[FONT=georgia][I][B][][COLOR gothic][SIZE=]▪[/] [/COLOR]Mystery
I | II | III
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Guide I of III
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Updates :
03/02/13 - Added "Protection from Scams" section
14/04/13 - Updated "Farming" section
03/10/13 - Published
Guide II - "Crate that Midas Touch" - links updated.
Intro
Hi everyone, I'm TrueOrigins. Some of you may know me as Starweaver or my twink TrueOrigin. Since I started playing the game in Jan 2013, there've been many players come up to me with questions, mostly about funding or how I got certain stuff so quick. This in-depth guide is a response to some of the most commonly asked ones.
A mini disclaimer - if u're looking for something that'll teach u how to get lucky or tank through the game blindfolded, then this guide is not for you. That, imho, would be the shortest guide evah. This guide is about how to create your own luck. And I hope you'll get some good takeaways for RL too.
Getting gold early on in the game can be very simple. Unlike what most believe, you don't need to be the smartest or richest person. Just calm and consistent. It's probably one of the best traits to cultivate in-game. What's interesting to me is that a lot of these qualities I'm going to talk about will benefit you into RL too. Money, relationships, anything - how one does one thing is how one does everything. Fail to plan, plan to fail - A simple strategy goes a long way. Shouldn't have to pay for common sense. This may surprise u but it's true. If u can't control your emotions, namely, the need to have things NOW NOW NOW, life is just gonna be a lot harder. Your choice.
In the meantime, let me show u where and what you can get in-game by doing a little bit a day. :-)
The Basics
AL is good to new players in that you can get a good amount of gold doing low-level quests. But what happens when the honeymoon period ends? That's where it becomes handy to use a few skills other than "slice and dice".
1) Set Goals
First of all you need to set goals & targets. How much do you want, and within what time frame. I can't tell you what you want, so I'll just tell you what I wanted and go from there. As a complete newbie, my goal was to get to level 21 (old level cap), then fund a 2nd character. The target was to make at least 500k within 1 month (not from plat), . It might look like a lot to new players, but it isn't. Yes I did reach that goal, the target, and more. I did eventually buy plat, but I made the original target without it. I'll talk about how you can do that too when you're just starting out and 100% unfunded.
2) Good to Have's
What you put out to the world and people around u has a boomerang effect. Just like in RL, there are a few things that will make your in-game life easier :
- Good manners (pls, thx, hi-bye.. yes, begging and pestering = bad manners)
- Calm & rational mind
- Good memory
- Consistency ( random story : someone once said to me, it's easy to become famous. Just be consistently good or consistently bad :-) )
- Basic observation skills
- Good looks
Use these to cultivate good relationships. Of course you can make-do without these. Just don't expect life to get any easier if you're not going to try and make others' life easier. Up to you.
3) Figure out a strategy that works best for you
There are 2 major ways to make gold without going beyond 100% free plat offers :
a) Trading
Buying and selling items from the Consignment Shop @ Traveler's Outpost, Kraag & Stronghold (they are the same), or Player to Player trade.
b) Farming
Getting items from quests and chests dropped by bosses.
Some people regard trading as less challenging than hunting. However it can be very thrilling if done well, especially if u're racing against your own targets, and certainly very rewarding. It's just a different type of game. Personally I've found a combination of the two works best for me, but to each his own. This guide will cover both.
Trading
I start with trading first because, especially as a new gamer, to get the most value out of farming u need to make good decisions on what you're gonna farm, how you're gonna sell it, and for how much. So as a newbie, how do u do that?
1) Start with what u know
When I first began in pre-mythic times, I had no idea of what prices were like. I didn't know what other classes used. However, as a mage, I knew what I could use. I learned that legendary items were most in demand. I also knew about new drops through official announcements. I knew that everyone uses the same shop to buy and sell. This means anyone can see current "market" prices. So I started with those.
2) Know your market
Always check prices before you make decisions. I began by browsing all the egg and mage equipment and getting familiar with prices and fluctuations. Fairly quick and easy.
Early on, someone'd wanted to sell me a frost egg for 1k. It was all the gold I had at the time. If I hadn't been checking prices, I might not have known that I was looking at a 1000% profit and missed out on it. He was yelling "selling frost egg" everywhere so someone else would've gotten it if I'd run off to check. Gradually, I learned about what was in demand for the other classes too.
It really pays to keep Ur eyes peeled for what's coming out and how it will affect the prices of what items - pvp, level cap raise, when the patches are and what changes they bring etc. Monitor your chatbox for stuff being sold too. It shouldn't take a lot of time. Which is good, because...
