Post by persephone on Jan 28, 2013 23:16:07 GMT -6
Persephone's Ultimate Survival guide
Version 1
Welcome to my guide. While I have my hand and foot in much of what goes on around here, I thought I would write up a comprehensive guide on how to survive in the world, as well as some of the mechanics and accommodations that are available in this neck of the woods.
As of this post the adventure mode and world exploration modes are separate, though they take place in the same land. The main game is moderated by the creator [Phil], and this World Exploration is mainly moderated by me. We are still working on the kinks and differences between these two aspects of the game. Please check the News at the top for any updates to this guide. The "versions" section of this guide will tell you what has changed
Table of Contents
.... Versions [1001]
.... Introduction
.... Map Types [1002]
........ Towns/Cities/Outpost/Ports [1002a]
........ Caves/Dungeon/Wilderness [1002b]
........ Meadow/Roads/Water Ways [1002c]
... Trading/Vending/Travel Fees [1003]
... Banding/Guilds/Teams/Groups [1004]
... Housing (castles, homes, forts, land) [1005]
... Crafting/Forging/Enchanting [1006]
... Magical Items/Special Items [1007]
... Encounters/Events [1008]
... Pirating and other Player vs Player Ventures [1009]
Versions [1001]
Currently Version 1, nothing new to report.
Introduction
This is a guide to surviving in the explorable world! However, it is not a guide on how to role-play better. You best take such inquiries to other posts in the traveler's guide book. This ultimate guide focuses more on interesting facets of the game. If you need help with how to interact with the world, feel free to ask questions. This guide is more focused on talking about the finer details of buying and selling items, how to enter and exit events and so on and so forth.
Map Types[1002]
It is very important to know what sort of map you are traveling in. Especially since right now there is no way of telling what area you are in without some level of common sense. Okay, it isn't hard to tell when a player is in a city, but what about the differences between a cave and a dungeons? Or a Meadow and Wilderness? Allow me to shed some light on the subject~
Towns/Cities/Outposts/Ports [1002a]
While it may be fairly obvious to some of you what each of these are, let me put it out just in case. Cities are the largest social function in the world exploration mode-- they have large institutions and often house important NPCs. They have a higher population, which means more traders, and offices. Cities are also [usually] the safest places to hang out in. Very rarely do they get attacked, and they often have garrisons of troops to help protect from outsiders. Most monsters stay away from cities due to the lack of food and habitable terrain. Bandits would rather target less defended areas. Only if you are being chased by assassins or have caused political stir and someone is out to get you. Which is usually your fault and doesn't happen on its own.
Towns are smaller than cities, and are generally closer to wilderness areas (more on that in a bit). They have varying levels of population and have less offices. Towns are generally safe. Some of the more remote towns can be the target of bandit raids, so be on the lookout for suspicious activity while you are out there! The benefit of visiting towns [and outposts as you'll see], is that wandering hunters who don't have time to travel to big cities are willing to sell their wares for cheaper.
Outposts are even smaller functions than towns, and nestled into some of the harshest environment around. They are mainly run by experienced hunters and traders who know the land very well. It isn't as dangerous as venturing into the wild, but it isn't exactly the best place to lay around. Hunters and traders offer tips and advice on how to catch certain monsters, and what to look out for while traveling in a specific region. You can also get many wares for cheap. A fairly great profession to consider could be carrying supplies from outposts to towns!
Now this may be a bit confusing. Ports can be cities or towns [but not outposts]. A port is where ships dock and depart. Specific sea routes haven't been set...and some routes may be limited to only those who are of a certain rank. Ports do carry some other special functions aside from transportation. This would also be a great place to purchase a private ship, if you so desire to do so. You can also get the latest sea wares...fish and so on. News from different lands tends to go through ports so you can obtain information from distant areas. Also, traveling by sea is faster than by land [or horse].
Caves/Dungeon/Wilderness [1002b]
Now we are moving onto the more juicy tidbits. As with the above section, I lay out what each of these are one by one and in grand detail.
