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I also found that having a purpose - a reason to speak to others - helps a great deal. If I have a task for my Order that necessitates speaking to others, I can normally force myself to do it so as not to disappoint.
So that's my advice:
Be persistent and speaking will become easier (face your fears, as it were)
Take on tasks and join organisations that will keep you busy (so you have a solid reason to interact other than socialising (which is, gah, hard).
This is a wonderful world, filled with really great people. If you stick with it, eventually you'll gather the all important circle of friends that will keep you coming back despite any other frustrations you have.
At the risk of sounding biased, the very first time I started (ever so briefly) in Aet, I joined Spinesreach. I didn't last long, not because the people were unwelcoming (because everyone was super friendly and helpful) but because of the insistence on addressing people by titles - which were not always immediately apparent. After a few times being corrected (and reassured it wasn't a big deal), I stopped talking altogether. I found the insistence on formality added an extra layer of complexity to an already difficult situation of confronting something new.
The second time, I joined Duiran. The informality suited me better and it was easier to talk when I wasn't worried about saying the wrong thing.
Again, not to malign any city in particular. Just sharing my experience.
In some guilds within Spinesreach, there have been guild rules that demand title-usage to other guild members, though.
Is it just me or does this trouserless imp not have... you know... parts?!
Edit: I think hour for hour, bashing is notably better xp (depending on class, knowledge etc), but fishing lends itself to doing other things, like coding while you're doing it, it takes much less attention to consistently fish than it does to bash.
I wouldn't say it's ridiculously lucrative in terms of XP, at least not at the level I am now. (Perhaps it gets better later on?) But for the lack of risk factor (e.g., not ending up dead if I lag or need to take care of a cat-related emergency) and the ability to do other things, it's pretty good.
I doubt I'll get to L100 by fishing, in any reasonable time-frame. But it might at least shave off a few hours here and there that I'd have wasted anyway.
I don't know all the possible methods for gaining elemental globes, typically I buy them off of others but maybe it's possible to chance into finding them IG through the cryptic chests/giftbags? Someone else more informed will likely pipe up and say.
With respect to the mentor bonus, do any of the subscription gains count toward this bonus, or is it strictly for actual credit purchases? Oh, and does the no-brainer bound credit package count for this bonus?
I'm also wondering what artifact purchase might be the best investment for my character at this point, given that I'll probably have around 400 credits to spend. I have a Sciomancer, and the statpack I have is Intelligent.
Would just converting to lessons for skills actually be the better use? (I got both the no-brainer lesson packages.)
The Iron Elite Membership is definitely a great investment if you plan on playing Aetolia long term. As far as I know, the bonus only applies to credits purchased directly from the website unless otherwise specified. The bonus does usually stack with other credit sales that they usually have i.e. if they're giving a bonus 25% credits as a holiday bonus, you'd end up with 35%.
Next, I'd only recommend artifacts after Transcending all of your skills. Vision, Avoidance, and Survival are pretty core for PK, if that's something you're interested in participating in. Transecnding a miniskill grants you 24% resistance to whatever element you choose.
With regards to PK, I am not sure if I'm terribly interested, but I won't count it out before trying it. The Ylem group stuff looks like it might be pretty fun, and a lot less involved compared to one-on-one fights. (Although maybe I'm wrong? I feel like any group fights were a lot more about coordination than skill/understanding of combat mechanics.) I am pretty glad that Firstaid exists, though. And it looks like there are quite a few quality of life improvements in general!
I do like the sound of miniskills, and the general skills seem to offer a good bit of utility. That is quite a lot of lessons, though - is it recommended to transcend all those skills and miniskills (plus I guess any crafting skills?) before starting in on the artifact craze? I'm not sure if I'm seeing much use of endurance and willpower, for example - are those just resource pools for different classes?
Skills/artifacts - depends what you want to do. Generally skills give a bigger boost for the same cost, but there's no reason to get something that you'd never use. If you get the membership, you also get +5 lessons/day, and can fill in the gaps slowly that way.