3) Time is Gold
You'll make lots if you learn what sells fast and what doesn't, and when to cut your losses.The faster it sells, the more you make. With AL's system, the longer it stays for sale on the market, the more likely u'll have to pull out and/or have to wait. CS takes a cut of your gold too - watch that it doesn't cut into the profit. By coming up with your own little strategy and sticking by it, you won't have to lose your cool and make bad decisions. Do not chase your losses - I can't stress this enough. There's no quicker way to lose gold and look/feel like a 'dunkey'.
Some items are "hot" for a certain period, and gradually go down in value over time. Look out for announcements, because any changes in-game probably means your strategy needs to change a bit too.
The legendary crates are a good example. Let's look at the prices (cs not player trading) and how they evolved with time/events from the moment they were introduced to the game :
30 min - 30k
1 hour - 25k
Day 2 - 20k
Day 2 end - 10k
Day 3 - 5k
Day 4 onwards - 300g ~ 1k
End Jan (announcement of patch/new pet) - 2~5k
Just After 1 Feb patch - 7.5 ~ 10k
Do you see how it works? Pretty straightforward, right. Just before the announcement of the patch, the crates had become banana notes. But I had a hunch. Quite a few people did, too. To me, the unchanging drop rate suggested that developers might have other plans for it. That hunch paid off. I saw some people get the timing wrong - some panicked and sold 10 at <3k each or something. And this was after the announcement of hammer sharks coming out of crates, right before the patch. Facepalm. It's after the patch, danggit, after!!
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Also, keep a look out for items priced low, either to sell fast or by accident. Especially with certain items that are "hot" at any given point. You'll have to be a real snipe trader, but if u have a good connection and have agile fingerthieves of potency... ;-)
3) Know Asset vs. Liability
When most players get something for the first time, they tend to either consume it immediately or hoard it for too long. I recommend you look at the market first to max your profit. Here's why.
I'll grossly simplify it for you. Anything that drops in value fast and won't go back up (unless it becomes a limited ed or something) could be considered a liability. Anything that maintains its value and even increases over time could be considered an asset. These can switch when conditions change.
Let's simplify it further. Pets that aren't best for your class are liabilities. Eggs are assets unless their prices will keep dropping. Legendary stuff, depends on demand (how fast they sell) vs. supply (how many are dropping). I don't bother with epic/rare stuff - the time vs. returns are too small.
Collectible epic/rare vintages are a whole different ballgame. The reason I don't cover them is that at this point in your life in Arlor, you don't have a lot of gold to work with. So you would be, in effect, using this knowledge I teach u to profiteer off others' misfortune or ignorance. Call me an idealist, but principle over profit. Like I said, boomerang effect. To sacrifice longterm gain for immediate profit is never wise. You can't see it, but this behaviour is like cutting yourself. Feel free to talk to me when u are ready. Anyway!
My 1st target was a liability - shiloh egg from hauntlet. 1st it was 450k, then 4 days later I sold for 308k. Another 4 days on, prices dropped to 100k. U have to act fast if you target a liability too.
Case study - Shiloh
Say u pound the hauntlet and get the egg when it's worth 450k. U hatch it. Yay! But wait. Nearly a week on, people start selling Shiloh for 300k. Yet another week on, lots of Shiloh eggs r going for 100k. So here, it's fair to say that Shiloh was a liability - and because u opted for instant gratification, u effectively lost 350k in 2 weeks. ...Boo. Now imagine if u'd sold the egg at 450k, then got another within a week and sold it for 300k. That's 750k, not bad for a noob. Wait a little longer and U could buy 2 shilohs, have enough to twink up a 2nd char and still have gold to spare. The key difference here between the crates and Shiloh is that Shiloh only serves one purpose. You collect it and that's the endgame. The crates bear many fruit.
Know the difference and you'll know how to buy and sell.
4) Good Prices
This is where the set of skills mentioned in "The Basics" will come in handy. With them, u can usually get anything u want within reason. Again, don't chase your losses. And be nice. As for selling, say you want to sell something. Do you price it lower than the lowest price you see on the market? Not always. This is when it pays to have kept an eye on the market. Anyway, you'll get the hang of it.
Good to buy from : CS, chatbox, friends, guild, pro players, impatient players, players clearing inventory, other "job" classes.
Good to sell with : CS, friends, guild, impatient players. As you start to network, it will pay to sell at lower prices to friends and guildies. Or even free if u can manage. This is important coz what goes around really does come around.
The forum is also a good place. Personally, I don't really recommend u shout in the market to sell lower value items unless u're rly desperate. Time is gold remember? Which brings us to...
5) Semi-passive income
Couple of ways I can think of. U can park ur loot in CS (recommend u have at least 6 auction slots) so u make gold while u're out farming. Or just park it there and go to sleep. It's safe unless you intend to disappear from AL for 30 days. 
