Fairly new player with a couple questions.

Leandros

Hey there!
I played Achaea a little a couple years ago and I loved it. I started poking around a couple weeks ago and want to really get into this time. Unfortunately I have that terrible habit of playing a class for a couple days then seeing something that looked cooler and switching. Sooo.... after checking out these forums and such I decided to follow some advice I saw and choose what city I wanted to play with, then narrowing it down to house, then seeing what classes are available.
I realized pretty quickly I wanted to be in Cyrene, and after that I'm fairly certain I want to be part of the Wardens.
I really like the idea of the knight, but I'm stuck between Runewarden and Paladin. 
I understand the basic difference between Runelore and Devotions, but I'm curious about how these affect the combat, RP, and game play.

1) How do you utilize Runelore in everyday life?
2) Is it used more before a fight to buff yourself or actually in combat?
3) Same questions about Devotions, how do you use it?
4) How does the amount of Devotion you have fit into things? Do you find you keep running out? Do you ignore the skill due because its dependence on devotion?

I'm leaning towards Paladin for the RP perspective of the Holy Knight, but does this really fit into Cyrene? Is Runewarden better suited as a Knight?

Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated!!
Cheers

Tvistor

I can answer a bit.

1) Runelore can be used to speed your weapons up (making 'meh' weapons combat-worthy) and give yourself a buff hunting (or other people). You can also implant and repair totems (which are used to defend cities). Most classes with runelore just use runelore on a day-to-day basis for some travel convenience and utility, as well as earning a little bit of money.

2) In combat, having faster rapiers is pretty awesome. They'll have a chance to fire off certain afflictions with every DSL in addition to the venoms you put on them. One of your runes will let you escape from some really nasty situations by teleporting to it. You'll have the ability to attack anyone in your area by doing a tiny volcano dealie. (damage isn't great, but it breaks shields and work on people indoors, unlike a lot of other abilities). You can also put up stonewalls, which are pretty great because not many people besides dragons and other runelorists can destroy them.

Katzchen

Combat wise, rites are OP. I hate fighting Paladins. RP wise, Cyrenian Runewarden would be better.

Tesha

My personal view is that with recent events in mind, Paladins and Priests really belong with the new faction of Good that is forming. It may be required later on, I really have no clue. Runewarden seems welcome everywhere, though, and can make do with cheaper weapons (70/150/220s are way easier to find than 50/150/230s, for example and you can make that into a 80/160/230). Runewardens have a lot of really cool things with runelore, but the flavor of playing a Paladin and trying to join Aurora/Deucalion is really really good. It just feels really cool when your skillset lines up with your roleplaying, and Devotion is no exception to that. Super hardcore good Paladin is really fun for me right now, it might be fun for you too. It does not really feel like a class that should be picked just for its skills, I would only recommend Paladin if you wanted to go all the way with it. Otherwise, I would suggest Runewarden (like you seem to be gravitating towards Cyrene, so that is my recommendation).

That being said, here are my responses to your specific questions:

1) Runelore can be similar to buffs in other games, and it can have specific utility, offense and defense uses as well. 

2) Runewardens like to do really powerful damage strategies that can be very effective. The tradeoff is they are only really effective against people who are not very tanky, and these strategies will have a limited effect once you start fighting tougher opponents.

3) I can go into a lot more detail with this one. Devotion is really strategic, it is a limited resource that grows back over time, and it is primarily used in the form of offensive and defensive rites. You can lay every rite in every room in an area, but that will use up all of your devotion and your opponents can just leave them, then you are in trouble. I personally use rites sparingly (except against blademasters, who i lay like 7 pieties down in a row against) and like to save it for inspiration/damnation (probably the most awesome kill in the game because omg! damnation)

4) I only ran out in one duel, then I became much more careful and now I only run out in extended raids. I started a duel at 20% devotion and only ran out after I used force and found I did not have enough for damnation. So really I just maintain it carefully and it is fine.

Jules

I see more and more indications on the forums that Paladins and Priests may be required to join the Good faction rather than be in neutral-good Cyrene.  I like it, because for awhile there, Cyrene was sort of getting dragged into Good, while I think the number of players in the Good faction that preferred to remain more neutral were holding Good back.  Hopefully the Mhaldorians will be allowed to do the same with "their"classes.  It may come to a point where the other factions need to be allowed to have more of a monopoly on/ability to take away access to "their" classes too (i.e. good luck getting your totems redone if you're not on good terms with Cyrene or Hashan, for instance), but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  

Leandros

I like the idea of the Holy Paladin RP over the Runewarden, but can't seem to understand where exactly the Good faction is. With Shallam gone was is a new Paladin to do?

Jules

Help Refugees - New Hope.

Kyrra

I'm always up for totem work

Tesha

If you look for one of the 'Good' people, you can find them. Ask around and someone will point you in our direction. Super hardcore good Paladin has been really enjoyable for me but it is definitely not for everyone. I have loved it but I have also put a ton of effort into it. I think that you will find people are very willing to help you if you need it, especially if you find someone to be a mentor of sorts (Silas has been amazing to me). 

I am also sure that you can find really good rp over in Cyrene as a Runewarden too, though, so please do not think that I am trying to say super hardcore paladin is your only option. I think that you should pick whatever you think you will enjoy the most, and do not fret about the city thing.

