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[LIST] SRO - Twenty Things
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Author:  Grandpa [ Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:15 am ]
Post subject:  [LIST] SRO - Twenty Things

20 Things I Wish I Would Have Known When I Started SilkRoad Online
SUBTITLE: Newb thoughts during the first month traveling solo on the Silk Road
Spoiler!
INDEX:
Chapter 1: THE BASICS

Grandpa's thoughts wrote:
As a total newb (I’m still a newb) the following is a list of rather ‘simple’ things that I didn’t know when starting the game. For the players who have played forever these things are often taken for granted, but for the baffled newb who is confronted with “How do I survive while killing monsters:? types of questions there certainly isn’t time to figure it out.


1. One can travel between cities using Teleport.
  • I can almost hear people saying /DUH! But as a total newb not everybody knows this simple fact. I personally played for 3 weeks and never caught on except that a forum member here on SRF told me (thx, Glavie).
      I've only recently learned there is a teleport "Guide" in each town (thx, Sleepy1338). In Jangan he is located at the entrance to the Imperial Palace on the right side. He gives you options to teleport to the last recall point or to the place you died. (thx, pr0klobster)
    • By the time I did learn about the TP system, I had thousands of 2nd Degree Wind but still didn't like the fact that I was charged real $GOLD$ for the quick transport.
    • My friend had patience with me and after discovering the "secrets" of the stall network, I never turned back. Thanks again, Glavie, yer cool 8) and I very much appreciate the support you were willing to give to a newb during their Silkroad travels!
  • Certain quests prevent Teleporting and the use of Return Scrolls. :wink:
      I thought something was broken when that happened.

2. The characters on a single account all share the same storage.
  • This is an important fact when later you are trying to better yourself through the game economy because you can position one of your characters in a different city and designate him as your “Stall Character”. Yes, it takes gold to deposit things into storage and it also takes gold to transport your 2nd character (to Hotan, for instance). But as your coffers become full of elements from following the guidelines below it is well worth it.
    • Even newbs can spend silk. Somehow I knew almost immediately that I would :love: this game except for maybe a couple things. I don't like picking stuff up and I don't like having limited inventory space. Buying a "grab-it pet" (mine is a monkey) was one of the best decisions I've made. Side benefit is that one can fill the monkey inventory, put the pet into storage (for 1g) and transfer things to other characters on the cheap.
      • You'll need to be level 5 to use a 'grabber' pet so might as well complete the inventory expansion quest while your at it for your 2nd character.

3. SP Farming isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
  • First thing to do is to choose what “Build” you might like. If you have no clue consider looking at the various Guides here at SRF [LINK to SRF Guide Lists] and find one that people say is difficult to mess up like Pure Strength.
  • Then make your character but don’t worry too much about your initial selections – they can be changed later if you like.

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  • The next thing (after you’ve leveled up and completed a couple quests) is to take a look at the SP calculator and understand the basics of “Gapping” your character. [URL for Nivlam Skill Planner] & [URL for Nivlam Skill Point Gap Calculator]
  • If you spend up your Masteries as soon as you can so that your highest mastery (doesn’t matter which one – weapon or force) … IF your highest is equal to your current level your character is Zero Gapping.
  • If your character is level 16 and your highest mastery is level 7 your character is “9 Gap”. Creating “gaps” between your masteries and character level determines the ratio of SP vs. EXP you earn per kill. The greater the gap, the more the SP earned. The greater the gap (this stops becoming beneficial at Gap 9) the lower the amount of EXP you earn per kill. By 9-Gapping you slow down how fast your character gains level and increase the amount of skill earned per kill, hence the term “SP Farming”.

4. A character is not locked into their initial Clothing Equipment choices.
  • If you wear Garment, you cannot mix-n-match. Full Garment gear (equipping all six (6) pieces) will grant 20% bonuses: +20% Movement speed & less Mana consumption. Garment gives the greatest protection against Magical attacks.
  • Protector and Armor can be worn at the same time but you will need the Full Protector set to get the bonuses. Full Protector gives +10%.
  • Heavy armor gives the greatest defense against Physical attacks (Tank gear).

