New player questions about the classes and game

Mardella

Hi I'm a new player to lusternia, i've played some of the other Iron realms games in the past and I'm looking for something new.

I've read up on the wiki and a few guides but most of them are either very light on information or quite out of date.

I wanted to get up to date opinions and advice about the guild and classes today. Ideally I'm just looking for an active community with good roleplay and a fun class to play. In terms of roleplay I quite like quite structured and strict organisations(not necessarily militarist but something like that) as they tend to give amazing roleplay opportunities, from what i've read about lusternia all the cities/orgs seem to have this to some extent, more so than other IRE games with the power tieing you into a group and their rules. 

In terms of class abilities and fun I really like fairly mobile and flexible classes with a lot of tricks and utility, I may be wrong as i'm just basing this on the quick old guides i've read but seems like druids/mages would be a bit of a turn off for me due having to lug around your demesne.  Warriors and monks seem more of the smash you face in class where you've got to stay on the enemy and build up momentum and wounds to eventually overpower them which seems ok. Wiccans and guardians seem a bit more up my street with various afflictions and instakills. If someone could give me a bit of a run down on the guilds based on this I'd really appreciate it.

Lusternia looks like a fairly attractive option but I was a bit worried about the numbers in it, does it have enough of an active community for good scale conflict? I've trial run a few characters on the other IRE games and some of them seem near dead with only a handful of people on and not much in the way of conflict or interesting events going on, how does Lusternia stand up in that regards at the moment?

Thanks for your time and any replies guys!

Rolsand

Warrior is a lot of work.

Mardella

In what way?

Rolsand

Its a nice class but just something that requires a lot of effort.

Ceros

Here, I think you might find what you're looking for in either Glomdoring or Hallifax. Glomdoring has a bit of a strict RP culture but is a little bit more bloody and dark. Hallifax is similar but instead of dark, it's a bit more science or art focused.

Warrior's aren't so bad. They're one of the best classes for bashing and I don't think they're bad for PVP either. My most recent death (15 minutes ago, was by a warrior). @demartel could probably tell you some of the pros and cons of the warrior class, since he's pretty good at it.

The class I main is Shadowdancer in Glomdoring. It's of the Guardian/Wiccan archtype. I really love the class. The guild is doing well and PK with Shadowdancer is probably the most fun I've had in a while. The Institute is Hallifax's equivalent of that. Shadowdancers use "shadowbound" fae to attack their enemies, and the Institute uses uses empowered gems that float around their body (to my knowledge). The warriors of Glomdoring and Hallifax are called the Ebonguard and Sentinels. The help files do a pretty good job of describing them, I think.

Event-wise, Lusternia probably has the deepest lore and most fun and frequent events out of any of the IREs. And for that, I really love it. There are plenty of opportunities for PvP (especially during the weekend) and even more for RP.  There are lots of avenues for conflict. I'd say that 6pm US Central time to 1pm US Central Time, is usually pretty active. Much more than you'd think. There will also few changes coming to our guild systems so I think it will bring a little more activity, as well.

Edit: @falmiis is a good Hallifax resource, and I think @lerad is a great Glomdoring resource. So they could also kind of help shape what I'm trying to say. I'm typing this on my phone so I'm not as wordy as I could be.

Falaeron

Don't listen to Rolsand. All classes require work in 1v1. In groups, which is 99.9% of all combat here, warriors are very potent and only get better as you get more of them. On the receiving end, it does currently feel like monks are a smash your face until you die class, but warriors never looked like that. You didn't mention bards at all, but as far as mobility and flexibility go I think you might enjoy them. There are just so many things they can do to affect fights in so many different situations.

People usually only think of Hallifax being so bureaucratic that it becomes joke, but really I don't see that at all. It's likely an attitude from how Hallifax is portrayed in the histories and possibly from what the city was like when it first came out but since I've started playing it feels very different to what I have otherwise been told. Ultimately it is very structured but even the strictness of the city is overstated. For the most part, it's really no more strict than what you'll find elsewhere. At the end of the day we're just here to have fun and I think the leadership understands that. The aspect of the city that is often ignored is the Higher Emotion/"trill" side. To me there is an interesting symbiosis between the scientific, structured "lucidian" and the artistic, expressive "trill" aspects of the city's culture. Without either Hallifax wouldn't be what it is.

