The All-Encompassing Adventurer Guide
==============================================================================
Contents
1) Introduction
2) Breeds
3) Stats & Skills
4) Weapons - Ranged
5) Weapons - Melee
6) Armor
7) Implants
8) Morphs & Our other Nanos
9) Newbie Island - Levels 1-10
10) Levels 11-25
11) Levels 26-60
12) Levels 61-100
13) Levels 101-200
14) PvP
15) Credits
To search in this guide, use the number and paranthesis of the section you want
to go to. I.E. to find the armor section press ctrl + F and type "6)" without
the quotation marks.
*All level ranges added - 08/07/08
===============================================================================
1) Introduction
Since this is my first guide for Anarchy Online I apologize if there is
something you disagree with here. If that's so, you are more than welcome to e-
mail me at
[email protected]. I appreciate any constructive criticism or any
help you want to give me to make this guide better.
There are a few people I would like to thank for contributing to this guide
even if they don't know that they helped. Jayde (The former adventurer
professional on the official Anarchy Online forums.) Revelator, Atreyu,
Kyrstina, Inocybe, Ditzie, Upana, Afelia, Prochyon, Beautyfarm, Next, Nyel,
Chorwin, Vampi, Kard, Silirrion, Gunmetal, Leetwolf, PowerEdge, Nightwalker,
MetaShadows, Yika, Nolikewar, everyone in the org AlphaStrike you guys helped
and tolerated me like no one else, and last but not least Trader1980. I can't
forget Funcom for making such a great and entertaining game (and for making it
free)! Keep up the great work, FC!
I don't address Symbiants, Perks, or most Alien Invasion/Shadowlands/Lost Eden
stuff because I play with a free account. I include the best expansion armor
and weapons and I mention a few of the good SL leveling places, but that's
about it. Sorry... (This may change in the near future though, keep a lookout
for an SL/AI update to this guide.)
==============================================================================
2) Breeds
There are many different opinions on this choice but what seems to be the
consensus is that Solitus are the most commonly chosen breed for Adventurers.
These are what make each breed special.
Solitus
Ability
Points/Level
Breed Cap
Max Level
Total IP
Cost
Strength
3
472
156
222282
Agility
3
480
158
229890
Stamina
3
480
158
229890
Intelligence
3
480
158
229890
Sense
3
480
158
229890
Psychic
3
480
158
229890
TOTALS
2872
1371732
Max Hit Points
4367
Max Nano Pool
2787
Opifex
Ability
Points/Level
Breed Cap
Cap Level
Total IP
Cost
Strength
3
464
154
214826
Agility
3
544
177
147591
Stamina
3
480
158
344835
Intelligence
3
464
153
214802
Sense
3
512
168
130771
Psychic
3
448
149
200250
TOTALS
2912
1253075
Max Hit Points
4172
Max Nano Pool
2572
Nano
Ability
Points/Level
Breed Cap
Cap Level
Total IP
Cost
Strength
3
464
154
322239
Agility
3
464
154
322239
Stamina
3
448
149
200250
Intelligence
3
512
166
130711
Sense
3
480
158
229890
Psychic
3
512
168
130711
TOTALS
2880
1336040
Max Hit Points
3432
Max Nano Pool
3010
Atrox
Ability
Points/Level
Breed Cap
Cap Level
Total IP
Cost
Strength
3
512
166
130711
Agility
3
480
158
229890
Stamina
3
512
168
130711
Intelligence
3
400
133
239391
Sense
3
400
133
239391
Psychic
3
400
133
239391
TOTALS
2704
1209485
Max Hit Points
5133
Max Nano Pool
1692
The bottom line is that your choice of breed is all just personal preference.
Yeah, you might have a harder time when picking Nano as your breed, but if you
want better nano skills and such then go ahead choose that breed. Since we end
up as tanks a lot of the time and you want to make a Melee Atrox for the extra
hit points, strength, and stamina go ahead. Opifex have higher agility and
sense so if you want to pick them for your dual pistol-wielding adventurer, go
ahead. If you want an adventurer that is a good tank and healer then go ahead,
choose Solitus. What I'm saying is, is that adventurers are the jack-of-all-
trades so whichever breed you pick, you will have a great time playing that
toon. So, don't worry about it; go for whichever breed suits your style of
play.
==============================================================================
3) Stats & Skills
Once again there are many conflicting opinions on where your IP should be
placed. I will try to give you both sides of the story and then my personal
opinion and how I have made my Adventurer. A summary of suggested skill
spending is at the bottom of this section for those who'd like to skip ahead.
a) Melee Adventurers have the advantage of doing more damage and having a
wider array of special attacks than ranged adventurers. Though once you
are rooted or snared as a melee adv., you won't be too happy. Now, when
making a Melee adv. you will want to go for 1H Edged because we get a
green skill bar (Which means it costs less to improve that skill) for
that weapons class and, later on, we get a buff for that skill.
When making a 1H edged advy, you should max 1H Edged, Brawl (Most melee
weapons require this), Fast Attack (Like a Fling Shot for swords), and
Multi Melee in the beginning and then gradually put fewer points into
Multi-Melee because the requirements level off somewhat. Dimach and Sneak
Attack are also used for some Melee weapons so consider putting some
points into those. You should also max Melee Initiative so that you get a
faster attack and recharge time on your weapons. Consider the parry
skill:
"The Parry skill still works in addition to evades. When someone hits you
with melee, it's checked vs. your parry skill either before or after the
EvadeClC. Most people don't find enough IP to spend on Parry at low lvl,
and the majority of both mobs and players use ranged attacks. At high
levels, (A guildy got 850) you will see that you frequently parry mobs
and other melee players.
The Adv parry shields give very good ac and have a nice recharge. Using
these shields with correct timing can save the day. A lvl 200 Adv with
max parry should be able to get between 9 and 10k AC for 30s each second
minute (before AC buffs). The shield can be what makes you survive three
hits from Ian Warr before the CH hits you. I feel that most people
underestimate the value of the shields." (Taken from Afelia in Jayde's
Adventurer Handbook on the Anarchy Online forums.)
As a Melee adv. max out Strength, Stamina, Intelligence, Body
Development, the above weapon skills, and your Nano Pool each level up.
b) When making a Ranged adventurer you will want to dual wield pistols for
the same reason I told you to dual wield 1H Edged weapons. Max out Pistol
and Multi Ranged every level up. Raise Fling Shot only as necessary for
your weapons. In the beginning I put points into Ranged Energy but once I
got about 110 points there I stopped since I was beginning to use BBI
Faithful 22's. Once you start using energy pistols again, you will want
to start putting points there once more. As far as Burst and Full Auto
go, you really don't need Burst until level 41 when you can start using
Customized IMI Desert Reets for Burst and Full Auto much, much later (if
at all) with some types of Alien Kyr'Ozch Pistols. You should also max
Ranged Initiative so that you get a faster attack and recharge time on
your pistols.
As a Ranged Adv. Max out Intelligence, Agility, Sense, Body Development,
the above weapon skills, and your Nano Pool each level up, almost max
stamina each level if possible.
c) Now for the skills for all advy's, you might consider putting points into
Psychic, which you should, up to 66 (which lets you use general Expertise
Buffs to add +20 to whatever skill you purchase the Expertise nano for).
This helps your nano skills some, but there are people who consider it
not worth the IP to get a few extra points of trickle down in your nano
skills. Once I got to 135 Stamina, I stopped putting a lot of points into
it for a while because I barely had any points to raise my nano skills.
As far as initiatives go you will want to almost max out NanoCombat
Initiative, Dodge Ranged, and Evade Close Combat each time you level up.
You will also need to max Computer Literacy every level with every
character you ever make. The evades will lower the number of critical
hits you take when attacked; with NanoC initiative, you cast your nanos
faster in battle, which will save you and your team many times, Computer
Literacy is used for equipping better belts and memory for more NCU for
your buffs, shields, and morphs.
I max Matter Metamorphosis, Bio Metamorphosis, and Sensory Improvement
every level up because those are used for our heals and shape-shifts.
Most of the time I try to raise Matter Creation but that is not as
important to me as the others. Treatment needs to be maxed every level so
you can equip the highest possible implants (Besides Doctors, Advies have
the cheapest Treatment in the game, so you should be able to twink into
much higher implants than your level). At level 25, my adv. could equip
ql 50 implants. First Aid should be raised high in the beginning, then it
shouldn't be raised really because our heals are better, and then raised
up again in the later levels when IP is distributed more liberally. I
heal 300+ HP with my best heal at lvl 45 and my first aid wouldn't do
anywhere close to that well.
You should only really put points into Map Navigation so that you can use
the map-reader upgrades. The shop, people, and maybe monster upgrades are
good to pick which will mean you can stop raising it when you get it to
130. When you go to get a Yalmaha around level 50 you will need 81 in
Vehicle Air for the lowest Yalm. Those go for 4.5 million credits or
higher.
Summary
Max these every level
? Pistol or 1H Edge
? Int, Agi, and Sen or Int, Str, and Sta
? Body Dev and Nano Pool
? MM, BM, and SI
? Treatment
? Ranged or Melee Init.
Max/Almost Max These
? Computer Lit.
? Dodge Ranged and Evade Close Combat
? NanoC Init.
? Multi Ranged or Multi Melee
Raise as needed/desired
? Fling Shot, Burst, and Full Auto or Brawl, Dimach, Fast Attack, and Sneak
Attack (Brawl and Fast Attack are the two most common)
? Duck Exp
? Nano Resist
? First Aid
? Runspeed
? MC, TS, and PM
? Stamina as a Ranged Advy or Agi as a Melee Advy for early lvl use of
Carbonum Armor
Raise only to get desired item/effect
? Map Navigation (130)
? Vehicle Air (81 for cheapest yalm)
==============================================================================
4) Weapons - Ranged
As a Ranged Adv. there are not as many choices for weapons as there are for
melee adv., but we still get plenty. (These weapon recommendations are taken
from Jayde's Adventurer Handbook on the Anarchy Online Forums and added to by
myself.) Weapons that are usable by those without AI, LE, or SL are marked
(RK).
Staple Weapons:
? BBI Faithful – (RK) All in all a great pistol that only advies can use.
? River Seasons XP – (RK) Advy only pistol made from the combination of a
"Sealed Weapon Receptacle" and an "Ultra Short Composite Barrel."
? The Original Electronicum – (RK) Boss loot only, do not confuse with the
Mini-Electronicum.
