Archive for May, 2009

Darkfall:Survival Tips

May 2, 2009 Articles Recommend|223views

To get a general idea of how I approach the idea of survival in Agon, I will compare it to our own earthly Mother Nature. Nothing in nature is cruel, but nothing in nature is kind either. It is the same in Agon. Life isn’t easy, and you will soon realize just how vulnerable you truly are. It comes down to having the skills to survive in an unsympathetic environment versus getting angry when bad things happen. You wouldn’t take it personally if a bear mauled you, right? You just have to be smarter than the bear, that’s all. Even the most basic survival skills could mean the difference between life and “phat lootz” or death and a free trip back to your bind stone. As any survivalist will tell you, the best time to practice your skills is before you need them. Here I will outline some basic and advanced survival techniques that will most definitely keep your nose out of dirt, you gear shiny, and your bank full.

Chapter One: General Common Sense

  • Let sleeping dogs lie (again no offense to any mahirim intended). In other words, if someone is minding their own business, you do the same (unless of course you’ve spotted an opportunity for profit).
  • Don’t look rich or “cool” unless you can back up that status with allies, a fortified city, and a backup supply horded in your bank. Even then, you can still lose it all instantly.

  • Treat every encounter as if you are meeting in a dark ally. The minute you let your defenses down is when death is sure (even in town folks!)
  • Be wary of groups, especially mounted groups. You can bet they don’t want to be your friend. They want your arse!
  • Hubris and greed will always be rewarded with loss and death. For example, the urge to kill “just one more” troll because you wanted “just one more” reagent will most definitely ensure you will die, either at the hand of a PK squad, the dude you didn’t see in the shadows, or the five trolls that just spawned on top of you. In other words, bank often!
  • Always leave yourself enough money in the bank to fully re-equip yourself with “good gear” at least once, and keep a stockpile of “okay” gear for day-to-day excursions. Save the awesome stuff for groups, sieges, and that rainy day when you are feeling your most masochistic.
  • Crafters: expect to die, even in safe towns. When crafting turn your character around with your back to to crafting station. This way you can see when someone approaches. Never carry all of a raw material you possess, but only what you need or can handle. It will be painfully obvious when you are walking at the speed grass grows that you are a juicy target. If you are doing a large commission, ask your clan mates to guard you. (If you ask your clients to guard you, there is a good chance they will just gang up on you and take the finish product without payment.)
  • Sell/trade in town at your own risk. Be aware who is around you when finalizing a transaction. You could be ganged up on (as in the above example) with no hope of mercy.
  • This may get me in trouble but: if you are female in real life, do not correct everyone’s assumption that you are male. Getting excess attention in a PvP game is not a good thing as it might be in other games.
  • If you are intent on being “red” (outlaw status) realize that no one will ever trust you to do business, you will be a target of everyone, and no matter how badass you feel, life will be much harder for you. On the other hand, if you want to get rid of that nasty red name you’ve earned, simply head to a chaos stone and wait for opposite faction characters to pop. You can probably clear up a full -100 status in a day or two.
  • Join a clan with your play style in mind. For example, there are pirate clans, zerg clans, tactical clans, crafting clans, mercenary clans, hardcore clans, casual clans, and (rarely in a PvP game) family clans. When being interviewed for membership, always as with whom they are allied and who are their enemies. That mercenary clan may sound awesome, but if they have no allies and are enemies of Ginormous Alliance of Pwnage you may want to reconsider.

