Hey all. I've been lurking around the forums all morning. I just bought the game last night on a total whim. I figured 35$ for the game and all 5 expansions on a DVD and a month of play time. I'd give the game the benefit of the doubt and give it a whirl.
So far I really like the way the classes sound, and the dungeons sound really cool, and I'm surprised to find myself really enjoying the graphic style of the game too. But I'm totally overwhelmed.
I spent an hour in some human city running around totally lost, I teleported there from an orc village, and got lost until someone gave me a hand on how to get back.
I then realized I needed some help from the pros.
#1. Class selection. I have no idea what I'm doing here. I really like the Orc race, but I'm flexible on what race I play. But basically I want to be a melee fighter who can bring something important to a group. And I don't want to be a main tank. I tanked for 2 years in WoW and I need a change. Some sort of buffing damage dealer or something would be fun. Advice?
#2. Server. I started on Bartz because it had the lowest ping, but when i got teleported to the human city I was overwhelmed by the number of people sitting on the floor with chat boxes above their heads that said something like "Private Store - sell." Or something like that. Is that normal? Are all servers like that?
Any other newbie advice you could give me? I'm finding the players to be very friendly, but the game to not be too nice in introducing new players how to play. So any help would be appreciated!
Hey - welcome to l2. seems alot of people are leaving WoW these days.
to your questions:
1. If you like Orcs I would suggest Warcryer as they have great buffs and can fight. Not a DD though. Bladedancer (dark elf) very sought after - good damage but not per se DD and great party buffs.
2. Sounds like you got lost in Giran. It's the commercial center of every server where players buy and sell gear.
1. you like orcs and thats good, as a whole the orc race rocks
WCer is the buffie bashie type of orc and tyrant and destro are the bash stuff really hard or fast type of orc
2. picking by ping is a good choice but if you are euro choose a euro server
giran is like that on all servers
Any other newbie advice you could give me? I'm finding the players to be very friendly, but the game to not be too nice in introducing new players how to play. So any help would be appreciated!
very important
read these forums as much as possible and ask any question you can think of
talk to the newbie helper in the starter village
The people sitting in Giran are selling things, thats how our market place system works in this game. Most people leave there games up at night in those shops, so Girans always like that on every server.
If you want to be a support DD class, i would also reccomend a blade dancer. Warcryer's are great, and they have all the good buffs, but they dont DD very well. However, you can always try both and see what you like.
Another support DD is a Sword Singer, Light Elf, but they dont have as much offense as a BD. Either one is always saught after for groups though.
1. you like orcs and thats good, as a whole the orc race rocks
WCer is the buffie bashie type of orc and tyrant and destro are the bash stuff really hard or fast type of orc
lol nameless can I pinch this as a sig please?
to the OP if your in a Euro timezone, then the Franz and Teon's best bet, but there are plenty of Euro's on other servers like Gustin. If you choose Gustin I'd be happy to help out with advice and gear :)
1: orc mystics are buffers AND fighters. they generally learn both magic and physical skills at the same time and at later levels can both buff a group or clan all at once OR can debuff the targets in an AOE style. doing both requires a lot of mana. sometimes too much.
2: damage dealers and tanking do NOT correlate in Lineage2. damage dealers are lower HP than most tanks and oftentimes tanks have the lowest damage output of the game. orcs are damage dealers and no orc class can effectively tank without proper clan support. it requires active buffers and healers to pull it off.
3: this forum will refer to many skills and classes in their post-level-40 context. please familiarise yourself with those skills and those occupation names at that level for future reference.
