Estiah

[Draegan]

I just picked started today.  Interesting game.  I just do dungeons right now, not much gathering.  I picked the job to do +1 all stats as a job.

I have no idea what I'm doing right now.

Edit:
Finished the dungeon now just spending points in the arena.  Gathered a few times but I don't know what that's supposed to do.

Editx2
I figured out the leveling thing.  I have charms of so many skills.  I guess I should consolidate or something.

[Delmania]

What tier 3 class are you aiming for?  The sewers in Inachais will give you a points toward the Sewer Cleaner, I highly recommend you run the dungeon until you max it out. 

[Draegan]

I don't know, I just looked over the classes.

I ran the sewer thing, then it said I couldn't anymore, then I did the arena until I ran out of points.  That's all I did.. that and buy a few random charms.

[Delmania]

I don't know, I just looked over the classes.

You can pretty much go to level 15 without making that choice, but I'd recommend making it as soon as possible.

I ran the sewer thing, then it said I couldn't anymore, then I did the arena until I ran out of points.  That's all I did.. that and buy a few random charms.

Whoops I should have gone into more detail.  Once you complete a dungeon, you can't do it again until the next dungeon reset.  Those occur twice a day at 2:04 am EST and 2:04 pm EST.  The Arena is a great place to learn the combat system, but it's real power is in helping you level your defensive skills (armor, ward, iron will) and your "survival" skills (Survivability, Spirituality, and Cheat Death).  Moving and working, fyi, are reset once a day at 2:04 pm EST, though in your case, stay in Inachis until you max out Sewer Cleaner, since you get 500 g for doing that.   

PvP csn be done at any level, provided you're not in a safe city (Inachis, Aleas, and Zeal).  You can start buying charms from pvp at level 7. 

[EWSpider]

When you find yourself with Action Points after doing the dungeons you'd like to do work on these skills that give +HP and/or +Spirit:

http://estiah.aswt.net/index.php?title=Category:%2BHP_Skill
http://estiah.aswt.net/index.php?title=Category:%2BSpirit_Skill

A lot of those skills are much easier to get when you're low level compared to if you try to skill them up at a higher level (say 15+).

[Delmania]

Of all the skills listed, Cheat Death is the hardest one.  You need to win a fight with > 10% health and > 10% charms.    This is what the Arena is for.  Estiah has a decent wiki, which you can find at http://estiah.aswt.net/index.php?title=Main_Page.  If you search for an Arena mob, chances are you will find a lising of the charms it uses.  From there you can calculate the total armor, ward, and numbers charms you need to need to fulfill the requirements.  It's still not easy , but definitely worth it. 

I know I am talking about things that may not apply to you, but the more you know, the better the game gets.   For a web game, it has surprising depth and strategy to it, and you need to put some good thought into your decks.

[Severian]

Here's my old post about Cheat Death which spells out one way it can be done:

I've found a reasonably reliable way to build Cheat Death

@Delmania Thanks for the in-game tip about that other quest, perfect timing for me, I'm off and running!


Edit: Geez, since February? Good job holding my interest so far.

[LK]

Wow, I was dominating in PvP, then someone whipped out a pure armor deck on me. Hah!

[Delmania]

Edit: Geez, since February? Good job holding my interest so far.

http://de.pastebin.ca/1468410

Full details for the quest.

[LK]

I don't really get how I get involved in 1v3 fights while Gathering.

[Delmania]

I don't really get how I get involved in 1v3 fights while Gathering.

It's random.

[Draegan]

I've found a reasonably reliable way to build Cheat Death, a tremendously valuable skill which grants another +1 Spirit as well as +5 HP.
Cheat Death = win with no charms left (Spirituality skill) and almost no HP (Survival skill) in the same battle.

Here's the battle: http://www.estiah.com/character/combat/replay/id/3131429/owner/20703 - you can watch it once logged into your own account.
Here's background on my opponent, the Old Goblin, level 5 in the Arena: http://estiah.aswt.net/index.php?title=Old_Goblin

Hint: From the Wiki you can see that the Old Goblin has 16 spells, 12 of them are melee hitting for either 9 or 10, and 4 are armor.
Hint: Your spells will always get through so you can determine exactly how many rounds it will take to kill him. Which tells you how many rounds he will have to attack you.
You should be able to work it out from there.

This post is working out real well right now.  I've been just doing jobs and dungeons a few times a day, made it to level 5. Now I'm going to work up the cheat death skill with all my saved points.

 I'm going to shoot for the cleric class and then the heirarch and their stats are int and con I think.

[Severian]

I'm going to shoot for the cleric class and then the heirarch and their stats are int and con I think.

Here's the class post for Heirarch: http://forum.estiah.com/index.php?topic=1635.0
And of course the Wiki, which keeps it simple: http://estiah.aswt.net/index.php?title=Hierarch

[Draegan]

THat info is pretty useless.  This game moves at a glacier like pace.  It'll be October before I hit 20.

[EWSpider]

THat info is pretty useless.  This game moves at a glacier like pace.  It'll be October before I hit 20.