Rolsand

*blink* warriors require a lot more work than other classes.

Falaeron

Rolsand said:

*blink* warriors require a lot more work than other classes.

You'd be saying the same about any other class you play.

Rolsand

You would say the same thing that I'm saying if you actually played as a warrior.

Synkarin

Every class 1v1 requires work against someone with good curing and a good head. Warriors probably do need some help, but it's not hopeless, they can be viable, but at the moment they'll struggle 1v1. The trade-off is that warriors are great in groups at the moment. 

Lerad

A class that requires a lot of work, huh...

Well, I've not updated this in a while, but I'll just leave this here...:

https://ada-young.appspot.com/pastebin/15c434f2

Demartel

@Rolsand Warriors do not require more work than any other class. As has been pointed out to you numerous times in numerous threads, warriors are fine aside from some tweaks that are upcoming and PB's being forced to use a wonky mechanic that is hard to balance around. After you complained about bashbrains I went BC and tried it out. It was certainly not impossible to pull off a bashbrain. In groups, you should never be complaining about BC or BM. I am one of the most active warriors in PVP right now and have every spec there is. I have achieved kills with all of them, except Cavalier and Axelord. 1vs1 and in groups.

Again, 1vs1 Warriors are struggling but that will change, 2handers struggle more than 1handers, but both will improve in the next little while.

Mardella

How do the classes operate? 

I've only got a little bit of exp from the guides about how they work, From what I can gather monks and warriors basically bash peoples limbs in to get wounds which cause worse and worse afflictions until the enemy gets overwhelmed enough to damage them to death or perform an insta kill? 

They both seem like a build up class that starts off slow but builds to smush any target they can continue to build momentum and constant attacks on. Their other skill sets seem to be for support or defence right?

How about the wiccan/guardians they seem quite different city to city but roughly speaking it seems their the major affliction classes, throw a bunch of afflictions and burn your power to try and overwhelm for an instakill?

Bards I honestly could find much about them other than people saying they were quite passive which put me off a little.

Oh and also what is the combat like on a more general level? I mean are they plenty of people sparing and fighting in general or is it quite quiet, I just trialed one of the ire games and there was like no one sparing at all which made it a bit difficult to learn your class when there was basically no low-mid level people willing or able to spar or fight.

In terms of credits I've probally got about 3k coming from retiring some old Achaean characters which I figure would be enough to get the most of the skills I need. I've also heard lusternia has sort of less powerful artifacts than the other games is that accurate?

Shaddus

Mardella said:

How do the classes operate? 

I've only got a little bit of exp from the guides about how they work, From what I can gather monks and warriors basically bash peoples limbs in to get wounds which cause worse and worse afflictions until the enemy gets overwhelmed enough to damage them to death or perform an insta kill? 

They both seem like a build up class that starts off slow but builds to smush any target they can continue to build momentum and constant attacks on. Their other skill sets seem to be for support or defence right?

How about the wiccan/guardians they seem quite different city to city but roughly speaking it seems their the major affliction classes, throw a bunch of afflictions and burn your power to try and overwhelm for an instakill?

Bards I honestly could find much about them other than people saying they were quite passive which put me off a little.

Oh and also what is the combat like on a more general level? I mean are they plenty of people sparing and fighting in general or is it quite quiet, I just trialed one of the ire games and there was like no one sparing at all which made it a bit difficult to learn your class when there was basically no low-mid level people willing or able to spar or fight.

In terms of credits I've probally got about 3k coming from retiring some old Achaean characters which I figure would be enough to get the most of the skills I need. I've also heard lusternia has sort of less powerful artifacts than the other games is that accurate?

If you want to do the most with the least artifact (and skill) investment, Bards or Monks are your best bet.

Demartel

@Mardella - Warriors depend on your strategy. Do you want to be a smash and kill warrior or do you want to be a hinder and afflict warrior?

Bonecrushers for instance can knockdown, wind, blackout, command denial through damaged head all while building up wounds and damage. Because they are 1 handers, they can do most of those on demand. In groups BC are amazing.