? Kaen-Archibald Kolt – (RK) Mostly good at low levels due to speed
? Joint Clans Scout Pistol – (RK) Clan and Neutral shops, dyna boss loot -
beats out the Kaen at lower levels. Not Rollable!
? Flux Pistol - SL generic sided mob drop, staple SL weapon...not so hot on
RK
? Kyr'Ozch Pistol (Types 1 & 4) - Alien drop, Type 1 (Fling Shot) & Type 4
(Burst) created by AI tradeskills or dropped off of Generals and Admirals
in Alien Cities.
Special Weapons:
? Customized IMI Desert Reet 1000 – (RK) EXTREMELY good Burst/Fling Shot
pistol for level 41-150 (or higher possibly). Special drop in
Foreman's/Biomare dungeon off The Director. A must-have for that level
range. The Reet has high min. damage and max damage that increases as you
level up.
? Reign/Pain of Patricia – (RK) Both drop off Patricia Johnson in EFP Mercs
raid, Reign is better than Pain and Advy-specific. (Raid group of Level
165+ necessary to defeat Mercs.)
? Jobe Explorer Personal Pistol - Full Auto pistol, great paired with a
Flux/Argent/RoP... drops rarely from Dryad bosses in NW Adonis
? Argent Blaster - SL dungeon drop, NoDrop, but good paired with a Flux or
a JEPP
==============================================================================
5) Weapons - Melee
(Once again, these weapon recommendations are taken from Jayde's Adventurer
Handbook on the official Anarchy Online Forums and added to by me.)
Staple Weapons:
? SOL Fire Executioner Type C (RK)
? SOL Fire Executioner Type E (RK)
? SOL Fire Executioner Type F (RK)
? SOL Fire Executioner Type T (RK)
? Meibutsu Daito's – (RK) Available only up to QL 135 from the Tsunayoshi
Smith's Shop in Southern Artery Valley at the Largest Soul Fragment in the
world at 2600 x 2900
? Crispy Chiroptera – (RK) Crypt drop off Cenobite Shadow mobs in Crypt of
Home located in Broken Shores.
? Shank of Maze - Heckler drop, SL mob
? Kyr'Ozch Axe (Type 240) - Alien drop, Type 240 created by AI tradeskills
? Phase Blades – (RK) Drops off Exarchs in ToTW
Special Weapons:
? Frozen Tear of Uklesh – (RK)(Temple of Three Winds drop off Uklesh the
Frozen)
? Mantis Scissors – (RK)(Level 146 requirement, special drop off Mantis
Queen final boss in Mantis Den)
? Gelid Blade of Inobak – (RK)(Inner Sanctum drop off Inobak the Gelid a
level 237 boss on the third floor.)
? Impious Dominator – (RK)(Inner Sanctum drop off mobs on IS third floor.)
? Sword of Wonder - (Inferno dyna drop)
? Scimitar of Spetses - (Inferno dyna drop)
==============================================================================
6) Armor
Anything marked (RK) means that those with free accounts can equip without any
problems.
For your first 20 levels I'd stick with your sided beginner armor, then from
20-75 I'd use Carbonum Armor (sided if you really want to), at 75 I'd pick up a
set of Omni Steel Ribbed or Clan Apocalypse Leather armor. I'd probably use
increasingly higher quality levels of those two until I could twink into
OTAF/Sentinel or maybe Azure Reverie from EFP Mercs and then with AI CSS or CM
and eventually with LE Penultimate Ofab Adventurer Armor. Froobs stick with
Azure Reverie or OTAF/Sentinel.
Beginner Armor
? Carbonum Armor – (RK) AGI/STA requirements; can be upgraded to Storm
(clan) or Omni Version. This armor gives you more NCU, NanoC Initiative,
and Nano points as well as good protection in most categories. Very Low
Energy AC though.
? Nano Armor - (RK) The requirements for this armor are Int/Pys. Low
Chemical protection.
? Flowers Tech - (RK) Well if you don't mind it being pink then it is good
as a low level AGI/STR armor for cheaper prices than others. Low Disease
protection, but higher radiation and chemical than others.
? Obtru Steel/Steel Ribbed - (RK) A SEN/AGI armor for Ranged adv. Low
radiation protection though. (Could be used for Intermediate also)
? Barrow Strength - (RK) Good shoulderpad for lower level characters. +15
to all damage types & on use casts Unhallowed Force: +50 dmg, 100%
resistance to snares, roots and calms, locks Strength for 20min (Picked
up in ToTW from Windcaller Yatila or Khalum)
? Withered Flesh - (RK) Good shoulderpad for lower level characters that
adds 100 HP. On use casts Skin of the Believer: 500pt absorb shield,
locks Body Development for 20min (Picked up in ToTW from Windcaller
Yatila or The Re-Animator.)
? Exarch Robe - (RK) A good robe for lower level characters (20-60 or so).
(Picked up in ToTW off of Exarch mobs.)
? Notum Ring of the Three - (RK) +6 NCU, +10 to all damage types, and
either +2 to PM & SI or +2 to MC & TS, or +2 to MM & BM. (Picked up in
ToTW)
? Flurry of Blows - (RK) For 1HE users. Pick this up because it gives
Agg/Def adjust + Crit increase.
Intermediate Armor
? Omni-Pol Elite - (RK) A good armor for Melee advys who have the STR/STA
requirements met. Low Chemical protection.
? Omni Steel Ribbed or Clan Apocalypse Leather – (RK) Get Steel Ribbed (or
Obtru-Steel) or Leather and hack with Hacker Tool or Lockpick of Eight,
then Omnify or Clanalize. Requires 550 Sense/Agility at QL 200 so best
choice for ranged advies, it adds to inits, concealment, perception, and
evades.
? Shapeshifter's Vest – (RK) Adds nicely to inits and evades, dropped in
Crypt of Home dungeon in Broken Shores.
? Ring of the Nucleus Basalis – (RK) A leveling ring dropped off of
Eumenides, Vergil Aenied, and Abmouth Supremus in the Condemned Subway.
Adds +20 NCU at its max QL.
Endgame Armor
? Omni-Armed Forces/Superior Sentinel Armor (Clan) – (RK) 550 STR/STA and
Lvl. 190 requirements make this difficult to equip for most, but the
tradeoff is a ridiculously good set of armor with tons of bonuses to a
large variety of skills and abilities. (Endgame for free accounts,
intermediate for those with expansions.)
? Azure Reverie Armor – (RK) Dropped by all the mercenary bosses in the
mercenary camp in the Eastern Foul Plains (Aces in EFP Merc Camp for
short). Requires Level 175 to wear, and has great AC and bonuses.
Requires large raid party to defeat Ian Warr and other merc bosses. Quest
needed to get them to spawn. (Endgame for free accounts, intermediate for
those with expansions.)
? CSS – Alien armor is at the top of the heap as of now in terms of PvP
armor and many other tasks. CSS is Combined Sharpshooter and is made of
Observant and Supple Alien Armors, it adds bonuses to inits, evades,
spying abilities, ranged weapons and offense. Maxed at QL 300.
? CM – Combined Mercenary (CM) is the top melee armor that can be created
at this time. Made from Alien Invasion Strong and Enduring armor types,
this armor adds bonuses to melee weapons, MA, defense, damage, max health
and body development. Maxed at QL 300.
? Penultimate Ofab Adventurer Armor – Requires LE and Victory Points to
acquire it, but Penultimate Ofab profession armors are THE armors to have
right now. Huge AC, and excellent bonuses across the board in many advy
spec skills.
There are several other sets of armor out there that are good choices, but
require other skills/requirements (like Living Dragonflesh Armor, which is an
RK drop from Tarasque in Avalon Castle and adds nice bonuses and AC, but
requires Martial Arts to equip it). No matter what, don't ever equip any
variation of a Battle Suit or Tank Armor because they make all nanoprograms
cost much more to cast. That is just not worth it to an Advy because our nanos
are our lifeblood.
==============================================================================
7) Implants
At early levels, the basic profession implants are fine to use, although you
may want to mix and match implants from different professions to benefit the
exact skills that you want to boost.
Once you can equip QL 100 Implants I suggest downloading IMatrix or Darkbane's
Implant Helper to start designing your own implants. You can then have an
Engineer or someone else with high Nanoprogramming skill construct your
implants for you with the required basic implants and clusters. Below is an
example of the implants that I designed for my ranged advy, adjust as you'd
like.
Eye => Shiny = Vehicle Air, Bright = Sensory Improvement, Faded = Pistol
Head => Shiny = Bio Metamorphosis, Bright = Nano Pool, Faded = Sense
Ear => Shiny = Perception, Bright = Vehicle Air, Faded = Intelligence
Right Arm => Shiny = Strength, Bright = Chemical AC, Faded = Radiation AC
Chest => Shiny = Max Health, Bright = Matter Meta, Faded = Nano Init.
Left Arm => Shiny = Nothing, Bright = Strength, Faded = Matter Meta
Right Wrist => Shiny = Pistol, Bright = Nano Resist, Faded = Fling Shot
Waist => Shiny = Radiation AC, Bright = Max Health, Faded = Bio Meta
Left Wrist => Shiny = Multi Ranged, Bright = Run Speed, Faded = Nano Resist
Right Hand => Shiny = Nothing, Bright = Matter Creation, Faded = Range Init
Legs => Shiny = Dodge Range, Bright = Stamina, Faded = Max Health
Left Hand => Shiny = Nothing, Bright = Fire AC, Faded = Cold AC
Feet => Shiny = Evade ClsCbt, Bright = Agility, Faded = Duck Exp
See Muha's Implant Design and Construction Guide on the Anarchy Online official
forums (I think it's in the Engineer profession forum) for more information on
designing and constructing implants.
==============================================================================
8) Morphs and our other Nanos
Adventurers get a really cool line of nanos called Poly-morphs. These allow us
to take the shape of monsters found in the wilds of Rubi-Ka. Along with giving
you the shape of the monster, they also buff some of your skills by a great
amount. These are displayed in the relative order that you can use them. The
Team/Other nanos are ignored in this list, but suffice to say that the Other
polymorphs are higher QL than the self line and the Team line is higher QL than
the Other.
