Okay, so I've started playing this game, been really fascinated by it for a while and then eventually left several times. Silly me. The reasons for this behaviour are murky and would take a lot of text to explain. Anyway, it's the closest thing I've ever seen to exactly what I want in an MMO.

But before I start out again I was wondering if I could get some info...

The last time I was here the population/power balance left the organizations from most powerful to least powerful more or less as Magnagora, Serenwilde, Celest, Glomdoring. Does that still hold true? I want to be able to decide if I'm going to join the winning team or an underdog or what.

How many lessons does one have to pump into planar to get access to the cosmic planes? I think it's a lot, but I just want to double check so I can know exactly where to place that goal, overall.

Is steel still stupid-expensive? Like... 10K to 15K gold to buy enough steel to make weapons expensive? Because that could influence my class choice.

Does anyone desperately need a squire/apprentice/underling/dupe/etc?

I probably had more questions, but I can't remember them.

Well, I don't know about the organizations. Celest is (maybe) working with Glomdoring. That changes every day. Magnagora is working with Serenwilde. Celest and Serenwilde are at war with each other. Serenwilde is currently getting more of the beating, though before Celest was.

Cosmic in planes is just right after rift. Rift costs about 25 to get to. If you mean cosmicGate, then it's close to adept and right below teleport which is useful.

I believe steel is just as expensive.

And I always enjoy more moondancer novices!

Hah, that's insane. Last time I was here Serenwilde and Celest were buddy buddy and there was an Ethereal Star Alliance or something like that, and a bunch of people were really really upset at the whole thing.



Thanks



...ruddy steel.

Right now I'd rank power as Celest, Serenwilde, Magnagora, Glomdoring. You could argue that Serenwilde is 1st and Celest is 2nd, Serenwilde *does* have more villages, but they also get stomped by Celest more then Celest gets stomped.

never slosh the brandy. Best advice i can offer at this moment

Serenwilde isn't powerful, we just talk a lot

Celest = Magnagora > Serenwilde >>>> Glomdoring.

The village counts aren't really an indication of actual military power, Serenwilde just has a ridiculous number of influencers.

As for accessing Cosmic planes, you can get the CosmicGate skill in Planar like Ista mentioned, or, if you are a Guardian you can travel directly from your nexus to your respective cosmic plane with the Gate skill in Cosmic.

Planar is arguably the most important common skill out there.

There are skills which let you survive on the higher planes (Elemental/Cosmic/Astral) without that skill, even if you're able to transverse up, you'll die from constant damage due to the atmosphere. There are skills which let you communicate with people on other planes, instantly travel to someone on the same plane, or to your home nexus, and eventally travel to someone on an adjacent plane.

Also the second to last skill in planar is extremely important, it lets you tranverse through another organization's nexus, otherwise you're limited to what your own nexus can do. For city members that means a slightly longer trip to Faethorn, for commune members, that means no access to the cosmic and astral planes.

Since you're interested in the cosmic planes for some reason I'd reccomend making a Guardian(Celestines/Nihilists), they get to transverse (through their own Nexus) straight up to Cosmic as a very inexpensively learned guild skill. Mages, (Geomancers/Aquamancers) get to do something similar for the elemental planes.

Technically Wiccans/Druids get a skill like that to, but it's 100% worthless because prime and ethereal are next to each other anyway.

It goes

Prime
Ethereal
Elemental (Water connected to Celest, Earth to Magnagora)
Cosmic (Celestia to Celest, Nil to Magnagora)
Astral (12 Spheres, Cancer to Celest, Capricorn to Magnagora)

You can always throw those influencers at raiders and hope they get a few hits off before biting the dust

Always!

EDIT: I should qualify this with...I could always use an intelligent protege with multiple interests. Previous experience not required, but I have no way of teaching confidence, resourcefulness, or sheer mental clout.

Join Geomancers

I agree. I need more whelps- I mean, apprentices.

Sounds pretty much like Serenwilde's defense strategy! (That or "ct IXION SAVE US!!!!!!!")

In terms of fighters, Serenwilde is rather lacking at the moment. Celest stole most of them. I'd say we're better off without them, but not in any sort of combat sense.

It's a lot harder to 'rank' the cities and communes these days - things are less black and white. Though Glomdoring has the smallest active playerbase and is severely lacking in fighters, they have the most power and the strongest culture - in terms of sheer volume and quality of published works, as evidenced by their domination of the prestige system. In terms of villages Serenwilde is leading, with six out of ten under their control. In terms of the most effective military, I'd have to give that to Celest, what with their victories against Serenwilde and in Wild Nodes, though those are sketchy indicators at best. Magnagora still offers the most consistantly enjoyable roleplaying experience for most.

I think Guido's ranking is about right.

Serenwilde has close to the largest population still, but probably the weakest military force of all four organizations. Intense RP is often skewed away from new players.

Glomdoring has a high proportion of scholars and intense RP'ers, slightly stronger military force, but still probably the smallest population base.

Magnagora has a medium to large population, the second strongest military force, and again a high proportion of intense RP'ers.

Celest has a medium to large population, and arguably the strongest military force at the moment. RP is mostly similar to Serenwilde's, high quality stuff mostly concentrated in limited circles.

I dont think you would like to base your affiliation solely on this. Politics in Lusternia wont hold true for the next couple of real life months or so... save for Glomdoring

Each have its own pros and cons. Just make sure that you are enjoying what you are doing. Thats what really counts.

I think Guido's ranking is about right.

Serenwilde has close to the largest population still, but probably the weakest military force of all four organizations. Intense RP is often skewed away from new players.

Glomdoring has a high proportion of scholars and intense RP'ers, slightly stronger military force, but still probably the smallest population base.

Magnagora has a medium to large population, the second strongest military force, and again a high proportion of intense RP'ers.

Celest has a medium to large population, and arguably the strongest military force at the moment. RP is mostly similar to Serenwilde's, high quality stuff mostly concentrated in limited circles.


pretty much hit the nail right on the head. If you want to focus on Combat and be a very strong fighter, join Celest as you'll get in a lot of fights and (for now) win most of them.

BUT if you want to have a lot of RP and be able to fight when you want, I'd say join Glom. I've never made an alt there, but I hear a lot of good things for their newbies-but you won't fight very often except for by yourself if you wanna take things into your own hands and do solo stuff-but don't expect much help from the commune. Not because they suck, but because they have fun more with other stuff, if I understand correctly.

Join either Serenwilde or Celest and enjoy the bloodbath...

I honestly sat here for 3 or 4 minutes watching that smily...