Mourning is where my guild plays. As it so happens I deleted my characters...but im willing to come back since this is my favorite MMO of all time.
Here's my quick (super quick) explanation of how the game works:
Players start off in small npc villages and progress their skills by level. Each level you are given a certain amount of points to spend on % levels of skills. But you need gold to pay for this training.
Skills have major types and minor skills. For example, one class might have Shadowmastery as its main skill..and as that skill % goes higher, you get spells based on that power. The more % you put into it, the more unlock, but more importantly, the more damage you do with that spell.
Damage is of course also based on attributes like STR, INT, DEX...etc. So if the skill you're using or the weapon you're using is based of DEX (say a bow) then your damage will go up with Archery and with Dex.
EAch level you are given points also to add to your characters stats.
In general, defense works off of the DEX skill and damage works off DEX or STR or INT depending on what weapon/magic you are using.
Now, lets get to classes. There are 4 archetypes and classes within each.
The Fighter's Way: The Path of Might
Professions:
Barbarian - pure brute strength
Crusader - part fighter, part paladin type. holy damage and weapons.
Huntress - caster and pet commander
Ranger - dexterity, range attacks, and buffs
Sentinel - skip
Templar -
Warlock - debuffer and mental damage nuker
Warrior - strength and defense
The Healer's Way: The Path of Faith
Professions:
Channeler -
Confessor - blooddrain magic
Crusader
Doomsayer
Druid - buff, debuff, and dot
Prelate -
Priest - heal and holy damage
The Mage's Way: The Path of Lore
Professions:
Assassin - stealth caster, drain dots, damage nukes
Bard - all in one, but weak. buffs, nukes, debuffs,
Channeler
Doomsayer
Fury - elemental magic, group flight (thought to be good for seiges)
Necromancer
Warlock - mental debuffer, mental nuker
Wizard - nuker
The Rogue's Way: The Path of Skill
Professions:
Assassin - stealth, backstab,
Barbarian
Bard - dex version of the mage. lots of buffs and debuffs.
Huntress
Nightstalker
Ranger
Scout - fastest runner, best tracking, can run while invised
Thief - fast runner, high defense, can steal from people
When you get a feel for what you'd like to play, begin looking at races.
Aelfborn - dex monkeys. seen as a good mix of dex and int and con, but master of none.
Aracoix - bird men who have natural flight. Good at rogue professions (ranger, theif, assassin) or barbarians (one of my best characters of all time was a bird barb with throwing axes)
Centaurs - run super fast, but limited to warrior type cprofessions. Make good warriors or holy nukers.
Dwarves - fun little bastards. Str based. Some like to go the weird route of dex dagger dwarves. dont do it.
Elves - high int, low con. best at wizards, holy nukers, or assassins.
Half Giants - best at warrior professions. stay away. they suck. (someone will tell you they dont, but these are lies)
Humans - supposed to be thebest mix of all, but not that great.
Irekei - red faced. look like darth maul. great at certain types of rogue professions or mage classes (sundancer - hand to hand boxer or assassin - rogue or mage either)
Minotaurs - str based. look cool but never really liked em. good cannon fodder. Slow runners.
Nephilim - demon kind. great int nukers. natural flight
Shades - int characters. Rogue or mage. Can be really great or really sucky.
Vampires - drainer and sometimes scout. played one for a month and didnt like them.
Obviously different races have different mixes of stats.
Just like almost every rpg, at creation you get a pool of points and can spend them on your character however you like.
You also get a chance to give your character [url=http://chronicle.ubi.com/sb_traits.php]Traits which can only be done at creation. These can make you twohanded, higher max int, +% to certain skills...lots of combinations. Dont mess this up.
The other thing you have to realize about characters is that they can be further customized with Runestones.
Thes runes can add extra attributes (STR, INT - +5, +10) or they can add extra abilities. The abilities are called disciplines.
Disciplines
Certain abilities are only gained by applying one of these runestones to your character. And just so you know...you can only apply a limited number of these to your character...10
Where do these come from? Well there are NPCs that spawn and everyone races to kill them to get the rune. Some are highly sought after (huntsman lets you track people) and others are crap (+5 spirit).
Head reeling yet? Its not that hard, but it really opens up a lot of character combinations. There are "flavors of the month" meaning templates that really do well and so people copy them or vary them. Some suck, but soeone has played it well so people gravitate towards what they think works.
Character Creation Guide
Basically you make your character and go out and hunt. Id suggest getting in a group. First they will prolly be alts of other people and can take you to the hotspots. Second, you share xp. So the more people in a group, the more xp you get. You can take all the xp by going solo, but its faster in a group.
Gear
Youll start out in character creation with a "kit" which is what clothes and weapons you'll get for free.
As you progress you will want to buy jewelry and better weapons. Each of these has a durability that goes down when you die. sucks, but its a money sink for the game.
Merchanting and City building
When you gain enough money, you can buy a scroll that allows you to contruct a building. There are many different types and each house a certain kind of NPC. This npc will "roll" or craft your items (clothign, different armor or weapon types..etc) for you, but you have to wait.
Both buildings and NPC vendors have ranks that take money and time to improve. With higher ranks come better weapons to be made and faster rolling times.
When a person/guild starts a town, they find an open spot and plant a Tree of Life. This tree confers magical invulernability to a certain number of buildings (also ranked) until a seige is laid.
Guilds can build great walls around their towns with towers and stairs and guards to protect them. The guards are housed in barracks which can be ranked up to get more guards at higher skill levels. Even the guard paths can be set.
Seiges
This is what this game is all about. One guild lays down a "banestone" and the defending guild has 2 days to decide at what time they want the seige to start (usually 3 days - the max). 2am seiges suck because you cant get everyone online but they are fun as fuck.
From the time the seige starts its a simple race....they try to destroy your tree of life...and the defenders try to destroy your banestone. Simple hitpoint depletion.
These seiges can have great maneuvering...or complete chaos. Get ready to lag or memory leak out. Its a fact of life. But its worth it. Trust me.
Exploring
Different zones have different npc races and levels of creature to level up on.
Desert, forest, swamp, ashen, ...its all there.
Its really a great game because its about skill and intelligence. Sure there arent any quests, but intelligence in making a good template and the skill to play it well are hard to come by.
Thats my super short intro. Cant wait to see yall in the game.
P.S. We have a TeamSpeak server if you want to use it.
Ill ask them and see if its ok if enough people want to talk on it.
