I'm completely new to Lineage 2 and I would like to know peoples opinions on which server has the best social community. Mainly because i'v played mmo's before ( just quit WoW recently ) and I want to be able to get a good start with Lineage 2 in an active community.
I've had good luck with Hindemith... newbie areas are friendly for the most part, solid PvP and sieges at the high end, plenty of PvP if you want it and can avoid it if you don't care for it as well.
Players are generally helpful as long as you aren't begging and will buff and give advice for free as long as you are polite.
We have mutliple more powerful clans vying for our castles and a server mentaility for punting bad castle lords to the curb. Take a look at server tax rates by castle region on this site to get an idea for yourself.
We have our share of dorks, but playing on Hindemith is a solid experience due to the solid quantity of adult mentalities behind most of the players.
The only downside is our drama-queen "hero" chat which can very easily be turned off.
For the most part, we keep our server clean. Just check out the taxes of our towns compared to others. Once you play for awhile, you will understand why that is, if you are astute. but, i'll leave that up to you.
Im new too! seems everybody likes that server so i think ill go there but you know if is recommended por new people? because if everyone is going to be 7x is no fun :(
I was considering Lionna since I read some stuff about how its the "unofficial RP server" and i'm into RP ( was on an rp - pvp server when I played WoW ) but then I read the forums and saw posts about lack of action at sieges and how the server was dying : / Might check it out anyway.
my recommandation would be to check the servers which are either
heavy or normal at the times you wish to play and make on each of
those a char to check out which one you like most, look around for a
week or 3 and then make your final decision.
most servers are dying except the 3 ones mentionned earlier and erica maybe.
People have been saying this since C1. 2 years later, still hasn't happened. Hinde is as busy as ever. Half the server is in clan wars, and the seal of strife was just taken by Dusk. Yeah, no action at all. If that isn't action enough for you, you should get a psych workup.
so you can spend a year and a half to get to A grade. there will be some S graders with 10 brazillion adena worth of equipment that they got from OE'ing, friends quitting, full drops, just lying around, yeah yeah yeah...
that will drop your whole clan of B/A graders like a bag of dirt.
This is what some people mean by action. Welcome to Lineage, and keep your head down. weeeee
Im new too! seems everybody likes that server so i think ill go there but you know if is recommended por new people? because if everyone is going to be 7x is no fun :(
As mentioned before, don't worry about 7x people as frankly every server has them... note that every server usually has subclassed people as well (who will be then redoing the 4x-7x climb).
1-40 is also popular on Hindemith due to Academy and Clan Points.
I am sure you wil find decent people on any server... the problem is the density of said people in comparison to the "should-be-playing-WoW-because-they-have-two-seconds-of-attention-span" crowd.
Hindemith's general community rejects bad castle lords, fights bots, and squashes "lord-of-the-flies" wannabes.
If you can find that in another community, then so be it... but the castle tax rates pretty much indicate that Hindemith is one of the few servers with active participation in sieges from the masses who don't like abusive castle lords.
Note most of the tax rates are 5% with a few slightly higher and a rare couple above 8%.
(those few are asking to be sieged next cycle)
Look at the other servers with a few lone bastions below 15%.
My experience with other servers is outdated, so I won't post my negative experiences... (hopefully they have changed for the better) but nothing compares to the actual sense of community Hindemith has formed IMHO.
I gave up my beloved Lionna to move to Hinde just before Christmas. One thing I really noticed about the move was actually seeing many more forum trolls there than on Lionna. I have toons on about half of the servers but Hinde is my home. Come join the family. Just be warned..keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times...and never turn around.
so you can spend a year and a half to get to A grade. there will be some S graders with 10 brazillion adena worth of equipment that they got from OE'ing, friends quitting, full drops, just lying around, yeah yeah yeah...
that will drop your whole clan of B/A graders like a bag of dirt.
This is what some people mean by action. Welcome to Lineage, and keep your head down. weeeee
Not true Kandle...
I remember stomping through Mafia's much better equipped crowd with a bunch of 5x-6x characters still in B grade gear to take Aden from them.
I walked in with the first wave and our single group killed two groups of much better equipped (and frankly massively overconfident) Mafia members.
Well-planned buff groups, good mana management, and numerical superiority combined with tactics win siege battles quite well...
Gear helps, but frankly BUFFS win battles.
A fully buffed character in A grade will stomp even an overenchanted S-grade (with epic jewels) unbuffed character very easily with all else being equal.
If both sides get proper support, then it comes down to teamwork... I have dropped quite a few people with better equipment than I have.
Don't get me wrong... I am not saying equipment doesn't help. I am saying the battle is far from being a foregone conclusion because your opponent has better equipment.
Bartz, Franz, and Teon....botting is basically accepted and the norm. If you plan to bot, go there. If not, stay away.
Devianne is home to the GReBayers, but there is plenty of PvP.
The rest of the servers are carebear, so if you would rather RP and level without confrontation, choose any of the others. If you really want carebear, I would suggest Sieghart. I hear Gustin is the "official RP server"
You should try the server with most people which currently are Teon, Bartz, Franz. If you consider yourself as a pvp player then i suggest you devianne. If you start on Gustin be ready to use fireworks everytime you see active persons outside a town.
Be warned that "carebear" is usually used by pre-teens referring to PvP which does not revolve around mindless 9v1 ganks and gatehopping/BSoE.
Apparently "hardcore PvP" means you gather a party of 9 and kill someone 20 or more levels lower than you and then BSoE and find another target which is much weaker than you, kill them instantly, and then BSoE.
Of course these same "hardcore PvPrs" seem incapable of sieging castles or any real form of PvP. Apparently "practice" ganking people 20 levels lower than you doesn't really help on the siege field.
This kind of thing is bad for you on Hindemith as it will reduce your available XP grounds to only the rift... so yeah, if you are this kind of "hardcore PvPr" you should avoid Hindemith.
Those same people thought they were Bad to the Bone cause they could play on TOI 5. That was then, this is now.
Not much has changed... buffs still rule the roost, anything short of hero status (because of the hero abilties) is not really gonna change much except your attacks do a little more damage and you take a little less provided your gear is better than your opponents...
Let's take a Level 78 Spellhowler with S grade compared with a level 78 Spellhowler with A grade only.
(Both are wearing Dark crystal robes, +4int, +4wit, +4con and have acumen SA to allow us to directly compare damage instead of arguing Matk vs Cast speed)
A grade Storm Screamer nukes S grade Storm screamer
(both unbuffed)
(sqrt 1114)/869 *140 *91 = 489 damage, 978 with bsps
S grade Storm Screamer nukes A grade Storm Screamer
(both unbuffed)
(sqrt 1278)/786 *140 *91 = 579 = 1158 with bsps
Thats right... S grade jewels and weapon = 180 damage extra with bsps.
Note that MOST of this difference is the Mdef the S-grade jewels add. The extra matk of the arcana mace adds up to a massive 60 damage after bsps if we give both nukers A grade jewels.
That is a reasonable chunk... (especially considering the power of the S-grade jewels) but it sure doesn't make up for missing a buff you could and should have.
Ill repeat it for the people new to PvP.
BUFFS make and break PvP.
Equipment helps but does not allow 9 people to hold off 3 groups of a clan that has half a clue what they are doing.