? Pronouncement of Greatness - Turns you into a Leet and gives you +200
concealment. QL 20, Cost = 6300 Credits
? Sparrow Flight - Turns you into a Reet and gives you +15 Evades and +190
run speed. Takes away 15 from your max health. * You cannot fight in this
form or use it indoors. * QL 24, Cost = 8720 Credits
? Leet Friend – Modifications Unknown. QL 30, Cost = 13K Credits
? Playful Cub - Turns you into a 2-headed wolf and gives you +100 run speed
and +10 to all damage types. * You can fight in this form; in fact, this
form is designed for fighting. * QL 47, Cost = 37K Credits
? Pack Hunter - Turns you into a Saber-toothed Tiger. (Modifications
unknown.) QL 66, Cost = 92K Credits
? Grinning Hunter - Turns you into a Saber-toothed Tiger. Found at Jobe
Plaza. (Modifications unknown.) QL 83, Cost = 160K Credits
? Flurry of Feathers - Modifications Unknown (Found at Jobe Plaza) QL 90,
Cost = 210K Credits
? Relation to Cerberus - Modifications Unknown (Found at Jobe Plaza) QL
119, Cost = 450K Credits
? Pit Lizard - Turns you into a giant dragon. (Modifications unknown.)
LIST INCOMPLETE
We also get a line of self and team heals, An AC (armor class) buff, a
reflection shield, a mesmerize/calm, Pistol and 1H Edge buffs, Multi-Weapon
buffs, perception buffs, root/snare resists, and run speed buffs to compliment
our Polymorphs.
"The Adventurer profession has the top perception buffs in the game followed by
the Fixer. The Advy perception buffs have caster/target level requirements
(with the exception of the two Eagle Eye buffs) while the Fixer's perception
buffs do not. Since we have the best perception buffs in the game, there's
little to no excuse for any Advy to not know about perception skill and
perception skill buffs.
Here's a handy guide on the Perception Skill
-----------------------
What is the Perception skill used for?
Here's the official definition:
Perception and Spotting
This is the core skill used to detect things, be it concealed people, hidden
objects or traps. The skill depends 70% on sense, and 30% on intelligence.
Hidden traps are those hidden explosives planted on doors and chests that you
encounter inside missions as well as proximity mines. You need sufficient
Perception skill to detect the bombs and mines (followed by sufficient Disarm
Trap skill to diffuse them if you so wish).
Perception is also a skill requirement for equipping HUD devices like the
Yatamutchy (which increases weapon range) and Vision Enhancer (which gives a
small boost to range and critical hit chance).
You will also need sufficient Perception skill to use Information Tools that
determine level, health, and nano statistics of a mob. The success of detection
is based on the quality level of the tool itself with its accompanying stats,
and not the actual skill of the user. Even though more level 200+ mobs/bosses
have been introduced over the past several patches, there are currently no
QL200+ Informational Tools.
Where hidden persons are concerned, the Perception versus Concealment skills
check will determine detection or non-detection on the mini-map. FYI, the
player-to-player invisibility interaction feature was introduced in patch 14.2.
Bear in mind that NPC's and mobs also have Perception Skills, which check
against your own Concealment skill. When you get a "You have been detected by
Ace Rustler" for example when trying to sneak, it means that your attacking
concealment skill has failed against the defensive perception skill check of
that particular mob in the vicinity. It does not mean that you are in LoS
(Line-of-Sight) of said mob. Just treat the "You have been detected by xyz mob"
report as incorrect English usage for something that actually means, "You have
failed the concealment-versus-perception skill check with xyz mob."
Note for PvE - There is also another factor at work and this has been explained
by Funcom as a roll-of-dice - every 10 seconds, there is a roll of dice that
determines the chance of the mob detecting your presence. This factor has
nothing to do with the perception skill of the mob."
(Taken from Inocybe on the official Anarchy Online forums.)
==============================================================================
9) Newbie Island - Levels 1-10
Note: Although I list many things you should do on Noob island check out
FixerSpy's Ultimate Newbie Island Guide (
http://forums.anarchy-
online.com/showthread.php/?t=385143) for the most complete info.
There are many things to do when you first start out on Newbie Island. I will
list the main things that will greatly help you out.
First, go and level up a little. Then, you will want to get your first NCU belt
and memory. There is a guy on the beach where you first came ashore who will
give you a few easy missions. When these are completed, you get Blackmane's
belt.
Next, you will want to upgrade your start-up weapons. You need 2 Leet spines
from a Leet to upgrade the swords and 2 power supplies from the cargo droids
for the pistols. Next go to the shops and buy 2 Antonio's Adaptation Factories
from Antonio. You will make the source the factory and the target either the
Leet spines or the power supplies. Use the item you get from the adaptation on
the pistols or swords by clicking the item and then Shift + Right-clicking the
weapons. Next, you should go level some more.
If you have chosen to become Omni or Clan, and you get to level 6, go and buy
the lowest quality full set of newcomer's armor you can get from Antonio. A
full set of armor usually is made up of a helmet, chest plate, pants, 2X
sleeves, gloves, and boots. Then go to the Omni or Clan shop right next to the
recruiters and Whom-Pahs and buy seven Omni or Clan badges. Then by Shift +
Right-clicking, equip the badges onto each piece of armor to make Omni or Clan
Newcomer's Armor. This armor can be upgraded by right clicking the armor every
time you level up until level 20, so that the armor can be upgraded to whatever
your level is. This armor is the best around until you are about level 15-20.
Now, go and fight the bosses on the island to get loot and then go sell it.
Make sure you get Omni-Tek Technical Library. This is the most Expensive (and
Uberest) item that you can buy on Noob Island. Every player should roll a low
level omni toon just to get this item for all your alts!!!
Once you get enough money, go and buy the Adventurer Nano pack. There is also a
mission to get a side (either Clan or Omni) shoulder pad. This quest should be
done twice to get 2 of the shoulder pads. Once you get to about level 10 you
are more than ready to leave the island.
==============================================================================
10) Levels 11-25
Now that you are on the mainland there are many things to do. For leveling up I
suggest going to the Condemned Subway this is a dungeon for characters level 5-
24. Here you should try to pick up as many pieces of Living Cyber Armor as you
can. These can be leveled up to ql 50. You should also try to get a lot of
morphing memory, as these will come in handy later on because they can be
leveled up to ql 200 (and they sell for about 50K apiece on the trade channel).
There are 4 bosses in the Subway, the Foreman (a mini-boss), Euminedes, Vergil
Aeneid, and Abmouth Supremus. The Striker Foreman (Lvl 19) is the easiest and
can be fought with a group of level 12 characters. I soloed him at level 19.
Eumenides (Lvl 20) can be fought with a team of level 15-17 characters and
soloed with a level 21. Vergil (Lvl 29) can be fought with a group of mid 20's.
Abmouth Supremus (Lvl 30) SHOULD NOT be fought without a full group of lvl 24's
and at least 2 healers (two doctors are the preferred choice).
As a Ranged Adventurer try to pick up a pair of ql 40 or higher BBI Faithful
22's by level 25 and twink into them. As a melee Advy, you will want to get a
pair of ql 40 or higher SOL Fire Executioner Type F's. At level 25, my Ranged
advy had a full set of ql 30/35 Carbonum Armor, which is probably good enough
for that level depending on how much money you have. With a TI-300X Component
Platform Belt and 3 11-26 memories combined with the Carbonum Armor & Ring of
the Nucleus Basalis (which levels up to a QL that provides +20 NCU and is worth
around 1M Credits) I had 62 NCU at level 25. I was able to get a set of ql 51
BBI's and equip them at level 24 with a +132 wrangle that costs about 30 NCU.
At level 25, you should also be able to use Sparrow Flight (QL 24) &
Pronouncement of Greatness (QL 20), both store buyable. Enshroud with Barbs (QL
24) and Lesser Wilderness Protection (QL 20) should be your standard Shield and
AC Buff. As far as heals go Lesser Restore to Health (QL 21) should be your
best self heal (Maybe Survival Technique if you can twink into it with the help
of a Meta-Physicist) and since there are a lot fewer team heals you should
probably be using Team Rough Stitching (QL 17).
==============================================================================
11) Levels 26-60
If you haven't found ways to get lots of cash, or you just don't want to waste
money on our nanocrystals, you can use Clicksaver
(
http://www.marquentein.dk/clicksaver/) to run missions for them.
When going to a dungeon to level up in this level range, your best bet is to go
to Temple of Three Winds (ToTW). This dungeon is for characters level 25-60 and
grouping is the key to doing well in ToTW. When you get there, make sure you
find a group; once again that is the key thing here. There are many Mini-Bosses
here that are harder than the Cultists so watch whom you attack. The bosses
here are Defender of the Three (DOT), the Curator, Lien the Memory Stalker,
Nematet the Custodian of Time, Guardian of Tomorrow, Uklesh the Frozen, The Re-
Animator, Gartua the Doorkeeper, and Aztur the Immortal. DOT can be fought with
a group of high 20-low 30's. The Curator can be fought with a group of high 30-
40's and a doctor. Lien the Memory Stalker (Lvl 66) should be fought with a
group of low to high 50's and a doctor or two (you start to see how important
these doctors are). Nematet the Custodian of Time should not be fought without
a group of mid 50's and definitely at least 1 doctor, 2 healers total. The
Guardian of Tomorrow can be fought with a group of high 50's and 2 doctors.
Aztur deals anywhere from 100-500 damage per hit, WATCH OUT! Always look for
Purifying Rods, they are 100K items valued on RK.
While here, both melee and ranged advys should try to get an Exarch Robe
(Exarch), Dark Memory (Lien the Memory Stalker), Notum Ring (Exarch), Platinum
Ring of the Three (Nematet), 2 pieces of Shoulder Armor (Re-Animator), and a
Guardian Circuit Board (Guardian of Tomorrow). Melee advys will probably want
to pick up a pair of Phase Blades (Exarch) also. Skull of the Ancient is a nice
implant dropped by Aztur, but good luck with that! If you can get a Re-Animator
Robe (Re-Animator) it is even stronger than the Exarch Robe but very hard to
get. FYI, Exarch Robes can be traded to Blind Cultists in major cities for
sealed Inner Sanctum Passes, which are used to enter IS, or can be sold to
higher level players for a nice profit.
At level 33 I had a TI-400X Component Platform Belt at QL 55, four 16-31 memory
at QL 66, a set of QL 39 Carbonum Armor, a pair of QL 51 BBI Faithful 22's, a
Reverend Robe off a Reverend in ToTW, a Notum Ring of Three off an Exarch in
ToTW, a Ring of the Nucleus Basilius off of Euminides in the Condemned Subway
leveled to give me +11 NCU, and a set of 13 QL 50 implants. As a melee advy,
you will either want a set of Phase Blades from ToTW, a Meibutsu Daito or a
pair of high QL Sol F's.
