Hi!

My name is Kaiboche and I'm brand, spanking new to Lusternia. I have joined the Shadowdancer and Glomdoring and while I've been really impressed with the level of help I've received in game so far it strikes me that the learning curve here is very steep. Sooo... are there any tips people can throw at me? OOC tips that might be difficult to ask or answer in the game while staying IC? Anything you think would be useful would be good, even if it's just "go learn it IC, n00b!", though I'd prefer actual tips. Like, what tradeskills are the most useful? Is it possible to trans your guild skills in IC gold or do I have to buy credits OOC? Are there any useful player run sites?

I just keep looking at all the help files and thinking "My Gods, how do I learn all that?!?"

So, thank in advance for any help given.

ETA: Oh and I'm (or rather, Kaiboche is) a Faeling, if that makes any difference. Is Faeling a decent race for a Shadowdancer? To be honest, I kind of picked the race at random during the intro, just 'coz it sounded kind of cool. You know, wings and all.

Well I'd suggest as a Wiccan you speak to the Avatars of Mother Night. Look at them and see what they have to say in general. It's a good place to gain a very basic understanding. Also, try to find out the differences between Serenwilde and Glomdoring. How does the treatment of the Fae differ? What's the difference between the Wyrd and Nature? Questions like that.

I don't even really know what the Avatars of Mother Night are yet. But thanks, that's the kind of directions I'm looking for. I'm sure I can search out the answers IC, I just kind of want to know where to start untangling all this information.

Firstly, you can certainly ask any questions in the game through tells, but make sure that you denote that it is OOC, such as TELL CAERULO ((LOL OOC QUESTION!)), or TELL CAERULO OOC: HELP ME!.

Next, there is a useful wiki called the Scrying Pool. It contains loads of useful information.

Regarding tradeskills, it depends on what you mean by useful. Useful in terms of earning gold, or in terms of combat, or any thing else?

About transing skills with just IG bought credits, yes it is possible. Although personally I've yet to reached that state myself. :sulk:

Edit: Oh, and Faelings are in fact, the specialised race for Glomdoring. Meaning, you get extra useful stats when you master Nature. Nifty heh.

Also, the Avatars will mostly give you RP information, if that is what you're looking for. To talk to them, simply greet them, or just SAY TO them anything you want. They'll usually react to some phrases, and if you're really lucky, a Divine (who's an admin) will possess the mob and talk to you!

Tradeskills I'm looking at in terms of pure enjoyment or lets me have a little creativity if possible.

I like the sound of cooking - is it possible to create my own recipes? Or do I have to stick to set ones? For example, if I really want a dish of fresh strawberries with chocolate liqueur & ginger sauce and it does not exist, can I get such a design approved and start making it?

Then you'd want to pick Jewelry, Tailoring or Artisan. They get to have the most creativity in terms of designing. Cooking would be nice as well, as you get to create your own recipe. Bookbinding lets you design your own books.

I'd love to be a vegetarian chef in a game like this, but I'm not sure how much veganism and "the forest of no mercy" go together.

Welcome to Lusternia, Kaiboche. I have really enjoyed your character so far, and I'm happy to have him with us in the Shadowdancers!

I'm going to second what Caerulo has said and encourage you to ask me (or any member of the guild--Shadowdancers rock, in case you hadn't noticed) any questions you might have. The entire guild is great about helping. We love our rp, but we definitely all started in the same boat as you!

And for the record, you're doing great so far!

Honestly, there's not really going to be any RP issues if you want to be a vegetarian cook in Glomdoring. Go for it, I say, if that is what you want.

Edit: Oh, and note that for designing things, they have to be submitted and approved before you can start actually making them, so you can't really make up a dish on the fly and make it immediately.

Enjoy being a Shadowdancer, if I do say so myself from my own alts, they have some very interesting RP, and the leadership is well-organized. That's my standpoint.. and I'm a Moondancer! Oh, the irony.

In any case, I would highly suggest that you work on Totems and then procede directly into learning Night. Transing Night and getting Nightkiss will be HIGHLY beneficial to you, and even for Moondancers.. I usually recommend transing Moon first for Drawdown. Besides the fact that Nightkiss is ten times better than Nature Curse, it provides a good offensive in terms of damage. Besides that fact as well, Night contains some of the better abilities in Lusternia. ( Such as Choke and Succumb ) to name a few choice ones.

As for Nature-Wicca, I can't really give any recommendations on what to learn up to. Perhaps either Barghest up to Redcap, depending on your situation. But again, I'd only recommend putting much lessons into Wicca until you transcend Night.

As for your third skill! Hexes is the choice of anyone who wants to become a combatant or wants a solid method of defending themselves. The Hexes you get in the beginning are laughable at best, but some have their use ( Vapors! ). I am personally a Hexen and I never regretted taking the skill. Astrology is good if you want some good buffs when you hunt or when your fellow guild and communemates hunt, but Astrology will take some time to get down as it's the most complex and random skill in the game ( Feel free to prod me OOCly if you need more info on that ). As for Healing, it's only decent. I could, and certainly many others could say that it could use some work, but if you want to assist in combat but not be on the frontline.. Learning Farheal can definitely make a difference for your fellow Shadowdancers, especially if they're fighting in Choke.. Which is most of the time. If you want to learn how to be a combatant or learn to properly defend yourself, you should ask Diamante or Shamarah. Both are good grie.. I mean, fighters in their own accord.