  • People will attempt to jump in front of you during battle to turn you “grey,” allowing them to kill you with no alignment penalty. Expect this to be more prevalent in town when innocent macroers… er I mean people trying to skill up… are shooting spells or arrows. Be aware in town, as you would be in the wilderness, of where you are aiming that fireball of doom.
  • Keep your ears open. Sound in Darkfall is very important. It may even save your life (or provide for some excellent profit).
  • Do not “rez” anyone that you do not know. It won’t get you friends. It will only increase the number of your possible enemies.
  • If you own a mount, never ever summon it in a city or near a group of people. It will get stolen.
  • Learn where large or hostile clan’s cities are located so as to avoid them during your travels.
  • The world of Agon is massive. If you plan to travel an extensive distance, make sure to know something about your route and bind at chaos stones along the way.
  • AFKing is dangerous. Even a minute or two can cost you everything. If possible plan your evening ahead of time so as to avoid unnecessary AFKs. (Keep the beer and cheese puffs close at hand, and use the restroom when in town!)
  • Be careful when entering someone else’s clan city. Clan leadership knows instantly (via game mechanics) when someone enters their realm. Some clan don’t ask questions, they simply annihilate anyone without their tag. You may be sightseeing, but they will take it as a hostile scout snooping around, and you’ll be dead before you can extend that olive branch of peace.

Chapter Two: Preparation

  • Bank often. Bank often. Bank often.
  • Never walk outside the guarded areas with more than you can afford to lose. Leave everything else in the bank.
  • Keep your extra reagents in the bank. Only take out to the wilds what you will use.
  • Know your server’s “prime time” (11am EST - 5pm EST for EU ; 5pm EST - 12am EST for NA) and be prepared.
  • Use terrain to your advantage for: tracking, hiding, running away, etc.
  • Learn the “hot-spots” for PKing, such as high traffic paths, newbie mob camps, etc.
  • Food and potions can be your saving grace. Save them for emergencies only, but if you plan to solo they are a must as well. Getting below half health or stamina almost ensures death.
  • Every time you leave town, keep in mind the DF Golden Rule.

Chapter Three: Combat Situations

  • Know when it is time to run, and know how to spot an opportunity for profit. This cannot be taught, unfortunately.
  • The shinier the gear, the bigger a target you become. If you are planning to do recon, don’t wear that pretty new plate mail. Instead opt for studded or padded gear. Also, be aware that your weapons let of a faint glint as well. The larger the weapon, the more of a target you are.

  • The rest skill is your friend. Use it often.
  • It is never 4 against 4. It’s 4 against 1, 4 against 1, and 4 against 1. Learn how to organize your squads to handle these tactics.
  • Running is a skill in itself. Of course you gain skill points, but what I mean is don’t simply run in a straight line when being pursued. Knowing the tricks of evasion is important. Strafing is not always the best bet either. A few quick movements of the mouse (turn off mouse smoothing) can ensure that you avoid any and all projectiles aimed at you. Try to keep at least half stamina at all times, even when harvesting, because you can bet your attacker’s stamina is probably at full when he attacks you. You’ll need ample stamina to outrun him. When your pursuer is no longer in your field of view, keep going just a bit further. Run directly left or right or even up at tree/rock, which will hopefully fool your pursuer into thinking you have kept going straight. Once you are sure they have taken the bait, run parallel to your original path or to a safe area.
  • Surviving when beset by a mounted attacker can be tricky. Here is a tip: as they lean to one side for a swing, dart to the opposite side by jumping or circling behind them. It is not advisable to just run away, because they will catch up and use mounted frontal attack to gore you. Ouch! In other words, keep to one side of a mount at all times due to the harsh frontal and behind mount attacks. Keep your weapons swinging as well. You may have a chance to kill the mount if you evade correctly!
  • Don’t let your health fall below half when soloing alone, ever! This makes you an easy target for any passersby. You will most certainly be killed if you allow yourself to fall to 25% or less.
  • When someone approaches you in the wilderness, be friendly initially. If at all possible open a dialogue with them. People are much less likely to kill you if they can put a human personality with the avatar onscreen. If you are sharing a mob camp, set up some ground rules. If you PK someone and they come back for revenge, be jovial. Congratulate them on your deserved demise. You might even get an ally out of it. You’d be surprised!
  • If death is certain and you will lose something of value, it is best to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff or dying in the midst of a fast-moving stream. This way, your enemy cannot loot your gear. If you can’t have your gear, neither should he! Going link dead is not a good method for saving your loot because your character stays in game after you disconnect long enough to be killed and looted. There is also a good chance the PKer will simply camp you if he thinks you have something of value. (Note: there are times you will be moved back to your bind stone when you relog, but I wouldn’t count on it.)
  • There is character collision in Darkfall, therefore be mindful of getting boxed in by three or four players. On the flipside, always pin mobs/players against walls or other players for easy murdering.
  • Everyone has PKing tactics, and I will not share any here (mwhahaha). But if you plan to head out with your squad of death-dealers, you better be well-geared, mounted if possible, and ready to face anything. Never underestimate your victims. You could be full of loot and laughing maniacally one minute, then swarmed by little-newbie-harvester-you-killed-an-hour-ago’s clan and alliance mates the next. And obviously, bank often.

