More noob/froob questions

[Scarlian]

I've been playing AO a couple of days now and there are a few things I still haven't worked out. Well, probably more than a few, but here are five that spring to mind.

1, Tradeskills. Do you chose one trade to concentrate on that complements your profession somehow as in other MMOs.

2, Does the levelling get progressively slower as in other MMOs? If so, to what degree?

3, Does having expansions, particularly SL, help in the early levels for a noob? Or is it more complication you don't need early on?

4, Is crashing when moving between zones the norm? It happened to me three times yesterday. I had to reboot each time.

5, If you have characters from different factions can you move stuff between them? Share a bank or whatever.

I might come up with some more if encouraged. But don't let that put you off answering!

Thanks in advance!

[Ukblizzard]

1, Tradeskills. Do you chose one trade to concentrate on that complements your profession somehow as in other MMOs.

This is something that I have been trying to write a guide on for quite a while now and am really struggling with. Basically, Engineers are good all round tradeskillers, Traders also are not bad. Fixers, MPs, NTs, Doctors as examples each have an area they specialise in and where spending IP on those skills is not so expensive. However, its usually a better idea not to invest IP at all into tradeskilling until later on, or at least not so much that it destroys you being able to equip better armour / weapons / imps etc. Maybe its best for you to indicate which profession you are playing, and we can then advise you easier!!

2, Does the levelling get progressively slower as in other MMOs? If so, to what degree?

This is a yes and no type answer, sorry!! If you play on your own, then yes - its really significantly going to get slower. If you have a team of friends you play with, then it will take a little longer as you get bigger, but not so much that you will cry each time you think of doing another mission. AO Is far from being the place where you want to speed through the levels to get to the end. There is far too much good stuff inbetween to enjoy to do that!!

3, Does having expansions, particularly SL, help in the early levels for a noob? Or is it more complication you don't need early on?

In the early levels, nope, I really dont see the point unless you really want to get stuck into twinking or getting THE best equipment straight away. If you are happy learning as you progress, then you can save some RL creds for a little while in my opinion. It really is down to how you want to play the game - AO is huge, its a really steep learning curve, why swamp yourself

4, Is crashing when moving between zones the norm? It happened to me three times yesterday. I had to reboot each time.

Not normal, is it always in the same game area? Crashing to desktop / Blue Screen?

5, If you have characters from different factions can you move stuff between them? Share a bank or whatever.

There is no bank sharing, but you can transfer anything you like that isnt carrying a NODROP tag. A lot of people make a secondary "fr00b" account to act as a transferrer, some people "risk" asking others for help to transfer by trading to them and hoping they will trade it to their other char.

I might come up with some more if encouraged. But don't let that put you off answering!

Dare you!!

[Scarlian]

1, Tradeskills. Do you chose one trade to concentrate on that complements your profession somehow as in other MMOs.

This is something that I have been trying to write a guide on for quite a while now and am really struggling with. Basically, Engineers are good all round tradeskillers, Traders also are not bad. Fixers, MPs, NTs, Doctors as examples each have an area they specialise in and where spending IP on those skills is not so expensive. However, its usually a better idea not to invest IP at all into tradeskilling until later on, or at least not so much that it destroys you being able to equip better armour / weapons / imps etc. Maybe its best for you to indicate which profession you are playing, and we can then advise you easier!!

I should have said, I'm playing an adventurer now. I intend rolling other characters though, maybe one specifically with tradeskills in mind. So I'm interested in the question generally too.

4, Is crashing when moving between zones the norm? It happened to me three times yesterday. I had to reboot each time.

Not normal, is it always in the same game area? Crashing to desktop / Blue Screen?

It just goes black and never comes back, although I can sometimes hear sounds. It has happened moving to and from different zones. It hasn't happened today as yet though.

Thanks!

[Khuri]

4, Is crashing when moving between zones the norm? It happened to me three times yesterday. I had to reboot each time.

It just goes black and never comes back, although I can sometimes hear sounds. It has happened moving to and from different zones. It hasn't happened today as yet though.

You could try changing to windowed mode and see if anything happens there as well. Maybe it's another application that interrupts in the background while the game runs on fullscreen.
You can change to windowed mode when you start the game launcher and click on the "settings"-button.

[Uragon]

1, Tradeskills. Do you chose one trade to concentrate on that complements your profession somehow as in other MMOs.

This is something that I have been trying to write a guide on for quite a while now and am really struggling with. Basically, Engineers are good all round tradeskillers, Traders also are not bad. Fixers, MPs, NTs, Doctors as examples each have an area they specialise in and where spending IP on those skills is not so expensive. However, its usually a better idea not to invest IP at all into tradeskilling until later on, or at least not so much that it destroys you being able to equip better armour / weapons / imps etc. Maybe its best for you to indicate which profession you are playing, and we can then advise you easier!!

I should have said, I'm playing an adventurer now. I intend rolling other characters though, maybe one specifically with tradeskills in mind. So I'm interested in the question generally too.

Generally, you have the liberty to pick up however many tradeskills you want. Even on characters that aren't natural tradeskillers. For them, it will just be more expensive Improvement Point wise and you'll end up with lower skills compared to a "professional" tradeskiller.

