So many changes...

Xyther

Not sure if I'm remembered at all... even though I've been playing off and on around 10 years, I have never made a giant impact IC. Here and there. Thinking again of making a comeback and there are just so many changes. IC I grew up Sentaari and then was a Bard when those were new, and kind of sticking around Cyrene ever since. I remember when auto-class and Houses went in, and took the opportunity to play around with other classes while remaining in Ty Beirdd just because... it was kind of my home.

Now I'm not sure anyone remembers me, and apparently Houses are going away, and I'm not sure what to even do if I come back. And there are two new shiny classes full of shiny toys. I apparently landed on Serpent class because, well, a lot of fun utility (primarily wormholes to travel around, and hypnosis to mess with folks). 

So I guess my actual questions are, I got a rundown from my first foray back into the game as to what's going on these days (Shallam fell into the drink, Blademaster and Alchemist came along, Houses go away)... but I always seek new and interesting things. I'm looking at different classes even, just to branch out (as I was never a very good Serpent). 

And of course I wonder about places I've never been. I landed in Cyrene just because... I had friends there (I don't any more) and it was a natural fit after Shallam. But Hashan is kind of... on the decline maybe, and it could be a good place to make a difference. And so I guess my questions are just: how are the new (to me) classes... Alchemist and Blademaster, from a bashing/getting back into combat/utility front? And I know that tradeskills are going more mainstream, so alchemist may change completely. And what's Hashan up to anyway? Looking for new blood, or just basically resigned to their fate? 

I guess it remains to be seen, but word on the street is that Ty Beirdd will soon be no more, which leaves me... adrift, IC-wise, but I'm kind of jonesing to come back. And anyway, what do we all think of the whole game anyway? Should I just stay away and leave my past behind me?

Thoughts are welcome, though probably I'm just a random oldster who was never anything interesting, so who cares to give me advice?

Achimrst

I would think now would be a good time to come back. With the changes it is easier to get back into things and everyone will be learning things along with you. Well learning certain things I guess.

When I came back I jumped into House stuff, doing the basic requirements for the house was definitely helpful even if you have already done them before. They have HHELP scrolls somewhere I'm sure :P 

Jhaeli

FYI - Houses are evolving into a new version, not necessarily going away completely. Just to be clear.

Welcome back!

Jukilian

Houses are definitely not going away. The whole system regarding Houses is basically being reworked, but Houses will still be he. Likely not the same as they are now (excepting Targossas). Have a read through the House Renaissance thread if you Derek like seeing what is happening and see a bunch of the dissuasion on the topic.

Regarding Hashan, I wouldn't say it's on the decline. I've been more optimistic about the City recently, myself. I've primarily been focusing on hunting and House lately though, since I basically got told not to try running for city positions until I become a Master. I'm also unfortunately primarily around when not many others are around, so I wouldn't think my opinion would weigh too much.

Sarapis

Welcome back!

Jukilian

My goodness, I just reread my post.

Sometimes I hate phones and their ridiculous word changing habits. Wish I could edit it and fix it.

And yeah, welcome back.

Kresslack

Welcome back to Achaea. No time like the present to jump in feet first. 

Xyther

So, some more specific questions...

As mentioned, I came back as a serpent, which I apparently switched to before I left. I love wormholes (having been a maker of dirty innuendo about my vibrating stick for many years) but other than that, it seems kind of squishy/bad at bashing, and too complicated/fiddly for PK-ing, at least for me. 

Alchemist is new (to me), and looks kind of shiny at least from an RP standpoint: magicky-sciency-astronomy with a freaky deformed pet? YES PLS. So how are Alchemist ranking in terms of: bashing without getting mangled and relatively efficiently; being able to make money (I guess people eat rocks now, so that's a tradeskill, which I understand is going away anyway), and killing people without having to be a serpent and rely on breaking people's triggers with illusions?

It looks like RP-wise, Hashan is surprisingly the place to be for Alchemy? In which case I'd have to go IC and start chatting up Vayne and maybe Hellen? They look to be the ones active from forums anyway. Thinking of the Institute, I mean. Is there a similar RP-type group in other cities? I've done all the Shallam-ing I can handle for one lifetime, not that interested in Mhaldor, and been Cyrenian and Ashtanian for years. So Hashan would also be something new.