When I got to level 41, a Lvl 150 Meta-Physicist, took me to the Foreman's
Office/Biomare Dungeon. There he took me down to one of the lowest levels where
we camped The Director who drops Customized IMI Desert Reet 1000's. These are
the best pistols for anyone lvl 41-150 easily. They are Burst & Fling Shot
Pistols with a high minimum damage and no max damage, so they deal more damage
as you level up. Try to get these as soon as possible.
Once I hit level 50, I was using Alleviate Pain (QL 50 Store Buyable) as my
best single heal and Team Survival Technique (QL 33 Store Buyable) as my best
team heal. I had been using Playful Cub (QL 47 Store Buyable) for 4 levels. I
had a Customized IMI Desert Reet 1000 and a QL 70 BBI Faithful 22 equipped so I
got both Burst and Fling Shot. I had a full set of QL 65 Carbonum Armor, an
Exarch Robe, a Notum Ring of the Three, and another Notum Ring of Three that
raised different nano skills. I also had a Guardian Circuit Board and 5 +30 NCU
Memories and a special implant from ToTW called Touch of the Gripper that
buffed my strength, stamina, and damage output greatly. I was also using a set
of QL 90 implants that buffed my agility, intelligence, pistol, stamina, and
nano skills.
At 50 you can start to go to The Foreman's Office/Biomare Dungeon. Biomare is
located in The Longest Road area at the Omni Mining Facility. Omni can grid
into West Athens, go out the Western Exit, and just follow the road to Athen
Shire which will zone you into The Longest Road. The Dungeon is near the center
of the zone just follow the road. Anyone 50-70 can level here very nicely (and
get tons of cool loot!) and anyone 70-100 should defeat T.I.M. at least once
with a group or two.
Also at 50 and above, players can solo Steps of Madness in northern Omni
Forest. Omni players can reach it by traveling north from the Omni-1
Entertainment east gate and right clicking on the eyeball among the
gravestones.
You should download the Huge Map from
http://creativestudent.com/ao/#downloads
and start teaming to go fight Dynabosses. The Huge Map has the location and
level of all dynabosses found in the RK wilderness. Dynabosses are the sole
means of acquiring many of our (and other professions') nanocrystals, as well
as other sweet loot. So, go crush your first Dynaboss at level 50 and continue
in order to acquire your nanocrystals.
==============================================================================
12) Levels 61-100
In this level range there is a large variety of places to level, I'll primarily
focus on RK dungeons since I don't have the SL expansion… People 75+ with SL
are best off trying Mortiig teams at Spade/Barter and around 90+ Cold Rocks/The
Scoop spiders to level.
For those of us confined to RK with our fr00b accounts, I'd advise finding
Dynabosses on the Huge Map that are in your level range and teaming to take
them on, either teaming or soloing The Foreman's Office/Biomare Dungeon,
teaming at the Crypt of Home (CoH) in Broken Shores, or running missions in an
attempt to get your 1K token board early (which gives huge bonuses). You could
also team and level at the Smuggler's Den or Cyborgs Barracks.
If you're a ranged advy, in Biomare Dungeon make sure you get a pair of
Customized IMI Desert Reet 1000's from the Lab Director (Lvl 80), a HUD
Upgrade: Enhanced Target Acquisition and a HUD Upgrade: Personal S.T.M from the
T.I.M. Slayerdroid (Lvl 100), and a ton of Personal Safes off of Bodyguards
(Lvl 68), which have a small chance of holding Mk 1 Grid Armor, which goes for
as much as 1 million credits or more. Everyone should try to pick up a Corroded
Ring off Tri Plumbo, which adds nicely to your HP.
The Crypt of Home (CoH) contains mobs that are mostly in the 75-85 range, but
there are a few mobs that are level 100, and the bosses are also higher. The
dungeon's level cap is 110, but an Engineer can still beacon warp you inside at
111+ for some reason... It is a good place to level; make sure you pick up a
Shapeshifters Vest from boss Cerubin and if you're melee a pair of Crispy
Chiroptera's from Cenobite Shadow.
By 75 you should be using Makeshift Bandaging (QL 74 single heal), Greater Team
Quick Heal (QL 57 Team Heal), Skin of the Toad (QL 73 Reflect Shield), Major
Wilderness Protection (QL 70 AC Buff), Eagle Eye (QL 76 Perception Buff), Pack
Hunter (QL 66 Polymorph), and Freedom of the Forester (QL 58 Runspeed buff).
==============================================================================
13) Levels 101-200
Once you start using nanos that are greater than QL 125, you will no longer be
able to purchase them in shops. Dynabosses and missions are now the way to
secure those nanocrystals.
At Level 125+ the place to level up is the Inner Sanctum, which provides ample
room to level and tons of cool loot to get off bosses and mobs. The bosses in
the Inner Sanctum are level 235 and up, ending with Hezak the Immortal who is a
pure beast at level 300. Groups are absolutely necessary to survive here since
the mobs and bosses are at levels that dwarf you.
Other than IS, there are several raids to do on RK in this level range. Camelot
Castle is a 25% Suppression Zone AND a raid dungeon. The basement of the castle
serves as a defensive zone for one faction while that side's team(s) defeat
Tarasque. Make sure your team sticks together and no one strays while in the
basement because other player teams can ambush you. Tarasque requires two level
200 froob teams or one level 215+ team to defeat him. Tarasque is a giant
dragon with a ton of health that drops several Advy only items (a great stat
buffing ring and cloak) and parts required to craft Living Dragonflesh Armor.
Another raid that many love to do are the Mercenary bosses in the Eastern Foul
Plains arena area. The bosses spawn after talking to three other NPC's and
following the ICC quest line. Large raids of players 165+ are necessary to
defeat all the mercs because they all hit for huge amounts of damage. The best
way to pull only one of the bosses at a time is to send a pet in to aggro and
then quickly call it back. The female mercs are weaker than the males, so raid
parties that are trying this for the first time should go after them first. For
a complete explanation of the quest, loot, and raid process visit AO-
Universe.com; they have guides for nearly all of the quests, items, armor,
weapons, and dungeons/encounters in Classic AO, SL, AI, and now LE.
The Biodomes outside of Avalon are also a great place to level up and acquire
high level loot on Rubi-Ka.
By about level 150, Ranged Advies will probably have gotten a Kyr'Ozch pistol
(Type 1, 4, or I think 5 for Full Auto) off of a General or Admiral in an Alien
City. The pistols are also dropped without types and created through AI
tradeskills with typed Bio-Material, so find a friendly Engi and equip the
highest possible pistol that you can twink into for your level range. The very
high multi-ranged requirement for the pistols means that you will not get the
same QL pistol equipped on both hands. Until your burst is around 1300 (when
you cap the pistol's burst recharge) it is better to have a higher type 1
pistol equipped.
For those with LE, the Ofab Peregrine Mk 6 is currently the best pistol weapon
ingame. You buy it in the tower shop for Victory Points, which you get by
either killing aliens in the mothership or joining PvP in the battlestations.
You then need to upgrade it five times with Kyr'Ozch Bio-Material - Type 812
(any QL), found on the boss in the mothership. Can be dual wielded, even at QL
300.
With a froob account I would advise keeping your IMI Reet in your offhand and
equipping a Reign of Patricia or really high QL BBI/River Seasons XP in your
main hand.
Melee Adventurers will similarly want to acquire Alien weapons, specifically a
Kyr'Ozch Axe (Type 240), although Inner Sanctum weapons like the Gelid Blade of
Inobak (Drops off of Inobak the Gelid a level 237 boss on the 3rd floor of IS)
and the Impious Dominator (Drops off a mob on IS 3rd floor) are also nice
choices.
When you reach your breed caps in your abilities IP starts to free up and you
are able to put points into skills that you previously had to neglect. Duck
Explosives and Nano Resist are the two biggest if you want to PvP, since Nano
Resist helps you resist roots, snares, and other nasty nanos cast on you and a
lot of people now purposely equip weapons with Aimed Shot that deal explosive
damage (like the Ithaca Ki-8 Snakemaster, Enchanted Waterfall Eye Wind
Onehander, and Kyr'Ozch Energy Carbine Type 3) because they know that many
players neglect to raise their duck explosive skill because so few mobs use
explosive weapons.
I know that Combined Sharpshooter (CSS) and Combined Mercenary (CM) Alien Armor
and Penultimate Ofab Armor (Lost Eden Victory Points needed) are all the rage
for those that have the expansions and means to acquire them, so if you can,
they really are the greatest. Those without any expansions will want to twink
into Omni-Armed Forces/Superior Sentinel Armor or Azure Reverie Armor, which
offer great protection and bonuses to many skills and abilities. You may have a
tough time reaching the OAF/SS 550 STR/STA and Level 190 requirements, but IP
should free up and with a combination of implants and buffs it should be more
than doable for everyone.
==============================================================================
14) Player versus Player (PvP)
I am not going to lie I don't really PvP much with my advy at my current level.
I will occasionally go and PvP, but it isn't worth it to me because of the high
risk of dying, the fact that you get no xp, and the low percentage chance of
getting items off the person you defeat. So, I found a person to give me the
rights to use his guide in mine and here it is.
Vampi's Guide to PvP
An Anarchy Online Player Guide
FINAL UPDATE 13-Sep-01
A big thank-you to the following contributors: Aufklarung, CaptFallout, Croak,
DB (no in-game name given), Fadinaway (Funcom Events Team Lead), Kusimi,
Moondragon, Vanven, Wrathstar, and Xaxon.
Warning: this is a loonnnnggg guide (16 pages, so far). There's a lot to say
about PvP in Anarchy Online, and I go into a lot of detail. So if you're
reading-challenged or have the attention span of a gnat, don't say I didn't
warn you. =P
I will leave this guide up for some time, at least until I need the server
space for things related to the next game I play. I give blanket license to
anyone to take my weapon evaluation spreadsheet and carry it forward, and to
take the information in this document and carry it forward. I, however, will no
longer be updating either of these guides or my spreadsheet.
Contents
? What Can You Do About Exploiters in PvP?
