Alternatives to leeching and hitchhiking
I wrote this because I read a review that said the low levels are boring after you run out of mana and just auto-attack. Well, those reviewers may be MMO players with 10 years experience, but they don't know how to be low level. It takes a raw noob to know where the fun can be found in low level play, and it's not auto-attack, nor is it leeching. It's figuring it out for yourself and accomplishing things for yourself that make the game fun. So here's my post:
Fellow Noobs,
You may see in these discussions various recommendations to have high level players level you up (basically, hiding behind them while they do the dungeon), sort of like hitchhiking, and other recommendations to "leech".
Is that what you really want?
Wouldn't you rather play and earn your own treasure?
OF COURSE YOU DO! :-)
So, how do you do that? That's what this thread is about. How to advance through the early levels on your own power.
RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY! j/k
Seriously, if you have a bird or an elf, stay out of range. This is pretty good for the first few levels. I have managed to take out Meathead by myself at level 4 by running around like crazy and shooting everything I've got at him. If he never gets a solid hit on you, then you don't need to chug down the healing potions.
DRAW OFF THE SUCKERS
You can stand at the edge of a doorway and wait for a zombie to notice you. An exclamation mark will appear over his head and he'll say "LLWWAAAYY". Just step back to the previous room and wait for him. Then you can take him in single combat. This is a good strategy for first level bears. (Bears have a lot of pride, so think of it as mano a mano!) Then step up to the doorway again. A room in the early levels is usually four big squares. Even Meathead doesn't leave his square until you get into an adjacent one. So, use the squares in the same way, drawing off the suckers. But don't go too far away or they will wander back and heal. But this will work for you, too, if five zombies follow you out, just go far enough to send them back again. For elves and birds, you can shoot one once from the doorway to antagonize them out into the previous room.
JOIN A TEAM OF YOUR PEERS
This is just about the only way to advance a bear in low levels. In the Window for joining a game, you can see whether there is a high level player in there. It shows the level of the highest level player. So, if you don't want a leg up, don't join that one. Find one that has a few players and they are both low level. Hopefully one will be an elf and she will keep your points up while you fend off the attackers.
DON'T FEAR THE REAPER
There is no penalty for dying a lot. It's just a nuisance to have to run back. Healers don't get to revive people at low levels, so don't ask. (Don't ask healers for things, anyway. It's bad form. If a healer doesn't heal people at low levels, just remember not to play with them.) Just respawn and go back. Will people think you stink because you die a lot? No. You will not lose face over a low "kill to death ratio". There is no such thing. When I see someone with hundreds of kills and very few deaths, I figure he didn't earn the kills himself. When I see a player with a lot of deaths, I know they are fighters, not leeches.
BUY A LOT OF POTIONS
Do a dungeon over and over. Sell any duplicate items. You should be able to afford enough potions to keep repeating the dungeons. Before long, you will be high enough to buy an expansion. There's really no need to horde your items. You only need what you can use. Look over those broken axes. Maybe save one of them and sell all the others. By the time you get high enough to use them, you will probably want to use something else. Don't keep them just for data collection. There is data on the wiki. (And any that isn't there yet should be added.) So just liquidate most items and buy potions. Best potion price is just outside of town. I guess she's a duty-free zone or something.
TRADE BETWEEN CHARACTERS
This isn't working as well as it should. If you are in a dungeon of your peers and you are, say, a bear, but you get a staff for the wizard, just give it to her. That's how we do tabletop games. Tap the name, tap the Give Tab, scroll and find the item, and tap it. If more people do this, before long you will start getting. Remember, "... in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." People won't all start doing it until some of us do it all the time. So, if you have no use for something, pass it to someone who needs it. BUT don't initiate a trade during combat. You'll die before you have a chance to complete it. LOL!
OTOH
If you start a dungeon and someone high level comes in, I'm not saying you should kick her out! LOL!
OTHER SUGGESTIONS
So that's all I have for now, but please post other suggestions for extrememly low level play. (I mean really play, not watching someone else play.) ;)