About the stuff there is to do here

Teletha

Hello!

I played Achaea a long time ago, and recently I wanted to check out what it was like nowadays. I had a few questions about what the game is like, and how it compares to a few other IRE games too. Hopefully this is the right place!

I remember the basics of how the game works. In what areas of the game can a newbie get involved with little entry barriers? Is there any kind of combat or PvP stuff that I can get into or is it basically pointless if I'm not max level? Is there a big penalty to dying in PvP (which I'd expect to do a lot as a noob, so if it's too harsh maybe I should just avoid it). Does Achaea have server-side curing like Imperian added a few years ago? Would I require a lot of self-made scripts and knowledge of coding to do anything significant in combat?

What is there to do on the more "game" side of Achaea that isn't hunting? I saw that there's some kind of seafaring and monster hunting in the sea? Is that something a lot of people do for gold or experience/levels or something like that? Is it fun? It sounds a lot like group bashing, which would make the part I like the least about it (solo stuff) less of a problem.

I was drawn to Achaea as it has the largest playerbase, and I don't want a "ghost town" feel to places. I imagine a game like this is run by a lot of roleplay, but am I correct in this assumption? Is it easy and noob-friendly to hop right in and contribute meaningfully? 

How does Achaea compare to Imperian or Aetolia when it comes to combat, noob-friendliness, stuff to do, and engagement of the playerbase? Can I expect to enjoy many different facets of the game right off the bat, or is a lot of content gated for people at max level?

Finally, is there anything you guys might want to add that can sell me on Achaea? I want to play one of these games again but it's hard to know where to sink all my time! Trying them all in-depth would be overwhelming. 

Thanks a lot for the help guys! (I wasn't sure if I should tag this as Question or Discussion so I went with the former)

Accipiter

The Achaea systems all mostly involve player interactions, with solo stuff sort of added to the side. PvP combat is what most of the game is about, you can get into it reasonably cheap once you get to a certain level so you have a bit of health and don't just die instantly to damage. There is a server side system to use.

The gating is less about level (you can get to level 60ish in an afternoon if you want) are more about credits spent, but other than needed skills nothing is hard-locked until you do something.

The newbie experiences have been updated within the past few years so it is pretty user friendly now, and you can get into everything right away if you run into the right people and show enthusiasm.

Teletha

I marked this as answered and I don't know if that changes anything. But I'd love to hear anybody else's input and opinions! There's lots of questions and I'd like to know what you guys and gals think of any or all of them. 

Prythe

There is bunches to do, depending upon what you enjoy. Some take more time and investment than others.

Sitting in a restaurant with friends, chatting away.
Wandering the streets of a city, or exploring the world.
Fishing (boring!)
Sailing! (a little less boring!)
Harvesting - costly but profitable.
Gathering - ditto
HUNTING! - My personal favorite
Designing things
Creating games or events for your city or house.

I could go on, but ... yes. Much to do.

Xaden

Well, initially the game was a PvP game only, that's a long time ago now and every city expects a basic level of role play from you now.

What you do with your time is entirely up to you.

Combat is great fun, and really, once you get to around level seventy (which may sound like a lot of grind, but it's not really) you're pretty set for group combat.

The commerce system is pretty massive now, you have mining, supplying curatives and other consumables, ship trades.

And of course there's politics, which you can involve yourself in pretty much as soon as you've established yourself somewhere.

With regard to the more long form role play, you have people in pretty much every city that will engage in it, but don't expect them to seek you out. Like real life, you'll get out of Achaea what you put in.

Antonius

Is there any kind of combat or PvP stuff that I can get into or is it basically pointless if I'm not max level? Is there a big penalty to dying in PvP (which I'd expect to do a lot as a noob, so if it's too harsh maybe I should just avoid it).

You can start participating in group combat at a relatively low level (70+ should be okay), though you won't have the health pool to survive being targetted for very long. The penalties for dying are a lot less severe than they were in the past. There's no additional experience loss for having to EMBRACE DEATH (the new PRAY FOR SALVATION, depending on how long ago you played). There's also a relatively new system that tracks the highest total experience you've ever reached, and a bonus to experience gain for PvP kills if you're below that, which helps a bit with recovering lost experience when you start getting kills.

Does Achaea have server-side curing like Imperian added a few years ago?

Yes, server-side curing was added a few years ago. The default priorities aren't bad, from what I remember, but you may want to tweak them a bit once you start learning about combat and which afflictions are the most important.

Would I require a lot of self-made scripts and knowledge of coding to do anything significant in combat?

This really depends. 1v1 combat requires slightly more than group combat does in terms of switching curing priorities or stopping certain types of cures to survive some setups, but they generally require little - or no - knowledge of coding (if you can make aliases that do the specific things you need plus have the awareness to know when to use them, that's probably good enough). You'll need aliases, at the very least, to perform your attacks and other actions, plus the ability to make triggers to highlight specific things that you'll want to be aware of.

That said, being able to code (even if it's just hacking basic things together, which is about all most Achaeans manage) isn't a bad skill to have, and Achaea's as good a place as any to learn that. Depending on what client you're using, there's often a large amount of support available - both in-game and here on the forums - for answering questions and helping fix scripts.