5. There is a very nice “HELP” system in game for newbs (other than what you learn from General Soysauce (Sonhyeon). To open the help system you press [ESC] then choose HELP or just press “H”.
  • The Help system includes Basic information on each aspect of the game.
  • There is a complete Quest Guide on the Right Tab on top as well.

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Author:  Grandpa [ Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [GUIDE] Twenty (20) Things

20 Things I Wish I Would Have Known When I Started SilkRoad Online
SUBTITLE: Newb thoughts during the first month traveling solo on the Silk Road (continued)

INDEX:
Chapter 2: BUILDS
Grandpa's thoughts wrote:
Choosing a character “build” is critical for your enjoyment of the game in the long term. What would happen if you had the mindset of a soldier who wanted to ‘be all that he could be’ and advanced every Mastery and Skill possible as fast as he could? At Mastery level 10 there are passives available that are very ‘tasty’.
  • Heuksal’s Cheolsam Force gives 102 HP increase
  • Cold Armor gives Physical Defense Power +2
  • Lightning’s Heaven’s Force increases Parry Ration by 9
  • Flame Devil Force increases Physical Dam by 1%
  • & Force Increasing (under the Force / Healing tree) gives 102 MP increase.
You could be bigger, better than before… the temptation is incredible! Resist it. Here’s why: Chinese characters are currently capped at a total of 300 masteries at level 80. Getting your character to level 40 and taking all your masteries with you would be a bad thing. In the above example your character would have been required to have level 40 masteries in 5 areas (200 total).
TOTAL SP NEEDED = 18800

In order to advance your Weapon Mastery and Two (2) Force Masteries to level 80 it will take a total of 240 Masteries leaving only 60 left over for a third. Best then to wait until your character is higher level and you understand what you want before making these types of decisions.


6. Builds are NOT that tough Choose one Weapon Skill and 2 Force skills (to conserve on Skill Points needed).
  • Pure STR and STR Heavy Hybrids:
    • Pure STR means all into Strength, Zero into INT)
      • 7:1 Hybrid (Heavy STR Hybrid) Level to lev 7 with Pure STR, then when you reach level 8 put 3 points into INT. Keep doing this with INT increased at levels 16 and 24 only – Voila! You’re on the way to a 7:1 Str Hybrid.
  • Pure INT and INT Heavy Hybrids
    • Pure INT means all into Intelligence, Zero into STR.
    • 1:1 Hybrid: Level once  All into INT, level again  All into STR /// repeat
    • 70:70 Balance Hybrid (mostly for BOW weap) is a different approach and does not directly compare STR to INT ratios but instead considers the “Balance Percentage” statistic.

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7.You won’t ever be able to change your “build” that is, once a point is spent into STR or INT that choice will remain forevermore.
  • BUT… if you are, for instance, a level 20 Pure STR and would like instead to become a 70:70 Balance Hybrid (Heavy INT BOW), it’s not too late. Place 100% of your stats into INT until you are approximately level 45 and voila! As you might infer, making another character could be considered easier.

8. Some choose to complete the lower levels with a BOW and switch weapons later, mostly this is for those who already own a Sox Bow and want to SPFarm at Bandits solo. They don’t raise their masteries beyond level 7 and plan on recovering those spent into Pacheon (Bow Weap Skill) later with the curst heart quest at level 20. The main advantage to a BOW is that they give range and you can target a different mob while you are killing your current one.

9. Partying with others can increase both EXP and SP gained per kill.
  • There are two (2) types of Parties:
    • Four (4) member parties (a.k.a. 'Distribution' or 'SP' parties) All characters in a full SP party (4 players) gain 10% ~ 20% skill experience points bonus per kill (400 skill experience points = 1 SP) and it doesn’t matter if they are close to each other or not. Of course less people in the party means less bonus.
    • Eight (8) member parties (a.k.a. 'Share' or 'EXP' parties) for PLeveling. Characters need to be within range to benefit from kills made by other players. Typically this distance is ~how far you can see if you are zoomed out. You can check your picture to be sure. The amount of xp you would get per kill (if you are in range) depends on the number of people and their levels relative to yours. Best experience for all is found from an 8 member party where everybody is participating.
    • There may be differences for Euro characters. My guess is that Euro characters prefer the 8 man type parties and am told this is due to their specializations.
(thx, Shadow)

10. If you die you will lose approximately 2% of your Level Experience
  • “Deleveling” ones self involves dying sufficient number of times to lose a level. Clerics or friends who can RES are very useful if you are going to attempt this.
  • “Deleveling” ones skills involves buying from the ITEM MALL [F10] or getting the ‘curst hearts’ quest at level 20.

