Almost brand new player trying to start again

Sacho

Hello Achaeans! I'm practically a brand new player, having played the basics of the game a long while ago (You are 272 years old, having been born on the 4th of Miraman, 353 years after the fall of the Seleucarian Empire. - The who?) - I'm trying to pick it up again, and as I prepare to go through all the tutorials and newbie scrolls and such once again, I have a couple of questions how to get back into the game:

- As mentioned, I have an old character sitting there doing nothing (well, except aging gracefully!). Is there a possibility I could repurpose them (reroll, or whatever it's called) into my new character's identity(assuming my current one practically doesn't have one, he should be a complete unknown). Is it even a good idea to do so? From experience, most muds as they evolve increase the benefits to new characters to help them catch up to the more established players.

- Love the change to races!(ok, this is not a question, but still) My inner min-max nature no longer has to struggle with wanting to roleplay a bird or an insect. O_o

- I'm trying to pick my class between druid and sentinel - as I've always loved the idea of shapeshifters(shapeshifters, summoners, mages are the three concepts I have a soft spot for in games). Could someone explain the practical difference between druids and sentinels - e.g. city limitations, community(are they part of the same one?), the difference between groves and woodlore(Ok, they're obviously different, but a quick breakdown of the differences would be nice before I make the choice - or should I look for this ingame?)

Thank you for your time! 

Rispok

I know others will respond in more depth, but Druids are more utility, Sentinels more combat, IMO.

Wysteria

Welcome back!

In terms of re-rolling the character: should be no problem if noone remembers you and can always pull off the usual, "Been sleeping for a terribly long time, also I have amnesia" thing, or just play it simple and say you wish to re-acquaint yourself with a world that's changed so, so much since your dormancy.

On classes: Druid and Sentinels are both locked into either the Ancient Circle House or the Sentinels of Nature House respectively. City wise they both can only be either rogue or join the Village of Eleusis. The Nature faction has become tighter in this sense as well.

Wysteria is a Sylvan but I'll work off my knowledge of Groves that way — you get a grove where you can harvest your hive once a month to get a complete regeneration of hp, mana, end + wp, you get a quarterstaff and some neat passive skills like vigour to heal yourself like a boar tattoo and of course the ranged from five straight rooms away lightning attack from said staff. From an RP perspective there's the ability of rejuvenation to heal the exterminated rooms, this is a skill only Sylvans and Druids have.

Woodlore: Not my area but from what I do know this is that their grove rain equivalent (restore wp) is starting a campfire, a crapload of loyals, and the ability to set traps. From what I keep hearing, the ability thornspray is considered pretty damn good to use if you know how in combat. Both those classes can harvest and do concoctions, so elixir and salve wise you're set once you learn that third skill.

In terms of House dynamics, wait for @Delphinus and @Rangor for their spiel on the Sentinel House, and maybe @Oceana re the Ancient Circle (yes I'm branding you three!)

Maybe get into the swing of things by looking up TASKS to re-acquaint yourself with things, along with having NEWBIE ON to listen to the newbie channel? If you ever need help and are set on the Nature faction — hang around Eleusis for a while to get a feel for things.

Delphinus

Making a new character will probably be your best bet. You can absolutely repurpose your old character's personality, and as long as you don't try stuff like "I did this in another life," you'll be fine. What people have already said is true, though: Druids are much more focused on utility and aid, whereas Sentinels are more combat-focused. Obviously, as both share Metamorphosis, there's a lot of crossover.

Woodlore has:
- sneaky stuff, like hiding from most people, or evading the sight of people who are watching the skies as you fly over them
- lots of summoned animals that hit your enemies with various effects, e.g. throwing them off-balance, transfixing them, or dealing damage -- all at the same time
- traps that hit with various effects when someone walks through them, like entangling ropes or poison darts (your choice of venom)
- various combat abilities, like tripping an enemy with a spear, impaling with a spear, having a thrown axe return to your hand, or sending out a thornspray to hit all of your enemies

Groves has:
- a huge amount of mobility (portals to anyone on the continent, instant-travel to people in a forest, a special room that leads to other forests)
- lots of healing (passive/active curing on status afflictions, passive health regen, resurrection of yourself and others)
- group protection abilities (protect a group from telepathy, hide them from locating spells, restrict entry/exit of a given forest)
- various utility things, like summoning rain to heal endurance/willpower, overgrowing totems so they won't hit people, revealing hidden people, calling blizzards, etc.
(Caveat: Many Groves abilities can only be used in a grove. A lot can be used outside it, though.)

The classes share Metamorphosis and Concoctions, which both carry some combat and utility benefits.

Broadly, the houses break down into:
- The Ancient Circle of Druids (mystics, ritualists)
- The Sylvanic Fellowship (scholars, summoners)
- The Sentinels of Nature (warriors, infiltrators)

These are your only options for the respective forestal classes, short of going rogue. All three are part of the city of Eleusis.


Also, @Wysteria, I'm not in the House of Sentinels!

Wysteria

I thought you were! /:)

Sacho

Thank you for all the information, it was really helpful I'll put off the class decision for as long as possible, but your descriptions have helped me gain a better idea what to expect from sentinels or druids. I'll be seeing you ingame!