I've played Lusternia before. I used to play a Tahtetso monk (shortly after they came out), spent money on some credits and got transed in one guild skill. Shortly thereafter, I made it to level 50ish something and enjoyed dueling and whatnot. I've even participated in a city defense once. However, this was when I was unmarried and in college, with basically nothing to tie my time down.

Fast forward to today (5ish years later).

I want to play this game, I enjoy this game quite alot. However, I just don't have the time that I used to. I don't think I'd have the time reliably to get online every night, like so many of you guys do, and I don't imagine that I'd have much time to play even when I do get on. So here's my first question: Is Lusternia worth playing if you can't devote hours and hours to it every night?

I currently have two characters... A Paladin Novice and a Institute Collegiate. The Paladin was around for the wheel spinning time in June, so he's got a few neat things from that. The Institute got in on the last weekend of credits for character creation, so he's got those under his belt (50 nice ones). I have a feeling that I'd enjoy the Researcher more, but again with the time constraints and whatnot, I'm unsure of what to choose to play. I do want to focus on one character though. So there's question #2: Which of my currect two characters should I go and play as a main with the state of the game currently?

And finally, I'm a noob, and I'll be the first to admit that. I don't know what I'll have time to participate in, but I enjoy the PvP aspects of the game, as well as the PvE aspects. I was around for the release of the aetherships and I enjoyed flying around on those things blowing things up as well. I want to play a character that will be useful in pretty much every way, but I want hime to be fun to play as well. So, since I'm pretty sure that I want to be a Researcher, is there a best race to play for that? I don't want to be Trill, because I've never liked them. My current little newbie, is a human, since I thought the exp bonus would be helpful for a new person. I want to be able to bash somewhat, influence quite a bit, and participate in PvP somewhat. I'll also definitely into the roleplay and look forward to adding to the library of whatever org I do play in. So question #3: Best race for a researcher so that he's moderate in combat, excellent in Influence, and moderate in bashing?

Again, thanks everyone for your answers, I look forward to them. I think that Lusternia is a fantastic game, enjoy it immensely and I'm hoping that I can come up with something that will work out for me again, so that I can play this game.

P.S. If any of you are in the same boat with the time restrictions, I'd love to know how it's affected your play style and whatnot.

I only play one or two hours five-six times a week. Sometimes more if I have nothing to do that day or can't sleep. I have a lot of fun with it, I get stuff done, and it hasn't yet been a drawback. You won't want to take on responsibilities unless you can devote more time to the game, but you can definitely have fun with it.

Question 3: I'd say Female Kephera, Trill, Elfen, Aslaran, and maybe Human. In that order. Taurian/Loboshigaru would be tanky and good for PVP if you aren't going for damage, but they would be pretty bad at Influencing, and I'm not sure how much intelligence affects researcher damage for bashing.

You can certainly play with those time constraints. Bash a little here or there, maybe do some guild tasks, have some fun with some people, do a few spars/wargames/free for alls. Perhaps participate in a raid or defense. I don't really feel like you have to play every day even in order to advance in the game, I've taken enough breaks from the game to realize everyone pretty much stays the same, and you can work at your own pace in your guild/commune/city, whatever. The time constraints are really only going to matter in you might miss out on more village influencing/aetherflares/domoths/wildnodes and whatnot that you may not even be interested in at this point anyways.

Absolutely. I remember when I played a character, I literally had maybe one hour a week or so I could get online, sometimes less than that. It was harder to stay involved, but I still found it enjoyable. You do what you can.



I've got a faeling, which is pretty nice. Human I think is decent. Lucidian as well.

I'd say cloud trill would be better if he wants excellent influence and moderate hunting. Female kephera is decent at everything, but is not as good at influence as trill are. I do spend most of my time influencing, but I have moonchilde, trueheart, vixen, and a throne.

Playing a human takes awhile to pay off. Humans start at all 12 stats and don't get their first stat bonus until level 50. I'm not really familiar with the Researcher human stat gain, but if you're going to concentrate on influence you'll probably be better off as a trill, since higher charisma will help you out. Humans do gain experience more quickly, but there are other ways to make up experience gain. You might want to take a look at the Lusternia wiki ( http://wiki.lusternia.com/Races )--Cloud Trill and Prismatic Lucidian is what you'd be looking at for Researchers, I think.

Guardian human stat gain rounds out at 13 str, 14 dex, 13 con, 15 int, 13 cha, 12 size. The main bonus you'll be seeing is extra experience, frankly. If you want dedicated influence, trill's the way to go.

Female Keph is worlds tankier for bashing and PVP than Cloud Trill, and still has excellent charisma and intelligence. Cloud Trill are a lot squishier, but will be better at influencing and do more damage, and are probably better for certain pvp builds. Pretty sure female kephera are the premier guardian race, especially for people with marginal combat experience.

That said, Hallifax Trill RP has fun inherent angles, and all that. I'd go Lucidian if I was going to be a Researcher, but Prismatic Lucidians don't have excellent influencing. Just pretty good influencing.

I have a baby so only play either when she's napping and I don't have anything else I should do, or when my partner's giving me a break. Still, I'm having fun and slowly improving. There are lots of good comments here already, I tend to have an idea of what I want to do when I log in - chat, spar someone, explore an area, replenish power, and if something comes up then I'll switch. Something like influencing is fairly mindless so you can multitask and chat to someone or work on a design.

You don't need to be ever present or have bashed all the way to demigod to contribute, people understand when sometimes you have to rush off. Buying a system (m&m for me) has let me get into combat with minimal fuss. I'd never have had the time or skill to create my own, never mind maintaining it.

I've got a human and she seems fine for bashing/influencing/fighting, though I've no basis for comparison. Could be that Illuminati are flexible.

Ha. Even writing this reply took four hours. Anyhow, welcome back and have fun!

Thanks for all of the encouragement. I've decided to stick with my human Researcher and see how it goes, since he has the bonus credits anyway. I'm looking forward to really playing soon. I'm going to finish Assassin's Creed 2 this weekend, and then I should be headed into Lusternia as my primary game, which I'm really excited about.

My final question for a bit:

With the 50 credits that I have, what should I do with them? Just spend them all on lessons? That's my initial reaction, but I'm up for other options.

At this point, that would be my advice

Skills now, arties and extras later.