Possible preparations before starting a new char - Guide

[Csaszar 2]

Possible preparations before starting a new char

 

 

Sacred and especially Sacred UW Hardcore have a very nice feature most other games do not have (at least not to this extent): the really friendly gaming community.

 

That means there are a lot of friendly peeps who are willing to go to great lengths to help others starting and managing their chars.

 

A few runes to start, some money and some items can do wonders to a brand new char who is about to explore the fantastic world of Ancaria.

 

If you sacrifice some time to organize what help can you get for your new toon you will find playing at the first few levels a totally different experience - a way of playing you never experienced before.

 

We will try now to gather some things you could receive or give help to others.

 

But first :

 

Smellybeard was tired and exhausted when he reached the famous island of the adventurers. After his plane crashed into the forest near the human settlement Bellevue he spent a half day to salvage as much as possible. In spite of his hard work all he was able to gather were a few coins and a rusty hammer - when night came he realized he wouldn't be able to save his last intact keg of beer. Luckily his hammer and the anger he felt about that keg was enough to help him through the hosts of goblins and wolves he encountered during the night.

 

When he finally entered the human village he received the exact coordinates of his goal: the Bellevue portal which would take him to the island he wanted to reach. When he reached a bridge just before the Bellevue garrison he noticed three shady figures stepping out from the shadows and heard a cold voice: "Your money or your life". The poor robbers realized too late that they picked the wrong dwarf. Although Smellybeard felt no pain in the heat of the battle after the quick fight he needed to drink his last healing potion. Muttering curses under his beard he ran past quickly the guards stationed around the garrison and entered the portal.

 

Finally he reached the island. Now his anger gone all he felt was great fatigue. Not sure what to do now he entered the shop located on the island. He quickly noticed two things, there was no beer in the shop and he couldn't afford to buy anything. He realized when his plane crashed his dreams were burned along with the goods stored aboard. Then suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a deep voice, "Hello matey! Its always a pleasure to see new faces around!" When he turned to face the newcomer he saw a fellow dwarf right behind him and some others slowly gathering around a large stash in the center of the island.

 

Sensing his discomfort the other dwarf kindly asked "Anything I can help with, dude?". Smellybeard quickly told about his "accident" in the forest and in great discomfort muttered some words about his low financial state. His new noisy companion just laughed: "Hehe you have met the right Dwarf at the right place! Would five million gold help you out?" Smellybeard wanted to lift his hammer to smash the skull of the boasting Dwarf but what he saw quickly paralised him. The funny dwarf in golden armor started to drop gold around him. Smellybeard used his special dwarven ability "count money on the fly" only to raise his surpise. He counted 2 no 3 err no 10 million gold lying on the floor. Still stunned by the sudden turn of events he was confronted with a tall lady dressed in shining knight armor followed by a huge red wolf. "Hey Shorty - said the women - "I found these last night. Maybe you can use some of these." Smellybeard was shocked really when the women handed to him a large number of the legendary and rare combat art runes he heard a lot about. While he tried to gather some strength to say at least some nice words to thank the two foreigners another figure came close. This time a flaming women (with wings) came close. "Wanna try these useless stuff?" - She asked. Among his kind Smellybeard was rated as a calm and sincere guy but now he could resist to scream: "By Grabthar's Hammer! Thoose are the equipment of the legendary hero Rideg Stumel!! "Whatever you say dear." - Answered the women while she handed some guns, armor and other equipment to the speechless Smellybeard.

 

Still unable to move he heard a violent cry nearby: "Thank thee for your quick death!" When he turned around he saw a young man in blue clothes with a staff twice as big than an ordinary dwarf. The Battle Mage standing near to a portal at the northern edge of the island and it seemed he was practicing his professional adventurer approach. "Hello good dwarf" - he said. "If you would like you can accompany me and I will show you around the important places!". Smellybeard gladly accepted and they left shortly through the portal to explore Ancaria.

 

 

There are a lot of things you can do when starting a new char.

 

Luckily many people start and maintain chars solely to the purpose of helping new toons. Such chars as low level traders*, low to mid level mules**, runehunters***, forger dwarfs**** and bank characters. Of course you could start some of these chars for yourself too and help others and your own new toons.

 

Some ideas to maximize the efficiency the time spent on preparing stuff for a new char.

 

#1, Bonus All CA and Bonus All Spell ammys

 

These amulets could be used very efficiently. Even a few of them are a great help but amassing 10 or 20 of these jewels could turn your very new char an unstoppable force. Lets gather equipment with the most sockets available and socket these jewels into them. Its really easy to have +10-15 (for example) all CA to your char this way. If the regen times are too high make Combos of your main CAs buy a lot of yellow potions. Of course chars with useful duration CAs/spells can get the most bonus of this but every other toon can benefit from it. After getting a few lvls and the appropriate skill the regen times will quickly drop and you will be able to use them without Combos. Every char has some CA that can be boosted that much that it would help you through the first lvls with ease.

