Hi. I'm from the other places in IRE. I recently got pushed to read a thread announcing the momentum change to kata, which in turn made me realise that combat here is a fair bit different to the stock IRE model. Which interests me: most recently I am from Aetolia, and while I do enjoy my own brand of roleplaying, I also enjoy combat - but for the last year or so have been too bored with it to participate regularly. So I am checking this place out.

The whole system here is pretty confusing, but hey. I'll figure it out I suppose. I've got a list of questions at the end, but first I'll just say a few things about myself as some guilds are just out of the question based on their roles in the world.

1. I don't want to be nature-based. Been there, done that, 2.5 times. Got the t-shirt, had a ball, don't really want to return. So.
2. I'm not sure I want to avoid warrior. I've been knight, wardancer and warden in other places. Enjoyed it, but I think a bit too much to want to do it again. On the other hand, I think that knight combat here is NOT based around good old double-slash, so maybe I could be interested in it.. heh.
3. I like the sound of momentum+kata. I have been a monk before though. Quite a few times, though not for ages. I'm a bit wary of trying it again as MOST monk rping I've seen over the years bored me completely (exception being Kharon/Ashura back in the day, which rocked, thank you Skarash/Tranquility/Element etc). Still, how different and fun are the kata-based guilds here?
4. Aside from a brief period as a cleric in imperian, I have not seriously played a magic based class since the opening of the magi in Achaea. I remember them as being powerful, but a little boring. Still, if they are a bit more fun here, I think I'd like to give it a shot. There are lots of branches and specialisations there though, and I'm pretty clueless about what they all mean.


Questions:
1. Are any of the classes sort of similarish to other IRE ones (mechanics that is.. not talking skill names)?
2. Is momentum a good change, a successful thing?
3. Are there other skills (archetype or other) which have similarly interesting mechanical concepts?
4. I'm gathering there is more to 'illusions' as a skill than just "conjure illusion "?
5. What are bards like?
6. Is influence a replacement for normal kill-bashing, and if so, is it a good replacement, worth getting, better for some classes etc?
7. Are some classes easier (combat wise) to get into at entry level (i.e. as a newb, don't worry about skills)
8. Are some classes cheaper/more expensive to get into?
9. Are any classes particularly awful to bash as? (I'm not out to pick the BEST bashing class, but I'd certainly like to avoid any that are truly horrible.)
10. Some classes are typically better at 1 vs 1, while others have advantages in world pvp (raids, skirmishes, whatever..) Its been a fair while since I've had a character with a good amount of group utility skills. I wouldn't mind being useful again.. do any classes pring to mind that I should avoid on these grounds?


Any answers/opinions/advice will be much appreciated, and thankyou ahead of time to anyone that answers.

Monks and warriors are vastly different from other IREs. Vastly. I mean it. Really.

The Scrying Pool Wiki has lists of most skills and such, have a look there.

Mechanically, mages/druids have things similar to vibes that hits over a demesne. They're slightly different, however - some effects can be blocked, demesnes can be broken, etc. Much more involved than simple vibe combat.

I'm tired, I'll leave the other questions to someone else.

Ah, thank you. The scrying pool was mentioned in that other thread where I asked, but no one said it was a website so I assumed it was something from in the game. Seems pretty helpful so far.

My two sovereigns:
Monk bashing (at least when I was doing it) is/was awesome in a can.
Mage bashing makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry.
Influence is great at certain levels, provided certain mobs aren't all claimed, and can net you gold as an added bonus in the form of esteem, which orders love.
I'm not sure, however, if influencing to Demi or near it is viable. (Influencing to 60-70 most certainly is, however, as I've done it.)

Just a quick note, if your looking for a cheap class to play do NOT go with a warrior (serenguard, Paladin, Ur'Guard, Ebonguard) They are very expensive to play if you want to be "good" with them

Hrm thought i would also add a small bit of information about skills.

As far as i'm aware in the other IRE games you choose a class and you get your 3 skillsets and thats it? (correct me if i'm wrong!) Here you get a much broader choice of skills with some sets splitting giving between 2-4 different paths. So no class is really set in stone and each have certain benefits/weaknesses.

Just thought this would give you something more to think about as you decide what to play!

I've been reading all sorts of stuff, and at the moment I'm stuck between monk/bard.

I am wondering about monk secondaries though. Is acrobatics a decent choice? I see it as a option, and having been a wardancer in imperian, I recognise its value (at least in combat as I know it). I'm not sure how reliant a monk can get on the psionic options though.

Not really combat related, but what is Glomdoring like as an org to be part of? Fun? Eye-gougingly frustrating? Somewhere in between? I know I said I don't want foresty, but evil foresty.. maybe. Since a friend is interested anyway.

Also, any opinions on bards?