2: damage dealers and tanking do NOT correlate in Lineage2. damage dealers are lower HP than most tanks and oftentimes tanks have the lowest damage output of the game. orcs are damage dealers and no orc class can effectively tank without proper clan support. it requires active buffers and healers to pull it off.
dont want to get into semantics in the poor O.Ps thread but apart from the last sentance i disagree which that whole paragraph
3: this forum will refer to many skills and classes in their post-level-40 context. please familiarise yourself with those skills and those occupation names at that level for future reference.
very very good advice
in the whole of my post i refered to all classes by what is known as their "second class" names
at lvl 40 you will change from what is basically a fighter or a mage type to a partly selected class
at lvl 40 you will further refine that choice
at lvl 76 you will do another class change but you will not be given a choice of a career path then
most of the time when we refer to a class it will by the name given at the completion of that lvl 40 (second class) change
nameless: i realise there are some tanks with leverage in the damage department and likewise DDs with High hp. but the majority of the time, in lineage2, tanks are POOR damage dealing classes and DDs are POOR HP classes.
take for example the two exceptions on both sides of the rule: the Destroyer and the Dark Avenger.
with summon out, the DA is a fair DD. the other tanks are incomparably poor.
the destroyer actually has DD skills that activate at low HP and can wreak MAJOR havok when health is down; understandably these are two exceptions to a large pool of other classes of the same type and/or race.
2: damage dealers and tanking do NOT correlate in Lineage2. damage dealers are lower HP than most tanks and oftentimes tanks have the lowest damage output of the game. orcs are damage dealers and no orc class can effectively tank without proper clan support. it requires active buffers and healers to pull it off.
well i didnt want to interupt the new guys post but heres why i dont agree
damage dealing and tanking do not correlate in L2
yeah they do, dude that does the most damage takes the agro, thats what tanks do, VR keeps the high damage output class healed
exception obviously being raids but then ive seen enough destro and tyrant take agro and survive just as well as a tank
damage dealers are much lower hp than tanks
if you are talking about archers, daggers and mages yeah sure tanks have more hp but since glads, destro, tyrant and dorfs are all DD classes that kinda disproves that point
tanks have lower damage output....
well depending on set up and class they may have more damage potential than dwarves (DD class once again) and will exceed their soloing capabilities, this is where the last sentence comes in
orcs are damage dealers and no orc class can effectively tank without proper clan support. it requires active buffers and healers to pull it off.
oops looks like 2 sentences :P
yup noone is doing much of anything as a melee class without the correct support
Welcome to L2 and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Its a different type of game, often described as 'hardcore' in different ways, and it is really up to you to make it the kind of game you want to play, allow me to explain:
First, the 'hardcore' part. L2 allows people to be themselves without constraint from the game structure. Those who are nice are really nice and helpful. Those who enjoy hurting others can do that. Those who think it is ok to lie, steal, and cause trouble will lie, steal, and cause trouble. In other words, it is Chaotic and up to you, the player to defend yourself financially and militarily. I suggest you join a good clan of like-minded players. If you are on Erica, contact me here on the boards and I will help.
Second: the game is what you make it. Power your thing? See if you can build a clan that can rule the world, or at least enough of it to hold a castle. Money your thing? See if you can make your fortune buying and selling in our mideival markets. Prestige get you excited? Can you level high enough to be a power on the server? Fantasy role playing fun for you? The opportunities abound....the world is yours to make into your playground. Don't get caught up in the grind (which is far longer than WoW's)...explore, adventure, have fun and enjoy the journey without saying you must reach your destination to relax.
Don't lend your gear to anyone.
Never cheat, it ruins the game for us and for you.
Be prepared to learn about yourself while you learn about L2. Both are probably more complicated than meets the eye.
welcome to lineage!
I hope you wil enjoy L2! beware tho, its WAY different to WOW. wow is easy and meant for children to play, L2 is not. its hard, and you will have to work with your toon to get anywhere. ofc, that is what makes the game about 200% funnier then WOW or any other mmorpg.
btw, it sounds like you want to play either a warcryer or an blade dancer.
sigh, ya guys and girls (except nameless i guess :P) do realise a destroyer can hold agro AS WELL as tank a raidboss as well as any other tank and i would almost say better if they completly tweaked and can pretty much perma frenzy (or they finnaly capped the reuse timers now?). frenzy > hate/agression
Wow, thanks a lot for all the info guys. I feel a bit overwhelmed again. Sounds rather complicated, but I'm digging it so far.
