Some Advice for the Experience-ly Inept (Newbie)?

Hey there, my brother and I just started playing recently; both as Orcs, both pursuing the path of monk. Being new I have a few questions in regards to general gameplay.

It hasn't been that bad leveling from 1-21(and keeping ourselves adequately equipped), but after completing the first class transfer, it seems that gear is no longer within our reach. Up till now we've been keeping ourselves busy doing the starting town quests, which will net us around 15k-17k a run. Generally takes about 30min to an hour. I've tried my hand at the Manor system, and I'm quite happy with the results. The trouble I'm having is how to price the items. I've come from an MMO (FFXI) which had a centralized trade program: Auction Houses. It makes it much easier to understand the price of items since they have a price history appear when you click on them. So I'm wondering:

<ul type="square"> Is there any place I can find prices for items? (websites, possibly some listings in game)
Is there a general formula for figuring out the price for items (e.g 1.5x the shop buyback price)?
Or is the best method just wandering the big cities and writing down the prices there? (If it is this, which city would be the best place for trading?)

Aside from that, what would be the ideal gear for an up and coming monk? I've been perusing the site and from what I gather the best D weapon would be the Scallop Jamadhar, and the armor set would be the Manticore gear. I've checked the prices from some private shops and I whimper.
The prices for the Manticore gear is respectively priced at about 300k for the body/pants, but then the boots go for 1.800k. As of late I haven't been able to find a Scallop Jamadhar in a shop.

<ul type="square"> Would my best bet to be to hunt for the materials (if it's possible)? Alternatively, what would be the best way to progress my weapons/armor with the least impact on my tiny adena supply. (e.g. Bronze -&gt; Puma -&gt; Lion :: Viper Fang -&gt; Bagh Nack)
On a more gameplay related note, is there any way to register a friend in the game, so you know if they are online or not? I haven't been able to locate anything in the manual with regards to a Friend List feature. I did notice in game that if I went to the Community tab, there was a friend tab located within, but I'm lost as to how to add.

A shameless request also, would any Guilds on the Lionna server be looking for 2 Orc Monks? :D

I'm no slouch, so please don't write me off as a "N00b", if it requires some work to figure it out I'll gladly do it.

Edit: Wow, I didn't realize it became that long, my apologies to those who actually read all of it. It also seems as though I come off a bit brazen, not my intent in the least. I would like to say thanks in advance to all who reply.

Yo there (both of you guys).There is no way to see what price a material has curently (there is a base price at NPC shops but those cant be used to see actual price) -this is player driven economy.Your best bet is to go to Dion,Giran and see which items for how much are traded.(Giran is usually best-most ppl are there).Also dont over-use the gatekeepers :p
You cant afford to get top D at lvl 20 with normal means(you can make alts,farm and get clan help for that).The materials needed to craft top D(i mean the key materials(blades and recipes)) are from lvl 40+ mobs so you cant hunt them at your current lvl.The manticore boots complete the set (manticore set) so they are OVERPRICED.The best way to save adena is to get the best equip for each grade(using less shots because of more damage and using less potions because more P.def) but for this you need tons of adena (either make a scav (alt) or farm HARD (for 1 week you might make enough of materials to get top D weapon).
And since im not on Liona i dont know about any clans for you :p

Scallop Jamadhr is craft/drop or Blacksmith of Mammon only. Lots of people sell them in Dion in private stores. Cheapest route is to buy 2nd to best D garde weapon, hunt in Catacombs or Necros and gather Red, Green, or Blue seal stones. If the side you are fighting for wins (Dawn or Dusk) you can trade the seal stones for Ancient Adena. Then you find the Blacksmith of Mammon in one of the Catacombs (he randomly teleports) and upgrade the D weapon to the next step up.

/friendinvite Name

Stick to the manor system. To get price just go to Giran once you have a LOT of materials. Compare prices, then choose what you want to sell it at. I go high when I sell (which isn't often cause I hoarde all my mats). Someone will buy it eventually. Patience.

.There was a delete command but i cant remember now.

/frienddel Name

I erased the wrong things in my post so ppl dont get confused :p
I would advice the OP to get DEEP in the manor system also.The best money come from there.The thing is there is limited amount of fruits and seeds so you should be on time when the seeds/fruits are restocked.For more info look around in the forums(many threads about the manor).

For the commands (including the 'friends' commands) look here. (http://www.lineage2.com/guide/commands.html)

On prices, the best city to look for prices in player shops is Giran. Dion also has a number of shops.

You both still appear to be 'new characters' so the weapon lending features of the 'newbie helpers/guides' should still be available to you. There is a listing of the bonuses here. (http://www.lineage2.com/guide/bonuses.html) Besides allowing you to exchange your weapons for better ones, they will also loan you a weapon; it is not yours to sell/drop/trade.

The Scallop Jamadhar is the top-D fist. Top-D items are not sold in the stores, they are craft/drop only. If you want one, you can buy it from another player, or assemble the materials to craft one. I believe you can also trade/upgrade to top-D weapons using Mammon, in the Seven Sign dungeons. Info on the Seven Signs is here. (http://www.lineage2.com/Knowledge/sevensigns.html)

By the way, Light Armor (IMO) is a waste during D grade for Monks. A heavy Brigadine set is best but the helmet is cost prohibitive cause it is craft only and hardly anyone farms the mats anymore.

