Helpful hints for young Dragons

[Radzy]

I have gotten many requests from dragons, as how to become a worthy adversary to the Withered Aegis as they progress in age. I will try to explain to the best of my ability, how and why you would want to improve your stats.

First Thing to Consider - Preference

Do you prefer to be a melee dragon or are you more into the arcane arts and wish to cast magic to cause primary damage?

If you prefer Melee you will want to go the role of a Lunus dragon. There are attributes that will enhance your melee skill once you obtain Adulthood. If you prefer Magic, you will want to go the role of a Helian dragon. There are attributes that will enhance your magical abilities once you obtain Adulthood.
Role of Melee vs Magic for a Dragon Keep in mind, this is a general overview for a dragon and not a delineation.
Melee dragons hit harder with Tooth & Claw skills than a Magical dragon would. Melee is faster than casting magic but is limited to attacking a single creature during combat.
Magical dragons do more damage with Primal skills than a Melee dragon would. Magical casting is slower but it is not limited to attacking a single creature during combat.
It is true that even a melee dragon can cast Primal spells, but that I can discuss in detail at another time.
Recommended Skill Attributes for a Melee Dragon If you prefer to go as a Melee dragon, I recommend following the Lunus path, and I recommend adding to the skill attributes of Tooth & Claw, Strength, Evasion, and Dexterity, in that order.
My reasons are thus: Tooth & Claw is the primary damage weapon for a melee dragon and the ability to strike a target is partially based on this skill.
Strength is the factor that affects the ability of damage to inflict upon a successful ?hit? when in combat. The more strength the greater the damage, the sooner you slay the nasty creature.
Evasion is the factor that affects the ability for your character to avoid being hit when in combat. The more evasion, the better the chances are that you will not be struck when attacked.
Dexterity is the factor that affects the ability to be able to hit a creature and to avoid being hit by a creature when in combat. The more dexterity you have the greater the chances are you will strike the creature and avoid being hit by your adversary in combat.
Recommended Skill Attributes for a Magical Dragon

If you prefer to go as a Magical dragon, I recommend following the Helian path, and I recommend adding to the skill attributes of Primal, Power, Evasion, and Focus, in that order.
My reasons are thus: Primal is the primary damage weapon when casting spells for dragons and the ability to land the spell is partially based on this skill
Power is the factor that affects the ability of damage to inflict upon a successful ?hit? when in combat. The more power, the greater the damage, and the sooner your adversary lies at your feet, a smoldering heap.
Evasion is the factor that affects the ability for your character to avoid being hit when in combat. Evasion is more a factor for a young Helian dragon, as I will explain later.
Focus is the ability to land a spell when casting. Focus is also supposed to be a key factor in the healing powers of the breeze lines of spells.
My Recommendations for Dragons as they progress
Hoard ? Hoard plays a vital attribute to a dragon, not only in the beginning levels but throughout the life of a dragon. Check your hoard levels frequently and raise your hoard as you level. Try to keep your hoard on par with your level. Not only does maintaining your hoard provide you with the highest natural armor base, but it also enhances the damage you inflict with your breath weapon.
Scales ? Depending upon your dragon?s philosophical path (either Helian or Lunus), you will want to obtain scales that enhance your primary abilities. Initially I recommend all dragons to obtain Armor scales to increase their armor factor and progressively wean off of the armor scales into their true combat characteristic scales once they are adept in evasion.
Feel free to ?experiment? with your stats - Each person has a preference in combat abilities with his/her dragon. Some dragons like to cast a spell yet melee 90% of the time. Adding points in Primal if you are a Lunus dragon does not impede you from becoming an ?uber? melee dragon, it just enhances your personal style of play.
Quests ? Perform all of the dragon quests as soon as you are able to. Some quests may require assistance due to their difficulty, so plan having a party from time to time.

Join ?Dragon? Chat channel ? Many dragons occupy this channel, so if you have questions or are in need of assistance of any kind, there are many ?old? dragons that are willing to lend their knowledge and skill.
Summary Each character is unique and what works for one player may not be your ideal style of playing, so feel free to ask many of the dragons in the game, or in Dragon chat. You will find me online often, and if you have questions, and I am online? feel free to send me a message, I will answer to the best of my ability.

I hope this will help a little and answer a few of the questions.

[bluewyrm]

Thank you, Radzy![S]

[Gliding Frost]

Radzy's post is quite helpful and I suggest it be stickied [:)]

You can, as he briefly mentions, go Lunus and still use spells. To go that route it helps to put training points into primal.

As a side note you should also do quests from beings that are not dragons. Especially while a low level, quests from Vrex, Azmedai, Gregory Darkstaff, Sly Loki, Lady Kendra (when she gets back from vacation) and quartermasters bring in both $ and experience.

