Microsoft Zone Archive/Asheron's Call Handbook/General Advice

Related topics: Gameplay

Original Link (now dead) - http://classic.zone.msn.com/asheronscall/tips/ashetipsgenadvice.asp

General Advice

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1. Communication Reminders
2. The Friends List
3. Preparing for Adventure
4. Getting Around
5. Looking for a Fight
6. Creating and Improving Your Character
7. How Armor Works
8. Magical Weapons and Armor
9. Other Magic Items
10. Recharging Magic Items with Mana Stones
11. Buying, Selling, and Trading
12. Fellowships
13. Allegiances

1. Communication Reminders

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To talk to everyone within earshot, click the chat box under the view window or just hit the RETURN key. A cursor will appear. Type whatever you wish, then send your message by hitting the RETURN key. Your words will be displayed to anyone who appears on your compass.

You can send a long-distance, private message to someone if you know his or her name. Use the Talk function described above, but type the following: /tell <Character Name>, <Message>. For example, if you want to send a greeting to your friend Foozle the Clumsy, you might type: /tell foozle the clumsy, Hi there Foozle! How are you?

You can easily keep up a conversation with a particular character no matter how far apart you may drift. First, select the character by clicking him or her in the view window or his or her dot in the compass. Then, click the Chat menu in the bottom left corner of the screen. A menu will appear. From that menu, choose "Talk to <character name>." From that point on, everything you type will be directed at only that character. You can go back to speaking normally by using the same menu and selecting "Talk to All."

A similar function is available for easily talking with everyone in your fellowship, regardless of distance. Use the "Talk to Fellows" option.

For more information on communication in Asheron's Call, see: Communication Essentials.

2. The Friends List

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You can determine whether your friends (or foes) are currently in the world with you by using the /friends command. Before you can make use of this handy tool, though, you need to designate some friends (up to a maximum of 20). In the chat window, type /friends add <name>, where <name> is the name of a character that you type: for example, /friends add Boffin. Then hit RETURN to add your friend to the list. Each of your characters has its own friends list. Friends lists are stored with your character information on our servers, so if you have to reinstall Asheron's Call or play the game on a separate computer, you'll still be able to access them.

Type /friends in the chat window to display a list of your friends. Each friend that is currently in the world with you will have "(online)" displayed after his or her character name. When one of your friends enters or leaves the world, you will automatically be notified by a message in the chat window.

To remove a name from your friends list, type /friends remove <name>; to remove all the names from your list, type /friends remove all.

3. Preparing for Adventure

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Enter the "training hall" near the site where you first appeared in the world. In the hall, double-click each signpost to bring up the sign's text in your right-hand frame. The training hall will show you how to move, attack enemies, use items, interact with vendors, and, if applicable, cast spells.

Become familiar with the commonly used keys and mouse controls. Be able to move instinctively in the world. Consult the keymap, which you can obtain from Downloads, which you can reach from the table of contents on any main Asheron's Call page.

Go to a lifestone just outside of town; ask your fellow adventurers where the closest one can be found. The lifestone is a blue gem revolving on a pedestal formed of three rock arches. Double-click the lifestone to use it. Thereafter, you will resurrect at the stone's location if you die.

Find an experienced player and shadow him or her for a while. See what the player does and ask questions.

4. Getting Around

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By default, your character always runs when you use the arrow keys. To slow to a dignified walk, hold down the SHIFT key while pressing the arrow keys. If you'd rather walk by default and use the SHIFT key to run, click the Options button (the triangular button with the check marks on it) and unselect "Run as Default Movement" from the Character tab.

If you tire of the company in the local town, you might want to visit one of the other population centers. You can run to them, of course, but such journeys are hazardous for the beginning character, not to mention time-consuming. Look for an energy portal nearby instead -- usually just off the road or just outside of town. Before jumping in, click the portal once. Its destination will appear in the Selected Element Display in the lower right corner. If it names a friendly spot such as Shoushi, Yaraq, Holtburg, Yanshi, Samsur, or Rithwic, jump on in. If it names a not-so-friendly spot such as "The Evil Labyrinth of Death and Misery," maintain your distance until you've gained some experience.

