A Newcomer's Question

Juha

Hey Aetolians,

I recently started playing over the past couple of days and it's been an absolute blast, everyone has been so helpful and the complexity manages to be challenging but rewarding all at the same time. As somebody who put several hundreds of hours into the Dark Souls games, this is a very welcome experience.

The only real struggle that I've had where it's beginning to feel more tedious than rewarding is the lack of gold I'm able to make. Mobs that I hunt drop next to nothing and the quests that I've stumbled across are similarly disappointing (1-2k gold per hour? ish). I'm level 72 now and mostly looping these areas: Eastern Itzatl Rainforest, Halls of Tornos, Dun Fortress and Telfinne Caverns,

I picked the Indorani class and between trying to stock up on curatives, replenishing my health vials and anabiotic pills for hunting, purchasing tarot cards, making pacts with chaos entities and let alone trying to save up enough to buy credits to help learn my class skills... this is an uphill climb where I feel like I'm pretty much standing still at the base of the mountain with no progress at all.

I'm loving the game and I'd hate for this to put me off but it's starting to feel that way. Does anyone have any advice they can give for getting gold? Maybe I'm missing something here.

Axius

Hey there, @Juha! Depending on your city, the most likely scenario is that you're going to wanna look at Vermin for gold. At your level, you may also consider the Teshen Caldera. It's a lower level area, but the sheer -bulk- of the Teshen Caldera's upper section (note: NOT THE CATACOMBS. There's tons of aggro mobs down there), they don't drop -amazing- gold on an individual basis, but looking at hunting in bulk, especially at higher levels, the amount adds up quicker than you think. Additionally, there's a couple of quests out in the game that can be sought out. And finally, if ya actually are interested, there's a number of commodities sold in villages that, if you had seed money and keep careful track of your investments, you can actually make coin selling commodities to your city! And not a small amount either. And finally, as a note of something you can do, a few of the cities were subsidizing farming, and you could ask your city if it's currently subsidizing farming. If it is, you could get a single farm going with cotton, hemp, or cows to process into cloth, rope, or leather for selling as well! And if you have plenty of time, you could also consider Fishing. It's a skill that, unlike Farming, you only need the 100 credits for the initial license, and 5k gold to "grease the wheels" of the gulleyes, you can then train the skill with usage instead of the norm of lesson investment. This skill provides both XP and gold gain for fishing, with most systems having a module built in to help with fishing as well! And finally do not discount doing your mines work and the once-an-IRL-Week production quest, both of these quests provide 1k gold each, and benefit your city! Some cities even keep track of stuff like your mines work and other things, and offer rewards for participation in Ylem fights, doing your mines work, and general participation!

And on the side of credits: While I do encourage indulging in the credit market, do not discount the use of Platinum Keystones! The tasks aren't horribly difficult for many of the 2-keystone tasks, and there's usually groups forming several times throughout the day to tackle the harder milestone challenges! It's not difficult to get up to 20 credits a day by taking 20-30 minutes to an hour each day to just roll around getting these challenges done! And as a final note, there are always people paying credits for chocolates! There's a few types for sale at 2 silver keystones a chocolate. Those are always worth investing into! Ah! And while it might seem tempting, do not use the bronze keystones on the gold. And as a final note, sometimes city rewards include credits as an option! Just as a few minor notes.

I look forward to seeing ya in game, and hope ya hang around! We always could use new players!

Drystin

Gold in Aetolia is gained not so much in huge amounts by doing one thing, but by doing multiple things that all bring in a decent profit. I'm going to give you some steps to take below that are going to put you on the right track.

1. HELP YLEM MISTS - You probably already know about this. If not, get a gauntlet and goggles so you can take advantage of turning in mists for gold.

2. Go to your city's ylem mines once per day and complete the quest there. Not only does this give you gold, but killing eld will give you reserves if you have the REFINING skill which can then be used to boost the gold drops of NPCs, increase your exp gain, and increase the chance for ylem mists to appear. (read AB RESEARCH MODIFICATIONS for more info) 

3. Make sure you have quest hints on and take the time to explore ALL the areas that are at and under your current level. Quests often give gold and/or experience as a reward.

4. Vermin - Every city has an NPC that will pay you for killing vermin and turning them in. For a new player this is an easy and profitable way to make a steady amount of gold.

