Hi guys! I've been "shopping around" for MMOs for years now, tried a lot, discarded most and kept some. For whatever unknown reason, I've never heard of this MMO until just a few weeks ago. So I gave it a go - and fell in love more or less instantly. To me, this game has the perfect combination of modern gameplay and old school feel. In fact, it reminded me so much of DDO and LotRO that I had to double check that Turbine or Standing Stone wasn't involved (I stilll don't get that they aren't, there are SO many similarities!)
I've created my first char, a Sun Elf Wizard, and am trying to learn the ropes. I'm L22 now, and I love the learning pace of the game, getting quests for various features one step at a time. I do have some questions, though, and was hoping you guys could help me:
1. Do you have any obvious tips for a newbie? Should I just continue questing and experimenting? Any particular do's or don't's?
2. What should I spend my money (in-game gold) on? Or save up for?
3. Do all chars start in the same area? I have several alts planned, but I am doing all the quests I can get my hands on, and as fun as it is, I don't want to do it all again immediately.
4. And, last question as of now (superficial as it might be): Will I ever get a proper robe? To be honest, I was disappointed with my wizard char running around in a blouse and tight jeans.
I am having oodles of fun, though! Just got my first Artifact and got my workshop open, so can't wait to continue on my journey!
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A2. I personally would limit spending money and resource until level 80. A;most everything you get/buy before level 80 will need to be replaced.
A3. Yes, they more or less go through the same sequence of event even few class related side quests. That is why for me A1 was important because if you fast track it, you will miss them.
A4. I don't know what is considered proper. There are robes for wizard.
I suspected there might not be more starter areas. I think I will rush through with this one, then, and take it more slow with my second char, to get the slightest bit of diversity I can.
As for waiting to spend money until I'm L80, I'm not a player that is too focused on endgame. I've played many MMOs and never gotten to the endgame in any of them. I enjoy the world, the chars, the development, the lore and the ride. So I don't mind that I have to buy new one ten or tweny lvls down the line.
If you go through the first one slowly, you can evaluate what you can skip for the next character. The first time is the part you should enjoy and can enjoy the most. You won't have the 2nd chance for the first time.
I guess we just view these games differently, seeing as I spend the majority (that is: all) of my time below level cap.
this game takes about a year to complete or maybe even longer if you're playing each campaign to the fullest. if you want to buy stuff I recommend VIP first and foremost. up to level 8 is where you will see the most return on your game play experience. the two most important things is travel post that lets you get out of an area fast if you want to not have to hike back to the starting area or you get lost. and not needing to use injury kits. the daily vip key is also really nice. you could get lucky with a good mount and the lockboxes have a lot of things you need. some of the packs are really nice too. the dragonborn, gith (and the hero of the north I think... ) give you a bag for each character you ever create, and mounts for every character you ever create and a companion. the dragonborn race is atm considered bis. imo a good value. Mounts and companions are things you will need. what you shouldn't spend money on is gear. all that will be replaced with better stuff.
and again totally serious about 80 not mattering. you honestly WILL be playing past that if you like this game. there are about 10 mods after level 80 to play.
Tips for newbie, well yeah there are enough tips to fill two volumes of 5000 page almanacs, but I don't think you really want that much information. If you want to level up just a tad faster (not important) you can slot Azure enchantments into your Utility slots, head, arms, boots, and possible belt. They give you experience bonus. Don't worry about using them, and to double up on your gold question, you can use the gold to pull those enchants back out any time you get a new piece of gear for those slots. You can also try to join a guild to take advantage of the experience boon.
As a new player/character do not even worry about item level or stats, just put on new gear as you get it and keep doing your hero chores for experience. The only time you need to start thinking about stats or item level is after you are level 80.