And finally, for tradeskills.. Cooking is a rare one taken these days, so you'd definitely be sought out for if you knew how to make Constitution Platters ( Food that increases your max health ) and even Herofetes. Indeed, Cooking also lets you join a cartel or make your own so you may contribute your own creative ideas into recipes. Tailoring is a somewhat rare one, but everyone loves someone who can make Greatrobes. Plus, the Splendourrobes you get at Transcendant are very nice and worthwhile. Personally, I would take Jewelry if I was a Shadowdancer ( but don't listen to me, take what you would want to do! ) because Powerstones are sought after by both your communemates and even city people alike, so you'd possibly make a fairly good amount of profit from it. Besides the fact that you also get a Perfect Gem at Transcendent, which is incredibly annoying in Choke if your enemies get caught without Sixth Sense ( Blindness ) up.

Overall, do enjoy the Shadowdancers. Shayle and company will take good care of you, and I look forward to facing you in Faethorn one day. But for now, good luck with everything and feel free to prod at me OOCly if you need help.

I dunno Tael, for some reason I don't think the 'vegan chef' is was looking for combat advice.
I could be wrong. It seems like Kaiboche is more interested in the fun parts of lusternia though.

No, combat sounds fine. Could be quite fun. I don't want to play a pacifist. The "vegan chef" thing is just an obscure in joke with myself. Long story, but it's something I'd like to do. Maybe with Kaiboche, maybe not, I'll see.

Vegans are deadly! Pay attention! Or you'll end up in the salad.. well.. then he really wouldn't be a vegan then.

From my short experience in the Serenwilde public cooking cartel I can tell you that they were always looking for more designs. (the cartels get a certain number of public(usable by any cook anywhere) designs and private(usable by that nations cartel only) designs per every so often. I forget just how often (every few weeks or so?), but our trade's master was -always- bugging us for more design ideas.

I'm not sure if the glomdoring cooking cartel is the same, but I bet it's at least similar, you can at least offer up your own designs to the lead cook to submit on behalf of the cartel. You can contest them if you think they are inactive/doing a bad job, and much later on you can even open up your own private cartel with your gold to give you even more design slots to use up. Oh, and simply selecting the skill of cooking automatically places you into your nations cooking cartel.

Lusternia has a lot of opportunities for creative people.

You have never seen Margaret Chos "Assasin" show.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Cho#Assassin_Tour

on topic I'd say go for what ever you like most. I've had most tradeskills, Wiccan and Druid secondary skills, and it's just so much better to have something you'll enjoy rather than picking something because people tell you it's the best option. Of course these may be the same skillset in certain cases but still.

In an effort to be no meaningful help whatsoever, I'd like to second the sentiment that Shadowdancers rock and also point out that one of the biggest (mutant-big), strongest guys I know is a personal trainer who is vegan. Show no mercy to fruits and nuts! F'ai Glomdoring Flora!

I realize that you've already gotten plenty of help and answers, but I did want to stick my nose in and say that if you would like to be a cook in the future, then please do! There are very few active cooks in Glomdoring at present and I can assure you that your skills would be very sought after, even for making more mundane dishes without special bonuses. As Wesmin said, there's plenty of opportunity for creative growth in Lusternia and even more so in Glomdoring.

Herbs will be the most profitable tradeskill you could pick but won't offer you the creative outlet that cooking will.

If you choose cooking you'll need to know a little bit about the commodities system. Basically, there are some commodities/items that you need in order to create the food you want. For instance, a honeycake requires grain, milk and honeycomb. Grain and milk are both commodities. Honeycombs are found in Faethorn on the Ethereal plane.

Villages produce commodities and there are things you can do to help them produce more. So let's say you go to buy milk in Estelbar and they don't have any in stock at the general store. You can pick up some of the hay that is lying around in the village and go give it to the cows that wander the highway. The cows will follow you after you give them the hay. Then just take them back to the dairy in the village. You'll be given some gold for your trouble and when you go back to the general store you'll find more milk commodities available.

Keep in mind that if you buy out all of a certain commodity it will be priced higher the next time it becomes available. So if there are five milk commodities for sale and you buy all five, the price will rise next time they have milk to sell. If you leave even just one commodity the price will remain constant. Its generally a good idea to leave at least five or ten of each commodity for sale.

Also, learn about shops and try to find a shop owner who will put your cooking stuff up for sale for you. You won't make as much money if you can't get your stuff in a shop.

Most recipes don't require non-village commodity shop items. Though, strangely enough I find those rare dishes to be the neatest. Turtle soup anyone?

In making your recipe you get to suggest what comms it should take to make to, and what also what type of item it should be. Though in the end there is also oversight, you can't make an item that should be listed under 'cakes' into 'baking' just because you don't have the cakes skill yet. Although, you can fudge it, you can make some sort of spiced desert bread, which would then be under baking.

Hrm, I'm starting to regret giving up Trans-cooking. :\\

Us Shadowdancers are pretty beastly, as a guild and as a set of skills.

When you get out of novicehood and get some skills, please do feel free to talk to me if you want help learning to fight as one!

BTW, transing skills with IC gold, while possible, is quite difficult and may lead to frusturation. Buying them with real money is much easier in most cases, though you do get occasional bashing freaks like Aesyra, Forren, etc who omnitrans that way.