5. Every city rewards participation in foci battles with some form of point system. DO THIS! You're going to die, do it anyway! Not only can you take advantage of the points to get gold, credits, cute little squirrel minipets, etc. but you'll also be learning the ropes of group combat and helping your team out even if you're just absorbing hits a few times before dying. There is no loss for pk deaths in pk aura but huge exp for assisting in kills, so you're always winning by showing up to these.

Those are my two sovereigns. Lastly, don't get discouraged. I know it's a complicated game but stick with it, ask a bazillion questions and you'll do well. 

Juha

Hey all, further question from one of your resident newbies.

So I managed to transcend Domination and I entered the Chaos Plane trying to find Xa'azamit to make a pact for the Pit ability. I followed my city help file instructions to locate them but I suppose the path changed as it seems to frequently do in the Chaos Plane. I can't use the Universe tarot to escape because it doesn't work in the Chaos Plane.

I've been trapped in the "Floating between Chaos." room for 30+ minutes and 99% of the exits I take reads like this: "You venture deeper into chaos, further from the exit."

Sometimes (but not often) I will see: "The chaotic environment surrounding you clears slightly as you get closer to the exit." which I even managed to come across x2 in a row but it was followed by venturing deeper into Chaos on my third attempt.

I've asked for help over my CT, CNT and GT channels but no one is responding so I assume they can't read any communications I send out form here.

Sorry to be a buzzkill but... this does not seem like fun or interactive gameplay to me? Do other people enjoy this mini-game of Domination? Every other challenge presented has been awesome to tackle, and after your assistance with the gold / questing issue (so I could buy all my cures for hunting) it's been SO FUN jumping into everything else the game has to offer. But this... I've had to QQ because I don't know what to do lol.

Anyone have any tips on how I'm supposed to escape? Or even find Xa'azamit in the first place? Thanks so much, haha

Axius

To get through that space, it's South, In, East. As a tip, @Juha, and sadly the Chaos plane is just sorta -like- that. It's considered a hostile plane full of alien elements and devils that you bargain with lore-wise. There's a lot of shenanigannery involved in just trying to navigate it, and there's a very real threat to spending hours trying to navigate it to escape. There -used- to be this timer that counted down and eventually would just spit you out at a random spot (within limitations) across sapience as well in result of it. But yeah, it's changed considerably. There wasn't this giant castle before the Indorani were blown up and the Chaos Plane was seiged because Golgothia took offense to certain events involving.. I forget what. I think the Leviathan? It was the event that revealed Bamathis. Either way, the scroll in question does need updating, more than likely.

Bulrok

If you don't find someone who can explain the finer points of the lore or w/e to you, assuming you escape or someone sees this comes in and rescues you, then the next time you see me online shoot me a tell and I'll drag you around the Chaos Plane and you can mark the vnums so you don't get lost in the future. I did log on after seeing this post and went into the Chaos Plane but it appears you've logged off already.

Juha

Hey all, just logged back and I'm still stuck here. I've tried SOUTH / IN / EAST as per @Axius instructions but it isn't getting me anywhere as I've probably wandered far from the original entrance to this part of the Chaos Plane and I don't think @Bulrok is still online?

Help please... would like to return to playing the game ASAP

Juha

Okay I finally escaped. Remind me not to use my class skill again. /bitter

Archelaus

I think the area you're talking about is the maze that changes each time. Here's an excerpt from the Ashes of the Indorani clan scroll about it.

"The chaotic environment surrounding you clears slightly as you get closer to
the exit."
When you get that message. Make note of the direction you came from to get
there.
If you move in another direction after that one, you will end up back at that
first room to start the maze over.
Once you have all three directions. Move them in ORDER to get "In dim light".
It will have the portal in it and a NE exit. Go NE to get to the castle.

Tedrunai

Added some portals that let you instantly travel between the Chaos Lords.

Axius

Thank you @Tedrunai! Even as a non-Indorani, I can tell you that this will help so many Indorani!

Juha

Oh amazing! I didn't realise the admin checked these forums regularly. Much appreciated Tedrunai, I'm going to try again later to see how the portals work and if they alleviate the two issues I had.

These two problems were:

1. the path from Gehenna to Gatekeeper Ni'toks'i
2. Finding Xa'azamit in the Floating between Chaos rooms.

After locating the Gatekeeper, traveling to each Chaos Entity is quite trivial compared to the two aforementioned problems because their locations don't seem to change. The situation I experienced last night might be rare but damn it really sucks the fun out of the game when you're stuck in the Chaos Plane trying to find pacts for over an hour.