I found the levelling to be way too fast in the early levels.  Especially if you worked a lot.  In terms of play time, Action Points, and acquiring gear I would agree that the game moves a bit slow.

[Draegan]

Which I'm fine with.  I load this up in the morning before I go to work.  Then I do it right before I go home.

And...
I got my Cheat Death to 100 

[Delmania]

Which I'm fine with.  I load this up in the morning before I go to work.  Then I do it right before I go home.

And...
I got my Cheat Death to 100 

Congrats!  Rank 2 doesn't open up until level 40, so you've got time to focus on other things.

[LK]

I've been PVPing like mad. The token system of Shards etc. seems to appeal to me more to get awesome charms than currency. They really do have two approaches to the game: PvP or PvE, and both have a similar scheme of reward leading to similar charms.

[Severian]

And PvE itself has two systems for obtaining charms: events (dungeons) and gathering + crafting. Including hidden craft shops and hidden single-encounter events discovered only by gathering.

I got my Cheat Death to 100  

Well done! If you maintain that Spirit advantage over most other players you can get tons of automatic wins in PvP by exhaustion for many levels to come.

[Delmania]

Including hidden craft shops and hidden single-encounter events discovered only by gathering.

The charms from these are awesome.

[LK]

Something that bugs me is that you can get days and days of energy stored up only to blow it all in 15 minutes or less.

Their bounty system needs a major overhaul. Being unable to sort by level and not being able to see who has a bounty in my local area is a huge pain in the ass. Bounties seem like a great way to pick up some cash.

[sidereal]

Wut?

Action -> Outlaw Hunt

[LK]

Oh. >_<

[LK]

I did Ghost Mine for the first time which I assume is one of the player-created dungeons they added recently. Thankfully I had enough cash to build a Willpower deck as I knew I'd be walking into a Spirit Damage fest. I made it through on my first go with most Willpower gear, but it was rough at one point. It's amazing how strategies have to be adapted for certain encounters. For instant, healing mobs or mobs you need to take down in one shot requiring empowerment gear. Speaking of which, the reward was a +17 Next Melee & Magic, which is something I desperately need at this point! So I will probably be spending a lot of my Lv. 17 time in Skyright.

[sidereal]

Grinding Ghost Mine for a bit can get you a good Spiriturtle deck put together (just spirit and defense cards, and the occasional willpower).  These are pretty deadly in PvP.

[LK]

Yeah I don't really want to level at this point. I'm about to hit a new threshold of PvP gems (Lv. 20+) and I don't really want to do that. I can level so fast that I bypass content. I want to savor each level at this point.

[EWSpider]

Yeah I don't really want to level at this point. I'm about to hit a new threshold of PvP gems (Lv. 20+) and I don't really want to do that. I can level so fast that I bypass content. I want to savor each level at this point.

That's pretty much my only gripe with the early game.  You have to try pretty hard not to level so that you can build a competitive deck for your bracket.

[LK]

I just saw Righ. Haha. His deck is good. ;_; Lv 17-18 seems to be all about the Spirit Damage.

I am going to get the Lv 17 gems I need then accelerate to 20 and get those PVE charms. Stockpiling Lv. 17 gems does not feel appropriate when I can't use half the charms.

[Draegan]

I just got 14.  I've got most of my skills past level 1.  Doing a bit of gathering now.

I can't just find a dungeon to grind, or anything else.  I can't beat the earth elemental in that one level 12 dungeon.

What should I be doing?  I don't think I'm using my APs efficiently.

[EWSpider]

I just got 14.  I've got most of my skills past level 1.  Doing a bit of gathering now.

I can't just find a dungeon to grind, or anything else.  I can't beat the earth elemental in that one level 12 dungeon.

What should I be doing?  I don't think I'm using my APs efficiently.

For the elemental you just need to stack your deck with charms with high penetration.

Check out Rooftop Rush in Zeal.

[LK]

Also a good time to PvP low ranked people and start saving up shards for Lv. 17.

[Draegan]

Oh.

I just wasted almost a whole day's worth of APs trying to defeat a level 14 dungeon.  Kept fucking dieing no matter which deck I try.  My charms suck.

[Delmania]

Oh.

I just wasted almost a whole day's worth of APs trying to defeat a level 14 dungeon.  Kept fucking dieing no matter which deck I try.  My charms suck.

Rooftop Rush?  The goal of that dungeon is to teach you how to counter EA decks.  The trick is to use poison attacks, like Burn, Brawler's Poison, Wildor's Daggers, etc.

Actually, this comment is prompting me to gripe a bit.  Estiah is design to take several months to full enjoy.  I am fine with that.  I am getting annoyed with the AP system, however.  You get 20 AP every 2 hours, for a total of 240 per day.   Before the expansion of Gathering to include events and shops, that might have worked, but now, between gathering, PvP, dungeons, events, and the Arena, there's plenty to keep busy for a long time.

[Draegan]

EA decks?

[Delmania]

EA decks?

Extra Action.  Charms like Iron Kneepad.