As for the server. like I said, I chose Bartz because it had the lowest ping, and I'm not european. My little orc's only level 5 so I'm not against re-creating on another server. I figured I'd take this time while I'm at work to do some research on the game to find out where I really want to be, and what I'd really like to do.
I have so many questions I don't really know where to begin. I'll number them again to make them easier for you all to answer :)
#1 (a and b). If I were to go down the Raider/destroyer patch, what would my group role be? I like the idea of them a bit better than the tyrant because I'd like to smash my enemies with axes and swords instead of punching them in the face. The warcryer sounds like it might be fun too, but then I'd be limited to the skinny orc model right? Superficial of me, I know, but I like the big badass looking orc ;)
#2. Of the Orc classes which are the most desireable for a group? I don't mind some of the other race's classes, at least how they look on the website, but to keep it simple for the moment, I'm just going to keep it to orcs. At least until I'm more familier with the game.
#3. How exactly does grouping work? Are there raids, or instances dungeons? Or is it all out in the open? Are there going to be groups of people camping a rare spawn for days on end?
#4. How do some of the orc classes match up in pvp? I've heard pvp described as brutal. Am I fair game all the time for anyone? Do I need to be flagged to be attackable or anything like that? Do I lose exp and items and stuff when killed in PVP?
That's all I can think of for now. Thanks again for your responces guys!
1. the role of a destro is to run around and tear stuff apart, no matter what party you are in you will be the main damage dealer
you own at aoe so if you are smart all your xp time will be spent in a catacomb
yeah i think WCer is only the skinny guys and they are mainly a buffer class (although the most offensive melee variation)
2.destro and tyrant are both high damage output classes that will be welcome in any group (although they dont need anyone else helping with the damage dealing)
a warcrer will be welcome in basically any melee group that wants buffs but forget about ever partying with a mage
an overlord is the mass pvp type of orc and those guys really need the support of a good clan or friends to lvl (prolly not for you)
3.depends on how you look at it
xp in L2 (the grind) can be described as "find the mob that gives the best xp and kill it for hours untill you find something better"
we do have instances but for the most part thats not where you get your xp from
some raid bosses are heavily camped because of the items they drop (and lowbie raids are okish for xp)
4. orcs do well in pvp but that is kinda an in depth question
anyone can kill you at any time but they will suffer consequenses
once you are flagged (you force attack someone) you are fair game to anyone who can kill you before you unflag
on death you will lose a portion of xp (lets call it 4%) and you wont really drop anything (exceptions exist)
if you get yourself a good blunt, around lvl 13 you should use your newb tokens to go to Talking island and hunt the golems there (northern part) they give about the same exp as lvl 16 mobs for alot less work for fighters
as for PvP...
if you force attack a player, you turn purple (your name, not your character :p) then, anyone can attack and go purple themselves, if they kill you while you're still flagged, they get no penalty. if you turn white again and they kill you, they turn chaotic (red) when chaotic, you have a chance to drop items after 5 PKs and you cant enter towns and people can kill you without any penalty
About the grind. I'm always a little worried that I'll burn out on a grind. One of the few nice things about WoW is that leveling up was pretty streamlined. You could travel from zone to zone, and do the quests there and level up easily before movig onto the next zone.
Now I don't mind it being more difficult and requiring a time investment, but is there usually enough to do, and enough new places to find, and quests to do to keep you occupied so you're not spending 100% of your online time just killing mobs for no purpose?
Followup death question: Can I de-level if I die and lose enough exp to drop me to the previous level? And if I'm killed in pvp I generally get to keep all my items and armor and stuff like that. I don't have to worry about being ganked and being naked for the next few days?
you can delvl as much as your heart desires (down to lvl 4) and dont have to worry about dropping unless your red past 5 pks and you may get alot of the death penalty which can be cured by buying the right scrolls for your grade from a local magic shop
most of your time will indeed be spent killing the same mobs over and over, but you can escape that by just exploring or doing other things, quests are just to get money mostly, if that.
the grind is a lot worse then wow. in wow you can get to lvl60 in 10 days easy. here you wont get faar in 10 days.
there are quests, you can do them for rpg and for killing time, but most quests arent worth doing. ofc questing and grinding at the same time might be slower but funnier.