? Why Every Player Should Care about PvP
? The Newbie's Reluctance to try PvP
? PvP Overview - The Nuts and Bolts Mechanics
? Level Restrictions
? The Deal with 25% Political Zones and 75% Monster-Only Zones
? The PvP Titles
? Looting Your Kills
? Neutrals Have It Rough
? Res-Camping and Grid-Camping
? The Dirty Facts About Line of Sight Attacks
? Where to PvP and How to Get There
? Getting to Stret West and the Holes-in-The-Wall Political Zone
? Getting to Meetmedere
? Getting to Stret East
? Getting to 4-Holes
? General PvP Tips and Tactics
? Equipment Has a Huge Effect
? Speed Kills
? Spying Skills and Aimed Shot
? Timing Your Big Damage Shots
? Using General Nano Debuffs Offensively
? Miscellaneous Tactics
? Team Tactics
What Can You Do About Exploiters in PvP?
Note: Due to Funcom's more stringent policy about banning people who post
exploits, and due the to fact that some game sites would not host/post this
guide while it contained PvP exploits in it, I have elected to remove them from
this guide.
Exploits will always be found. Some will always stoop to using them; it's human
nature. If you encounter somebody in a PvP zone who you are *certain* is using
an exploit, here are some things you can do about it:
? Be sure to file a bug report to Funcom. If you don't report about it,
they don't know it's a problem.
? Don't fight back if your solo and at a disadvantage. Deny them any option
of a fight, if possible, by running away if they attack you, and by being
aware of their position and avoiding getting in range for them to attack
you. Deny them their "fun."
? /shout to the entire area that "So-And-So is using the Blah Blah
exploit!" Don't spam the place, but make sure everyone in the area is
warned. Trust me; it's like painting a big target circle on their back.
? If you're fighting solo, consider teaming long enough to gank the
exploiter repeatedly. Or just coordinate with other soloists in the area
to be on the watch for the exploiter and to rush to each other's aid to
gang up on the exploiter.
Remember, the best deterrence to exploiters is to deny them the benefits of
their exploit, and if you can (by coordinating with others), to punish them
severely for even existing. Be creative, and do what it takes to spank them
mercilessly and repeatedly until they leave. Even if they swear up and down
they'll stop using the exploit, keep ganking them. Over and over. Don't
tolerate an exploiter in PvP. Don't buy their bullshit. Don't let them con you.
Just kill them, efficiently and repeatedly until they leave.
Why Every Player Should Care About PvP
Those of you who wish to avoid PvP can choose to do so, provided you avoid the
25% "political" and 0% "mayhem" suppression gas areas. Which brings me to why
everyone should care about PvP. Sooner or later, you simply cannot avoid the
25% and 0% zones altogether. As you advance in levels, for instance, more and
more missions end up being in political zones. I imagine that at levels 75+ a
fair number of missions end up being the mayhem zones. Also, as the dimensions
become more populated (the game's only a month old now, and many people are
holding off until they see whether Funcom fixes the technical problems), you're
going to have more competition for the good high-level spawn, and I betcha that
some of the better spawn areas will end up being in political and mayhem zones.
Remember, this entire game and storyline is based around a war between Clan and
Omni. If players themselves do not meet in conflict, there is no storyline. So
I lay $100 on the table right now that says as the storyline progresses, we
will see more 25% political zones cropping up, and Funcom making subtle tweaks
to encourage players to come into conflict with each other. You will still be
able to avoid PvP conflict if you really really want to, but by doing so you
will be significantly limiting your options and the areas that you can visit.
My advice? Get comfortable with PvP now, at your early levels. PvP can really
be quite enjoyable and fun, and to address the main drawback of PvP in other
games (namely, that risked losing valuable exp and some or all of your best
equipment), Funcom has made it about as risk-free as possible to engage in PvP.
The Newbie's Reluctance to Try PvP
Unlike other MMORPGs to date, AO gives you the ability to PvP your ass off with
NO RISK if you so choose, while you're a newbie. Until level 75, if you scan at
an insurance terminal before entering a 25% suppression zone (the "Political"
zones) or a 0% "mayhem" zone, you lose NOTHING if you die except the time it
takes to wait out your resurrection effects and travel back to the PvP zone.
So those of you who are new to the concept of PvP on an MMORPG server, and are
reluctant to try PvP, don't be! Try it; you'll like it! The only real risk (and
it is a real one) is that as you go higher in levels your missions, and the
choice leveling spots, end up often being in political zones or mayhem zones.
So, you won't always have the luxury to scan at an insurance terminal before
you enter a 25% or 0% suppression zone. Really, this is all the more reason to
get comfortable with PvP early on in your character's life. And if you really
find some incredible loot in a mission that you just can't bear to lose to PvP
attack because your mission area is in a political zone, you always have the
option to /terminate from within the mission area.
PvP Overview - The Nuts and Bolts Mechanics
Here are some basic facts about PvP mechanics.
Level Restrictions
? If you are under level 75, you can attack or be attacked only by someone
that is within a certain range of your own level, and who is from the
enemy side. Unlike in Asheron's Call, for instance, you can walk right </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
into the middle of Meetmedere and stand next to a bunch of solid red
enemies, and be perfectly safe. (Well, more or less anyway--there is one
fact about teams that modifies this statement a bit.)
? Once you are level 75, you can attack and be attacked by anybody from the
enemy side up to level 200.
? Neutrals have it rough because both the Clan and Omni are "enemies." Both
Clan and Omni can attack a Neutral, but a Neutral cannot attack a Clan or
Omni. Once attacked, though, a Neutral can fight back.
? Generally speaking, if an enemy is grey or solid red when you target
him/her/it, you cannot fight them. By the same token, if an enemy is
green to orange, you can fight.
? Calculating the level range for solo fighters - For people under level
75, there is some question still about exactly how solo ranges are
calculated. All I have for now are some spot observations that indicate
the range starts at +-5 levels and shifts upwards to probably +-15 levels
as you near level 75:
o At level 17 the solo range is within +-5 levels
o At level 31, the solo range is within +-8 levels
o At level 50, the solo range is within +-11 levels
o Calculating the level range for team fighters - Teams composed of
people under level 75 have two different level ranges:
? The team's defensive range is some sort of combined average range based
on the levels of the team members. This range used to be much wider
before the 12.5 patch.
? The team's attack range is some sort of combined average range based on
the levels of the team members. This range used to be much wider before
the 12.5 patch.
This fact about team ranges has an important ramification if you are fighting
in areas with multiple enemies nearby: you cannot always presume that a deep
red or grey enemy is unable to attack you---if they are teamed, they just might
be able to. I'm reasonably certain that their teammate(s) don't even have to be
in the vicinity, but I could be wrong. This fact also explains why sometimes
you will get a message that you cannot attack a given enemy that is green or
orange--they may be grouped with somebody who takes them out of your effective
solo range, despite their "color."
? If you engage in a fight with another player in your PvP range, the other
players outside your PvP range cannot jump in and start attacking you too
(unless they are teamed with the player you're fighting.) The best way to
check whether that lone yellow is in a team or not is to send a Join Team
request to them. If they're a member of a team, you'll get a message to
that effect. If they're not a member of a team, who knows? You might
confuse them long enough to get the drop on them, if you're the type that
likes cheap tactics like that.
What other players around you can do, however, is to heal the player that
you're fighting. This is just a fact of life in a more crowded PvP zone like
Meetmedere. Usually if one side jumps in to heal the player you're fighting,
your side will often notice and come heal you too. It all depends on the crowd
and how well known you are.
The Deal with 25% "Political Zones" and 75% "Monster-Only Zones"
? When fighting in 25% political zones, once you engage in a fight with
somebody inside the 25% zone, you are NOT safe if you run to a 75% zone--
other players can no longer attack you, but the individual(s) or team(s)
that were taking shots at you in the 25% zone can continue to do so even
if you are both now outside the 25% zone. The only real safe bolthole is
if you hit a physical zone border.
? Once you engage in a fight, even if you go run around the 75% zone and
the person you were fighting wanders off without either of you killing
the other, your ability to use treatment or nano kits is nullified until
you either find that person and kill them, or else you hit a physical
zone border. Even though your attack bar is not active, and you're no
longer being attacked by the other player, the game still thinks that
you're under attack for purposes of using treatment/nano kits. I don't
know if this is a bug or a feature. And once you hit a zone line to clear
that state - you can no longer attack the other player in a 75% zone.
? In some areas, the 25% zones are very small and narrow. When you look at
the various zone maps available on fan sites, it looks like the entire
zone of Stret West, Stret East, 4-Holes, etc. is a 25% political zone.
Nope; at least not for Stret West. Most of the area inside Stret West is
perfectly safe 75% suppression. Instead, what Funcom has done is create
certain bottlenecks in the roads and across river bridges where you are
forced to run through a 25% zone to get from one area to another.
However, I suspect this holds true only in Stret West, as it's the lowest-level
political zone. In 4-Holes and in Stret East, every place I've gone is all 25%
suppression gas. The only protection from enemy players is that afforded by the
numerous NPC guards all around and inside the various outposts/towns. Some of
the roadways are heavily guarded as well.
The PvP Titles
? The PvP titles ("Freshman," "Rookie," etc.) are indicators of your
overall prowess at PvP. You get titles only if you win a lot more fights
than you lose.
? You get your PvP titles only for making solo kills. If you are a member
of a team, any kills you get will not count towards the body counts
needed for your PvP titles. So, don't team up with others if you're
looking to build up your PvP titles.
? We used to think that a certain fixed win-loss spread would give you the
Freshman, Rookie, and Apprentice titles. Now we know better. Your PvP
title is not based on a simple win-loss spread, but instead on an
underlying chess-style "rating points" system. If you're not familiar
with how ELO/Chess type rating systems work, the basic idea is that every
person starts out with a base rating value. When you kill somebody (you
can't be in a team), your rating goes up. When somebody kills you, your
rating goes down. How much your rating goes up and down seems to depend
on both the underlying rating of your opponent and on the character level
of your opponent. Your rating will go up much faster if you kill somebody
that is quite a few levels above you. Or if you kill somebody the same
level as you, but they have a higher PvP title than you.
? Nobody knows the exact formula for this rating system, but the rule of
thumb is this: the farther apart you are in both PvP rating and in
character level, the more that the winner gains, and the more that the
loser loses. If you get killed by somebody 10 levels below you, you could
easily lose your title even if you've made a bunch of successful kills
after gaining that title.
? Your kill counts towards a title rank even if your victim loses no exp to
their death.
