I'm brand new to Lusternia, but after reading these forums it seems like I'm going to have to buy or make a whole bunch of scripts if I want to stand a chance in PvP. Is this really the case? What about outside of PvP?

Truth be told, if you want to excel in combat, a system is most definitely needed.

To stand a chance, however, is a different matter. Depending on your reflexes, you could fight manually with maybe half a system consisting only of alias and the like. People like Shiri fight on the Nexus client (doesn't have very good scripting) manually. To take this route would put you at a slight disadvantage.

Outside of PvP, anyone can bash or participate in politics and the like. Every IRE game is like this.

If you want to stand a chance in PvP, yes. I don't think anybody disputes that a half-decent character powered by mediocre scripts can trash a great character powered by a great human mind making decisions in real time and then typing them laboriously into the keyboard.

This is one of the many reasons I don't PvP. I'm not enthralled with the notion of watchinga screen full of spam while my battlebot takes on your battlebot.

Some people will tell you the very best PvP players use a combination of scripts and on-the-fly strategy, but I've never heard anyone claim on-the-fly strategy could replace scripts.

Outside of PvP, it really depends on what you want out of the game.

I went for the better part of a year with nothing more than a few aliases programmed through the Java client, and had a lot of fun. But eventually I got sick of scanning the madly scrolling screen when I was fighting a crab swarm just to catch when I had broken bones, and I grabbed a copy of zMud.

Before long I was building up more and more automations, just to make my life easier, but it's never turned into any sort of burden since I'm not trying to keep up with the Joneses. When some repetitive activity gets to be a hassle, I write a script to handle it.

Those bloody gila monsters keep inflicting stupidity? Time to program a cure stupidity macro key.

Getting to be a chore looking up comms needed for everything you sew? Write a look-up script that will grab everything you need out of your rift and sew it up in one smooth motion, instead of just telling you you don't have the stuff you need in-hand.

Got a bottomless vial of health so you know you want to use it every time your eligible to benefit from it? Looks like its time for a nice little auto-sip trigger.

The more time you spend on the game, the more repetetive stuff you'll find yourself bogged down in. And its times like this, when there are really no decisions to be made, that scripts will truly become your friends. But unless you're a cut-throat kind of competitor, there's never any hurry about building up your personal library of labor-saving automation.

scripting is a tool and skill that you can take with you anywhere!

The nexus client however is able to make enough scripts for your needs so you don't have to worry too much. However its not as good as zmud or mush or whatever else people use.

Exarius talks too much.

If you want to be a top-tier fighter, you'll need to spend 100+ hours configuring a system. If you want to just be passable, download Ethelon's free MUSHclient system. It's not too good, but it will allow you to survive long enough to escape most people, and to do your part in group combat.

Scripts actually help fantastically whatever you're doing. I didn't really notice this on the old JAVA because you couldn't script bugger all of any use there, but on Nexus and better clients like MUSH and zMUD and TF you can make it do a lot of things for you.

As for combat, yep, you need a system pretty much. Guido has the right end of the stick there.

I don't understand. How is this any fun? Like Exarius said, PvP then basically becomes your bot vs their bot.

Don't listen to Guido. It doesn't take 100 hours to make your own decent system if you're so inclined. And first, no system is infallible, so you'll often have to resort to your own manual wits to break a particularly tricky combination of afflictions that your system can't deal with. And the only thing you should really make a system for is curing. Offense, on the other hand, is something you have to do yourself, and that's where the skill comes into play - whether you can figure out what skills you should use in each circumstance. It's a combination of a system and skill that makes you good. But you can still be decent without a good system. My system is complete garbage and I'm a fairly competent fighter.

Not at all, you don't really automate your offence, just your curing. And even that's manual with system help for some. (Nexus users in particular, because it's too unreliable to trust all your curing to it.)

Just FYI, the big barrier to becoming a good fighter isn't a system, it's credits. You need credits to learn the skills, and you can get them IC, or you can buy them OOC, but you need a considerable amount of them to be decent. After you have the abilities, you'll find that it's not hard to compose a system as you go by just adding aliases and triggers together whenever you find new ones and then writing the occasional actual script to support them.

