I always use the guides. I'm not patient enough to try it myself. I do read the dialogue though all the way through. I Guess it's just a fear of going the wrong way and have to redo any part of it again because of my own mistake. At leas when using a guide I can slap my forhead in dismay if I do happen to get it wrong.
when doing a class change for a new character, i usually give a guide a quick once-over beforehand in case theres anything tricky i might miss doing it myself... to save time. then go ahead with the quest myself without checking back unless i get stuck. usually i try to think of it as a commercial for a really crappy movie or something similar :P --peeking ahead that is.
I usually don't use quest guides... only when I get stuck or have to pick a certain route to get the reward I want... wishing potion quest would be a good example.
But class change quests (especially those at lvl 20) are not that hard... imho at least. And they usually have a decent storyline (compared to most other quests) and I enjoy the increased depth of gameplay during the quests.
If you're stuck look through the guide... but I don't think that it would be necessary for you to do so to complete the quest. ;) And it's more fun if you always know the net step in advance. :p
The lvl 20 quests are pretty straight forward, usually, and if you check "location" in your quest log you get a blue arrow, showing you the direction of where you need to go. I look at the guide to find out where I need to start the quest. That is all I really need :)
The lvl 40 quests, however, are not as easy. I always use guides for those.
Back before the locators where in I usually asked people in shout when I couldn't find something, I only used the guides for when I was really badly stuck. Then I started helping a lot of people with their mark quests and had to look up most of it, seeing how I couldn't know what the NPCs were telling them and all.
Now I'm starting on the marks on two more chars and I only use the guides if I really am stuck, since I know so many bits and pieces of most of the mark quests anyway. x_x
There are other quests that I never used a guide for, all the Elven Village ones and WPQ for example, since you don't really need to...
Another question on that topic - does anyone (else) actually read all the NPC texts for the various quests? The lore and stories you can read in between the lines or outright when doing so is pretty nice. ^^
Skip the guides and enjoy the quest(s) while they last for the lore and storyline. If you read a quest guide you already know what is gonna happen, and there's no wonder they're boring as hell when you do that.
Just get the starter NPC, they're even listed on this site I think, and go from there into the great unknown!
I decided to wing the raider class change quest and well....
I thought the path to a monk was easy, the path to raider was the biggest cakewalk (http://www.answers.com/cakewalk&r=67) i've ever seen in my life. Looks like my concerns were unfounded.
Which leads me to wonder, what other class change quests are way to easy to complete.
I agree with Maline about Human Wizzard and Scavenger... that quest really was a pain in prelude. :P
I've also done orc shaman and human rogue. The rogue quest was very easy... the shaman quest was not too hard either, but very interesting to read and some good fun. :) Some of those class change quests can indeed be fun if you see more in them than just running from A to B to get your new skills. All depends on your own expectations and attitude towards the game.
I've done scavenger, shillen oracle, human cleric, human wizard, dark wizard, light wizard, elven knight, and elven scout (or whatever it is). I always used guides, I guess I'm still use to open beta when even the in game quest information was horribly inaccurate.
Having recently done Shillen oracle though, it was insanely easy even if I didn't have a guide. I remember human cleric being much worse.
I think the 1st class change quests are fine. Possibly too easy for veterans, but if you're brand new to the game, you shouldn't be given a task comparable to for instance 2nd class change quests. - Which aren't "hard" as much as tedious and frustrating for the most part. We don't want to lose new players because of that :)
Kill a porta? I had to kill 10 of those, 10 excuro and 10 something elce in CT for my ork quest. Along with bunch of stuning mobs in IT pit (31 con >.>, played a mage there despites my brig and mele wearpon), lots of timaks. Got half of my partty wiped out there ^^ I didnt knew about the troop leaders spawning stuff :o
I generally do the 20 class changes with no guides, they are fairly easy imo. But the 40 ones...those suck, endless running, finding w/e it is you have to kill. Quest guides all the way for the 40s ones.
The second clas change quests however are way more chalanging. Some are downright nasty. I remember the healer qeust where you ahd to enter the forbidden temple to kill mobs in some far away room where you had to pass rooms filled with agro archers. Even in C4 I advise the healers to bring friends.
Lineage2 quests are not hard compared to other games, especially in the sense of knowing what you need to do. They tell you what to get and where to get it from.
I recommend going without a guide, so you'll actually take the time to read the story - perhaps get some enjoyment of the backstory.
Also, many/most of the guides are a little bit off. When I encounter people in-game who are frustrated and not finding the betrayers*, it's because they read a guide and not the in-game material.
:) *when you see the beautiful demons, the WEB of betrayers' deceit is about to be lifted ;)
This is an advice that goes for all the marks, anyway.
Not only does having friends around make it easier but even for classes that have marks that could be soloed some frineds help keep you sane when running from Elmore to Giran to Hardin's and back again to Elmore via Giran just to fetch a letter. Also, I couldn't imagine doing any of those marks that I did without ww2. x_x
Bring friends, that's what most L2 quests are for. :)