Hi there! I'm new to Lusternia, and so far have to say it's been a very fun and positive experience. I have some questions on a few things though, and I can't seem to find answers in the game itself, so here we go!

1. Are raids directly on cities very common in Lusternia? I've played Achaea for the past 6 years, and lately, raids on my main characters city have become so frequent that city defense is literally ALL I get to do when I log in. Kinda takes away from being able to enjoy other aspects of the game world. (I love pvp combat and all, but once in a while it's nice to be able to do other things.)

2. Are there any free and/or cheap healing systems out there? Specifically for Zmud

3. What's the best race/class combination for hunting. This is mostly pure curiosity, as I'm quite happy with Ukiten the way he is.

I think that's everything, though something tells me I'm forgetting something. Anyways, hope to see y'all in the game!

Welcome! Glad you are enjoying it so far!

1. No, raids on the Prime cities are pretty rare. Most raiding occurs on the ethereal/elemental/cosmic planes.

As to your other questions, I have no clue. Sorry!

There aren't many for Zmud, though there might be one or two for Mushclient. As for races, your race specs with Starhymn, but merians are notoriously squishy. There's a racial review right now that might fix that, so wait it out!

Just to be clear, if you're comparing to Achaea, Arel's answer might mix you up. Raids on "places that you, as a member of a city, are bound to defend" are very, very frequent, depending on where you happen to be and how the balance of power happens to have shifted around it. Raids on the actual city are quite rare. In Achaea I don't think there's nearly as much distinction there.

There are no currently supported zMUD systems. It is generally believed that Lusternia's combat is too complex for zMUD's instability and lack of scalability to handle. Even CMUD probably can't do it. It's possible that this might be a little too quick a dismissal: an evolved system in zMUD certainly won't do it (that's what I'm using, and it really doesn't work) but a system designed from the ground up for zMUD/CMUD (with its limitations in mind) and Lusternia might be able to be tolerably functional. (I'm working on one, but don't know if it's going to pan out.) But it still won't compare with systems for Mudlet or MUSHclient.

It sometimes also depends on what you are hunting, depending on racial weaknesses. A good bet is a high con, high speed race, or a race that has something like a sipping bonus to help keep you alive. Personally, however, I completely deny that there is a "best" race for anything, because the character is more important than the numbers.

There is no free ZMUD system that I know of-- I don't even know if anyone is working on a paid ZMUD system. MUSHclient had a free system until just recently, and it's other paid one, though I hear might be out of date, should still be a good buy. There are also systems in development for Mudlet, so hop on over to the Mechanic's Corner part of the forums to learn more about the available systems.

And while raids are fairly common, as was stated, direct raids on the Prime plane cities/communes are very uncommon. Raiders instead go for the important stuff, the stuff hiding out on the other planes.

There's important stuff?

Okay, ostensibly they do . They usually just go for kicks.

Hehe, yeah. They're important from an rp perspective, I guess. Mechanically, nope.

Avatars and Cosmic lords/whatsits do have mechanical effects if they are killed though.

Firstly, welcome to the wonderful realm of Lusternia! You'll find it superior in every way to Achaea!

Now, to answer questions.
1) This question can mean two different things. "Do raids happen on the physical cities/communes within Lusternia?" Very rarely so. There's a mechanic in place that severely limits PvP on the Prime Material Plane outside of city/commune arenas. On the other hand, does raiding happen on city/commune controlled outer planes (Ethereal, Elemental, and Cosmic)? Then the answer is all the time. You're not necessarily inclined to always defend the outer planes (since it's mostly hit-and-run tactics anyway), but it's generally looked up upon if you do!

2) If you're looking to get into any serious PvP action, drop zMUD and go to either Mushclient or Mudlet. The only (as far as I know) complete free system was for Mush, and that was recently taken down. If you want to learn your way into coding for either of them, try building a simple autosipper and make some triggers to cure basic hunting ailments. That'll ease your way into building something customized directly for you. I personally find Mudlet to be easier to use than Mushclient, but again, that is just my opinion. I would try both out and see what you like. There are, however, some really nice systems that you can purchase for both of these clients: m&m system for Mudlet, and AG for Mush. It's up to you if you want to spend the credits, though.

3) There isn't a best race class/guild combination! Each has their strengths and weaknesses, but you'll be able to hunt everything in the game equally well!

Thanks for the responses!

I'm still really attached to Zmud, but I may give MUSH a try at some point, since it sounds like that would work better overall. I don't mind spending a few credits for a basic system to get me started at least, but would like to eventually make something of my own.

The raiding on outer planes sounds a bit more manageable than city defense in achaea. I'd much rather deal with 'hit and run' tactics than 'hunker down in a single room for hours at a time till one side screws up' all day long.

Anyways, I'm thinking I'll stick around for a while, Achaea's gotten pretty blah, and it's nice to have fresh content to explore!

It's worth noting that there are mechanics in place to prevent multiple-hour (or day!) occupation raids, notably insanity accrual (which acts like uncurable stupidity of various strengths on the lower levels, and actually gives afflictions and directly prevents curing on higher ones) when on enemy planes.

Only if a certain construct is up.

There -are- mechanics (Most notably Nexus Distort, LiveForest, and Surge) that discourage frequent raiding, though. The one Esano is talking about is just less common nowadays.

No, it was changed after constructs were limited. The planes themselves now cause insanity even without the construct, the construct just increases it.

Oh, hey, this is good to know.

Warriors and Monks are far up there in bashing usefulness compared to other classes. Druids and Guardians are at the far bottom, with Bards being in the middle. Races with high con, such as Loboshigaru, or with fast balance or equilibrium, like Faelings and Mugwumps, are good for hunting. Furrikin seem the worst races for PvE, but they influence decently.

1. Raids on prime cities, no. Raids on Avatars/Supernals/Demon Lords... not so much as raids on the planes and the lesser beings. Raids on elemental Lords, yes. And, as a novice, you DO NOT HAVE TO DEFEND. Don't be like me and play for 7 months and rack up 80+ deaths because you're not strong enough and can't use your skills correctly.

2. Zmud no. AG is available (?) for 25cr: http://wildinkdesign.com/ag/ built for MUSHclient.
m&m (a system I use) for 60cr: http://vadisystems.com/mm/features/ built for Mudlet. Vadi was on the team that built Mudlet, so I have a tendency to believe that he has an edge for coding with that client that most people don't.

3. Best race/class? In general, from experience and from reccomendations (for best class and race in general):
aslaran or illithoid or kephera/monk
loboshigaru or faeling or igasho/warrior

If you want to go mage/guardian/bard:
elfen or human/mage (particularly geo)
elfen/bard
human/guardian

We could argue about races until we're blue in the face though.

Aslaran monk is good iff you're willing to accept the low health and general squishy-ness.

Alternatively, illithoid ninjakari/nekotai for almost the same speed and incredible tankiness, health-, mana- or ego-wise. Same damage too.

EDIT: in case you are not aware, there race change will be complete this December, so I wouldn't bet on any race until then. Although Illithoids will still be great

Monk anything is good for hunting.