 

There are a lot of variations so I will list only a few of them for an example:

 

War Cry for Dwarves will provide you with nice AR and def while your melee CAs are slow recharging but absolutely devastating. That works for Gladiators to with Heroic Courage and Dagger Stare (a level 20 DS is absolutely powerful for a new toon). Vampires would love the longer time spent in vamp form and the high level Wolf. Wood Elves would enjoy their unstoppable Exploding Arrows. Mages would benefit from Ghost meadow and spells like RoI.

 

#2, Leech rings/ammys.

 

Its pretty easy to find 3 or 4% leech rings (or ammys - personally I prefer rings) with a low level trader. Wear four rings with 4% leech and you have enough for a pretty long time.

 

#3, Bonus xp, crit, RSM, Spell regen stuff

 

When starting a new toon the above mentioned mods could proove very useful. Always prefer all CA or leech but if you have a free socket (or two) don't hesitate to use these mods.

 

#4, runes

 

Muling runes to a starter char is always a good idea. The amount is what you can spare or find with your other chars. Best thing is to raise duration CAs (or spells) with them to as high level as you could. You don't really need to worry about the regen timer because you can always make a combo of that CA. Good example for this:

 

http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=5178

 

 

Now lets cover really quickly the main helper types:

 

* Dwarven Trader (there are other viable trader chars but here I will discuss the dwarf)

 

Dwarven traders can pick the trade skill at level 1. Thats a big bonus because the lower the char level and the higher the trade skill the better stuff you would find in shops. With a lvl1 trader you can reach easily 30-36 (or even higher) trade with the right equipment. Search for armor and weapon, shield, gloves, helm, cannon and such stuff with lots of sockets and preferably with bonus all skills mod. With a level 2 trader you will be able to wear all the equipment parts (boots and belt included) so you will have a little higher skill value. At Bravemart this guy will do wonders... really.

 

** Mules

 

Its always good to have some mules in your char bank.

level 60 Bronze/Silver/Gold difficulty

level 100 Silver/Gold/Platinum difficulty

level 140 Gold/Platinum/Niobium difficulty

 

This way you can cover all the difficulty lvls and able to help at all transfers.

 

*** Runehunters

 

Runehunters are famous for their insane rune drop. Its really not hard to make a good runefinder, especially at lower lvls. There are nice runehunter guides posted everywhere so I am confident that you will manage this nicely

 

**** Forger Dwarf

 

Now he is one of the most useful helper. With the right equipment he is able at level 60 to do max forge. That means he can give you +20 mf and lots of resists into a socket. Sacrifice 2-5 sockets for Dwarven MF forge and you will have nice MF and a very good bonus to all resists.

 

The forger would need level 180 forge lore to reach max MF forge. That seems hard but it can be reached. Mainly with Thar Eross equipment parts (armor, cannon, ring give nice bonus to forge) and Kabelrinte shoulder guards (bonus to all skills) and +1 all skill rings. Pick trade lore too and you have a nice trader char at this level.

 

Of course all above mentioned stuff are not REQUIRED to start a new char and at the long run it wont really effect you. But if you have already a lot of lowbys or you need to get a char quickly to silver or gold the ideas here could be helpful.

 

 

I have both a forger dwarf and a trader one and some mules too. If you see me online don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it - Like most Sacred HC players, I would be glad to help you .

 

Csaszar

 

Many thanks to Claire who worked hard to correct my spelling mistakes. If you still found some its my bad - probably I made too much of them!

Edited August 4, 2007 by Csaszar

[erialc 3]

Fantastic guide Csaszar and there was very little to correct

 

I'll add it to the Guide Index now

 

[myles 2]

"all mistakes are mine" like a true writer, so professional.

[gial 2]

This is great Csaszar. Common sense is not always so common - lol. With the incarnation of the second Kami, I have adopted exactly this concept.

 

I built a level 1 trader dwarf and bought equipment for a vamp and mage - the real characters I intend to play. The vamp is moving along nicely, and will be at Kami silver this week. I'm also leveling the dwarf with her to keep her needs satisfied. Whe I next need to start a new character, I will move the low level dwarf stuff to a new trader and repeat the process.

 

With respect to the dwarf, I found that at level 1 it is very hard to buy +1 all skills rings. But by leveling him to 3, they become plentiful and are all still minimum level 1 requirement.

[Funkilicious 1]

Thanks so much Csas, I am still a Noobie at all this and every guide that is written, I treasure.

[Csaszar 2]

Hi

 

Funki:

 

I am glad you found some use of theese ideas.

 

Gial:

 

No matter how hard we try to influence Lady of Luck trading will be always under her rule.

