n00b What is actually reqd to play??

[Poton Hedalot]

From what I have gleaned from the assorted threads I have scanned here to play Horizon you need the following:

Internet Explorer to get Active X Controls
A valid Credit Card
The d/l trial version 0.98 gig


IS that all??
Main question, after that little lot, is can the game be reasonably played over a 56k modem connection??
I see they do suggest that you have a cable connection, but I am prepared to wait the 3 days to d/l it over the 56K connection at 4 KB/sec, ruffly 1% per hour for the 3 days!

So is that ALL??
Are there other things I have yet to spot as essential that I have yet to find?? I haven't found any basic users guide or a getting started thread or set of postings, so is it a "go in blind" type of situation and then cancel if you can't work it out or get the hang of it??
I have not played this style of game b4, altho I have played Artifact by Samu, which it would seem to be slightly similar.

As I said in the title, I am a 100% n00b to this game and style of game, so as many of the basics that are critical to get the game running, and any other absolute basics would be greatly appreciated since I am not confident that after waiting 3 days to d/l the trial version, it is all that likely to work over the 56k modem connection.

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated here, or in email if you prefer to take it off the forums. I am no pimply faced kid, and I apologise to any that are offended by that, but never mind, trust me, no matter how bad they appear to be, THEY DO PASS, I can swear to that. I have played on the BBS's b4 the internet was around, with fidonet and all the stuf from the good old days. I have extensively played text based strategy games and am no mug. Thru personal circumstabces, I happen to have a lot of time available to spend and invest in games like these, so if I get hooked, and all other things are EQUAL, then I could be in here a heckovalot of the time!

Your assistance is desired and encouraged![:P]

[Poton Hedalot]

Acer
Aspire T300 MHD 11351 -p Intel
Celeron® CPU 2.5GHz
2.49GHz
2.48 MB RAM

I think yuo may have poicked it, the intergrated Video chip as:
SiS 650_740
I can't remember what the spec is for the RAM onboard for this.
It is not much more than 12 months old, but who knows how long it was on the shelf, it was bargain when I bought it!

You never mentioned the 56K modem, do people use them, or are all the thousands of players all on cable of assorted sizes??
I don't really have the cable option open to me, but if it is majorly graphical game then the 56k coulds truggle to the point of hopelessness, I would NOT like to set myself up for that disappointment!

Any other comments are welcome as well![:P]

[Elytha]

Hi Poton,
I'm new here myself; just downloaded & started trial on Sunday.
I play on DSL,so I can't directlyhelp you w/your dial-up question.

But I wanted to let you know that I've seen several other posts where players are reporting using 56k modem.
Their main complaint is the painfully long download time at that speed. [:'(]

Once they're finally ingame, they're enjoying the gameplay.
Those who are having difficulty w/some gameplay lag issues have been told by longtime players here togo into their 'options' & adjust accordingly for their own system & connection type.

Hope this helps a bit.

Have Fun when you do get in. Horizons is awesome! [:D]

~ Elytha

[Poton Hedalot]

Thank you two for the confirmation that 56k does actually work, even if it is less than desirable or optimum.

That gives me a little bit more encouragement to continue to trying to get this finally d/l and have a go.

Can we move onto races and characters.
I have picked up a little about having some healing skills for the betterment of the party is wise, but does what you take day 1 hour 1 minute 1, really control what you do in the game later on??
My thorts on this are mainly along the lines that my first choice character would likely be a Half Giant Warrior. Now in AD&D, clearly later on in the game and at higher levels, you need top of the line Spells Casters, however you ALWAYS need TANK type creatures/characters to stand in front, take the punishment and allow the spell casters to remain in second rank and cast the big spells and win the day, without theose front rank grunts, no spell caster and any level can truly adventure in wilds of any region and expect to succeed or even stay alive.

So is it common that people have 2 or more characters, can you have more than one character, and if you are restricted to a single character, does it sorta depend on what "group" you fall in with as to what base character is best to take intitially and develop??