Blademasters are amazing against pet classes [Shadowdaner/Moondancer/Illuminati] because they can deliver disloyalty on demand through sliced ear. They are also the best of the warrior specs for using poisons, meaning once you get some wounds built up you can deliver poisons pretty consistently.

Both of the above specs can also deliver two poisons + two affs or one aff and wounds. With a beast you can achieve 5 afflictions.

Purebade are great in groups. Decapitate is very good if you have a group that listens to your call outs. Twist is great damage if you are fighting with a group that can buildup your bleeding for you.

Axelord is one of the only specs to not have any real changes since the overhaul, because it is a pretty solid spec already. Damage, chest wounds, and knockdowns are your bread and butter. The more wounds you do the more damage you do. Not really my favourite of the specs, because IMHO it does not have the flair of other specs.

Cavalier is basically pin charging your groups target and building up wounds for impales. It is one of the harder specs to learn, and most people just strike gut to get impales or pin charge. The instakill IMO is not easy to get to currently, but hoping that will change soon.


As far as spars go, you can ask on market for spars and usually someone will offer themselves. There are occasionally bouts of FFA's and Wargames going on. They come and go depending on people's mood though. You can always market that too, to ask people to join queue. Sometimes all it takes is someone  urging others to do it.

PVP usually takes place on Ethereal, Nil, or Celestia.

Others can answer the bard/wiccan/guardian questions more in depth than I can. I am a wiccan and druid as well, via classflexing, but I play them a lot less.

Mardella

Hi thanks for the help everyone. I've been trying out a few alts in a few different guilds to see whats what.

Only had a few quick general questions. What is this combat overhaul thingy anyway? I gather than basically everything in changing soon? Theres a lot of information and I gather its been going on for a long time already. As a newbie to the game is there anything I need to know about it directly? Like am I going to start playing a class to have it fundamentally changed next month? Just a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff.

The other thing, not so important, but something I'd like to know for future character invesement. Artifacts, wow they are so different from how the other IRE games artifacts works, it seems a lot more complicated here.

Theres a bunch of runes, apparently according to the help file I can have a max of ten runes attached to me at a time (one per item of jewelry) 

--

   o You can only have one rune of each category attached to a piece of
     jewellery or a weapon, and there is a maximum of ten runes of any
     type that can be attached.

--

does that mean I can only have 10 runes on me at once, or 10 of each type. Like could I in theory buy 10 health boost runes and 10 mana boost runes or could I have a max of 5 of each boosts?

Also attachment of the runes for damage boost do they have to be added to a sword/weapon/staff/caster thing or are they just worn on rings like the other runes?

Yarith

Ah. It means you can only put ten runes on a particular piece of apparel. Runes, by convention, don't stack. You can't have more than one health regeneration rune, for example. I mean, you can, but the multiples won't do anything! You can have more than 10 runes across more than one piece of jewellery, however.

Edit: So you can have 10 different runes on your engagement ring and 10 runes on your necklace, provided all 20 of the runes are different in their type. Damage buff/resist go on jewellery I'm pretty sure. Runes for weapons are either those for knighthood specifically or are listed in HELP ARTIFACTS WEAPONRY I think.

Mardella

Ah right so I can only have 1 buff working at a time, so only 1 health regen, only +magic damage rune etc. But I can put 10 on one item.

And then weapon runes 1handers get 1 of three types of runes on them but two handers get two of each. But then I can add a great weapon rune to add more runes right?

I think I get it.

Luce

You can have only one copy of a buff active at once. If, though, you can find a universal buff, that would stack with the specific buff.

Enyalida

Yes, but -and hear me out- bees.

Demartel

Mardella said:

Ah right so I can only have 1 buff working at a time, so only 1 health regen, only +magic damage rune etc. But I can put 10 on one item.

And then weapon runes 1handers get 1 of three types of runes on them but two handers get two of each. But then I can add a great weapon rune to add more runes right?

I think I get it.

You can put 3 elite weapon runes on a 1 handed weapon, so 6 in total (3 on each weapon). 2handers need 6 runes to equal the runes of 1handers.

