Hi. I'm a prospective Lusternian who is looking to learn about classes/races/cities/guilds before joining.

I've played other IRE MUD's before, and have heard very good things about Lusternia. So, I figured that I would check it out. I'm looking for a guild that will have excellent role play opportunity, and support a class that has decent combat capability, as well as a decent trade skill for money making.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

Better to pick a city first then we can go from there. They all have something like what you want.

Also what are you interested in exactly, what's your playstyle, what do you find yourself doing the most in other IRE muds?

I think I'm most interested in Magnagora (sp?) and Hallifax. As to play style, I like bashing/hunting, ritual/research, and am interested in combat.

Magnagora is the correct spelling.

If you're interested in Mag/Halli, then your guild choices are the Aeromancers, Cacophony, Geomancers, Institute, Nihilists, Ninjakari, Sentinels, Symphonium or Ur'guard.

Aeromancers and Geomancers are both mage guilds, with the Aeromancers being philosophers and the Geomancers being crazy.
Cacophony and the Symphonium are both bard guilds, specializing in Rock and Opera respectively.
The Ur'guard and Sentinels are the warriors, being Time Police and Death Knights contrarespectively.
The Nihilists are a religious priesthood.
The Institute are scientists.
The Ninjakari are (as their name suggests) ninjas.

Ok. I think that i might be interested in the Institute and the Nihilists. What are their orgs like? I mean, what are they like that you can't read in the help files? Are they very active? How is their role play? Of the classes that they support, how are they for combat? What races would you recommend for complimenting their abilities?

Oh, and trade skills? Are they very profitable here?

Well I'll comment on Hallifax, since that's where I play.

Hallifax is quite active. We've got a lot of people working to make stuff happen in the city and improve ourselves. Right now we're focusing a bit more on culture stuf (books, plays, etc). Hallifax has roleplay based on serving 'the Collective', which sorta embodies both the idealistic side of Communism and Soviet-inspired side and a bit of Orwell. 'Everyone contributes equally.'

The Institute has always been home to some strong rp. They're the primary scientific guild of Hallifax, specialising in temporal magic, and all sorts of planar and magical energy sources. In combat, Institute is one of the strongest guilds. They have strong defensive abilities, and can lock down a target with their aeon abilities, and/or damage them out with the infamous Balestone. For races, Faeling is usually said to be the best race for Institute, due to the balance bonus for the Harmonics abilities. The sip bonus also goes well with Institute's defensive abilities. Aslaran can be good for similar reasons to Faeling. Lucidian is also decent for the high damage and increased Con (and for the roleplay).

For trade skills, it depends a lot on how much effort you put into it. They can be quite profitable, if you're willing to do the work advertising, making your wares, possibly getting a shop, etc. Though even if you're less dedicated, it can be a way to supplement your income, and most trades have a nice bonus for their Transcendant ability.

You can use a trade profitably, but I wouldn't really count on it. If you're going for a trade character, you should do it for the RP or for the warm fuzzies, not for the gold shinies.

To contrast, the Nihilists:
Historically, Magnagora was founded last of the four cities of the Celestine Empire, after the original discovery of the Verses of Magnora, a book of apocalyptic prophecies dictated to the Elder Goddess Mugowumpois just prior to the Elder Gods being driven from the First World by the Heralds of Magnora. The House of Prophets ruled over Magnagora and assisted the Grand Vizer in running the city using their divinations. The would often consult with the Three Sisters of Fate (Clothos, Lachesis and Atropos) and with the five Holy Emmanations of Shallamar (the Wise Baalphegar; Nifilhema, Queen of Illustrious Beauty; Lord Ashtorath of the Golden Bells; Lord Luciphage the Compassionate and King Gorgalial the Peacemaker).

When the Taint came, the Fates fled from Shallamar, the local angels turned into demons, Gorgalial was cast down from the Throne of Peace to become the mindless Gorgulu and the Holy Emmanations of Shallamar became the Demon Lords of Nil, ruled over by the Supreme Master Luciphage from the Throne of the Beast deep within the Labyrinth of the Damned. The House of Prophets was replaced by the Nihilists, the practice of prophesy was outlawed and the guild began to study the newly rediscovered art of necromancy. The Nihilists are very big on ambition, self-empowerment, the rejection of destiny and defiance against the "outdated" morals of the Old Celestine Orthodox.

