Some questions

Kjara

So I used to play achaea agesss ago, but I'm returning. I was wondering if someone could give me a bit of hand, since alot seems to have changed.

My primary interests/goals in this game are as follows:
-Solid roleplay- Which is why Mhaldor and Targossas appeal to be very much. (ie. the extremes make it very interesting)
-Explore and hunt to dragon (yes, I know it takes a long time but I've always wanted to try it)
-Interested in joining either Mhaldor, Targossas, Eleusis, or Cyrene
-Want to delve into some scholarly aspects of the world and look into lore
-Interested in being heavily involved in city politics, much more so than being involved in a house
-Maybe join an Order later on????

Please note I won't be buying any credits at all. And I absolutely sucked at combat when I was last here (I doubt it will change since I have sucky reflexes) and I cannot code.

The problem with Mhaldor (for me) is that you have to be in a house and their tasks tend to be very demanding. I don't know if I have the RL time to go through that. If it wasn't for this, I'd join Mhaldor any day since they have the best rp. That said, it seems Targossas is a toughened version of Shallam and that appeals to me. Still, will I hit a glass wall if I don't learn combat properly in either Mhaldor or Targossas? Also, do you have to be in a house in Targossas? 

Regarding classes, I'm interested in Monk, Blademaster, Runeswarden and perhaps even Serpent.
Personally I'd love to try Runeswarden, but back in the old days I'd butted out because the upkeep cost was way too scary for me to handle IC. Is it still like that, with all the changes that have been made to the Knight class? Never tried serpent, but it's caught my interest for some weird reason now. Anyone with a serpent character mind giving me an insight into the class, perhaps just generally?
Which of those classes is the most newbie-friendly in combat/ easy to learn?

I think that's enough queries for now. Thanks guys! Appreciate any help.

Crixos

^ Mhaldorian, I'll try not to be biased.

 I don't know if I have the RL time to go through that. If it wasn't for this, I'd join Mhaldor any day since they have the best rp.
  95% of people in Mhaldor slide into their roles well, but that doesn't mean there isn't worthwhile RP(ers) in other cities!  Yes, house tasks are time consuming, but I don't think they are any worse than those you might find in other cities.  There is the additional caveat of Mhaldor being focused on advancement, though, so you -may- be pestered.

a) Will I hit a glass wall if I don't learn combat properly in either Mhaldor or Targossas?
  
  It would be depend on what you mean by properly - I'd say nearly everyone in Mhaldor has -some- knowledge of combat, whether it be "pointy end here" or what have you, there's no real need to go in depth with combat in both cities and overall, I'd say both cities are fairly equal with Targossas having less combat expectation of its citizens.  Realistically, there's always a ceiling if you shy away from at least participating but don't let that deter you from these two cities.

b) Do you have to be in a house in Targossas?

  I'm unsure but I'm leaning towards yes.

c) Classes you're interested in:
  For pure mechanical and combat ease, I'd say runewarden (some specs are easier than others) > monk/blademaster > serpent (unless you just snipe).  
  The upkeep cost for Runewardens is that of inks (if you don't PvP, the only inks you'll consistently need are for your runelore self-buffs.)
  There is very little variance in forging stats now so that aspect of runewarden upkeep has essentially been removed - weapons are cheap.

Weaponmastery (dual wield cutting, sword-n-board, two-handers, dual wield blunt) specs have some more depth into them now but most relatively easy to pick up in PvP.

I would recommend runewarden for your goal of hunting to dragon as well as runewarden in general.

d) Serpent?
I've never been one but - have to be wily, have to be fast, have to have some knowledge of timing, afflictions (important) and your own survivability.  I would not recommend this class if you'd like to learn it for MELEE PvP.  Ranged (sniping) is fairly straightforward and not a lot of risk.  It has a lot of neat utility though that may suit your RP/political purposes though - phasing, evading, listening, illusions, thievery!  Hunting with it can be fairly fast (travel places via wormholes) and you'll do so with either a whip (garotte) or biting (sumac / camus).