Simply remember the golden rule: “Treat others as you would expect them to treat you,” and just know that you will be maimed, mutilated, murdered, and profited from at every turn. Fun right!? But now you are asking, “Why the heck would I play such a dangerous and stressful game!?” The answer is simple, my friend: freedom. Darkfall Online is a sandbox game, which means censorship and limitations are nonexistent. You can be, do, and say just about anything you want. Yes, succeeding in life as an Agonian may take an immense amount of time and effort–much more so than any other MMO–but the sense of accomplishment you get from simply surviving in this environment is amazing. I hope this guide has left you with an understanding of what it means to live in a hostile world such as Darkfall, and with this knowledge you can now enjoy it for all it’s worth.

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Silkroad Online Skill Farming

May 2, 2009 Silkroad|3,204views

The game Silkroad Online has a very uncomplicated way of getting skills. Each skill is part of a skill tree, called a Mastery. Chinese characters have eight masteries, four weapon masteries and four force masteries. You need at least two; one weapon and one force. European characters have only six masteries, one for each class of character and you only need one. You can mix and match these masteries however you choose, taking some skills from each to build your unique set of skills. There are some restrictions to be aware of. Chinese characters have an ultimate cap of 300 mastery levels and European characters can have two mastery levels per character level. So for a Chinese character, any combination of masteries totaling up to 300 will work while a European character has to start with one mastery and build up as they go.

Now for the complicated part: Within those masteries are skills. Each skill costs an increasing amount of skill points. The higher the skill level, the more points it needs. You earn skill points while you train your character by killing monsters and doing quests. Each monster you kill gives you both experience and skill experience based on your level vs. the level of the monster and based on the level of your masteries. 400 skill experience totals up to one skill point, which can be confusing so I’ll only refer to Skill Points, or SP, from now on. If you just go out and train your character you will soon be unable to raise your skills and masteries for lack of SP. So what do you do? You farm.

Farming is the unofficial word for the method of gaining more skill points (SP) over experience points (XP). Here is how you do it: The greater the spread between your character’s level and the level of their highest mastery the more SP you gain over XP. As a rough example, if you are level 10 with level 10 masteries when you kill a monster you might get 100 XP and 1 SP. If you drop your Mastery to level 1, making a 9 level gap between your character level and your mastery level, you might get 1 XP and 10 SP per kill. That is by no means completely accurate, but that is basically how it works. The larger the gap, the more SP you earn but you also earn less XP. Another tip is, less skills and masteries, less farming. The picture here gives you an idea of how gapping works.

How do you know when to farm? You should do it at regular intervals while you train to make sure you get the skills you want. If you have a Seal of Star or greater weapon, it’s a good time to farm because your lowered skills will have some damage loss that the more powerful weapon can make up for. You should also make sure your gear is of good quality with decent stats to protect you. Plan ahead and buy a nice set one piece at a time so that when you are ready to farm, you have all that you need. You can also choose monsters that are easy to farm on because they have a good spawn rate, are intelligence or strength based, you have a repeating quest for or you just like the scenery where they are located. Scenery is important because you may be looking at it for a while.

