Hey guys,

I'm new to Lusternia though not to MUDs generally. I can grasp the basic concept here, and I've read the history of Lusternia and such and I've pretty much decided to marry him/her.

So anyway, I'd like some suggestions on picking my first class!

First though, I'd like to ask as a player :

1. What kind of options are available for me if I want to gain levels? Is it just grinding 24/7 with a bit of fetch and deliver quests here and there like WoW?
1a. Will these options cost me? Do I need a big fat wallet to invest in if I want a diverse range of level-getting abilities?
1b. Will this cost be somewhat equal to a brand new Ferrari?

2. Is there a -huge- difference in bashing potential between classes? I don't know the comparison here, so lets say A has magic darts which deals a set number of damage, while B has magic wand that also deals a set damage, but has a chance to hit more than once. (This is important for me, I don't wanna make a char then get frustrated by how hard it is to bash. It's not fun for me -or- the people I will meet).
2a. If there -is- a huge difference, how so and why? Could you give me a comparison between two classes?
2b. Is this difference role-play induced or system induced? E.g. A can use magic darts because he and his cohorts roleplay that wands are for weaklings, while B gets a wand because he and his friends think darts are the organs of some evil demon left in the world and should never be used.

3. Just how different is the Guild system in Lusternia? I've been to MUDs where the atmosphere and roleplay of two guilds are completely different, yet they share a skillset which is terribly boring IMO.
2a. If Guilds don't share skillsets, then how -similar- are the skills when compared from one guild to another? Can I expect that stupid priest of goodness to be able to call down the same type of damage that I can dish out, only disguised as another thing in text?

Now that that's out of the way. As a character, I'm more inclined towards Knight types. I like how knights in this game can specialize in one weapon or another. If I -do- start as a knight, I'll probably go to the Ur'Guard, since I've never been able to stick to role-playing a good guy for long (it just gets so dull! No offense to the good guys out there!). Would an Aslaran Ur'Guard be any good? I thought that the decent strength and intelligence would help with my blade-swinging prowess and my necromancy powers!

But then again, I looked at the Orclach and fell in love! I don't know why, but I just -like- the whole concept, Orlachmar had such an interesting story in the History section! But the equilibrium balance put me off, because I want to be a necromancer! But I saw that you could also pick Tracking or Hunting or something, though that doesn't sound as cool as a seven foot black skinned Orclach Death Knight. Could someone please elaborate further on this?

Sorry if it's too long! But it's been a while since a game has gotten me this excited!
Z,

I'm new as well so I can't help you with a lot of your questions but as far as leveling goes there is a number of ways to do it. First you can do quests, which can be very entertaining and involved and give you a lot of storyline if you're into RP. Secondly you can just kill things for experience. Third you can influence, which is kinda unique to this game from what I've seen but basically it's a non-violent way of leveling up. It's kinda hard to explain (at least for me) but it's easy to do and you can get a ton of experience fast from it. Hope that helps somewhat.

A non violent way to level up? Well that's definitely a first for me! Can you explain some more about influencing?

Influencing itself is a skill anyone can take. By analzying the npc you want to influence, you choose which set of skills you want to influence them with (they're predisposed to certain influence types, like a charitable person will be more likely to be influenced with begging, and a brave person would be better suited to empowerment.) A lot of people make a lot of gold by influencing, since you not only get experience for influencing, but esteem, which can be imbued into an item and sold to people, or offered to a god as tribute.

Wow, the pen is mightier than the sword eh? I like that, I like it a lot! How would a guild of knights react to someone who'd rather talk than swing a sword though..?

I don't see many guilds having an issue with influencing? Unless you did nothing else, then some people might have an issue, but as long as you also do guild or city stuff once in awhile, influencing is good.

Hopefully so! Does one need invest a lot in influencing to get better margins?

If it is going to be your major way of levelling, you'd likely want to make it transcendent (highest skill level), since the higher it is, the better you are at it. Investing in dramatics is good too, since dramatics helps influencing. I want to say it's cheaper then bashing, but I don't do enough bashing or influencing, so I am not the best to speculate on that, sorry.

With lesson promotions, facebook credits (10 bound per day), artisanals, bardics, the seasonal/holiday events and such, I've been able to trans several skills. It takes a while longer, yes, but for the most part you can do just about anything without paying for it. Granted, I have bought credits from the website, but that's more to make my character permanent.


I find mages and monks fast for low-level bashing, especially monks. Warriors are awesome at higher levels and nice and tanky. With damageshift I notice that the speed of my bashing has greatly increased.