Jules

Kyrra said:

I'm always up for totem work

Right - I'm saying it may come down to each faction having a true monopoly on certain skills - i.e. someone could say "I don't like that Ashtan is raiding us - hey, person who controls runelore, take away Kyrra's runelore skill".  In other words, none of the factions would be playing around when it comes to the skills they "own".  

EDIT:  it's possible that runelore is considered too central to city defense in general for that specific scenario to happen (or it might be just fine), and I use it only as an example either way.

Yue

"With Shallam gone, what is a new Paladin to do?"

@Leandros: Think! Answer that question in your own mind! Now... roleplay it out!

If I was a 'new Paladin' coming into the realms at this time, I would probably:

-look for the survivors

-find a mentor who possesses both the practical experience and quality of character that I could aspire to obtain

-assist the former Shallamese in any way I can

There is a wealth of new content (and politics) in the game to discover, all specifically centered around the destruction of the city of Light and the aftermath thereof. I would urge you to find these things in-game. If that suggestion doesn't appeal to you, Achaea might not be for you.

I wish you luck!
-Yue

Kyrra

Runelore is earth magic. It's not a source to be controlled like devotion and necromancy. It's the equivilent of stripping elementalism from magi and sylvan. We just happen to tap into elemental power through the applied use of runes.

Also worth noting that runelore is shared with shamans and they are so drastically different.

Jules

Well, sure, although my concern would be more whether or not it would be too unbalancing or not.  Can always make a story that fits, really.  See my edit.  Bottom line, is that I like the idea of factions having control over certain skills, which seems to be what we're moving (back?) towards, but if you do that, you can't just leave some factions without a valuable set of skills they alone control.    

Jules

Anyway, welcome back Leandros.  You're going to kick yourself for missing all the excitement, as I did, but if you're ready for interesting times, the hard core paladin should be great.  If you're in all honesty a bit of a noob/noncom who wants to take his time learning, you'll probably enjoy Cyrene more.  

EDIT:  the sharing between shamans and runies *is* weird.  Eh...

Nellaundra

The creators of Runelore are brothers.  One was in Cyrene and the other Hashan.  Runewardens and Shamans.  Least from what I remember.

Kyrra

That's correct. One was the tutor for the Runewardens and the other for the Shamans. I think he teaches in the Spiritwalkers still.

Jules

Yeah, there's always got to be a story, usually a decent one... I was really just echoing back to Kyrra that indeed the classes are so different, even down to their general morals, yet share a skill.  In fact, if they weren't so different in that very way, it wouldn't be so different than infernals and apostates sharing necromancy, or priests and paladins sharing devotion.  Of course all the knight classes share chivalry and forging because those are the "shared" knightly skills.  

EDIT:  Shamans are fairly "dark", and really, so is Hashan, while Cyrene is Switzerland, with "good" (but not Good) knights as part of their defense.  And I think/hope that Good is going to become so hardcore that Cyrene will generally view them as pretty much insane extremists, almost on a par with Mhaldor, really.  

Aerek

If you're leaning Cyrene, you can excel as both a Paladin or a Runewarden. Cyrene is the traditional birthplace for Runewardens, so there's lots of good RP and background for them there, but there's a very strong presence of Paladins and Devotion within the city. The Good faction also accepts both classes, and both classes excel in the RP role of holy crusader. Shallam, the City of Light, having been recently destroyed in a titanic event that really shook up a lot of things, though, means the faction in flux. We know that a grand revival and re-opening is coming, but that's all we know.

Really, it comes down to taste. You can play a Paladin or Runewarden in either Cyrene and the Wardens, or in the Shallamese Refugees, and have a ton of fun, it just depends on whether you want to be the zealous, aggressive Shallamese crusader, or the staunch, reserved, Cyrenian guardian. You'll also do a lot more combat as a refugee, due to raids and shrine wars, than you will as a Cyrenian, but we still get our fair share of raiders, and the Wardens are very combat-focused. I've played a Cyrenian, Warden Paladin for years, now, and I enjoy walking that line of a religious man in a secular state, who is pious without the "burn the heretics!" fanaticism, but I can see where someone else would think that's dull, and would prefer the crusader approach.

As far as skills go, Paladins are tough as nails and have some neat tricks through Devotion like passive buffs and healing, and zone control. Runewardens are the kings of burst damage and sheer speed, and Runelore has a lot of different applications, from some of the same passive buffs or healing, to active damage or hindering, to traps you can set for your enemies. Runelore uses inks, though, which cost money, where as Devotion has a large pool of points to use, that regenerates some every hour. If RP isn't enough to make a choice on it, then it can come down to play style; Devotion is generally more defensively geared, where Runelore can be defensive, but contains many offensive boosts that make me jealous.

Hope that answers your questions. I'm obviously biased towards Cyrene and the Wardens, but they're both pretty good options for what you're looking for.

Jonathin

Kyrra said:

Runelore is earth magic. It's not a source to be controlled like devotion and necromancy. It's the equivilent of stripping elementalism from magi and sylvan. We just happen to tap into elemental power through the applied use of runes. 

That's not entirely true and your comparison isn't exactly apt, because it is technically possible for elementalism to be stripped from those classes.

Kyrra

Anything can be stripped from any class but the point I was making is that comparing runelore to skillsets like devotion and necromancy is stupid. There's no excommunication or anathema on runelore, and nor should there be. It's a neutral skillset.