Edit: About bards, what I'm not sure about is a general idea of what they aim for when they fight. The whole affliction system here in confusing, but bards are the class I'm not really getting an idea of (they seem to have a cool song system, but the whole thing looks like it could belong in imperian or wherever, rather than being confusingly different like most other things here. I'm wondering if I am missing something.

Glomdoring is not actually evil foresty, Glomdoring is deluded and thinks that it is better then everything and everyone else. I loved old glomdoring (Shayle era) but things seem to have gone down hill a bit since then but your main problem will be the fact that there is hardly anyone around in Glomdoring these days, it is probably the emptiest organisation...That said help fix the problem by joining! It still has been extremely fun for me to be a part of but takes a while to get used to..

Acrobatics and psymet are both reasonably valid choices. Psymet is significantly better for bashing so you could say it has an edge overall, though.

As for what Glomdoring is like to be part of, you'll get a bunch of people telling you how awesome it is, but it's really a subjective thing. Some people love the environment, others hate it (so they play in different orgs, largely.) Same for all orgs. Asking a question like that won't usually get you an accurate answer.

Glomdoring Pros:

Interesting and i think the best RP
Some of the best players in the game (you know who you are!)
Interesting Guilds
Good culture and interaction (for the ones that enjoy it..)

Glomdoring Negatives:

Low population
Underdog - Combat wise
Few villages (again due to being the underdog)
Sometimes very low morale
Can be seen as overwhelming

Celest has the next to the last problem too. What with some of their better fighters going inactive or relatively inactive, and taking a constant beating recently...And Arin doing naughty things with a wallaby.

Ok, for bards - There are 4 bard guilds each with different music specialties.
You get abilities in your music specialty and then put them into a song of your own making. You'd probably create a few different songs, one for pvp one for pve, one for raiding and one for defending etc.
There are 9 stanzas and you pick and choose which ability goes in each stanza with some restrictions. So as you sing through the song you add a new affect for each stanza you sing. So if you are singing stanza 9 you have effects 1-9 up and running, were if you are singing stanza 6 you only have the effects from stanza 1 -6 going off. So your song can help allies, hinder enemies, afflict enemies, damage enemies for all kinds of nasty or helpful passive stuff. (all completely blocked by being deaf though)

Since you said that you don't want a nature org, you have the Cacophony and Cantors to pick from. Necroscream in the Cacophony guild is heavily focused on support and passive disease based afflictions and starving people to death. The cantors, I'm not familiar with but it's my understanding that they do support and dammage. All 4 bard guilds use damage kills. The bard insta kill is stunningly useless on anyone who isn't afk.

Thanks for the replies. That explanation of music helped a lot, especially.

Do some bards combine combat/weapons with their music, or is the class generally self-reliant on its guild skills (in pvp, that is)?

Bards have many skills that only affect other players (such as increasing damage from weapons, or beefing up fae)
But it doesn't rely on other guilds being there (any more)

Not sure if you mean what I think you mean with this, but the music IS the combat/weapon. They give aural (heard) afflictions, and play musical notes to damage people or drain their ego/mana (some of the auric afflictions hurt you when you lose ego/mana.)

So they can fight in solo as well as anyone else, mostly, and they also have team buffs and a couple of room attacks for group combat.

Yes, I do realise this, but if you look at, for example the mage class in Achaea/Imperian/Aetolia, some (maybe most) of the most effective fighters have transed weaponry as well and used various weapons in conjunction with their passive attacks (the vibrations).

Another classic example are the vampire and teradrim classes from Aet. Neither specifically designed to need weaponry&non-standard class weapon, but both pretty much requiring it as a bladed weapon allows them a third affliction each round, which is a pretty huge difference.

So I was wondering if that may be the case here, thats all. Its just an expense thing really. I don't mind buying some credits to have a bit of fun and see it all for myself, but I would rather not pick a class and find out later that its 300 credits more expensive than the other one I was thinking to choose. Even if it is not necessary - there is necessary and there is 'highly desirable' as well.

The only guilds that need weapons are monks and warriors. TKs too, technically, since they need that dagger. Everyone else just needs a shield. Warriors are the expensive guilds because they need about three or four different weapons and the armor.

Alright, I see what you mean now. No, bards don't use weaponry for their kills.

Unfortunately, they need high combat (our weaponry equivalent) anyway, because it has our stance/parry (war/monk evasion) in it and it scales with lesson expenditure.

For music, I gather that charisma gives me a bigger ego pool, which is important. And that intelligence will increase the damage, being magical source. I figure strength is ignorable and that that just like everywhere else, constitution is important for everyone.

Dexterity.. I don't really know how different it is here. I heard it affects the ability to wound people. I assume it also plays a part in defense? What role does it play for bards?

Music seems to be all eq-driven.
I am wondering about the tertiary choices though.

1. Hunting-Ecology: how much is eq and how much balance?
2. Illusions-glamours: I assume this is eq-based?
3. Tarot: balance?

Dex affects stancing and parrying. Also, Ecology is alot of balance skills I think.