I've seen people do very well as Aslaran Paladins, so I don't see why not. I have an orclach Ur'Guard tracker (mainly because I like tracking) but I don't find it to be a disadvantage with the slow balance.

Basically, it's quite possible to take advantage of ic and ooc sources and not buy credits. However, if you want a diverse range of skills and you want them now, then you probably will want to invest in some credits (or the currently on sale lesson packages)



Archetypes will share base skills, and have similar choices in a skillset. However within archetype style varies quite widely depending on the actual guild.
For instance, the Celestine, Nihilist, Institute and Illuminati guilds are all of the Guardian archetype. Each take cosmic and rituals as skills and each has a choice between three of Healing, Hexes, Tarot and Astrology for their tertiary skill.

However, Celestines specialize in Celestialism after mastering cosmic, Nihilists specialize in Nihilism, Institute in Harmonics, and Illuminati in Transmology, and each have different specializations for rituals as well. The specializations are pretty different from each other.

No guild will have access to a skill but refuse to use it because they believe it's wrong, simply because if it was unsuited for the guild, then it wouldn't be in the skillset for the guild. (However, there might be restrictions imposed on how a specific ability might be used. Particularly forcing actions, theft is extremely frowned on in lusternia by pretty much everybody)


Aslaran is usually considered an excellent knight race. I don't really know about orclach and how it does with necromancy. You do have one free reincarnation.


You might find the lusternia wiki helpful, it has more information about the skills than the help files: http://wiki.lusternia.com/Skills

Kayte, you probably haven't noticed anything from slow balance as an Orclach because Orclach do not have a balance penalty.

As for the Aslaran Ur'guard question; yeah, it's a good race choice. I'd recommend personally something tougher with a higher strength though, like Krokani or Human, as I recently switched from Aslaran Serenguard to Elfen Serenguard and I've found the increased strength and constitution to be way better for my offense and defense than the balance bonus. Your mileage may vary.

BAH. I was thinking of Igasho.

If you want to be more than simply competent as a combatant some day down the road, I'd highly suggest planning to get greatrunes someday. Anyhow, Aslaran Ur'Guard archlich is a smart choice. At demigod they're the best choice I think for Ur'Guard necromancers. Orclach isn't a bad choice either, just watch out for mana kills and you should probably go pureblade spec for the racial bonus (and it's the best spec overall IMO).

Aetherhunting is easy and really takes no time at all to get demigod compared to bashing.

Thanks for the replies everybody! I was thinking Aslaran because they seem very well rounded, so I could try different things at once and find the one I like. Why is Pureblade considered the best spec overall? Are the other weapons sub-par or something? Also, how much does the racial-bonus affect me? Is it marginally worth it to take advantage of?

I'd take a balance bonus over a racial proficiency in a spec, personally - but if you're a race with a racial spec, then might as well take advantage of it! Plus, Orclach is always cool.

Aslaran's far better. Racial bonus is +5 all stats for one handers if I recall right.

As someone who played as an Orclach pureblade for large swaths of my time:

Just do it. You obviously like Orclach, you're leaning towards Ur'Guard, which has strong links to the race. I used to changeling between aslaran and orclach frequently as a knight. They both have their merits, but especially when you're bashing, I always found Orclach regeneration and general toughness to win out. You're certainly not going to notice any disadvantage from your race that is greater than the disadvantage from your level from some time, and even then, the big disadvantage for Orclach in player combat is vulnerability to mana kills.

However, most combat is in groups, and most everyone drops quickly to mana kills in groups. Ultimately, for bashing, an Orclach knight is a durable and mostly consistent basher, so long as you mind fire damage. You certainly will never be disappointed in the choice for hunting purposes.

That said, you won't be influencing well as an Orclach, so if that's an issue, take something more well rounded. But if you're looking for a combination that will not have issues hunting and be pretty solid in combat, an Orclach Ur'guard will not let you down.

Thanks! Yeah, something about that race just screams to me hehe. Orclach does have pretty nice racial statistics, making them look very tanky. What do you guys mean buy manakills though? I've never been much of a PVP kind of person, but having said that, I don't wanna run away screaming if my mates need me for anything!

Also, strength determines bashing damage and pvp damage right? And I'm assuming the same goes for charisma in influencing?

If you're a warrior, you're not going to be doing loads of pvp damage. However, strength does affect how well you can afflict someone by building wounds faster as it grows. Bashing damage is determined by strength, yeah, but it isn't especially noticeable past a certain point. Orclach have great strength and decent dexterity (highly important) but not quite as much dex as the most popular warrior races.

Oh? How come Dex is so important?