That should get 1/2 a dozen replies with lotsa different points of view.
Remember, I am 100% new, to this game and to the game style, I KNOW NOTHING at all about this, and altho I believe I am very capable, I would really like to understand a wee bit b4 I actually start clicking on irreversibal buttons and make a huge cockup![:P][:|][:P]

[Sibbe]

Can we move onto races and characters.
I have picked up a little about having some healing skills for the betterment of the party is wise, but does what you take day 1 hour 1 minute 1, really control what you do in the game later on??

it does not matter, this game is made for multiclassing, if you start as warrior and decide later you want to become a mage, then you talk to the mage trainer and become a mage (while keeping skills and some abilities you gained as warrior)
the only thing what happens is that your rating goes up, gained xp is calculated against your rating. So as lvl 1 mage rating 10 you wont gain much xp from lvl 1 creatures, but with your warrior skills you are able to beat higher level ones.

If you dont want the rating increase, you can also drop the warrior class totally, but you loose all you gained and have to start from scratch

My thorts on this are mainly along the lines that my first choice character would likely be a Half Giant Warrior. Now in AD&D, clearly later on in the game and at higher levels, you need top of the line Spells Casters, however you ALWAYS need TANK type creatures/characters to stand in front, take the punishment and allow the spell casters to remain in second rank and cast the big spells and win the day, without theose front rank grunts, no spell caster and any level can truly adventure in wilds of any region and expect to succeed or even stay alive.

There are nice combinations to become tank and casterat the same time:), like you get warrior up for 1 hand slash, mage for spells, and knight of creationto use them both (knoc alone gets those skills also, but in lesser ammount than warrior/mage). You can look at http://community.istaria.com/ under schools what all the classes get.

So is it common that people have 2 or more characters, can you have more than one character, and if you are restricted to a single character, does it sorta depend on what "group" you fall in with as to what base character is best to take intitially and develop??

you can have 5 characters on one account, i know people who only have made one char and people that made5.I have 5 also, to look what different classes do. Most have at least 2, a dragon and a biped
As for which school to begin with, i would take the one thati thinki like doing most. I never encountered a group rejecting someone because his class didnt match with the others in the group

That should get 1/2 a dozen replies with lotsa different points of view.
Remember, I am 100% new, to this game and to the game style, I KNOW NOTHING at all about this, and altho I believe I am very capable, I would really like to understand a wee bit b4 I actually start clicking on irreversibal buttons and make a huge cockup![img]/Web//emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img][img]/Web//emoticons/emotion-8.gif[/img][img]/Web//emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img]

One more advice, after you have done the tutorial area, join the market/community chat channel asap. As you probably have loads of questions after the tutorial, you can get awnsers in those channels.

I hope i didnt use too much ingame stuff that is not understandable... :)

Good luck in Istaria!

[Poton Hedalot]

I hope I didnt use too much ingame stuff that is not understandable...

Gidday

Nope, you message was totally understandable, by me at least.
As I say, I have played a lot of AD&D and altho I have never played a MMORPG, I think those are the letters, if it is ruffly based on standard fantasy role playing, then I will fall right into it.

I do get a sense that you will pick a core Race and Profession after that picking up some wealth and usefulness to an established group with land, buildings and community with what we used to call "secondary skills". Clearly in this game all of these skills, primary or otherwise, can be very powerful and "useful" right thru to lvl 100, and some players appear to have become simply fulltime constructors within the game and community livers as opposed to pure advebturers. I have spotted a number of references to such "alternate" behaviour and am very encouraged that this appears to be a game with broad horizons <GRIN> which can be tailored to your own personal pursuits. Altho one of the referneces was to a lack of development for someone who had a character which was not adventuring at all and there were little or no expansions for that building style character. But I guess you can't please all the pheasants all the time!

I am still interested in some "getting started tips".
Like what do you actually do in the very first minute in the game??
perhaps go by a sword, as much armour as you can afford, and then head off out of town, the safe zone, and sticking very close tot he road, look to kill something.. now would this be a very wise or even possible?? Maybe it is better to find someone to go with.. but I doubt there will be too many first levels standing at the starting point simply to form a group with me, and if there is a group standing there, they could well be unthinkably high levels of 10 or more each! <HUGE CHEESEY GRIN>

So, should I think about trying to get some secondary skills going immediately, or perhaps do some begging [saw that somewhere else] or grab a sword and wander off to try to gain some resources, riches, fame and possibly fortune!?!?!