For your first character, I suggest you get it into the ability to run random dungeons before you start a new character. The only time not to do this is if you are not enjoying the class you are currently playing. The classes play quite a bit different from each other and I think each class suits a particular play style more than others. But why focus on one character until you can run randoms? Because if you are wanting to continue playing, you will want a source of Astral Diamonds as soon as you can and the easiest way for this to be achieved is through running randoms. But to be able to run randoms you will need to reach the minimum requirements for the character. If you ignore this piece of advice and start a new character before you are able to run randoms, you will lose time achieving the AD you will want later.
Going back to your gold question, don't worry about gold too much. It might seem odd to tell you this but you can make gold through crafting, even though it requires gold to craft, you can make more in return using certain specific methods. Also doing your hero chores will bring you in a lot of gold. Gold is mainly used for pulling enchantments and buying health potions if you don't have VIP or want to spend your hard earned AD on Stones of Health. Those potions suck by the way so they can eat through your gold reserves very quickly.
All characters have the exact same quests except for the warlock, where there is a class specific quest based on the warlock. None of the other classes have anything like this and its not something that persists through the game. Its just one quest.
As for clothing transmutes, You can get wizzy robes of different appearances and chances are you will change this a lot through out your adventures. There are a lot to chose from and many ways to make your character look unique. Early game its not easy to get these transmute options but later they are very easy to come by. Think of it as graduation for your Wizzy when you can dress how you want, even with a traditional wizzards hat.
One very concrete suggestion: Make sure you use an augment pet. (See cat or goat in AH) Not using an augment pet is the most common and most serious newcomer mistake. Combine that augment with highest possible Bonding runestones. The main currency in game is AD - Astral Diamonds. The Auction House is running off AD, and that is where you will get most of your stuff.
I agree that you should save your money until you hit 80. If you really want to spend, work on ranking up your runestones. There is just one starting area. There is a lot of robes and other wearables to use. You will slowly collect these as you play. One tip: Right click an item and 'Add to apprearance tab'. That way the appearance if the item is saved in your Appearance tab forever - the item will be destroyed though.
Then you can switch the items in the Appearance tab in and out, even if you have to pay a small AD fee each time you change.
but yeah gold is not a real currency in this game to focus on. ad is.
I am trying to think what I should do from here, if I should continue playing my wizard or start a new character. The longer I play my first char, the more quests I have to do twice in a row when I create my second char.
I am tempted to go Warlock, as I have never played that class before, but I'm a bit worried it might be too similar to Wizard. I would like to try Cleric, as I've never done that before either.
I would also love to play some kind of ranger (archer) and melee (tank or DPS with swords), but seeing as there is only one starter area, I will have to choose carefully as I don't think I can be bothered to do the same quests too many time in a row in a short time.
Cleric dps paragon Arbiter, is clunky to play. The tab feature, doesn't always activate when you want it to, so many times you find yourself waiting for tab to activate so you can get some divinity so you can continue using encounter powers. It's the most annoying thing about cleric. The healing build was recently changed in mod 19, making the healing mechanic much more challenging to play.
The Warlock is another fun class, but somewhat similar to the Wizard. The difference is balancing soul sparks. They probably have the best looking outfits in the game but they have the dumbest running animation in the game. Their biggest perk is they can move around/get around the maps much faster than the other classes. This means doing questing will take you less time.
Aside from the campaign setting being based on Dungeons and Dragons, I do not see many similarities. Neverwinter does a good job though with the artwork and lore.. although there is something about the avatar models which seems a bit more cartoonish/anime-style than DDO. The graphics in DDO are outdated, but even though the Neverwinter graphics are modern and very detailed, there is something that seems slightly artificial in the character models.
Would love a good foot race. Not sure what the warlock has speed wise other than the shift mechanic, but I always pass them in dungeons with my fighter when they run out of stamina.
As for DDO, I haven't played it much, but I've played quite a lot of LotRO, from the same developers. The stats/mechanics might be very different, I'm thinking more of the UI, the looks and some of the gameplay. To me, it feels - and looks - very similar.