 

With my first trader dwarf I found barely no spell ammys and a lot of All Ca ammys. Now with my second dwarf the all CA ammys became scarce and I find a lot of spell ammys

 

But generally the more trade you have the easyer to get the desired stuff - so after you get enough +1 all skills rings/ammys it will be easyer to find the rest. Luckily I have enough of them so if you would like I can pass some to you if needed.

 

For my traders I am strongly against to level them over 1 (maybe 2). At that low level the difference between the possible maximum of his trade skill and his level is soooo great that he is able to find top notch stuff. If lvld further the trade skill will be higher but the difference between the maximum skill value and his level will be lower and lets not forget - we get all theese fantastic stuff because of the large difference.

 

Lvling him to 2 could be still a viable option because at level 2 the dwaqrf would be able to wear all kind of equipment (he cant wear boots and belts at level 1 - I think) and so still being close to a real low level he can net the following trade bonus:

 

+3 from sockets (1 boot 2 belt)

+3 from all skills jewelry

+3 if the jewelry has both +1 all skills AND +1 to trade

+2 if the equipment has +1 skill on them (hehe I bought some max socketed +1 skill equipment)

+1 from being able to put 1 more point into the skill at lvl2

 

So that level 2 trader has a + 12 maximum trade skill bonus over the level 1 version which is high enough to think on it

 

Lvling him over this level wont have such a high jump in the max possible skill but it would reduce the difference between the level and max skill - so its not real good idea.

 

But having a level 1 or 2 trader AND having a secondary trader which follows the main char to trade him/her better gear is a Brilliant idea.

 

I tried it myself in some cases and it worked really nice. The best option would be to have a trader of the same class of the main character. This way you would be able to choose from a wider range of char specific items. (of course if the char could take trade skill at all - demoness cant )

 

 

Happy trading!

Csaszar

[Schot 415]

Wow! Superb guide Csaszar and exceptionally valuable. In all truth I think every player should follow this line of thinking. Oh and buy some more accounts too, lol.

 

Very nice Csaszar!

[Arilaftia 1]

Thank you for this Csaszar!! Its just perfect!! and I love the Adventures of Smellybeard !

 

LOL Schot!

[Epox 2]

AHAHA I luv that name for a dwarf good story good guide grats cze

[gogoblender 3,304]

I don't know how I missed this.

Comprehensive, well-written and entertaining.

One of the best guides on Sacred I've ever seen.

 

 

gogo

 

[DaveO 88]

Thanks so much for the starter guide, Csaszar. I'd like to add in some other starters that can help a new toon get off the ground.

 

Having been thru Hardcore several times I feel safe enough in saying that one should seek the regular Bronze servers IF they feel comfortable enough with more than one player. The 'nursery' servers of level 10 or below are a good way for new people to familiarize themselves with either new characters or get a starting understanding of how the game, characters, items, CAs, etc work. It's a LOT of detail to remember and sort out either mentally or thru aid sites.

 

In my minor opinion the advantages of joining the regular Bronze servers at level 6 or so outweighs the potential disadvantages, BUT I feel a warning should be given that not everyone is going to let others know where they are adventuring. It's NICE to let people know where you are so there are no unpleasant surprises, especially with monsters over the standard 1-6 level gap.

 

My approach is the most sensible: Ask before going any where or doing anything. I consider it a necessary courtesy to at least ask before doing quests, picking up island drops, etc. I don't always meet that courtesy, but it just adds a little personal touch to those who put in the hard work in attempting various character builds.

 

I *try* to let the group decide instead of being a 'dictator' and play the game a specific way. I'm ALWAYS open to giving a helping hand to new players, but I let their actions, words and deeds be a partial factor into how much I'm willing to do for them. I am quite willing to sacrifice items, mentor potions(ESPECIALLY pots since I tend to hoard them), and drops to assist others. It's all about the reward being to let the other people enjoy the experience rather than focusing on specific areas to hunt or farm(though I may occasionally pop into the Valley of Tears or more often Hell's Ridge for experience and item hunts).

 

One final comment about Trader characters. While the Dwarf is the most popular Trader toon due to being able to choose the Trade skill at level 1, I feel that a Wood Elf Trader set for level 6 is an acceptable substitute. I do realize that a disadvantage of this is that gear can range from level 1-6. But an advantage is that by having slightly higher gear for level reqs, you can get it to last a bit longer. Most of my starter gear can make it to level 10-20, whereas Dwarf starter gear may make it to level 10-15. While 15 levels from 1-15 versus 5-20 does not sound like much, the later levels of a character are by far the more rewarding versus the earlier levels where a new toon is looking to survive to Silver difficulty.

 

P.S. - I do like the fictional work, and am a bit tempted to write a guide from the viewpoint of an attempt at a fresh character perspective. I've written fictional work before, and did enjoy the creative process a bit. I won't say I'm a great writer, but possibly entertaining enough to have some fun with a creative project that would let me have the freedom to let my imagination go where it leads.

Edited August 7, 2007 by DaveO