To begin farming, you just need to make a gap between your character level and your mastery level. You can either stop leveling your masteries and slowly increase your level as the easiest method. You can plan ahead and do the “Cursed Heart Quest” available at any Potions dealer and lower your masteries all at once. It does cost gold and time to do it this way and you lose 20% of your SP as you use the Cursed Hearts to buy back your skills and masteries. Easiest way is to go with the item mall “Skill Potions” and lower them without the 20% loss of SP that the Cursed Heart Quest gives you. While a 9 gap is considered the golden rule, there are other ways to go about it. You can train at a constant three level gap and just gain small amounts at a time. Another way is to let your masteries get to a 5 gap, close them up and update your skills and then let them get behind to a 5 gap again. I call this “Leapfrog Farming”. These last two methods are good for maintaining 2 masteries. If you have more than two, you need to do the industrial strength 9 gap method. This gives you fast SP gain but even with a premium ticket, it will take you days to level just once.

Knowing how much to farm involves a lot of guessing, math or using a character builder online. http://nivlam.igamelegit.com has several tools to help you calculate. It pretty much depends on your build and how many masteries you wish to maintain. At high levels, some European characters need to farm 1 million SP to be able to level all their skills just from level 90 to 100. The higher the level, the more SP you need so trying to do all of your farming at low levels isn’t that efficient. You just don’t earn enough SP. If you have a group to party with regularly on monsters that are about ten levels higher than you, it’s a good time to farm. Because of the drop in XP gain, farming is slow and takes a lot of patience. Having a supportive group is probably your most important factor for a European class of character. Chinese characters don’t need to party but they do need more patience because solo leveling with a 9 gap can be downright gruesome and it’s what separates the hardcore pros from the weekend warriors.

Despite the hardships, farming is rewarding when you are done. You often hear people ask in Silkroad, “Are you FF?”. “FF” stands for Full Farmed and it’s one of the hallmarks of pro players. The number one excuse for dying in a player vs. player match is under farming so plan ahead and make sure you do your homework. Don’t overextend yourself with too many skills or masteries so you find yourself weaker and weaker as you level. It’s far better to have less masteries and skills that are farmed fully than to have many skills that are not. Silkroad Online is heavily based in PVP and strong skills are an essential factor in how well you stack up against your opponents. Even in group based PvP like jobbing, wars and Capture The Flag, support and offensive classes need every edge they can get to succeed.

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2029 Online: Humans Skills Guide

May 1, 2009 2029 Online, Articles Recommend|699views

2029 Online is a fast paced post-apocalyptic war game with a lot of classic RTS elements within it. Different races in the game rise up and fight for territory and domination. Everyone is fighting nonstop against anyone standing in opposition to them. They use their swords and guns to strike down mobs, while the Rebel Army try to pave the way to their final victory. Before you start to create your characters, take some time to read through the skills of the three characters in the game. Today, the skills of Human character will be shared first.

All Human characters use guns as their weapons. During their combat career, the invention of the gun has helped them figure out the best way to defend their homeland and expand their territory.

Burst: Takes enemies down quickly, dealing damage to individual enemies 3 times whenever enemies approach.
Ice Bomb: Bombards enemies with ice shards, causing icy damage and reducing their movement speed. At the same time enemies attacks will be terminated. If you are not the same level as your enemies are, this skill can be very helpful. You will win enough time to escape.
Therapy: Consume some energy to restore HP. This skill can be active on your teammates. Humans are an advanced race. They have mastered the ability to heal themselves. After they receive a deathblow, this skill will help them restore HP for themselves or their teammates.
Snipe: Funnels energy into one large, high damage shot. This skill can help players deal serious damage to their opponents.
Strafe: Uses a long, sweeping burst of gunfire to attack all enemies in front of the player. When you hit a high enough level, you will meet lots of tough enemies. Use this to get an advantage on them. When engaging in raids or melee combat, you can use this skill to finish off your enemies.

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