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trelayne · September 2011

Greetings everyone. After taking two years worth of a break from Perfect World I suddenly feel like getting back into the game.

PW got quite a few updates during that time. I've never heard of Tideborn or Earthguards before, and can't recognise most of the other stuff.

The two questions that I have are:
1) Should I go for venomancer or cleric or something else?
2) Which server I should start on?

Last time I started out as a venomancer. Loved the class, choice of pets and the easy switch between soloing and partying.
But I do have doubts about starting a veno again. After a quick read through these forums it looks like the pet "choice" have been reduced of phoenix/hercules ("ouch" at the rl money price tag), assassins and bms make better money, and mystics have both pets and other bells and whistles.

As for servers - I guess that PvE have a more laid-back community...but there are five of those to choose from

sangodoc · September 2011

Well, your old account is probably still active, if you remember the name and password. As far as I'm aware they don't delete old accounts.

You should base your choice of server on whichever ones have the lowest ping time (the smallest MS you see listed when you select the server when logging in) and whether it is PvE (Player versus Environment) or PvP (Player versus Player). If the ping times are fairly similar for you, then the time zone the servers are in may be a factor as well.

The servers are:
Lost City - This is a West Coast PvP server.
Heaven's Tear - This is a West Coast PvE server.
Sanctuary - This is a West Coast PvE server.
Archosaur - This is a West Coast PvE server.
Harshlands - This is an East Coast PvP server.
Dreamweaver - This is an East Coast PvE server.
Raging Tide - This is an East Coast PvE server.
Lothranis - This is a European PvE server (French).
Momaganon - This is a European PvE server (German).

On PvP servers, once you reach level 30 then anyone can attack your character and you can attack anyone else. On PvE servers, players normally can only attack each other if they go into PK (Player Killing) mode, which lasts for 10 hours minimum. (There are still a few areas, such as some rooms in the Cube of Fate, in which PK is always enabled.)

The East Coast servers are on Eastern time (EST or EDT, UTC -5 or -4, respectively), the West Coast servers are on Pacific time (PST or PDT, UTC -8 or -7), and the European servers are on Central European time (CET or CEST, UTC +1 or +2). A lot of events on PWI happen in the evening (8:50 PM - midnight), server time, so if the ping times are about the same you might want to choose based on which time zone works better for you.

For more information on the servers, see the Servers entry in the PWI wiki.

As far as what class you should be, well... that depends on your personality. You can go to the wiki to find out a bit about all of the classes, and decide which class(es) suit you best. You could also just make multiple characters (you can have have up to eight characters on one account) and try them all out for yourself. I play four different classes, myself.

Have fun!

mcfreakie · September 2011

trelayne wrote: »

Greetings everyone. After taking two years worth of a break from Perfect World I suddenly feel like getting back into the game.

Last time I started out as a venomancer. Loved the class, choice of pets and the easy switch between soloing and partying.
But I do have doubts about starting a veno again. After a quick read through these forums it looks like the pet "choice" have been reduced of phoenix/hercules ("ouch" at the rl money price tag), assassins and bms make better money, and mystics have both pets and other bells and whistles.

As for servers - I guess that PvE have a more laid-back community...but there are five of those to choose from

If you like Veno... I would give a Mystic a try. But in regards to PVE servers... there is a huge debate going right now as PW is now forcing PVP on all players who wish to quest. Best wishes and hope you can find anyone to give you assistance with out paying huge tolls to pass thru Secret Passage when you get close to level 29.

trelayne · September 2011

Thanks for your replies b:victory

@Sangodoc: sadly, the old account isn't on PWI. I did take a look at pings and time zones, so Dreamweaver is pretty much the best option.

@mcfreakie: you probably got it right

I just tried creating several characters to see if any of the classes "feels right" - well, nothing is "right" without a pet between me and the monster. I guess Veno's playstyle is ingrained way too deeply in my brain...

Are Mystic-class chars more of a money generator or a money drain? I don't mind the usual charm/pot costs, but wouldn't like to be too dependent on the equipment...

Jeremied - Sanctuary · September 2011

<.< In my experience, mystics are huge mp drains until 75 when you can use the cheap mp food. But, there's no grinding for pet levels, and they play a little like a cleric/veno combo. The pets don't really solo as well as veno pets though, and like I said, the fact that summoning pets costs mana, pet skills cost mana, pet heals cost mana, giving pet mana costs mana...you'll burn through charms in days or eat your weight in pots.

They ARE very fun though, being that I play both a cleric and a veno, and you can make pots at the apothecary that helps cut mana cost down by a lot

The level 72 mystic in my fac (she started after me, but level'd faster ><) is an AWESOME side healer, and her resurrect buffs have saved many a squad wipe where as I would have had a LONG run back otherwise. I enjoy squadding with mystics. ^^

Venos are still the best "pet class", as mystics will frequently steal aggro from their pets (unless you don't level your attack skills and stand back and heal), and one of their pets doesn't even attack. Venos are also still my second favorite class behind my cleric, since the cost of mana/hp pots is non-existent, it's fun, and the newer pets from the Tideborn expansion are pretty nice.

The scorpion is still the best free DD pet, in terms of attack power, but the new Glacial Walker (My BigBlue

) are excellent tanks. Obviously the herc is better, but the glacial comes with 3 skills: A bash skill for aggro, roar for grabbing strays that attack squishy squad members, and tough for when they're getting hit a little too hard and need a bit of survivability. All right out of the egg at level 19.