If you're -really- willing to dump some money into it, get the Syssin hunting artifact and a level 2 or above Constitution artifact.
Syssin is a weaker class for bashing unless you dump money into the strength and weapon rune artifacts. Alternatively, you could get the Sceptre of Duality.
That said, are there any notable artifacts for Sciomancers? Either for PVP or just quality of life type stuff? I've already got a
shortwishlist in mind - eq crown, mana boon, sip bonus health and/or mana (maybe?), magic potence, maybe the dominion crystal, and probably the protection amulet and/or a shield. Will the full 20/20 on the amulet apply if I'm wielding a shield?Is there anything I'm missing/overlooking? Alternatively, is there anything in that list that I'm maybe placing too much importance on, either due to nerfs, vague/misinterpreted help files or other factors?
Edit: never mind about globes, I found at least some answers.
I've had a quick look around and couldn't find any threads that looked more promising than this one, but I see that nobody has posted in here for a while. I hope this is the right place.
I've been playing for a few weeks now and loving it, even if everything still feels huge and confusing. I've been doing my best to find all the information I'm after IG, but I have an assortment of fairly specific questions remaining. I'm not yet comfortable enough with the setting to have any confidence in asking these kinds of questions IC without jeopardizing my character's RP, so I thought I'd bring them here to the forums instead.
1. My character is a citizen of Spinesreach, and I'd really like to get more involved in city-specific RP. But I'm still confused about some very basic things, like the city's overarching goal, which cities are our allies or enemies, whether we have any standing formal alliances, if there's anything like an active war going on, and who we're just generally friendly/unfriendly towards.
2. I've recently begun to dabble in fishing and I find the mechanic hugely confusing. The help file talks about finding a balance between line tension, fish stamina, and fish distance. I can occasionally land a successful catch every now and then, but for the most part, it seems like no amount of switching between LEADing and REELing can land a fish. Is this just because my skill level is low, and there are some fish that I simply have no chance of catching? Or am I doing it wrong?
3. I'm interested in skilling up my Concoctions, since being able to maintain my own stock of curatives seems like a good idea. But literally everywhere I've gone and checked PLANTS, the 'amount' column shows 0/1. The description of the plant in the room indicates that they're healthy, but there's just nothing to pick. Is this normal? Is it something to do with seasons? Or am I just unlucky and looking in places that have already been harvested clean?
4. I really enjoy exploring. In Midkemia Online, you could buy an artifact that tells you how much of a specific area you've successfully explored when you do SURVEY (displayed as a percentage, so there'd be a like telling you, "You have explored 70% of this area."). Does anything like that exist here in Aetolia?
5. Eventually, I'd like to get involved in PvP (gulp). Can anyone offer some advice as to which skillsets and artifacts are critical, advantageous, or just nice to have?
6. As an extension from 5, what are the main points of conflict between the different orgs? Is there something we all fight over on a regular basis?
7. Artisanals and Bardics have always been one of my favourite features of IRE games, but I see on the Aetolia website that there haven't been any contests for quite some time. I looked around on the forums and saw that the ArtBards have been scaled back from monthly to a less fixed time period, but haven't found any evidence of even that. Have these been scrapped altogether? And if not, where can I find out about when the next contest is being held/judged?
Very sorry for the lengthy post, and thank you so much in advance to any who take the time to reply.
I'm afraid it is a bit late for me to reply in great detail, but I can definitely answer #4. You will want to AP LIST, which will show a long list of all purchasable artifacts. You can take your time to browse through all that, but AP LIST ATLAS should get you the specific arti you want. Do AP INFO to learn more about a specific artifact.
Actually, I think doing just ARTIFACT gives you a list of artifact commands, and maybe entering just AP gives you a list of artifact purchase commands. The same principle seems to apply to many other commands. Very helpful, since Aetolia has a LOT of commands, and syntax can be a pain.
2. Haven't fished in ages, but iirc, it's not terribly complex in reality. Do something like 'qeb fishing cast' to start off the fishing process, then once a fish bites do "qeb fishing reel" repeatedly until you get it or it escapes, then cast again. FISHING shows all the commands. QEB, if you're wondering, is just a command that queues the command to happen when you next have both equilibrium and balance (it's short for "queue equilibrium balance").
