New, just a few questions

[pest13]

I'm a long time player of all types of MMO's. My most recent adventure was DDO. I've been playing MMO's since the early 90's. I have been trying to find a new game that doesn't take as much of a "Hardcore" player to get things done. Yes, I was once apon a time I was a hardcore 12 hours a day MMO player, but I now have a wife and kid. So I have limited time. Is this the MMO for me? I like the skill base, almost reminds me of Runescape in the way that you can be a jack of all trades very easily. So heres some questions I got for you guys.

1. Am I going to enjoy my self if I can only play 2-3 days a week, and only 1-3 hours on those days? (other then weekends, when I can play 6-8 hours while the house is asleep )

2. How's the PVP? I've read a lot about it, but its still not super clear. When I played Lineage 2, if someone was hunting in your area... you could straight up kill them, at the risk of losing items if you get killed your self afterwards. Is there any rewards to PvPing? like betting on duels and such? or item loss at death from pvp?

3. How does the party/guild system work for EXP? I'm looking to join with 3-4 of my friends who are all in the same basket as me... not much time. If we all get together on Tuesdays and Thursdays or something, is there an advantage to grouping up and killing things? or is soloing the best bet for fastest EXP?

4. Is there any advantage of being "Pure" in something... like maxed magic and no fighting? or visa versa?

5. Is there a way to "mess up" your character? Because we are new, we might not know what kills to take and so forth... Are we going to get 2 months into the game and realize we need to re make our characters because they suck?

EDIT: 6. Does your race mean anything?

Thanks for all the help in advance guys. I have already experienced first hand that this is one of the most understanding and helpful communities in ANY mmo that I have ever played.

[jamela]

Welcome to Atys, pest13 .

1. With limited playing time you'll see many people you meet develop very much faster than you, as I'm sure you expect. And you may well never achieve a very high level (200+) in any tree, but I don't think that's a big deal. In my opinion the most PvE fun is had roughly between levels 75 and 150, when the world is still a very dangerous place, but you have some means and skill to get out of sticky situations.

2. PvP is essentially consensual. You must choose to tag up, enter one of the few PvP regions, or accept a duel proposal. There are no rewards or losses as a direct result of PvP, but there can be competition over the resources to be found in the PvP regions.

3. Soloing is not usually the best for rapid XP, unless you're punching well below your weight. There are no bonuses for teams or guilds, but it's almost always more fun with a team .

4. No, you'd be at a disadvantage if you focussed on a single skill tree. Nothing wrong with that, though.

5. There's not really any way to mess up your character since, in time, you can work on sideskills to make up for any regretted decision at the trainers and eventually you'll have more Skill Points than you can use. It is possible, however to make life difficult for yourself, if you try. Particularly in the Craft tree where plans and upgrades are very dear to learn - focus on a single craft discipline at first and try not to spread yourself thin.

6. Race means a great deal in lore but has very little mechanical effect - it determines your starting Fames, which affect your prices in the markets on the mainland a little.