Skills, Money, and Combat Pointers

Skills, Money, and Combat Pointers:

If you find you are short on money, and you still loot and sell every little tidbit you find, you may want to work on your Appraise skill and pay attention to the reaction of each merchant when you begin the trade screen.

If you find you are constantly getting nailed by traps, Search skill is your buddy, as is detect mode.

If the spawns in an area keep catching you off guard and making combat difficult, consider spending some money on invisibility items so you can enter that area unnoticed by the spawns.

Even if you arent a caster, Use Magic Device skill lets you take advantage of consumable magic items normally reserved for casters only... and those magics can be quite powerful. Scrolls and Wands can save your bacon. Save up money, and keep stocked on them. Summon Creature spells are especially handy for expendable muscle... not to mention AOE damage spells.

All the damage output in the world cannot save you if you ignore or neglect your defenses... especially when you are heavily outnumbered by lesser enemies. Prepare yourself for these inevitable ambushes with Armor Class boosts, Hit Point boosts, Escape/Invisibility items, and healing.

If you like to solo, or plan to solo... never allow yourself to become impatient and rush. Dont over extend your resources. If you are low on spells, or hit points/healing, go restock or rest as needed. You may not want to have to clear an area all over again, but if you dont, you may well end up dead, and lose all the XP you earned for clearing it in the first place. The fact that you ran out of resources before finishing is an indicator that you arent ready to fully clear out an area yet. And even when you CAN totally clear it to the end, remember that in some areas, you will still have to fight your way back OUT again. Take it slow and steady, and remain cautious... otherwise you will likely find yourself literally in over your head.

Invest in potions of escape (~600g each) and a contract of translocation (2000g) as soon as you have the money, they will make travelling long distances more manageable, less tedious, and much more convenient...

When you are in a new place, press the "tab" key often, and EXAMINE things that glow. Good Information is one of the most valuable resources a player or an adventurer can have. Gets lots of it by always looking at things you can examine.

*Bumpity Bump*

And a footnote on the appraise note: Different merchants have different appraise checks. With the same appraisal score, same item, you could still get two different prices from two different merchants. If your appraise score isn't so hot, drink a potion of fox's cunning, cast the spell of the same name, or find some other means to boost your intelligence score. Or you could find another player with a better appraisal skill to sell your items for you. Bards, rogues, and wizards are often good candidates since they have either appraise as a class skill (bards/rogues) or high intelligence (wizards).

Familiarize yourself with the various shops across Aenea, not in just what the merchant has in stock, but what general prices you can get for loot you sell to them. Some merchants will buy every item, but may not give you the most gold for them, while other merchants will buy only select items, but at a higher profit to you.

Also take note of which merchants have what buy-caps, or limited gold. Buy caps are where merchants will only pay out up to X amount of gold for an item, such as Smitty in Valorian's Vale, who will only pay out 7500 gp on a single item.

Limited gold is where a merchant will buy items, but has only a limited amount of gold to buy stuff with. If for example, the merchant in question only has 10K bartering gold, he will buy 10K worth of loot from you. After that 10K is exhausted, he won't be able to buy even a copper ring from you.

When that happens, the only way for that merchant to get more money to buy your loot with is for a server reset, or to buy things from him and/or wait for other players to buy stuff from the merchant. The money you pay the merchant goes back into his bartering gold pool.

Bump! Great tips for beginner like me.