Kjara

Gosh, thanks for the fast and detailed reply, much appreciated. When you mentioned:

Crixos said:

  For pure mechanical and combat ease, I'd say runewarden (some specs are easier than others) 

Do you mean specs as the in the new specialisation weaponmastery system? Could you please explain further what you mean? I'm trying to wrap my head around all the changes, urgh. I know there are four- shield&sword, two-handed, dual cutting, dual blunt- and that there are various skills associated with them. That's about how much the extent of my knowledge goes right now :S Thanks!

Crixos

Yup.

I don't want to dissuade or overwhelm you but here are some broad strokes.

While all specs do limb damage (hit limb X amount of times and it will "break". The opponent will have to cure it so that it is usable again.) each spec has different ways to go about it.

  Sword & shield and dual-cutting focus mainly on affliction pressure (via envenoms and shield attacks).  You'll have to have some knowledge of how afflictions interact with each other.
  Two-handers (hammers or greatswords) are slow and their unique is "fractures", they only deliver 1 affliction (sword only) at a time but cause fractures with each attack.  These fractures give the target recurring afflictions if they are not cured.  
  Dual-blunt focuses mainly on limb damage, they break limbs much faster than the other 3 specs and their attacks revolve around this.

For PvE, they are relatively the same and straightforward.  For PvP, you'd have to ask someone more knowledgeable, preferably ICly, but they each have their intricacies. (there are various threads littered about the forums with this information as well.)

Kjara

Thanks again Crixos, that was informative.

Sorry about all these questions, but one more thing:
What are the main mechanistic differences between monk and blademaster pvp? Is one more simplistic to set up than the other or are they roughly similar? 

Kafziel

Blademaster has a specific end goal: instakill enemy when they're bleeding 600 (I forget the numbers I haven't played in a bit).

Monk's goal is to kill the enemy with damage which is a lot more target-dependent. I think monk these days is a lot more difficult than blademaster, if you're not purchasing a monstrous amount of artefacts.

Setting up Blademaster combat is fairly easy because you know what path you're going for and there are only really a few ways to get there. Basically legslash, bladetwist, impaleslash and brokenstar with a few striking macros/aliases added in should see you quite safely into mid-tier.

Alaskar

Targossas does require you to join a house, to answer the OP. Regarding becoming proficient in combat, download Mudlet and get Wundersys, the free serverside curing aid, or just get in game through the website client and do CURING ON.

For classes, that's tough to answer, and depends on what you want to do. 

Monks focus on limb damage and setting up for back breakers, but have awesome utility an group combat abilities. Personally, I've always viewed them as one of the more well-rounded classes.

Runewarden's as useful to groups, bu upkeep will get costly due to the price of inks. Which you could mill yourself, but it'd require tradeskills, which you won't have for a while if you don't plan on buying credits (which are cheaper than ever, and the $25 Iron Elite package is a steal, considering you can easily blow well over $25 a month on a multitude of silly things without realizing it)

Serpents are, in my opinion, one of the greatest classes, as they rely almost exclusively on creativity and skill to kill people; they also have, arguably, one of the higher learning curves around, too. Sniping and evade and phase will be extremely useful to groups trying to gain entry into cities or fight off defenders, and snipe gives you away to add to the fight without even really knowing what you're doing. Wormholes give great travel ability and let you get places quick without the use of wings.

Blademasters can either affliction lock people or setup their instakill, Brokenstar, which requires a certain amount of bleeding. This usually requires counting limbs and some other stuff. I think their hunting is fairly average, but a lot of people seem to think they're boderline OP in PvP, but that they get boring to play at top tiers. The potential for cheap strategies is definitely present in 1v1, and they can survive most kill setups if they're watchful and use their abilities correctly. Or so I understand.

Magi = Master race.

Bear in mind, these are just my observations. I've been Magi forever, so these are all subjective, secondhand opinions.