You can travel a lot, but not save at low lvl. there are many places to visit and explore (even tho i have been playing for 2 years+ i havent been to all of them)
If you die, you will lose xp. If you lose XP below 0%, you will lose one level. buffers and healer can rez you so you get some XP back, like 10-90% of your lost XP or so, depending on what lvl the rez is.
You can drop items, but ONLY if you have got 5 PKs or more (you killed 5 people who dident hit back. they where white, and you will go RED) thats not a good idea, try avoid going red untill you know more about the game. :)
About the grind. I'm always a little worried that I'll burn out on a grind. One of the few nice things about WoW is that leveling up was pretty streamlined. You could travel from zone to zone, and do the quests there and level up easily before movig onto the next zone.
plenty of places to grind at and its set up so you when you lvl you basically just move to another spot with higher lvl mobs
forget about quests for xp, thats not how we roll
and yeah its pretty much guaranteed that you will feel the burn of the grind, thats the point you go and play something else (but they always come back :P )
Now I don't mind it being more difficult and requiring a time investment, but is there usually enough to do, and enough new places to find, and quests to do to keep you occupied so you're not spending 100% of your online time just killing mobs for no purpose?
.....
NC doesnt do much in the way of giving you stuff to do
its gonna be your choice to either grind 8 hours a day, go and kill some wartags, chill at the arena, play the market or do some fishing
most of the time i will just settle in for multi hour mob killing sessions and if someone gets in my way i get some pvp, but that is my choice noone is forceing me to play that way
Followup death question: Can I de-level if I die and lose enough exp to drop me to the previous level? And if I'm killed in pvp I generally get to keep all my items and armor and stuff like that. I don't have to worry about being ganked and being naked for the next few days?
yup if you die you can delvl and most of the time that wont mean anything
once you have your skills you keep them forever (have to delvl 10 lvls to lose them)
there are grades on equiptment so at lvl 20 you can wear D grade, if you happen to delvl to 19 then your shiny D grade gear wont wont so well untill you relvl to 20
on death you will not drop anything unless you are red (the L2 equivilent of being a murderer) with more than 5 pks (killed 5 ppl who were not flagged)
#1 (a and b). If I were to go down the Raider/destroyer patch, what would my group role be? I like the idea of them a bit better than the tyrant because I'd like to smash my enemies with axes and swords instead of punching them in the face. The warcryer sounds like it might be fun too, but then I'd be limited to the skinny orc model right? Superficial of me, I know, but I like the big badass looking orc
Detroyers are one of beefiest DD's out there. They have some pretty incredible skills, if used right you can deal some serious damage. The one problem with being the heaviest DD class, is that your also the slowest, which is a turn off. Your party roll could range from a "puller", a Main Assist, or just a straight up "wack it till its dead" DD. Like some have mentioned though, they are also great pole arm user's and can be very very successful in catacombs.
#2. Of the Orc classes which are the most desireable for a group? I don't mind some of the other race's classes, at least how they look on the website, but to keep it simple for the moment, I'm just going to keep it to orcs. At least until I'm more familier with the game.
Most wanted as a whole? I would have to say the Warcryer and Overlords. The Warcrier/DoomCrier is one of the best buffers, if not the best, in the entire game when you get to your 70's. Overlords on the other hand, are KEY if any clan wish's to be successful in raiding and PvP, they buff the entire alliance, heal the entire alliance ect. ect. BUT, Overlords need a well established clan in order to be used effectivly.
The next popular choice would be the Tyrant, because of it's self buffs, fast attacks, and superior run speed. They are incredibly fast. Destroyer's arnt as popular it seems, I've never really played one so youll have to go by other people that no better then me. Popularity shouldnt determine what class you want to play though, at any rate.
#3. How exactly does grouping work? Are there raids, or instances dungeons? Or is it all out in the open? Are there going to be groups of people camping a rare spawn for days on end?