11. It’s much easier to (if your guildmate doesn’t mind) to be PLeveled at Peons, but this again assumes that you are not a newb, that you have a guild or at the very least friends who are willing and able to Power Level you.
  • Pardon a little pet peeve of mine (others too, I'm sure) please. Don't be a rude newb. We have our reputations to think of. At some point we will figure it out and part of that is the understanding that the people on our server are our community. We're going to be playing with these people for a long time (hopefully) and causing first impressions by begging isn't the best use of our limited wisdom and foresight.
  • If you are 9-Gapping you may want to delay your questing, or at least turning in the quests until after you close your gap.

12. You don’t need to carry (if you are Chinese, that is) a certain Weapon to use that weapon skill passive
  • Heuksal Cheolsam (Passive) increases HP
  • Pacheon Mind Concentration (Passive) increases Attack Rating

13. The number one thing I wish I would have known about builds and skills when I started SilkRoad Online was that here on the SRF Forums all the “good stuff” is permanently stickied on the top posts. Learning how to find the information needed (when it’s needed) is paramount.

Author:  Grandpa [ Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [GUIDE] Twenty (20) Things

20 Things I Wish I Would Have Known When I Started SilkRoad Online
SUBTITLE: Newb thoughts during the first month traveling solo on the Silk Road (continued)

INDEX:
Chapter 3: ECONOMY
Grandpa's thoughts wrote:
The economy of Silkroad Online is based (of course) on the Supply and Demand system.
    Supply” will vary according to what Server you are on (and the age of the Server) as will “Demand”.
  • The only way to determine actual prices for your Server is to visit several cities and look at the Stall Network over a period of time. Take notes for Alchemy Elements and Elixirs especially. As far as I know (so far) there are no databases for each item on each Server compiled at this time. Please correct me if I am wrong as this would prove to be an excellent resource.
  • A simple ‘rule of thumb’ is to ignore all statements about how much stuff is worth until it is “proven” because even though a Level 1 Chest Armor SoMoon+1 might be worth 50k on one server, to a collector on a new server (where the supply is lower) it could be worth 10 times this amount.

Economy in general follows certain rules. Cost of Production vs. Net Gain is a bottom line way of thinking. Lower your cost of production by farming target monsters that are 3~4 levels below you (to make killing faster and reduce potion /// herb consumption). Selecting monsters according to spawn rate (killing Bandits) is fine for a SP Farmer, but only Bandit Archers will drop <Broken Arrows> which is one of the Alchemy Materials the produces 2nd Degree Wind elements.

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14. W2 (2nd Degree Wind Elements) are valuable because Stones that add +STR to 6th, 7th and 8th Degree items require it. Image

15. One can get more W2 from Destroyer Rondo’ing D2 and D3 drops.
16. One can get even more W2 from Void Rondo’ing certain Materials (and Void Rondo is cheaper).
  • Note: Collect “Broken Arrows” from Bandit Archers or “Fishbones” from Chakji Workers (for instance).
    <see table below> for Jangan list.

17. Each city has it’s own separate Stall Network
  • The reason you can’t find your 3rd Degree Weapon while searching the Jangan Stall Network is because the seller is in another city.
  • The reason you can’t sell your elements quickly enough even though you placed them on the Stall Network is because the buyers are in another city (Hotan).
_________________________________________
18. Scammers use common “Bait-n-Switch” tactics
  • Scamming in Exchange: First, the Scammer shows you the real item. You see it, you decide that you like it and you are going to buy it... And then, as you input the gold amount into the exchange window, the Scammer replaces the item with another one which has the same icon but not the same value. Avoid this scam by checking again before you hit the final “APPROVE” button
  • Scamming in a Stall: Much like the above, but the technique is to spam advertisements while the stall is being modified. Then there is either an item or price replacement. Same as above, a Scammer will show you a valuable item and before opening the stall he replaces the item. Or he may leave the item but adds a 0 in the price. Avoid this scam by only considering when the stall is actually OPEN and not being modified.