First off, I'll explain what a cave is. A cave is an unfurnished, natural burrow, crevice, or entry beneath the ground. While it is a habitable space, caves are dark, and carry no constructive design whatsoever. Even if you find civilized beings inside of caves, anything that has a permanent structure is considered a dungeon. If it is "docile" in nature, it becomes an outpost or town, or city. Caves vary in size. They can go for miles underground or be small holes in the ground. Caves tend to bear small treasures [if any], and generally house a variety of monsters in difficulty. Deeper, darker caves will have more dangerous creatures, but who knows what else might not want to be rained off? Mountain Caves are the most dangerous areas, though there aren't very many mountains to visit at this time.
As I suggested in the above section, dungeons are areas that are constructed or bear some sophistication. They aren't always underground, and could be just hostile surface structures [bandit citadels or enemy forts]. Depending on the dungeon you could be faced with a number of trials or tricks. These include things such as traps, trained monsters, and treasure troves. Dungeons carry more treasure [depending on their difficulty], and are on average more dangerous. The biggest thing regarding danger when considering caves versus dungeons... In most cases, caves provide a natural sense of danger [getting lost and never finding your way out, falling into a mile deep crevice, or being eaten by see in the dark creatures], and a more apparent danger, a horde of bandits trying to kill you for intruding or a spike trap triggering beneath your feet.
The Wilderness can vary in difficulty. As you travel further away from cities and towns, the monsters tend to get bigger, and more dangerous. It also becomes harder to travel in. Unlike caves, wilderness areas are not underground, and can be a number of terrains, such as swamps, dense woods, or sprawling deserts and prairies. The chances of you running into another person is less than 2%, and you shouldn't risk traversing dense wilderness areas by yourself. Such like traveling in caves, the predators of the wilderness are not afraid of human presences, and you can be heard, smelled, or seen for miles away without you even realizing it. Of course you won't really know how dangerous a particular wilderness is until you travel through it. Tundra areas have to deal with extremely cold temperatures. Prairies have the issues of thunderstorms, or high winds [and fires].
Meadow/Roads/Water Ways [1002c]
Meadows are any open space that aren't wilderness, regardless of whether or not they have trees or things in them. These tend to be smaller forests, open grasslands, or sandy shorelines. Meadows often surround cities and towns, offering a semi-safe perimeter around settled lands. While it isn't a good idea to just sleep out in the open, bandits, thieves and highwaymen can pick off a lone traveler just as easily in a meadow as they can in the wilderness, sometimes even easier. But in general, a seasoned or careful adventurer can fend for themselves in these areas with ease. Meadows are often great places to practice various trades, such as collecting simple herbs, or hunting smaller creatures. It is a low risk, low reward situation, but a great place to start for fledgling travelers.
Roads almost always go through meadow areas, and can take you from town to town. Along the road you might meet traveling guards, merchants, or caravans [some of which are more honest than others]. Since World exploration allows you to travel from one region to the next [in most cases, if you travel overseas you will usually have to pay a fee to travel by boat more on that later]. But sometimes, during quests or events you will be on such maps dealing with such NPCs. [As an example, you might be preparing a sting to capture some unlawful caravans who are actually thieves in disguise]. For the most part you won't have to deal with the roads. They -can- be safer than meadows, especially given the guard patrols.
Water ways are things such as rivers, lakes, and oceans. [When we get to talking about pirating, you will deal a lot with the ocean]. As you know, the sea can be one of the most desolate and terrifying environments to be stuck in. [Since honestly, you won't be dealing too much with lakes and rivers as they are apart of wilderness meadow types]. The ocean has its own league of creatures and evils... including horrible storms and limited to no resources. You will be spending most of your ocean time on a ship. [See travel fees for that]. The benefit of being on a ship is that... aside from storms, there is very little that will come to harm you. Most deep sea threats aren't on popular travel routes; [if there are krakens, leviathans, and whatnot]. But sharks, and things won't bother with normal sized ships. The biggest worry is pirating, which...as I said, has a bit of a twist on it!