There are raid mobs everywhere across the map, including "epic" ones that take 50-200 people to do. Sometimes youll see pick up groups doing raids, but not that often anymore. Mostly, a clan will go out and do it for drops, which they then give out to deserving members. Some raids are also needed to finish quest's.
There are solo field area's, dungeon's requiring full groups of 9, it really depends on who you make friends with. That more then anything will determine where and how you can XP. Theres also a few instanced area's related to the Seven Signs, which you can read about on this site.
#4. How do some of the orc classes match up in pvp? I've heard pvp described as brutal. Am I fair game all the time for anyone? Do I need to be flagged to be attackable or anything like that? Do I lose exp and items and stuff when killed in PVP?
Most of your basic PvP questions have been answered, so ill attack the first question. Everyone can be successful in PvP under the right circumstances, however, this game has a leaning advantage towards ranged charectors (IE archers). For example, as a destroyer, you'll never be able to catch an archer. He'll kite you to death. Same with mages. The trick is to learn how each class is played, and try to adjust to it. Melee charectors ususally have to get the jump on a ranged charector (or the ranged chars. need to screw up badly, lol) in order to take them out.
ohh, yea...about the part you said you have to run around for a feew days naked....well.... gear is...not as in wow. there you can get gear easy. in L2 you cant. adena is hard to come by, and gear as well. the drop rates of items are like 0,00001%, so dont expect any drops any time soon. (except some low-lvl armors maybe)
and rule nr1, never EVER hand your gear to anyone!! NEVER!
after 2 years i have 100's of friend ingame, but only 2 people I trust with all my gear. to many friend I know lost their gear to other "friends". So if you hand your gear to someone and you dont get it back, well, you gave it away.
About the grind. I'm always a little worried that I'll burn out on a grind. One of the few nice things about WoW is that leveling up was pretty streamlined. You could travel from zone to zone, and do the quests there and level up easily before movig onto the next zone.
Now I don't mind it being more difficult and requiring a time investment, but is there usually enough to do, and enough new places to find, and quests to do to keep you occupied so you're not spending 100% of your online time just killing mobs for no purpose?
Followup death question: Can I de-level if I die and lose enough exp to drop me to the previous level? And if I'm killed in pvp I generally get to keep all my items and armor and stuff like that. I don't have to worry about being ganked and being naked for the next few days?
I've been playing for 2 years now and i still havnt seen everything, and, actually, i learn something new about the game almost every day too as well. theres a lot to it. My trick? Don't stare at your XP bar, go kill fun/interesting mobs, help a new guy, go shopping, ect. When i get burned, i ususally go fishing, or turn on some music and go on a boat ride, the enviroment in this game is really incredible to look at, even if youve been in that area before.
Well I think that just about answers all my questions. I guess the only one i have left is about speed. If destros are slow, is there ever a mount or anything you can get to make getting around a little bit easier?
You can get a Hatchling and level it into a Strider (35 to 55 and then a quest), but, like everything else, its hard and takes forever. There fun, but you cant attack well while your rideing it or use skills, its just one of those things to distract you and give you something diffrent to do.
Well I think that just about answers all my questions. I guess the only one i have left is about speed. If destros are slow, is there ever a mount or anything you can get to make getting around a little bit easier?
I think i'm going to go the Destro path :)
You can lvl a htachling to 55 and do the strider quest, however it does take alot of time and sacrifice(and you will need a few friends). As far as speed when you are fighting, you do get a skill called zealot, which you can use and increase your run speed alot(by 30 at top lvl I believe) It helps alot, but like all nice destroyer skills it is only able to be used at 30% hp. Generally, after you decide on a server, it would be a good idea to make it known on the forums that oyu are new and looking for a clan. You will be put into an academy, and usually helped with gear as you lvl.(finding people you get along with and can hunt with is ESSENTIAL to not burning out in this game.
yes. at least it was in C4. also you may want to check out this post, been working on it a little while now, i realize that the descriptions are still lacking. got class? (http://boards.lineage2.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=821983)
and whoever said destroyers can tank raid bosses. i suggest they try it sometime. with VR5, frenzy zealot and rage i go down in about 3 hits. thats like 1 hit from each minion. healers cannot outheal that, the p def of a destroyer with rage activated is equivalent to a tank in C grade. and ive never done a raid in less than 90 seconds, dunno about you.