3. Pass, too craftery for me.
4. Some potato covered this above.
5. Not sure what class you are (but class skills are always important, except mages can skip enchantment), but from the generic skills for PvP purposes, you'll initially want:
*Survival at least up to Focus (and later, when you have lessons, up to trans for Clearmind, which reduces the time it takes for you to focus).
*Weaponry up to Parry.
*Avoidance up to Dodging (and later up to trans, because this improves your dodging and lets you divert if you fail a dodge)
Once you have trans class skills and trans survival, you can start making your own calls on what feels a priority PvPwise. Dying to physical classes a lot? Get trans avoidance asap. A certain elemental damage oppressing you? Invest lessons in the miniskill countering them (for example, get Galvanism versus if you're having trouble against Shaman, for electric resistance). Running out of tattoo slots? Put a few lessons into tattoos, this'll get you extra slots.
NOTE: You absolutely need to always have the Eye of Lanos enchantment (which you can buy from enchanters or shops for gold) unless you have trans Vision. This'll get you temporary access to the Trans vision skill, Discernment, which is vital for PK.
Arties are very class specific. Eq classes tend to need equilibrium crown for optimal play, but otherwise, there's no absolute 'must have' artifact. Skills are more important. Use Ylem amulets to temporarily boost your stats to lessen the pressure to get stat arties (15000 gold a piece, white amulet is +1 to all stats nonstacking with arties, you want that at least, lasts 12 RL days).
6. Conflict is mostly centered around leylines, which provide ylem, which you need to keep your city running, do research and some other perks. Minor leylines spawn about every 10 minutes, but those aren't generally fought over because of their short duration. Lesser leylines spawn every 3 hours, take about 15 minutes to extract, and are very often contested and a primary form of PK. Major leylines spawn every every now and then (cooldown 24h, then 10% chance per 3h) and usually see quite a bit of PK. There's also a new/returning landmarking mechanic that runs now and then for PK.
For less group centered PK, there's the Hunting Grounds, where you can go contest for control of special temporary artifacts whenever you want, but others can kill you there or for having the artifacts, and Sect of Blades, which is a place for duelling maniacs, with some perks like special skills and items that you get from having enough points.
Obviously some RP related PK does occur, too.
7. Sorry, no idea. I never paid attention to artisnals/bardics.
In answer to question 1), I have the following to say:
While it sort of gets my goat a bit to have @Valingar describe Spinesreach as neutralish, (though I understand perfectly where this assessment comes from) Spinesreach's overarching goal is, quite simply, Spinesreach. While the other cities tend towards lofty ideals such as the proliferation/extermination of undeath and/or vampirism, or protecting the Wilds, Spinesreach is much more self interested.
The idea that Spinesreach has more neutral elements largely comes from Spinesreach's willingness to 'work' tentatively with people, groups, or entire organisations on one side of the Shadow/Spirit divide or the other as goals, needs or wants dictate.
At its best, Spinesreach is a city that values intellect, cunning, and internal loyalty, and at its worst is cold, calculating, and ruthless. (Though a Spirean may well consider these things as strengths)
All that aside, Spinesreach tends to get on well with Bloodloch for the most part, perhaps because there is a sharing of mutual enemies (Duiran and Enorian), but they're not exactly joined at the hip, and have been known to having fallings out over differences in ideaologies.
This is of course not to say that they're aren't 'nice' characters in Spinesreach. Quite a few are perfectly lovely, pleasant sorts, when dealing with their Spirean Comrades.
Other things to note, Spinesreach has a fairly heavy drinking culture. Spireans also tend to be fond of brawling, and occasionally have to-dos in one of the local tavern where citizens get drunk and beat each other up.
There's probably other things of note that are worth mentioning, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.
Your best bet is to dive in and get to know people, and see how Spinesreach does business.
And finally, welcome!
Cute-Kelli by @Sessizlik.