Each rune, or pair of runes, adds an enhancement slot to your weapon which forgers can then give your weapon buffs. All weapons come with 1 - 2 slots free.

If you choose warrior ignore the help file part about speed and precision runes they are apparently only for monks, but will become obsolete once the monk overhaul is done.

Eldanien

They're outdated for monks as well.  Or were at one point.  When I returned from my latest absence, I had two Vernal Knights on my tahto that did bup and kis, so they got traded in pretty quickly.

When overhaul hit, monks were affected but not really included.  For example, forging modifications don't work on kata weapons at all.  Two-handed kata weapons (I assume, this is certainly true for tahto) have only one modification slot, rather than the two I would expect.

Things like that.

That said, don't look at this as a reason to avoid monk.  There's a lot to be said for them still, and new and exciting (YMMV) things are expected for them soon...er or later.

Mardella

So basically the help files say all weapons are the same as each other type:

Weapons are divied into classes, largely based on their hand requirements and damage typing. Each class of weapons has several different styles, which are mechanically identical.

So a short sword is the same as a rapier, a club is no different than a mace right?

With the overhaul how do weapon stats work at the moment? Are they basically irrelevant or are they like other ire games with different speed stats etc?

Yarith

They used to be specialised for different things. It just so happened that the speed weapons were the most efficient so everyone went for the speed variant of each set. This is no longer the case; all weapons will perform to the same level and weapon stats have been removed. So yes, as long as they are the masterwork or w/e it is version of the weapon, a short sword will be just as good as a rapier or any other one-handed sword. 

Weapons do not have stats, they all function at the same level and warriors are balanced around their particular attacks. The wounds, afflictions, and speed of the warrior's attacks are largely skillset based with the ability to be modulated with 'upgrade' slots into a weapon. The weapons themselves don't do anything.

Mardella

Ah cool thanks for the info, so just pick the coolest looking weapon and run from there then

Oh is armor/shields are essentially the same like weapons then I assume?

So if I have it right I get me a master weapon with three customization slots on it then add  for eg Damage/Impact/Honed  to the customization slots. 

Then that's the weapon done, in terms of artifacts I can then buy for 300 an unlock to give an extra customization slot. Max of three slots for 1handers, 6 for two handers, so 2700 credits in total to have max weapons. 

I'm assuming the runes listed in forging are like a tradeskill buff only for the forger?

Mardella

Oh another question

"Damage Enhancement Runes: 75, 150 or 300 credits

 Superior Runes provide 5/13 damage enhancement of the named type."

Warriors could in theory then buy this rune and enchant physical damage right?

Yarith

Right! They can buy those and it will influence their damage. There's also an enhancement for weapons to turn some of their damage to a more desirable elemental/cosmic typing, in which case you can also buy those for those damage types too.

Edit: As to the ehancements, I'm not certain, I'm not all that versed on the specifics of warrior.

Eldanien

Master weapons will have 2 enhancement slots when forged.  Artifact runes can increase the number of possible enhancements.  And the tangentially related damage buff runes can be used to increase damage further, yes.

Also, as a note, the weapon artifacts allow you to double up on a given enhancement.  Ordinarily, you couldn't.  So for example, a forger with the Hammer of Clangorum's Mastery can enhance a weapon to do partial damage of another type (divinus for example).  With the Great Rune of the Elite Weaponsmith, you could double up on this enhancement, converting an even larger amount of damage to the other type.

All chain/scale/plate are equivalent in stats with the exception of Master Plate, which can only be forged by a transcendent Forger and the benefits only apply when worn by that forger.  Master plate has a little more physical damage reduction, and additional enhancement slot.

Leather armor is only of use to acrobats.  It offers no damage resistance, only the opportunity for enhancement slot(s).

Shields come in two tiers.  Warriors tend not to use shields, period - either they use a two-handed weapon, or two one-handers.  Shields are more often used by the other (non-monk) archetypes.  It's rare that you'll see the lower tier sold at all.  Likewise with lower tier weapons.  Except for purposes of 'gifting' to newbies, lower tier weapons and shields almost never get crafted, and even then people tend to gift the higher quality versions.