As an example, the most common tradeskill that people start with is to make blood plasma out of monster parts. Skill points wise, it's a relatively cheap activity and you can sell the product for a good profit to any shop terminal. As soon as you've reached 500 points of Pharma Tech skill, you're able to make the highest level blood plasma. So at that point, you can start diversifying into things like armour construction, implant and nano crystal creation or finally other more specialized things like Notum Wars tower construction.

[Gimpeline]

About the SL part. I always recomend to stay froob on the first toon until atleast level 100 so you know your way in the game.
Shadowlands have diffrent rules from Rubi-Ka, so having to learn it all from the beginning can be comfusig.

[Scarlian]

Thanks all. I haven't had a problem with it crashing since, so fingers crossed.

Thanks for the example of a starter tradeskill.

Another question, as warned Have I made a mistake by changing my main weapon from pistol to assault rifle? I did this just before leaving newbie island so I could upgrade the weapon. A mistake I think I have made is that I've mainly used the automatic points allocation with a bit of tweaking here and there. One of the tweaks was to raise my assault rifle, but as I'm an adventurer my pistol skill has been maxed out every level. I realise now that I should only put points into one weapon. I could switch back to pistols I suppose, as that is maxed out with my assault rifle being slightly below. I'm currently level 17.

[Uragon]

I'd strongly recommend switching back to pistols. At low levels, you can make most weapons of choice work. However, the higher you get the more you'll struggle with non mainstream choices. The weapons that Adventurers excel with are pistol and dualwielded swords (1-Handed Edged).

[Scarlian]

I'd strongly recommend switching back to pistols. At low levels, you can make most weapons of choice work. However, the higher you get the more you'll struggle with non mainstream choices. The weapons that Adventurers excel with are pistol and dualwielded swords (1-Handed Edged).

Ok, thanks. Not too much damage done with the points wasted in assault rifles at this stage I suppose.

edit: btw where's the best bet for picking up new pistols now at level 17, i'd be due new ones anyway I suppose. The shop?

[Trgeorge]

At that level, you'll be able to get Joint Clans Scout Pistols in shop.

Another popular pistol is The Original Electronicum, but that one drops from Dyna bosses (you can only buy them in some shops up to ql 10.

But since I don't play adventurer, I'd suggest nipping out to official forums and checking what guys in adventurer section have to say about it. (There's usually a sticky or two on top, with guide or at least weapon and armor suggestions)

[xaatxuun]

I had started a range Adventure, I pretty much just use the BBI faithfuls that can be bought in the trader shop. i can not recall the names but there are a couple other choices that are actually better then the BBI faithfuls, It is just the BBI's are easier to acquire, If you have a trader friend.
there is a good guide for Range Adventures in the Adventure profession section on the Official forums. The name of the Pistols I can not recall will be listed in there.

[Scarlian]

I had started a range Adventure, I pretty much just use the BBI faithfuls that can be bought in the trader shop. i can not recall the names but there are a couple other choices that are actually better then the BBI faithfuls, It is just the BBI's are easier to acquire, If you have a trader friend.
there is a good guide for Range Adventures in the Adventure profession section on the Official forums. The name of the Pistols I can not recall will be listed in there.

Thanks, I'll look these up. I'm having trouble finding the Joint Clans Scout Pistols. Am I to understand that the stock in shops varies and you have to go at the right time to find what you want in stock? If so, are they randomly stocked around all the shops?

[xaatxuun]

this is the thread I was referring you to http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showth ... p?t=484904

it is a well written guide, unlike most guides on classes that just explain end game goals, this one starts from creation, and pretty much covers all the Tier levels on the way towards end game.

I could mention some spoilers to the guide, but it would be best you read them your self. I should be sleeping right now, so I may just be speaking jibberish if I tried

[Hahnsoo]

Some good pistol recommendations for a Froob Advy:
http://www.aofroobs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4489

Thanks, I'll look these up. I'm having trouble finding the Joint Clans Scout Pistols. Am I to understand that the stock in shops varies and you have to go at the right time to find what you want in stock? If so, are they randomly stocked around all the shops?

JCSPs are unusual in that they are one of the few items that can't be found on mission rewards, but they CAN be bought in shops. They are only found in Neutral and Clan Weapons Terminals, but any faction can use them. If you are Omni, just check in Newland, Meetmedere, or Borealis weapon terminals for them.

[Scarlian]

Some good pistol recommendations for a Froob Advy:
http://www.aofroobs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4489

Thanks, I'll look these up. I'm having trouble finding the Joint Clans Scout Pistols. Am I to understand that the stock in shops varies and you have to go at the right time to find what you want in stock? If so, are they randomly stocked around all the shops?

JCSPs are unusual in that they are one of the few items that can't be found on mission rewards, but they CAN be bought in shops. They are only found in Neutral and Clan Weapons Terminals, but any faction can use them. If you are Omni, just check in Newland, Meetmedere, or Borealis weapon terminals for them.

Hi Hahnsoo, I've been using your FAQ a lot. In fact, I printed off twenty odd pages to read offline!

I'm beginning to think that looking for guns in shops at this level is a thankless task. I'm just using guns I've looted. I keep checking the terminals but haven't seen either the JCSP at my level or the BBI once. And I must have checked about 100 times by now! Time is probably best spent levelling up, although it was hard work using my newbie pistols waiting to get to level 22 to use some guns I'd looted!

Also, regarding the crashes I experienced. It has happened since. It always happens in places I've not been to before. When I go back there's never a problem.