? If multiple solo individuals contribute to a kill (which can happen often
in places like Meetmedere, where others often jump in on a fight you
start), then it's the person who does the most damage that gets credit
for the kill, kind of like looting rights on a mob when multiple non-
teamed people kill the mob.
? You can lose your title to PvP deaths, so it appears that your PvP title
is a dynamic indicator of your relative win-loss spread. You might gain
the Freshman title, for instance, but then if you have a string of losses
you're likely to lose that title until you win enough solo fights to gain
back the title.
? You can lose your title to using /terminate. Especially if you /terminate
during a PvP fight--there seems to be a huge penalty associated with this
exploit. But even if you use /terminate outside of PvP, as a kind of poor
man's teleportation device, the reports are clear that it does affect
your PvP title.
? It is pretty clear, however, that you cannot lose your title to deaths
from mobs while out leveling.
Looting Your Kills
? As far as corpse looting goes, if multiple players who are not teamed
participate in a kill, it seems that looting rights work like they do for
mobs - the player who did the most damage gets the looting rights, if
any. If you are in a team, then looting rights depend upon the team loot
setting.
? If the player recently scanned at an insurance terminal, or if they did
not lose any exp to their death, you will not be able to loot the body.
? If your kill did lose exp, and they have new items in their inventory
that were not saved at the last scan, you will be able to loot all of the
newly acquired items since the last scan. You will also receive a "pinky"
if your victim lost any exp to the kill.
? If your kill loses exp to their death, you do NOT get the exp that they
lost. No player will ever receive exp for making a PvP kill; Funcom has
clearly stated this.
? There have been rumors of a bug whereby if you lose a large amount of exp
to a PvP death, the player who killed you could loot your entire
inventory - even the things that you had saved at the last scan. I've
seen several reports that this bug is no longer active in the game, but
if there's anyone reading this, who can confirm or deny whether this bug
still exists, please. Until you hear the final word on this, I say better
safe then sorry - scan yourself before intentionally going to a PvP area.
? Nobody knows what pinkys, pinky jars, and pinky cutters actually do yet,
or whether they have any real value. I've tried combining my pinkies with
pinky jars and nada, zip, nothing. There is one cute trick you can do
with a pinky, though. Right-click the pinky and a blue "Heh" floats above
your head. Stupid tricks to impress the newbs in a city crowd.
Neutrals Have It Rough
? Neutrals cannot attack either Omni or Clan. Neutrals must wait to be
attacked before they can fight anyone. For this reason I personally think
it's bad form to run up and whack a Neutral, but then I leaned towards
Anti-PK sentiments in Asheron's Call so don't mind me. From a roleplay
perspective, however, it doesn't make a lot of sense to enrage and
antagonize Neutrals by attacking them all the time - you're just
encouraging them to aid and abet the enemy. I suggest that if you want to
fight a neutral, just ask them if they want to duel.
Res-Camping and Grid-Camping
? You cannot be auto-targeted with the Tab key when you pop out of the grid
into a 25% zone, as happens when you drop into Meetmedere. A player
trying to camp the grid drop point must put his/her mouse cursor on you
and click to target you for attack, which is harder than it sounds
because to the local players you still look like a very small upside-down
pyramid for a short while when you drop out of the grid. The bottom line?
You usually have plenty of time to run to the 75% border when you grid
into Meetmedere. Most players that I've seen, however, have the class not
to gank people dropping in from the grid. Still, you're better safe than
sorry so be sure to buff up completely before you enter the grid, and be
alert for attack the minute that you resolve into Meetmedere.
? You can be ganked the instant that you resurrect at a reclaim terminal -
this is called "res-camping." Again, most players I've seen have the
class and honor to leave alone players that are stupid enough to scan in
a 25% zone like Meetmedere. But you do get the occasional asshole that
will camp the reclaim terminal and gleefully smack you down the instant
that you resolve, when you're at less than half health and suffering from
res effects. In my opinion, if you are dumb enough to scan in a 25% zone,
you almost deserve it, but like I said before, I tend to roleplay a more
honorable killer so like most people I'll at least give you a minute to
reclaim your stuff and get the hell out of there. Stand around for too
long after reclaiming your inventory, though, and I'll toast you with a
smile on my face. The moral of this story? Don't be stupid and scan in
the middle of Meetmedere. You can grid right into the place if your Comp
Lit. is 100 or better, or quickly run there from Newland City if you're a
real lowbie, so why bother anyway?
? Every player should be aware that you get NO credit for killing somebody
who is still under resurrection effects. Remember that res effects last
for 6 minutes after death. Many players are capable of healing to full
health before their res effects wear off completely, so it's possible
that even if you attack and kill somebody who seems to be at full health,
you might not get any credit for the kill because they are still under
res effects. This is yet another reason that people are wasting their
time by res-camping.
? If you see somebody getting res-camped by idiot grief-players, you can do
something about it even if the poor sap getting res-camped is from the
"enemy" side. Just invite them to team with you. If they accept before
the res-campers can kill them again, you can now open fire on the res-
campers, even if the res-campers are from your own side! You do not have
to stand by yelling at idiots from your own side to quit res-camping; you
can kill them for the griefer swine that they are.
The Dirty Facts About Line of Sight Attacks
? Funcom says the 12.3.2 patch fixed LOS so that you can't shoot through
obstacles anymore. While this has been observed to be somewhat true on a
gross level versus mobs in a dungeon (with a LOT of exceptions), I've
noticed that even as of the 12.3.3 patch I'm perfectly able to shoot mobs
and players just fine through entire structures like shacks in the Mutant
Camps or buildings and walls in Meetmedere. It seems that the actual
edges of LOS barriers are smaller than what you see with your eye. So
don't think that just because you ducked around the corner of a building
you're immune to ranged attacks.
? Us humans being slightly smarter than mobs, DB reported that the more
savvy PvP players are starting to use a "camera exploit" to get around
the few LOS barriers that do exist. In short, if you can see the target
with your camera, you can shoot it, even if there's a huge wall in
between you that you normally couldn't shoot through. For example, in MMD
there is a wall that separates the inside of the outpost from the open
area outside where people drop in from the grid. He discovered that an NT
was hiding just inside the wall, in a spot very hard to see even from an
overhead camera view. This NT had manipulated his camera angle to be able
to see the players gridding into MMD, and would manually click on them
with his mouse and start nuking them with NT nanos. This was an
especially devastating tactic because your autoattack is NOT triggered by
combat nanos attacking you. So, players were getting attacked immediately
upon dropping in from the grid but unable to find or return fire on their
attacker.
The player that reported this factoid says it can be invaluable to learn how to
manipulate your camera with precision to target other players hiding behind
obstacles.
Where To PvP And How To Get There
I wasted the better part of a Saturday afternoon figuring out how to get my
level 17 fixer to the Stret West political zones for my first foray into PvP,
AO-style - took me for-freaking-ever. Nobody I asked in-game knew what to tell
me. None of the bulletin boards had any better directions other than "run up
through 4-Holes" (I'm Omni). Blah. A level 17 dies too easily running up
through 4-Holes. Add that to the fact that my map skill wasn't nearly high
enough to load maps of Stret West, etc., and I ended up doing a lot of running
around in Newland, Athen, Varmit Woods (yikes), and Aegean, not to mention
looking all over Stret West for the tiny little 25% zones once I got there –
all without maps.
Stupid me. Of course, now I know better, and I'm going to save you the trouble
that I went through. Be aware that since I've only PvPed with my lowbie Fixer
reroll, I can't tell you much about the PvP areas in 4-Holes or Upper Stret
East. If any of you reading this can give me succinct directions (and
preferably coordinates, too) to the PvP areas that I don't list here, please
email me with that info and I'll add it here. Eventually I plan to show actual
maps marking all the PvP zones. Getting to Stret West and the Holes-In-The-Wall
Political Zone
1. If you're Omni, use the grid to get to Tir. You need a buffed Computer
Lit. of 75 to get into the grid and take the Tir drop.
2. From Tir, take the whompah to Newland. (Note: even if you have a high
enough comp lit to take the Newland drop, don't do it! You're dropped from
midair into the middle of Newland desert, which is a long run away from Newland
City itself. Presuming you even survive the drop. (A trick that actually worked
for me is to jump just before you hit ground. I kid you not--I took only 28
points of damage that way.)
3. In Newland, take the whompah to Borealis, which is a neutral city *in*
Stret West. Both Clan and Omni can shop and restock in Borealis.
4. Take the only road out of Borealis, follow it down the mountain, and
you'll zone into Holes-in-the-wall about 40 seconds down the road. Keep
following the road straight for another half-minute and you'll see a Bronto
Burger stand up ahead. Go there and scan at the insurance terminal there, for
speedy return to the PvP zone nearby.
To get to the small PvP zone in Holes-in-the-Wall
Head down the road to your right if you're facing the Bronto Burger. (Can't
remember the compass direction right now.) You'll see that the road you're
following forks to either side of a small hill in front of you. Take either
fork and go around to the other side of that small hill.
You'll be standing at a cross-roads where something like 4 different roads come
together. Take the road South that goes up another embankment. On the other
side is a river and a bridge. The road/bridge leads into 4-Holes. Almost as
soon as you start down that road to the South, you'll cross into a 25% zone.
There's a physical zone barrier to 4-holes in the middle of the bridge.
Explore and fight in this area. It's the main PvP zone in Stret West, at least
for lowbies. Chickens will often run for the safety of the zone border on the
bridge, so you'll have to devise tactics for killing runners before they can
hit the zone wall.
To get to the large PvP zone in Stret West proper
There's a much larger 25% zone directly to the East of the Bronto Burger stand.
Out there you may catch teams who are leveling up, and there are lots of
mission areas. Just take a beeline East from the Bronto Burger. It's 25% all
the way to the big river, with only a few very small 75% zones here and there.
Getting to Meetmedere
The best and quickest way is to take the Meetmedere drop on the 2nd tier of the
grid. You'll need Comp Lit of 100 to use the MMD drop. (Note: you'll need Comp
Lit of 110 to use the grid terminal in MMD itself. Also note that the Grid
terminal in MMD is in a 25% zone in the middle of the outpost.)
1. If you can't grid directly into MMD, then with a Comp Lit of 75 you can
grid to Tir, then take the whompah from Tir to Newland.