What guild are you?

Exarius knows as much about combat as the average person does about astrophysics.

My system is like 50-75% manual, and I have beat everyone... can I can't think of anyone who can routinely beat me 1-on-1.

Hm, okay, that's reassuring. I have no problem with some aliases and triggers for curing and whatnot. Thanks for the replies.


How much is a "considerable amount?" Right now I'm hopping between guilds, still trying to settle on a character. As it is now, I think I'm going to end up sticking with Ebonguard.

To effectively be good, you'll need to get at least Transcendent in one or more guild skills. You also gain 5 lessons per level, and a total of 100 neocredits by level 70. If you want to just RP and have some fun with questing, bashing, etc. then you don't really need to buy any OOC credits. If you want to participate in PvP, you'll probably need at least 300 credits.

To effectively be average, you need focus mind(near trans discpline), shieldparry (if you aren't a warrior) as well as a good chunk of your guildskills (you don't necessarly need transcendant there). If you want to be GOOD you need trans guildskills, focus mind, probably upto shieldstun in combat, trans resilience plus a whole heap of other skills that you will end up paying through the nose for one way or another.

As a warrior, to be capable at fighting on your own you'll probably want to at least transcend (reach the highest skillrank) in your Knighthood specialization (blademaster/bonecrusher/pureblade/axelord). That'll let you mount a decent offense. You won't be an incredible fighter with that alone, but it'll at least let you execute your primary attacks and such with weapons and have a good hit rate.

EDIT: Asarnil, don't scare the poor newbie! Those skills are definitely useful and necessary if you want to be a particularly good fighter, but if you just want to fight occasionally you don't necessarily need them all.

I've gained 3 trans skill with in-game credits. It isn't that bad.

Almost four here.

I think a lot of you are missing something very important about Lusternia.

Very little of the actually important combat is one on one. Lusternia is based around large group battles between organizations. Being able to stand toe to toe with the best fighters in the game isn't necessary to be an effective or useful fighter. Being able to survive, being able to fight in a group, and being able to tell what the heck is going on - these things are more important.

I'd say that going into a fight with no aliases and no triggers is dumb. You won't be able to do a thing or know what the heck is going on. You don't need a 100% automated curing system either. You really just need to know what is happening and what is wrong with you.

I recommend starting with a system that echoes important things clearly so you can read them easily. Things like "You have regained balance" and "You may drink another health, mana, or bromide potion." Echoing what affliction you were just given and what the cure is is nice too, sometimes nicer than curing it automatically.

If you use Mushclient, you don't even to write your own system - Ethelon has graciously posted his curing system on the forums for free. Mushclient is also free. If you use zMUD, there are plenty of people who use it too who can help you out, me included.

But yeah, the whole point of a sytem is threefold: to cure you, to tell you what is going on, and to allow you to attack without much thought. You don't want it attacking for you, but you also don't want to have to type out complicated commands in the heat of battle.

"hack down shorlen left" or whatever is much harder to type than "hdt"
"assault shorlen head" or whatever is much harder to type than "ass"

For me, typing "hex ixchilgal with claustophobia" would be impossible midbattle. I'd have to remember both how the heck to spell his name AND how to spell claustrophobia

To confirm what others have said:

To be able to survive an assault well, you NEED an automated system: The more your system can defend without you the better, though you need to make sure you can override it whenever required.

To WIN against another fighter (aka offense) you NEED a well organized Manual system. That means being able to perform maneuvars quickly and on the fly with aliases or macros, a message/substitue set up that makes sure you know what the Nil is going on, and knowledge of what you should be doing to win. Doing random attacks or automating your attack system is like pressing random buttons in a Fighting game: it works if you're already overpowered or fighting weak players, but nothing more.

Do you need to buy a system? Only if you don't want to build your own. If you are willing to, you can be a top fighter. Myself, I hate using other people's systems: I prefer the quicks of my own, along with being able to dive in and know just how to fix an issue or upgrade it.

To survive.. just get that Free system and you'll be fine for your life, imo.

And now we have figured out why Richter doesn't fight, even though he knows 99% of the skills he can learn.