Combatively, they get a demon follower who can be invested with a list of afflictions. It'll run through the list and give the next two of them in order every 12 seconds as hidden afflictions. Meanwhile you're casting necromancy spells or using the powers from your tertiaries (probably tarot, but you also have the option of taking hexes or astrology) in order to prep for an wrack instakill (Kills target if mana is < 50% and they're either bound or paralyzed) or one of the kill conditions from your tertiaries. Since the demon hits on a known timer with known afflictions, Nihilist combat tends to be very planning heavy and time based. Having a fast EQ recovery is good, but being tanky or having a high Int is better, at least IMHO. Personal recomendation on race is Viscanti, or maybe human once you're higher level.

Bashing-wise, Nihilists are kinda odd. Guardians (Nihilists, Celestines, Institute and Illuminati) are notoriously poor hunters, but the Nihilists get the upshot of having access to Lichdom and therefore some pretty hefty resistances. The poor bashing has changed somewhat with the introduction of the Demonweb skill, but they're definitely not top tier for hunting.

Trades really don't earn much gold, at least not compared with bashing/influencing. But bashing get boring, so they are a fun way to earn a bit on the side. If you're aiming at the institute/nihilists, enchanting is probably what will earn you the most (but again, you're not going to be raking it in, even if you are seriously dedicated to it.) Herbs/alchemy are also decent earners, but that means lowmagic so you can't be a mage or a guardian.

Tailoring is good for either Nihilist/Institute for spendors, and Jewelry has good synergy with the Institute, as they have to use lots of gems and it could be useful to be able to cut your own.

My advice to you is really to just give everything you think you might like a try. You can always change guilds or switch to an alt if you find the one you picked wasn't that enjoyable. I think I alted through just about every org before finally settling on the one I liked. (Which, when I started was not at all the one I thought I would enjoy).

Also, unlike other IRE games, in Lusternia each guild only supports one class. We have archetypes, which are kind of like a collection of classes with similar abilities. For instance, the Institute and the nihilists are both Guardian archetypes, which all have access to the cosmic and rituals skills. So until you specialize, the only difference between the two guilds would be the RP.

(if you want a sneak peak at the skills try here or here)

Greleag:

Bashing-wise, Nihilists are kinda odd. Guardians (Nihilists, Celestines, Institute and Illuminati) are notoriously poor hunters, but the Nihilists get the upshot of having access to Lichdom and therefore some pretty hefty resistances. The poor bashing has changed somewhat with the introduction of the Demonweb skill, but they're definitely not top tier for hunting.

Institute can actually be pretty decent with a scalpel (divinus damage), and Harmonics/Aeonics has nice defenses. Still not top-tier, though.

luenn:

My advice to you is really to just give everything you think you might like a try. You can always change guilds or switch to an alt if you find the one you picked wasn't that enjoyable. I think I alted through just about every org before finally settling on the one I liked. (Which, when I started was not at all the one I thought I would enjoy).

(if you want a sneak peak at the skills try here or here)

This.

I'll speak for the Illuminati (Gaudiguch City)!

While Shedrin speaks rightly that the Institute is a great scientific guild, if you're looking for interesting biological sciences, go Illuminati! The Fleshpots of the Vortex Plane are our power centers, and we meld Flesh together through the skill of Transmology to create entities such as the spix, morrible, sludgeworm, spix, hekoskeri, and madfly. Advanced Transmologists can also create their own homunculus, which is like a mini-you (you can control it from afar, make it speak, emote, etc.). Paradigmatics, our second guild skill, deals with sanity/insanity and mental maladies. Like I said, the Illuminati are more on the biological side. A week or so ago, a bunch of Illuminati and co. performed a (hekoskeri?) brain transplant.

Continuing on what Greleag started:

The Supernals of Celestia and the Holy Emanantions/Demon Lords of Shallamar/Nil are 'half-formed', so called because Dynara started their creation, but disappeared before they could become full fledged Divine. The Spheres of Continuum (where the Institute gets their mojo) are what remains after half-formed become full Divine; in contrast, the Fleshpots contain the stuff that make up Divine.

Bashing and combat-wise, the Illuminati are fairly good. The different Flesh transformations you can place on yourself makes you very flexible when dealing with different opponents.