edit for clarification: "tanks" are any class that gets the "aggression" skill beyond level 40. thus destroyer is not a tank (they are a sort of tank/melee hybrid, while tyrant is a sort of dagger/melee hybrid). just about any DD can preform the role of a tank however, with the vampiric rage buff, assuming there are no archers in party that will steal all the aggro.
edit for the heck of it: be sure to read every page on the link at the left under the title "new player guide". for example. /invite <name> is the command you would use to invite someone to party.
FYI: in Dion (on bartz) there are almost constant pick-up groups for the raid bosses. Just turn on your shout chat. You'll also see some in Gludin, but not nearly as often. If you are going Orc fighter, look for groups asking for DDs. You won't be considered a tank because you won't have the hate skill. :)
I spent an hour in some human city running around totally lost, I teleported there from an orc village, and got lost until someone gave me a hand on how to get back.
Most fun you'll ever have. The whole idea of exploration and discovering something new.
Jumping in a bit late so here's a mish-mash of thoughts.
Orcs are a fine race choice. I like how the orcs in L2 are NOT the same as the myriad of ugly cookie cutter mobs you find in other games. (All except Warhammer, as GW has pretty much created and refined the 'ugly dog-faced brutal orc to its penultimate. Waaaaagh! (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10))
That said here's how the choices of class for orcs tend to pan out.
[Levels 1-20]
Orc Fighter - Very basic. Just choose a weapon and bash away.
Orc Mystic - Hardest class to start without any 'twinked' gear, even with the newbie buffs. You'll find yourself doing a heck of a lot of melee even though you are a 'mage' class. Get used to it, as this doesn't change much at all. Orc mystics are Buffers First, melee second and crowd control/debuffer(DoT) last.
[Level 20-40]
Monk - Probably the most well rounded of the Orc character paths. Here is where you start to get a good view of the capabilites of the class. (Totems) You only get light armor masteries from here on up, but pretty much every Monk has agreed that heavy armor is still more useful until L40.
Raider - Just like the Orc fighter only more so. A 2-handed sword is the preferred weapon. You also start to get the (few) skills that seperate Orcs from Dwarves and Humans.
Shaman - Just like the Mystic, but you at least get some better buffs. You can pretty much stick with heavy or light armor through second class. Play with the AOE skills a little at least...so you can see how weak they are. =/
[Level 40+]
Tyrant - Flexible damage dealer with a good amount of HP. Unlike dagger DD's though, you will rely on attack speed and raw damage instead of just crit damage stacking. You also have plenty of ranged/movement abilites to back you up. (SS costs can be high if your using them all the time while boosting your attack speed in a group.)
Destroyer - Just like the Raider, even more so. By now you should hit like a dump truck. Not those piddly ones you see at road construction....more like the ones only found at strip mines. Polearm use is more worthwhile now if you join some AOE parties and your '30% HP' skills start to add up more. Your still slow as ever though and ranged combat will be your main weakness.
Warcryers - Buffs start to slowly accumulate. You'll probably want to have a set of Robes in addition to some heavy/light. Weapon choices can be more interesting as you gain the 'good' buffs. How you equip yourself after this is all up to your playstyle. Overall you are just going to get stronger from this point on.
Overlord - Welcome to Limbo. Population You. From now until L79 your probably going to be soloing. The developers don't even care that you exist and your ability to solo is poor due to the very weak selection of buffs. AOE doesn't even need you and the only time your 'in-demand' will be at sieges as a 'buff-box'. Avoid this class, unless your sure that your clan/ally will support you fully or if you want an extreme challenge. (Yes, you can be extremely helpful in mass-pvp...but you need some hefty support to get there.)
[On to the rest!]
Grind - The XP grind is indeed steep, but once you get familiar with it, the XP grind isn't all that bad at all. (It is *much* easier to get XP now than at any other time in the games history.) The adena/gear grind however could make or break you.