Now is this still the sort of help I could/should ask for here or is there a strategy type forum some place else i should be asking for. Again, remember I am brand new and altho killing the original character is not and insurmountable problem anywhere, it is pretty nice to have a bit of an idea about what the first 10 steps should be and be fairly confident you won't fail instantly 10 times and be the laughing stock of all bystanders who point and shout: "look at the idiot with the Pot on his head! A penny to a knob of goat ********, he is a 1st lvl n00b!".

Anyway, I have flicked over to the forums you linked, Sibbe, is that where I should look for this type of strategy ideas and concepts??

Sibbe - are you some sort of sibbling?? <ROFLMAO>

BTW, anyone have any tries with using Netscape 8 to replace IE 6 for a suitable client?? Seems it has or claims some IE functionality!

[C`gan]

I am still interested in some "getting started tips".
Like what do you actually do in the very first minute in the game??
perhaps go by a sword, as much armour as you can afford, and then head off out of town, the safe zone, and sticking very close tot he road, look to kill something.. now would this be a very wise or even possible?? Maybe it is better to find someone to go with.. but I doubt there will be too many first levels standing at the starting point simply to form a group with me, and if there is a group standing there, they could well be unthinkably high levels of 10 or more each! <HUGE CHEESEY GRIN>

Good question. The very first minute of the game (I'm assuming your first minute is when you step off the pad onto one of the newbie islands (New Vassarak, New Brommel, New Korelia, New Trismus) I'd suggest going into the town and looking around. Check out how to trade with consigners and pawnbrokers (you do this a lot). Browse the chat channels and pick up a couple (General, MarketPlace, Dragon (even if you're NOT a dragon)). Then, let fly the questions in those channels. Introduce yourself. Perhaps give a hint as to what you may want to be trying. You may find yourself with a mentor.

So, should I think about trying to get some secondary skills going immediately, or perhaps do some begging [saw that somewhere else] or grab a sword and wander off to try to gain some resources, riches, fame and possibly fortune!?!?!

Now is this still the sort of help I could/should ask for here or is there a strategy type forum some place else i should be asking for. Again, remember I am brand new and altho killing the original character is not and insurmountable problem anywhere, it is pretty nice to have a bit of an idea about what the first 10 steps should be and be fairly confident you won't fail instantly 10 times and be the laughing stock of all bystanders who point and shout: "look at the idiot with the Pot on his head! A penny to a knob of goat ***, he is a 1st lvl n00b!".

I wouldn't concern yourself with trying to get EVERY class right off. Again, I'd say ask for advice. What kind of weapons are you wanting to use if you're wanting to adventure? What sort of resources would you like to work on if you're wanting to craft? Once you have a feel for where you should start with the base classes, go talk to those trainers and pick them up. You'll get bombarded with training equipment, so you should head over to the vault and store all the gear away except for what your current active class is (pick only one your first day, either adventure or craft. The next day or hour, or however long until you want a change, try your next adventure or craft class). Once you have your equipment stowed and your desired class is active (assuming you're taking more than one either in adventure or craft), talk with the trainer and do the little tasks. For best fun, it's advisable to stay away from the "go to X and deliver a note" until you've gotten a chance to really get a feel for combat and crafting. After a very short time, you should be able to find ways of making money, be it killing things and selling loot or processing resources and selling the extras that you made above and beyond the task.

But above all, if there's something you want to know, ask.

[C`gan]

One other thing I should mention, and this is for out of game. There is a subforum of this Help forum called Player Guides. Pogowolf and others have put together some wonderful resources there to help people out about some questions. They're not often "current subjects" that have been posted to within the past month or more, but they're still quite helpful.

[Dalton]

Acer
Aspire T300 MHD 11351 -p Intel
Celeron® CPU 2.5GHz
2.49GHz
2.48 MB RAM

I think yuo may have poicked it, the intergrated Video chip as:
SiS 650_740
I can't remember what the spec is for the RAM onboard for this.
It is not much more than 12 months old, but who knows how long it was on the shelf, it was bargain when I bought it!

You never mentioned the 56K modem, do people use them, or are all the thousands of players all on cable of assorted sizes??
I don't really have the cable option open to me, but if it is majorly graphical game then the 56k coulds truggle to the point of hopelessness, I would NOT like to set myself up for that disappointment!

Any other comments are welcome as well![img]/Web//emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img]

I doubt you are going to be able to play with 256mb ram (minus 8 for the SiS video) and the integrated video. 512 mb is probably the minumum and I don't think SiS will meet Horizons' texturedrawing requirements.