Blademaster is also new to me, but it kinda looks similar to monk? Shindo looks a lot like kaido, and it seems to be based around prepping and smashing limbs, but with more of a focus on bleeding... IDK, having been a monk for many years it just looks more of the same. PROVE ME WRONG.

And finally, other than ratting, how the heck do people make money? I can't bash because at level 80 I need armour to do much, but I can't afford armour without killing hundreds of rats. Credit market I guess? But honestly, what am I missing? What should I be bashing to earn money and get back into the swing? Again it might just be that serpent is squishy.

TL;DR:

Serpent: Boring and squishy? But wormholes are cool

Alchemist: The new hotness? Are they good or meh?

Hashan: A fun place for alchemy, or still a place that barely exists?

Gold: Where is it?

And a final PS, I've been Nerai for almost my whole IC life. I read somewhere Neraeos is inactive?

Melodie

Alchemists -are- pretty shiny right now, it's still a bit of the underdog in terms of population, but definitely has lots and lots of potential, especially if you're willing to invest into the roleplay of it. I would say the bashing is probably about middle of the road without artefacts, definitely not terrible but not the fastest, either (educe iron is dreadfully slow, reminds me of Occie's warp). With artefacts it helps, of course, but only so much I've given to understand. With transmutation, you can definitely make a good amount of money either just selling primes (the things you extract to create other things), or making minerals if you prefer (longer process, sold for cheaper than forestal stuff, but still money if you have a good source of people wanting to buy). Alchemist PVP right now is definitely is a great spot, it just got a series of buffs that have made it able to be done very well. A lot of people don't quite understand it is part of the glory, but the other part is that you have so many avenues, some more effective than others, to kill people. I swear if Alchemist was allowed in Eleusis, I'd probably go one right this minute.

Hashan definitely seems the main center of Alchemist stuff right now, but honestly you could go anywhere, save Eleusis, if you wished to. I'd pick based on general city atmosphere plus those you would be around regularly. I don't have anything to offer on Hashan itself, I'll leave that to people who know what they're talking about.

Blademaster and monk -are- similar but with differences. They focus much more on bleeding and have a greater ability of hinderance. With a band (an artefact for your sword), you can pretty much kill anything if you work at it hard enough. Both have an incredible capacity to kill others, but blademaster seems cheaper to do so in terms of artefact investment. I think it all depends on what style you prefer, and the flavour you like! I'm not an expert in either though, so anyone feel free to correct me here.

For serpent, with the advent of server-side curing, illusions are actually beginning to die a very slow death, at least the offensive kind (defensive illusions, such as illusioning yourself shielding, still have a place). There's been several changes to allow a serpent various kinds of locks, scyanthus-ing people to death through relapse, and the old faviourite of lock/voryia/behead. Serpents do pretty well for themselves at the moment and will no doubt be experiencing more changes in the future with the splitoff of tradeskills (yes, they will be splitting away venoms, no we don't know how that's going to work exactly yet).

Gold making entirely depends, a lot of the best ways to make it is hunting and doing quests related to the areas you're bashing. Ratting is pretty boring. If you have high survival and enough seafaring, deep sea fishing is also lucrative, but risky (pirates, man). You can also definitely make gold doing transmutations stuff. Some people do play the credit market, I've never had to personally.

And finally... yes, Neraeos has, more or less, disappeared on us. I'm sorry to report that. We all miss him.

Sena

Bashing:

Alchemist is pretty good at staying alive while bashing. You have robes that basically give good resistance against any damage type (you can set your robes to resist any 4 damage types including cutting and blunt, and changing the resistances only takes a few seconds), sip bonuses (although they fade constantly and take eq to put back up, which is annoying), and faster potash balance (the mineral equivalent of irid moss). Bashing damage isn't that great (basically the same as decay and warp, if you're familiar with those), but decent enough, and alchemist gets a critical bonus to improve their offence a bit.