My suggestion would be Mithril Set:

Mithril Breastplate (Giran)
Mithril Gaiters (Giran)
Helmet (Giran)
Hoplon (purchased from Hardin's Academy north of Giran)

+20% Poison Resist
+126 HPs

(If you can only afford to go Manticore, don't worry about the boots. They aren't that crucial. Just get Helmet, RIP Gloves, and Boots of Power).

Party up and take turns tanking. When one guy gets low on HPs, the other takes over attacking first while the other attacks afterwards and can regen HPs.

Stay near Gludin Village, buy seeds, and farm on the most Southern Beach on Lizardman Lieutenants. I recommend Blue Coda seeds. The guy that isn't tanking should seed.

Obviously only one can seed at a time. If you both want to seed you'll have to solo.


It's a shame one of you guys didn't go Mystic. You'd be a better duo.

When acquiring skills, I'd concentrate on spending SP on passive skills. The actives are kind of a waste at levels 20-40. Except for Relax and Spirit Wolf. You definitely want those.

In my opinion of course.

Only bad point in your suggestion is the Hoplon, since a monk will be using fists, it cant use a shield in conjunction.

/shameless plug

If you are roleplayers you might be interested in joining Eventide Sentries &lt;wink&gt;
more info here: www.eventidesentries.4me.pl/forum (http://www.eventidesentries.4me.pl/forum)

Wow, thanks for all the quick replies! I'm leaving from work at the moment so I can't comment on the content yet.(All very good from what I've skimmed :D) When I get home tonight I'll be sure to give a more thorough response as to not make you feel slighted. Wish people were this helpful in the other MMO's I've played.

Only bad point in your suggestion is the Hoplon, since a monk will be using fists, it cant use a shield in conjunction.

Doh, that's right. And it's the shield that gives the +126 HPs. Blah. I went brig set (and Bonebreaker blunt) with a monk so I just suggest Heavy from experience.

So actually the Mithril set is a waste.

Other option is to go Brig top/bottom, Helmet, RIP Gloves, and Boots of Power. Most Defense for the money.

Light set is a waste cause Evasion does not work effectively and the Agile Movement passive does not make up for the HP loss you suffer in light armor.

Of course if you party with a tank you can wear just about anything, but you also have to share loot.

Yea, I went with brig top/bottom, boots of power, Rip gauntlets and helm, and glaive. Oh the good ol' days of no pole nerf ^^

Anyway, the set bonus aint really that big for D-grade so just going with Brig top/bottom, boots of power, Rip gauntlets and helm(not Brig helm that costs way too much) you get good enough Pdef for D-grade. D-sets = waste of adena imho since the grind is so short from 20-40 that completing a set just for that is a waste of time and adena. Also, with orc classes, the HP aint that big of a problem to start with as we get 47 base CON and HP passives.

For fast and cheap lvling, avoid getting armor sets untill you're 52 unless the set can be bought from NPC shops at a reasonable price.

Personally, went with the above mentioned set from 20-40, then just changed the brigs for a comp armor and went 40-52. After that I had enough adena to buy BW heavy, GS and BO set and believe me, not having set bonuses during those early lvls did not affect my lvling in any way. Just get a SO/SE with ya and the exp will flow.

I'll just add that if you shop for D grade on Lionna, Dion is the town to go.

Giran as more people selling but they usually sell C+ Gear, D grade is rare there. The only thing you need to check in Giran is the NPC shops since they sell parts of the top D sets.

And I suggest you go check prices in Dion a lot of time, you can sometime find someone who sell things like a Brig Helm or Manti boots at lower price. But thoses bargains sells fast (people like me buy them to sell at a higher price :p )

Excellent first post.

I will concur that light armor for fighter classes is pointless in D grade. Your masteries are not sufficient to raise your total defense above what you'll get from non-mastery heavy armor.

For a weapon, you will not be able to buy the top D gear from an NPC. What you will be able to do is buy second-to-top gear then upgrade it with the Blacksmith of Mammon. The upgrade will run you 480k AA. The second-best weapon will run you approximately 1.6M adena.

Worried about the huge price tags you're seeing? Don't be. A level 21 who is on his first character isn't supposed to be able to afford that. If you're on your first character, you're supposed to get your first D-grade weapon, of the lowest quality, at level 25. It sounds like you and your brother are particularly adept at using basic money-making strategies, though, so you'll probably be above the curve.
You'll be seeing level 20's in top, overenchanted D-grade from time to time. Those are alts/rerolls who have inhereted millions from a high-level character. They get "easy mode", you don't ;)

The best method to determine material prices is to see what others are selling (not buying) it for.
When in doubt (nobody else is selling it), go with 4x the amount an NPC will buy it for--NPC's buy for half price (so double to be normal) but players usually buy for twice the NPC's value. For example, if an NPC will buy a stem for 50a, sell it for 200a.

You have to know the market in this game. To get to know the markets, you need to start a dwarf (bigger sell shop and load carry abilty) and level it enough to get to gludin, then walk to Dion. Then you can log this dwarf and walk around checking prices. Do that for 15 min each time you play, and you'll learn the markets.

Finally had a chance to read all the responses. Thanks for all the great advice! I've bookmarked the links too for handy reference :D

I was a little surpised about the armor choices. Good thing I asked before I threw down some adena on the light gear :p Makes more sense really. I've started a dwarf alt also to help with gathering some adena. To all who responded thank you again! :D