[Fireclaw]

Good job on the guide!

One other thing, you might want to clarify the difference between evasion and magic defense.

FYI Radzy: For those using the alternate forum template, your text is unreadable unless hilighted with the mouse.

[Goriax]

Overall a good summary for new dragons and it I agree it would be a good thing for new dragons to read. However, there are a couple things I disagree with:

Hoard ? Hoard plays a vital attribute to a dragon, not only in the beginning levels but throughout the life of a dragon. Check your hoard levels frequently and raise your hoard as you level. Try to keep your hoard on par with your level. Not only does maintaining your hoard provide you with the highest natural armor base, but it also enhances the damage you inflict with your breath weapon.

If on par with your level means the oft quoted "max" for your level then I disagree once you get to higher levels. At low levels yes I agree that it's a good idea to keep your hoard around the "maximum" hoard for your level which is listed in various places. At high levels I think it's far more trouble then it's worth for most people. If you try to keep your hoard at the "max" for your level you'llbegrinding away to add millions to your hoard when the benefit is pretty marginal. I think the main effecton many people would be to destroy whatever fun they were having in playing their dragon if they felt like they absolutely had to keep their hoard level at max. VERY few high level dragons I know have their hoards anywhere close to the max for their level.

People often refer to the "max" for their level as the hoard requirement. Contrary to what people keep saying, there is NO hoard requirement for dragons other then the hoard requirement for the rite of passage (250K). What people are referring to as hoard requirements is simply the maximum hoard value for that level for which the dragon will get any benefit.

As far as stats go I agree that T&C or Primal should be top priorities if you want to concentrate in melee or casting respectively, but after that it's not so obvious. Likewise, armor scales are definately popular and make a lot of sense (I prefer armor scales for myself). However, I've also seen some dragons make a case for health. There's a thread around here discussing what stats to put their training points into and it seems every dragon has their own ideas and it's hard to say who's got the best approach. The draconic research community really needs to do some experimentation on this.

[Jaraiden]

First Thing to Consider - Preference

Do you prefer to be a melee dragon or are you more into the arcane arts and wish to cast magic to cause primary damage?

If you prefer Melee you will want to go the role of a Lunus dragon. There are attributes that will enhance your melee skill once you obtain Adulthood. If you prefer Magic, you will want to go the role of a Helian dragon. There are attributes that will enhance your magical abilities once you obtain Adulthood.

Well, that Path of the Lunus + 20 Tooth and Claw (vs. Helian +20 Primal) is vastly overshadowed by teched armor scales and training points. Focus more so on the Istarian Lore from AE's description of Dragons and the Historian's Tale. Statistics only, yes Lunus melee, Helian spellcasting, but currently is SO minor.

Granted, AE is planning quests for more differentiation . . . Lunus only or Helian only or just to beef up our Tooth and Claw or Primal skills. Too early to tell.

Role of Melee vs Magic for a Dragon Keep in mind, this is a general overview for a dragon and not a delineation.
Melee dragons hit harder with Tooth & Claw skills than a Magical dragon would. Melee is faster than casting magic but is limited to attacking a single creature during combat.
Magical dragons do more damage with Primal skills than a Melee dragon would. Magical casting is slower but it is not limited to attacking a single creature during combat.
It is true that even a melee dragon can cast Primal spells, but that I can discuss in detail at another time.
Recommended Skill Attributes for a Melee Dragon If you prefer to go as a Melee dragon, I recommend following the Lunus path, and I recommend adding to the skill attributes of Tooth & Claw, Strength, Evasion, and Dexterity, in that order.
My reasons are thus: Tooth & Claw is the primary damage weapon for a melee dragon and the ability to strike a target is partially based on this skill.
Strength is the factor that affects the ability of damage to inflict upon a successful ?hit? when in combat. The more strength the greater the damage, the sooner you slay the nasty creature.
Evasion is the factor that affects the ability for your character to avoid being hit when in combat. The more evasion, the better the chances are that you will not be struck when attacked.
Dexterity is the factor that affects the ability to be able to hit a creature and to avoid being hit by a creature when in combat. The more dexterity you have the greater the chances are you will strike the creature and avoid being hit by your adversary in combat.

The fast recycling Gust and Barrage are your friends here, along with Spiked scales, to damage multiple monsters.

Recommended Skill Attributes for a Magical Dragon

If you prefer to go as a Magical dragon, I recommend following the Helian path, and I recommend adding to the skill attributes of Primal, Power, Evasion, and Focus, in that order.
My reasons are thus: Primal is the primary damage weapon when casting spells for dragons and the ability to land the spell is partially based on this skill
Power is the factor that affects the ability of damage to inflict upon a successful ?hit? when in combat. The more power, the greater the damage, and the sooner your adversary lies at your feet, a smoldering heap.
Evasion is the factor that affects the ability for your character to avoid being hit when in combat. Evasion is more a factor for a young Helian dragon, as I will explain later.
Focus is the ability to land a spell when casting. Focus is also supposed to be a key factor in the healing powers of the breeze lines of spells.