Keep your eye on the compass in the upper right as you wander. Orange dots are creatures you may wish to avoid until you are ready to fight. White dots are people, either other adventurers or the more stoic merchants. Purple dots are portals.

5. Looking for a Fight

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Dereth is swarming with nasty creatures. Close to your starting town you'll encounter the tamer scavengers and hatchlings, but the farther away you roam, the stronger your foes become. Ridding the countryside of the feebler monsters near town might make a good first adventure, or better yet, enter the training hall. In any case, try to find some allies to join before fighting anything for the first time!

To find important information about quests, mysterious items, or groups of monsters, enter a tavern and consult (double-click on) a barkeep. As talk and drink tend to flow together, barkeeps are privy to important news and rumors about quests, dungeons, and other adventures in Dereth. See if your local barkeep will sell you directions to a dungeon portal.

If you prefer to explore for yourself, try one of the portals by the side of the road leading out of town -- though be sure to take precautions before stepping into the unknown!

For information on Dereth's creatures, see the Bestiary.

6. Creating and Improving Your Character

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As you fight and quest, you will gain experience and grow as an adventurer. Practicing rigorously will improve many skills, but mainly you'll advance your skills by spending experience points on them or on your base attributes, which each affect the scores of a wide range of skills. Unlike many traditional role-playing game systems, Asheron's Call permits you to fully customize your character, pinpointing exactly those traits you want to improve. Furthermore, you don't need to see a teacher or gain a level before you can advance. Just click the Skills & Attributes button (the one with the flexed arm), and on the list that comes up, choose the attribute or skill on which to spend your experience points.

Because raising attributes is extremely expensive, initially you are better off raising skills such as Melee Defense and your secondary attribute Health, so that you die less, and your primary attack skill (for example, War Magic or Sword), so that you can kill bigger monsters.

Improve those skills and attributes that seem to be hindering you the most. Identify the problems you are having and use the in-game Help to learn more about which skills and attributes you can raise to avoid those problems. Also ask other players for advice -- there's a great deal of collective wisdom out there.

7. How Armor Works

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Armor does not decrease the probability that you'll be hit; it decreases the damage a given body part sustains. To get better at dodging attacks, improve your Melee Defense and Missile Defense skills.

A particular monster will tend to attack you low, middle, or high, and each of your body parts within that region has a varying probability of being targeted. An attack passing through the middle of the body will be more likely to target a breastplate than a hand, for instance; however, don't neglect to armor every part of your body if you can afford it. Generally speaking, it's better to armor your entire body with mediocre armor than to wear great armor on your torso and leave the rest undefended. Note that shields afford no protection to the rear, so you'll want to avoid getting into a pack of monsters if you rely heavily on shield protection.

Some kinds of armor cover multiple body areas. A chainmail shirt, for instance, covers chest, abdomen, and upper arms, and will armor each of these body areas at the same armor value. If you try to equip your character with a given piece of armor and a circle crossed by a diagonal line appears, you'll need to remove some clothing or armor on the corresponding body region. For instance, you must remove sleeves before you try to use pauldrons or the aforementioned chainmail shirt.

For more information, check out the article: The Way of Steel: Armor.

8. Magical Weapons and Armor

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If a magical weapon or piece of armor has spell effects, they are automatically activated when you wield or don the item, provided your character's Arcane Lore skill equals or exceeds the item's spellcraft score. A magic item may also have a heritage-group or allegiance-rank requirement, meaning that to use the item's magic, you need to be a member of a certain race or have a band of followers that is sufficiently large (see The Allegiance Primer for more on allegiance rank). The spell effects of weapons and armor continuously drain mana, so you may want to keep a special sword or piece of armor in inventory and only equip yourself with it during a major battle. You may find it handy to keep special magic items and armor in your hotkey slots (located on the bottom right side of the screen) for instant use.

