My general rule of thumb for moving to the mainland would be soloing 2 or 3 kipees consecutively.. Not sure if that's changed with the new patch, but seems to have been a fair indication of readiness regarding melee combat. A friend is staying on the Matis newbie island and is starting up a Newbie Guide Guild
. Basically, we worked out this mission to take new players on to familiarize them with the game. I welcome members of other starter islands to use it as well..
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Newbie Mission Guide v.1:
1. Find a newbie or two (more can lead to group problems) hanging around borea, maybe heal them a bit if fighting.
2. Ask them if they've been to the other villages, find out where they have visited.
3. Ask them to help in journeying to another village to complete a quest/mission, let them know there will be a reward.
4. If they are extremely under equipped, give them light pants/vest and a couple of q20 daggers to start out with.
5. Have them group together. If your level is going to suck out all the XP, just let them know you wont be grouping due to having too high a lvl at healing. Make sure they use /say to communicate.
6. Start the tour:
A) Make sure they know how to use the map and compass. Let them know what path will be taken to the destination village. Usually I will have new players head north to near the edge, then west to Stalli. The amount of aggros on this path is relatively small. Mention the marking of map spots to help find certain resources again. Show them how to set their compass to a landmark, etc...
B) Let them know about the fauna of Atys. The aggros, ragus/gingo, are more prevalent and active at night and early morning, times to be specially wary. Point out how they like to "play dead". Explain how herd movement of other animals can be a very good indication of where a dog might be hiding or fighting. When ragus/gingo attack, they do so from behind, which leads into..
C) Let them know about any key shortcuts that might come to mind. Specifically here I mention the 0 key on the keypad to keep an eye on teammates and dog movent behind you. Other such items might be ctrl 1-0 for the hands bars, space bar and f12 for targeting, etc..
D) As a last mentioning before the journey, I would make the suggestion that new players stick with melee fighting till at least lvl 10 to 20 regardless of what skill they want to specialize in. It can be frustrating to try and expand the other skillsets when you keep getting killed because of lack of base hitpoints.
E) Head north and then west on the way to Stalli. Take some time to point out various things such as the lightning storms
, a herd of Capys fleeing from a ragus, a certain spot along the way that has been rumored to be a good source of X material, etc etc... Take some time to gain some levels as well.
F) Stalli.. rejoice in the successful journey.. reward the players with another piece of equipment (usually a 1h sword in return for one of the daggers) and some dappers. Have the players train up. I would recommend Increased Damage and Attack after Dodge/Parry. Explain the modular action system by adding Increased Damage to the default attack and creating an Increased Dam (and maybe more stanzas) attack using the "Attack after" skill. I've often enough encountered folks that didn't understand the attack after skills, so I try and explain it here.
G) Need to complete another part of the mission/quest, will need to head to the southwest town (can't remember the name). From here it's just a matter of having fun and making sure no one gets killed. Show them the kipees... maybe have one of them heal while the other tanks and just hang back to make sure it goes well, healing as needed... etc...
And that's version 1 of the newbie mission. At the end of it, they have a full suit and enough dappers to focus on their primary skill for a while. It's nice to request that they pass on the information if they get the chance, maybe pass on the eq/weap if they choose something different or head to the mainland.
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I know Valeriana is using this on the Matis island, Sophy may be using it as well, and I know it's been shared with a few other folks so far. I should post it somewhere and update it as needed. Need to devise some mission guides for foraging, magic and crafting. Just trying to lessen the learning curve for this game.
Anyway, just thought I'd share
-Sui