I used to play way back in Prelude, but I didn't get very far before I quit. After playing WoW for a bit and deciding the end-game of it was more painful than getting stabbed by rusty knives, I decided to give L2 another try.
Now, I don't mind grinds...I played DAoC and had plenty of fun levelling up my Spiritmaster despite the long grind that the game had. That isn't the problem...the problem I have is grinding as a class that I don't want to play, which L2 basically forces me to do in order to reach the class I *do* want to play. I love pet classes, it's always been the thing I've been interested in...but while most other characters can start with their playstyle at the very lastest at 20, I have to wait to 40 because of the ridiculous cooldowns on wizard servitors, not to mention I have yet to encounter anyone actually selling D-grade crystals so I can summon anything in the first place.
I've seen a lot of people say that 20-40 is fast, but it doesn't seem that way when you're playing something you don't like to play. My Dark Wizzie just hit 25 (for the fifth time...which I'll get to later) with the anticipation that levelling would be made easier with Body to Mind and Shadow Spark. And it is...but only a little. Over one hundred health for twenty-two mana is nice and all, but it's certainly not a downtime eliminator by any means...instead of nuking for five minutes and resting for ten, I'm nuking for five and a half and resting for ten. :(
I'm afraid to go out and level now. Four times now I've died, whether due to lag, spell resists, spell interrupts, respawns that immediately attack, or a combination thereof, and deleveled down to 24, once losing the enchant armor D scroll I got from a DE quest that I wasn't able to get back.
It's also equally discouraging to hear low-mid 20's characters in top D-grade (and using this fact to help them get groups) while I'm still in all no grade. Used up all of my novice spiritshots, don't want to buy more because I want to be able to uprade my equipment, which I might need to do before 40.
*sigh* Sorry for the whine/vent/rant. Any encouragement or advice would be great...
You aren't playing the dark wizard correctly if you are always dying like this.
I rarely ever die. Really. From lvl 1 to my current 74.
So, you must hunt mobs that you can 2 shot. I used to only use regular shots until I hit 40 (blessed didn't come into the game until later and I already got used to the regular shots) so I used to 3 shot things.
However, I still had money left over from the adena drop as regular shots were relatively cheap.
So, use shots or don't use shots but you really should 2 shot the mob and you should have a profit left over from the adena drop.
Also, kite the mobs. Don't stand there and let them whack you. If the mob is reaching you then you need to find mobs that are a little weaker.
Dark Wizards get body to mind. Use it while you are hunting. It will help immensely with mana.
If you just put your nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel you will be at 40 before long.
Also, joining a clan might help too. Time goes by faster when you are hunting with others.
The other thing that you might want to revisit is why you are playing the game. Remember, this game is more about PvP. So eventually the game is about joining others for that purpose. So, you might as well join them sooner than later.
I rarely ever die. Really. From lvl 1 to my current 74.
So, you must hunt mobs that you can 2 shot. I used to only use regular shots until I hit 40 (blessed didn't come into the game until later and I already got used to the regular shots) so I used to 3 shot things.
I do fight mobs that I can 2-shot. It's these mobs that killed me. Deaths usually result from a mob that out-runs me or has a long range attack (or both, as I found out about the Monster Eye Gazer that I tried to run away from when a Dire Wolf aggroed on me...) To give you an idea, at 22-25 after I ran out of my newbie sps I was attacking the Maille Lizardmen outside of Gludio to finish the Red-eyed Invaders quest. Died twice from the scouts there, due to adds and constant interruptions and spell failures. My first death involved a Lizardman Guard that, at the last moment before my spell went off, ran into two friends, a Scout and a normal Lizardman. The Scout immediately started up his special attack as his first move, my follow-up nuke on the Guard failed so he lived, and the following Aura Burn was interrupted. Events like this have been happening with disturbing frequency ever since, which is sad because I died only once pre-20, and that was due to a massive lag-spike.
And I have been using BtM...it helps, but only a little...not the immense help people have been telling me it would. :-/
Well to those people saying that 20 to 40 is fast, don't worry about what they're saying. To new players without money it can be a rough trip, a few friends of mine quit before they ever even hit their second class change.