Now that you've got Ur trading knowledge in order, you can decide what to farm. And because there isn't much in the game to know about farming, it's a rly short section. That's why this guide's called the "Thrill of the Trade", not the "Thrill of the Farm". :-p
Farming
Very straightforward :
1) Quests
- Daily quests
- Stuff from Allies
- The more characters you have, the faster you can farm these. That's all I'm saying.
2) Elite Maps
- Southern seas is the quickest/easiest now but tricky because the timer starts so quickly, and automatically, after the 1st player arrives. U'd probably wanna think about forming a strong party elsewhere and then go together. By lv25+ u're likely to have made quite a few friends and be in an active guild so shouldn't be too much trouble. I recommend u accumulate chests and open them in your "lucky" spot. :-)
- Other elite bosses drop high-value eggs, equipment and elite chests that can be bought/sold. As for whether you should open those - that's up to you. But they're worth a good sum on their own. u'll quickly find out what the favourite elite maps are for the best loot.
- There is a legit way to up your chest drop rate and also to increase chances at getting legendaries. Have fun finding out how! ;-)
Protection from Scams
AL's system is one of the most protective I've seen in MMORPGs. However the risk of trading scams are still there. Since this article was written, I've received some new information and questions regarding these.
Here are a few ways to protect yourself :
- Know that for the most part, protection from scams in-game is an individual player's responsibility.
- DO NOT make full payment until you have received everything.
You can trade 4 items at one go. Split up the payment if you have to trade a few times.
Do not pay more than what you're getting each time.
eg. A guildmate wanted to quit after being scammed by a "friend" over the purchase of a top level sword. During trade, his friend asked that he pay a deposit of 100+k first, and then he would bring his secondary and exchange the sword for the rest of the gold. The friend disappeared with the hundred odd ks, then added that guildmate to his ignore list. End of the day, no sword, no gold, and no friend (although in this case he's better off without that "friend"). - Always check that you're getting what you're paying for.
eg. Someone agreed to sell me 4 crates for x gold, but kept entering trade, putting the 4 crates, and cancelling after I put in the gold. Finally, he traded again but this time he only put 3 crates. - Choose only to deal with honesty. Trade on your terms and know when to walk away.
Business is to be done with friends, and honest, good people. Make it clear that there are rules that need respecting if people want to do business with you. If the buyer/seller is not a straight shooter, or gives you bad vibes, forget it. Don't let yourself get pushed around. There's always another good deal around the corner. As a general guideline, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. No love lost. - Reserve kindness for those who deserve it. It's possible to be very nice but very firm. Don't be taken in by looks or charm - use the right head. Having said that.. bad eggs should not be encouraged altogether, but they certainly shouldn't be abused either.
A common mistake I see is when players rely on "trust". Coincidentally or not, in all the games I've played it's the warrior types who seem to get tricked the most. Be very clear on this : When lots of gold is at stake, there is no such thing as "trusting a friend". This is not about lacking trust. This is about not being naive.. about protecting others, and yourself, from temptation and disappointment. About acceptance that you and I are all imperfect people capable of doing great things, but also stupid things from time to time. C'est la vie!!
Last Words
Ya know what I love about games. U can be anyone you wanna be. U don't have to worry about society, expectations - nothing. Literally, your imagination's the limit. In a sense It's a bit like RL but more easily recreated because it's on a much smaller scale. So I was surprised and a little sad seeing how people bring many of their RL prejudices into the game. For too many it's all about impressing others, in-game and in RL. And come up with all sorts of excuses - backwards rationalization I call it. Then they see someone else find success doing their own thang, and fall into the trap if unhealthy competition, thinking "if I can't have all that I'll just devote my energy into tearing the other person down". Sad but true.
Personally I think we'd all be happier doing our own thing. Live and let live. As someone once said to me, you have the ability to bring to life whatever that you focus on. U focus on the good stuff, u'll get more of that. U focus on the bad stuff, that's what u'll get more of. So get out there and make your own story. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ :-) In-game and in RL too.
Oh, and if you've enjoyed reading this guide or felt that you've benefited from it and/or can think of someone who might, please feel free to share the love.
(´∀｀)♡
Thanks for reading, and Happy Gaming! d=(´▽｀)=b
p.s. I try to respond to every in-game PM I get, but it's not always possible; If I miss out on yours please gimme a shoutout on forum and I'll get back to u asap. 
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Modelling assignments welcome 0:-) Sorry, no nudes.
[/QUOTE]
Originally Posted by Aplyed
I can't help it, all I hear when you're crying is laughs.
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