Returning player... Decisions, decisions!

Rolina

Hello,

I used to play ages ago, but went on hiatus and I've now returned. 

I won't have much time for this game as I used to, so I'm hoping to go for a lower-maintenance, cheap, creditless (yet hopefully fun) character. I'm not too fussed about combat, but I want to try aim for dragon so hunting is pretty important to me. I want to have some wide capacity/ opportunity for role play as well, becoming a scholar of a certain "area" in the realms. I'm not sure about joining a house at this point, but I'm considering joining a city and maybe even an Order later on and focus on those. I'm a little confused about the current state of Achaea, since a lot seems to have changed since I left. Shallam is now Targossas; many of the houses I once knew are now gone or changed city alliances. Many of the Divines I was familiar with seem to have departed too... 

Classes I've been considering so far: 

-Priest: low maintenance, Healing. I've had some experience with this class in the past, so it'll be pretty easy for me to get on track, I think. Might join Targossas and a house (Luminai sounds really interesting). Or might join Cyrene. 

-Blademaster: Again, low maintenance and my past character was a blademaster so I have some experience with this class also. I loved it back in those days. Seriously considering going rogue, and just joining a an active pre-order clan. Or I might join Cyrene and maybe Outriders later on (explorer/scholar sounds perfect for my tastes).

-Bard: I don't have much experience with this class, and I don't know how the upkeep is... But I'm a musician in real life, and I absolutely love the idea of exploring that side of rp in achaea. I could go rogue, or I could join Cyrene. Aspiring to join Scarlatti's order would be a high possibility

-Druid: Again, not much experience with this class, although I have heard that the upkeep is pretty good (especially with herbalism?). Not sure how it is bashing wise. I was a bit disappointed that the Circle of Druids house has now allied itself with Eleusis... I would prefer to go cityless as a druid and just join a pre-order clan...

Anyway, these are my hand picked options. In the end, I'll do what I want to do, but I'd love to hear opinions and suggestions from other players. What kind of characters are lacking in Achaea at the moment that you'd like to see more of? Please feel free to suggest more class options, although the ones I've listed above interest me the most. Perhaps you can open my mind and give me better character ideas though.

Some other side questions I have:

-Which Divines/ Orders are most active nowadays?

-Anyone know approximately when the new Cyrene houses might be released?

-Do people still use Vadi systems? If not, what's good out there now, that is cheap? I don't have liberty to spend real money on this game, so please keep that in mind when making suggestions.

Thanks! Any advice/suggestions greatly appreciated!

Nellaundra

for a good bashing class that's low-upkeep, you can't really go wrong with bard or monk. You can explore quite a bit with both.

Divine wise, Sartan, Aurora, Ourania, Twilight, and several others are active and doing stuff right now.

Cyrene houses literally came out less than 24 hours ago.

We use SVO, which is an evolution of Vadi-M and maintained by the same guy.

would give more, but just got home from a double shift, so god damn exhausted. hope you find a fit!

Kaden

The Cyrenian houses are slated to open to the general citizenship by this weekend.

Scarlatti

Credits are basically irrelevant in the artists' faction if you have no interest in combat, so it can be an excellent choice if that brand of RP appeals!

<Disclosure statement: I have no links to any existing Houses so therefore am wholly and utterly unbiased.>

Rolina

Thanks all for your input so far! I'm very much leaning towards creating a rogue bard now... A character who is very much devoted to art (especially music) without boundaries! Lord Scarlatti, You seem like the perfect figure choice..!

Rolina

Sorry about double posting, but I have some more questions-- I realise that starting out as a rogue has its disadvantages because they don't have the city connections and support. So how would one go about establishing IC connections with other players as a rogue? For example, maybe finding a family? Any tips?

Also, regarding rp, there are stereotypes to every class and every race. Is it possible to break way from "what is expected" (e.g.  Priest the wholesome good person wearing flowing robes or something etc) and still maintain a respectable character? I realise this is probably very subjective. Would love to hear thoughts! Thanks.

Melodie

Part of the disadvantage of being a rogue is being unable to make those connections. You may be able to join certain Houses citiless, but if you wish to truly be rogue, then you are going to struggle there, no matter what you do - Achaea does not generally cater very much to rogues. You can, of course, go into a friendly city and simply start chatting up folks there and possibly make friends that way, but it is much easier to start with connections and become a rogue later in life, than vice versa.

As for roleplay, you can absolutely break away from the "expected", but how much and in what way is extremely subjective as you said. With your example, considering the priest, you can definitely be a priest who differs from the norm (perhaps you wish to be a drunk, filthy hobo who scowls at his angel, but absolutely terrorizes his enemies and gets the job done, even if sloppily, aka Hancock style), but at the same time, with certain factional classes like that, you will be expected to meet certain requirements - what those are varies on the class. For the non-factional classes, you'll have more freedom to breakaway from the norm, but remember to keep it something realistic and build into it gradually, otherwise people may not take you seriously. If you have a more exact example of what you're thinking on, I can give more exact tips, but that's the best I can do for generalizations.

Welcome back, by the way!

Jhaeli

To add onto what Melodie suggested, it might not be a bad idea to join city and/or House, create those connections, and then break away from the House and city itself while maintaining the network you've created. If you're interested in Scarlatti's Order, you would not go wrong joining Cyrene and looking into the Virtuosi when it opens, as you'll find many artists and Ordermembers there.

And who knows? You might like the organisations. I know those are my favourite part of the game. Either way, you'll have the option of leaving them whenever you're ready to.

Shirszae

I have to admit that being totally rogue is a little inconvenient. However, in the end, I find connections are made by your willingness to go actually interact with people, be them strangers, city-members, or order members. So yes, perhaps it might be a good idea to at least briefly join Cyrene, see how it goes for you, and if you don't like, then you can break away from it.

I've been told you don't even need to be cyrenian to pursue Scarlatti's order, but I totally would not know.

Tecton

Welcome back to Achaea, @Rolina!