Trading/Vending/Travel Fees [1003]
The first thing to keep in mind when it comes to trading and vending is that... all character profiles are locked, and therefore can only be modified by admins and whatnot. What this means is that whenever you obtain an item or gold, it will have to be added to your profile and this can make exchanging very tedious if done incrementally. My suggestion to vending is to wait until you have an idea in mind. Since city threads are going to get crowded with requests and people trying to interact with various NPCs, it might be worth your time to chain your transactions in one giant post. As loot is uncovered when players adventure, there will be tables posted somewhere on the forums that will list the price of what it is you are trying to sell. Since the economy is more than likely going to be stagnant, meaning that a wolf pelt [temp name I suppose], will be 7 gold every time no matter what. Supply and demand is seeming absent in this game as far as I know.
Later on, if business truly picks up, players may buy spaces for their interactions. This includes trading between players, as it requires consent from both parties, trading between players needs to happen in a public thread so moderators/admins can see what is going on. Items will not be changed until sufficient funds are present in both cases. That means this will move slowly at times, but given that we live in an age where the internet can be accessed by phone and on the go... it'll be easier to stay up to date on merchant business.
As mentioned in some of the map types, prices for items will vary depending on where you get them. A hunter who doesn't live in the city might say [to use previous example], a wolf pelt for 3 gold. Or a trader in a town might sell it for 5 gold. Of course players can set what they feel is a reasonable price for items as well, such as selling a pelt for 6 gold in a city where buying it from an NPC is 7! You sort of get the idea.
[There will be more on this later I presume]
As far as traveling fees are concerned... you will probably have to pay gold to travel via boat or carriage from one place to the next. These prices are not yet decided.
Banding/Guilds/Teams/Groups [1004]
Since we just modified this part, let me explain the short sweet, simple truth of teaming and guilds.
Guilds are player run functions that gather players together for a purpose or cause. It can be whatever the creator of the guild wants, and if you find it appealing, you join it and work towards that goal. Some guilds might be out for making it rich in the world, other guilds might want glory! Anyone can make a guild, but to attract members, you'll want a scope or idea to set the tone for what you want to do. If you pool together your money for some grand purpose, like purchasing a castle, or a private island for your guild, then people may be more on board to join up with you.
Of course, you can really only be apart of one guild at any given time. Guilds can be as open or as selective as they want to be.
When it comes down to it, certain events will require the help of multiple people. This is one perk of being in a guild, so that you can embark on the same missions and help each other from difficult trials.
Even if you aren't in a guild, banding together or grouping up, or teaming, whatever you want to call it, is a very good idea, especially when traveling in dangerous areas. You can put up requests in cities, or in pubs looking for adventurers!
Housing (castles, homes, forts, land) [1005]
Yes. You can buy houses, castles, forts, islands, for whatever purpose you so want. Granted it is expensive, and maybe a bit hard to find some open land, but this has a plethora of uses.
There are endless perks to having your own home. Or in having your own castle. While it probably would be a liable function to buy in game cities, there will be unnamed islands throughout the game that allow players to purchase and use as they see fit.
Land of course can be tilled and farmed. You can hire NPCs to work for you, or as a guild you could have members handle tasks. This means that harvested crops will merit you gold as you mass sell them in markets. Castles will be easy to defend, and make usually hostile environments safer. You'll be able to store items here, and if you have a castle near a town or unprotected area, could can even petition to receive a tax from the people for making the land safe.
As far as how it works...you will have take up such offers with certain officials. Some countries don't want to tax their citizens for such services. Some land might not be for sale for one reason or another. Building a castle from the ground up is terribly expensive, and there might not always be a castle for sale. The same can be said for forts too. As for islands go...you can purchase islands off of the coast of a country. While it may be considered no-man's land, if you don't align yourself with a certain nation and their government, you could be facing an army too big for you to handle. It may seem like a lame formality, but signing up with a country is a great way to distribute land. If the island is in a strategic location, or merits some sort of perk, it may be beneficial to cultivate it for a nation. They'll pay you for for maintaining it, in exchange for allowing public trade or monthly reports on the area [seeing suspicious activity and what not].
Though if you are just starting out in the game, there isn't too much of a reason to go racing off to build land.
Crafting/Forging/Enchanting [1006]
This part of the game is still being viewed at. [So it could change]. But regardless, this is how crafting and forging, and enchanting will basically go down.