9. Other Magic Items
Some magic items, such as wands and enchanted gems, have instant spell effects that trigger a single time with each use rather than being continuously drained. Gems are destroyed after use. Certain wands contain a store of mana that limits the number of spells they can cast. Remember that you must have an Arcane Lore in excess of any item's spellcraft score to use its magic.

10. Recharging Magic Items with Mana Stones

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You recharge a magic item with a Mana Stone, a device you can purchase from most magic vendors. Regular, Lesser, and Greater stones all have the same function -- the name refers to the relative quantity of mana the stone can hold.

Many people get confused about the procedure for using Mana Stones and end up destroying valuable items with them, but they're really quite simple. First, select the stone and examine it, either with the E key or the magnifying-glass icon. If the stone has a mana score greater than 0, it will give that mana to the next magic item it is used on; if it has no mana, it will drain and destroy the next magic item it is used on. Mana Stones are sometimes destroyed when successfully used to give mana to an item, so use them to drain items with an amount of mana as close to their capacity as possible. If you use the stone to drain an item with more mana than the stone's capacity, you lose the excess mana from the item.

11. Buying, Selling, and Trading

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Certainly vendors are a good resource for turning items to pyreals and back again. Most vendors sell items in different categories. Look for the drop-down menu to view the full stock of various types of items you can purchase.

Shop around before purchasing supplies. Sometimes more than one person in a town sells the same item: for instance, there may be a blacksmith and an armorer, both of whom sell armor, or several people who sell health kits. Many times you can save a good bit of gold if you take a few extra minutes to see who has the cheapest prices in town.

If you have enough gold for your immediate purposes, don't sell off jewels and rings. You'll save yourself some weight in coin. Consider converting extra gold to jewels, which may be worth over 1,000 pyreals each. Trade notes are by far the easiest way to carry wealth, and can be purchased from vendors in various denominations. Unfortunately, though, you must pay a 10-percent commission to purchase each note and will pay another 20-percent commission if you redeem the note with any vendor other than the one who issued it to you.

Beware of biting off more than you can chew! Unlike many traditional RPGs, Asheron's Call will not prevent you from donning the weightiest armor or the mightiest sword. However, you'll find that without adequate strength and skill, you'll never endure a battle. Likewise, you may possess the most arcane item or know the most exotic spell in the land, but if your skills aren't high enough in the magical arts, your magic will fail you. Know your limits before buying or trading for valuable items or knowledge.

Trading with other players is your best method of gaining the most valuable and unique items. Players can access the Trade Initiation in their Social Systems panel to begin a trade.

For more information on the precise rules and restrictions of this tool, be sure to read: Details of Secure Trade.

12. Fellowships

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We advise and encourage players to form fellowships to accomplish their goals. Experience points gained by the fellowship are divided among members based on their levels, which benefits everyone in the long run, ensuring that healers, for instance, get the experience they deserve for assisting the fighters who actually slay the monsters. Often in your adventures, you will need people with skills you do not possess; thus, fellowships are especially effective if they hold a balance of warriors, magicians, healers, and rogues. Fellowships can be created and joined without cost, and last only for a single gaming session. Consult the in-game help (click the ? icon) for information on how to form a fellowship.

For more information on Fellowships, see the article Coordinating a Fellowship.

13. Allegiances

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Sooner or later, you'll want to enter an allegiance. As a new player, you don't have much to lose by swearing to someone more powerful -- just make sure you get the help and direction you deserve, because your fealty is valuable! Before choosing a patron, you'll want to make sure that he or she agrees to give you gifts and assistance on an ongoing basis, but don't get hung up on small details. Remember that if things don't work out, you can always break your allegiance and take your services elsewhere. Consult the in-game help (click the ? icon) for information on how to form an allegiance.

For more information on the allegiance system, see the article The Allegiance Primer, which you'll find in the Allegiance Hall in the table of contents on any main Asheron's Call page.