Serpent isn't too bad for bashing either, though. Except for newbie bashing (which is really crappy) and high level bashing (hunting things on the level of deathknights, which dodge garrote a lot), it's pretty good, about on par with alchemist. Scales gives good resistance against all damage, you don't need strength or int at all and don't need dex for bashing so you can focus entirely on constitution for more health (you'll want more dex for PvP though, if you don't have a level 3 artefact dirk), so you have the ability to be pretty tanky as a serpent. Garrote depends heavily on whip stats, with a good whip serpent can have some of the highest DPS of any class, at least until it starts missing (against most denizens you'll probably never miss at all with trans subterfuge and decent to-hit, but as I said it becomes very inaccurate against certain high level denizens).

Blademaster is great for bashing, possibly the third best class overall, behind monk and shaman. They have different stances that have a big impact on your damage, speed, and defence. Arash for pure offence (high damage and speed, take a lot of extra damage), when you just want to quickly tear through things that probably can't kill you, Mir for pure defence (high damage resistance, slow attacks), when you need to be more careful, Sanya for pretty much everything else (no huge bonuses or penalties, but their offence is still great). Blademaster is squishy outside of Mir though, they only get ringmail and toughness to improve their defence, and can't wield shields of absorption.

PvP:

I don't really fight so I can't give much detail here, but alchemist and blademaster are both good. Blademaster is pretty different from monk, there's not much more than superficial similarity and the fact that both tend to go for limb breaks (but for different purposes). Both blademaster and alchemist have several unique mechanics/abilities that didn't exist before, so there's a lot to learn.

Also, now that there's a server-side curing system which can't be tricked by illusions, serpents are starting to move away from a reliance on illusions and trying to break people's systems (currently though, illusions are still pretty useful and probably important).

Gold:

The best way to get gold is probably high level bashing, especially now that talisman pieces drop from several high level bashing areas. You can read HELP TALISMANS to learn more, but basically they're a thing that people collect for various benefits (in this case, the ability to use different dragon colours and eventually become an elder dragon), and they sell pretty well.

The next best way to get gold is questing, which doesn't require a high level. There are rules against publicly sharing quest information, but someone in your house or city could probably give you some good areas to start with. Ulangi and Mysia are good choices (about 20-25k gold per hour if you have it all to yourself), but also popular choices, so you won't often have the area to yourself. Some similarly good and similarly low-level areas that aren't so populated are Inbhir Ness and Ilyrean (Ilyrean requires an annoying sailing trip to reach, so it's pretty inconvenient, but that also means you'll rarely have any competition).

Deepsea fishing is probably the easiest way to get gold, requiring practically zero effort, but it's not nearly as fast as quests or high level bashing, and it requires access to a ship. You'll also have to keep an eye out for pirates. Ordinary fishing (on a lake or river) is similarly effortless, but the payout is pretty low. Probably still a better choice than ratting though.

Transmutation is actually a pretty poor tradeskill, in terms of gold over time (at least for selling primes or minerals). It requires a huge investment of time to collect primes, then convert the primes to metals, then convert the primes and metals into minerals, and then the minerals sell for dirt cheap. It's not unusual to average less gold/hour than ratting. Refills, on the other hand, are much more profitable. If you could spend all day refilling, it would get you huge profits, but you probably can't sell refills that often unless you have deals with some shops to refill their tuns. The situation will probably get even worse once tradeskills are separated from class, since everyone will have access to transmutation without having to be an alchemist, furthering driving supply up and prices down, unless there are some changes along with the separation.

Xyther

Well definitely now that I've noticed Blademaster can't use an SoA, I'm leaning away from that, I love mine so (plus I'd lose credits to turn it in). Serpent has just never 'clicked' for me, even though I mostly bash nowadays, I like to fool myself into thinking I could fight (or at least spar) someday, and so it's kind of a bummer.

Interesting that you say Shaman is one of the best bashing classes, I never would have though that! It's actually a very interesting class to me, but being as IC I've always been in Shallam/Cyrene/forestal it's never been something really available to me. Maybe after all this House nonsense ends there will be a little more latitude. 

Alchemist still seems pretty neat, I like the idea of being self-sufficient, even if transmutation isn't a whole lot of money, I always liked being forestal just to be able to fill for myself. Though again, soon that may be split off and available to everyone. On the gripping hand, that'd mean some new skills to play with! 

Then there's traits, and specialisations, and arties (oh my!). Plus actually figuring out my RP once this House explosion happens...

Anyway, thanks for all the warm welcomes and very detailed advice. I'll probably have more stupid questions as time goes by!