So far in this guide we've referred back to the example of killing a wolf, and selling the pelt in the market. But a pelt -could- serve another purpose if you decided to craft with it. Throughout the game you will collect a number of items. How you can use those...isn't exactly clear. Characters don't have a set "crafting" level at this time [though it may be implemented in the future, like defensive values]. The more you craft, the better you become, and the same goes for mining and enchanting.
There are three ways [that I can think of], for players to get resources for crafting or forging. One way is to kill a ton of monsters and collect what they drop and hope you get something you need. The second way is to go out into the world with a tool in hand, and harvest the material directly. (Please keep in mind that I personally am not going to look up the fundamentals of mineral deposition in the ground...so finding different minerals will come off as random...) Anyways! The way that self-crating will work, will be getting something generic like "Stacks of Wood" or "Cart of Minerals" and as you refine it, you will get better materials based on your crafting level.
The third way is to buy the materials from merchants. This can get quite expensive...but it would be the fastest way to mass craft items. Of course, crafting can only be done in cities that have such things as forges, or crafting tables, and they might not always be public. ((Another Perk I just thought for owning your own house, is to buy your own crafting station or forge)).
This can all be said about enchanting, yet enchanting takes a lot of power. Infusing items with magical qualities is one of the most expensive, and arduous tasks in the game. Enchantments have to be specifically found or bought, and these enchantment spells require lists of components... most of which you can't just go out and harvest. They will often require rare things... just an offhand example...
Ice Dragon Blood!
That means you either have to buy Ice Dragon Blood, which may or not may not be for sale...as dragon slaying is a rare thing, and farming dragons is illegal [as in, harvesting blood from baby dragons, and releasing them before they get too powerful]. If it isn't on the market, it means you have to go out and find a dragon [who knows if you can], and either kill it, or get a pint of its blood for an enchantment.
Once you compile the items, there is even a chance that it won't be 100% effective. Of course there are easier, and harder enchantments, so raising your level isn't going to be as impossible as I'm making it to be.
And to end on a final note! You don't -need- to craft or forge or enchant anything on your own! There are NPC units for all of these functions. They will of course charge you a sum depending on how difficult something is...but... it could ultimately save you time in searching for it yourself.
Magical Items/Special Items [1007]
Magical items, and special items, are useful irreplaceable utensils that you may procure through hard work, or by doing dangerous things. These include, but aren't limited to...
Boots that let you walk on water, rings that let you fly, mystical swords that shoot out fire balls, a pet dragon, or maybe, a flying airship.
THESE ITEMS are incredibly hard to make [as you've seen in the enchanting area], or are terribly expensive [ala the Black Market]. So this is by and large in the distant future.
Encounters/Events [1008]
One of the most important aspects of the game, and perhaps the most deadly rule not to break, is the exchange between encounters and events. Please, please, please, listen to this explanation so you don't end up making a foolish mistake.
It is impossible to be apart of every single event, because the game takes place in real time over a long distance. There is only one of you. While traveling may appear seamless and without a passage of time, the distance between areas is calculated when you travel. It may not be easy to tell if and when something is going on, but for the most part, try to use your best judgment.
To make sure everyone is clear on where things are, it is best to leave a mark ending your presence in a map. Once you have exited a map, you can pretty much go anywhere. While in testing we haven't decided how to address some of these issues, very soon we will start adding dates to posts with dawn, noon, afternoon, evening, night, late night, early morning sorts of tags. That way you'll know... what is happening and when!
Maybe as a mock example...
The 18th of the Song Tiger, Early Morning.
A KRAKEN ATTACKS THE SHORE!
Aha. If only. But even, events, and even daily interactions will be marked by a time stamp [in game only, since we could go for a week in real life, and then realize that only a few days have passed]. You can see how long it takes to travel from places when you visit ports, or ask guards. This can make owning a horse or your own boat very useful for reaching areas.
Events can be private, or public. A sub board for events may appear that have passwords that only guilds or bands know about. These can be epic battles against giant monsters, or they can just be private conversations between adventurers and lords.
Which sort of leads me into the whole...aspect of encounters. I'm going to actually skip this section, and work on it later.
Pirating and other Player vs Player Ventures [1009]
I have decided that over time when players actually own ships, and islands...to have an interesting Player versus Player implemented straight into the world. More on that later.