Since money is a big problem for newcomers I'd suggest investing in a dwarf Scavenger or Artisan (or both). It may seem kind of irritating to have to play a dwarven class, but if you've hit a wall on your main then it will make things easier on you. You might even enjoy the change of pace from time to time, I tend to log on my dwarven characters now and then even when I'm in top grade for my level.
Personally I would suggest making a Scavenger. It will be a boring but short journey to learn your first level of Spoil and Sweep, but after that you'll be gathering basic materials including things like varnish which are selling very well these days.
If you can put together the money for D grade equipment and SpS for your main, it should be a lot easier to level.
If you need more D grade crystals you should try to make friends with an Artisan capable of crystalizing D grade items, or create your own Artisan of course.
About all else I can say is that L2 is a tough game. It's difficult to get anywhere, and easy to get knocked back down once you've reached a goal. It can also be very rewarding to look back on your earlier days once you've grown more powerful than you thought you'd ever be.
Hey try not to get discouraged man. one day i hit lvl 43 5 times. what a day that was. but just keep going.you will get there. you see my sig list 3 toons. but i have been in this game a long time. i have rerolled over and over. deleting toons. starting new ones. it takes a while for some to find there place in the game. bu stick with it. you will find it sometime :)
What server are you on? and whats your characters name?
Zardin on Devianne.
Thanks for the comments everyone. Hunting Dion Grizzlies now...not the greatest experience, but they're non-aggro and non-social, much easier and more difficult to get myself killed, hehe. *keeps trudging on*
it might be a good idea to hunt mobs that are a bit slower and dont have long ranged attacks, as you yourself suggested. also go after mogs that are more spread out, the ratmen out the guldio east gate are good xp but its hard to always get just 1. the area between fellmere lake and the west gate of guldin may be good, spiders and kittys are all aggro but if you keep the road close to you you'll be okay when you run out of mp. if you want something a little easier try the abandoned camp, you should be able to kill the mobs there without too much trouble, and if you hunt them in the right area they wont run back to the camps. after a few levels, id go after the basilisks in the north side of the wastelands, they drop D grade low-end gear you can crush if you make a dwarf crafter, so you can get the crystals you need later. carry a few minor health pots and haste pots in case of emegency. i know what you mean about playing a class you dont like to become one you do, the elven knight is painful, but sws is awesome. its a whole other world after level 40, hang in there.
You have to find a race/class you enjoy playing from the ground up it's that simple.
And after two years of playing i'm proud to say i'm in top D grade, just about.
Now you may say holy [923] it took him two [923] years to get into D grade! So as you can see while you feel things are going slow for you there is always someone slower.
I would also suggest joining raids were ever possible.
They are good exp and have chance to drop some good gear.
Sure you may run into a few bad teams, but on the whole I think you will do fine.
A good boss to kill for EAD's is the RB near orc village (lvl 25). It may cost a bit in ports, but he will drop around 10 or even more EAD's. Which can be sold for around 50k depending on your server.
The b2m thing only works marginally for you it sounds like because you don't have the cash to spam heal pots to keep using the spell. A sad reality. Alts are much easier to level because you got the cash.
What most new players don't want to hear, but it has to be said is that there are two grinds in this game. one for cash, the other for levels. Learn the prices of stuff and whenever you see a "bargain" snatch it up and sell it for more. As a starter piece of advice, consumables like enchants are what I'm talking about. Also, you can buy any "set completer" (gloves for robes, boots for light armor and helmets for heavy...these items unlock special enhancements for the wearer. Find out which sets have these, and which do not.) that you find underpriced and sell those. Lastly, if you make a dorf artisan, you can level him to 20 and make your own DSS, and DSS to sell. Hope this helps.
That isn't the problem...the problem I have is grinding as a class that I don't want to play, which L2 basically forces me to do in order to reach the class I *do* want to play. I love pet classes, it's always been the thing I've been interested in...but while most other characters can start with their playstyle at the very lastest at 20, I have to wait to 40 because of the ridiculous cooldowns on wizard servitors, not to mention I have yet to encounter anyone actually selling D-grade crystals so I can summon anything in the first place.
That sad =(
I got sam eproblem on my warloc wanabe alt. NUkers are soo borring :(
For D grade crystals you can go to Dion, i dont knoqw about your's server, but there almost always is at least 1 seller in there at my server.