Shedrin:

Institute can actually be pretty decent with a scalpel (divinus damage), and Harmonics/Aeonics has nice defenses. Still not top-tier, though.

I disagree. Access to divinus damage is a boon on the offense, but the defenses of Harmonics and Aeonics is mainly geared towards afflictions. In return, they resist damage rather poorly. So keep it in mind that in hunting, you will be very much a glass cannon.

That being said, there is not just hunting here in Lusternia. There is also something called "influencing" which is a type of hunting you could say, but instead of trying to kill the mob, you try to convince it of something. Influencing is determined by your skill in the Influencing Skillset, and your Charisma, meaning it is a good way for magic-types to get experience. And while the Institute doesn't have anything unique to raise their charisma, they have access to passive healing of all your vital statistics, including ego which is used in Influencing.

When it comes to races, I'd say pick one you think looks fun with more than 13 int. I will however warn you that if you choose Merian, Elfen or Kephera and play in Magnagora, you'll find yourself quickly pushed to reincarnate. Magnagora is quite racist towards those three races, for reasons I suggest you read the histories on the homepage to find out about later. It's quite a good read.

With Paradigmatics, you will get this nifty little ability (Polarity) which temporarily switches your strength with your intelligence. Just another flexible thing with the Illuminati.

Kiradawea:

I disagree. Access to divinus damage is a boon on the offense, but the defenses of Harmonics and Aeonics is mainly geared towards afflictions. In return, they resist damage rather poorly. So keep it in mind that in hunting, you will be very much a glass cannon.

Amethyst, Diamond and Turquoise for passive defense. Alacrity for tougher spots, Mendingstone/Puella for emergencies. And access to Healing for a health aura, or Astrology for more dmp and/or constitution.

They aren't say a Moon warrior, but I don't think they're light on bashing defense. Though potentially I am biased by my race and level.

Except most of what you said is already available to other guardians as well. And Astrology spheres is available to everyone. And while Researchers may have Alacrity or Mendingstone, the other Guardian guilds have access to things like Numen or Reimagination.

Kiradawea:

Except most of what you said is already available to other guardians as well. And Astrology spheres is available to everyone. And while Researchers may have Alacrity or Mendingstone, the other Guardian guilds have access to things like Numen or Reimagination.

If you need Numen or active healing skills for normal hunting, you're hunting way above your abilities :S

As far as Institute goes, they're quite nice for hunting. Both Nihis and Institute would be great choices for both RP and combat. It'd also help if you let us know if you're planning to sink credits into it, or do it all from IG means.

Personally if I was starting a new character, I would ask myself the following questions.

1. What type of credit commitment do I want? Will I be buying lots of credits, or just using lessons and credits I can gain from in game usage.

2. What type of time invenstment do I plan? Will I spend as much time as possible to get the gold I need for the things I need, or will I just play when I can, balancing the 101 ways to play lusternia?

3. What type of character do I want to play? There are a few different archetypes:
1. Monk
2.Warrior
3.Bard
4.Mage/Druid
5.Guardian/Wiccan

I would ask those questions in that order, because depending on how you answer the first two questions, you might want to limit your choices for question 3.

Then, with all that information, I would look for the most active city/commune with the best skill specializations that fit the answers to my questions. From there, you can better move forward.

I've created a thread to help answer those questions:

http://forums.lusternia.com/index.php?showtopic=20660&hl=&fromsearch=1

Greleag:
Combatively, they get a demon follower who can be invested with a list of afflictions. It'll run through the list and give the next two of them in order every 12 seconds as hidden afflictions. Meanwhile you're casting necromancy spells or using the powers from your tertiaries (probably tarot, but you also have the option of taking hexes or astrology) in order to prep for an wrack instakill (Kills target if mana is < 50% and they're either bound or paralyzed) or one of the kill conditions from your tertiaries. Since the demon hits on a known timer with known afflictions, Nihilist combat tends to be very planning heavy and time based. Having a fast EQ recovery is good, but being tanky or having a high Int is better, at least IMHO. Personal recomendation on race is Viscanti, or maybe human once you're higher level.

!!!

If you're doing this then you're not playing Nihilist optimally. You should be killing with Sacrifice!