Aristos wrote:Hello everyone,
The new guy here again, trying to understand the game.
I have a few questions with which you all could perhaps help me:
1) How do the quests work ? Is there a 100% chance that the available quests from the orbs are fully functional code-wise ?
2) How does quest-exp affect overall growth ? I know about the brute system, but still would like to have more information regarding growth. Meaning, is it possible at all to reach, for example, the highest level (myth) with the quests in the game ? I've been reading the forums for any information about it, and read that some quests gave more qexp in the past - is this something from which we new players are affected ? I mean, are they only big because of it (the players) ?
3) As a fighter character, which stats should I concentrate on in order to better acquire the skills offered by my guild ? Is it a stat or level cap ?
4) How does the money system work ? Is killing and selling the only way to make money for skills ?
5) A question to the wizards: are all the quests really doable ?
6) Is there a way to know in advance which areas require a good align and which an evil ? It was pretty harsh to have been murdered once by guards for being evil aligned without a warning.
On another topic, but still a valid question:
The development path for a fighter is pretty straight forward. You start, you grab a sword, you join the Cadets, you train, and then try to develop yourself further. How does this path differ for a player who wants to be a caster ? I guess the academics are there, but what about afterwards ? Does a character directly join a caster occ guild after being in the academics and reaching, lets say, adventurer, or does he have to deal with guildlessness and/or join a "free to join" guild like the mercenaries in order to put on some muscle before attempting a caster occ ? And, should a move like this make sense ? I mean, lets take for example a gnome (good intelligence stats?), who joins the magical side of the cadets, and then graduates - would it make sense to develop fighting skills in the mercenaries when he clearly wants to be a caster character ? Should this person concentrate on magic stats from the beginning, or balance them out until a certain level ?
I'm asking all of this because these are the questions which have been posed to me by a couple of friends from the university who see me playing on breaks and, being interested in fantasy yet also developers like me, are therefore interested in the game mechanics and inner workings as well.
I think I'll be bringing at least 2-3 friends over from college now in about two weeks. We're now in finals, but afterwards we have 3 months off, and they found the Mud fun when they saw me playing, so they want to give it a try as well, just not during finals because otherwise their GPA will significantly drop, as mine has
Thanks for your help in advance, and sorry for any typos. I'm writing this in haste in a short break
1. Yes, all quests in the orbs are functional and solvable! If you're having trouble with something it may be that it can only be solved once per game reboot, but hopefully there are no such quests around anymore. Many used to be that way, but I think they're all fixed now. Sometimes you cant solve them because someone else recently finished it and it hasnt rebooted yet, but that usually doesnt take very long. (a few hours at most).
2. Very few active characters have "old" quest XP, and even if some do there is a cap on quest XP that is slightly above the XP you can get as a new character. So if you solve all quests in the orbs, you'll be one of the characters with most quest XP in the game, including very old characters with XP from old, now closed, quests. Most current myths do not have that much XP, since very few have solved ALL quests, and most arent old enough to have XP from closed quests. It's a very long time ago that any substantial quest was closed I think. Not many characters around since then! Yes, you need to quest some to be able to grow really big, but you dont need to solve them all. Far from. Combat XP is still the key to becoming myth.
3. Not exactly sure what you're asking here!?! When you're small you sometimes cant train skills because you're not smart enough, you need intelligence for that. But for a fighter in general it's best to focus on strength, dexterity and constitution. Your intelligence and wisdom will fairly soon be good enough anyway even if you dont focus on them. Str, dex and con are all important stats and its hard to say which one is best. I personally think for most purposes fairly even physical stats is good for a fighter. About caps, you cant train any skill above Superior Guru, (100 skillevels). But it depends on the guild you're in whats the maximum for that guild, most have only Superior guru in one or two skills. Without a guild at all the cap is Superior Layman for most skills. As for stats, there is no final cap at all. However, it'll get harder and harder to become bigger the bigger you get... when you're a myth, progress will be MUCH slower then when youre small. Eventually it will be so slow its basically no use to try to grow... or so they say. I never became that big!
4. Killing and selling stuff is the most common way to make money. However finding and selling herbs is also a decent way to make money, especially when you're small. You can also become a smith and forge items and sell for money. Another way is to improve your pick pocketing skills and steal coins from NPCs and/or players. A popular way is also to find good pieces of equipment or imbuements and sell on the auction house to other players. So there's plenty of ways to earn money, but killing and selling stuff probably the easiest.
5. I am not a wizard, but I have solved all quests, so yes. All quests are solvable. Although some are really hard and suffer from some annoying syntaxes or are somewhat illogical... and others are really good experiences. Just like the rest of the world the quality of quests is dependent on the quality of the work of the wizard who created them. Some are great, some are less great. If you get stuck somewhere, feel free to mail me ingame if you need a hint or something! A big part of questing in Genesis is social, make friends, ask around, etc... solving every quest all by yourself will be VERY hard. Dont be afraid to ask people!
6. Not really... some places have signs or other warnings... some dont... Most areas are safe for most aligns though. Gondor and Ithilien are especially dangerous places with little warnings and sometimes hunting enemies. And being a goblin is usually pretty hard in many areas... regardless of align. Thats the drawback for being a goblin, who have great physical stats, but generally hated by lots of NPCs. But again, ask around if you wanna be safe, but most areas are actually pretty safe. And dying isnt so bad when youre small anyway... you recover pretty quickly after learning the hard way.
Nice you got friends who wanna try to our Mud too!
As for caster vs fighter... well its really up to you I think. Most people usually join a free to join guild like mercenaries and gain some stats before deciding on their path in life I think. But it doesnt mean you have to... some join a caster guild early on too and stay there... As for stats... well thats also up to you. Some like even stats, some like to focus everything on one or two stats. I honestly dont know whats best... personally if I wanted to become a caster from the start I'd probably pick elf or gnome and go "all in" on intelligence and wisdom. But you will be very weak when taking hits if you do... it may also depend on the guild you want to join, and how you play, which stats are best. If you quickly drain your mana, tons of intelligence is probably a good thing. If you rarely run out of mana, maybe you dont need immense intelligence and you can benefit from having some physical stats. It's not an easy choice to make and even the most experienced players debate these types of questions, and all have their own theories... Thats part of the fun I think.