19. Starting a Job isn’t "the best" way to make gold but it is fun. At level 20 your character can start their first job. Recommend your 1st Job as Merchant / Trader (please forgive me for any small errors here – my character is just now Jobbing as a beginner)
  • As a trader, you earn money by buying special goods from a specialty trader and sell them to another specialty trader (in another city).
  • Longer distance between the two specialty traders increases profit. Also, more stars (difficulty) mean the more you gain but it’s riskier.
  • If you fail to complete a trade and your special goods are stolen by a player thief, you lose all the money you invested on the trade. If you were killed by a monster or by NPC thieves your special good will remain on the ground and you can recover them and continue the trade. Note: you cannot pick up your special goods unless you have another convoy animal with you.
    • There is no 1 star protection if you are trading during the “Bargain Priced Special Goods” period. There also is no 1* protection after level 40. (thx Cloverleaf)
    • “Star Trading” determines the number of NPC thieves that are summoned occasionally while you are on your route.
    • NPC Thieves will generally be your level.
  • Protection status for 1 Star trades means that Player Thieves cannot attack you directly.
  • Skilled high level Thieves can still kill you though without getting Murderer status. The can do this by aggro’ing several high level monsters and dragging them to you to let the monsters do their dirty work for them. Not much danger for this happening, the value of your trade simply isn’t worth the time.

20. Most people talk about SP Farming with 9 Gap because they have an “End Game” perspective that is… they’ve advanced one or more of their characters to a very high level and are confronted with the difficulties of earning Skill Points they want at that high of level. It takes forever to 9 gap from level 53 to level 54 for instance. You’ve probably heard that what you “should” do is get to lev 16 and grab your Sox Weapon and SP Farm at Bandit Den. The advantage is you can kill very fast due to the fast respawn rate but this assumes you are fully funded and not a newb with a glazed look in your eye.
  • You (as a newb) with time on your hands can gain as much SP (not SP per hour but total) from 9 Gapping what ever you like to kill. Consider killing “Greens”:
    • You can look at the picture of the monster you have targeted. There is a color coded circle next to their name that shows you approximately what level the monster is relative to your level. Blue circle is way below, Green circle is 4~5 level below, White or Silver are approximately your level, Orange and Red are higher than you.
    • The advantages for killing Greens is lower cost per kill (in terms of the cost of repair, the cost of arrows (if you use a Bow), the cost of mana and health recovery (herbs and potions). Greens drop more frequently also.
  • Economy is a big part of the picture for a newb. Ask yourself, would you rather have a level 42 who advanced to that level quickly or a fully farmed RICH BITCH level 42 who took their time and chose their targets from a Cost/Benefit analysis? Farming monsters that drop materials that can be Void Rondo’d into 2nd Degree Wind FTnW (For The newbie Win)! Remember when you are playing, you will get the same amount of SP eventually no matter what monster you target. There is a total FIXED amount of Skill Points gained per level determined by your Gap. To my way of thinking we might just as well take time at the beginning so that not only can we afford to purchase the Skills needed later by 9 Gapping when possible but we should also select our targets to increase our gold amounts so we can afford that juicy weapon later on.

Jangan materials dropped that can be Void Rondo’d for 2nd Degree WIND:

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Author:  Grandpa [ Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [LIST] Twenty (20) Things

20 Things I Wish I Would Have Known When I Started SilkRoad Online
SUBTITLE: Newb thoughts during the first month traveling solo on the Silk Road (continued)

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INDEX:
You've read the guide? Great!
You've earned the right to turn off your "Beginner's Mark". Here's how:

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Off topic Extra: (no-extra-charge).
20-things-i-wish-i-had-known-when-starting-out-in-life/

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