Fof money problem, you may try looking into the manor system, it's hard for wisards, but still doable. You can ether seed pasive mobs, or seed on someone elses party, it's quet posible to find those who will not react it any way to you seeding their mobs ;) . Just make shure you ask first, real players do not like other seeding their mobs.
Oh, forgot to mention that as well as making your own DSS/DBSPS by having a arti alt, you can crush items to make your own crystals. Non-top items can (fairly) often be had for decent crystal prices.
I rarely ever die. Really. From lvl 1 to my current 74.
So, you must hunt mobs that you can 2 shot. I used to only use regular shots until I hit 40 (blessed didn't come into the game until later and I already got used to the regular shots) so I used to 3 shot things.
I do fight mobs that I can 2-shot. It's these mobs that killed me. Deaths usually result from a mob that out-runs me or has a long range attack (or both, as I found out about the Monster Eye Gazer that I tried to run away from when a Dire Wolf aggroed on me...) To give you an idea, at 22-25 after I ran out of my newbie sps I was attacking the Maille Lizardmen outside of Gludio to finish the Red-eyed Invaders quest. Died twice from the scouts there, due to adds and constant interruptions and spell failures. My first death involved a Lizardman Guard that, at the last moment before my spell went off, ran into two friends, a Scout and a normal Lizardman. The Scout immediately started up his special attack as his first move, my follow-up nuke on the Guard failed so he lived, and the following Aura Burn was interrupted. Events like this have been happening with disturbing frequency ever since, which is sad because I died only once pre-20, and that was due to a massive lag-spike.
And I have been using BtM...it helps, but only a little...not the immense help people have been telling me it would. :-/
Body to mind gets better as you go up in lvls. Sometimes use vamp claw (don't remember if it is called something different pre 40) because it does give back more hitpoints.
I did most of my soloing in the wastes which (at the time) worked very well for me. I know they made some changes to the mobs but the seem the same.
If you are fighting magic mobs then get better jewels. If you can't get better jewels don't fight mobs that spam magic.
Make sure you check to see what their strengths and weakneses.
Frustration can result from many factors, but the most common form of frustration occurs when people are fighting the system unnecessarily or just flat out doing things wrong.
Some things that I'd like to point out...
1. You are hunting the wrong monsters. I would suggest hunting melee-type monsters that do not have a ranged attack. Archers should be the only monsters that make you worry, and they should be your first targets.
Go to Abandoned Camp or Partisan Hideaway and hunt the mahums. Do the Black Lion Quest that starts in Gludin. Hunt the Mahums until they are light blue. In fact, if you are not using blessed spiritshots, I would suggest exclusively hunting greens and light blue monsters. Once all of the Mahums are dark blue, move on to Execution Grounds, and continue the second part of the Black Lion quest with Sophia in Dion. The loot from the quest items will help pay for your shots.
2. At lower levels mystics are expected to have some downtime. Body to mind helps somewhat, but only by spamming heal pots will you have almost zero downtime at your level. What to do? Nothing. Park your toon in a safe area and rest your eyes. When you get to higher levels I can assure you body to mind, clear mind, etc., will work to assure that you have very little downtime. But you are low level now and like real life, there are growing pains that you just have to accept.
3. You are spending entirely too much time soloing. Find a Shilien Oracle your level and some of the complaints that you currently have will be addressed very quickly. If you cannot find an SO, whenever you are in town offer an exchange of recs for buffs. You'd be amazed how many Oracles/Elders want to have their names in neon blue. :cool:
4. Raid groups and catacomb/necropolis groups -- do them. Given how much seal stones and blank scrolls are selling for, I'm surprised you'd care to hunt above ground at all. :) But again, this requires you to meet people and group.
That isn't the problem...the problem I have is grinding as a class that I don't want to play, which L2 basically forces me to do in order to reach the class I *do* want to play. I love pet classes, it's always been the thing I've been interested in...but while most other characters can start with their playstyle at the very lastest at 20, I have to wait to 40 because of the ridiculous cooldowns on wizard servitors, not to mention I have yet to encounter anyone actually selling D-grade crystals so I can summon anything in the first place.