2. Exit the West gate from Newland and head straight North across a small
expanse of desert. If you have a Newland area map, or look on your big map,
you'll see a set of twin lakes right next to each other with a narrow spit of
land in between them. MMD is sitting at the North side of that spit of land
between the two lakes. All the mobs you'll run into on the way are newbie mobs,
so it's a safe run even for lowbies.
Take your time exploring MMD--there are three different 25% zones, some inside
the walls of the outpost and some outside. There are also 75% zones that you
can use to walk safely right into the middle of the outpost. Remember that once
you step inside a 25% zone and somebody attacks you, they can continue
attacking you even if you move back into a 75% zone. There are two different
"back entrances" to the MMD outpost, and it can be very effective to sneak into
the outpost using these, and also very effective to confuse teams by running
them into and out of the outpost using the different entrances.
Getting to Stret East
I've been to Stret East only for full-difficulty missions, so I haven't seen
much of the area because it's pretty dangerous for my mid-20s character to run
around out there. What I do know is that Omni can get there via whompah or grid
into 2HO. The 2HO military base is heavily guarded by scads of NPC guards, so
it would be certain death for a Clan to grid there. The roads near the 2HO base
are heavily guarded by Omni NPC's as well. The only feasible way for Clan to
hunt in Stret East would be to run there from somewhere else, avoiding the
guards that are probably located near bridges and crossroads.
Despite the danger to Clan of gridding directly into 2HO, a lot of Clan,
particularly the high-level ones, try to do it. So if you're over level 75,
watch your back while in 2HO.
Getting to 4-Holes
Similar to Stret East, 4-Holes is easy for Omni to get to via either whompah or
grid. I know that the whompah drop would be certain death for Clan, due to the
high density of Omni Guard NPC's. I haven't taken the Grid drop yet so I don't
know what the story is at the grid exit.
I have noticed a lot of higher-level clan running South from Stret West into
the 4-Holes zone, but never followed them. There is a bridge leading to 4-Holes
right near Borealis, in the Holes-In-The-Wall area that I describe up above in
the Stret West section. So it seems fairly easy for Clan to get down into 4-
Holes via Borealis and Stret West.
One interesting thing about 4-Holes - there are a ton of Clan NPC mob/guards
that spawn in the same area as the Omni NPC guards, so even if you're Omni you
can die easily to a Clan NPC within sight of Omni guards. There are always
firefights going on between the local Omni guards and these Clan NPC's. I tried
sneaking past a Clan NPC once, thinking that it would ignore me since it was
already fighting with an Omni guard. Wrong! I was dead in one hit.
General PvP Tips and Tactics
Here are some useful tips and tactics, in no particular order, that apply
equally to solo and team fighting:
Equipment Has a Huge Effect
? Equip the best weapon/armor that you possibly can for your level.
Preferably, things that you have to buff attributes/skills to even be
able to equip them. You want max killing power. I fought a level 17 fixer
when I was level 17. He had a QL8 Mausser, while I had a QL24 Mausser
that I had to use Expertise buffs and implants just to equip. He had
mission loot armor; I had armor from a previous high-level character that
I had to buff up just to equip some pieces. Can you guess who won? He was
dinking me for 8 points of damage per hit, while I was whacking him for
40 per hit. Yes, your AC really does make a difference.
? Know your actual damage output per second, and yes, do keep upping your
combat initiatives, at least to a certain point. There is a lot of
misinformation floating around on what the "best" weapons are, whether or
not ranged initiatives have any real effect, and so on. If you want to
understand exactly how to determine which weapon puts out the most damage
when you are wielding it, then read my guide to evaluating weapons.
? A useful extrapolation of this tip is this: don't PvP all the time unless
you really love being a PvP-nut. Instead, go level up in the non-PvP
zones until you're ready to make your next set of major equipment/nano
upgrades. Then, when you've barely squeezed into your new upgrades, take
a few days off from leveling and go live in the PvP zones for a while.
You'll perform well and rack up lots of kills to advance your PvP titles.
When you get sick of PvP'ing, go back to leveling again until your next
major equipment/nano upgrade.
A downside of this approach, however, is that opponents who like to use skill
debuffs on you can make life difficult if you've just squeezed into a higher-
level first-aid, nano, or weapon (if you like to switch weapons in combat). By
debuffing you appropriately, you may not be able use first-aid in combat, or
get off that killer nano that you can barely cast, or swap out weapons mid-
combat.
Speed Kills
? Root nanos and speed buffs are your best friend in PvP. A simple fact is
that when a player is obviously losing, they will very often try to just
run away before you can kill them. Yes there are some steadfast warriors
who finish what they start no matter what, but many people can argue that
it's just good tactics to run away until your first aid and specials
recycle. I know that I've killed some of my toughest opponents this way,
by letting them think they've got the kill if they can just get a few
more shots in followed by their special - I'll run like the wind and wait
until my aid and burst recharges (and my HOT nano is slowly recharging my
health too), then turn around and lay into them again. So, you want to
prevent players from bolting and running, if you can. If you've got root
capability, learn to use it to keep the other guy trapped until you can
deal your death blow.
? Here's a new tip for those of you who don't have root nanos, and who keep
getting killed by stinkers like me who use root-n-shoot tactics
effectively. If your Nano Resist skill is kept fairly high, you will
resist roots more often, and you will have a chance to break roots early.
I can personally verify this after another fun weekend of fighting in
MMD. I was battling an agent who was 5 levels above me. Normally, since
my Mausser has longer range than a typical agent's rifle, I would use
root-n-shoot to my advantage. However, the agent didn't seem at all
affected by my first root. My second root held him well, like I would
expect, but my third root broke after I'd hit him just one time. Okay,
that was enough to make me wonder if he was using some /follow exploit to
break my roots, until he tried rooting me! (This is the first time,
surprisingly, that I have ever been rooted by another player.) Well what
do you know? Even though I had the blue nano haze all around me, I could
run just fine, and the blue haze disappeared almost instantly.
What this clearly shows is that Nano Resist does have a strong effect on how
you are affected by combat nanos such as root. My nano resist is currently
maxed for my level. That agent obviously had a high Nano Resist as well,
because although he was much less affected by my roots, most other players I
was rooting this weekend were severely hampered by my roots.
? Root nanos can also be very useful to keep a shorter-ranged opponent at
bay while you fire at him with a longer-ranged weapon. The coolest fight
I've ever witnessed was an Adventurer in leet form fighting a Fixer. The
Fixer had great tactics. The leet was using melee weapons and killing
with either brawl or dimach, so the fixer would root the leet, run away
and take a couple shots while the leet was out of melee range. The leet
would cast a heal just as the root wore off, and practically scream
across the gap to get in some melee swings, trailing red sparks from his
healing nano as he ran. Hilarious to watch. BTW, the leet won. The point
is that the leet would have won a LOT quicker if the fixer hadn't been
using his root to keep the leet at bay.
? Here's a tip from CroakAO that the speedy classes can use against NTs and
shorter-ranged projectile opponents. Provided your opponent is the type
who will doggedly chase you to try and toss big NT nukes at you or
whatever, just run away from them until your targeting indicator for them
turns grey, meaning they've dropped out of even your range. Then stop and
fire, then start running again. If you get the timing down, you'll be
able to keep getting shots off on them but they'll never get a shot on
you.
This is similar to what I've experienced myself when chasing down fleeing
opponents. If I'm out of nano for more roots, or I can't get within close
enough range to fire off a root while they're still pelting away from me, I'll
just close the gap enough, stop and fire one shot, then immediately start
running after them again. Even with opponents I can barely keep up with, I've
managed to whittle them down this way, although they can run you a looooonnnng
ways before you finally kill them.
? Especially if you don't have root nanos, a strong speed buff can help you
chase down a runner and get in enough shots to finish them off. Many is
the time I wished for a good speed buff at my lower levels when I
couldn't run Limited Grid Jump yet. One trader who tried to gang me with
two other players ran after I killed the first guy and his bud ran off. I
decided to chase down the trader since he had jumped in with an
opportunistic attack after the other two had first decided to jump me.
That little bastard ran me half way across the Newland Desert before I
had finally plinked him into Burst range and finished him. I had to burn
two stim charges just to keep closing the gap enough to squeeze periodic
shots in. Ever since I upgraded my NCU to make room for more buffs, and
leveled up enough to run Limited Grid Jump as a standard buff, I've had a
MUCH easier time fighting PvP, killing runners, and even fighting solo
versus teams very effectively.
? Slow-down debuffs are pretty much worthless in PvP. If a runner gets
enough of a head-start on you, you still can't close the gap fast enough
to finish off the kill easily, if at all. I'll take a root nano over a
slow-down nano any day. However, as I've had opportunity now to fight
solo against teams that where trying to gank me, I've found that the
crowd-control snares (such as Passive Distributed Entanglement) can
really frustrate the hell out of a team trying to pin you down.
Spying Skills and Aimed Shot
? Stealth mode and cloaking devices are pretty much worthless. A real
player can still see you just fine when you're cloaked. If you want to
visually hide to lay an ambush, you'll be much more effective hiding in
the local geometry. At the bridge in Holes-in-the-wall, for instance, you
can hide under the bridge itself, merging into the concrete bottom of the
bridge. Or you can merge with a big tree trunk near the path to the
bridge. If you adjust your camera angle, you can still see out through
the clip lines of the geometry you're hiding in. Unless players are
constantly hitting their Tab key to spot hostiles, they may be lulled
into a false sense of safety. Is this an exploit? Depends on your
definition of exploit, I guess. The real lesson here is to keep hitting
that tab key when you're in a PvP zone.
? Aimed Shot, on the other hand, is apparently not at all worthless. DB
reports that Aimed Shot always works versus human opponents--you'll never
get a "the target is aware of you" message. I imagine this is to ensure
that Agents get to use their one and only special attack, for balance
reasons.
? The jury is still out on concealment and perception skills and the role
they play in PvP. One thing for certain, players are much more aware and
astute than mobs, and players are constantly running around and panning
their camera angle, so they will visually see you even if your
concealment is so high that their Tab key doesn't find you. And yes, the
LOS fix does work to a certain extent. I noticed last night while
leveling at a clan spawn area that I could not target clan agent mobs
that were on the other side of visual obstacles like tree trunks. My
perception is currently pretty low. I could see them shooting at my
teammate, and most of my teammates had no trouble shooting back, but I
could not target them with my tab key until I moved my position so that I
could also see the mob.
So what does this mean about concealment and perception? I extrapolate the
following points. These are unproven hypotheses at this point so take this with
a grain of salt for now.
