Armor usage
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Wear a mix of medium and heavy armor while meleeing solo, and all heavy while tanking in a team. I've found this armor mixture quite effective on low level alts. Medium has less action penalty than heavy.
Action penalties and credits
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The higher your action penalty, the more action credits (stamina, HP, etc.) you use. To see what action credits are, try right clicking on an action in your shortcut bar (window in the top middle of the screen) and selecting edit. You'll see two buttons, add option and add credit (I think, not looking at it right now so I'm not entirely sure). Play with these a bit and it might help you to understand the modular action system.
Armor usage (cont.)
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While hunting solo, you'll want your attacks to use a bit less stamina, so you don't run out or have to wait for it to regenerate. While tanking in a team, you'll usually have a healer who can restore your stats, so conserving stamina etc. isn't as important and you can use all heavy armor for its greater protection factor.
For magic, it's best to use light armor or, if you want some extra protection, light mixed with some medium. You should always use all light armor when foraging and crafting.
Armor types information
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Light armor has no action penalty, but very little protection (usually around 12%). The only stat bonus (such as HP) on it is what the crafter puts on it. The quality of light armor you can wear is your highest level +25.
Medium armor has more protection (usually around 25%) than light, but less than heavy. It also has more action penalty than light and less than medium. Each piece of medium automatically has an HP bonus of half its quality, plus whatever the crafter added to it. The quality of medium armor you can wear is your Constitution * 1.5 (press P ingame to see the Identity window, where your stats such as Constitution are listed).
This is a handy tool for finding the quality of armor you can wear.
Heavy armor has the most action penalty, and the most protection, usually around 45% but ideally 50%+. Each piece automatically has an HP bonus equal to its quality, plus whatever the crafter put on it. The quality of heavy armor you can wear is your Constitution +10.
Stats
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Constitution corresponds to your HP. Each Constitution upgrade gives you 5 points of Constitution, which equates to 50 more points of HP. This rule applies to Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity as well.
Metabolism corresponds to the regeneration rate of your HP.
Strength is your stamina, Balance is your stamina regeneration rate. Stamina relates to melee and ranged fighting.
Intelligence is Sap, Wisdom is sap regeneration rate. Sap relates to magic.
Dexterity is Focus, Will is focus regeneration rate. Focus relates to foraging/harvesting and crafting.
Anyway, I hope I've helped and haven't just confused you. XD Kind of semi-random information that came to mind as extensions to what I initially said about using a mix of medium and heavy while meleeing solo.
Welcome to Ryzom.