{END!}
Be sure to look out for any updates to this guide...as I am sure it will expand....
Version 1
Welcome to my guide. While I have my hand and foot in much of what goes on around here, I thought I would write up a comprehensive guide on how to survive in the world, as well as some of the mechanics and accommodations that are available in this neck of the woods.
As of this post the adventure mode and world exploration modes are separate, though they take place in the same land. The main game is moderated by the creator [Phil], and this World Exploration is mainly moderated by me. We are still working on the kinks and differences between these two aspects of the game. Please check the News at the top for any updates to this guide. The "versions" section of this guide will tell you what has changed
Table of Contents
.... Versions [1001]
.... Introduction
.... Map Types [1002]
........ Towns/Cities/Outpost/Ports [1002a]
........ Caves/Dungeon/Wilderness [1002b]
........ Meadow/Roads/Water Ways [1002c]
... Trading/Vending/Travel Fees [1003]
... Banding/Guilds/Teams/Groups [1004]
... Housing (castles, homes, forts, land) [1005]
... Crafting/Forging/Enchanting [1006]
... Magical Items/Special Items [1007]
... Encounters/Events [1008]
... Pirating and other Player vs Player Ventures [1009]
Versions [1001]
Currently Version 1, nothing new to report.
Introduction
This is a guide to surviving in the explorable world! However, it is not a guide on how to role-play better. You best take such inquiries to other posts in the traveler's guide book. This ultimate guide focuses more on interesting facets of the game. If you need help with how to interact with the world, feel free to ask questions. This guide is more focused on talking about the finer details of buying and selling items, how to enter and exit events and so on and so forth.
Map Types[1002]
It is very important to know what sort of map you are traveling in. Especially since right now there is no way of telling what area you are in without some level of common sense. Okay, it isn't hard to tell when a player is in a city, but what about the differences between a cave and a dungeons? Or a Meadow and Wilderness? Allow me to shed some light on the subject~
Towns/Cities/Outposts/Ports [1002a]
While it may be fairly obvious to some of you what each of these are, let me put it out just in case. Cities are the largest social function in the world exploration mode-- they have large institutions and often house important NPCs. They have a higher population, which means more traders, and offices. Cities are also [usually] the safest places to hang out in. Very rarely do they get attacked, and they often have garrisons of troops to help protect from outsiders. Most monsters stay away from cities due to the lack of food and habitable terrain. Bandits would rather target less defended areas. Only if you are being chased by assassins or have caused political stir and someone is out to get you. Which is usually your fault and doesn't happen on its own.
Towns are smaller than cities, and are generally closer to wilderness areas (more on that in a bit). They have varying levels of population and have less offices. Towns are generally safe. Some of the more remote towns can be the target of bandit raids, so be on the lookout for suspicious activity while you are out there! The benefit of visiting towns [and outposts as you'll see], is that wandering hunters who don't have time to travel to big cities are willing to sell their wares for cheaper.
Outposts are even smaller functions than towns, and nestled into some of the harshest environment around. They are mainly run by experienced hunters and traders who know the land very well. It isn't as dangerous as venturing into the wild, but it isn't exactly the best place to lay around. Hunters and traders offer tips and advice on how to catch certain monsters, and what to look out for while traveling in a specific region. You can also get many wares for cheap. A fairly great profession to consider could be carrying supplies from outposts to towns!
Now this may be a bit confusing. Ports can be cities or towns [but not outposts]. A port is where ships dock and depart. Specific sea routes haven't been set...and some routes may be limited to only those who are of a certain rank. Ports do carry some other special functions aside from transportation. This would also be a great place to purchase a private ship, if you so desire to do so. You can also get the latest sea wares...fish and so on. News from different lands tends to go through ports so you can obtain information from distant areas. Also, traveling by sea is faster than by land [or horse].
Caves/Dungeon/Wilderness [1002b]
Now we are moving onto the more juicy tidbits. As with the above section, I lay out what each of these are one by one and in grand detail.