That sad =(
I got sam eproblem on my warloc wanabe alt. NUkers are soo borring :(
For D grade crystals you can go to Dion, i dont knoqw about your's server, but there almost always is at least 1 seller in there at my server.
Fof money problem, you may try looking into the manor system, it's hard for wisards, but still doable. You can ether seed pasive mobs, or seed on someone elses party, it's quet posible to find those who will not react it any way to you seeding their mobs ;) . Just make shure you ask first, real players do not like other seeding their mobs.
I feel exactly the same way :) nukers are so boring doing nuke B2M CLD nuke nuke B2m >.>
Take heart. You will prevail if you presist in gaming. When I started out during first release I too was hurting at first when trying "to get places".
Like mentioned a good clan will help alot as grinding solo is boring and can at time become depressing if you have no-one to talk too. Having a clan and clan chat even when solo'ing make all the differance.
People say join Raidboss parties when you can and partly I will agree on that. However... make very sure whenever you join a party like that you do like the way they have the lootsetting set (aka never join parties that use "finders keepers" or "in turn" as loot setup). Best ofcourse in my book would be a RB-partie with clannies that would agree to sell/ditrubute loot to all members of that party equally.
Another thing I would do too is join RB-parties if you need the Skill-points in a bad way. Keep in mind that if you join a random party (even with agreeable lootsettings) you may get unlucky and level faster then needed adena/material-wish. I would delevel myself after a party like that. Looks like you are a botter but if you can't afford the gear you are of even worse later on. (I delevel my scavangers/BH so many times that I can't even recall the many times I did it.)
Whenever you hunt as a mage allways try to have a 2-shottable mob that is part of a quest too. You level and you get the extra cash you will need to get that gear. If you can try to get into catacomb or necropolis parties too. You will get seal-stones which can be used to upgrade you weapon via the mammon blacksmith. If you want you can sell the sealstones too ofcourse again helping out on cash.
Make alts if possible and use the gear from the first toon to outfit the second toon and if possible use your first toon using the newbie-options to the max. (aka your first toon gets to upgrade non-grade (n-g) gear via the old gear + adena to a better gear. When you do this consitently you can outfit your alts with the "best n-g gear" without spending double the costs of the outfits.
There is a Quest for the Bearpelts in Fioran. dont miss 3k adena evry 20 Pelts :)
The Bears are a bit easier than the Ol Mahuns i think.
If there are only 5% hp left on i Monster i tend to kill it with some well placed hits. I could always fill up my HP with Vampiric touch as the opener for the next Monster.
There is a Quest for the Bearpelts in Fioran. dont miss 3k adena evry 20 Pelts :)
The Bears are a bit easier than the Ol Mahuns i think.
If there are only 5% hp left on i Monster i tend to kill it with some well placed hits. I could always fill up my HP with Vampiric touch as the opener for the next Monster.
Falexi SE
The only problem with Floran is that he might run into a PKer, and if he's discouraged now, he'll really be ticked if that happens. :D
Fighting 1/2 HP mobs is great for a mage, as long as they don't have a ranged attack (as you found out). Most 1/2 HP mobs also hit twice as hard. Go figure.
To optimize your nukes for hunting, try to find mobs that are weak against your nuke. There are many mobs that have "Wind Attack Weak Point" (most flying mob types) or "Fire Attack Weak Point" (most Insect/Bug mob types).
For example, if you're a Human using Fire nukes, you can hang out around Cruma Marshland and crank on ants and Stakatos. If you're a DE mage using Wind nukes, you can hang out down at the Southern entrance to the Wastelands and hunt Monster Eyes.
It can be tough with little or no financial support, but if you hunt smart you can level fast and make some decent money too. In the earlier levels there are quests to hunt just about everything, so try to maximize that as well.
Hi, My main is a mage, I too found the grind for lvl's and moola very hard. I started a dwarf as a sideline for a change. I use her to sell all the stuff my mage gets from drops. I also worked hard to get the D spirit and soulshot recipes, but as a low lvl you don't make millions with that. However I found thet I could sell recipes for a very good price, leave your shop online when you sleep, that way when you wake up Santa's been :). Another way is to go ape when the events are running, the pumpkin bash was great for me, lots of good drops that I sold AFTER the event when stuff is not so common. Anyway keep at it, it gets better a you lvl higher.