And, the old way of doing TT solo mode for money with a veno still works. Since they lack the repair costs of APS classes like BMs and Sins, and the cost of pots/charms, they are technically the most money efficient solo'ers, they just cost a little time

My little veno is currently just for funding my cleric, as I'm only 6 levels away from using the cheap mp food, but my charm ran out.

aclucius318 · September 2011

To be perfectly honest, your best character to start out with will be Cleric. The reason for it though is that at least as a Cleric, you are needed almost always, whereas any other class these days is left out if they aren't 5 APS. Plus you can get second pick in TT, so it's fairly easy to make money with.

If you are just looking for something fun though, I'd suggest trying out the Seeker or Assassin, or even Psychic.

Best of luck to you, and if you join Archosaur server, feel free to send me a PM on the forums here and I'll give you my character name so you can PM me in game with any questions you have.

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear · September 2011

trelayne wrote: »

Last time I started out as a venomancer. Loved the class, choice of pets and the easy switch between soloing and partying.
But I do have doubts about starting a veno again. After a quick read through these forums it looks like the pet "choice" have been reduced of phoenix/hercules ("ouch" at the rl money price tag), assassins and bms make better money, and mystics have both pets and other bells and whistles.

i wouldn't say you have to have a herc/nix, if anything it seems like they're LESS needed now than they used to be. why? everybody's powerleveling to 100+ and gearing up with stupid-powerful equipment, to the point where no veno pet can hope to compare anyway.

i'm thinking right about now (level 7x-8x) is probably when i could make the most use of a legendary pet. well, i can't afford one, and i've not really missed having one yet, and nobody's complained about my not having one. by the time i'll be able to afford one, i'll likely be 9x or higher and even a herc won't make much difference in what the squads i'll be joining then can do.

assassins and bms make better money if they have high APS. but that does seem to be more expected of them than having a herc is of a veno these days... as well as much more expensive. low-aps assassins are a much different class to play, i'm told.

mystics have "pets", but not like venos do. they're an interesting class, i don't mind playing mine, but the similarities between venos and mystics are overhyped. they're similar in some ways, but their duties in a squad really aren't the same. if you do play mystic, expect to either be always MP-charmed or be guzzling potions like crazy; they're a HUGE mana drain class.

sangodoc · September 2011

trelayne wrote: »

@Sangodoc: sadly, the old account isn't on PWI. I did take a look at pings and time zones, so Dreamweaver is pretty much the best option.

Same server as me. The best one, in my biased opinion. b:chuckle Lots of knowledgeable and helpful folks there.

trelayne wrote: »

Are Mystic-class chars more of a money generator or a money drain? I don't mind the usual charm/pot costs, but wouldn't like to be too dependent on the equipment...

Mystics aren't just "the usual charm/pot costs", they guzzle those pots down. After a long BH run I sometimes have to buy 50+ more MP pots to get back up to the 100 pots I prefer having handy on my mystic. That makes them a lot less cost-effective than venomancers.

Still, mystics are handy in just about any situation. When everything goes wrong and someone pulls a mess of mobs down at once, I can (1) drop two different healing herbs, (2) do an AoE heal, (3) send my pet to help protect the cleric, (4) do an AoE attack, (5) spot heal people as they're dying, (6) protect people with a damage-triggered heal over time buff, and (7) hopefully I've pre-buffed everyone already so they can self-resurrect as well. On the veno all I can do is AoE attack, send in the pet to help protect the cleric, and protect myself. In a good squad, the veno is better, in a bad squad, the mystic can save everyone's butt when the spit hits the fan.

Jeremied - Sanctuary wrote: »

The scorpion is still the best free DD pet, in terms of attack power, but the new Glacial Walker (My BigBlue ) are excellent tanks.

Actually, the new Dark Wanderer/Shadow Ranger not only has a tiny bit better DPS than the Varicose Scorpion, but it also has more HP, PDef, Dodge, and Speed. It has a less MDef and Accuracy, but overall the Dark Wanderer is probably better. (See Ecatomb's Pet Simulator.)

I definitely agree about the Glacial Walker. I've been told my Sparkplug has kept aggro better than some hercs (mine has Roar for aggro, Howl for MDef debuffing, and Icicle + Thunderbolt for magic attacks; the Howl boosts the damage of the two magic attacks).

Trelayne - Dreamweaver · September 2011

And so, Dreamweaver's population have now increased by one noobish Mystic.
Lag spikes of 400-800ms clearly ruled out any chance of being a decent healer, so Cleric was not an option.

Thanks everyone for helping to make the choice.

Back to digging herbs now...:P

sadhawksfan · September 2011

Hi there everyone! I just came back myself after about the same time as the OP and i was wondering something, This APS, how does someone raise their APS? Like what stat raises it or is it a weapon that does it with gear or whatnot. Secondly, i see nothing but "Nirvana runs " in world chat, is that all people do anymore?. Just curious.

MoonUsagi - Heavens Tear · September 2011

Huss... huss... go back to reality normal people... b:angry this place is a trap... b:quiet

b:laugh Good Luck

sangodoc · September 2011

sadhawksfan wrote: »

Hi there everyone! I just came back myself after about the same time as the OP and i was wondering something, This APS, how does someone raise their APS? Like what stat raises it or is it a weapon that does it with gear or whatnot.

APS = Attacks Per Second, so you want to look for gear with the "Interval Between Hits -0.XX seconds" and a weapon with a high Attack Rate (APS). The equation for figuring out your APS can be found on the wiki here: Damage - Attacks Per Second

sadhawksfan wrote: »

Secondly, i see nothing but "Nirvana runs " in world chat, is that all people do anymore?. Just curious.

Some people, I suppose. You just have to do a bunch of runs to get enough mats to upgrade most high level gear, so it's popular among much of the endgame crowd.

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