First off, I'll explain what a cave is. A cave is an unfurnished, natural burrow, crevice, or entry beneath the ground. While it is a habitable space, caves are dark, and carry no constructive design whatsoever. Even if you find civilized beings inside of caves, anything that has a permanent structure is considered a dungeon. If it is "docile" in nature, it becomes an outpost or town, or city. Caves vary in size. They can go for miles underground or be small holes in the ground. Caves tend to bear small treasures [if any], and generally house a variety of monsters in difficulty. Deeper, darker caves will have more dangerous creatures, but who knows what else might not want to be rained off? Mountain Caves are the most dangerous areas, though there aren't very many mountains to visit at this time.
As I suggested in the above section, dungeons are areas that are constructed or bear some sophistication. They aren't always underground, and could be just hostile surface structures [bandit citadels or enemy forts]. Depending on the dungeon you could be faced with a number of trials or tricks. These include things such as traps, trained monsters, and treasure troves. Dungeons carry more treasure [depending on their difficulty], and are on average more dangerous. The biggest thing regarding danger when considering caves versus dungeons... In most cases, caves provide a natural sense of danger [getting lost and never finding your way out, falling into a mile deep crevice, or being eaten by see in the dark creatures], and a more apparent danger, a horde of bandits trying to kill you for intruding or a spike trap triggering beneath your feet.
The Wilderness can vary in difficulty. As you travel further away from cities and towns, the monsters tend to get bigger, and more dangerous. It also becomes harder to travel in. Unlike caves, wilderness areas are not underground, and can be a number of terrains, such as swamps, dense woods, or sprawling deserts and prairies. The chances of you running into another person is less than 2%, and you shouldn't risk traversing dense wilderness areas by yourself. Such like traveling in caves, the predators of the wilderness are not afraid of human presences, and you can be heard, smelled, or seen for miles away without you even realizing it. Of course you won't really know how dangerous a particular wilderness is until you travel through it. Tundra areas have to deal with extremely cold temperatures. Prairies have the issues of thunderstorms, or high winds [and fires].
Meadow/Roads/Water Ways [1002c]
Meadows are any open space that aren't wilderness, regardless of whether or not they have trees or things in them. These tend to be smaller forests, open grasslands, or sandy shorelines. Meadows often surround cities and towns, offering a semi-safe perimeter around settled lands. While it isn't a good idea to just sleep out in the open, bandits, thieves and highwaymen can pick off a lone traveler just as easily in a meadow as they can in the wilderness, sometimes even easier. But in general, a seasoned or careful adventurer can fend for themselves in these areas with ease. Meadows are often great places to practice various trades, such as collecting simple herbs, or hunting smaller creatures. It is a low risk, low reward situation, but a great place to start for fledgling travelers.
Roads almost always go through meadow areas, and can take you from town to town. Along the road you might meet traveling guards, merchants, or caravans [some of which are more honest than others]. Since World exploration allows you to travel from one region to the next [in most cases, if you travel overseas you will usually have to pay a fee to travel by boat more on that later]. But sometimes, during quests or events you will be on such maps dealing with such NPCs. [As an example, you might be preparing a sting to capture some unlawful caravans who are actually thieves in disguise]. For the most part you won't have to deal with the roads. They -can- be safer than meadows, especially given the guard patrols.
Water ways are things such as rivers, lakes, and oceans. [When we get to talking about pirating, you will deal a lot with the ocean]. As you know, the sea can be one of the most desolate and terrifying environments to be stuck in. [Since honestly, you won't be dealing too much with lakes and rivers as they are apart of wilderness meadow types]. The ocean has its own league of creatures and evils... including horrible storms and limited to no resources. You will be spending most of your ocean time on a ship. [See travel fees for that]. The benefit of being on a ship is that... aside from storms, there is very little that will come to harm you. Most deep sea threats aren't on popular travel routes; [if there are krakens, leviathans, and whatnot]. But sharks, and things won't bother with normal sized ships. The biggest worry is pirating, which...as I said, has a bit of a twist on it!
Trading/Vending/Travel Fees [1003]
The first thing to keep in mind when it comes to trading and vending is that... all character profiles are locked, and therefore can only be modified by admins and whatnot. What this means is that whenever you obtain an item or gold, it will have to be added to your profile and this can make exchanging very tedious if done incrementally. My suggestion to vending is to wait until you have an idea in mind. Since city threads are going to get crowded with requests and people trying to interact with various NPCs, it might be worth your time to chain your transactions in one giant post. As loot is uncovered when players adventure, there will be tables posted somewhere on the forums that will list the price of what it is you are trying to sell. Since the economy is more than likely going to be stagnant, meaning that a wolf pelt [temp name I suppose], will be 7 gold every time no matter what. Supply and demand is seeming absent in this game as far as I know.