Spellcasting (not Magical) dragons with the extra Primal should look for spells with the Primal Damage tech (or make them yourself) when they have enough Primal skill (which will be earlier for a Helian dragon with that +20 base Primal, but again . . . training points).

My Recommendations for Dragons as they progress
Hoard ? Hoard plays a vital attribute to a dragon, not only in the beginning levels but throughout the life of a dragon. Check your hoard levels frequently and raise your hoard as you level. Try to keep your hoard on par with your level. Not only does maintaining your hoard provide you with the highest natural armor base, but it also enhances the damage you inflict with your breath weapon.
Scales ? Depending upon your dragon?s philosophical path (either Helian or Lunus), you will want to obtain scales that enhance your primary abilities. Initially I recommend all dragons to obtain Armor scales to increase their armor factor and progressively wean off of the armor scales into their true combat characteristic scales once they are adept in evasion.
Feel free to ?experiment? with your stats - Each person has a preference in combat abilities with his/her dragon. Some dragons like to cast a spell yet melee 90% of the time. Adding points in Primal if you are a Lunus dragon does not impede you from becoming an ?uber? melee dragon, it just enhances your personal style of play.
Quests ? Perform all of the dragon quests as soon as you are able to. Some quests may require assistance due to their difficulty, so plan having a party from time to time.

I would advise to wait a bit. Like with all quests, be sure you are doing your fair share. Even the Dragon NPCs talk of "earning" the training. Better yet, team with another dragon also needing to finish those tasks.

Join ?Dragon? Chat channel ? Many dragons occupy this channel, so if you have questions or are in need of assistance of any kind, there are many ?old? dragons that are willing to lend their knowledge and skill.
Summary Each character is unique and what works for one player may not be your ideal style of playing, so feel free to ask many of the dragons in the game, or in Dragon chat. You will find me online often, and if you have questions, and I am online? feel free to send me a message, I will answer to the best of my ability.

I hope this will help a little and answer a few of the questions.

Yes, very nice. With the Primal tasks, dragons effectively get 9 Primal/level. Think of spending some Training points into Primal to use True Grit and Promote Vitality at the proper levels -9th and then 20/29, etc. (both very useful spells for fighting). You can buy back later for other areas.

Now on the crafting side . . . do the Crafting dragon tasks, focusing on the 1 to 9th of crafting Flame Bolt (can do at scholar's table) then gem ones first (low bulk, collect then craft) to get Lore tokens to buy formulas from the Craft trainers (scales and spells).

Remember the classic formula of XP per resource, but also factor in time (some resources are closer to machines than others) - (XPcraft + XPdecon) / (Resources used - Resources recovered)

Get a cargo disc - Standard Sandstone at level 5. Remember your scalepacks - Sandstone (replace the Beginner one) then Slate at 20.

I like New Brommel for Sandstone/Bronze scales (well if they put back in the stone table to make Sandstone shards . . . then spellcrafting is easier).

Chiconis is great for ironscales, Dralk for a one time shot. Chiconis, with effort, is good for slate shards/pale orb spellcrafting.

Adventure levels vs. crafting levels is all player style. Adventure levels determine spell usage, and Determination/Primal Roar abilities help in crafting along with Promote Vitality. Being an adult and flying helps a lot also.

[cauri_order]

Spellcasting (not Magical) dragons with the extra Primal should look for spells with the Primal Damage tech (or make them yourself) when they have enough Primal skill (which will be earlier for a Helian dragon with that +20 base Primal, but again . . . training points).

Unless they changed this, RoP bonuses are still affecting current and not base. They did change the "trainer" tasks to affect base tho.

I do have a ticket out on this, but no answer yet. They said it would be forwarded to the live team, but......

[Amerelium]

1. Do the ability quests, starting at lvl 10. I come acreoos quite a few hatchies that don't even know about them. They're important.
2. Join a dragon chat channel (scaled or Dragons on Unity) - there'a a lot to learn about playing a dragon.
3. Team up with a hatchie of similar level. It's much better to go through all the dragon quests as a pair. Try to find someone you can stay with until you get older and bigger. Only as an older adult dragoncanyou hunt efficiently on your own. And with that I mean high-level...

[venom-dragon7799]

ive been hunting alone for 3 weeks and i have done pretty good against my opponants usally levl 25+ and im only levl 30.
woot im very close to doing my rop [:)] [H]




saphire from the order shard look me up some time [;)] [Y]