abilities. Those plus cloak of thorns, plus the stun spells, make it a very good starter school. And then you can do spiritist and shaman afterwards, if you plan to play Shaman as your main (active) school.

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