? If your opponent's concealment is significantly higher than your
perception, you may have trouble seeing their blip on your map screen (if
you have the people upgrade), and you may have trouble targeting them
with your Tab key if you can't also visually see them.
? If you are using the information tool that tells you a target's Hit
Points and Nano Points, your relative perception-concealment skills could
affect how easily you can read your opponent's exact HP/NP. If you don't
know why this would be useful, just think about it. =)
? If you have extremely high concealment (buffed even higher with nano and
cloaking devices), it might be a viable strategy to hide in geometry
(like a tree trunk, under a bridge, or in a wall/building) for a
relatively nasty sniping position.
Timing Your Big Damage Shots
? There are two schools of thought on when you should unload your special
attacks on your hapless victim. The first school says to save your kill
shot for last. Don't open with your nastiest nuke - you'll just make them
run. Sucker them into thinking they have a chance to get off their nuke
first and win. Save your Burst, Dimach, or whatever specials for your
killing blow. This was my general strategy for pretty much all of my
first 30 fights and it stood me very well. The few times that I
accidentally bursted my opponent early on, they ALWAYS ran.
? The 2nd school says that against professions that typically have low HP,
a large opening Burst or other kill shot can sometimes kill them outright
or at least seriously freak them out, putting you at the advantage for
the fight. Soldiers have long taken advantage of this and often open with
a Burst and FA attack. Another strong reason to use your specials right
at the start of a fight is that if the fight lasts long enough, you may
get a chance to use them again after they recycle, allowing you to do
more overall damage during the same time period, versus an opponent who
saves their specials for a "kill shot."
? Now for the fun part, because there's always a flip side to every flip
side. Knowing that some fighters, particularly soldiers, love to open
with a huge kill shot attempt, Vanven claims very good success against
soldiers using this tactic: when facing a soldier, start the fight with
your aggro bar set all the way left to Full Defense, until after they
unload their opening Burst and FA on you. He claims you'll take much less
damage that way. Then, flip your aggro bar to full aggressive and tear
into the soldier. I can verify that Vanven's tactic works very well
against soldiers. I fought several soldiers again this weekend, including
one who was on a team that I was soloing against. None of those soldiers
were able to do squat to me, and some of them were 4 levels above me and
I took them down easily using Vanven's technique and root-n-shoot
tactics. Soldiers are strong, but definitely not uber. I have not been
killed by a soldier yet, and overall, soldiers don't even fall in the
category of my toughest matches.
? Personally I think that all this makes for some interesting tactics in a
fight. Is your opponent gonna open with a kill shot, or will they hold it
to the end? Or will they try to sneak it in on you somewhere in the
middle? Should you monkey around with your aggro bar in a fight to
attempt mitigating their big damage, or just leave it at full aggro for
the whole fight? Interesting choices.
Using General Nano Debuffs Offensively
? CaptFallout (a soldier, btw) reports that a good way to deal with
soldier's mirror shields is to debuff them early in the fight with the
general nano SpaceTime Incompetence. Since most soldiers equip their
highest Mirrorshield nano on their shortcut bar, and often buff Time and
Space to be able to cast the best mirrorshield they can, you can really
screw them up by knocking 20 points off their Time and Space skill. They
may have to fumble with their nano window to find the next-lower version
of their mirrorshield, giving you valuable time.
? Croak reports that MatCrea Incompetence can be a useful debuff against
NanoTechs who are barely squeezing into their biggest nukes.
? Croak also reports good success using BioMet Incompetence against Martial
Artists and Adventurers to bork their self-healing nanos.
? Croak also reports good success using Lethargy against an opponent who
stops attacking to heal, or who may be getting ready to retreat and make
a run for it. Lethargy decreases their Dodge skill by 10 points, which
gives you a better chance to hit them and get a crit on them, especially
if you're trying to finish them off with potshots while they're running
for a zone line
? Finally, remember that *any* offensive combat nano eats up your
opponent's available NCU. Croak once accidentally put Contact Poison on a
soldier opponent, which didn't do much damage by itself, but it did eat
up 10 of the soldier's NCU. This prevented the Soldier from being able to
cast his Mirrorshield. Remember, you cannot cancel a hostile nano.
Miscellaneous Tactics
? Everyone phears the soldier's mirror shield nanos, right? Pay attention
when you're fighting a soldier, and the minute you see that shield go up,
stop attacking them. Heal, run around them, root them, whatever, and just
don't try to inflict any damage that will just be spat right back at you
for 75%. Wait 20-31 seconds (depending on the level of your opponent and
the level of the Mirrorshield they're likely to be using) and then lay
into them again. This has always worked well for me, at least against the
very few soldiers I've seen in PvP.
? CaptFallout also reports that soldiers get a "you already have a higher-
quality nano running" message when they try to cast mirrorshield but
already have the 13% reflect shield running. This may be a bug or
intentional anti-stack by Funcom, but either way the net result is that
it's currently much harder for soldiers to whip out their much-dreaded
mirror shields in PvP than you might guess.
? Finally, don't just stand in one spot and duke it out, especially if
you're losing the damage race. Use evasive tactics to give your first aid
time to recycle, and for your nuke to recycle, if you wasted it early or
your opponent came back from near-death with some trick up his/her sleeve
or some heals from his cohorts.
? If you're fighting a pet class, it can often pay to ignore the pet and
attack the controller, if you're a ranged class. I've beaten bureaucrats
5 levels above me by doing this. Watch your aggressive bar, though--if
it's set to full aggressive, the pet will trigger your autoattack and
you'll waste valuable time trying to stop attacking the pet and switch
your attack to the controller.
? Here's a useful trick for defending a base or outpost in a political
zone. 2HO, for example, has some "safe" space near the grid drop where
the local guards cannot see or aggro enemy Clan that grid into 2HO. But
all any Omni has to do is go attack a nearby guard and make it chase you
over near the Clan. Then duck into a store before the guard kills you.
The guard will now see the clan and attack. This is a trick that even
lowbies under 75 can do to help repel incursions by high-level enemies
that you cannot directly attack.
Team Tactics
I don't have much to say here because I've focused only on solo fighting to get
my Rookie title. As I do more team PvP I'll add stuff later. Here are some
things that I have managed to learn from fighting solo against entire teams,
and from team tips that others have sent in:
? If you are a solo fighter, you will run into teams fairly often. Don't
expect a "fair" fight when you're soloing. The good news is that at least
if you have good speed buffs on you, you really don't need to fear teams.
(Although if they have good speed buffs too, it could get dicey.) CroakAO
has reported good success with a "divide and conquer" tactic, and I had
similar success with it this weekend at MMD.
In a nutshell, if you have a speed advantage against the team that is attacking
you, just run like crazy and jink and double back on them and just keep being
unpredictable. What happens is the team gets split up trying to stay on your
tail, because each player is making different choices about what direction they
think you're heading in and they're trying to cut you off. Eventually, you can
make it so that only one person is still chasing you and visible on your map
screen. Keep pulling them along, then stop and nip at them until their
teammates finally find you both. Then rinse and repeat.
This tactic is a BLAST. I had the most PvP fun so far this Saturday, when a
team of three that were exactly my level simply could not kill me. For the
first few attempts, I couldn't get a full kill on any of them, but I kept
recharging, running back into town, and attacking one of them randomly to get
them on my tail again. It took about 4 "guerilla raids" like this to finally
get to a point where they had lost one team member to another fight with
somebody else, and it was now me against two of them. The remaining two had
gotten split up in MMD, and I had one in my sights but was /telling the other
one who wanted to duel me solo. So I was just waiting for the other one to come
duel me, when the one that was in my sights noticed me and started attacking
me. So I used root-n-shoot tactics on him, and by the time his teammate had
found us I had the first guy down to half health and was clearly winning. The
second teammate, a solider, must have used up his burst because he wasn't
hitting me for much. So I focused on my rooted target, staying out of his range
most of the time, and just let the soldier shoot at me all he wanted while I
worked on his teammate. By the time I'd killed the teammate, I was at half
health so ran from the soldier to give my aid and burst time to recycle.
The point of all this is that you can fight effectively against multiple
opponents if you're not completely outclassed by any one of them. You just
gotta use tactics.
? If you're on a team, you benefit strongly from having the People upgrade
to your map. Your team members show up as a different color, so it makes
it easier to find your teammates in a crowded area like MMD.
? CaptFallout describes a "dirty" team tactic that revolves around the way
that the attack limit and defense limit work in teams. A high-level team
will recruit one very low-level member. That low level member cannot
attack anyone else their own level, due to the team's attack limit being
that of the highest member in the team. But, if that low-level member can
taunt somebody into attacking them, which is possible because of the
team's ultra-low defense limit, then the whole team can open fire on the
person who got taunted into attacking the lowbie member.
? Here's another "dirty" team tactic that CaptFallout reports seeing used.
This one revolves around using the borders between the 25% and 75% zones.
Be especially wary of this tactic when you're in MMD. Most of the team
will stand in the 75% zone. Only one person will go into the 25% zone and
will find a target they can attack. As soon as they start attacking
someone, they try to lure their victim out into the 75% zone quickly.
What happens, if the victim follows, is that nobody else in the vicinity
can jump in any longer, because the two combatants are now in a 75% zone.
However, the teammates can still jump in just fine. Something to be
afraid of? That's your decision. Exploit? Maybe. Bottom line is if you
get sucker-ganked this way, just don't ever return fire on members of
that team again, and you should be okay. But it might force you to leave
the area or find a team yourself, because you can't just stand there and
get shot at by one person for too long without eventually being forced to
return fire. And then their team can hit you anywhere. Bleh.
(This guide was copied and revised from the original at
http://martin.brenner.de/ao/vampiguide/pvpguide.html)
=============================================================================
15) Credits
© Nicholas Sehres/Eberhart 2008
This guide is not to be reproduced in any way. You can NOT post this guide on
your website or compilation without my, the author's, permission. Now, that
isn't to say that you can't go and print this out or copy it to your hard drive
so you have a copy to read while playing or offline. I just don't want anyone
making money off of my work. If you would like this guide on your website just
email me at
[email protected], I'll most likely let you post it there because I
like free advertising just as much as the next guy. As of now, GameFaqs (latest
version posted here), Neoseeker, DLH, supercheats.com, and
www.mogelgott.de/index.php have my permission to post this. If you see it
somewhere else please e-mail me immediately.