The only problem with Floran is that he might run into a PKer, and if he's discouraged now, he'll really be ticked if that happens. :D
Been there, done that, just not in Floran. Oddly, it was just outside Gludio and at AC instead. :p
Thanks for the comments everyone. It's slow, but a real nice person came over and helped me out some. I have some crystals now, and playing around with the Shadow is great fun. :) Slowly working, will get there eventually.
I rarely ever die. Really. From lvl 1 to my current 74.
So, you must hunt mobs that you can 2 shot. I used to only use regular shots until I hit 40 (blessed didn't come into the game until later and I already got used to the regular shots) so I used to 3 shot things.
I do fight mobs that I can 2-shot. It's these mobs that killed me. Deaths usually result from a mob that out-runs me or has a long range attack (or both, as I found out about the Monster Eye Gazer that I tried to run away from when a Dire Wolf aggroed on me...) To give you an idea, at 22-25 after I ran out of my newbie sps I was attacking the Maille Lizardmen outside of Gludio to finish the Red-eyed Invaders quest. Died twice from the scouts there, due to adds and constant interruptions and spell failures. My first death involved a Lizardman Guard that, at the last moment before my spell went off, ran into two friends, a Scout and a normal Lizardman. The Scout immediately started up his special attack as his first move, my follow-up nuke on the Guard failed so he lived, and the following Aura Burn was interrupted. Events like this have been happening with disturbing frequency ever since, which is sad because I died only once pre-20, and that was due to a massive lag-spike.
And I have been using BtM...it helps, but only a little...not the immense help people have been telling me it would. :-/
Body to mind gets better as you go up in lvls. Sometimes use vamp claw (don't remember if it is called something different pre 40) because it does give back more hitpoints.
I did most of my soloing in the wastes which (at the time) worked very well for me. I know they made some changes to the mobs but the seem the same.
If you are fighting magic mobs then get better jewels. If you can't get better jewels don't fight mobs that spam magic.
Make sure you check to see what their strengths and weakneses.
Leveling my summoner {a wizard until 40 class change}I found BtM very useful, and still do. Realize as many have pointed out you will end up waiting on mp. I never used Hp pots, I just resigned to the fact I was going to wait for one or the other and fought mobs acccordingly. I suggest you make sure you have placed your skill points in your passive masteries for mana gain/regen. Once I did that, I tried using a balance of Vampiric Claw or just running down mp 1/3 or better from one/two shoting. Finding a sitting spot and using BtM to balance down both HP/MP for a wait. Sit and wait for regen on both, then begin again. Mob choice as others have suggested is very important. Me, not minding the grind, got the quest from {Sophia? if i remember Black Lion?} and killed Stako's until my eyes bled :p. The area around Cruma had several levels of mobs {Including Ant, Rippers, Wasp, different Stako's, slower toads, faster spyders etc..} that help break up the boredom and helped to learn how to deal with aggro, poisons, magic attacks from mobs. At times I even balanced wait time by sleeping the mob, poison, waiting until sleep ended and hitting the mob physically. Yes, takes longer, but in combo with regular nukeing reduced a little wait time. Not to forget, summoning and learning how to use it when the cool down period allowed. Hang in there..maybe just a mix of mobs to learn your toons abilities is all thats needed, not just one method {No offense to others suggestions of two shotting} for killing.
I have a dark wizzie as well and indeed BTM is overated. However at lower levels I found it usefull. Two shotting mobs with Twister, Drainlife and then BTM. The drainlife kept my hp at ready to use levels. This works rather well until you hit level 30+ and get stuck again. (Ps. i also have a level 20+ light elf nuker who can empty herself in two minutes and needs rest for 10 minutes, so the DE nuker has it easy ;))
For a first character on a server money is hard to get by. If you know what you are doing you can get top NG gear at level 20 but then you need colosal amounts of the golden stuff to get good D-gear. One way for you to earn more money fast is to make a Light elf nuker. Give him your top Ngrad weapon and let him do every quests possible until he reaches level 15. Then return the weapon and the 200k you will have earned by then to your main character. You can repeat this a few times if you like.