Later on, if business truly picks up, players may buy spaces for their interactions. This includes trading between players, as it requires consent from both parties, trading between players needs to happen in a public thread so moderators/admins can see what is going on. Items will not be changed until sufficient funds are present in both cases. That means this will move slowly at times, but given that we live in an age where the internet can be accessed by phone and on the go... it'll be easier to stay up to date on merchant business.
As mentioned in some of the map types, prices for items will vary depending on where you get them. A hunter who doesn't live in the city might say [to use previous example], a wolf pelt for 3 gold. Or a trader in a town might sell it for 5 gold. Of course players can set what they feel is a reasonable price for items as well, such as selling a pelt for 6 gold in a city where buying it from an NPC is 7! You sort of get the idea.
[There will be more on this later I presume]
As far as traveling fees are concerned... you will probably have to pay gold to travel via boat or carriage from one place to the next. These prices are not yet decided.
Banding/Guilds/Teams/Groups [1004]
Since we just modified this part, let me explain the short sweet, simple truth of teaming and guilds.
Guilds are player run functions that gather players together for a purpose or cause. It can be whatever the creator of the guild wants, and if you find it appealing, you join it and work towards that goal. Some guilds might be out for making it rich in the world, other guilds might want glory! Anyone can make a guild, but to attract members, you'll want a scope or idea to set the tone for what you want to do. If you pool together your money for some grand purpose, like purchasing a castle, or a private island for your guild, then people may be more on board to join up with you.
Of course, you can really only be apart of one guild at any given time. Guilds can be as open or as selective as they want to be.
When it comes down to it, certain events will require the help of multiple people. This is one perk of being in a guild, so that you can embark on the same missions and help each other from difficult trials.
Even if you aren't in a guild, banding together or grouping up, or teaming, whatever you want to call it, is a very good idea, especially when traveling in dangerous areas. You can put up requests in cities, or in pubs looking for adventurers!
Housing (castles, homes, forts, land) [1005]
Yes. You can buy houses, castles, forts, islands, for whatever purpose you so want. Granted it is expensive, and maybe a bit hard to find some open land, but this has a plethora of uses.
There are endless perks to having your own home. Or in having your own castle. While it probably would be a liable function to buy in game cities, there will be unnamed islands throughout the game that allow players to purchase and use as they see fit.
Land of course can be tilled and farmed. You can hire NPCs to work for you, or as a guild you could have members handle tasks. This means that harvested crops will merit you gold as you mass sell them in markets. Castles will be easy to defend, and make usually hostile environments safer. You'll be able to store items here, and if you have a castle near a town or unprotected area, could can even petition to receive a tax from the people for making the land safe.
As far as how it works...you will have take up such offers with certain officials. Some countries don't want to tax their citizens for such services. Some land might not be for sale for one reason or another. Building a castle from the ground up is terribly expensive, and there might not always be a castle for sale. The same can be said for forts too. As for islands go...you can purchase islands off of the coast of a country. While it may be considered no-man's land, if you don't align yourself with a certain nation and their government, you could be facing an army too big for you to handle. It may seem like a lame formality, but signing up with a country is a great way to distribute land. If the island is in a strategic location, or merits some sort of perk, it may be beneficial to cultivate it for a nation. They'll pay you for for maintaining it, in exchange for allowing public trade or monthly reports on the area [seeing suspicious activity and what not].
Though if you are just starting out in the game, there isn't too much of a reason to go racing off to build land.
Crafting/Forging/Enchanting [1006]
This part of the game is still being viewed at. [So it could change]. But regardless, this is how crafting and forging, and enchanting will basically go down.
So far in this guide we've referred back to the example of killing a wolf, and selling the pelt in the market. But a pelt -could- serve another purpose if you decided to craft with it. Throughout the game you will collect a number of items. How you can use those...isn't exactly clear. Characters don't have a set "crafting" level at this time [though it may be implemented in the future, like defensive values]. The more you craft, the better you become, and the same goes for mining and enchanting.
