So, I've been having people tell me that I'd be an awesome fighter if I would actually, you know... try. I'm not bad because I suck at games, I'm bad because I rarely fight, and I have had one spar ever.

Thus, I think it's time for me to figure out how to fight.

I am/have:
99.9% of the way to omnitrans (have a bit of myth environment to finish)
Murphy's old flails, good all around stats (no lightning runes anymore)
Speedy hammers, poor wounding though
Pretty good full plate
Am a changeling
A pet (go 50 passive damage!)
Arti pipes
A decent, yet completely bastardized system, with plenty of holes in it now (I've not upgraded in some time)
+20 possible to all weapon and armour stats from nightkiss/forging runes
Bonecrusher/Night

I don't have:
Any knowledge of how to fight.
Any of those jewelry runes or the old versions.

Now, in Aetolia, I had a novice magi who sparred constantly, and did everything manually (before I learned aliases and macros). He was a decent fighter, against people around his rank. So, I know that with some practice, I can at least be a decent fighter, I'm just not sure where to start.

I think one of the first things I need to do is go over my skills and figure out what does what, since I don't use all of them currently. I also need to figure out what kind of hits do what. Aren't there like five ways to hit someone? Jabs, swings, smites, crushes, pulps, strikes... Egads.

Any advice?

You know, all my altwarriors used to hit with the numpad, so I had plenty of methods to make some nasty attacks to different regions. And yeah...spar like mad, work on your system (if you can for yourself)

Yeah, back with my old warrior I used to spar in the arena constantly with one of my guildmates and either well-known aliases or macro buttons for your different attack patterns will be your bestfriend when you get to know your skills and what afflictions you're capable of via wounding as well as different poisons you'd like to use.

Just don't expect instant results and you'll be fine. Patch up your system as you go on, but don't completely rely on it to the point where you don't know what the hell cures what and so on.

That or join Murphy's crew and have him teach you IC. Family bonding.

Know your skills inside and out. Know what afflictions you can do with what type of attack and to what limb, learn what your cures are, and don't be afraid to keep losing to people. I enjoy IRE combat tremendously because it's not simply a hack and slash system with no strategies. Realize that learning to fight as a warrior isn't easy, especially against good fighters. I would dedicate at least 1-2 hours a day to just sparring people from all different classes, and obviously pick good fighters to kick your ass, you learn more that way, and log all your fights.

Woot its about time, I will so help you out! Yeah basically what Terenas said about combat. Learning what your wounds do and how they can help you set up other things. Also dont focus on just a few wounds but learn the advantages of all your attacks.

I would like to add that you should take the time to learn exactly what another class can do to you. Understanding what your opponent could be working towards using certain attacks can allow you to counter and/or escape the possible affliction and healing traps that he or she may be setting up. Also remember that learning to fight well is an ongoing process. You can always be surprised by something new, since IRE players are some of the most ingenious computer game tacticians I have had the pleasure to play against.

omg Ashteru, that number pad thing is ingenious!

Here I was, trying to remember 15 different freaking aliases when the answer was so obvious!

I'm all about one macro (f6) for swinging, and using f8-f12 to set my target limb, works well for me

I used to have that set up like that, until I started putting directions in it instead.

7 8 head 9

4 larm 5 chest 6 rarm

1 lleg 2 torso 3 rleg

Then ctrl+ or shift+ would do different strikes, like ctrl+8 might smite down, and shift+6 might do crush rarm.

I have something similar, though my special keys do something different:

Alt+ does a Slash (i.e. alt+2 = Hack up), Ctrl+Alt does a Strike, Ctrl sets Parry, Ctrl+Shift applies health and Shift..well.. lets me run. The number alone lets me walk. Once I can lunge I'll come in Ctrl+Alt+Shift (sounds messy but I'm used to combos like that)

I'll switch it in time: In Aetolia I had a command to switch the keyboard to 'pk mode' where single keys did attacks (though I could still move with Shift+).

Sounds nifty, what clinet you are using?

And my targetting is: F1 bashing macro
CTRL+ HOME hack up
and so on
ALT + END lunge gut

I have to try if i can make ALT+CTRL macros or with SHIFT

I set it up using numeric pad.

I like it a lot, so much better than trying to remember 15+ aliases and then spew them out with any semblance of speed heh.

Holding CTL shifts me from swings to Jabs, although I think I'll switch em around so that normal are the jabs (strike) and CTL are the swings.

Now, I just need to learn enough about MUSHclient and how the coding of this system works to patch all the holes in Ethelon's (free) system... heh... Astrology totally eats me up right now.

I so favor aliases over marcos. All that ctrl/shift/alt crap would so screw me up.

Hmm, it's a bit different for a dual wielding warrior I think Narsrim (but then again, I know so little any combat outside of warriors, and even that I don't know a great deal about). Have to be able to attack with two hands as soon as each of them gets balance. And since it isn't as simple as entering the same command twice in a row, cause ya gotta raze, or you might miss and have your delays changed or you could even be using weapons with a different attack speed.

I'm also extremely proficient with the number pad. makes for a much speedier rate of attack for me.

Same. I can't really reach the damn ctrl button on my keyboard. Alt -maybe.-

You don't have two hands?

Well I -could-, but not if I was trying to type with my left hand at the same time, my little finger isn't that long! (Maybe if I had full auto curing.)

How big is your keyboard? My hands aren't that big, and I only struggle to reach control with my left little finger if I am not typing correctly i.e. my left hand is typing p's and o's.

Um. "Fairly big"? I haven't measured it. It's not that I can't reach it physically, it's just that I have to look and slow down to do so ('cause it's not something my finger naturally reaches to like the other keys) so I lose tempo. Same with numbers. I can reach them but I have to move my hand a little and look at what I'm typing. So I use nice 2-3 letter aliases.