Quests - Rewards are low. But you need to grind the hell out of them anyway as an added way to make any sort of cash in the game. Overall you activate them, grind and then cash them in later. Some are worth more than others, but pretty much none of them will pay off in the short term.
Raids - Unlike WOW, you never *have* to raid. They are also fairly static outside of the 'Epic' raids. (Orfen/Ant Queen/Baium, etc.) The developers keep messing with raid drops so their desirability keeps changing from update to update. Right now we are at a bit of a low point for Raid rewards so raiding isn't terribly popular beyond the extreme high or low ends.
The World - There are plenty of places to go and see, although it really doesn't take all that long to see most of it. It's still a fairly static grind/heavy setup. That said, most of the preview information from the Developers is pointing towards them making the game less static and more involving in the future. (Trying to at least.) Information about the next update (Kamael) should start rolling in during the next few months, so watch the forums as you explore the game to see if what your experiencing and where the game seems to be heading is to your liking.
[Dying in L2]
When you die, you lose a % of XP. And yes you can delevel. You also have a chance to gain a 'Death Penalty'. You need a 'Scroll of Recovery' (buy at general stores) of the appropriate grade for your character to remove this debuff. If you die more than once this debuff can stack up to level 15. You need one scroll to remove each level of the penalty. Each level of the penalty has higher (worse) effects on your basic stats. Also, if you are deleveling for cash/SP be aware that if you delevel more than 10 levels you will lose any skills or skill levels you learned at the higher levels. (Everything up to that 11th level is safe though.) Thus if you are 32 and delevel to 22 you don't lose anything except the ~100K in recovery scrolls you need to remove your accumulated (L15) Death penalty. Delevel to 21 however and any skill you learned at L32 are lost without any compensation. (Your L28 skills are untouched though.)
You will not drop any gear (anymore) when you die, unless you are red with over 5 PKs. There is a anti-pvp buff added in interlude to prevent someone (or you) from engaging in pvp (ganking) when there is a 10+ level difference between both of you. (Available up to L39 from the guides). Outside of that, it's an open pvp world outside of town. (Not terribly common at this time outside of clan war/ganks but not unknown either.)
Bad Players - There are still 'perma-reds' floating around so you still need to watch for these. These days it's probably more of an issue that you avoid scammers. Every server seems to have at least one or two perenniel shop or craft scammers as well as those who will try to trick you out of your gear/adena. Just be aware they exist and don't hurry into anything. And if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. (Always verify shop items and craft prices!)
yes. at least it was in C4. also you may want to check out this post, been working on it a little while now, i realize that the descriptions are still lacking. got class? (http://boards.lineage2.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=821983)
and whoever said destroyers can tank raid bosses. i suggest they try it sometime. with VR5, frenzy zealot and rage i go down in about 3 hits. thats like 1 hit from each minion. healers cannot outheal that, the p def of a destroyer with rage activated is equivalent to a tank in C grade. and ive never done a raid in less than 90 seconds, dunno about you.
edit for clarification: "tanks" are any class that gets the "aggression" skill beyond level 40. thus destroyer is not a tank (they are a sort of tank/melee hybrid, while tyrant is a sort of dagger/melee hybrid). just about any DD can preform the role of a tank however, with the vampiric rage buff, assuming there are no archers in party that will steal all the aggro.
edit for the heck of it: be sure to read every page on the link at the left under the title "new player guide". for example. /invite <name> is the command you would use to invite someone to party.
I have been in destroyer groups that can 1 party lvl 70+ raid bosses.... So , I think they can tank them efficiently under the right circumstances.
I love Orcs myself, and my main is a Destroyer/WC combo. But if you want to be a DD first who is also valuable group support, I'm thinking a BD might be better. They have awesome group buffs.
An Orc Destroyer or Tyrant can play in a group, but their only contribution is their DD, with no buffs or anything else beyond that. Slight contradiction: A Destroyer can do some tanking by holding aggro with their DD. But put an archer in the group, and his greater damage will draw the aggro; and the Destroyer doesn't have a hate skill to pull the aggro back.