There are three ways [that I can think of], for players to get resources for crafting or forging. One way is to kill a ton of monsters and collect what they drop and hope you get something you need. The second way is to go out into the world with a tool in hand, and harvest the material directly. (Please keep in mind that I personally am not going to look up the fundamentals of mineral deposition in the ground...so finding different minerals will come off as random...) Anyways! The way that self-crating will work, will be getting something generic like "Stacks of Wood" or "Cart of Minerals" and as you refine it, you will get better materials based on your crafting level.
The third way is to buy the materials from merchants. This can get quite expensive...but it would be the fastest way to mass craft items. Of course, crafting can only be done in cities that have such things as forges, or crafting tables, and they might not always be public. ((Another Perk I just thought for owning your own house, is to buy your own crafting station or forge)).
This can all be said about enchanting, yet enchanting takes a lot of power. Infusing items with magical qualities is one of the most expensive, and arduous tasks in the game. Enchantments have to be specifically found or bought, and these enchantment spells require lists of components... most of which you can't just go out and harvest. They will often require rare things... just an offhand example...
Ice Dragon Blood!
That means you either have to buy Ice Dragon Blood, which may or not may not be for sale...as dragon slaying is a rare thing, and farming dragons is illegal [as in, harvesting blood from baby dragons, and releasing them before they get too powerful]. If it isn't on the market, it means you have to go out and find a dragon [who knows if you can], and either kill it, or get a pint of its blood for an enchantment.
Once you compile the items, there is even a chance that it won't be 100% effective. Of course there are easier, and harder enchantments, so raising your level isn't going to be as impossible as I'm making it to be.
And to end on a final note! You don't -need- to craft or forge or enchant anything on your own! There are NPC units for all of these functions. They will of course charge you a sum depending on how difficult something is...but... it could ultimately save you time in searching for it yourself.
Magical Items/Special Items [1007]
Magical items, and special items, are useful irreplaceable utensils that you may procure through hard work, or by doing dangerous things. These include, but aren't limited to...
Boots that let you walk on water, rings that let you fly, mystical swords that shoot out fire balls, a pet dragon, or maybe, a flying airship.
THESE ITEMS are incredibly hard to make [as you've seen in the enchanting area], or are terribly expensive [ala the Black Market]. So this is by and large in the distant future.
Encounters/Events [1008]
One of the most important aspects of the game, and perhaps the most deadly rule not to break, is the exchange between encounters and events. Please, please, please, listen to this explanation so you don't end up making a foolish mistake.
It is impossible to be apart of every single event, because the game takes place in real time over a long distance. There is only one of you. While traveling may appear seamless and without a passage of time, the distance between areas is calculated when you travel. It may not be easy to tell if and when something is going on, but for the most part, try to use your best judgment.
To make sure everyone is clear on where things are, it is best to leave a mark ending your presence in a map. Once you have exited a map, you can pretty much go anywhere. While in testing we haven't decided how to address some of these issues, very soon we will start adding dates to posts with dawn, noon, afternoon, evening, night, late night, early morning sorts of tags. That way you'll know... what is happening and when!
Maybe as a mock example...
The 18th of the Song Tiger, Early Morning.
A KRAKEN ATTACKS THE SHORE!
Aha. If only. But even, events, and even daily interactions will be marked by a time stamp [in game only, since we could go for a week in real life, and then realize that only a few days have passed]. You can see how long it takes to travel from places when you visit ports, or ask guards. This can make owning a horse or your own boat very useful for reaching areas.
Events can be private, or public. A sub board for events may appear that have passwords that only guilds or bands know about. These can be epic battles against giant monsters, or they can just be private conversations between adventurers and lords.
Which sort of leads me into the whole...aspect of encounters. I'm going to actually skip this section, and work on it later.
Pirating and other Player vs Player Ventures [1009]
I have decided that over time when players actually own ships, and islands...to have an interesting Player versus Player implemented straight into the world. More on that later.
{END!}
Be sure to look out for any updates to this guide...as I am sure it will expand....