Progression

Improving skills

The effect of training skills is generally two-fold: Firstly, you're less likely to "fail" the skill, and secondly the skill can become more effective with higher levels. For example, having a higher skill training level in "axe" means that you will do more damage when wielding an axe.

You spend experience points to train skills. You can do this in your guild training room. For example, to train your fighter skills you'll need to go to Sauronan on Wysoom and train in the fighter guild there. You can't train your fighter skills in adventurer guilds or in training rooms belonging to other guilds.

Here are the commands that you will use in the training room:

list skills and list skills all list skills available to train in given guild

list spells and list spells all list spells available to study in given guild

         train <skillname> will advance that skill by 5%.

         train <skill> to: <#> will train that skill to <#>%

         train <skill> next: <#> will advance that skill by <#>%

Note: if you are under level 21, your primary guild waives fees as follows:

Skills available in levels 1-9 in the guild: up to 80% training free of gold costs.

Skills available in levels 10-14 in the guild: up to 75% training free of gold costs.

Skills available in levels 15-20 in the guild: up to 65% training free of gold costs.

Reincarnation Basics

Reincarnating is a process that only Gifted Ones (players) can achieve because their souls never depart the Retroverse. To do so, the individual must first die. Then, they must get reincarnated by a druid with the reincarnation spell. It usually is better to have a look out for a druid first before dying, so the Gifted One that chose to take this fate doesn't have to wait.

This is the only manner in which one can pick a new race, rechoose a guild (thus erasing the guilds and race one previously belonged to), and otherwise 'wipe the slate clean.' This is not true in all cases, as the character still keeps their name and their equipment.

From an RP perspective, it doesn't usually take long for others to figure out who the character was.  

💡NOTE: Any non-autoloading items, such as unthreaded gear, will not survive the reincarnation process! 

Reincarnation also means a whole new set of guild dues for the appropriate new guild, and new costs for everything (unless the reincee energizes PE in their new guild to get guild credit, or asks a specially trained druid to convert PE to "any credit", which will be valid to be spent in any guild, including secondaries and tertiariy guilds. As long as reinc-exp and AND guild credit are there, the training doesn't cost gold). 

Reincarnation is not without its penalties, individuals who reincarnate forget some of their past memories (a side-effect of the traumatic death and reincarnation into a new body), and thus lose a measure of experience points. The amount of loss is based on the time since your last reincarnation. If you just reinced less than a day ago, there is a grace period where the next reinc has only a 3% tax. After that, it becomes 30%. It drops relatively sharply at first, becoming 15% after a month, 5% after a year, and 3% after three or more years. 

💡To see the tax if you would reincarnate immediately, type "show next reinc." 

This tax only applies to exp spent on adventurer levels.

Other spent exp is reduced by 3%, and unspent exp is not taxed. A skilled druid may offer some small additional savings.

Advancement and dues

Advancing levels

You gain "adventuring levels" by using the command "advance" in an adventuring advancement room. You'll find these in the adventurers guilds. Each major city has an adventurer's guild. 

💡As a newbie you can also ask your guide to take you to an adventurer's guild.

You can have up to 100 adventuring levels but only as many guild levels as you have adventuring levels. Later you'll find out about remortal races that let you level past 100, but this is a newbie guide so we won't worry about that for now!

Guild levels always give more bonuses than adventuring levels.

Guild levels can be obtained by going to the advancement room in the guild you want to advance in and typing 'advance'.

💡If you're playing as a bard you need to make sure that you do as many "level quests" as possible. Please ask for help and advice on the mentor channel before advancing.

Dues

Each guild has their very own support system. The guilds provide valuable services to their members.  You get a place to train and study and special bonuses.  These services must be supported by the elder members. The guilds  are non-profit organizations and cannot do these things free. 

Guild dues help support the guilds in which you belong and show your allegiance towards them. The dues also prevents those who would jump from guild to guild and influence them without the trials and knowledge needed to lead the guild in a proper way.   Since the guild responsibilities differ, their dues are impossible to translate to other guilds. If someone works very hard and spends time in a guild they should be more eligible for leadership than someone who newly joined the guild through a reincarnation. Think of it as if you were a map maker and spent years studying the necessary skills and supporting your guild. Now you decide you want to be a sailor. You couldn't possibly be experienced enough to be a ship's captain just because you were a great map maker.

💡Note that new characters and characters who were worth less than 500k total experience when they last reincarnated are not charged primary guild dues for leveling up. They may, however, still require dues for other purposes, including getting gear from check rooms or eventually vying for championship or leadership of the guild.

The way that you earn guild dues varies from guild to guild. As a newbie you probably don't need to worry too much about this, but please feel free to ask on the guild or mentor channel for advice.

Paying dues

At level 16 and above in a full level 20 primary guild, you are charged dues against your guild credit balance.  

For most guilds: it is 1k at level 16, 3k at 17, 5k at 18, 7k at 19, to 9k at level 20.

You are exempt from this as a newbie.

Special Dues Systems

Bard, Fallen, Necromancer and Paladin have slightly different requirements from the above.

💡If you're playing as a bard you need to make sure that you do as many "level quests" as possible. Please ask for help and advice on the mentor channel before advancing.

Dues Penalties and Rewards:

Note that dues may be lost (and sometimes earned) through other means than the usual for each guild. Killing members or allies of a guild may cause one to lose dues for that guild, while killing their enemies may, on rare occasions, earn you dues, as can doing some quests. This can affect dues for guilds you are not even a member of, but penalties for guild members are always harsher than for non-members, and officers may be penalised more harshly still.

Newbie advantages

Before advancing, make sure to read help newbie advantages. Some mechanics are relaxed for low level characters, to make it easier to get familiar with the game. But for example at level 17, NPCs will no longer ignore you wielding a weapon, and considering you a threat, will attack. Unless your guild teaches teleportation magic, you should better learn how to transport between planets before advancing to level 19, as you will loose the access to newbie world transport by then.

Understanding Paths

We divide guilds into three types:

• Primary - Defines your general class, this is the guild you start the game with.

• Secondary - Defines areas of speciality, this is the next guild that you reach level 10 in

• Tertiary - Adds the best stats and greatly enhances guild abilities. This is where you get a lot of your power from

💡On the website we name the guilds as primary, secondary, or tertiary because that's what we recommend you join them as. 

It's possible to use a "primary guild" as your secondary. For example, you could take 20 levels of fighter and then take 10 levels of ranger. The ranger guild would then be your secondary, even though it's called a primary guild on the website.

💡You can only reach level 14 in your secondary guild, no matter what guild you choose to be your secondary.

We don't recommend taking a guild labelled as primary on the website as your secondary. You get the bulk of your power from the tertiary guilds. These will generally require full membership of a secondary guild. If you've taken a primary guild as your secondary you will not be eligible to join the tertiary guilds.

For example, the tertiary guild "Brute squad" which offers fighters specialisation in bludgeoning weapons is only available if you have reached level 14 in one of a number of secondary guilds. If you took ranger to level 14 as your secondary guild you would not be able to join Brute squad (or any of the other fighter specialisations). This would mean that you lose the possibility of getting the power enhancements from the tertiary guilds.

The primary guilds define the list of secondary guilds accessible, and in some cases tertiary. Secondary guilds define the list of tertiary guilds accessible. Tertiary guilds most often need to be taken in a specific order. Commands paths <guild name> and choices <guild name>, as well as the website can help in finding your options.

💡You can only reach level 9 in any tertiary guild